41. Aligned Minds #3
Most of my friends would be going to London, too, and staying in the same house, which Bones said should have plenty of room for “all of my annoying friends,” along with Alaric, Luc, and Nyx, who seemed to annoy him less for some reason.
Even Arcturus would be joining us, as he’d already gotten permission to spend a few months with us in London and Brighton before returning to the Sanctum in the fall.
I strongly suspected Bones would be ready to strangle Draken by the end of the summer, if not by the end of the first week, but he’d also said I’d have to sit through at least a few dinners with Elysia, so maybe that was going to be the trade-off between us.
I missed Bones, though, and I felt guilty that part of my reaction to the news of the entirety of my friend group and family packing up to camp out together in London for the summer had been tinged with disappointment.
As much as I wanted to spend time with all of them, particularly my brother, particularly Miranda, who I’d still gotten almost no time with, I desperately needed alone time with Bones, too.
It was beginning to look like that wouldn’t happen until the fall.
A few hours later, after a hot shower, and far too much time weighing which of Wraith’s toys to bring, I had four cases packed and was writing a note to send off with Elwood the drakai to see about hiring a carriage to bring us all into London.
I was just finishing it off when Bones walked out of the walk-in closet, his mouth pursed, making me jump when he gliding out of the dark opening.
Ignoring my flinch, he glanced around at the four cases packed, and quirked an eyebrow in amusement before walking up to where I was leaned against his kitchen counter.
He kissed the back of my neck, read the note over my shoulder, and murmured in my ear.
“Busy, busy, Mrs. Bones,” he said softly.
His hands and fingers wrapped tightly around my waist as he rested his chin on my shoulder. I felt a ripple of heat come off his magic, right before he pressed his face to mine.
“Send the luggage off with the rest of them,” he said, quieter. “I’ve got my mother set up in the house already. She can greet them and fuss over them and find them all rooms. She loves that kind of thing.” He kissed my neck again and I shivered.
“And why wouldn’t we be going with them?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder and quirking an eyebrow at him.
“We will,” he promised. “But only after.”
“After?” I glanced back at him again, my fingers wrapping around his arm where it wrapped around my waist. “After what?”
“After I take you to a tropical island and fuck your brains out for about a week while we rub oil on one another.” He glanced down at me, his eyebrow quirked. “Oh, and sleep,” he added. “I plan to fuck and eat and sleep a lot… not necessarily in that order.”
I let out an involuntarily laugh, but I was staring at him, too.
“I really, really hope you’re serious,” I said, watching his gold eyes.
He glanced down at me, and his mouth twitched. “Why in the gods wouldn’t I be serious?” he retorted. “They’ll be lucky if we come back in a month.”
He nudged me then, looking down at the note.
“Come on,” he said. “Re-write that. Tell them it’ll be one less in the carriage, and have the drakai…” He read it off the note. “Elwood? Tell him to send up a few porters to bring down our luggage. I’ll have someone pick up the rest when we get back.”
I stared at him, my smile fading.
“You’re actually serious.”
“As a heart attack,” he said, unsmiling.
“We’re going to Fiji. I hope you like Fiji, because I’ve already got a house for us.
I’m told it’s quite nice. The food’s supposed to be amazing.
And it’s got all sorts of lovely extras, like bubbly pools and a beach and swings we can fuck on acrobatically once we’re caught up on sleep. ”
I burst out in a laugh. “How would I know if I like Fiji?”
“Are you concerned you won’t like Fiji?” he asked, quirking his eyebrow higher.
I thought about that, and shook my head. “No,” I admitted. “Not in the slightest.”
“Me neither,” he said.
He motioned a hand at my note to Elwood and murmured an incantation under his breath. The ink reconfigured, rewriting itself in his handwriting in front of my eyes. Bones tossed out another spell and that time, I recognized the mudra for calling a drakai.
“He’ll find the note,” he assured me. “We can go.”
“Leave him a coin,” I blurted, remembering. “He really likes that.”
Bones fished into a pocket and left a gold piece on the counter. He cast another casual spell and the window latch unlocked, swinging the glass panel inward.
He began walking backwards with me, aiming his feet towards the closet.
“Don’t we need clothes?” I asked, still laughing, motioning at the suitcases I’d just spent over an hour filling. “Anything?”
“We’re each allowed one swimsuit,” he informed me. “And maybe a silk robe. We can buy them there. As you may’ve heard, I’ve recently had a bit of money come my way.”
I burst out in another laugh, but he was half-carrying me now, and I felt the absolute determination in him as he brought me with him into the closet.
Right as he phased the two of us through the wall, he kissed me, his magic flooding into me so intensely I gasped against his lips.
Then everything went white, and the closet, Malcroix, and everything horrible and terrible and lonely about the previous year blissfully disappeared.