Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 18410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
“As much as it needs.”
“It could be years,” she exaggerated. “It’s not like I can yank it all and redirect it toward your womb.”
Arianna inclined her head once in agreement.
“Won’t you want to know how it ends?” Matilda asked with a frustrated snap.
Arianna shrugged. The truth was, she felt empty. “It will be a means to the end, nothing else. Fitting, don’t you think, for the trio to undo themselves?”
“Zantry might still come back.” Matilda argued fiercely.
“No. He could have come back within a few days. A few weeks at most. It’s been more than a year, Mattie. He doesn’t register in the ether, and I can sense Remo, even in the Low Lands. I know something bad happened to him. Remo knows it, so it must have been him. I don’t know. All I know is that he’s been gone from the ether for a long time.”
“Maybe . . .” Matilda began.
Arianna shook her head. “Not without letting me know.”
Matilda slumped to the sofa, closing her eyes in defeat. She understood the necessity of her friend’s sacrifice, but damn it, Arianna was the closest thing she had for a sister.
“When?”
“Tonight.” Arianna said, sitting beside her friend. “We will start with the ritual tonight.”
“And once you’re ready to go? How will we know?”
“I will be watched by the Sidhe at all times. No one is to interfere until I’ve conceived.”
“Do you have the father ready?”
“No. But you’ll make me want to be near someone strong, someone capable and preternatural.”
“And once the baby is born?” Matilda demanded.
“The Seelie will come for you. You will erase my memory, give me an impression of a past, then let me be. You can even show up later on, introduce yourself.” Arianna suggested with a faint smile, but they both knew that wouldn’t happen. Once the dark ritual was over, they wouldn’t be seeing each other again.
Chapter Seven
The Second-Chance…
3 years later . . .
Fosch picked flowers on his way home. Soft pink roses, entwined with wild blue lilies to give the bouquet more appeal. On his other hand he had a box of chocolate, along with a bag of Italian take out from the restaurant on the corner.
He looked happy, free, in love.
“Witchy witch,” he called the moment he opened the front door.
“Here.”
Fosch followed the voice to the kitchen, where the woman he had fallen in love with sat, rubbing a small bump over her belly. Her aura flickered faintly with magic, fainter than last week’s, but he kept his concern hidden.
“I brought you chocolate.” He said with a flourish, placing the Godiva box in front of her on the table. She sniffed once and her lips curved upward in a smile.
“And Italian. Alfredo sauce.”
Fosch chuckled. “And flowers. For my lovely witch.”
But Bella didn’t reach for either, just continued to rub the bump over her belly in slow circles. Fosch’s focus sharpened on the movement, on the pallor of her face, the feel of her aura. She was hurting.
“What is it?” he asked, worry sipping through his voice despite his effort not to.
“I guess I’m just restless,” Bella said with a faint smile.
Fosch brushed her hair back from her face, noticing the sweat gathered along her hairline.
“You sure?” he asked lightly, guessing the temperature in the room to be below seventy again. “Want me to make you some tea?”
“Nah, just finished a cup.” She waved at the empty cup on the sink, and stood slowly, the effort taking more care than it warranted. She smiled at Fosch. “Can we eat in later? I’d like to watch a movie first.”
“Sure,” Fosch said, taking her clammy hand in his and leading her to the sofa. He would have rather carried her there but knew pride wouldn’t permit Bella to accept it. So, he took her hand in his, ready to catch her should she fall, and she indeed looked ready to drop. Fosch fussed over the pillows, arranging them so she would be comfortable, then pulled her legs up to rest over his knees, began massaging one, then the other foot thoroughly. She was asleep within minutes.
Fosch watched her sleep for a long time, touching her knee, her hand, brushing the bump over her belly gently, careful not to wake her up. Worry tightened his gut. She was only twenty weeks along, and the pregnancy was taking a lot from her already. Sometimes he cursed himself for being a fool, for being selfish for wanting this. He hadn’t forgotten about his bargain with Oberon, but Bella wasn’t human, thus the bargain couldn’t hold true. He glanced at the faint flicker in her aura, frowned at it. It had gotten fainter as the pregnancy progressed, and it worried him that, should it continue to weaken, it might look plain and human by the time she gave birth. And unless her aura did a quick turn about, he would have a lot to explain. To his clan, to Oberon.