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I turned into the forest, and Rowan walked back to his group. Before I came clean to Lorraine, I had to talk to one more person.
I hadn’t seen Dolus for a while. The last time we’d talked was just after Lorraine had been taken and he’d been disappointed in me that I wanted to go after her. He didn’t get it, but I needed to know if it changed anything.
After all this was over, I still wanted to get out of here, start a new life doing something else. I was going to need the distraction after saying goodbye to Lorraine, and I needed to get my mind off everything else that had gone wrong for me, living my life as a drus.
I just didn’t know if Dolus still wanted to help me. Without him, it could be centuries before I found the goddess of witchcraft and her long waiting list to do something, and I didn’t feel like spending another couple of hundred years asleep in my tree to avoid everything in my life.
“Dolus!” I called while I walked through the trees.
Nothing. He didn’t appear, didn’t show his face. I didn’t get so much as a peep.
“Dolus!” I called again.
Still nothing. Either he was pissed at me, or he was busy. I hoped it was the latter, but I worried it was the former. He seemed to have some kind of idea of what he wanted for me, and I didn’t fit in with that idea. I wasn’t sure if that was a deal-breaker. I needed Dolus to get me the hell out of here.
After I wandered around for a while longer, I decided to go back to the cabin to check on Lorraine. I wasn’t as worried about her as I’d been before. Our bond had saved her life.
I hadn’t known that our bond would do that for her. How far did it go? She wasn’t immortal by any means, but she hadn’t died when she’d been shot through the heart. That allowed me some peace of mind—at least she wouldn’t die while she was here and we were bound together.
Rowan was right, though—I had to tell her what was going on. I had to tell her that she had to stay here until All Hallows’ Eve was over. Two days after that, on All Souls’ Day, the spell would be broken and she would be free to go back home. But until then, she was stuck here with me.
Was she going to be pissed? Probably. I hoped she wouldn’t be, but I couldn’t count on that. I hadn’t told her the truth about a lot of things, and she hadn’t deserved that.
Saving her was one thing. Keeping her captive was another.
I hadn’t kept her here because of the bond entirely, though. Of course, that had played a big part, but I’d become fond of having her around, and to let her go back…
The truth was that I was glad she was forced to stay with me just a little longer.
Of course, she would have to go eventually. It was better that way anyway. I wasn’t going to walk the same road and fall for a human again. I was already in deep shit—I was far too close to my heart getting involved with her. I could still stop it, though.
She would still leave, and I would still get what I wanted.
When I arrived at the cabin, she was awake. She was standing in the kitchen, staring out the window. The fire hadn’t been stoked, and she wasn’t making anything.
“Hi,” I said.
When she turned to face me, she smiled at me. “You’re here,” she said.
I nodded.
She came to me and wrapped her arms around my body. I let her hold me for a second before I held her at arm’s length and studied her. Her cheeks were rosy, her eyes bright, and she looked healthy again. The sleep had done her good.
“Are you hungry?” she asked. “I was thinking about making us something to eat.”
“I could eat,” I said.
“Maybe I’ll bake a pie,” she said, glancing at the oven. But she didn’t look like she was in the mood.
“I’ll make us something,” I offered.
Lorraine’s face broke into another smile.
“I want to talk to you about something while we eat,” I said.
Lorraine frowned. “Is it bad? Is someone still after me?”
“No one’s after you,” I said, shaking my head. Someone was still out there, giving magic to humans, but there wasn’t an imminent threat. We were going to be okay.
