I laughed, my head lolling against the chair back. “Oh yeah? That good, huh?”
“Better. I never did thank you for making this possible.”
“Probably because you didn’t ask for it, and it came at a price you weren’t comfortable paying.”
“Still. Thank you. That’s all I wanted to say. The explanation was too long for a text.”
I laughed again, grateful for this return to normal before I went to bed. “One got away, huh?”
“Yes. It makes me nervous that the gargoyles didn’t catch him. This guy was mediocre at best, so they should’ve. He wasn’t good enough to entirely disappear.”
“Clearly, since he is now…you know.”
“Dead, yeah. I got some information out of him, but he tried to kill me.”
“He tried to kill you?”
“Of course. I’d captured him, so what else do you think he was going to do? I couldn’t get his boss’s name out of him, though. It leaves us with a blank spot. But given Elliot Graves’s interest in you in the past…”
He let the sentence linger.
Elliot Graves was apparently a big to-do in the magical world, someone like a top crime boss. I was told that he had magic in spades, and given he’d sent a couple of guys to grab me, he was definitely interested. I was pretty sure he was also the mysterious guy who’d shown up outside of Ivy House the night I’d claimed the magic, indicating he’d orchestrated the attack on the house to get me to accept my magic.
He’d said he would meet me soon.
I hadn’t told anyone about that. I’d meant to, trying to find the right words. I worried that the extra pressure might push Austin into thinking he had to accept the house’s magic in order to protect me, further forcing him into a role he didn’t want. Or Mr. Tom stressing to the point of trying to strip away all our freedoms. A day had passed, then a week, then a month, then two… Nothing had happened. We’d just bumped along in safety. I figured that the second something looked suspicious, I’d definitely fess up.
I would, too. I would tell all. Just not on this call. Not right now, when I was dead tired.
“I’ll talk to you about this when Niamh is around,” he said, and I figured that would be a good time to share my info as well. “She’ll want to know the details. Earl, too, I guess.”
He did not sound enthused about that last one. I laughed, then remembered my plans. “I agreed to have dinner with Damarion tomorrow. I’ll stop by afterward. He should probably be in on the talk, anyway.”
Silence filled the line for a moment. “Sounds good.” But his tone said otherwise, and I rolled my eyes. He’d need to get over the way they’d first met. “What’s the plan for training tomorrow?”
“Training on the grounds and then flying over them. Ivy House will have our backs. If anything crosses the threshold of the grounds, I’ll know. Your time is your own.”
“Sounds good.” This time I wasn’t sure what his problem was. I’d expected a thank you for not wasting his time. I could have asked, but I was also too tired for curiosity. “See you at the bar,” he added. “If that doesn’t work out…I’ll…come there.”
I frowned, looking over the grounds. “Why wouldn’t it work out?”
“Who knows. Night.”
“O-kay, good—” But he’d already hung up.
I shook my head and placed the phone on the table, letting my mind drift for a moment, ending on a handsome face and a nice pair of eyes. The memory didn’t linger, though. Almost immediately, the feeling of falling helplessly rattled my nerves.
I had to learn to fly. I also had to harness this magic.
A handsome face and nice body aside, I sure hoped Damarion had been right. I hoped he had some sort of key to unlock what was inside of me. My future depended on it.14Here I was again, staring at the woman in the mirror, this time in a slinky navy-blue number with a fun shimmer. It didn’t squeeze me like the last dress, but instead hugged my curves and draped over my chest, not revealing too much of any one thing or making my body shape too obvious. It was modest, but in an alluring way that sent the imagination under all those drapes and folds. Truth be told, I was still getting used to looking like this again.
“Own your space. Grab life by the balls.”
I let out a slow breath, eyeing my makeup and hair, and reached for a sweater. Then hesitated.
I was going to be with a magical guy this time, so I didn’t have to pretend I felt the chill. I didn’t have to pretend about anything, actually. He knew all the magic and magic-adjacent things I would have needed to hide from a Dick. In fact, he’d spent much of the day helping me train.