“You need me to help you, don’t you? You need me to teach you how to survive the birth.”
“Shut up. I’ll come and talk to you later,” Tegan said, dismissing her as she led Rebecca upstairs to her room.
“Emilia,” Roman said once Tegan was gone. “She is your granddaughter. Why do you treat her so disdainfully? You should be cherishing her.”
“Don’t you dare talk down to me. She has been nothing but rude to me since the day we met. Somebody needs to put manners on the girl.”
“And that person is you, is it?” Roman questioned.
“Ha! I have far better things to be doing with my time.”
Icy silence elapsed between the two of them, and I cast Alora a ‘this is incredibly awkward’ glance. She shot me a little grin, and I tried to hide my elation at the fact that she could actually see me now. I wanted to know everything she was thinking, everything she thought about me.
“I saw how you looked at Theodore’s daughter,” Emilia said to Roman, breaking the silence. “You want her.”
“She is a powerful witch, too powerful for her age,” Roman replied as if that explained his attraction. Emilia snorted.
Cristescu, who had been standing by the window the entire time with his arms folded over his chest, absorbed the back and forth between the witch and the sorcerer.
“Roman,” he said, uncharacteristically polite after the way he’d demanded he get out of the house earlier this morning. “Might I request that you bind the house with magic to prevent Theodore from getting inside? He’s going to move against us after today, and we need to be prepared for when that happens.”
“It would be my pleasure,” Roman answered and swiftly left the room.
Cristescu strode toward Emilia and stopped in front of her. She watched him with wary eyes as he levelled her with a sincere look.
“I apologise profusely for all of this. It pains me to restrain a beautiful and powerful witch such as yourself, but for the moment, we must take every precaution for our safety, and your allegiance has not yet been solidified. I will put you in a comfortable room, and you will be provided with food and anything else you might need. Please, call for me if you require anything.”
Okay, I had to admit he was good. The defiance in Emilia’s posture dissolved. She didn’t smile at him, but she was no longer scowling.
“Thank you. I appreciate being treated with respect,” she said with a sniff.
“A lady of your fine standing deserves nothing less,” Cristescu replied smoothly as he helped her up off the sofa. “Come, I have had a room set up for you. You will be able to rest there.”
“Your brother really knows how to charm the ladies,” I said to Delilah once they were gone.
She stood next to Ira. “Ethan understands how essential it is to leave people with their dignity. He also knows the right things to say to earn their trust.”
“He should become a politician,” I joked.
“Well, he kind of is one now, isn’t he,” she said before motioning Ira to follow her from the room.
I was grateful to be alone with Alora once more and pulled her swiftly into my arms. She gasped in surprise, but I muffled the sound with my mouth when I kissed her.
“Want to get out of here for a while?” I asked, breaking the kiss, and she nodded fervently.
Outside, it had started to rain. We found Roman walking circles around the perimeter of the house, golden magic streaming from his hands and wrapping around the building as he muttered an incantation. He seemed to be deep into it, so we made sure not to distract him from his task.
I’d only known him a day, and he might’ve been a little eccentric, but there was something about Tegan’s grandfather that made me feel like he was one of the good guys. And staying good when you had power like Roman’s was no small feat.
I led Alora to my van and helped her into the front passenger seat. Having spent the last few days assisting her with every little thing, I was having a hard time getting used to letting her go it alone.
I had her seatbelt in my hand as I secured it around her waist. “Sorry. Old habits die hard.”
“It’s okay. It’s nice to know someone cares enough to help. Still, I’m glad to have my sight back. I’ll need to thank Roman personally once things quieten down.”
I slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “Oh, yeah, and how would you do that?”
“Well, normally if you’re a seer like I am, the best way to thank someone is to tell them something you’ve seen about their future. However, I’m not sure how much a sorcerer his age cares about stuff like that. It’s mostly humans who fret over what’s going to happen to them.”