Page 37 of Wanderer

Now he was alert. He set the mug down carefully and considered his words before he spoke. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. What if I can’t touch the curse?”

Silence stretched between us while we thought about this. “Try something else. Try just sending some magic into me to check the curse.” Riley looked as if he was bracing himself for something horrendous, not just a scan. I suppose, though, it was just as scary for him to let me do that.

He looked so vulnerable that I almost didn’t try it. Yet dragging this out, the not knowing was going to suck, and not in the good way. “Okay, just give me your hand. I need a point of contact.”

With his hand in mine, I sent the magic into him. I could sense the curse. A dark, oily sludge that had worked its way all through him. “I can see it.”

“Try, I dunno, breaking it. Whatever you normally do with curses.”

I knew some of it from theory, but had only ever broken simple curses that had been for training. First, I started trying to unbind it. “No, it’s not moving,” I whispered, as if quiet delivery would make the news easier to bear.

Riley’s voice broke. “Try something else. Please, Gar.”

Again, I sent the magic in, searching and unwinding. As soon as it looked like I could touch it, the curse would slip away from me.

“I can’t, Riley. My magic can’t touch you or the curse.”

“There are other warlocks in town, aren’t there?” I could see Riley struggling to put a brave face on it. His pain made me want to crawl into a ball and sob.

I gave up resisting my urges and pulled him into my arms, holding him tightly as he held in his tears. “Somehow, I’ll fix this. You’ll stay here with me until we can track down another way of breaking the curse. You can get Pax to come here. Maybe if I can break his curse, we can show another warlock how to break yours. We can do this.” I didn’t know who I was trying to convince. I think we had both been banking on me breaking the curse so we could get on with our lives. So Riley could recover.

“What do we do now?” Riley asked against my neck.

“Well, we move you out of here because you’re going to freeze to death otherwise. More snow is on the way and it’s only going to get colder.”

Riley pulled away. “I, uh…”

“I’m not asking you to move in with me.” It was impossible not to hear the lie. Riley belonged next to me. I had a house. Asking him would be demanding more than he could give, though.

“You aren’t?” He did that head tilt thing that I thought was really cute.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind, but if you aren’t ready, that’s fine. We can ask if there’s anywhere else you can stay. Even another cabin while they get this one fixed up.”

He played with my hand, brushing his fingers over mine. He looked slightly relieved, which shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. We had jumped into the physical side of our mating without really discussing anything. Riley was right to take some space, even with how little time we had. I’d just have to make sure I had some way of finding him if we didn’t break it in time.

“Can we try something later?” I asked.

“What?”

“I’d like to see if I can trace you using my magic. I wonder if that would work.”

His eyes met mine, but he still smoothed his fingers over my hand. It was relaxing, and I loved that he was maintaining touch with me, even as it felt like he was pulling away. “I’d like that. Though, if we are bonded by the time I have to leave, then that will help too, right?”

“You’d want that?” I could hear my shock.

Riley gave a wry grin. “Let’s just say I’m open to it.”

I drove Riley to City Hall to see if there was anywhere else he could stay. If worst came to worst, he had his trailer and could hook it up to the amenities of the cabin. It had a generator for heat. Though it was uncomfortable for me to think of Riley sleeping in his trailer when he could be in my bed, I respected his need for space too much to push the issue.

Our bond would grow until we went through the ceremony to cement it, leaving it unbreakable. I just had to give it time, though that was something we were in short supply of. Faith in the fates would have to get us through this brief trial.

“Hi Gareth, Riley.” Debra was in her usual position behind the large desk near the mayor’s office. “What can I do for you? Madam Mayor is busy right now, unfortunately. Budget discussions with the chief of police.” She smiled and waited.

“Um, my cabin… I’m so grateful, but—” Riley rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“But?” Debra perked up. “Is there something that needs fixing? Does it need cleaning?”