A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor (Tempting Monsters 1)

Threads to Tangle

“Quit hissing," I said, pinching Auguste's jaw in my fingers and turning his glare away from Booker.

Auguste huffed and rolled his shoulders, eyes squeezing shut and jaw clenching. Where Amon had surprised me with his calm, Auguste had shocked me with the intensity of his anger. It was a good thing Booker was made of stone because when Auguste attacked him, fangs bared, all that had happened was a painful clinking sound and Auguste rearing back with a snarl, working out his jaw. I suspected my vampire had nearly chipped a fang.

"You had better be calm when this is done. It wasn't anything of Booker's doing and—"

"I know, I know," Auguste said, huffing out a sigh and nodding. He shook himself and smirked at me. "I'll behave, mon coeur, I promise. I am just…"

"Protective of me," I said, rising to my toes to kiss his chin. "Thank you for that. I'm fine now."

Auguste nodded, but his smile slid back into a frown with one glance at the faint shadows still left on my throat.

"Oh, go and sit with the others," I said with a laugh, pushing at his chest. Which was useless. Why hadn't Magdalena given me just one gentleman who wasn't so impossible to shove around a bit? Even Ezra was solid, and he was more or less human.

Auguste ignored my urging to glare over his shoulder at Magdalena. "Will this hurt her?"

"Not in the least," Magdalena said. "I imagine it will be quite comforting. But it won't happen if you don't get out of the way."

Auguste let out a soft growl, stepping closer and brushing a slow kiss over my cheek. "Any more trouble, and I'm going to trap you underground during the day with me," Auguste whispered in my ear.

"You will not," Amon barked.

Auguste finally relaxed at that, tapping his forehead against mine before joining the others against the wall. We were back down in the basement, in an empty room filled with candles and a white chalk circle that had been traced there so many times, it was imprinted deep in the stone. Magdalena stood at the center of the circle, with Booker and I facing her at opposite edges.

Despite Auguste's teasing, I wasn't so sure I'd like to spend the day below the earth. Maybe it was only this room, but there was a kind of crushing sensation on my shoulders that seemed to hover at the edges, like a name I knew but couldn't remember.

"Esther? Are you ready?" Magdalena asked.

I chewed at my bottom lip. Was I? I didn't even really understand how this all worked but… I met Booker's gaze over Magdalena's shoulders and sighed, nodding. Whatever I needed to do, I would do it, just to keep Birsha from using Booker against me or anyone else.

"I'll take care of the heavy lifting, darling. I just need you and Booker to focus on each other. Try not to let anything else into your thoughts as much as you're able," Magdalena said.

I nodded immediately, and she stepped to the side, making it easier for me to see Booker. He had put on his white uniform shirt and the black pants but left the rest behind in my bedroom. I smiled as I realized that this shifting of his tether would mean that Booker was no longer responsible for opening doors and serving dinners. I wasn't sure if he would need a membership to the manor or Magdalena would disregard it in his case. It didn't matter. He would be mine, and I was fairly certain Amon or Jonathon or Auguste would cover him if necessary.

Booker's lips curled, and I imagined we were thinking the same thing. I didn't know him well yet, but to be fair, he was just learning himself as well.

Magdalena was at the side, murmuring words in an unknown tongue, eyes flicking back and forth between us behind her colored spectacles, but she was only just visible out of the corner of my eyes. Everything ahead of me was Booker. His beautiful form, the gentleness in his gaze as it held mine. He had been the first person I'd met upon arrival, a steady figure and an easy companion to pass time with. Booker calmed me, protected me. For a moment, I floundered as I wondered what I'd offered him that had made him so determined to be mine.

The worry passed under a firm decision to discover it and repeat it every day so Booker would never regret choosing me.

The candles in the room flickered, flames flashing high, and I jumped in place before frowning and refocusing.

"Magdalena," Amon warned lowly.

"I feel him. Esther, hold your focus. Booker, you too!" Magdalena said, her voice rising. "Birsha's trying to worm his way in."

My breath hitched in my chest as an impossible breeze arched around the circle. I stiffened as the now familiar and uneasy awareness of being studied trickled cooly down my spine. I wanted to flinch away, rush to one of my men to hide, but Booker was across from me, his fingers clenched to fists and brow furrowed in determination. I took a deep breath and held it in my chest, my eyes watering as I held Booker's stare.

He was mine. Mine. My friend. My lover. And if I had to possess him to keep him safe, then I would, even against Birsha. Even if I was just a human in this strange world of monsters and magic. I would fight to keep Booker safe with every breath, just as he would do for me.

Amon had moved to stand across from Magdalena, and I gasped as the circle thrummed with heat and pleasant buzzing energy, like the hum of a honeybee.

"Almost there," Magdalena murmured.

I opened my mouth to speak and shut it just as quickly with the first delicate pinch in my chest. It was a tender, tentative touch, and for a moment, I almost flinched away, thinking Birsha had aimed for me instead of Booker this time, but with it came a sudden wave of protective affection. There was another press, less painful this time, and I swayed in place, awed as I realized it was Booker's tether tangling into me.

With every strand came a lovely warm pressure stacking comfortably in my heart. Possessiveness, amusement, pleasure, appreciation. Blanket after blanket of care laid on top of me, steadying me just as my golem did.

Suddenly, the answer to my question from earlier was now clear. Booker had chosen me for my interest in knowing him. My curiosity in him had stirred his own in himself, and then in me in exchange. He liked what he found in both of us, craved the way I spoke and listened to him, the way I touched him and wanted to be touched. In an absolutely wonderful accident, I had infected the small magical spark Magdalena had breathed into him with my own impulsivity to live and wonder and experience until he'd grown beyond the bonds she'd created him for.

The flames of the candles in the room dimmed, a sudden temperamental wind nearly blowing them out, but it was like a sigh of relief when it ended. Birsha was gone, and I held a soft tie around my heart belonging to Booker.

"Thank you for your help, Amon," Magdalena said with a faint bow.

"Esther, are you all right?" Jonathon asked from behind us.

Booker grinned as I dug into the sensation on my chest, drawing it closer as if it were a fishing line. He grunted and stumbled forward, laughing, and the sound was a little richer than before.

"Gently, friend," Booker said, and I blushed and ran forward. He caught me in the center of the circle, hauling me up into arms that I could've sworn were just a tiny bit warmer than they had been before.

"You're safe," I said, pressing my cheek to his.

"I'm yours," Booker said, kissing my jaw.

"I think I feel a bit like a mother-in-law now," Magdalena said, and Auguste snorted as Booker and I remained happily tangled in our embrace, ignoring the others for our moment together.

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