Page 33 of Enslaved By Magic

“Oh, but—”

“Nope, forget it. Goodnight, Amari, I’ll see you in the morning,” he said in a firm tone that warned her not to argue with him.

She saw him roll his eyes as he turned to leave the room and she muttered under her breath, “You might as well have been born yesterday,” but low enough that he couldn’t hear it because she didn’t want him questioning her on her age again. She wasn’t sure why, but she really didn’t want him to have any idea of how old she was. It wasn’t a vanity thing, obviously, she hadn’t aged a day since she was cursed.

She tried to tell herself that it was because he would be more prone to underestimate her that way, and when it came down to it, her long life hadn’t prepared her for much. She’d been kept isolated, used, and then locked away. Most of what she knew of the world came from being an observer, watching the years pass while safely in her bottle. He was the first one to give her room to explore on her own, so in many ways, she was younger than him.

But the real reason to downplay how long her life had been was that she liked the way he worried about her taking the bus alone, and she liked the way he took charge and lectured her. If he knew that she’d lived centuries before he was even born, it would change things between them. It disturbed her that she enjoyed his dominance. She, who had never been a willing submissive to any of the owners who had been forced on her, should not have wanted a man to be in charge.

Maybe part of it was a holdover from her life before the curse. Women then were generally supposed to obey their husbands and fathers. If her father hadn’t died so horribly, she likely would have married the man he’d chosen for her, and then spent the rest of her life catering to his wishes and bearing his children while never having any time for herself—and she would have been happy because she didn’t know anything else.

It was different in this new world. Women had choices other than marriage and motherhood. They had the freedom to be whatever they wanted to be, and she loved that things had progressed to the point of equality. When she pictured her life once she got her freedom back, she saw herself exploring and checking off each of the long list of things she’d always wanted to do, and none of them involved letting a dominant man boss her around and spank her when she annoyed him.

And yet…

There was no way to hide the fact that she reacted to that dominance with arousal. It was too strong to pretend otherwise. While her mind was saying ‘no!’ her body was dripping with need, and it was so difficult to reconcile the conflict. For now, it made sense to go along with the desire because it could only help with her plan of seduction—but she wondered how much harder it would be to leave when she’d granted that third wish.

Those thoughts occupied her mind for much of the night, but by morning she’d come up with no resolution to the problem. She wanted him and she wanted her freedom, and there didn’t seem to be a way to have both, but at least she had enough distractions over the next few weeks to keep from spending too much time worrying about it.

They went to the lawyer, who confirmed the win and then handled all the details and arranged for him to claim the money with the least amount of publicity. She watched, out of the way, from a corner as Luke smiled for the pictures and signed the paperwork. The smile seemed forced and his posture was stiff, making it obvious how uncomfortable he was with all the eyes on him. It wasn’t until they left with the huge, cardboard check, that he began to relax and let it all sink in.

The cardboard bent as he pushed and shoved to get it in the backseat of the car, and she laughed as she watched him. “What is that for anyway?” she asked curiously. It had been explained that the real money would be deposited in his bank account in installments, so she knew it wasn’t for the bank.

“I think I’m supposed to hang it on a wall or something,” he said and then gave it a fierce shove that made it crumple in the middle—but he was able to close the door.

She shook her head, trying not to laugh as she got in the car. They went over to his aunt and uncle’s house to show them the fake check, and Sarah took a dozen pictures of them holding the slightly mangled cardboard, and it was good that it had some use because she wasn’t surprised later to find it folded up and stuffed into the trash can.

She wondered if he felt guilty that he’d won through magic, but if so, it was pointless. He’d been right to word his wish that way. The more she learned about the modern world, the more she began to see how needlessly complicated it had all become. His life changed dramatically over the next few weeks, and she was there with him through all of it, watching and learning as he plowed through the red tape.

“There’s so much paperwork!” she said, the surprise she felt coloring her tone as she watched him sign page after page in order to take ownership of a new car. She’d thought it would be a simple matter since he was paying cash for it, but no, there was still so much to do.

He seemed just as surprised as her, probably because he’d never had the money to buy one new before. But finally, an hour later saw them leaving in a new car. Well, he called it an SUV. It seemed like some merging of truck and car, but it was spacious inside and had lots of buttons to play with. It was well-made and beautiful, but not the fancy toy she’d been expecting. He’d paused to look at a row of expensive sports cars, but when the salesman came over, he’d turned away from them and headed to the more utilitarian vehicles.

It was weird for someone who had just won millions, but it was oddly in character for Luke. She saw it as a sign that greed hadn’t sunk its claws into him yet, and when they went looking for houses a couple weeks later, it became even more apparent that he was trying to keep his life as normal as possible.

He’d hired a real estate agent who had happily set up a whole weekend full of appointments to look at houses, but when they arrived at the first one and saw it, he shook his head and went to talk to her. Amari leaned against their car and listened.

“This is a mansion. It’s way too big and not what we’re looking for. I emailed you a list of our requirements, didn’t you get it?” he was saying.

“I did, but I thought there had to be some mistake—Mr. Osman, you won the lottery! Surely you want something with a bit more oomph! You have the budget for—”

Luke cut her off, using that stern voice that Amari had come to love. “I told you what I was interested in. If you can’t show me anything like that, I guess I’ll have to find another agent,” he said.

After that she straightened up and spent a half hour on her laptop coming up with a new schedule of appointments. Despite the sulky look that remained on her face for most of the afternoon, she seemed to know her business, and by the end of the day, Luke had narrowed the list down to a few strong contenders.

He’d expected it to take longer, but two months later he was moving them into a house that he thought was perfect. It wasn’t anything like a mansion, but still a good bit larger than where he’d been living, and the few possessions he had seemed lonely spread around the large rooms. It was obvious furniture shopping would have to be on the agenda, though he’d already had a more lavish bedroom set delivered and now the master suite was the one part of the house that didn’t feel empty.

“What are you going to do with all this space?” she wondered.

He looked embarrassed, one hand going up to scratch the back of his neck. “Well, the thing is I thought I might fill some of it with art. I went to school to learn about it because I’ve always loved beautiful things, and I’ve never been any good at creating them myself, but I haven’t had the money to buy anything I’d consider ‘good’ before.”

“Except for my bottle, of course. I suspect even without it’s magical properties it would be worth something,” she commented. Its age would make it a treasure, she suspected, even without the gems that encrusted the outside.

“Yes, except for that. Do you think it will disappear when I make my last wish?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve always been more worried about what I’ll do once I’m free. I suppose you’ll find out soon. As soon as you make those wishes,” she said. There was just a hint of encouragement in her voice. She hadn’t wanted to rush him to make another while he was still dealing with the life-changing effects of the first, but since he’d brought it up, it seemed like a good time.

“I’ve been thinking about what to wish for,” he said. “Soon, I promise.” And then, as if the words weren’t enough to reassure her, he reached out and pulled her into his arms. His mouth came down on hers with a hard kiss that sucked the strength out of her and her knees almost buckled. He used that as an excuse to sweep her up into his arms and carry her off to the bedroom to christen the new bed.

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