Minerva, December 2014 - Jess
“Jess!” Rosalina snaps at her.
“What?” she asks. She had been daydreaming, but she had thought her features looked interested enough in the daily lecture of responsibility.
“Until you show me that you are capable of listening to this speech without either rolling your eyes or drifting off somewhere, I will continue to give it to you so that it sinks in. You. Cannot. Threaten. The. Lives. Of. Any. One. Especially. That. Of. My. Brother’s. Wife. Got it?” Rosalina enunciates slowly, not to mention patronizingly.
“Got it,” Jess says with a nod. “I do, really, Rosalina. I am sorry. I don’t know how many times I have to say it. I saw Devon and I got carried away. You know I still love him.” The doe-eyes do nothing to win her mentor over. “Please, take this cuff off me. I won’t go back I swear.”
Rosalina shakes her head with her arms crossed. “I don’t trust you, Jess. It pains me to say it, but that is where we are at. Until I do, that cuff stays on and you cannot practice magick.”
Dammit. She’d hoped that her little speech about love would have worked. Clearly, it is not the way to go with Rosalina. Uptight, frigid bitch.
Jess taps the solid silver cuff. She has tried everything to remove it from her wrist, but nothing works. She screwed up big time. She played her hand too soon. She should have waited until things died down after Devon saw her again for the first time since she was resurrected. But she knows him. He would do anything to save that witch, so she dealt out the ultimatum that she wasn’t quite ready to give.
Soon. Soon I will have what I need.
“I understand,” Jess says, lowering her eyes. “I let you down and disappointed you. That hurts me and I am truly sorry.” She peeks up and she can see that has put a chink in Rosalina’s armor. Good. Now she knows how to manipulate her.
“Go now and rest,” Rosalina says with a sigh. “We will continue this tomorrow.”
Jess nods eagerly. She has been let off early so she can go and find Frey and hope he has found something out for her.
She scampers down the hallway towards her room and then is pulled into an alcove suddenly.
“Did you find it?” she asks breathlessly as the tall Elf looks at her in admiration. It has been so easy to get him to do what she wants. Just flash a bit of boob and leg and he was putty in her hands.
“Yes,” Frey whispers. “I know that the sword is in the vault. But no one can get to it except Rosalina.” His brow furrows and his light blond hair flops over his forehead.
“Leave that to me,” Jess says in triumph. “And the power needed?”
“Rosalina’s,” he says, shaking his head.
Her magick is my magick. That is what Rosalina said when she first entered the castle. All she needs to do is find a way to amp up her magick and she is set.
“I need you to find me a spell,” she whispers to Frey. “One to increase power.”
“It won’t work,” Frey insists.
“Just do it,” Jess demands but t
hen softens her tone as Frey’s face goes hard. She reaches out to run her hand up and down his arm. “Please. I need you to help me with this.”
He watches her hand and he nods. “Okay, I will try. But then you need to tell me everything, Jess. And I want a favor in return for all of this work I am doing for you.”
His innuendo does not get missed. By favor he means a fuck. She is up for that. At least in theory. If it gets her that sword in her hand, she will promise just about anything. She gives him her most seductive look.
“Absolutely,” she purrs. “You will have deserved it.”
His eyes flash with desire and he licks his lips. “Then consider it done.”
Chapter 15
Ponte, Italy, January 2015 - Aefre
Two months have passed since Arathia Eternal Aquila was born. She was blessed in a Druid ceremony this morning, under a dark sky threatening rain. I don’t know if that was an omen or if my paranoia knows no bounds.
“Stop worrying,” Devon chides me as we sit on a stone bench glaring up at the clouds. The wind has picked up and I have had to summon up a coat in the chill air. I hunch further into it with a mutinous look.