Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
It’s only been a week, but the Mergen Priory seems smaller than when I left it.
Had it always been this cluttered? And had the air always been so stuffy?
I sit down in what has always been my favorite chair.
Overstuffed and placed by a window that looks out at the garden, and near a heater so it’s one of the few places one can stay warm in the ancient building.
I nestle into it, trying to align my body to the well-worn cushions that, over the years, learned to conform to my shape, but find it doesn’t offer the same comfort as before.
The chair hasn’t changed. I have.
When I transported from the Durrand pack lands, I came here. I guess it’s no surprise. After all, I have nowhere I belong, but at least now, I’m sure I no longer want to belong here.
“You’re too late,” Prior Gremple calls out as he shuffles into the room. “You missed the Christmas deadline, and even if I were to overlook your tardiness, which I’m not”—his small eyes light up with glee—“your use of magic proves you never belonged as a member of the Order of Mergen.”
“You’re right,” I agree, but he doesn’t bother to listen to me.
“When you showed up at our door, I told the prioress you didn’t belong here, but she said you were clever, and your father’s Mergen bloodlines would win out over the mage magic running through you.”
For the first time, I really let myself take in his prejudiced comments and feel the offense meant by them. “And what exactly is so wrong with mage blood?” I ask, needing to know the origin of his dislike for me all these years. “After all, we are a scholarly order dedicated to magics.”
“Magic equals anarchy,” he declares passionately. “Mergens are the last defense against uncontrolled magic wielders such as yourself from infecting all of the realms with pure chaos.”
“Last defense?” I let out a hearty laugh. ”Are you wielding papyrus dust and shaky scholarship as your weapons to keep back the hordes?” Had I really let this foolish, small-minded man intimidate me and shape my self-worth for so many years?
Morann’s words repeat in my head. “Perception magic is one of the most insidious and long-lasting spells that even humans and Mergens have the ability to cast.”
The realization hits me. All this time, I’d been looking at myself through the view my grandmother, Gremple, and the whole damned Order had cast for me. I’d been looking through the wrong window. How many experiences and people had I denied myself because I didn’t believe I was worthy?
The answer is countless, but only one really matters. I left the man I’m in love with because I didn't believe he could ever love me back.
I need to get back to him. If there’s even the slightest chance he could someday love me back, I need to fight for him.
I prepare to transport back to the Durrand pack lands when a boom shakes the air, and Dom lands in a jumble at my feet. Elegantly, he gets to his feet and grips me by the shoulders. “Don’t go back to the Order,” he pleads, shaking me by the shoulder.
I try to make sense of Dom’s presence in the priory.
He transported here. The clumsy landing wasn’t from another spelled charm he’d purchased but had to have been fueled by the power he’d taken from me.
Transporting takes immense raw power that would have burned through the borrowed power in one go.
“You used all your power to come find me,” I say in shock.
“So?”
“You could have used my magic for the next year, maybe two, if you’d rationed it.”
“I don’t give a fuck about your magic.” His eyes darken accusingly. “You said you were mine, and then you left me.”
Tears come to my eyes. “I didn’t think you could really mean it.”
He brushes a lone tear from my cheek. “From the minute I saw you in the library I was planning to break into, my plans changed. I’d intended to take a priceless helmet rumored to belong to Julius Caesar as my prize, but then I saw you, gnawing nervously on your bottom lip as you read five books at once, and I decided I’d steal your heart instead. ”
I lower my head. I’d hoped for more. “I was just another challenge.”
“More than that.” He tilts my chin up so I’m forced to meet his eyes. “Raven shifters don’t have mates like wolf shifters do. I never thought I’d ever want that kind of commitment, but one look into your brown eyes that remind me of Rivadonian fire agate, and I knew I’d found my treasure.”
A treasure. I’m this beautiful, brave, adventurous man’s treasure.
“You were so alluringly fussy, I knew it might take some work to convince you that we were meant to be, so I stayed in the city and waited until it was the right time to steal your heart.” He winks at me.“ But then you came and found me.”
I smile back proudly. “I did, didn’t I?” I lean in to kiss him. “And tonight, you came and found me right back.”
“Always,” he murmurs and deepens the kiss.
“You can’t do that here.” Gremple's voice goes squeaky in outrage. “It’s scandalous. I’ll…,” he trails off, unsure of a good enough threat. Last defense, my ass.
Still kissing me, Dom picks up an antique letter opener from the archive’s desk and, without looking, flings it at Gremple so it expertly sails through the air, just past his shocked face, and embeds itself in the wall a sliver away from where he’s standing.
He runs screaming out the door.
“Thank you,” I say, snuggling even closer into Dom’s arms. “You just gave me closure.”
“I want to give you more than that,” he growls in my ear. “Let’s go back to my nest.”
“Can we go back to your Durrand nest?” I ask. “It would be nice to spend Christmas with your pack.”
“They’re your pack now too,” he says, and I marvel at how, for the first time in my life, I belong somewhere. “We’ll have to wait until tomorrow, though, to find a witch or mage we can buy a transporting spell from.”
I transport us back to the town square in front of the Christmas tree. Dom raises his eyebrow at me. “I take it you’re no longer a non-practicing mage.”
I tell him all about Morann and how I used my powers to help him defeat the shadowmen.
“You faced your fears about accessing your magic and ruined your chances to be accepted back into the Mergen Order to help me.” His eyes light up. ”You must love me.”
“You used all the power you’d taken from me to come find me.” My voice fills with the wonder of it. ”You must love me. “
“I do,” he says simply, and I nestle my head in the curve of his neck, and together we watch the tree sparkle. A light snowfall begins to cover us, and Dom reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “Let’s go home.”
I squeeze his hand back and don’t try to keep the emotion from my voice when I answer him. ”Let’s go home.”