Chapter Twenty Four
The walk back to the house is quiet. It feels tense, but I try to ignore it. I tell myself it’s because we’re hunting maniac mages that could be anyone and not because of whatever Jaak is working himself up to tell me.
Whatever he has to say, I’ll deal. We’ll deal with it together.
That’s what you do when you’re head over heels falling for someone.
I worry my bottom lip while Jaak tests the wards around the perimeter.
I couldn’t feel them earlier but now I can.
When we cross the yard towards the house it’s like I’m hit with a wall of water.
It’s icy cold and makes me shiver. I look around me but everything looks the same.
“I felt that. Your ward, I mean. It’s cold.”
Jaak nods. “Protective magic often is. At least mine is. Your abilities are getting stronger if you’re able to sense the wards. I’m sure you’ll feel the house now as well. It’s not as strong as the wards, but with some work we can reawaken it.”
“The house, right. Oh my gosh, I want to see.” I rush up the stairs towards the house but the second I put my foot on the porch I’m hit so hard by an invisible hand that I nearly trip and fall. I catch myself and stumble forward to bounce off the front door with a groan.
“Meadow! Are you all right?” Jaak comes to me and I wave him off.
“Yup, I’m fine. I just got open hand slapped by the house, I think.
” I rub my arm from where I hit the door.
At least I didn’t break the door like I did Mort’s earlier.
I knock my knuckles on the door. “What the heck? I felt sorry for you earlier and you slap the shit out of me?” I ask and then motion towards Jaak.
“And in front of my husband? Not cool, house. Not cool at all.”
There’s a slight shudder. The house feels like it moves and then I hear the door click unlocked and it swings open.
I put my hands on my hips. “Is this you making up for the slap?” The lights in the entryway come on and I nod. I wag my finger at the house. “I’m momentarily appeased but you’re not off the hook.”
Jaak chuckles and leans against the doorframe while I walk inside. “Still worried about not being able to save the world with your magic? I see you coming into your strength just fine.”
“I think the house whacking me is different than the head mage trying to whack me, but I kind of see your point.”
“Good. Now stay here while I strengthen the wards. It won’t take long with the power I sank into them earlier. Maybe you and the house can make amends.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll see about dinner,” I tell him and then rise up on my toes and give him a kiss.
I mean to kiss his cheek but Jaak turns at the last second and it’s our lips that meet.
He wraps his arms around me and pulls me to him.
His touch isn’t as gentle as it was before, but it’s still not near enough what I know he’s capable of.
He’s still holding himself back. I press myself against his chest and deepen the kiss to test the hold he has on himself but when I look up at him his eyes are brown.
Not a single speck of silver to be found.
Dang it.
I drop down to my toes with a sigh. “I’m going to get your Minotaur to come out and play.”
He narrows his eyes at me and then moves me to the side so he can grab the door handle. “No, you are not.”
“Am too.”
“Meadow…”
“Fine, fine, I’ll go see about dinner.”
“Thank you. I won’t be long. If you need me just call.”
The door shuts behind Jaak and I stay there for a second looking at the door before I sigh and start walking. I sort of remember where the kitchen is but this morning feels so long ago. Did we go through it to get to the backyard?
I walk down a hall and take a turn just to end up in a parlor. “I’m lost in my own house,” I say. The second I say the words the house shudders again and the light in the hallway turns on and off. I walk to the hallway and poke my head out. The light there flashes once before it goes steady again.
“That’s you right? Benevolent house magic? Non slapping house magic?” I ask. The light flashes again and I step out into the hallway. “Can you help me get to the kitchen?”
A door I walked past swings open and I go for it.
Everyone I know would be yelling at me to go back to the foyer and wait for Jaak, to play it safe in the name of, well, safety.
Playing by the rules never got me anywhere good, though.
I followed every last rule and I still ended up with a knife to my throat in the middle of the night on my wedding day.
That was then. Things are different now.
I take a deep breath and stop in front of the open door.
There’s another hallway through it and one by one the wall sconces turn on to show me the path forward.
“I’m going to trust you not to suck me into a portal or lock me in a room, so I want you to know this is a really big moment to make up for earlier. ”
I go through another door and I’m in the kitchen.
