Chapter Twenty Wilde
Fifty Minutes Later
The Windermere Plaza
Almost Done Shopping
“Is that everything?” I asked.
Fitz leaned over my shoulder to review the list of books and magical ingredients, the swoop of his tawny hair tickling my cheek and neck. “I think so.”
I pulled away from him and tucked the list back into my pocket. “Then we should meet up with the others.”
“Wait. I … before we join them, I wanted to talk to you. In private.”
I looked pointedly at the dozens of people surrounding us, milling in and out of shops. Parents with their kids. Young lovers on dates. Friends laughing and joking together as they pressed their faces to store windows. This was the exact opposite of ‘private.’
“They don’t count.” Despite saying that, Fitz’s eyes skated around the crowd, suddenly aware of how many people might overhear our conversation.
He grabbed my arm and dragged me to an opening between two stores.
The little alley led to a back hallway meant for discreet deliveries.
I was familiar with the setup because Trey and I had met somewhere similar before.
He dropped my arm, then carefully set our bags down, ensuring the magical supplies inside didn’t break as they were jostled. Then he turned to me, his expression serious. “Ever since we met, I’ve felt like we already knew each other.”
Shit. Since he wasn’t holding onto me, I could teleport away, or simply run, to conserve my energy. I tensed, debating the best option.
Delilah’s voice whispered in my mind: coward.
I forced my body to relax and stared at Fitz, waiting for him to continue.
“Once upon a time,” he murmured, his voice taking on a soft, storyteller’s cadence. “I met a girl named Willow.”
My heart pounded, beating a simple command: run. Run. RUN.
“She was beautiful, and kind, and smarter than anyone else I knew.” He approached me slowly, hands raised, like he was trying not to scare off a wild animal. “We spent hours together, talking and reading and simply enjoying the presence of another person.”
I closed my eyes, refusing to look at him for this confession. “Willow doesn’t exist. I made her up. I lied to you about everything: my name, my gender, my interests. All to get closer to you, so I could go on this quest.”
“I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman, Willow or Wilde.
And I don’t think you faked everything.” A quiet certainty emboldened his voice as deft fingers tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
“Not the way your eyes lit up when you talked about the Flower King. Not the way you smiled when you learned something new. There was truth in that. And I think—” he hesitated, maybe not so certain after all—“there could be truth in us.”
The last words were spoken close enough to feel them. And then all I could feel was his lips. Gentle, at first, a question: do you want this? When I didn’t immediately push him away, he increased the pressure, the kiss warm with hope.
It wasn’t unpleasant, exactly. The sensation was fine—a bit dry, a bit dull, but fine.
Fine wasn’t enough.
When I kissed Treasure, no matter whether it was sweet or passionate, pain or pleasure, every inch of me thrummed with awareness and hunger. I always wanted more, to have every second consumed by him.
With Fitz … I just waited for him to give up.
A nearby clock bell tolled the hour.
Ten second warning.
I shoved Fitz away, needing to put distance between us before the spell activated. I scrubbed my lips, trying to remove the sensation of his dry kiss. “Don’t do that again. I’m not in love with you, and I am not going to fall in love with you. Forget about Willow. Try to find someone else—”
One Hour Earlier
The Entrance of the Windermere Plaza
Lightheaded
“Wait.” Maximus held out a hand, preventing Delilah from passing me the list. “Shouldn’t the mage shop for the magical items?”
Delilah blinked, dazed, then glared at me. What happened? She mouthed, ignoring Maximus’ question.
Fitz wobbled and stumbled to the side. When he caught himself, he spun in a full circle, facing the group again. “I feel …”
“Sick,” Trey said, covering his mouth. His face was somehow green and pale at the same time.
“Like I was rejected. Again.” Tears dotted Fitz’s eyelashes and when he blinked, they speckled his glasses. He removed them to briskly clean them on his shirt, “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying.”
“Fitz and I will shop for the magical items,” Delilah insisted, snatching the list from Maximus’ hand. He stubbornly clutched it long enough for the corner to rip before finally letting go. She grabbed Fitz’s shoulders and forcefully steered him away from the group. “We’ll meet you in an hour.”
“I’m gonna find somewhere private to … puke,” Trey said, stumbling off to the side.
“Ugh, you’re disgusting,” Angelica complained, rolling her eyes. “Come on, Maximus.”
Maximus’ hand closed around my wrist, tight enough to bruise. I gritted my teeth to keep from flinching. “I’ll shop with Wilde. Stay here with Trey until he feels better.”
Angelica stamped her foot. “Why does no one want to shop with me?”
Maximus dragged me away. I tried to get a last look at Trey, to make sure he was alright, but the crowds quickly blocked him out.
I had no desire to speak with Maximus and no patience for his bullying. “Let go.”
