Page 70 of Woods of the Raven

“I don’t know what kind that is.”

“Special,” I assured him.

“Oh, I get it. They’re magic too, are they?”

“Don’t say it like that,” I warned him. “Because they are magic.”

He grunted, hung the towel on the back of the chair, put the brush on the table, washed his hands, dried them, and then walked over to me, taking a seat on the ancient chest that, much like the one in his house, doubled as a coffee table.

“You’re amazing,” he murmured, slipping his hand around the side of my neck.

“Am I?” I said, fishing like I only did with him, unable, it seemed, not to fall easily under his spell. I wanted him closer.

“Yeah. Now let’s get you in the shower.” He prodded me, helping me stand. “I already got the fire going in there.”

The way he was looking at me, like I was so very special, was overwhelming, but something else had me unbalanced as well. What could it be…

I gasped and jolted, startling him, and his hands clenched on my biceps.

“What’s wrong?” he asked sharply, glancing around the room. He didn’t know that nothing in my house could hurt him. Ever.

It had taken me a moment, but I’d finally zeroed in on the extraordinary happening. “How did you get the hearth going?”

“Sorry?”

“The hearth,” I repeated. “How did you get the fire started?”

He made a face. “I stacked up wood and lit a match.”

But the hearth was enchanted, it was why after centuries of use, the stones weren’t blackened, and why only someone from the Corey line could ever hope to feed it logs and make it blaze as it was now. Same for the one in my room, the largest of the bedrooms, which used to belong to my grandparents. But somehow, someway, it was downright toasty in the living room and kitchen, and normally, at this time of night, I would get the fireplace in my room going but leave everything else cold. It took too much time. The house hadn’t been this warm since…

Since the day he came here with Pete.

That morning, the house had been cozy and inviting. He even remarked on it when he walked through. What was going on?

“Xan? Are you all right?”

I nodded, and he started walking me toward my bedroom.

“You look a little out of it,” he rumbled, putting his arm around me, supporting most of my weight. “But that’s to be expected. You were really something out there. You were so strong and powerful and kept us all safe… I mean, I know this makes no sense, but I really hope I can return the favor someday.”

He didn’t understand. He was already doing something amazing. Usually, after calling on the land and its power, I was wiped out, drained. And I had been because I’d passed out, but typically, there was more. When I woke up, everything hurt. Tonight, if I’d been alone, after crawling to consciousness in the rain and mud, I would have been freezing, and would have had to fight that, as well as the nearly paralyzing feelings of emptiness and loneliness. It would have been a battle to rise, to even lift my head so I wouldn’t drown. And it sounded overly dramatic, but once every drop of power was drained from your body at once, doing anything more took a herculean effort I couldn’t always summon.

But this time…this time it was different.

He was here, and I felt hopeful, and the house was warm like it had been when my grandparents were alive, but even more than that, I felt like me. I felt grounded and settled, like everything was balanced and…

I gasped again, the sound startling him anew.

“Will you stop doing that?” he snapped, shooting me a scowl as he steered me down the short hall.

“You should go home and—”

“What? I’m not going home.” He walked me into my bedroom, and amazingly, the room was as warm as the rest of the house.

“But…” I had to think. I had to give him a good reason to go because getting used to this kind of care and then him leaving…would end me. And he would leave; of course he would. Who in their right mind wanted a witch who guarded a rift to be their mate? That was madness. So he had to go. Now. “You’re not safe here.”

“Oh, the hell I’m not,” he groused, not buying it for a second, leading me to the bathroom, where the only shower in the house was. Amanda had put it in for me two years ago, and it had truly been a welcome addition.