Page 223 of The Sorceress of Lycaster
“You cannot manage an entire house alone,” he countered.
“Oh, I will not be alone,” I said with a confident smile. I quickly scanned the crowd of drunken faces. “I will have…only the best…”
My eyes settled on a curvy woman with chestnut braids speaking to Evereon Mydina.
“Rosaline!” I snapped my eyes back to Erik’s and smiled. “Now that Fraleigh has disappeared, she needs someone to employ her. It is theperfectsituation.”
I thought Erik would accept defeat and finally leave me be, but no, he was a stone wall. He was worse than his damn sister!
His chin dipped slightly and his voice dropped. “That house has been abandoned for decades.”
I held back a shudder at the thought of cobwebs stringing through my living space, but I could not back down now. “You doubt my ability as lady of the house?”
“Not in the summer.” He leaned closer, as if invading my space was going to convince me of anything. “But in the winter, you will freeze.”
I kept my smile on and leaned in. “Then I will just need to find someone to keep me warm.” I pointedly flicked my gazeover his shoulder. “And if you will excuse me, I need to have a drink with your brother.”
His face was all granite. I won.
I turned away, victorious, when he caught my arm.
My head snapped toward him. A scathing curse sat on my tongue, but the weight of his gaze silenced me.
Erik’s voice dropped so low that only I could hear him. “When are you going to stop pretending you are all right?”
I tried to swallow, remembering the golden light that had poured out of my mouth and left me with nothing inside. My choice was supposed to be my freedom, but I was still chained to a deep craving, one that plagued my thoughts, my dreams, and each time I glanced in a mirror and found dark brown eyes glaring back at me.
But I would never admit that to a nosy, overgrown bird.
I glanced down at the flash of black markings on Erik’s knuckles that his sleeves failed to hide. I looked back into his charcoal eyes and a smile crept across my lips. “When are you going to stop pretending you were merely lost on the mountain for seven years, Bird Brain?”
His face blanched and I yanked my arm out of his grip. I turned before he could say any more and marched into the swirling crowd.
The cackles of the dancers blared in my ears like a tidal wave, so I kept my eyes on the floor as I walked. My hand floated up to my chest, my fingertips gliding along my bare clavicle.
When my blood bond with Grigory had vanished, I tore off my golden Thornebow pendant and shoved it in a drawer in Astrid’s room. Now all I could think about was that Thornebow fox sitting amongst Astrid’s linens with my old, useless name etched beneath its tail.
I could run to an abandoned house in the most northern part of Ravenwood, hide in the dust of the past, and shut out everyman in my life…but that craving at the bottom of my chest could still pull me back.
And Grigory’s words, dripping with tainted love, caressed the back of my mind again, “Fate will always bring you back to me.”
“Well, look who came back!” said a merry voice.
I snapped my head up to find Endre’s smiling face. He shot me a wink. “You here for another dance?”
I forced on a smile and smoothed my voice. “How could I stay away?” I delicately raised my empty goblet. “But first, I need a drink.”
