13. Chapter 13
Milo
Milo came to with a low groan of pain. He was bouncing along on something hard, which was awful for his splitting head. The jarring sent spikes of sharp pain repeatedly through his temples.
Wresting open his eyes, he tried to take stock.
He was in a cart? The sounds of insects were loud, mixed in with the gentle sway of tree limbs.
Trees were all around them, passing by. Two mage lights nearby illuminated him perfectly, fortunately.
Oh, they were on the road. Hence the bouncing, no doubt.
His hands were tied in front of him, which wasn’t a good sign, and a blanket had been thrown over his torso. Consideration or camouflage?
Milo dared to sit up, cautiously, as his head still pounded.
Also, the personal barrier he had up around him was flexing, like it had taken a beating.
It kept doing this little shimmer, trying to repair itself.
Milo fed it a bit more power to stabilize it because he absolutely needed his defensive barrier up.
All right, good, that was done. Time to sit up some more and try to see the situation, come up with a plan. Fuck, looked like it was already sunset, which meant he’d lost a good two hours. How far was he from Gravegarde? And who was driving him southward?
The back of the silhouette was unfortunately one he knew well. It didn’t take two seconds to realize who drove the cart, and then he groaned.
Fucking Andrew. Figured.
The rage coursing through him at his ex just about escaped out of his mouth. Milo wanted so, so badly to hit the man and keep hitting him until he felt better. With the mood he was in, he’d beat Andrew right into a grave. Fucker deserved to be in a grave for taking him from his new home.
Hands still tied together, Milo carefully checked for his wand, but of course Andrew had taken it. No surprise there.
Now, there was many a mage who couldn’t cast a single spell without a wand. Andrew was one of them. He no doubt thought taking Milo’s wand would stop him from doing any kind of offensive spells.
He thought wrong.
Unlike Andrew, Milo actually understood magic.
He’d been an excellent student and didn’t need the wand to cast spells.
He used one because it was easier, sure, but it was like any other tool to him.
If it broke or was missing, he could make do and find another method.
Frankly speaking, a wand was just a channel.
The source of all magic was the mage themself.
Milo whispered a severing spell to undo the ropes, which fell apart neatly.
It freed his hands to move, and he immediately did so, throwing the blanket off and getting his feet under him.
There was nothing else in the wagon except a small keg of water and Andrew’s bags, so he had little to work with back here, but Milo had no problem strangling this man.
Unfortunately, they hit a large bump with the cart, which upset his balance. Milo bit back a gasp, but he had to slam a hand against the side of the cart to avoid pitching headfirst over the side, and the noise alerted Andrew.
He whipped around, saw Milo standing there unbound, and panicked. His wand was in his hand already and he quickly pointed it at Milo, words almost tripping out of his mouth. “Target his heart, make him infatuated with me!”
Milo felt the spell hit, and for a split second, he felt the effects. Felt himself thaw toward Andrew, question why he wanted to strangle the man to begin with. Then his newly fixed barrier fully engaged, throwing the spell off, and he snapped back to reality.
“Did you just try a love spell on me?” Milo demanded of him incredulously. He should probably strangle first, get answers later, but Milo was never the type to do anything quietly. He left that to Rowan. “Seriously? Are you insane?”
Andrew faltered, pulling the horse to a stop before twisting, one knee on the bench.
His nose was no longer swollen, likely due to the potions he’d taken, and he seemed the attractive, put-together man once more, with his perfect brown hair styled back and the all-black outfit he wore looking quite good on him.
At least, he’d appear attractive if the insane entitlement didn’t leak through like grease.
“Why didn’t the spell work? You’re unarmed! ”
“I still have a personal barrier up, dumbass!”
From the look on his face, Andrew hadn’t expected that, which was one of the many reasons why he was a Fifth Circle Mage and not higher. He just didn’t know how to really use magic to his advantage and wasn’t careful enough to question the obvious.
Milo’s rage rose, incandescent in its purity, and he snapped back a spell of his own. “Paralyze!”
Andrew went stock-still, only his mouth and eyes still capable of movement. Milo immediately reached out and plucked the wand out of his hand. It wasn’t the best grade of wand, but he’d mostly taken it to keep Andrew from trying to cast anything else. Now, where was his own wand?
