Page 89 of The Fearless Witch

“I would never push you away,” I said slowly, accentuating each word. “I would never not want you, not need you, not crave you, Celeste. You are mine and I am yours. Forever.” She sucked in a deep breath, relief flooding her eyes, but the fear lingered. “I love you more than anything, and I would rather die than live without you.” Her lip quivered, but she nodded. “But so does Isaac. And it doesn’t matter to me if you have a public ceremony with him, because I am already here.”

I moved my hand to rest over her chest where my mark glowed faintly through the fabric.

“This is about more than love. This is about survival. Our survival.”

She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead on mine, taking deep breaths. Her heartbeat began to slow and after a few painfully long minutes, she cleared her throat, rubbing her face before meeting my gaze.

“So, this is how you want to distract him?” she asked, giving me a pointed look.

“For a little bit, yes.” I shrugged. “It will make him happy, believe me. Meanwhile, we’ll be moving the final pieces on the board.”

“And the witches?” she frowned. “How do you expect to get them to agree on this? They won’t even come if we invite them.” Her throat bobbed, and she huffed a bitter laugh. “They might not even believe that there is a male witch. I’m not sure I want to believe it.”

“They’ll come,” I smirked, and her eyes filled with curiosity and suspicion.

“Oh? And how do you plan to make them?”

“By having you take down their ward.” I raised her hand to my lips, kissing her knuckles while she gasped in surprise. “You can do it now, can’t you?”

A slow smile spread over her face, her eyes twinkling with amusement. She cupped my cheek and leaned in as if to kiss me, but stopped right before our lips touched.

“Remind me to never make you my enemy,” she chuckled.

“Never,” I whispered while I wrapped my hands around her waist and dragged her against me. “The moment the sun goes down, I’ll take you to the ward to study it. And when Isaac gets back, you’ll convince him to do the ceremony. It shouldn’t be that hard.”

“And I’ll send Nym to look for Lily. We can't waste time, we need to find them,” she added.

Looking up, I met her gaze, seeing my own hope and determination reflected there.

“Yes, and then…”

“...we get our friends and family back and make sure your plan works,” she finished instead of me. “I finally have everything I want. I’m not ready to lose it forever.”

Chapter 35

Isaac

“Mr. Isaac, you’re back,” Roman’s butler greeted me almost immediately after I let myself inside the house. “I hope your trip went well?”

I had nothing against the man, even though he was unnerving me with how much he acted like a vampire when he clearly wasn’t one, but I had no patience left for him today.

“Where is she?”

If he was offended by my disregard, he didn’t show it. Catching his hands behind his back, he gave me a reserved smile.

“She is out with Master. Perhaps you’d like to refresh yourself and rest until she comes back?”

“Out where? I need to see her now,” I snapped, taking a step toward him.

He didn’t even flinch. “I’m afraid I don’t know. But they should be back soon considering that dawn is approaching.”

I had to ball my hands into fists before my nails got out and I sank them into his frail body.

“You may wait outside if you prefer or I can take you to a room,” the butler offered again.

I took a deep breath and let it out. It wasn’t his fault that she wasn’t here. She probably didn’t even know I was coming since Roman didn’t bother to pick up his phone. After being unconscious for two days, I woke up to her voice in my head, telling me to come to her. I had rushed all the way back, desperate to see her and now that I was home… she wasn’t even waiting for me.

Logically, I knew that I couldn’t expect her to stay by the window for my return and if Roman had taken her out of the safety of the house, I doubted it was for a leisurely stroll. Still…

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