Page 84 of Assistant to the Villain

“That took a while. Did you slip on your way in?” she asked.

Her boss stood there, chest still heaving with the force he’d used on the battering ram that he must have ripped from the wall display. “Are you critiquing my rescue?” He wiped the water dripping from his forehead and shook out his shirt.

“No, I’m critiquing the time in which it took you to execute the rescue,” she said before narrowing her eyes in realization. “And this wasn’t evenyourrescue—it was mine. If I hadn’t distracted her, you would’ve been an evil pancake.”

He tossed the battering ram aside with the same effort Becky had used to throw her pencil before walking to the female guvre’s side and putting a hand to her neck. “She’s alive. I just hit a vulnerable point. She’ll be out long enough for my guards and me to take her to the cellar.”

“Are we changing the subject because you’re embarrassed that you were an evil overlord in distress?” Evie walked to his side, feeling a moment of pity for the felled creature. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Happens to the best of us.”

“I’m not ashamed—it’s just untrue.” He always played right into her needling. To the point where Evie wondered if he did it on purpose, just to entertain her. But she nixed that theory, because really, why would he care about her entertainment?

“You cannot be an evil overlord in distress,” he continued, “if you save the hero immediately after she saved you.”

“So I suppose we saved each other, then.” Evie smiled, wholly unaware of why the sentence shut something off in her boss’s eyes.

“Head back up to the office.” He nodded in the direction of the ruined stairs. “I’ll take care of this.”

“Um, sir?” Evie asked.

“What?” The Villain said shortly, his eyes finding the ruined stairway covered in molten liquid. Eyes flashing to the unconscious animal, he muttered, “Did she—”

“Yes, sir.”

“Damn it.”

“I’m sure it’s fixable,” she said, patting his arm. “In the meantime, you need to find a way to get this winged lady to the cellar downstairs. And try to stop getting yourself into trouble in the meantime; I can’t keep saving you.”

It was meant to be a joke, to lighten the moment, but it sure didn’t feel like one when The Villain’s molten gaze landed on hers.

Chapter 36

Evie

The storm cleared the next morning, as she suspected it would.

The creature’s vengeful magic had run dry—he was reunited with his mate and the clouds had gone.

Evie stared at the mirror, seeing herself in a borrowed dress of Tatianna’s. It had been a little too large when she’d first put it on, but as soon as the buttons up the back were secured, the bodice slowly tightened around her until the dress fit like a second skin.

“Well, that’s a fun trick,” Evie said, inspecting the blue velvet in the large mirror on the other side of the healer’s quarters.

“I got it from a magicked dressmaker when I was visiting a friend in Verdelana.” Tatianna smiled, walked over, and turned Evie’s hands to inspect under the bandages. “All the best magic comes from the south. He said a dress should be worn to fit you, not the other way around.”

“So, no matter what…?”

“It’ll always fit like a glove.” Tatianna narrowed her eyes, clearly looking at the dark circles underneath Evie’s. “Did you sleep at all?”

“A little. Your extra bed was comfortable.” And it had been. Evie’s hands had just ached, even after Tatianna had worked every bit of magic on them. Growing back skin in places where blisters had formed was no small task, and in some areas Tatianna had admitted they were so badly damaged, it would take several magic sessions to fully heal. For those areas, Tatianna applied a salve, but Evie refused a bandage of any sort, in case The Villain were to notice the damage and ask questions.

She’d seen his reactions to her being harmed before, and the last thing Evie wanted or needed was for him to begin to think that she was incapable.

So she’d barely slept.

Of course, the healer did all that after forcing the entire story out of Evie as payment. Including the fact that she’d hidden her ruined hands, by some miracle, from her boss at the time of the injury.

The clanking of glass snapped Evie’s attention back to Tatianna, who was already at her worktable, crunching leaves and all sorts of funny-looking plants into jars. “What’s it like? Living withhim?”

Tatianna snorted and continued working, the sun just beginning to come up over the horizon. “I wouldn’t say I livewithhim.I only ever see Trystan in the office or on the rare occasions his wounds need tending. If I desire company, I go to the nearest pub and find myself a beautiful woman to pass the time with.”