Maximus’ grip tightened until my fingers spasmed.
With him holding me, I couldn’t teleport away, and he was too strong to fight.
I could stop time but just thinking that made me trip over my own feet.
I crashed down to one knee. Unbothered, Maximus kept walking, wrenching my arm until I cried out in pain.
He stopped without releasing me. The crowd split around us, their gazes harsh and judgmental, irritated to find their path blocked.
“Get up,” Maximus said. “We need to talk.”
The last thing I wanted was another damn private conversation. “Let me go first.”
Maximus dropped my wrist and jerked his head to the side, indicating another alleyway.
I shook my head. I wasn’t going anywhere secluded with him.
He crouched beside me and whispered in my ear, “Get up and walk on your own, or I will drag you there, regardless of any witnesses.”
I stared back at him. “I thought you were good.”
“Only to people who deserve it.”
Maximus reached for me again, following through on his threat. I tried to stop time, but it slipped through my fingers. It paused for a second, a hitch of breath, before continuing again. He grabbed my arm and dragged me across the floor to the alley.
He barely waited until we were out of sight before he slammed me up against the wall. One hand pinned my shoulder, the other wrapped around my throat. He wasn’t squeezing yet, but I didn’t know how long his restraint would last.
“I don’t know who you are or why you’re here, but I know evil when I see it,” he growled. The puppy had grown up into a guard dog with fangs. “I want you to leave us alone.”
“I’m not going to hurt anyone,” I insisted. I grabbed his wrist with both hands, trying to disengage from him. If time reset while he held onto me, he’d come with me, like Delilah had, memories intact.
His fingers tightened until black spots formed in my vision. “I don’t believe you. I think you’ll get someone killed. Maybe you already have.”
The image of Trey flashed in my mind. A tree branch sprouting through his back. Blood soaking his shirt, spilling from lips I’d kissed a dozen times. The way his face crumbled with pain that he tried to mask with flippancy as he said, “I don’t think a health potion will be enough.”
Tears formed in my eyes, a mix of pain and grief. Maximus’ eyes widened in shock and his grip loosened.
A clock bell tolled in the distance.
Ten second warning.
I yanked my knee up, directly into Maximus’ groin. He released me and bowed over himself, clutching his bruised balls. I shoved him away and started running, choosing a random direction, anywhere that would put distance between us before time reset.
One Hour Earlier,
Inside a Carriage
Headed Toward the Windermere Plaza
Delilah’s blunt nails dug into my arm. “What did you do?” she hissed in my ear.
“I’m gonna be sick,” Trey said.
My stomach jolted and bile rose in my throat. I choked it back down and whispered, “Me too.”
Fitz’s eyes widened and he hurriedly slammed on the roof, ordering the coachman to stop. As the carriage slowed, Trey threw one of the doors open and stumbled out. I followed shortly after him, barely landing on the ground before coughing up stomach acid into the dirt.
Wet sounds came from beside me as Trey did the same.
“Oh gods, I thought they were going to puke on us,” Angelica said. Then a new thought occurred to her. “Is it contagious?”
“They’re motion sick,” Delilah assured her.
“Wonderful, exactly what I need in quest companions.”
Delilah crouched next to me and rubbed my shoulder soothingly. Hiding her face from the others, she whispered, “You overexerted yourself, didn’t you?”
I nodded shakily, too afraid that if I opened my mouth, I’d vomit again.
She sighed. “I told you not to. And twice in a row! There was barely ten minutes between the two! Why would you do something so stupid?”
Fitz confessed his love, and Maximus tried to kill me. I tilted my face toward her. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of my breath, but she leaned in closer to listen. “Keep Maximus away from me.”
We glanced back at the carriage, where the others had stayed. Maximus had poked his head out the window. He looked, for once, concerned rather than angry. As if he’d used up all his murderous rage threatening me and had returned to being a sweet young man.
Dogs didn’t age backwards. Once their adult teeth came in, they would never be puppies again.
Delilah left me to check on Trey, then hopped to her feet. “The four of us will continue on,” she declared. “Trey and Wilde will rest here.”
“Here is the side of the road!” Fitz protested.
“The carriage can drop us off, then come back for them, and return them to the castle.”
“Or we could just not go shopping.”
“Excuse you, I still have things to buy,” Angelica insisted. “Besides, we’re almost there! They can wait ten minutes for the carriage to come back for them.”
Fitz was outvoted by the girls, who hustled him back into the carriage. Within a few minutes, they were back on the road, leaving Trey and I alone.
Trey had moved away from his puddle of sick and stretched out in the grass, gazing up at the cloudy sky. I crawled over to join him and lay down close enough to touch if we reached toward each other. I stared at the clouds too, trying to understand why he seemed so captivated by them.
“So,” he drawled, “we’re stuck in a time-loop.”