Chapter 6 #2
She pressed her lips together and looked away again, but I saw a slight shake in her resolve in those lovely brown eyes. She had to know that fighting me on this wouldn’t work. It was silly if she felt the same way for me as I did for her. All these hypotheticals didn’t matter.
“What if you couldn’t get with me until we were old?”
I smiled, resting my head on the back of the lounger. “Why would that matter to me? You are mine until we die, and we live long lives. We were going to be old together regardless.”
She huffed, relaxing her shoulders. “You’re so sure of us. I don’t know how I feel about this all. It’s still so new. Even if I had a crush years ago, we aren’t the same now.”
I tilted my head in her direction. She was being stubborn, that was fine.
She wanted to waste time denying the inevitable, but I supposed I deserved it.
Regardless of my intentions, I had hurt her.
I often wondered what life would have been like if I had stopped worrying about the dangers my life could put her in and just dated her. Married her.
However, that was not the route I’d taken, and despite keeping eyes on her all these years, there was still so much about her life I no longer knew.
No matter how many people I hired to follow her relationship status or work, or vacations, they could not tell me her thoughts, her hopes, her dreams. Still, at her core, I knew her and she knew me.
“Fair enough, just don’t push me away. Well, don’t try to.”
She snorted. “Because you aren’t going anywhere?”
I grinned at her. “See, you do still know me.”
“I would be terrified if I didn’t.”
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked.
She gave me a weary look. “Okay…”
“Why’d you mute your magic?”
She twisted her lips to both sides as if thinking of a response. I figured it would not be something light. To suppress your own power was not an easy thing to do, and I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to lessen themselves. “I did it after my father went missing.”
That was not surprising. Up until seven months ago, her father had been missing. For seven years. I nodded slowly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help more.”
She raised her brows. “You knew?”
“Of course. I told you I’ve been tracking you from afar.”
She grinned. “Stalker.”
I lifted a shoulder. “More like dedicated to you.”
Her playful smile faltered, and I saw a mix of emotions pass through her eyes that I couldn’t quite define. “You’re too much.”
I shook my head. “I’m not enough, princess. I wish I could have found your dad earlier. I put out searches everywhere, including the underworld and the fae realm.”
She stilled, tilting her head and assessing me with confused eyes. “What do you mean, found my dad earlier?”
I knew she didn’t know. How could she? I’d said that too casually.
I had to remember that she didn’t know how much I still cared about her all this time.
“Well, as I said, I’d had searches on him.
We got some leads, but it seemed to always be a step behind.
He was realm-hopping. In many places we couldn’t get access to, but then I got word he was in the shadow world.
I wasted no time in getting him pulled out before he moved again. ”
She put a hand to her mouth, her eyes watering, and it cracked my heart.
“You brought back my father?” she asked in a shaky tone.
“Yes, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier. I didn’t want you to know back then. We tried to help him, but, well, he’d been through a lot.”
She gave a dry laugh. “That’s an understatement.”
“I only wish we’d gotten to him sooner.”
She released a breath and closed her eyes.
“Yeah, me too, but thank you all the same. Realm hopping is a scary skill. For the adventurers, it can seem amazing, but there is so much out there that we don’t know.
It’s like exploring space or the deep ocean.
And for mage realms, it calls to you. You itch to explore, and it feels like the universe is asking you to.
Kind of like when you get cabin fever from being inside too long.
You want to get outside and touch grass after a while.
And for us, touching grass is visiting a realm.
Only the grass can sometimes be deadly. My father had been pulled by a particular realm of interest for some time.
Almost obsessed. Ask my mom. She had been terrified he wouldn’t come back, and that very thing happened. ”
I nodded. I’d already spoken to her mother, of course. I had to understand her father’s movements in order to search for him.
Camilla continued, playing with one of her braids absentmindedly.
“One day, my mother said he went into that realm and never returned. She never thought it was him trying to escape. My parents had a good marriage. He would never leave voluntarily. Definitely not for almost seven years. He was stuck, and someone was keeping him away.”
I knew that much because we questioned him when we found him.
He was not in good shape, and we cleaned him up as best we could, but there was only so much we could do with his mental state.
He was talking almost in riddles when we found him, covered in scratches, sores, hair long, and unkept clothes, dirty and wrinkled.
We kept him with us for a week before we returned him home.
It might seem cruel that we didn’t immediately return him to his family, but even I was shocked by his state.
I didn’t want them to see him like that.
His appearance still haunted my mind from time to time.
“Some horrible being used him to jump realms and conduct crimes,” Camilla went on.
“And then he was sold to others who did the same. He saw horrors he still can’t even discuss.
Although he’s in a better mental state than before, he’s still not the same.
” Her eyes widened. “You didn’t happen to…
take care of the being that kidnapped my father? ”
I sat up. I had no concerns about telling her the truth. She knew who I was and what I did. “Yes. The one who last had him and the one who originally took him, we were able to track him down as well.”
She got up and moved to my lounger, sitting near my hip. She took my hand into both of her small ones and kissed my knuckle. “Thank you.”
My heart twisted in my chest. She never had to thank me. I would give her the world, free of charge. However, I would take any intimacy she was willing to give me. We had years to make up for.
She kept hold of my hand and placed it in her lap.
I took my other free hand and began to stroke it up and down her spine.
Her body relaxed, and I wouldn’t have been opposed to her lying down beside me.
I wanted to comfort her, keep her by my side.
I guess that was happening anyway, but I wouldn’t be completely happy with it.
A dark spell was at work, and it would only be a matter of time before we succumbed to the effects if I didn’t find a fix.
