Fox #2
“You’re all acting like these are things I didn’t already know.
That I haven’t been studying your schedules, habits, and lives to seamlessly merge into your paths.
Which you’ve already admitted you know. So, unless you want to tell me one of your deepest, darkest secrets, I have nothing to give you in exchange.
” She leans back on the heels of her palms, and I get a glint of the gold chain at her throat.
I know it has to be me. I’m the only one she couldn’t reach outside the walls of the manor.
She obviously knew that I existed—the look on her face at the gym told me as much.
Sifting through the bits of myself that would be considered interesting enough to earn us a glint of useful information, I finally settle on my ability, hoping that she also sees it as a warning.
“I can control water in all its forms. Solid, liquid, vapor. Including the water you’re made of. ”
I hold out my hand palm up and summon the water sitting in the glass on her side table. It shakes at first, gathering its molecules into a rope then traveling across the room to form a ball the size of an apple and hovering just above my skin. Her eyes widen and lips part slightly.
“That’s how you incapacitated me on campus.” It’s a statement.
“Yes,” I confirm and wait for her reciprocation.
She closes her mouth and looks to be reeling in her emotions.
“It must be nice to have consistent access to magic.”
There’s a slip of her mask with that small truth. She does use magic and has been taught by someone that we harvest it.
“I showed you mine,” I volley and return the water to her glass in a ribbon.
“If you’d like to share a bit of your potency with me, I would love to show you.” She holds out her hand as if we could produce a physical nugget of magic to hand over.
“I have a feeling you already have a supplier,” Asher says.
“It doesn’t surprise me that you don’t see woman as self-sufficient,” she counters.
Thorne bends at the waist to level his face with hers. “You have no idea what the witches in our coven are capable of. And that kills you, doesn’t it?”
Her mouth shuts hard with the click of teeth. He’s found the weak spot and digs in deeper. “You may know all you need to about us, but the coven is still a mystery to you, isn’t it?”
She doesn’t answer, but her lips tighten to a fine line. If looks could kill, the daggers she’s staring into him would paint the walls.
“I don’t need to know anything about them. They’ve placed the four of you on the highest pedestal.” She lowers her voice. “Their champions. Their legacies.”
The venom dripping from her last words silences us.
Asher’s shoulders tense like he’s waiting for her to strike him, and Thorne straightens to his full height.
I can feel the heat of Thorne’s frustration manifesting.
He takes a step closer to her and my muscles tense.
I’m unsure if Asher and I will have to pull Thorne off Elsbeth, but instead he reaches a hand out to the collar of her sweater and pulls it down just far enough to show the necklace she’s wearing.
It’s a heart-shaped locket with some sort of engraving on it.
Thorn takes the pendent between his fingers and turns it slowly.
“Is this where you’re keeping it?” His voice is almost a whisper. “Take it off.”
“What?” She looks down at his hand then back up to his face. “You think I’d be stupid enough to wear any sort of magical containment around my neck?”
“You’ve more than proved you’re not stupid. But you were ambushed and I’m not willing to take any chances. Take it off or I’ll take it off for you.”
The unspoken tug-of-war pulses between them, and she must decide it’s not worth the possibility of being manhandled because she reaches up, unclasps the chain, and holds it out for Thorne to take. He offers his open palm to her, and she drops it before retracting her hand as he pockets it.
Asher turns and addresses me. “Her tray is ready in the kitchen. I’ll wait here with Thorne.”
I give him a nod and move toward Maddox still leaning against the doorframe.
With a gentle nudge, the two of us head back downstairs so I can fetch her dinner and a snack for later.
The kitchen was renovated back in the early 2000s, but the appliances have been updated since—thank fuck for automatic ice makers and an extra-large dishwasher.
When the two of us get to the kitchen island, Maddox slumps into a stool and lays his head and torso across the cool marble countertop.
“You alright?” I ask while taking the plate meant for Elsbeth out of the warming drawer in the oven.
“Yeah,” he answers, sitting up with a curve in his back that doesn’t convince me. “I just can’t understand why she hates us so much. Who is she, and where did she come from?”
“Give Thorne twenty minutes alone with her and I bet we’ll find out.”
