I smiled and said, “I know how to rectify this.” I rounded him and went back to the dresser, slipping on the shirt and stepping into a pair of red boxer shorts. “I have to talk to someone.”
His brows pulled up in surprise. “Right now?”
As I threaded my long hair through the neck hole of the shirt, I responded, “Don’t you want our bond back? Don’t you want my marriage broken?”
“Of course, but notright now.”
I shrugged as I weaved the last of my hair out of the shirt and back onto the ground in a clump. “Well, I want it back right now. So I have to go.”
He gripped my arm. “No, no. Please don’t leave. I don’t know when I’ll see you again. Between your duties, Graff, and me keeping up appearances with the Cidris, I really just need to be with you right now.”
I smiled and cupped his cheek in my hand. “I know, Fletcher. I’m sorry. But, I have to do this.” Then, my hands were flying through my hair, gathering it in a thick rope and twirling it atop my head. “I can’t be married to him one second longer. It’s making me sick.”
There was a look of loss roiling in his eyes, but he released a defeated sigh, flicking his magic-filled fingers toward my hair. A rose vine grew around my bun to keep it locked in place—but maybe more to remind me of his pledge before I left.
“I’m calling Graff to pick me up, so get dressed.”
He groaned. “Is there anything I can do to entice you to stay?”
“Nothing as enticing as dissolving my marriage.”
Fletcher rolled his eyes. “Hang on,” he muttered as he knelt by the bed, reached under, and tossed me a pair of black high-top sneakers and a pair of socks. “Here, I got these for you in case Elizy decided not to dress you properly.”
“Thank you!” In mid-scramble to get the shoes on, he interrupted me.
“Wait, wait. Are you comfortable in those clothes?” He reached under again, pulling out four piles of neatly folded clothes. “I bought you a few other things. Pants, shirts, dresses, overalls, underwear, bras…” He scratched the back of his head as a light blush took over his cheeks. “I don’t really know what you like to wear, so I kind of just got you a little bit of everything.”
I continued to lace up the sneakers and smiled. “Thank you for thinking of me. I love all those things. You did great. But I’m already dressed for now. This smells like you, and I like it.”
“Well,” he stood, chuckling while dressing himself in a pair of black pants and a loose black t-shirt, “the top is mine, but the boxers are Aldris’s.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, give me some underwear and…” I eyed the piles, “some stretchy pants?”
Fletcher smiled and sifted through the clothing, finding a pair of tight, navy-blue pants. He tossed that to me with a pair of nude undies.
As soon as we were dressed, Graff materialized in front of us.
His eyes roamed from me to Fletcher and back to me with a harsh look in his eyes that stemmed from some undertone of pain. The room filled with tension between the three of us.
“Let’s go,” I ordered.
Fletcher stepped to Graff and said in a low, demanding voice, “You take care of her.”
Graff scoffed. “You don’t need to tell me. She is mywife. No matter how many times you fuck her,” his arm snaked intrusively around my shoulders, “I’m the only one who’s bonded to her bymarriage.”
Fletcher’s demeanor shifted, muscles tensing, expression harshening.
“Let me enlighten you,” Graff continued, “I am the one who chooses where she goes outside the barrier. So don’t fucking push me more than you already have.”
Fletcher’s eyes turned venomous, but the rest of him remained composed. His chin tipped up. “You keep her from me, and it will be the biggest mistake of your life.”
Graff narrowed his eyes as I shrugged him off me, but he just brought his hand back up and draped it over my shoulders again and smiled. “Bye, Darkly.”
Then, we were broken apart, pieces at the mercy of the wind, but I took control of the direction. I knew where I needed to go.
The sorceress’s den.
CHAPTER
