Chapter 13 Roan
Chapter thirteen
Roan
Roan stared at the beam of light coming from the blood on Abigail’s finger and his eyes widened at the implication.
Was…was this really happening?
Was that it?
Had they really broken the curse after everything?
How had Abigail pricking her finger broken the curse?
There had to be something else.
He thought back to the moment the man had pointed the wand at him, and the light had poured out of it. There was no other reason for light to appear like that, and he’d said that when Roan could care for something more than he cared for his tavern…
Roan blinked. He’d told Abigail that he didn’t care about the tapestry.
“We did it,” he breathed. “That was the curse. I had to care about something more than my tavern. And I care about you.”
Abigail’s breath caught, and he looked down at her, his lips curving up into a smile.
“You were right,” he said. “We did figure it out.”
“I told you we would,” she said, smiling up at him as he brought her hands to his chest, leaning in closer.
Her gaze dropped to his lips, and his heart beat faster as she seemed to lean closer, too.
If it wasn’t Abigail, he might have simply swooped her up and kissed her in his excitement for the curse to be broken. But this wasn’t any woman. This was Abigail—his Abigail—and he had no intention of scaring her away by moving too quickly.
“Roan,” she said quietly, even as she moved closer, “we should—”
Footsteps sounded outside the room, and they pulled away from each other to look up as the men stumbled out of the storage room.
They looked terrible.
Roan grimaced. “Hello, gentlemen,” he said. “Had a good sleep?”
Conrad slumped over the bar as he settled on his favorite bar stool.
“I feel like I haven’t slept in a week,” he said. “What was in the ale last night? I’ve never felt like this before.”
“Let me get you sorted,” Abigail said cheerfully, hopping up and pushing the tapestry toward Roan. “I’ll be right back.”
She practically ran to the kitchen, and Roan addressed the men staring at him like they hadn’t just witnessed Abigail running away from him.
“We need to get you all some food,” Roan said.
“We discovered a batch of ale had gone bad after we’d served it to you.
We will be testing all of them going forward to make sure it never happens again.
Your tabs have been forgiven, and Abigail is going to get you some soup right away to help settle your stomachs. ”
The men grumbled to each other as they all settled into the booths and around the tables.
Roan didn’t feel like joining them. He’d been so close to kissing her before they all interrupted—and even if they didn’t realize what they’d done, he was grumpy about it.
“It was a good night, though,” Tanner said, looking at everyone. “I never expected to see you dancing like that, Edgar.”
Edgar grunted. “I never expected it either, but one does not say no when a young woman like Miss Abigail offers to dance with you.”
The men guffawed, and Roan grinned as he headed toward the kitchen to check on Abigail, who was—as he’d expected—quickly heating up soup. Roan reached for the stack of bowls and laid out eight of them, collecting eight spoons and setting them inside before grabbing two trays.
Abigail began pouring the heated soup into the bowls, and Roan sliced the bread, anticipating her every move as he shuffled around her and put a piece of bread on top of each bowl.
They worked in harmony, and not for the first time, Roan couldn’t imagine a world where he didn’t have Abigail working with him.
“What do you think about the time thing?” he said quietly.
“I’m expecting the man who cast it to be back this afternoon,” she said. “And I assume that we’re picking up where we left off, but I don’t know. I’ve never dealt with a spell that manipulates time before.”
“I didn’t forget,” he told her.
Abigail set the pot down and looked up at him, chewing on her bottom lip. “I didn’t either,” she said. “But I don’t know if that means there’s more coming, or if we will forget once we fall asleep, or if we’re simply not going to forget. I’ve never done this before.”
“You already said that,” he pointed out.
“It’s still true.” Her voice wobbled. “Roan, I don’t know—”
Beastie slipped into the kitchen through the swinging door and let out a yip.
Abigail sighed and looked up at him, her eyes growing misty.
“We’ll talk in a minute,” Roan said, reaching for her and pulling her into his arms for a hug.
“We need to bring them soup,” she mumbled into his chest.
“Take a deep breath first.” His gravelly voice rumbled through his chest, calming her.
Abigail obediently took a deep breath before pulling away from him and reaching for a tray. He grabbed the second and made his way out of the swinging door, holding it open for Abigail.
They were met with weak cheers, and they quickly served bowls to each of the men.
“You’re a good dancer, Miss Abigail,” Tanner said, the young man’s eyes full of admiration.
Roan tamped down the jealousy that surged forward. Tanner was no competition, no matter what his gut tried to tell him.
“Thank you, Tanner,” Abigail said, patting his shoulder in the way she would pat Beastie’s head.
Roan grinned. No, Tanner was no competition.
“You know, I haven’t danced like that in years,” Edgar told Abigail as she served him his bowl. “You sure did take something out of me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said sweetly, turning the spoon so Edgar didn’t have to reach for it. “I hope this will help.”
Roan wasn’t sure if she had enhanced the soup or not, but everyone ate it so quickly, he could see their bodies beginning to perk up again.
He was glad to see it—he felt less guilty as he watched them grow hale and hearty before his eyes again.
“I think they’ll be all right,” Abigail said quietly as she came up next to him behind the bar, slipping her hand into his. The way she did it automatically made Roan feel lighter.
“Hey, Abigail, another bowl!” Travis shouted.
“Excuse you,” Roan growled, starting forward, but Abigail pulled back on his hand and he stayed.
“I mean—could I have more, please, Miss Abigail?” Travis asked meekly.
“I would be happy to get you more,” Abigail said with a winning smile as she hurried over to collect his bowl and return to the kitchen with it.
Roan fixed Travis with a glare, and the man withered, leaning further back in his seat.
“I think perhaps we had all better watch ourselves when it comes to Miss Abigail,” Conrad teased. “I think we may have had something growing right under our noses.”
Roan made eye contact with all the men in the room, daring them to say something, but they didn’t, and he nodded in approval.
The door opened.
All the blood in Roan’s body rushed to his head, and he could hear it roaring in his ears as the man who had cursed him walked in with a grin.
“Hello,” he said, sounding a little disappointed. “I see you’ve managed it.” He looked around the room. “Oh, wonderful job.”
“No thanks to you,” Roan spit out.
“Ah, let’s see. I think it’s all thanks to me,” the man said with a glint in his eye that Roan didn’t like. “Without me, you never would have discovered how to love someone other than this dusty old place.”
“It’s not dusty,” Tanner said, and Roan would have laughed if he wasn’t so upset that the man was back. “It’s actually quite clean.”
Conrad agreed. “Much cleaner than I remember it being.”
Roan tried not to laugh.
“That’s beside the point,” the sorcerer said. “I don’t think you realize I was rooting for you all along.”
“Of course you were,” Roan ground out.
“I suppose I shouldn’t pick one of the roses outside, though,” he said with a dangerous glint in his eye.
“Don’t even think about it,” Roan muttered.
The man laughed. “Yes, I think my experiment was a success. How far back did you go?” he asked. “Just for curiosity’s sake.”
Roan didn’t say anything. Everyone in the tavern was watching, and he didn’t want to clue them in. The less they knew, the better. He didn’t want them sniffing around Abigail and discovering her secret.
“I think you’d better leave,” he said.
But then the kitchen door opened, and Abigail walked in.
Roan’s heart just stopped as the sorcerer turned, his expression changing when he saw Abigail, glaring at her.
“I don’t need to leave,” he said, “because that’s my daughter.”