“So, you muted your ability after your father disappeared because you didn’t want that to happen to you?”
She nodded. “While it can be lucrative, realm hopping is terrifying. I’m not that adventurous.
Not anymore. I can teleport within the realm, and that’s enough for me.
I also have heightened awareness and some defensive magic as an elf, so I’m not powerless.
It seemed to help both of us out in the end. ”
I squeezed her hand in thanks. “You’re right. If not for your quick magic, I might be dead. I owe you.”
“I think we’re even.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I reluctantly removed my hand from hers. My brother Marcus was calling. “Talk to me,” I answered.
“None of our witch associates have experience with death magic, but they are working on it. We have ties with the fae and demons as well, who are looking into it,” he answered.
“You guys never say ‘hello’ or ‘hey’ before you get to business,” I heard his fiancée, Daria, say.
Before he left the life, Marcus was closer to me than Sam, both of us hardened by the life we had to live.
Pleasantries were never our thing. We rarely socialized together, and not at all after he left the business.
Admittedly, that was my fault because I was angry with him for leaving.
Only over the last year had we reconnected, and the most we’d ever done was shake hands.
I never hugged my brothers. Like my father never hugged us.
It didn’t dawn on me how little physical connection I had to people.
I saw my daughter, but she was not a hugger since entering her tween years.
Any other touch I did was the sporadic indulgences I had with hook-ups.
What I was doing with Camilla was unique for me, and I loved the hell out of it.
Daria interrupted my thoughts. “Is she there with him?”
I blinked, looking over to Camilla, who was staring at me with questioning eyes. “Yes, Camilla’s with me.” I put the phone on speaker. “Daria, Marcus’ fiancée, is on the phone. She’s a necromancer.”
Camilla leaned forward. “Hi, Daria, hey, Marcus. Congrats to you both on the engagement. I’m so happy for you. Marcus is a good guy.” She looked back at me. “Looks like now you’ll have a sister in the family.”
I heard Daria give a dry laugh through the phone. “Hehe, I thought you were like a sister to them.”
I scrunched my face in displeasure. “Who told you that?”
“Oh, Marcus and Sam did. They said Camilla was like a sister to you all. Right, honey?”
“Yup, that’s what I remember,” Marcus said dryly.
I wanted to crush my phone. I shouldn’t be surprised that Marcus would not help me out as some kind of amusement to himself. He knew how I felt about Camilla. Sister was far from it.
“But that was only Sam and I who thought that way,” he went on, “Big brother had a crush on Cammy since we were kids.”
Okay, I lied, my brother was coming through. I’d give him a pat on the back when I saw him next. Right now, I gave Camilla a pointed look, hoping she’d take everything I’d told her more seriously.
She gave me a playful smile. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, he was like a lovesick puppy from day one. Even when we became adults. He would whine about her all the time.”
My eyes dropped to my phone. That pat on the back was about to turn into a slap over the head.
“Aww,” Daria cried. “And now you two are stuck together, making up for lost time. I love it. Well, not the death curse part. That’s so not cool, and I wish I could help. Well, I can help if you both die. I could bring you back as zombies.”
Camilla bared her teeth at the phone. “Uhm, thanks?”
I cleared my throat, moving past my earlier humiliation. “But we won’t let it come to that. With as many resources and connections as we have, someone can break this magic. It’s just been one day. We can fix this.”
“Well, enjoy the time together,” Daria began. “Marcus and I were once stuck together.”
I nodded, although she couldn’t see me. “Right, he…placed you in hiding when that demon gang wanted your services.”
“Oh, yeah, that, too.”
I narrowed my eyes. What else was she talking about? Before I could inquire further, Marcus cut in. “While I’m sure it’s great you’re catching up, we don’t want this to last. Do you want us to be where you are just in case you need Daria’s help?”
“No, thanks. We know how to grab you quickly.”
Camilla leaned toward the phone again. “I can teleport us to you.”
“I have a witch on retainer who can.”
Camilla cut her eyes at me, and I shrugged. “You muted that part of your powers, remember?”
She replied with a tight-lipped smile. “Right.”
What was that about? Was she mad at me? “If you want to turn them back on-”
She waved her hands in front of her, eyes rounding. “It’s fine.”
I wanted to believe it was nothing, but a nagging feeling made me wonder what she was withholding from me.
“Everything okay over there?” my brother asked.
“Stellar. Hey, in the meantime, watch your backs. Maybe take off a few days and tell Sam to do the same. Whoever comes after me will be hearing soon that I’m still alive and may come for you all instead.
They already started something and may not want to back down.
Also, I’m not ruling out that someone in the business could be behind this. Including family.”
“Why would our family and allies want you out?”
“You know they hate the way I run things. And allowing you to leave still pisses them off. There have to be consequences. At least that’s what Dad used to say about leaving.
And I hear grumblings of disapproval about the truces I’ve entered, among other things.
Some might think I’m too soft. I’m not, but some folks only speak in violence. You understand that.”
“I do. Brother, I got your back. Don’t worry about me, and I’ll watch Sam.”
I could be pissed at my brothers all I wanted, but they were family, and with all our faults, we would be there. I could do better at remembering that.
Camilla had gone back inside before I finished the call.
We’d determined that we could be a floor apart as long as the door remained open.
I took some comfort that she was so close, but I also worried about her.
I had to remember that, despite my tracking her all this time, I didn’t see everything.
I’d wanted to put cameras in her home, but I forced limits on myself because I wasn’t a total asshole.
Okay, I put one in her foyer, but nothing further in.
When I walked into the house, I didn’t see her. However, I did see something else. Something that made the hair on my arms stand on end.