Page 146 of Seduce Me in Shadow

Shock shoves me into a chair across from Mathias.

“These meetings are too frequent, my dear,” he says. “Rhea is unable to use the book. Everything she writes disappears. I cannot see the words at all. Care to explain?”

I glance at Shock. As long as the traitor is here, I stand no chance of keeping my thoughts to myself. “I just wrote what I wanted in the book and…poof.”

“It came true immediately?”

“No. It took a few days.”

Mathias glances at Shock.

“She’s telling the truth as she knows it,” Shock supplies.

Mathias lounges against the back of the sofa. “It’s possible that larger magic takes time to organize.”

Shock nods. “She was looking only for a shag. Hardly difficult magic, but she’s not a witch…”

A feral grin stretches across the evil wizard’s mouth as he turns to me. “If you need a man in your bed, I’m more than happy to oblige.”

Ewww. “I don’t.”

“I can change your mind…whether you want it changed or not. Regardless of whether your new mate is languishing in the cell downstairs.”

How does he know?

“Your magical signature,” Shock says. “You now have one that brands you as Caden’s. Most anyone magical can see it.”

I like that idea and hope that I’ll have years and years with this signature—and a happy life to go with it. But I have to get out of here first.

Shock merely raises a brow at me, but thankfully keeps commentary to himself.

“You used the book twice with success. Rhea could not use it at all,” Mathias muses as if solving a puzzle aloud. “Of course, you’re a smart girl, and she’s a stupid slag. But she’s magical. You’re not. Puzzling, indeed. It must work for witches or Morgana le Fay would have never created it. There is something I’m missing.”

I’m not certain, but Sabelle and Olivia’s theory that the woman using the book must be wishing for her heart’s desire makes sense. I did when I wished for Caden. Who knows what Mathias’s witch wished for?

“She doesn’t know.” Shock’s tone is both annoyed and dismissive. “She’s human. She stumbled into magic and got lucky.”

I frown. If Shock can read my mind, why didn’t he regurgitate my every thought to Mathias?

“Any chance she’s able to mask her thoughts from you?”

Shock snorts in answer.

“Take her to my bed. I think I’ll enjoy finding out how much energy this feisty human can give me before she meets her sad and tragic end.”

As I zip my gaze to Shock’s face, my heart beats triple time. Bloody hell. The last thing in the world I want is Mathias’s touch. But to die in his bed… I shiver.

Shock is the only thing standing between me and death. His bland expression doesn’t give me much hope.

“In order to bed her, you’ll have to break her mate bond. That will likely kill her. Let me spend a little time with her. I have ways of getting deeper into a woman’s mind.”

“Unpleasant ones, I hope?” Mathias perks up.

“Absolutely.”

Mathias pauses, then smiles. “Take her, then. Don’t bring her back unless you’ve extracted everything from her mind—or she’s dead.”

Caden

---