Page 61 of My Faire Lady

Without meeting her eyes, I give her a tight smile and tug the edges close together. It smells like her. Then again, so does the outfit she gave me to change into. But despite the fire licking the hearth and the blanket charmed to radiate heat, there’s a bone-deep chill biting at my skin.

“Why would Jeremy attack me?” I say.

Scarlet pulls a chair from the dining table and swings it around, leaning her arms over the back as she settles onto the seat. “Jeremy would never do that. Not consciously anyway, but I can explain.” She blows out a breath. “I know you’ve been thrown into a world you never knew existed, and I would never put you in this position if I had another choice. But…we need you.”

I scoff. “For what? I’m human. Not an ounce of magic in my body.”

She hesitates, sharing a look with Frankie.

The succubus nods. “We can trust her, Scarlet. With everything.”

Scarlet wrings her hands against the back of the chair and, slowly, her gaze returns to me. “A thousand years ago, there was a war on magic that nearly put all magical creatures into extinction. My ancestors, the Murrell witches, came together and consecrated this land, turning it into a safe haven for creatures. It’s been like that for a thousand years, until now.”

My brow furrows, and I tilt my head. “What’s wrong with it?”

“The land is losing its magic.” A swallow works its way down her throat. “And with it, some of the creatures have fallen ill or gone unconscious.”

I shift in my seat, crossing and uncrossing my ankles. “That’s what happened to Glen and Blaire?” The words thicken in my mouth. “Are they going to be okay?”

Her eyes darken, and she shakes her head. “There’s no way to tell. If the land loses all of its magic, they might die.”

A vise clamps around my throat, and I fight the ache building behind my eyes. The clock on the far wall creeps past two in the morning, yet after what happened tonight, I’m not entirely sure I’ll ever sleep again. “I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand why you’d need me.”

There’s a knock at the door, and it creaks open.

Boden peers through the crack and nods to Frankie. “Can you come help me with something?”

She narrows her eyes, but the question on her face smooths and she stands, brushing her hand over my shoulder. She pauses, and lowers her mouth to my ear. “Scarlet isn’t very good at asking for help. Be gentle with her.”

The words are more a plea than a demand, and I nod. She holds my gaze for a moment, then her touch disappears and she follows Boden into the hallway.

“Is everything okay?” I ask as the door clicks shut.

Scarlet drags a hand down her face. “Boden can read thoughts. He knew I wanted to talk with you alone, just the two of us.” She narrows her eyes at the doorway and shakes her head. “He can also speak into minds, which is exactly what he’s doing to me right now.”

“What’s he saying?”

She sighs. “Nothing appropriate.”

“Wait.” I jerk forward in my seat. “He can hear everything I’m thinking?”

Scarlet nods, and my head goes light, reeling with the thoughts my mind has procured about Scarlet over the last few weeks. Heat stings the tips of my ears.

“Don’t worry,” she says. “He’s been alive long enough that most of our mortal thoughts bore him. And, well, he hasn’t told me much about what you think of me, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I scoff, rubbing the corner of the blanket between my fingers. “What makes you think I’ve been thinking of you?”

She shrugs. “Because I’ve been thinking about you.”

My fingers freeze on the fabric, and it slips from my grasp, settling on my thighs. The breath bottles in my lungs, and I lift my gaze to hers. She stares back, chin resting on her forearms. Her eyes are like embers, flames dancing in her irises. There’s no hint of her dimple, or the slight smirk I’ve grown so accustomed to.

“You have?” I whisper.

“Come on, Lottie. You don’t need to read minds to know what I think of you. You’re intelligent, kind, beautiful, and⁠—”

“Leaving at the end of the summer.”

Her gaze falls to the floor. “Exactly. And I’m tied to the magic on this land. I can never leave.”