Chapter 27 #2
Two eyelids lifted, and the clock stared down at me. “It’s the mean witch.”
I put my hands on my hips. “You haven’t exactly been nice yourself.”
“You’ve come back. What ever for?”
“I don’t know, honestly. Part of me feels drawn to this place.”
“This place… or its residents?”
“Both, I guess. Cronos, you mentioned time running out, and you tick backwards. Why?”
“Time is a fickle thing. It is all we have, and yet we have none of it at all,” the clock said lowly. “Which will the witch choose? The clock or the dagger?”
My palms instinctively went to the pocket watch and white dagger at my sides. “Do you mean my charms?”
“Your charming disposition, perhaps.”
Shaking off Cronos’s nonsensical riddling, I remembered why I came up to him in the first place. “Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, what does a Blackthorne have to do with a clock?” The grandfather clock’s heavy eyelids widened a fraction. Am I speaking your language now?
“The lords weave webs of time. Spiders of the clock, they collect, they spin, they suck the blood of fallen and forgotten moments.”
“Spade and Riot are more than daimons, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” The clock’s eyes shut, his pendulum swaying and the hands fanned backwards. Tick-tock, tick-tock.
I guessed that was all I was going to get out of the enchanted object.
Interesting, though, and it made my mind spin with possibilities.
Turning, I rounded a corner and slammed into something hard.
Water splashed down my front, and I stood confused and soaked.
When I looked up, Spade gazed down at me, gripping a watering pail.
Pulling his glance quickly from my wet cleavage, he stammered out an apology. “Sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was up here. I can find you a new dress.”
I plucked at where the fabric stuck to my skin. “What are you doing with that?”
“Watering my plants. Come on, the wardrobe in my room will summon something dry for you.” He turned around, ushering me to follow. “Would you like my arm?”
The corner of my mouth turned upward. “Yes, I would like that.” I looped my arm in his and we walked down the hall, entering a familiar earthy room full of ivy and ferns.
“Wait, this is your room. This is where I woke up the last time I was here. It’s where you brought me after my last spider attack. ”
“Spider attack? You mean when you went face-to-face with a blood-thirsty wither like a damn fool?”
I shot Spade a glare, and his mouth twitched as he sat the watering pail down.
His eyes were especially brooding, his shoulders exceptionally broad, and his black hair tinted violet in the sunlight.
Goddess, he was a dark masterpiece to behold.
It was a shame I’d sort of had sex with him but hadn’t yet gotten him naked.
I was sure he’d look even better without clothes.
“Stop undressing me with your eyes and change into something dry before you catch a chill,” Spade ordered, crossing the room to his wardrobe.
I blushed and stammered over some half-hearted denial. “I wasn’t!”
I totally was.
“Hasn’t my idiotic brother fulfilled you in that department?” he replied with an edge before holding up two choices. “Dress or pants?”
“Pants,” I answered, accepting the dark trousers and silk blouse from his grip. “Is that jealousy I hear? Spade, if I recall correctly, you told Riot he’d need an ‘immune tonic’ because I ‘suck the life out of my hosts’. Weren’t those your very words?”
Spade stepped closer, mere inches away. So close I could smell his peppermint and pine scent warm my body. “And yet Riot calls you a rat and gets drunk instead of attending to you, and you forgive him? So eager to jump into his bed after I save your life, are you?”
“You’re not only jealous, you’re angry,” I breathed. “Aren’t you?”
“I’m always, always angry.”
“Yes, I remember we have that in common.”
Spade’s gaze dropped to my lips.
My lips parted on command, feeling warmth radiate over my skin. The prick of Spade’s magic trickled down my spine like a clawed caress.
Spade tilted his head and leaned in. When he was half an inch from my mouth, he whispered, “Change your clothes.”
An exhale that sounded needier than I would have preferred to portray, left my throat. “Fine.” I unbuttoned the top of my dress. “I’ll change.” I tugged off my dress, whooshing it right by his aghast face.
Spade didn’t spin around to give me privacy, nor did he look away out of respect.
Instead, he watched with rapt attention as I stood before him in my thin panties and bra.
I knew I was pushing my luck, but just to tease him further, I turned around.
Slowly, I bent over, arching my back. It would have been prudent to stay mysterious and keep my eyes on stepping into my pants, but I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder at Spade.
His eyes darkened. “You’re playing with fire.”
