Page 80 of Empire of Dark

Venetia guffawed.

I eyed Damen. “Do you even know who Mary Poppins is?” I couldn’t imagine him ever sitting down in a theater for a movie night.

His eyes rolled to the sky. “Of course I know who Mary Poppins is.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I flicked my hand out to motion toward Venetia. “Then please explain to your daughter who Mary Poppins is.”

He looked at me, gave a dramatic sigh, then turned to Venetia. “Poppins is a fictional character that is a nanny in England. It was a series of books first, which were then made into a movie. Poppins takes care of two children who can be naughty but teaches them how to be responsible. She is, of course, stern, but is also the most wonderful and interesting and mysterious person the children have ever met. She’s also magical. Probably was a panthenite for how good she was.”

Venetia’s fingers tapped along the handle of her sword. “So what’s a Poppins wind?”

Damen glanced at me. A grin on my face, I flickered my fingers for him to continue.

Another sigh and he kicked at the gravel. “Poppins first floats into London under an umbrella on a strong wind. When that wind changes, she has to leave and floats away.”

Venetia’s eyebrows furrowed and she looked at me. “Then I don’t like a Poppins wind.”

I chuckled. “Take no issue with it. It is just what I say when the winds change—I’ve said it for so long it comes out automatically. And if you’re worried about me, I am nothing like Mary Poppins, who is practically perfect in every way.” I glanced at Damen. “I’m sure your father can attest to that.”

“I do.” Damen nodded enthusiastically. Too enthusiastically. “I do attest to that. Ada is very imperfect in a variety of ways.”

I shot him a quick glare, then smiled at Venetia. “See. I’m not going anywhere. Wind will not move me.”

A crooked smile pulled back the left side of her face. “Fine.” It was enough to sate her for now.

But I was starting to wonder what would really happen in the future when I finally was pregnant—or not pregnant.

Either way, I was gone. It had always been the arrangement.

Which meant I needed to distance myself from her, from Damen, or my heart was going to be broken when I had to leave this place.

A ring buzzed from Damen’s dark slacks and he pulled free his phone as he handed my sword to me. He stepped away from us.

I looked to Venetia. “What say you? More training or should we go shower and figure out where we can set up a mini-theater for some movie watching? Poppins, of course, and I have so many more movies that you need to see—so many you need to catch up on. Ones that are iconic and you absolutely need to watch. We have a small theater at the Academy so I’ve watched movies since they were silent.”

“Movies were silent?”

“They were, yes, at the beginning when they first started making them. And people would play music in the actual theaters to match what was playing on the screen.”

“Huh.” She nodded, actual enthusiasm gleaming in her amber-brown eyes. “We really should have a movie room here at the castle.”

I slipped my hand under her elbow, walking toward the castle with her. “You are so right. We should. I bet you can sweet-talk your father into having one installed.”

She snickered. “He doesn’t think I’m capable of sweet talk.”

“He has a lot to learn about you.”

“Then fucking do it!” Damen screamed into the phone and whipped it across the clearing. The phone smashed into the stones of the castle wall, shattering, thudding onto the ground in a slew of pieces.

I glanced over my shoulder at Damen.

Not good.

Chapter Twenty-One

{ ADA }

I squeezed Venetia’s arm. “I’d best check on that, Venny. You go on inside and shower and I’ll be up in no time.”

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