Apparently, Cadmus also knew Marcus had found his affai.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Aerolus couldn’t help a small sigh.
Cadmus laughed. “Very funny. Trust me when I say I don’t plan to marry, ever. So once Darius and Marcus have a brood of their own, we’re off the hook. And don’t try telling me you don’t miss Tanselm.” He looked around him and lowered his voice. “If anyone can get us back without finding an affai, it’s you.”
“Cadmus—”
“Come on, Aerolus. You don’t want to wed any more than I do.” Aerolus couldn’t argue with that. “So work your magic and find us a way home.” Curiously, Cadmus looked puzzled and almost, desperate? “I’m sick of this place, sick of Outpour.” He snarled the word. “I don’t know how Darius stood it, day after day. And now that Ellie’s coming back…”
Aerolus felt the hair on the back of his neck tingle at the name. How very strange. “Ellie?”
Cadmus opened his mouth to speak and stopped. He turned suddenly, looking around him.
“Cadmus?”
“Sorry.” He shoved a nervous hand through his hair and Aerolus couldn’t help but stare. The normally funny, self-effacing ‘youngest’ of the Tetrarch looked uneasy.
“If work’s bothering you, just quit,” Aerolus said slowly, watching Cadmus for signs of spell tampering. Despite his nerves, his brother looked fine, hell, he felt fine. But something was bothering him.
Sighing, Cadmus rubbed his eyes. “I can’t quit, not until I know,” he paused and shook his head. “Never mind. Look, I have a few hours until work. I need some rest before I go in tonight. I’ll talk to you later.”
Aerolus watched with concern as Cadmus vanished upstairs. Marcus and now Cadmus had issues he couldn’t see and didn’t know how to help, and his lack of control over the situation irritated him on a most basic level. He took a deep breath and centred himself.
If Aerolus was anything, he was in control.
He breathed out, calm once more, when a flash of light in the kitchen caught his eye. Already on his guard due to ‘Sin Garu’s inconceivable interruption, he automatically switched to warrior mode, teleporting into the room in a heartbeat. Ready for an otherworldly attack, he released a tense breath when he noted the blinking microwave.
Apparently one of his brothers had forgotten he’d prepared a cup of hot water.
With a sigh, he opened and slammed the microwave door shut to still the incessant blinking, allowing his frustration to the surface just this once. Tired and wishing he could be more than what royalty prescribed him to be, he sank down into a chair and stared at the pink-streaked sky through the kitchen window.
“I wish I had more time.” But he felt the clock ticking. Though he didn’t have Cadmus’ second sight, he knew it was only a matter of time before he found his own affai and returned to Tanselm.
He sighed again and wished for hopeless possibilities, weaving a small wind in the strands of magical energy he’d found waiting idly in this world. He wiggled his fingers and the energy pulsed, colours flaring and lights flashing like a private dance.
His deepest wish, to lose himself in the yawn of magical understanding, sat before him, symbolised by the garish, raw magic that swirled in a small pocket of life unexpected in a world devoid of magic.
He stared into the powerful breath of energy, wishing to rule not a kingdom, but his own mind, learning and teaching the streams of conscious and untapped magic of the esoteric world.
Dreams flickered and died before him as his command over the spurious energy faded. Tamping down the pointless fantasy, he shook his head and focused on what really mattered—his brothers and the future of Tanselm.
Focused on what he knew was the more important worry at the moment, he missed the flash of light by the hallway, monitoring his every move.
Chapter Ten
Tessa glanced around her office, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She’d been back to work for two days now, two long, tension-ridden days so full of paperwork she shouldn’t have had time to worry about her foretold ‘fall from grace’.
Yet her brother Tom had never been wrong in his predictions, and though everyone at Tomanna acted normally, she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched by a malevolent force, whether that of an otherworldly presence or an all-too-human backstabber, she couldn’t tell.
“You going to sign that, or should I come back next week?” a wry voice asked from her doorway.
She flushed as her boss caught her daydreaming. “Sorry, Jonas.”
He stepped in and shut the door behind him. Immediately her heart began pounding. Was this it? Would security take her away in cuffs?
“Tessa?” His thoughtful brown eyes looked concerned. “You look pale. Are you sure you’re fully recovered from that virus?”
A stomach virus had been a simple and easy way to account for her absence Monday. And just thinking about having to go to jail made her more than a little queasy. “I’m fine. I skipped lunch, so I’m hungry more than anything else.”
He nodded and relaxed. “Good. We’ve got so many projects underway, I’m going to need you now more than ever.” Jonas outlined the two new clients Tomanna had recently acquired. “Kudos to our sales team is all I can say. I don’t know how we did it, but we got both Portlin Paper and Ryders to agree to a helluva contract.”
“Made a deal with the devil, no doubt,” Tessa muttered as she signed the document Jonas needed.
Marcus had taken pains last night at dinner to inform her he would personally oversee both new accounts. Apparently, the astute sales team at Tomanna had brought Marcus into the equation to cinch the deal. His reputation preceded him, a fact that hadn’t surprised Marcus, or Tessa, truth be told. Of course, she thought nastily, it didn’t hurt that both company reps had been women.
Why new business soured her she couldn’t—didn’t—want to say. More business meant more work, and more work meant a greater budget, making her life easier. She normally thrived on the high stress of her job, but knowing her career sat on the brink of destruction and that evil, real evil, could descend upon her at any time was taking its toll.
Not to mention the acid in her gut every time the flinty Judy Hardenmeier tittered about Marcus’ latest conquests and his ‘gorgeous blue eyes’. Hell. Judy was old enough to be Marcus’ mother, not to mention she’d helped Tessa nudge Marcus out of three staffers just a few days ago. Funny how the woman seemed to have forgotten that fact. Now Marcus could do no wrong—as if he needed the encouragement.
To make matters worse, he’d been surprisingly distant since she’d returned to work. No more steamy nights filled with erotic play between the sheets. Cool Blue had returned with a vengeance. Oh, he was cordial and not unpleasant at home, but he avoided her outside of family dinners with his brothers. It made her wonder if their brief time together meant anything to him.
Affai. Ha. Obviously he’d said it in the heat of the moment, the scare of ‘Sin Garu magnifying their attraction.
She felt a fool to be hurt by his aloofness. The old Tessa would have raged at him, actively confronted him and settled things. But Tessa had too many distractions of her own to deal with, and quite frankly, she didn’t have the energy to deal with the questionable issue of ‘them’ right now.
As long as they didn’t talk about their ‘relationship’, for lack of a better word, she didn’t have to face the sorry fact they had no future.
“So are you going to mangle them first, or can I have my papers back whole?” Jonas drawled. While she’d been stressing over Marcus, her boss had been patiently waiting, studying her too-expressive face.