Chapter Twenty
Astrid
I hadn’t meant to seduce Rook.
Honest. It just sort of... happened. Trust me. It was more embarrassing to do it on accident after months of trying and failing to do it on purpose.
The library was the logical starting point. Even if Aurea had her familiar, Daegal, watching us, the most he’d see was Rook reading in the large print section while I dozed, apparently insensible. In reality, Rook would be reading pertinent sections from the book under his breath, so only I would hear. Or that was what we should have been doing.
I sort of got distracted when we were selecting pertinent titles to read. There were archival texts about the construction of secret passageways and hiding places in the castle. There were eighteen such passages that Rook knew of, and he wasn’t certain he’d mapped them all, even in the centuries he’d been alive. Er... undead. He wanted to double-check the old books and pinpoint which one would be ideal for hiding a relic as evil as the one Aurea had stolen from the Winter Queen.
Then the material of his dress shirt had rasped across my bare back, sending pleasant tingles up my spine. It was only the second time he’d touched my bare back since we’d begun dating. The first time, he’d been making out with me out of necessity, trying to scandalize a pair of witches into ignoring the questions they really should have asked us. It had worked. I’d thought he might get around to touching me again after I’d grown up a little, vamp-wise. Lorcan seemed to think the problem was on Rook’s end, not mine. No matter how much time passed, there would be at least a sliver of him that wanted to treat me like a fragile lady, even though I was harder to hurt than ever.
It felt like something in my chest pulled, trying to ape a heartbeat I no longer had as he trailed his fingers delicately up my spine. The backless dress didn’t plunge past my waist. Even my liberated cousin wouldn’t allow me to go to a club showing too much ass. Less is more, in cases of fashion. Still, it felt like his hand was mapping a line from my waist up to the crown of my head. I let out an unnecessary breath when he grasped the back of my neck gently, pressing his body closer to mine. A moan actually escaped my lips when he tugged on my earlobe with his teeth.
“Rook...” I breathed. “Why...?”
Why now? Why in the library? We were here to solve a crime. I wasn’t sure what crime we were investigating, exactly, but there had to be something in the penal code that fit what Aurea was doing. Blackmail of a public official, at least. Was that a misdemeanor or a felony?
My thoughts spun wildly when Rook ground his very evident arousal against me. If I’d been living, my heart would have been going at a full gallop. I felt dizzy, even without the blood pulsing to my head, overwhelming every rational thought.
“I’ve always wanted to touch you here,” he whispered, tone soft and reverent. I was surprised I hadn’t burst into bright, autumnal colors at the sound of those words. I’d started to adopt more fae traits while in faerie. Uncle Fox thought I might grow the family tail at some point. I hoped not.
I couldn’t talk. I could barely breathe. I wanted to say his name. To babble inane questions, when it simply didn’t matter. Was I scared of this? Yeah, a little. I’d built it up in my head. But I trusted Rook not to hurt me. To make me remember every touch fondly. I wasn’t sure if I believed in eternal love, but I believed I could love him for centuries. I wanted something that endured. Something like Lorcan and Wanda’s seemingly unshakeable bond. It was a lot to ask of someone. It wasn’t a witch mindset at all. I should have been able to do this without feeling lovey-dovey about it.
You’re not a witch anymore, dummy.
For the first time in a long time, the thought wasn’t depressing. I wasn’t a witch. I didn’t get judged like one anymore. I was just a vampire fae crossbreed. And I was in love with the man at my back.
Rook let me turn to face him. It was a mistake. One look at his handsome, sculpted face, and I was in danger of bursting into tears. There was just something incredibly tender in his dark eyes as he stared down at me.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I...”
He pressed a finger to my lips to silence me. “You don’t have to say it back. I know it’s a witch thing. I just want you to know. I want this. I want you. I’m not holding back because I’m not attracted to you or whatever infuriating lie you’ve told yourself. It’s just...”
I yanked him down by the collar, sealing my mouth over his before he could breathe another word. He didn’t have to explain himself. I didn’t care what his reasons were. I just wanted.
My back hit the bookshelf hard enough that a few of the books above our heads wobbled dangerously. I couldn’t even find it in myself to care about the book hail hazard. The library hadn’t been my first choice for a sexy locale, but I could admit we could do worse.
The space was vast and labyrinthine, with bookshelves towering high above our heads. It felt like a paper hedge maze. In the dark, there was no one to see us. Even if there was a spy lurking, Aurea wasn’t learning anything she couldn’t have guessed. She’d probably be shocked to learn we hadn’t been sleeping together before now.
Rook’s hand fisted in my hair, and he claimed my mouth in an almost bruising kiss. My trembling fingers found and undid the first button of his dress shirt. Where had my once nimble fingers gone? I felt like a clumsy, drunken oaf trying to melt into him.
I felt drunk. No... I was pretty sure I was drunk, despite the potion Poppy had brewed to help halve the effects. The bubbly feeling was back in force, overwhelming my sense. My magic, my...
