Chapter 25 #2
Not that she envied that particular talent and burden anymore, after having wielded it for a mere handful of days.
“Sometimes, yes, a very powerful vision might help save the world. Offered to the wrong recipient, though, it might also doom the world.” His lips tightened at the grim reminder of all those missing, kidnapped oracles, who even now could be prophesizing for insurrectionists.
“And your smaller visions save individual people on a daily basis, which means the world to them. Are you saying they’re all wrong to be grateful, Gwen?
Do you claim to know the impact of your prophecies better than their recipients? ”
His stern tone truly did things for her. Things that had her shifting on the sofa again, and not only from discomfort at the admittedly valid points he was making.
“I’ll gladly address your desire,” he told her, “but not yet. I have one more thing to say first.” His hand on her cheek guided her eyes back to his.
“My sister would have liked you. A lot. And the more time we spend together, the easier it becomes to see what Eloise probably knew from the very beginning.”
“What’s that?” Gwen whispered hoarsely, her sinuses prickling at the colossal compliment he’d just bestowed upon her.
His thumb skated over her cheekbone in a wash of gentle heat. “You’re respectable in a way the Blacke family never has been, no matter what my parents, Josiah, or anyone else might believe. You embody the meaning of Semper rectior, even if you wear none of its gilt trappings.”
He wasn’t letting her dismiss his words. And confronted with the stalwart sincerity in that low, solemn voice, her world trembled and subtly reshaped itself beneath her fuzzy-socked feet.
She’d spent decades convinced of her utter uselessness to the world and those she loved most. But what she’d believed wasn’t actually true, was it? It hadn’t ever been true.
Her work had assisted the most vulnerable in a way most oracles didn’t and non-oracles couldn’t. She’d made the lives of those in her community a little better every day for decades, exactly as he’d told her. And that wasn’t nothing, was it? Didn’t their lives have meaning?
If so, didn’t her life have meaning, whether or not she ever channeled a vision of apocalyptic power again?
Twenty years after leaving Delphi Academy, why was she still judging herself by the standards of the most privileged and powerful rather than her friends and neighbors?
Her blurry eyes closed, and her breath hitched in a stifled sob.
Because the gray pall that had smothered the foolishly persistent, bright joy of her heart for decades…
it had thinned with his words. Begun drifting across her horizon under the brisk wind of his conviction, making way for the first beams of sunlight she’d experienced in more years than she could count.
“Gwen, honey.” His sweeping thumb interrupted the path of a stray droplet. “Please don’t cry.”
When her saline-tipped eyelashes lifted, water limned her world in rainbows.
“I’m not sad,” she told him. “Just grateful for you. Grateful to be here with you right now, in this moment. No matter what happens next.”
“I feel the same, but…” Worry still etched across his brow, he pressed a butterfly-light kiss against her temple. “You’re okay? Truly?”
“Check here.” She laid her palm over his heart, where her emotions lived within him. “Feel for yourself.”
Feel how much I love you already, after such a short time. Feel how fast that love grows.
“I had another vision, by the way.” She sniffled away the last of her tears, because they were running out of time to take advantage of Sade. “One I didn’t tell you about.”
“You experienced another involuntary prophecy?” Anxiety creased his forehead once more. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Hugh.” She patted his chest. “No need to worry.”
Her reassurance didn’t appear to comfort him. “Did the amulet and pomander work sufficiently? Because their power will diminish after repeated usage, and once that happens, we’ll need to procure replacements for you. I should have done so already, in fact.”
His cradling hand dropped from her face, and he produced the burner phone from his pocket. Busily, he began tapping out an email.
Now she was kind of regretting her momentary impulse toward mild mischief.
“The amulet and pomander are great. Still functioning at full power.” Or so she assumed. It wasn’t as if she had lots of experience with top-of-the-line witchwork. “But—”
“In that case, what did you see in your vision?” He set down the phone. “Gwen, please tell me that fae didn’t hurt y—”
“I saw the two of us in bed again.” She paused. “And by ‘the two of us,’ I mean you and me. Not the fae and me, obviously. Sure, he’s hot in a silver fox, James Bond villain kind of way, but he’s also a conscienceless monster. Ugh.”
Honestly, she’d rather have her hair ripped out of her scalp.
“Okay?” Hugh sounded confused, and she couldn’t blame him.
“Anyway.” Refocusing on her objective, she smiled at Hugh as seductively as she knew how. “You and I were all alone, making love with Sade blasting in the background. No mouth covering necessary.”
