Page 74 of Captivating Magic

“Where is she?” he demanded.

“How much do you remember from the accident scene?” Alastair asked him.

“Other than Ebba fawning over Damian, not much,” he admitted grimly.

“Yeah, that was annoying for me, too.” Castor crossed his arms and sent a sour glance toward the Aether. “He’s honing in on our territory.”

“My,” Lo snapped. “My territory.”

Alastair tsked as Damian’s black brows shot skyward.

“Who raised him to be such a barbarian, Al?” Castor wanted to know. “Women aren’t chattel. They’re meant to be honored for the queens they are.”

“I know my wife just stepped into the room, Alex,” Alastair replied, extending his hand for Aurora to take. “You can drop the act.”

“Nice try, Alexander,” she said in her cultured British tones as she cuddled up to her husband’s side. Tilting her head to study Laszlo, she smiled. “How are you, darling boy?”

How was he? It was a damned good question! He took stock of his person.

“I’ve got a raging headache and a desperate need to know what happened to Ebba, but these yahoos refuse to tell me anything.”

“Ah. Clearly they’ve forgotten how the uncertainty can be stressful.” She shoved off Alastair with a reprimanding glare. “Unkind, darling. Very unkind.”

“Rorie—”

“We were just about to tell him,” Damian said. “But now that he’s awake, I’ll leave that to the rest of you.”

Laszlo blinked, and the Aether was gone.

“He’s a man of few words,” Lo said with a rub of his neck.

“Unless he’s droning on about areas of the brain,” Castor said.

“What’s this?” Alastair appeared confused. “When did Damian drone on about the brain?”

“When he told Ebba he had to remove her memories.” Lo shot Castor a worried glance, but the other man shook his head. “What am I missing?”

“He won’t remember. The timeline shifted,” Castor said simply. “You only remember because your spirit made the journey with me.”

“But he was there. So was the Aether,” Lo argued.

“Yes, but they recall what happenedthen,not what led to it or your spirit taking a side trip tonight. Or rather, Al won’t. Damian might remember both because he holds pieces of every magical ability.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“Think of it as two roads at an intersection.” Castor created a V with his hands. With a small shake of his left, he said, “This was the road we were on, but when we rewound to this juncture”—he tapped the heel of his palms—“also known as Ebba’s accident, we all took this road instead,” he concluded with a shake of his right.

“So they never traveled the other road,” Lo said softly.

“Correct. I did, along with your spirit, so we’ll retain the memories.”

“But I don’t remember much—” Sharp, stabbing pain in his head caused Lo to gasp and press the heels of his hands to his eye sockets. “Agh!”

“What is it, son?”

Before he could answer Alastair, he was cut off by Castor. “The new memories are shuffling around in his brain. Reorganizing to match the new timeline. The effect is a wicked migraine.”

As if Lo’s headache wasn’t bad enough when he woke!

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