Page 149 of Married to the Devil

I don’t have any pretty words of encouragement but luckily no one seems to require them.

Stoneheart remains in a permanent sleep.

The candles get blown out, and people move to clean up the failed spell.

There’s a soft touch to my elbow, and I look up at Zena.

“I’m glad the other potion worked,” she says. “We’ll try to break the curse again. Don’t give up hope. I’ve never had so many people volunteer to give me hair and blood to make substitutions.”

That is an uplifting distraction. The truth of Stoneheart’s affliction isn’t out yet, but the people know something is wrong, and have come forward wanting to help. This territory is a very different place than just last month.

But the other thing she said makes me frown. “The potion?”

She looks at my stomach, and her face softens. “The one Ben picked up. I was surprised he couldn’t make it tonight.”

Of course this is the potion master who made the fertility aid. The world is such a small place, and that reminder makes the absence of Ben even sharper.

“Oh, yes, that.” I blush and try to disentangle myself from the conversation. “Let’s hope the next attempt to break the curse works as well.”

“There’s magic to hoping,” she says, and I nod politely.

I just wish hoping didn’t hurt so much.

50

BEN

The cover dropson the piano keys, and I’m startled to realize I’m no longer alone in the room.

This part of the house is out of the way enough that I’d chosen this piano as my favorite to let the chaos of my heart free since I’d begun living with Kalos. No one disturbs me here, and though it’s a shared space, I thought of it as mine.

But it’s really another place that doesn’t truly belong to me.

Stoneheart offered you a piano, the thought is a whisper and is easily waved away.

It’s no loss to be interrupted now. I haven’t been able to touch the keys since leaving my heart in another territory.

“Do you need something?” I ask my boss.

Kalos’s brows furrow in frustration. “No, but you do, and you’re not going to find it while staring at a piano.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He tilts his head. “I’ve always loved your tenacity, but this is ridiculous.” His voice is gentle and that takes out the sting from his words. “You don’t eat. You don’t sleep. You’re miserable, Ben. You’ve made the wrong choice.”

I thought for a moment Stoneheart wasn’t going to give me a choice, but it’s been a week since the call where he threatened to hunt me down. If he really needed me, I wouldn’t be here anymore.

“They’ve done fine without me.”

“Aren’t you curious about the results of the voting?” Kalos asks.

I refuse to be tempted into asking. “They have it handled.”

“You don’t want to know if that councilor was successful in removing them from power? I hear he wanted to put Stella on trial.”

The outrage rises so quickly, it makes me nauseous. Which isn’t unusual of late. Kalos is right that I haven’t been feeling my best. “They wouldn’t.”

“They would.”

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