Page 48 of Legendary

“Not everyone can do it. The majority of Enchanters can glamour, but memories are a bit harder. It’s easier if you’re close, like family. And it's even easier if the party is a willing participant. It’s not permanent, but they’re so young, I hope that it does stick in their memory.”

I nodded in understanding. “I would never do that on purpose, I hopeyou know that. I just…I’m unsure what even happened. This place is just…” I couldn’t find the words that would help me out and I actually didn’t feel like trying to justify my behavior.

Leah waved her hand out in front of her. “Please, it’s alright. You don’t have to explain. Beetee told us what happened to you, and Elise told us all about Lilith’s hold on you.”

I cut my eyes over to Elise, but she was looking down, practically burning a hole through the table.

“As long as you want to bring Lilith down and that’s your one goal then we can move forward. I’m not leaving you alone with my children anytime soon, but I can give you the benefit of the doubt,” Leah continued.

“I don’t think Axel will let you anywhere near them, right now. He made sure he was cuddled right with them when we tucked them into bed,” Garrett added. I imagined the large hellhound in his little dog form snuggled up with the kids upstairs. It almost made me laugh, but then I remembered I was going to have to gain the trust of a hellhound as well. A hellhound that belonged to…

“Elise,” I said, walking further into the room. The sound of feet running down the stairs and the hostel door opening and closing echoed behind me. Drunken laughter from the other side of the room was drowned out by how hard I was staring at her.

“What?” she answered, narrowing her eyes at me as she gave me her attention.

“Can we talk?”

She looked around the room, at the three other people near us. “Are we not talking right now?”

“Alone.”

Before she could respond, Beetee answered for her, “Of course, yes, you can.” She motioned for Leah and Garrett to follow her out. The two Enchanters nodded in understanding and got up from their chairs.

“We should probably head to bed as well,” Leah said as she awkwardly looked from Elise to me. She took a step forward, but then stopped, placing her hands on the table and leaning forward toward Elise. “You saved my child. There will be no more discussion of our past, alright.”

Elise licked her lips and tilted her head. “We’re even. Perfect.”

Garrett lightly grabbed Leah’s arm and pulled her towards the exit. He let out a deep breath as he passed me, saying in a low voice, “I know how manipulative Lilith can be. We will fight with you, but if you ever try to hurt my child again, I will end you.”

I gave him my full attention and simply nodded. I wasn’t shocked byhis words. They were warranted. I was impressed he’d said it to my face, but then again, the man had worked closely enough with Lilith, so I hardly doubted he was afraid of much these days. I wanted to tell him about what Isabel had said to me, about how he was safe from Lilith for now, but that would have to wait until tomorrow.

Beetee followed after them, wiggling her eyebrows, her lilac eyes glowing with mischief. “She vouched for you hard. Like it was weird, even for her.” She looked over her shoulder. “Nice, Ellie. Fucking nice. I don’t curse often, but I swear…”

Elise placed her elbows on the table and placed her chin in her upturned palms. “Yes, I got it, you annoying reptile.”

Beetee shook her head and raised her eyes to the ceiling as she left us alone. Despite all the noise around us, it felt silent with just the two of us in this one area. She had her eyes closed and seemed to have no intention of acknowledging me. She blew out a breath. “Are you just going to stand there like a freak, or are you going to sit?”

I walked over to one of the chairs, pulling it out and sitting down. The minute my butt hit the chair, Elise pushed away from the table and got up. I cocked my head back in confusion. “You basically ask me to sit down and now you’re just gonna leave?”

She quickly looked over to me as she kept moving. “Just sit pretty for two seconds, alright?”

I watched as she disappeared from the room into the small kitchen. I heard fumbling around and then she was back, with a large bottle of clear liquid and two glass cups. “Beetee thinks she can hide the good stuff from me, but clearly she cannot.”

A man lumbered into the dining area, saying some words, but they were slurred and jumbled together. Yeah, this was definitely not the time for all of this nonsense to start. Elise hissed over at him, “If you want to be able to use your dick tomorrow, I highly suggest you get out of this room and out of my face.” Her eyes blazed with flames and the man quickly turned around, almost running into the wall behind him and made his way out of our presence.

“A bit harsh,” I noted, watching as she unscrewed the top off the bottle and started pouring it into the cups.

“I was being nice.”

She pushed the cup over to me, some of the contents sloshing out. I lifted it to my nose and, yup, that’s vodka.

“Speak,” she practically commanded. Elise tilted her cup back and drank half of what was in it. I needed to match her energy, so I did the same.

I licked my lips, the burn of the alcohol sliding down my throat. I liked the burn. “You are really fucking confusing you know that?”

She chuckled, pouring another large amount into her cup. “This should be good.”

“No, really. You come with me to Heaven’s Gate, you give me every indication that we are friends, but then you can’t even say sorry about lying to me and basically call me a pathetic bitch. Then in the same sentence admit that you kept me alive for what? The sake of keeping me alive. And let’s not forget the part where you have a way too good for youfriend, a pet hellhound, you save a child’s life and then you make sure my ass is covered, so I don’t look like a total bad guy. Fucking confusing.”

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