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Jeffrey will lock me away.
He should.
He must.
But at least all I have put into motion will ensure his greatest desires are fulfilled. One aspect of that I am keeping from him, not because I am compelled to for some darker, hidden purpose, but because I want it to be a surprise that he can savor.
“You were victorious with Mrs. Sherman?” I ask, though I know the answer.
“Yeah,” Jeffrey confirms. “She won’t stand in the way of us anymore. She just needed a kind ear. So, when she comes to the tour again, and she will, be nice to her, okay?”
“As you wish.”
“But only for now, right? Eventually, my wishes won’t be enough to keep you from doing bad things?”
Whatever smile I might have mustered falls away. “I am sorry, Jeffrey. It is my nature, and as I have told you—”
“I know. I know.” He crowds close to me behind the counter, glancing back briefly to be sure Cas is indeed remaining in the storage room. The drill finally starts up again as validation. “Even though Cas had ownership of the amulet for a hot minute, once I had it back, it didn’t reset you. You just returned to the level you were at.”
“Correct.”
“Which sucks, because it could have given us more time.” Jeffrey takes a bolstering breath. “There is something I didn’t tell you. At The Magic Shop, that first time I went after meeting you, I found something. Mattie’s journal.”
So that is what he has been keeping under his pillow.
“I’ve been reading it. Reading about the truth. About you. The reason I knew you were going to kill Mrs. Sherman was because I got to the part in Mattie’s entries when she realized she had to get rid of you.”
“Ah. Please understand, I do not blame most of my masters for choosing that outcome, including Mattie. How she locked me away was a betrayal, but one I understood. I could no longer satisfy her desires because I could no longer satisfy my own. That will happen with us too. I am sorry, Jeffrey. Truly. I…” I am unsure how to say it.
“Yeah?” Jeffrey prompts me, looking so deeply into my eyes, his look golden, or like copper with the first few flecks of green. “What is it?”
“I have lost many masters and mistresses, but this is the first time I am afraid to lose one.”
Jeffrey’s chest swells, and his eyes water. He grips the front of my shirt and drags me down into a bruising kiss. Passion stirs in me at any act of desire, but with Jeffrey, it is not only because of my curse. In the past, I would have accepted carnality with anyone. But with him, he is the only one I want.
His kiss is deep, and I meet it with the forked tongue I know he adores.
“We’re running out of time,” Jeffrey whispers against my lips, “at least if I want to keep anyone else from dying or getting disfigured. But I’m not willing to give you up yet. I finally found me today. I am going to find a way to help you too. I promise. I promise. I… I love you, Odai.”
I snap my head upright, taking Jeffrey in and the aftermath of those words. He looks startled from having said them, but then he smiles and simply waits. I have waited so long that I know how punishing waiting can be. “I love you, Jeffrey,” I say, “my beautiful one.”
We kiss again, and no other act of carnal delights has ever been as blissful.
Jeffrey’s cheeks are rosy and lips kiss-bitten when he asks, “I don’t suppose that was the way to save you?”
“True love’s kiss? I’m afraid not. But believe me, Jeffrey, you make me feel saved.” I press my forehead to his, press my hand to the amulet back around his neck, and kiss him again.
Chapter seventeen
Jeffrey
Turned out Mrs. Sherman did like the new Mattie story I worked into the tour. See, Mattie used to have this policy about husbands frequenting the brothel and the wives they left at home.
“Rest assured, my darlings, the public does not need to know who partakes in my services,” I said as Mattie on Sunday night, spotting Mrs. Sherman in the crowd, “but if your wives don’t know whose doors you’re darkening, the next time you try to cross my threshold, believe me, they will.”
I told a tale of one such instance where Mattie discovered a customer was keeping his dalliances from his wife and took it upon herself to deliver his change from the night before, saying he’d overpaid. Mattie and the wife became good friends after that, and the husband visited the brothel frequently—because he no longer had a wife to go home to.
“That’s enlightened!” someone called out.