“Covering your mouth turns you on,” he pointed out, ever a stickler for details. “And…that doesn’t make sense, Gwen. Oracles can’t see their own futures, unless something about your visions has changed in an entirely unprecedented way.”
If anything, his frown had deepened. So much for her first-ever attempt at lighthearted seduction.
She gave it one last shot, fluttering her tear-sticky eyelashes for all she was worth. “Are you going to make my vision come true, Councilor?”
He ducked his head to peer into her eyes. “Is there something in your—oh.” Abruptly, he straightened, looking surprised but not displeased. “You’re flirting with me?”
And there it was at long last: comprehension.
“Badly.” She sighed. “Or so it seems.”
“I read that pregnancy can cause libido changes,” he said, still sounding thoughtful rather than irresistibly horny.
“It’s partly pregnancy.” Giving up, she abandoned flirtation in favor of straightforward honesty. “But it’s mostly you. Will you make love with me?”
“It would be my very literal pleasure.” In a courtly gesture, he helped her stand. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Was he being deliberately obtuse? Or, as the subtle twinkle in his amber eyes would indicate, was he actually teasing her?
“For Pete’s sake.” Planting her feet, she glared up at him. “I was trying to ask, but you refused to pick up on my—”
Then his lips devoured hers in a ravenous kiss, and his hot, strong hands began guiding them both down the hallway to the library. Her half-hearted aggrievement vanished without a trace, transforming in an instant to full-blown lust.
They stumbled into the library. Kicked the door closed. Temporarily disabled the elevator again in case one of their compatriots unexpectedly decided to pay Max a visit.
And in the end, Hugh still put his hand over her mouth. Just for the fun of it.
—
Before Hugh left to go meet with Thora the next morning, he woke Gwen with a light kiss and a hot hand gently stroking her shoulder.
“I didn’t want to disturb you, but you told me I should say goodbye before I went.” He bent low and gave her another sweet, slow kiss. “Just rest today, Gwen. Max will keep you safe, and you don’t have to do anything but relax and eat Michelin star–worthy takeout and imported cheeses.”
Sleepily, she turned toward him and nuzzled her face into his hard thigh. “You’re assuming the trolls won’t get to the cheese first.”
“I have complete faith in your ability to defend your fromage.” His voice was dry, his fingers tender as they smoothed a stray strand of hair off her face. “With prejudice, as necessary.”
“For AOP Gruyère?” She stretched lazily, yawning. “Yeah. I can take them down.”
He huffed out an amused breath. “Call me if you need me, if you have a vision, or if anything happens that makes you uneasy.”
“I’ll be fine.” For someone who hadn’t wanted to disturb her, he was certainly talking a lot. “Don’t worry, Hugh.”
“Worrying is what I do best. Especially when it comes to you.” He dropped one last kiss on her hair. “Sweet dreams, honey. I’ll be back soon.”
Love you, she thought absently, already half asleep again. But she didn’t say it, and then he was gone and she was dreaming once more. Sweet dreams, as requested. Happy dreams of a small, loving family and an apartment with a separate refrigerator for cheese.
Dreams that came to an abrupt end when an odd whooshing sound made Gwen’s eyes open again. Then widen in shock as an unfamiliar female demon teleported directly into Max’s library.
“There you are,” the elegant, angular demon said, and pressed a small leather pouch into Gwen’s palm. “If I haven’t been led astray, this should prevent any unnecessary fuss.”
A heartbeat later, Gwen couldn’t move. Couldn’t blink. Couldn’t even force her lungs to expand for air. Panicked and utterly motionless, she stared directly ahead as the clawing need for oxygen darkened the edges of her world.
An incapacitation spell, technically illegal. Malignant witchwork.
“It worked.” The dark-haired, pointy-horned demon sounded pleasantly surprised. “I’ll have to be quick about this, then, or you’ll suffocate. He wouldn’t be pleased by that.”
Efficiently, she stripped the covers off Gwen, yanked the amulet from around her neck, tossed it aside, and patted down Gwen’s bougie new pajamas to check for anything hidden underneath.
As Gwen’s awareness dimmed, she tried her best to think of Hugh in her final moments. To conjure the comforting heat of his embrace and the sweet solemnity in his dark eyes. But the memory was slipping away from her, trailing into blackness.
“Very well.” The demon’s painfully tight grip on Gwen’s arm punctured her asphyxiated haze. “Let’s be off.”
Then the world disappeared, fracturing into nothing as Gwen did the same.