Page 61 of Cleansed By Water (The Nature Hunters Academy 3)

“I’m going to say okay because I don’t really know what the right answer is to that weird-ass declaration you just made,” she finally said.

Liam smiled, leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to her nose. He sighed. “As much as I would love to keep you exactly where you are, Professor Frost will have my ass if we aren’t in the corridor by her office on time for our next assignment.”

Gabby gingerly climbed off his lap and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. She swiped the screen and checked the time. It was five in the morning. She glanced out her window and saw the dawn was indeed rising, and the sky was turning a pale shade of light purple, blue, and pink as the sun began to come up. How much time had passed since she’d awoken with Liam in her bed? It felt like hours. Yet, it also felt as if it had only been minutes.

“I’ve got to get dressed,” she said, looking anywhere but at him. She heard the bed shift and then his hand was under her chin, lifting her face to his. He leaned down and rubbed his lips across her before giving her a firm kiss.

“I’ll be back in ten minutes. We’ll go down together,” he said.

She shook her head before he finished. “We can just meet there.”

“No,” Liam said firmly. “Together, babe. Always together.”

He stared at her as if he were waiting for something. She finally nodded, which seemed to be what he’d wanted. His grin was immediate, turning his face from handsome to downright mesmerizing. “See you in ten.”

He was out the door before she could even say bye. Gabby lifted her hands and rubbed her face before running them down her long hair. What the hell had happened last night? Had she really accepted this thing between them? “Yep,” she said, answering herself. How could she not? Liam had been so gentle with her and so incredibly honest. She hoped with everything in her that he didn’t wind up breaking her heart. She wouldn’t survive it.

Letting out a tired sigh, she forced herself to breathe slowly and not freak out while she got dressed. She had a job to do, and she couldn’t let her personal life get in the way of that.

Once everything was in place—clothes put on, weapons donned, and hair braided—she grabbed her phone. Just then, there was a knock at her door. She opened it, struck again by Liam’s sheer good looks. The look in his eyes froze her in place.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said. “I missed you.”

She couldn’t help but grin as she shook her head. “You were gone ten minutes.”

“Longest ten minutes of my life,” he said as he took her hand and pulled her from the room. “Let’s go save the world. I want to show off for you.”

“You’re crazy,” Gabby muttered as she walked beside him, their shoulders brushing occasionally.

“Crazy about you.”

“Cheesy.” She laughed.

“Maybe, but it made you laugh, so it was worth it.” Liam winked at her and tightened his grip on her hand.

Gabby had a feeling she’d be laughing a lot more with him in her life, and she looked forward to it.

Chapter 13

Osiris stared at the wall where the ward was still firmly in place. He glared at it so hard he was surprised it didn’t simply melt away under his anger.

“Master?” Crescious said, his voice trembling slightly.

“What?” Osiris snapped, not in the mood to be bothered. He had been working on the damn ward for days. Nothing he’d tried had even weakened it.

How could he be the ruler of the underworld if he couldn’t even control its magic?

“Have you considered what type of magic it might be?” Crescious asked.

Osiris turned slowly to look at the little minion. “How could it be any other than magic from hell?” No other magic worked in his domain. If other magic was used, the underworld manipulated it until it was under his control.

“The one who orchestrated this has found a way around that rule. So, maybe we need to think about how that could have happened?”

The little demon had a point. That was irksome. Osiris turned back to the wall and considered what he knew of Dolion and what the demi-lord had been up to. Viscious, the dark fire king, had shared some information with him, but he didn’t know how reliable the dark elemental was. After all, it was the nature of those who wielded dark magic to be completely selfish and power-hungry. Osiris, after all, was the epitome of darkness and selfishness.

“Dolion has been consorting with witches,” Osiris said. “Do you know of any witch magic that could overrule the underworld’s power?” He asked because Crescious was a remarkably resourceful little weasel. The little demon had all sorts of useful knowledge because he liked to eavesdrop, and he hid himself well. Osiris also knew Crescious used his status as the underworld's servant as a way to protect himself from demons whodidcatch him nosing into their business. And though Osiris had always believed he knew everything that happened in his domain, Dolion’s deception made him question that. It pissed him off.

Crescious wrung his hands together in his nervous way as his eyes darted around the room. “I have heard of a spell that is supposedly able to hide itself from magic users. It might be that it’s able to hide itself from the underworld's magic and your own as well.”

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