Page 68 of The Mage and His Stolen Prince
I shifted my gaze to the cuffs, searching for a keyhole. Instead, I found a magical glyph. “What’s the command word?”
“Hmm, let me think.” Trey cocked his head to the side, pretending to consider. “Fuck you?”
There was a small space between the cuff and my wrist. I dug the fingers of my other hand under it, hoping to loosen the metal somehow.
“Stop! You’re just hurting yourself.” Trey grabbed my free wrist and then sat up, pulling me with him. He twisted my cuffed wrist so he could examine it in the natural light. “See? You’ve already scratched yourself.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t keep looking at him like this—red hair mussed from sleep, lips glossy and pink from our kiss, but also exasperated and very much done with my shit. “Let me go.”
“Why? So you can teleport again? This is for your own good, Wilde. You wasted too much energy and knocked yourself out.”
“I didn’t teleport,” I whispered. I’d promised him I wouldn’t.
He was quiet for a moment, then conceded, “Whatever magic you used still exhausted you. I’m staying attached to you until you don’t look like a dead man walking.”
I opened my eyes and stared down at the bed, keeping my gaze away from him. “That’s not practical. What if one of us needs the bathroom?”
“Well, Ifeltyour dick against me, so I’m pretty sure you’veseenone before, and can handle it for the short time it takes me to piss. Otherwise, you can avert your eyes, and I’ll do the same.”
Heat suffused my cheeks, and my free hand curled into the sheets. “What if we’re attacked by monsters and have to run away?”
“Then we’ll run away together.”
He said it so easily. Like I wouldn’t slow him down at all.
Part of me—most of me—wanted to remain bound like this forever. I could never lose him if he was always a short chain length away. The rest of me knew that if we wanted to survive this quest all the champions were determined to complete, he’d need to have both his hands free. Trey was the fighter; I was just the mage who offered support.
The only way to be free of him would be to discover the command word controlling the cuffs.
“I need something to eat,” I said, glancing up at him through my lashes.
He grinned. “Nowthatrequest I am happy to grant.”
Eating was a challenge with our hands tied together. Trey had attached his right hand to my left, essentially putting his dominant hand out of commission. He sat at the counter, free hand holding up his chin, grinning like an imp watching an argument. “Guess you’ll have to feed me.”
I shoved an apple into his mouth.
Juice dribbled down his chin as he bit it. He did nothing to stop the trickle, allowing it to create a glistening trail down his throat. My tongue ached to lick it off and I had to clamp down hard on it to resist the urge.
One of the bedroom doors opened with abang. “Good morning!”
I dropped the apple. It tumbled over the side of the table straight into my lap. When I tried to catch it, I accidentally shifted my legs, and it fell to the floor. The cheeky little fruit rolled all the way across the room, only stopping when it collided with Kit’s boot.
Kit’s head shifted back and forth as they looked between Trey and me. “Have I interrupted something?” Then their eyes fell to the cuffs connecting us. “Does your dad know you stole those?”
So Rick was the owner of the handcuffs. Since he’d made Delilah’s collar, he’d probably designed the magical cuffs as well. Which meant he would know the command word.
“He’ll figure it out,” Trey said, reaching around me to grab a grape from a cluster. He popped it into his mouth, rolling his tongue around the fruit teasingly, then winked at me. “Bit hard to miss.”
Kit held up their hands. “I don’t need any details. Is Delilah awake?”
As they asked the question, the last bedroom door opened. Delilah’s jaw stretched into a wide yawn as she shuffled out of the room. As soon as it settled back into place, she mumbled, “Did someone say my name?”
Kit greeted their daughter with a hug, a kiss on the head, and some whispered words I couldn’t hear.
Delilah peeked over their parent’s shoulder, her eyes sparkling with delight. She squeezed Kit affectionately once, then skipped over to us. “Wilde, I’m pleased to inform you that my uncle will be making me a new collar.” She leaned forward and cupped her hand around her mouth as she whispered, “Which means you can start improving it.”
Dammit, I’d completely forgotten about my end of the bargain. I nodded curtly, though I still had no idea how to turn her into a cat.