“Milo, please!” Andrew begged, his emotions building with each word, breathing shaky and jerky.
He was clearly on the verge of a panic attack.
The way he sat, half turned, with only his mouth working, made for a comical sight.
It was especially funny when Milo moved more to the side and Andrew couldn’t see him at all but was clearly straining.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I ever cheated on you.
It wasn’t about you, you’re wonderful as a partner, it wasn’t because of anything you did.
I-I was just being an insecure asshole, I can admit that.
Okay? I can admit that. But I regret it. I promise I’ll never do it again—”
Milo tuned him out at that point because he didn’t give a single fuck if Andrew regretted it.
He also didn’t really believe those words.
Andrew’s repentance came at a very convenient time, well after they’d broken up.
Ah, there was his wand! Andrew had hidden it on the driver’s bench next to him.
Milo immediately grabbed it, thankful Andrew hadn’t tossed it into the woods somewhere.
Ignoring Andrew’s pleas, Milo turned in the cart, trying to get his bearings.
How far from Gravegarde were they? Based on what he remembered of the terrain, they seemed a good hour down the road, maybe more.
It was past the dinner hour. Did he dare hope Rowan realized something was wrong and was looking for him?
Well, even if he hadn’t realized yet, Milo was capable of taking himself home, thank you very much.
Milo climbed over the back of the bench and grabbed the reins.
While it was tempting to knock Andrew off the cart completely and leave him at the mercy of whatever bandits were in these woods, or Drachifel if they chose to come this far inland, he did feel it would be better to properly prosecute the man.
“—I’m sorry about the love spell, I really am, I just need you to come back to me!”
“First off, you should know damn well that love spells won’t work on someone who hates you.” Milo mentally slapped himself, but apparently he was incapable of not arguing back, his frustration with Andrew getting the better of him.
Andrew faltered, eyes wide and pleading. “But…but you don’t hate me.”
“I loathe you. I wish to the gods that I had never touched you. Yes, my personal barrier deflected most of the spell, but the reason why it was so easy to shrug off is because I wish you were in a grave.”
Andrew lowered his eyes, and he really was crying now. “I didn’t mean to hurt you so badly.”
“You’re too self-absorbed to realize you hurt people. I blame your shitty upbringing and being spoiled. Anyway, I hate you. Let’s make that clear.”
He had no desire to sit next to this man, so he grabbed Andrew underneath the legs, and with the help of a little magic, tumbled him into the back of the cart.
Andrew landed on his back with a loud smack and a cry of pain.
The sound was music to Milo’s ears. Also still funny, since Andrew was frozen in a half-turned position, so his legs were up in the air.
“Milo, please, can’t we talk about this?”
Milo ignored him as he turned the cart back around.
In fact, his aching head was only full of two thoughts: One, how mad and worried Rowan likely was.
Two, he seriously needed to do a rebuild of his barrier talisman.
The thing was a year old now and it showed.
It should never have let any of Andrew’s spells through.
And he’d clearly used a spell to ambush Milo, as evidenced by the damage to his barrier and his ringing head.
“He doesn’t want you, not like I do!” Andrew babbled, his desperation coating every word. “I promise I’ll cherish you this time. I know what it’s like living without you. Everything is so much harder, and I hate it. I hate it. Nothing has gone right for me ever since you left me.”
Milo got the horse going, retracing their steps, mulling over Andrew’s statement. Then little bits and pieces started floating around before snapping sharply into place.
All those people in recent months who’d stopped to yell at Milo because of Andrew’s mistakes on jobs.
Bennet had said Andrew was on probation. In danger of a demotion.
Andrew just said “nothing has gone right.”
Milo, admittedly, used to do the heavy lifting on jobs when they were still dating.
Motherfucker.
He twisted to stare down at the man. Of all the reasons why Andrew wanted him back, it was for work?
That was the reason? “You selfish asshole. Motherfucking prick! That’s why you want me back, isn’t it?
Because your career is in trouble, and instead of buckling down and learning what you’re doing wrong, the only tactic you can think of is to somehow seduce me into once again doing your work for you! ”
Andrew at least had the grace to look abashed.