Page 25 of Enslaved By Magic

The hope was starting to return now, but along with it was the realization that without her bottle, she would have no resources to make her way in this world. Maybe, if Sarah really meant what she’d said, they’d be willing to help her afterward. It wasn’t about the money; she didn’t think Luke would begrudge her a small amount of his winnings to set her up for a little while. It was just… she’d never been on her own. Ever. She’d gone from her parents’ house to lifetimes of servitude. Not for one minute in all those years had she actually been responsible for herself.

It was a little terrifying to think about it, especially when all her decades of knowledge didn’t amount to many practical modern world skills. She was learning now, useful things that would help, but there was still so much she didn’t know, and her instincts said she could trust Sarah—so maybe. Maybe if Luke followed through and she finally achieved her freedom, she’d see if the offer had been an honest one.

It was unsettling to think about putting her faith into someone like that, but a lot of things had been disquieting lately. She settled back in her seat feeling pensive. “It was fun. I liked the board games after dinner. Do you do that a lot?” she asked.

“A few times a month.” There was a wide grin on his face. “You know, Uncle Esra always wins at word games. I think he might still be in shock that you beat him! The expression on his face when you pulled out a hundred-point word…”

“Really? It’s funny, he so rarely talks it never occurred to me that he’d have much of a vocabulary,” she commented.

“Oh, he knows all the best words—didn’t I tell you? He has a doctorate in philosophy,” Luke said. He looked over and laughed at her expression. “Doesn’t seem the type, right?”

“No! I mean—it’s obvious he’s really smart, but I thought…” she trailed off and shook her head.

“I know. I think half the reason he’s so quiet is so he can suddenly surprise people when they underestimate him. He used to talk a lot more when he taught at the university, but then he retired and now he mostly lets Aunt Sarah do all the talking.”

“Well, she’s good at it,” Amari replied with a little laugh. She hadn’t found the constant chatter irritating. If anything, it was the opposite, but it had been pretty much non-stop.

“She is, and I think she’s always glad to have people over who will talk back—since Uncle Esra doesn’t,” Luke said as he pulled into the driveway and shut off the car. “I’m glad you had a good time with them. I wish you’d had less of a good time with me,” he added, annoyance creeping into his voice.

“I stopped when you told me to.” She couldn’t keep the slight smirk off her face or out of her tone either.

“You did, which is the only reason you’re not getting a spanking when we get in the house, but what possessed you to start that there of all places?” he asked, one eyebrow rising with a judgmental stare.

“They couldn’t see anything, and I knew you wouldn’t be able to push me away like you usually do,” she said, watching his face twitch in annoyance out of the corner of her eye. Without waiting for a response, she opened the car door and started to get out, but his hand shot out and caught her wrist. It wasn’t painful but it was firm—she wasn’t going anywhere. She looked back at him and cocked her head as she gave him a deliberately innocent look. “What?”

His eyes narrowed. “You really are a brat, you know that? I like women who willingly submit to me. You don’t have a choice and I’d be an asshole if I took advantage of that.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d pointed that out and each time she felt like his convictions were weakening, but maybe that was just wishful thinking. “You keep saying that, but it never seems to occur to you that by refusing to let me have a choice you’re still treating me like a slave.” His eyes widened and his grip loosened with surprise. She yanked her arm free and was out of the car before he could recover.

She made sure that by the time he followed her into the house she’d already escaped into her bottle. He could, of course, order her out, but she knew he wouldn’t. She collapsed on her bed laughing at the expression on his face. Times changed, places changed, but men didn’t change. Luke was as easy to manipulate as any man she’d ever known. She supposed she should feel bad about it, but she was working toward a goal that she hoped would be mutually pleasing.

Ducking out of sight before he could work up a retort to throw at her was part of the plan. Let him stew on what she’d said for a while because it was true, but he’d never see it if he was too busy being defensive. She wanted that firmly in his mind when she moved on to the next step—which was going to happen as soon as he was in bed for the night.

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