“I’d advise against that,” Briar said, the amused glint in his hazel eyes mingling with the threads of worry. “You can’t hold your alcohol well. Though, you’re quite endearing when drunk.”
I tried to smile but couldn’t find the energy.
“I see.” Maddox slowly breathed out before rising from the bed. His mask had cracks now, revealing the slivers of vulnerability underneath. “That man is a past lover from your former kingdom, and he wants you to return with him.”
“Huh?” I asked.
The muscle in his jaw ticked. “I suppose he’s handsome in his own way. Or is it his power you’re attracted to?”
Briar regarded Maddox, his expression slowly sinking. When his hazel eyes shifted to me, questions swam in them, as did an ache I felt deep in my chest. “Is this true? Is that man—”
“Okay, both of you have the wrong idea,” I interjected. “Lupin isn’t my lover, past or otherwise. He’s married to a smoking hot guy named Saint, and honestly, he’s not my type anyway.”
Maddox returned his gaze to me, guarded once more. “Then who is he?”
“And why the secrecy?” Briar asked, the worry in his expression deepening.
Lake didn’t chime in to the conversation, but he stayed alert, listening.
I hated the distance between us. Not only physical but the emotional one too. Like a wall keeping me out, especially with Maddox. I reached for him.
Maddox’s attention shifted to my hand before he knocked it aside and pulled me into his arms instead. He held me tighter than usual. Almost painfully so. “Tell me this… are you leaving us?”
“No,” I said, fighting the tight ball of emotion in my throat. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
As Maddox pushed his face into my hair, a tremor passed through his large body—like he’d been holding his breath and could finally empty his lungs again.
Briar walked over and kissed our captain’s shoulder before caressing my temple. “Losing either of you is the only thing I couldn’t survive. Everything else pales in comparison to that.”
Losing either of us.
I smiled. My gaze shifted to Lake. He had stepped away from the window and come toward us, as if on impulse. But he stopped before closing the gap. I wished he’d join our little love huddle.
“I’m not sure what to call Lupin,” I said. “Wizard? Magician? Let’s just say he’s a mysterious and magical pain in the butt, but he means well. I think. I met him before coming to Bremloc. He helped me when I was in a low place.”
“During your travels?” Maddox asked.
Guilt stirred in my chest. That was what I’d told him in the beginning, that I was a traveler who had gotten tired while passing through Bremloc and fallen asleep.
Here goes nothing.
“Me being a traveler was kind of a lie. I mean, Ididtravel—”Across time and space“—but it wasn’t through the lands you’re familiar with. It was from somewhere farther away.”
Maddox lifted a brow, a touch of humor back in those deep blue eyes I loved so much. “Are you saying youaren’tEvan, Lord of the Muffins, who hails from the land of Arkansas?”
“Er, well, Iamfrom a place called Arkansas, but it’s not exactly a kingdom. And the muffin lord thing was a lie.”
“No more lies, Evan. No more secrets.” Maddox looked at Briar, then at Lake, before returning his eyes to me. “The three of us deserve the truth.”
“You do.” Before I could talk myself out of it, I blurted out, “I’m from a different world.”
Silence.
Maddox stared at me with indifference though I saw the wheels turning in his head.
Briar frowned. “A different world?”
I nodded. “A place where magic doesn’t exist. Well, I guess itdoesexist, but it’s not as widely known or accepted as it is here. There aren’t demi-humans, dark woods filled with demons, or monsters. The magical runes that power everything here doesn’t exist in my old world. Instead, we have something called electricity, no magic required.”