Suddenly, Rook pulled away from me and gave me an expression of pure shock as something bloomed like a dark flower in the back of my head. The sensation was so eerie that I jerked away from Rook on instinct. The presence felt both alien and familiar. Acrid like cigarette smoke and metallic like rust. It took me a second to recognize the figure in my head through the fog. Even when I could make out who it was, I couldn’t quite believe it.
“Maverick?”
He didn’t respond. His first thought was one of confusion, which shifted to revulsion, and finally rage when he felt the state I was in. I was about to lecture him on not being a sexist prick, but what he said instead made me pause.
“Ah fuck. A love potion. Wonderful.”
Love potion? Was he saying that this... this feeling wasn’t real? That Rook wasn’t touching me because he wanted to?
Maverick’s sigh breezed through my head. “Don’t do that. You’re my sister, but even I can see you’re beautiful. He wants you, trust me. He doesn’t want this while you’re under the influence, though.”
“That was helpful... and creepy. Promise me you’ll never give me sex advice again, big brother, or I’m hexing you.”
“Gladly,” he said with a bitter laugh.
“And what the hell are you doing inside my head?”
“That’s a very long story.”
Rook looked dazed, and a little hurt when I stepped away from him. I fumbled for the clutch purse full of potions that Maverick had brewed for me. I hadn’t really seen the point of the de-lusting oils he’d packed. I didn’t want to de-lust Rook. I very much wanted to lust him.
“Gah. Never think that collection of words again.”
Yeah, having Maverick in my head was going to be so painfully awkward that it brought me to tears. It was a sibling’s worst nightmare. There was no social code that covered what happened when your blood warlock brother’s freaky magic went off the range and started doing things it shouldn’t. He’d already told me he could do familial blood magic with his new powers. At this point, it shouldn’t shock me he could slingshot his thoughts into mine by the same mechanism. Why not? My world wasn’t already insane enough with the once-in-seventh-daughter odds I’d already faced.
And then I thought of something. “Oh, my Goddess, you aren’t dead, are you? Are you like possessing me or something? Have you died?”
“No, Astrid, I’m not dead. But I don’t have the time to explain what’s happened—not at the moment.”
Maverick uncorked the potion and emptied it into Rook’s face. He blinked down at me in shock, suddenly seeming to realize where we were and why my bodice was pushed down to my waist. I was still wearing my underthings, thank the Goddess. I’d implode from sheer mortification if he’d come in later in the process.
“Astrid, what are we...?” Rook started.
“You weren’t lying to Aurea,” I whispered. “I got roofied. So did you. There was a love potion in our drinks. That’s why you um...”
I gestured broadly at him. He looked nearly as disheveled as I felt. I hadn’t been kind to his clothes, half-ripping them in my haste to get them off. I gestured at Rook to close the shirt when I had difficulty tearing my eyes away from his chest. It was just a chest. A very nice chest, but I shouldn’t want to lick it at a time like this.
“Close your, uh, shirt please,” I said. “Maverick is singing ‘la la la’ in my head so loud I can barely think. You’re inspiring too many X-rated thoughts for my brother to tolerate.”
Rook blinked slowly. From the expression on his face, I think I’d actually stunned him silly. The fact someone had spied on us long enough to know our plan, spike our drinks, and activate their spell here said that the murderer knew that we were onto them. They knew we stood a good chance of actually uncovering the truth. They needed us to be distracted. Sex was distracting as hell. Had Aurea dosed us? But what did she gain by throwing us into bed together?
“It’s not her. She will pay for what she’s doing to Tally, but she didn’t do this.”
I almost asked the obvious follow-up question, but Rook spoke first. “Maverick? Your brother is... and... um... we?”
The dawning horror on his face was enough to make me giggle, just a bit. I could feel hysterics building as I realized that Rook and I had walked into a trap. The library didn’t feel like a safe haven at that moment. It felt like a rat maze with only one exit that led to safety. We’d been too busy to notice any scuffling in the dark. Now I could hear figures moving through the stacks, searching for us.
“What is that?” Rook asked, voice low, eyes darting nervously around. The love potion was wearing off, leaving my more rational boyfriend behind. On the one hand, I was happy to see him back so soon. On the other, I was almost sorry that Maverick had put a stop to things. Rook had just about taken off my panties…
“Do you want me to curse you, Astrid? Because I can curse you,” Maverick said.
“Hey, I don’t poke fun when you perv over Taliyah.”
“Yes, you do. You give me this look.”
“I do not give you a look.”
Maverick sighed. “We don’t have time to argue. There will be more of those dolls in place to guard the exits.”
“Dolls? What are you talking about?”
“Can’t explain at the moment. Point is: we aren’t getting out of here without a fight. I need you to follow my lead. You’re more powerful than you used to be, but you still won’t fare well against her.”
“Her? Who is ‘her?’ When did you wake up? How the hell are you doing this?”
“All excellent questions that I will answer when you are not ass deep in alligators, sister mine. Do you want to fight with me, or do you want to live?”
Well, when he put it that way...
“Lead on, Mav.”