“We can’t let him hurt her.” His eyes bulge and fill with panic.
I hold my hands up and try to calm him with, “I was kidding, Mads. We’ll figure out what to do with her once we know exactly who she is and why she’s been stalking us.”
“What do we tell the coven?”
“Nothing,” I say a little too sharply. “The last thing we need is the council taking her into their custody. They will kill her, and we’ll never know who she’s working with.”
“You think it’s someone in the coven?”
I purse my lips and lean against the counter’s edge.
The thought has been plaguing me for hours.
It’s unlikely she was raised in another coven by the way she talks about our magic.
But without proof of her connection to someone in ours, we have no one to accuse.
And that could mean more danger waiting for us later on.
“I think we all need a good night’s sleep.
She doesn’t have access to magic while she’s here and she’s warded to her room and the bathroom.
As long as you use the other three in the house, you won’t have to run into her at all,” I assure him and finish putting together the traveling tray to take upstairs.
“What if . . . What if I want to be around her?” He sounds ashamed but has no reason to be. I feel it too. Whether it’s the mystery shrouding her or some cosmic pull, I want to keep her talking to hear the way her brain works.
Maddox isn’t weak. In fact, his ability is more powerful than Thorne’s depending on the situation.
Having the power to connect with the earth means he could cause devastation to entire cities if he needed to.
Which is why his strong feelings toward Elsbeth have been so worrisome.
He’s always been a deep thinker who loves with his entire being, but when he lets the darkest parts of him take over, he has to battle his intrusive thoughts harder than the rest of us.
I’ll never forgive his father for all those years he put Maddox in dangerous situations, trying to provoke his magical ability to manifest itself.
And likewise his mother for pretending it wasn’t happening.
“Let’s get through tonight before we try to make friends out of foes.” I end it there, taking the tray and heading back upstairs to deliver it.
It’s silent when I get to the second floor.
Walking past my room, I check that the sigil is still charged and ready to protect me through the night.
It’s marked with white ash and endowed with valerian root, which will seal once I’m inside for the night and only open for one of the other guys or myself.
Our wards around her room should hold, but we aren’t going to take any chances.
Moving down the hall, I can hear Thorne and Asher talking to each other. They’re still inside of Elsbeth’s room, but she’s now sitting with her legs crossed, boots off, and arm holding her chin as she watches the two would-be guards.
“Hope you’re not vegan . . . or picky,” I say as I enter.
I lower the tray but keep several feet between us, as if she were imprisoned in a Hannibal Lector style cell.
I do most of the cooking since the other guys usually don’t get home until late.
Tonight was Italian, but since dried-out pasta and congealed sauce would have been unappetizing for all of us, I made chicken piccata with mashed potatoes, green beans, and brown-butter roasted carrots for added color.
Nothing makes me want to vomit more than a plate full of beige food.
Elsbeth looks at the meal for a long moment then up to me. “It’s still warm.”
“We aren’t monsters.”
“What would you call a group of men who abduct a woman and hold her against her will?” She levels me with a stoney look.
I glance over my shoulder at Asher and Thorne, who are watching us closely, then I turn back to her and take a few steps closer to lower the tray to her bed. “You’re awfully calm for someone being held in captivity.”
She watches my every movement, waiting for me to take a full two steps away before saying, “Did you know that women are more likely to smile at men in public because our greatest threat in life is angering a man?”
“You’re not smiling,” I point out, purposefully antagonizing her.
Her lips pull into a wide, cheesy smile.
“Cute.” Matching her stride for stride, I give her a wink and walk across the room to stand next to Asher and Thorne.
“Leave the tray outside your door when you’re finished,” Thorne says.
“How do I know it’s not poisoned?” She narrows her eyes on him, but there’s something teasing in her tone.
“It’s too soon to kill you,” he tosses over his shoulder, obviously finished with the fruitlessness of the evening.
Lying in bed, I can’t keep my mind from the woman sleeping a wall away. The branches of thoughts intertwine with worries like vines in gnarled brambles that are too hard to separate. I fear that sleep won’t bring me peace but without it, the night will drag on and on.