Page 16 of Stolen By the Necromancer

The way he was standing seemed odd. He was very rigid – mechanical even. He was just standing before me, his arms limp at his sides. Strange.

“You’re his brother? Ididn’t realize he had a brother.”

“He did. But then I died in battle. So now hedoesn’t.”

My eyes widened as I gave my head a shake. I had to be hallucinating. There’s no way this was real.

My throat turned suddenly dry and I licked my lower lip as I eyed the man before me.“So you’re dead? You’re a ghost?”

He smiled.“I’vebeen resurrected for a brief time. To help you while Nero is away.”

“How?”

He cocked his head to the side and frowned.“I don’t know. Is there anything I can do for you?”

I swallowed down the fear within me. This guy might be crazy, but he might have information. I wasn’t buying the whole resurrected zombie, ghost, or whatever the hell he was spiel though.“Why am I a prisoner? Why won’t he let me go?”

“You want to talk. Okay.” Crossing the room, he took a seat on the overstuffed black velvet loveseat facing the bed.“He needs you.”

“Why? Why does he need me?”

“I don’t know.”

My eyes narrowed at him, trying to get a read on this guy’s deal. There was just something strange about him that went above and beyond his peculiar words and movements. It was like a vibe, but I justcouldn’t understand what it meant. The only thing I could read was that hewouldn’t hurt me. Whoever or whatever he was, he was indeed here to ensure my needs were met.

“Then tell me about Nero. What does he want? What is he aiming to achieve.” Maybe if I knew his goals then I could get a fix on what he needed from me.

Godwin smiled.“I can tell you that. Got some time?”

I shook the shackle keeping me to the bed.“It seems all I have is time,Godwin.”

Chapter 9

Genevieve

“Brother is home and he’s summoning me. I’llbid you farewell.”

Summoning him? I didn’t hear him arrive.

He stood and made his way to the door. Placing his hand on the doorknob, he turned back to look at me one last time.“It’s been nice getting to know you, Genevieve.” With that, he left, closing the door being him.

I choked on a sob as I rested the back of my head against the headboard and waited for him to arrive.

It wasn’t a long wait before Nero appeared in the doorway with a smile on his face. In a pair of ripped dark blue jeans and a black tailored button-down shirt he looked as good as he always did. But this time when I lookedat him I saw him with a mind that was clear of the spell he’s woven around me.

With the right questions and probing his brother proved to be quite informative. I had to suspend my disbelief and have faith that things like magic existed for it all to make sense, but with that realization came the power to fight off the attraction spells Nero liked to trap me within.

“Are you still upset with me?” he asked as he crossed the room with a bouquet of fragrant red roses in his hands. Sitting on the bed next to me he brushed the back of his hand against my cheek.

I felt the familiar warmth flow through me, but with a little effort was able to force it back. My eyes and mind were open and clear. No more manipulation.

“Don’t bother, Nero. Drop the act and just be honest with me. I deserve that much.”

Dropping his hand, he passed me the flowers which I waved off.

He clucked his tongue off the roof of his mouth and nodded.“I guess you and Godwin had quite a conversation.”

“We talked about a lot of things. At first, I thought he was insane, but as we kept talking and I opened my mind to possibilities a lot of stuff became clear about both myself and you.”

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