Page 67 of Inflamed By an Incubus

Her voice dropped to a murmur.

“I’d love to pick his brains.”

Vail had been slowly relaxing as his mate fussed over him, but his features hardened in an instant and he glared up at her. “You are not going anywhere near this male.”

The tips of his ears grew even pointier as they flared against the sides of his head and his violet eyes darkened.

Rosalind smiled sweetly at him as she teased those pointed tips, attempting to distract her mate. “I wasn’t thinking of hunting him down or anything. I swear!”

She wasn’t a good liar.

Vail didn’t look convinced either. “First Atticus bloody Darcy and now this Crow.”

Rosalind planted her hands on her hips. “Stop bringing up Atticus like I’m swooning over him. I’m not interested in anyone but you and you know it… however… Atticus… bloody git owes me, and he does have some good spells, ones that might help us.”

“Help us how?” Fenix tried to ignore the black look that settled on Vail’s face and the aggression he was throwing off as he continued to glare at his mate. He looked ready to lock her up and throw away the key to keep her away from other males.

Wasn’t like Fenix had been there or done that with his own mate.

Not at all.

“If the Crow is Evelyn’s partner, then she doesn’t know what he is, right? Well, what if we can reveal that to her and convince her that Archer isn’t as human as he seems? It might be a good way of turning her against him and severing the bond they have.” Rosalind had hope building inside Fenix with every word that left her lips and by the time she finished, he was on the edge of his seat and eager to locate this Atticus she kept mentioning.

“And how do you propose we reveal what he is? He looks human. You look human. Unless you’re planning to make him use magic, which I don’t think will happen. I’ve fought him and he fights like a human would.” Fenix didn’t want to doubt her plan, but he needed to know how it was going to get the result he needed, and he had to keep his hopes down somehow. Sprinkling a little doubt around often helped achieve that.

She settled sideways on Vail’s lap and the elf’s expression immediately softened as she looped her arms around him. The little witch definitely had her mate wrapped around her finger and deep under her spell, and Fenix was glad something good had come of the time they had spent trapped in the dungeon together.

“I propose we get a spell from Atticus, one that will drive the spells inside the Crow’s mind wild and reveal what he is.” Rosalind smiled wickedly, the stars in her eyes fading as they darkened, and Vail stroked her side, concern flitting across his face as he gazed at her.

Fenix didn’t like the look on her face either. It wasn’t like Rosalind to look so dark. Even in the dungeon she had never looked like this, so close to letting the shadowy side of magic draw her away from the light.

“It sounds dangerous,” Vail put in and her gaze snapped to him, the darkness leaving her eyes in an instant as they locked with her mate’s violet ones. “If just one of those spells goes haywire… we do not know what will happen.”

“We either risk it or we risk the Crow getting his hands on the power to cast a curse upon immortals that will strip us of our power and banish us to Hell.” Rosalind sighed and leaned her side against his chest.

She snuggled up to Vail as she looked at Fenix, and casually placed all the weight on his shoulders as she put the decision in his hands.

“So what’s it going to be?”

Chapter 20

It was a pleasant evening, warm and clear, with just enough moonlight for Evelyn to see into the deepest shadows in Hyde Park. It should have been relaxing, but the air between her and Archer was still tense.

Or maybe that was her.

She flicked a glance at him as he pushed his glasses up his nose and regarded the trees on his side of the path, trying to think of something to say to break the heavy silence that had settled over them from the moment he had suggested a patrol.

Part of her felt sure he wanted to clear the air too. He didn’t want this tension between them to carry on. Maybe he was struggling for something to say just as she was.

Evelyn pushed aside the questions she really wanted to ask him, aware that if she probed into why he had gone off alone the other night and had ordered her to go home that he would grow angry with her again. She didn’t want that. She wanted things to go back to how they had been, before they had gone to Hell on that initial mission to scout the Fifth Realm.

“Archer,” she started and faltered, her words failing her.

His sigh said it all.

He knew she was trying to heal the breach between them and he wanted it too.

They both sucked at this.

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