It’s a big kitchen, much nicer than any kitchen I’ve ever been in.
Marble counter tops wrap around the length of the room and there’s a huge double sink with an elegant brass faucet with a big window above it.
To the left of me is a massive stove at one end, with a shiny hood that extends up to the ceiling.
At the center of the kitchen there’s an island and it’s marble topped with a butcher block cutting board resting on top.
There’s a few stools at one end of the island counter and to the right of that I see a door that I think is a pantry.
A metal fridge sits beside the pantry door and I head right for it but that's when I realize I made a big mistake when it came to dinner.
“We don’t have any food,” I groan but when I go to test out the fridge it’s packed full of food.
Fresh meat and veggies, cheese, milk, the whole thing.
“What the…” I look at the fridge and then head right for the pantry door.
I open that and it’s just as stocked as the fridge.
I thought I might have to figure out how to conjure something, anything but I don’t have to. Maybe Jaak did this?
Unless…what if it wasn’t Jaak? I think for a second on the magic food.
If Jaak did this he would have said something.
Besides, if it was him I don’t think he knows what cheesy chips are.
There’s a bag of those and even white cheddar popcorn.
I pick up the bag with a laugh. All my life popcorn was either buttery or caramelized and sweet.
They made the sweet kind during our Winter Celebration.
It was a hit with the Outsiders, but I’d never cared for it.
Cheesy popcorn, though? This is innovation.
I bring the bag of popcorn with me into the kitchen and open it up to test it out. I eat a few pieces of the popcorn before I toss back a handful.
Cheesy popcorn is bliss.
“How could I not know about this?” I hold the bag close to me and hug it.
“I’m never going to let you go, baby.” As soon as all of this is over, I’m going to take my new popcorn knowledge straight back to Sweet Tooth.
They’d go wild over this popcorn, I know they would but…
if I didn’t know about it the chances a millennia's old archdemon knowing to magically summon it here doesn’t seem plausible.
“But if it wasn’t Jaak…then…” I look up at the ceiling. “Wait, was this you? The food? The popcorn bliss?”
The lights flash in the kitchen and I have to laugh. I raise the popcorn bag to them in thanks. “Okay, you’re forgiven for earlier. We’re even now.”
The lights in the kitchen go a little brighter before they dim to a comfortable, cozy level. I start looking through the fridge for what I might need for dinner when I see the metal tray on the second shelf of the fridge.
“What’s this?” I grab the tray and pull it out to see it’s a fully-prepped chicken and potato dish.
All I have to do to cook it is put it in the oven.
The house didn’t just give us food, it prepared dinner.
Behind me the oven clicks on and I smile.
“I take back what I said. You’re not just forgiven, we’re best friends. ”
It’s easy work to sit and wait for the oven to preheat for dinner. I find a pitcher of fancy punch drink in the fridge and grab myself and Jaak a glass. When I pour myself a glass and take a sip, I almost moan at how good it is.
It’s sweet and tart at the same time. Cherries and something else, I don’t know what but I love it.
I’ve downed half a glass by the time the oven is ready for the chicken.
I hop up from the stool and have to steady myself.
I feel warm and floaty. It must be the glee over the popcorn.
I’m lucky I wasn’t holding the tray of chicken, I might have dropped it.
I take extra care when I grab the tray and pop it in the oven just as I hear footsteps outside of the kitchen.
“Meadow?”
“In here,” I call.
The door opens and Jaak strides in. He looks…
good. Like really good. He’s windswept in the best way, hair tousled and shirt unbuttoned at the top and open slightly and his pants, holy hells have they always been that tight?
Heat washes over me and I feel myself start to react.
There’s an ache inside of me that’s new, but feels right when I look at Jaak.
My breasts ache and my skin starts to feel like it’s on fire.
The way he kissed me on the bench replays when he pushes his hair off his face and walks towards me.
“All was well outside. The wards are charged.”
I don’t say a word. It’s like my tongue is tied up and all I can do is look him over. Gods, I want to wrap myself around him and-
“Everything all right?” he asks when I don’t say anything.
I blink and it’s like a bucket of cold water is thrown on me. I am creeping on my own husband, aren’t I?
“Yeah, everything is fine. Dinner’s in the oven.”