“I’m so scared,” I teased, stepping into the leg of my trousers. “Oh, no, what will you—”
Before I could finish my thought, Spade’s hands were on my hips, pulling my ass back into him. “Is this what you want?” Pushing between my shoulders, he thrusted me down to hold onto the desk in front of me. “You want me to lose control?”
“Yes,” I answered. “That’s exactly what I want.”
A knock rapped at the door before it creaked open. My gasp lodged in my throat when I turned around to see the white-haired, statuesque man.
“Hello, brother,” Spade said with a hint of mockery. “Mind giving us a moment?”
“Not at all.” Riot’s gaze met mine but quickly looked away. “Don’t stop on my account.” Closing the door, he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “Carry on. I’m positive this won’t take long.”
My insides twisted and my cheeks warmed.
My thoughts were opposing each other. I wanted Spade, and I also didn’t want to hurt Riot.
I wanted Riot, and I also didn’t want to hurt Spade.
Though, part of me knew it could only be one of them for me, the decision was difficult…
especially with Riot’s steely gaze on me and Spade’s hard grip at my hips.
“I think I’ll pass,” Spade growled.
I turned to speak when pain shot through my backside. “Did you just spank me?” I squeaked.
Spade hit my left cheek again. “Yeah, I did.” He pulled away and crossed his arms, staring down his brother. “What can I do for you, Riot?”
Feeling my backside sting, and my pride fall to the ground, I quickly pulled up my pants and slipped into my blouse, quickly buttoning it up and hoping my rosy cheeks returned to normal by the time I had to turn and face the two men.
Riot drawled casually, “Can’t a fellow just stop by to say hello without an inquisition?”
“I don’t know, can you? You never have before. Seems a bit strange you’d happen to stop by now of all times. You know, when I’m a bit preoccupied.”
Riot lifted a shoulder. “Lucky timing, I suppose.”
I turned, fully clothed but still feeling naked. “Not to interrupt you two’s dick measuring, but now that I have you both in the same place, we all need to talk.”
“Do we have to?” Riot whined. “You’re always so serious. Do you ever have fun? Let loose? Cause some non-life ruing mayhem?”
“Can’t say that I do,” I answered, rolling my eyes. Riot had bathed since I last saw him. His long, straight white hair back to pristine condition. The white shirt and gray pants he wore were pressed and fresh. Riot was startlingly handsome; there was no denying it.
They both were.
That was part of the problem.
“This castle has plumbing, as you call it, which is not something anywhere else in the realm has. Electricity, too. The pictures on the walls move like, like…” I looked around. “You’ve collected moments from other worlds.” I pointed at Riot. “And you—”
“Me?” Riot put a hand to his chest. “What did I do?”
“Your moving canvas with the sea monster, the shark. Whatever a film is, it isn’t of this realm, either. I’ve been speaking with Cronos—”
Spade interrupted, “She’s getting her intel on us from a clock now.”
“That’s it, brother. We’ve finally driven the witch to madness,” Riot replied.
“You two can match, how precious.” Spade glared at his brother.
“Would you two shut up and stop distracting me? Answer me, straight up. I know you’re daimons, but you’re more, too. Or you’re a specific type of daimon… it doesn’t matter. Whatever you are, you’re capable of interacting with… other realms?”
The lords were silent.
“You are, aren’t you?”
Riot lifted a shoulder. “Even if that were true, what’s it matter to you?”
“Well, my sister is currently lost in the Underworld, so, I’d say it matters, asshole.”
Riot lifted his palms. “Right, right, I apologize. It all leads back to Rumor saving the day.”
“Destroying the day, more like it,” Spade added. “Have you seen Willowspire lately? Little witch really made a mess of things.”
I rubbed my temples. “Goddess, you two are going to kill me.”
“Can we chat someplace else?” Riot asked, plucking a leaf from a hanging ivy plant on Spade’s bedroom set. “It’s a little too green in here for my liking. Green and buggy.”
“There aren’t any bugs in my plants,” Spade corrected. “They’re impeccably cared for.”
“Spoken like a man who never gets laid,” Riot jeered.
With a huff, I brushed past them both and shoved Riot away from the door. “You want to go someplace to talk? I know where I want to go.” I glanced over my shoulder. “Coming?”
Both men looked at me, and I could have laughed at the sight of them. Who knew when I first came here, so incredibly fearful and intimidated by the elusive Blackthorne Boys, that eventually they’d be at my beck and call like adolescents with crushes.
Spade cleared his throat. “Fine, I’ll finish watering the pothos later.”
Riot bowed and fanned out his arm. “Lead the way. Clearly our castle is your castle.”