Page 69 of Sincerely, Secretary of Doom

“Violet,” he said again, this time with warning.

“If you’re so afraid of your enemies catching up with you, we can keep it a secret.”

Mor shut his mouth. He blinked at the asphalt in the direction of his lost coin. When he lifted his gaze to her, his mouth was tight at the corners. “Don’t tempt me. I’ve hardly got any control with you as it is.” Violet’s mouth parted. “Don’t you understand? You’re already doomed, simply for being in my company. Getting feelings involved will only make it worse.”

They stared at each other, both refusing to break eye contact until a passing car honked.

Mor took in a deep breath. “I’ll get one of everything,” he said, turning for the bubble tea shop.

“Mor.” She stopped him one last time. “Are you treating me to bubble tea because you’re going to send me away today?”

Mor didn’t reply, answering her question well enough. Violet’s lungs grew tight. She’d just hung her heart out in front of him, and he’d been planning to kick her out the whole time. She nodded, her only response as Mor continued into the tea shop.

Violet released a strained breath, slapping both hands over her face and feeling the weight of her words pulling her toward the ground. That seed of fear—the gutting dread of being cast out again—sprouted within her from the shallow place she’d tried to bury it.

When she dropped her hands, someone was standing in front of her. Or so she thought, but she blinked, and he was gone. Her eyes fired up; the clouds in the sky had jumped—appearing in new places. The wind seemed to have started and stopped suddenly, too. Almost like someone had pushed a pause button on her and the rest of the world had kept moving for a moment.

Violet whirled, scanning the crowds moving down the street. She caught sight of a scarlet-haired figure among them, sliding a ruby into his pocket as he walked. She took a step after him, but Luc was marching away at a graceful, inhuman speed and was already too far off to yell after.

The dizziness returned like a punch. Violet grabbed her forehead and winced, cursing her anemia for having terrible timing. But her iron deficiency felt like the least of her worries as she scanned the groups of people, no longer seeing any traces of Luc. For a moment, she debated if he’d even really been there.

Mor came out of the bubble tea shop with a tray of four different tea flavours. He slowed his walk as he reached her, sniffing the air and tugging his brows together.

“Mor,” Violet said. “I think I just saw Luc. I think…”

The flashes of him there and gone.

The clouds snapping into different places.

The feeling of the wind changing in a split second.

“I think I may have spoken with him,” she rasped.

Mor dropped the bubble teas. They splattered over the parking lot as he took her shoulders and looked her over. “Queensbane, Violet, has this has happened before?” The way he asked made her wonder if he already knew the answer.

Violet swallowed, thinking of Zorah’s comment about seeing her around with another guy. “I don’t know.”

Mor released a heavy breath, an anguished expression twisting his face as he turned her away from the bubble tea shop and ducked them between two parked trucks. “It has. At the bus stop, and in the alley, and likely other times when you didn’t even know you met him. He’s been doing this for a while.”

Sickness filled Violet’s stomach as she realized. All those times she’d met Luc, he’d made her forget part of it. She pressed a hand against her chest when it felt too tight to breathe.

It had happened again. She’d had memories stolen again—and this time she had no idea how many or from when.

“Mor…” she rasped as her hands began to shake, as her heartbeat elevated. As a fresh wave of terror coursed through her veins. “It doesn’t make sense,” she said. “He never tried to kill me… right?”

Mor’s hand came out toward her, but he hesitated and dropped it back to his side. He squeezed it into a fist, his body rigid. “No. But he kept coming back,” Mor said. “Encounters are different with foxes. Any number of things could have happened. But he didn’t want you to remember—as if he was worried I would find out if I looked into your mind. So, he was after something.”

“What could he possibly be after with me?” Violet hugged her arms to herself.

“Queensbane, I don’t know. But if he’s still coming back to you, I imagine he didn’t get it yet.” Mor finally took her hands. “What I do know is he’s doing this because of me. You need to leave me alone. And I can’t send you to Shayne anymore because I need him now. So, you’ll have to go to the Sisterhood.”

“Mor—”

“I’ll take you back to the cathedral first. Fire the interns. Pack your things. I’m not sure how much time we have,” he said, closing his eyes and dropping his head. “Take The Fairy Post firm with you. You can have it.”

“No.” The statement was simple. “I’m your secretary, Mor,” she objected with half accusation, half insistence.

Her words brought his face up slowly, and in it, Violet saw a strange monster she hardly recognized. A hardness covered his gaze, his expression sending nausea rolling through her stomach. It was like he’d turned into something else in the blink of an eye.

---