Chapter 32
Thirty-Two
???
“Where are we going?” Sadie asked, her brow raised at the pace Nicholas set leaving the library.
“Back to my workroom. I need to modify the demon-detecting charm I made before supper. I’d also like to test the wards my however-many-greats grandfather described.”
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t test them without a demon?”
“I can’t be sure I have them right without a demon, but since several things seem to work the same on telepathy and demon possession, I thought I could at least test them against you.
” He opened the workroom door and ushered her inside.
He fished the useless charm he had made that morning from his pocket and tossed it onto the nearest table.
“Did the charm I made for you at least help?”
Sadie shrugged and twisted the ring on her finger. “Maybe? It felt easier to project my thoughts at you and to choose to listen to your surface thoughts without delving deeper, but that might be more because it is you, and I’m starting to accept that you really don’t mind.”
That admission, Nicholas thought, deserved a reward.
Her cheeks turned rosy. Her voice went husky. “What sort of reward?”
He pressed his lips to hers. “Tonight, I’ll act out any fantasy you choose to share with me—so long as you share it via telepathy.”
“Any fantasy?”
He laughed at her arch tone and couldn’t wait to see what she’d come up with, despite knowing she would tease him rather than sharing a true fantasy. “Anything.”
The image came an instant later: him on his knees, his jacket off and shirtsleeves rolled up, as he scrubbed out a massive cauldron lying on its side.
“I’ll do it, if that’s what you really want. Of course, we could instead do something else that involves warm, soapy water.” He pictured them in the tub, his hands dragging a washcloth up her arms, over her collarbone, around her breasts.
“I’ll think about it,” Sadie answered breathlessly.
“Good.” He scooped up a blank stone. “Feel free to continue sharing those thoughts with me.”
Sadie glanced at the charm he had tossed on the table. “What’s wrong with it? It was supposed to vibrate when the demon was near, right? It shouldn’t have activated at all while we were with Beatrice.”
“Right. Except it started vibrating every time you projected your thoughts into my mind. I must have miscalculated when choosing which runes to use.”
He had purposefully attempted to exclude Sadie’s power, and to a certain extent it had worked.
The charm hadn’t vibrated when she listened to his thoughts, only when she spoke to him telepathically.
Which meant it probably wouldn’t activate unless the demon tried to possess him, either. Not what he had wanted for the charm.
He began carving, changing the runes slightly as he created a new glyph. Sadie sat on a stool next to him, twisting the ring he had given her around and around her finger. Belatedly, he realized she had nothing to do.
He set down the stone. “Sorry. You don’t have to stay with me while I do this.” He wanted her to, though. Not only because there was a demon in the manor and he wanted to know she was safe at his side. He simply enjoyed having her near.
“It’s fine. I have a lot on my mind, and this is as good a place as any to work through my thoughts. Plus, I thought you wanted to test your anti-demon ward before supper.”
“I do, but we could do that first if you don’t want to be stuck waiting for me to finish engraving this charm.”
“If it is all the same to you, I’d rather not give Abigail or the demon a chance to get you alone.”
“Abigail or the demon, huh? Which one worries you more?”
“Abigail, naturally. You’re too nice to reject her as harshly as it would require to send her packing. I have hopes you might be tougher facing a demon.”
“We’ve assumed that she is willingly working with the demon—is there really anything I could do that would make her leave?”
“Probably not.” Sadie shifted on her stool, leaning toward Nicholas. “Let’s try your anti-demon ward.”
“All right. This may take me a moment.” He summoned a ward around himself, the standard barrier his magic manifested as, blue and glowing. He didn’t worry about what it looked like. He could make it invisible later. First, he needed to adjust what the ward blocked.
According to the explanation in the journal he had read, a ward to block demonic possession was similar to the aural ward Nicholas already knew how to craft. Instead of sound, he focused his power on thoughts and mental auras.
“Oh.” Sadie’s mouth rounded. “It’s like when my amulet was active. There’s no hum of thoughts that I can’t quite make out.”
“Try to project a thought at me.”
She rubbed a finger over the ring he had given her and pressed her lips together. “I can’t. My power bounces off your ward.”
