I gasped, my heartbeat speeding up. “What?! Did Theodore do this?”
My skin crawled with claustrophobia. We were all stuck in Tribane. Indefinitely.
Ethan shrugged, and I found the gesture far too nonchalant for the topic we were discussing. Just because he was now indestructible didn’t mean we shouldn’t worry about being imprisoned in the city. “He’s the most likely candidate.”
“We have to find him, Ethan. I can’t abandon Rita, and if you leave Theodore to his own devices for too long, he’ll come up with something … I don’t know, something bad. The fact that he can imprison us all is frightening enough. Aren’t you scared?”
“I wonder if I could kill him,” Ethan pondered, ignoring my question. “Well, I’d have to find him first.” He shook his head. “Normally, the only person who can kill a sorcerer is another sorcerer. A pity I don’t have any of those in my address book,” he joked and squeezed my hand, placing a kiss on my temple.
I narrowed my eyes at his louche attitude. Being out in the sun had made him a little too carefree. Then my thoughts raced at his statement. I may not have any sorcerers in my address book, but I did know of one out there. I glanced up at Ethan. “Um, there’s something I need to tell you.”
His eyes flickered with interest. “Oh?”
“You remember Emilia? My grandmother? The one who took Pamphrock’s daughter?”
“I do.”
“Well, before she went all Hand that Rocks the Cradle on us, she told me that my mother was the result of an affair she had with a sorcerer called Roman. My grandfather is a sorcerer! There must be some way that I can get in contact with him. I mean, maybe he won’t want to kill Theodore, but he might be able to offer us advice.”
“So that’s why you have so much magic,” Ethan breathed, stopping to stand in front of me. He ran his hands from the ends of my hair down to rest on my shoulders. He seemed to mull the idea over a moment before dismissing it. “We would never find this Roman. Sorcerers are notoriously elusive.”
“I could ask Emilia. That bitch owes me after all the trouble she caused, pretending I could trust her and then running off with Rebecca.” I also still planned on getting Rebecca back. I couldn’t leave the poor girl with Emilia.
“Aha,” Ethan said, flashing me a hint of fang. “Shall we pay her a visit?”
I sighed. “Yes, but not today.” Lowering my voice shyly, I continued, “I want just one day with you. One day that’s just … us.”
He squeezed my hand and bent down, his voice a husky whisper. “I like that idea.”
We continued our walk through the unusually quiet city. Normally the streets were packed, the shops, restaurants, and cafes bustling. Sure, there were some people on the streets, but not the crowds there used to be. Lots of shop windows were boarded up, and others were simply locked tight, not open for business as they would normally be in the middle of the day.
Things were far from back to normal.
And I would tackle that lack of normality, try to figure out a way to restore some sanity to the city, but for today, I refused to lose myself in worry. Today I was just a woman madly in love with a handsome man named Ethan.
I let go of his hand and broke into a run. His laugh drifted behind me as he watched me take off. I’d never run this fast before in my life. I was supercharged with vampire blood.
I hopped up onto a ladder affixed to the side of a three-storey building and climbed it effortlessly. I sensed Ethan was somewhere behind me even though I couldn’t hear a single rustle of movement. I raced over the rooftop and went flying through the air, sailing over the narrow distance between this building and the next one. I felt like a little wingless bird. My heart beat wildly, and I grinned like a crazy person as my feet crashed down onto the hard surface.
Not a single stitch.
This was amazing.
I stood and got ready to continue my roof jumping antics when Ethan grabbed me and flipped me over his shoulder. I wriggled in his grip, but obviously it was a useless effort.
“What’s gotten into you?” he growled before setting me down on the path. We were already off the roof and back on the street. Yeah, he moved that fast now.
“I’m having fun. You should try it sometime,” I answered with a cheeky sideways smile.
“You could have severely injured yourself. What you’re feeling isn’t real, Tegan. It’s a chemical high. You can’t actually fly, you know.”
“That’s not what I thought,” I said, pouting, because that’s exactly what I thought. For a second, I truly believed I could fly.