Page 6 of The Mage and His Stolen Prince
He heaved a sigh over the heavy burden of one little question. “Yes?”
“Does anyone else live in the lair?”
“Do you mean minions? No, I haven’t hired any help recently.”
“Or someone else,” I hedged.
His expression remained blank, confused.
Don’t tell me I’ve apprenticed myself to the wrong mage.It’d taken longer than I’d expected to find Brutus Arnulf again, and when I did, he’d earned that pending title, becoming the Lord of Grimnight. But if I’d somehow gotten the wrong man, if this wasn’t Treasure’s father, I’d have to start my hunt all over again.
I couldn’t just say ‘I’m looking for Treasure’ because evil mages used your desires against you. Once he knew what I wanted, he would dangle the promise of Treasure over my head at every opportunity.
“It’s just you and I,” the lord said. “Which means if you don’t do the work, no one will. Now, clean this up—” he waved to encompass the whole throne room “—and once you’re done, I’ll show you to your room.”
“But that’ll take—” A shadow hand grabbed my jaw and clamped it shut.
“No backtalk,” the lord scolded. “You’ll have to break that terrible habit.”
I waited to speak until the grip on my jaw eased. “Yes, Master.”
“That’s exactly what I like to hear. Get to work.” Without another word, he disappeared.
I turned back to survey the room. At first, I thought the forest had encroached on the lair, but when I looked closer at how the trees had grown through the windows, I realized the forest had brokenout. I needed to learn more about the lord’s history and the evil lair I would be calling home.
And I needed to figure out what had happened to Treasure.
Present Day
The Lord of Grimnight’s Evil Lair
Exhausted
One of the few things the Lord of Grimnight had properly taught me was teleportation. Finding an inn in Bane might have given me more opportunities to coincidentally run into Trey, but it would also cost money and takemoretime than simply teleporting into my bedroom at the lair.
Though it would have taken less energy.
Lightheaded, I stood at the end of the bed trying to catch my breath. Then I gave up and plopped face first onto it. Though I hadn’t made the bed before leaving, the sheets were freshly cleaned, every tucked-in corner crisply aligned.
I clutched the top blanket, twisting it out of order, wishing the bed still showed the mess Trey and I had made of it. If I inhaled deeply enough, I could trick myself into smelling traces of musk. If I closed my eyes, I could picture him beneath me, lips parted, face flushed, eyes squeezed shut in unbearable pleasure.
My cock stirred at the memory, and I shifted my hips, wishing Trey really was beneath me right now. He still could be, if the damn lord hadn’t acted so recklessly.
“Wilde!” The imp’s shriek barely preceded the heavy thump on my bedroom door.
From the sounds of it, the imps were taking turns throwing each other at the door rather than knocking.
“Wilde!” The second shriek was louder with a wobbly undertone of fear. “We can’t find the master!”
My eyes snapped open. In my concern for Treasure, I’d forgotten about the Lord of Grimnight. No matter how much the imps searched the lair or the world around us, they would never find him.
I pushed myself to my feet and trudged to the door. Any arousal drained away as I switched to my professional persona. I opened the door just as two imps had tossed another one. Bop’s small purple body zoomed straight toward me. Its beady black eyes widened, and it swerved to the side. It flew a few feet into the room, then scrambled backwards, frantically waving its arms through the air to propel itself faster. Once it was back in the hall, it shrank in on itself and used its batlike wings to hide its face.
“I’m sorry, Wilde! I didn’t mean to invade your privacy!”
“It’s fine.”
Bop slowly lowered a wing and peeked at me through the gap. “It is?”
