Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
EMORY
I walked out of my room, wearing a new dress—this one floor-length, maroon, and long-sleeved. The bodice molded to my curves, and the sleeves hung across my biceps, leaving my collarbone and shoulders on display. While we’d been foraging in the dungeons, Annalee had been foraging every wardrobe in this castle. She’d found a whole array of dresses and insisted I wear this one. Apparently she was becoming my personal stylist.
We’d been summoned for dinner, but all I wanted to do was trek back down to those dungeons and get the lightning bolt. I’d given up hope that I’d ever find it in this wasteland, and here it was, the key to my freedom. Right underneath this castle.
I took a few deep breaths as I walked to Driscoll’s room and knocked on the door. A muffled sound escaped, and my heart picked up its pace. Driscoll sounded like he might be in trouble. Like he was being attacked. My hand hovered over the doorknob, and I was unsure what to do when a scream split the air.
I couldn’t take any chances. I turned the handle and burst in.
“Are you okay?” I yelled, then abruptly stopped when I saw Aron kneeling behind Driscoll, who was on all fours. On the bed. Naked. Very naked.
“Oh spirits below.” I covered my eyes and wheeled around. “I’m so sorry. I heard sounds, and I thought you were in trouble.”
“Oh, I’m in a lot of trouble,” Driscoll said. “And Aron is making sure I’m adequately punished for my bad behavior.”
The sound of shuffling, trousers being pulled on echoed behind me while I stood there, absolutely mortified.
“I should go,” I said. “Again, so sorry for interrupting?—”
A heavy hand landed on my shoulder, and I peeked open an eye to see a fully clothed Aron standing there.
Driscoll sat on the edge of the bed behind him, also now clothed, smirking at me while Aron just had the same matter-of-fact look on his face that he always had. Absolutely no shame.
“I should go. Dinner will be served shortly, and El doesn’t tolerate tardiness.”
“We have a pretty good excuse for being late,” Driscoll said in a singsong voice.
Aron patted me on the back and left the room, closing the door behind him.
I pressed a hand to my forehead. “I just completely ruined that, didn’t I?”
Driscoll pointed a finger at me. “If that wasn’t our third round, I’d be really really mad right now.” He cocked his head. “I mean, I’m still a little mad, but you thought I was getting attacked so I can forgive you.”
“I did.” I took a tentative step forward.
Driscoll waggled his eyebrows. “Technically, I was getting attacked. By Aron’s penis.”
“Okay.” I held up my hands and sat next to him on the edge of his bed. “I get it. You were having great sex.” I nudged him. “What changed? I thought you were anti-relationships.”
Driscoll tugged at the hem of his forest-green tunic. “Well, someone very wise told me that it was time to start living my life. So I decided to stop worrying about why you and Maverick can’t just figure it out or why El has seven swans waddling around her castle. Or why Annalee keeps looking at El like there’s something she wants to say...” He shook his head. “Anyway. Decided to stop thinking about all of that and just focus on myself.”
I laughed in disbelief. “Good for you. Aron is good for you, I think.”
Driscoll pinned me with a look. “Calm down. It’s just sex.”
“Mm-hmm. Sure it is.”
“Are you having sex with Hot Professor yet?” he challenged. “Annalee said you two disappeared somewhere together earlier.”
I crossed my arms. That girl was downright mischievous. “No, we were doing some investigating.”
“Of course you were.” Driscoll stood, walking over to his wardrobe and opening it. He grabbed a black jacket that was far too big for him and shrugged it on. “So I listen to your wise words, but you won’t listen to mine?”
“I did listen. It doesn’t mean I have to take your advice.” I strolled across the room to look out the window, but my feet got tangled in something, and I tripped, falling to the ground with a crash.
“Emory!” Driscoll ran to me, crouching down.
“What in the blood and frost...” I trailed off, seeing that the strap of a satchel was wrapped around my slippers. Maverick’s satchel.
“What is that doing in your room?” I asked Driscoll.
“Oh.” He crawled to it, unentangling it from my feet and lifting it. “Aron brought it to Maverick’s room, but you all were off on your little adventure, so I told him I’d keep it in here until Maverick got back.” His face turned thoughtful. “So really I have Maverick to thank for our sexcapades. I wouldn’t have invited Aron in and had the best sex of my life if it weren’t for Maverick forgetting his satchel?—”
In his attempt to free it from my slipper, it had opened up, all its contents dumping out onto the ground.
“Oh, spirits below.” Driscoll knelt down to pick everything up. He lifted a folded piece of parchment. “Why does he have so much parchment? Was he planning on writing a ton of letters while he was here? Sending them off in the post?” He scoffed.
I stared at all the parchment on the ground. Hundreds of little notes, folded. Not just any notes.
Mine .
I scrambled forward, picking them up and opening them in a frenzy. Reading them. My handwriting. My words. And he’d kept every single one. He—brought them with him.
“You know, that’s kind of an invasion of privacy.” Driscoll stuffed a few back in Maverick’s satchel. “I’m all for snooping, but I think I’m actually going to have to put my foot down here.”
“I wrote these.” I held one up, showing Driscoll the WH.
His eyes widened. “You wrote these?” He glanced back down at the papers scattered everywhere. “And he kept them? And brought them on his journey? Hot Professor is a romantic.”
I sat back, surrounded by all the notes I’d written over the years, stunned.
“This has to change your mind, right?” Driscoll asked, shaking one of the pieces of parchment. “If you don’t kiss that man, I might.”
I gave him a look.
“Okay, I probably won’t because of all the sex I’m having now, but Hot Professor deserves to be kissed by someone! Preferably the woman he loves. He risks his life for you, risks his career for you, and now this?”
I stopped abruptly, Driscoll’s words hitting me.
“Hello?” Driscoll waved a hand over my eyes. “Is anyone in there?”
“You’re right,” I said slowly. “He’s risked his life for me over and over. He risked his career helping me escape from the frost guards. He risked his career just by being the bone collector.”
“Uh, yeah?” Driscoll scratched his head. “I know.”
“No.” I stood and began pacing. “You don’t understand. It’s not just that he put me before his job, he puts my life before his. Constantly.”
“Uh-huh,” Driscoll said. “Everyone knows this. I told you he’s kind of obsessed with you.”
I thought about that vision in the lake. It supposedly told my future, and I’d believed it. I’d believed it over not just Maverick’s words, but his actions. He’d shown me time and time again that he was willing to put me before everything.
“You’re having a huge realization, aren’t you?” Driscoll asked, then waggled his finger at me. “I can tell by the way your eyes have gone as wide as saucers. About time, by the way. ”
“I love him,” I said, grabbing a handful of the notes. “And he loves me. And I don’t care what a stupid lake showed me. That won’t happen to us.”
“You’ve lost me on the lake thing,” Driscoll said. “But it sounds like you’re ready to finally sex up Hot Professor, so yay?”
“I have to apologize. I have to tell him how I feel.”
“After dinner, right?” Driscoll asked. “I’m really hungry, and I don’t want all the drama to cause a delay.”
“Driscoll!” I grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door.
“What? You heard Aron. El does not tolerate tardiness. And I get grumpy when I’m hungry, so can you just wait until after dinner to make your big declaration of love?”
Dinner. It was in just a few minutes. Everyone would be there. Well, not everyone. Just those of us who’d arrived today, plus El and Aron. I hadn’t actually seen any of the other residents who lived here. Just heard them.
Maverick wanted to question El about the bolt. Maybe Driscoll was right. My declaration of love could wait until we found out exactly why El was harboring Spirit Sky’s lightning bolt.