Chapter Thirteen Wilde
Five Days Later
The Lord of Grimnight’s Evil Lair
Plan D
The minions were settled and preparations were made. It was time to meet the other champions. Before we left, I needed to explain the spell to Delilah. “My plans have not quite …” I trailed off, trying to find the right words.
“Worked? Like, at all?” she said, brown eyes wide and innocent.
I scowled at her. “Gone as planned.”
“That’s repetitive.”
Her argumentative nature reminded me of Trey—they’d practically grown up together, so the similarities made sense.
Sparring words with her might be good practice, but my wit was rusty, and I was too tired to polish it off.
“I’ve created a few contingencies to help the process.
If you hear this sound—” a low bell tolled, like a clock striking the hour “—that’s your ten-second warning that time is about to reset. ”
Delilah tossed her head back and groaned. “I don’t wanna do this all again. I just got my room how I liked it.”
“You aren’t staying here after today.”
She smirked and said, “I will when I visit you and Trey.”
“Why would you—” I stopped. We were getting off track. “The timeline won’t set back to the beginning.” I was also tired of the same routine: hiring the same minions, putting out the same fires, counting down the days until I would see Trey again. “It’ll only set back an hour.”
“What if that’s not enough time? What if someone used a slow-acting poison and we only discover it when it’s too late to find an antidote?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Then I’ll keep setting it back until we’re out of danger.”
“Do you decide what sets it off? Do I get a say at all?”
“No.”
“But what if I embarrass myself in front of everyone—”
“Then you can live with the consequences like a normal person.”
She crossed her arms and glared at me. “You don’t have to.”
I sighed. “I’m not going to reset time because I’ve said the wrong thing.”
“That’s good, because then we’d never get anywhere.”
My fingers twitched. What if I turned her into a cat, just for a little while? Brought her to the meeting and told everyone she’d cursed herself. Would any of them believe me?
“You’re looking at me evilly again.”
I took a deep breath and explained, “Time will only reset when something goes horribly wrong. Like if someone is in danger.” Or if the wrong person falls in love.
I kept that part to myself. It was selfish to ruin Trey’s prospects with anyone else.
I was fine with that—evil was always selfish—but I didn’t want to test the limits of Delilah’s morals.
“And the spell covers everyone?” she asked, staring at me sternly.
“If you’re in mortal danger, time will reset.”
“What about Angelica? Fitz? Maximus? We’re all going on this quest you know.”
My jaw clenched. It would be simple to expand the spell to cover everyone, but it would also take more energy. The more energy I exerted on the spell, the less I had for the quest ahead.
“Wilde,” she said, a warning growl in her voice.
It amazed me how catlike she sounded without magical assistance.
“Fine, I will adjust the spell to cover everyone.” My gaze grew distant, the room fading around me, as I focused on the spell.
Clockwork slowly appeared—gears and weights and springs—transparent at first before solidifying.
Each piece contained a possibility: a flash of Trey’s smile, Delilah’s twitching cat ears, the soft touch of a kiss, blood on my hands.
Soft moments and painful ones, things that happened in other timelines and things I wanted to avoid.
I carefully pinched my fingers, gathering magic as I pictured Angelica.
A flash of a golden rapier clashing with a shadow sword.
A snide question: Did he blackmail you? Enchant you, perhaps?
The magic formed into a thread that I offered to the gears.
The thread caught, and the gears pulled Angelica into the spell.
Fitz was easier. Images popped into my mind one after another: nimble fingers constantly fidgeting with his glasses; excited questions coming one after another as he researched a new topic; tawny hair threatening my tea.
The second thread of magic was thick with memories and the gears eagerly took it, incorporating him into the spell.
The last was Maximus, and there I hesitated.
Suspicion and hostility shadowed the memories of him, turning him into a towering monster.
A meaty hand squeezing mine until my bones creaked.
Hazel eyes narrowed in suspicion and acid in his voice every time he deigned to speak to me.
I never learned whether the root of his hatred came from his instincts warning him I was evil, or his jealousy over my relationship with Trey.
I could leave Maximus out of the spell. Delilah would never know, not unless something happened to him, and by then I would have already earned her cooperation.
But Treasure had risked his life to save all of them. If Maximus was in danger, Trey was in danger. So I gathered up the last thread and carefully wove it into the spell.
More clockwork appeared with new faces, new moments, new possibilities.
Even with magic, the future wasn’t certain, but the spell would keep us moving in the correct direction.
Anything that didn’t fit—mortal wounds and broken hearts—would turn the gears backwards, reset the clock, and allow us the opportunity to find a better path.
The spell imagery faded and the room pulsed black. Fuck, I overdid it. I breathed through the dizziness, waiting for the magic to settle.
Beside me, Delilah remained quiet, unaware that I’d finished.
When my vision cleared and I was confident my voice wouldn’t tremble, I told her, “It’s done.”
She patted me on the head and chirped, “Good boy.”
I smacked her hand away. Did Trey feel condescended to when I said that to him? No, there’d always been a soft flush to his cheeks, a certain looseness to his limbs as if he would curl up in my lap and let me pet him for hours. “I’m evil. Good does not, and never will, apply to me.”
Delilah made a noise halfway between a hum and a purr. “Well, you’re going to have to pretend to be good for this quest. No evil acts, no evil magics, and no evil looks. You’ll behave properly, or I will turn the carriage around and drag you right back to this evil lair, young man.”
“You’re not the one driving.” I frowned as I realized the direction of our argument. “We’re not driving at all, we’re teleporting!”
Laughter bubbled past her lips, and she hugged my arm, leaning her head against my shoulder. “You’re so weird, Wilde.”
I ignored her. There was nothing else to discuss, so I wrapped my arm around her waist and said, “Hold on.”
And we teleported to the capital city of Misfortune.
Right into the path of a carriage.
Delilah screamed. The coachman’s eyes widened, knowing he couldn’t slow the horses in time.
I teleported us to the sidewalk a few feet away. The moment we landed, my knees gave out from under me. Delilah tried to hold me up, yelling my name as I slipped from her arms. Although she couldn’t stop my descent, she slowed it, so when I plopped onto the ground, I only bruised my ass a little.
“I’m fine,” I panted. When I tried to wave away her worries, I misjudged where she was standing and accidentally smacked her arm.
She stopped shouting immediately to snap, “You don’t have to hit me!”
“Delilah?” The first time someone said her name, it was full of confusion and wonder.
“Delilah!” The second time it was a roar of a wild beast protecting its young. The speaker descended from their carriage, helmet on, sword at the ready as they charged through the street toward Delilah.
“Kit!” Delilah declared, opening her arms for a hug.
The person swept Delilah up in one arm, spun her around, then set her down again behind them in a smooth, protective motion.
The sword point went to my throat. I tried to raise a hand to push it away but missed a second time, my hand swimming uselessly through the air.
If the world would stand still for a moment …
“Kit, it’s fine, he wasn’t hurting me!”
“He kidnapped you—”
“I was not kidnapped! Didn’t you get my note?”
Someone crouched next to me. From the corner of my eye, I saw red hair. I grabbed onto Trey’s sleeve, holding tightly.
“What’s going on?” Trey asked. “Why’d you suddenly appear in the middle of the road?”
The voice should have been right next to my ear. Instead, it came from several feet away.
I blinked and lifted my head. Trey stood with his cousin, hands on his hips as he glared at her in exasperation. I turned my head slowly to find Prince Brendon Banes looking down at me, his brow furrowed in concern.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice low and soothing.
I stared at him for a long moment. Why is it always the wrong person? “I—”
The world went black before I finished the sentence.