“You can sense it blocking you, then?”
“Yes. Even when I’m not actively trying to use my power, there is an awareness that some sort of barrier exists. Which means the demon will know we are onto it once you use the ward.”
“Wards are stationary anyway, so it’s not like I can walk around cloaked in it.
We can save this for when we confront the demon.
” Nicholas dropped the ward. He’d have to practice more to be able to summon it in an instant, though it sounded like he didn’t have to worry about making it invisible.
“I want to try casting the ward over you instead of me and see if that changes anything.”
Sadie nodded. “Go ahead.”
He cast the ward and watched her through the shimmering blue. She cocked her head to the side, then hopped off the stool and stepped through the barrier. Nicholas would have to remember to cast a second, physical ward behind the demon-blocking one.
“It felt more-or-less the same. A little more muffled, I suppose, since my power couldn’t go in any direction, though it is hard to say since no one else is close enough for my power to pick up.”
“Perfect. It will be easier to ward the demon than erecting protective wards around everyone, if needed.”
“Now we just have to find the portal it came through, lure it there, and seal it back on the other side.”
Nicholas placed his hands on her waist, stepping closer. “You don’t have to take on the demon, Sadie. It isn’t your responsibility.”
She scowled at him. “I’m not leaving you to deal with it alone.
” She stepped out of his hold, back through the ward he hadn’t yet dismantled, and sat on her stool.
“Now you finish your charm, and I’ll brainstorm how we can administer the mental fortitude potion to everyone without alerting the demon. ”
Nicholas liked this bossy side of Sadie.
Honestly, he liked every side of her. Well, not just liked.
He wasn’t sure exactly when it had happened, but his feelings had certainly tumbled over the line into love at some point.
Sadie was it for him, and he was going to have to brace himself and thank his mother one of these days for inviting Sadie—even if she wasn’t one of the original ladies meant to be his guests.
Better to work up to that conversation and his mother’s gloating, though. He’d start with something simpler, like trapping a demon.
Nicholas took down his ward, then paused. “Did you want to stay in the ward? Is it more comfortable for you to have all thoughts blocked?”
Sadie shrugged. “You’re the only one here, and I want to practice controlling my telepathy, so I probably shouldn’t hide inside your protections.”
It was more comfortable for her, then. He wouldn’t dismiss her determination to master her power; in the long-term it was what she needed.
Relying on his wards or a charm wasn’t wise, since he couldn’t always be with her and charms failed.
But that didn’t mean he wanted her to suffer.
“If it is ever overwhelming, all you have to do is ask. I can make the ward invisible so no one knows it is there and give you a respite.”
Her lips curved, her expression tender. “I know.”
The last of the worry Nicholas had felt since first realizing Sadie was scared of something, but wouldn’t confide in him, melted away. She accepted his need to care for her now. He trusted that she would tell him if she was struggling.
He’d never have guessed her fears were about her own powers back when they first met, but now that he knew, it only made him more determined to help her. Apart from her grandmother, Sadie had never had anyone at her side to tackle the difficulties caused by her telepathy.
It hurt Nicholas to know she had toiled for so long alone, but he couldn’t deny a tiny sliver of satisfaction that he got to be that person for her. The one she could rely on. The one she trusted.
It was the first step to becoming her everything, since she was already his.
???
Sadie twisted the ring on her finger. She’d had the charm for less than a day and had already developed a nervous habit with it. She tried to relax. If they were right about the demon, then she had already sat through multiple meals with the creature. There was no reason to be more anxious tonight.
And there was every reason not to delay outside the dining-room door, for Nicholas had only had to pull on his jacket to be ready for supper and would already be inside.
She adjusted the ring one last time, ensuring the sapphire was centered, and entered the room with her telepathy as open as she could manage.
It did feel easier since Nicholas had made the charm for her.
More like opening her arms wide in a storm and embracing the droplets and less like having a bucket of icy water poured over her head.
Not always comfortable, but not necessarily unpleasant.
“Sadie,” Madeleine greeted her the instant she stepped into the dining room. “Come sit next to me this evening. I have so much I want to discuss with you.” It’s about time you and Nicky stopped dancing around each other.