For now, as we lay together, I wouldn’t say anything to break the spell.

I shivered at the goosebumps spreading up my arm in the wake of his fingertips stroking my skin. “This is nice,” I whispered.

“Mm,” Wolfe murmured and pressed a kiss to my temple. I snuggled deeper against him.

“Thank you for coming after me into the mountains, Wolfe. I should have said that before.”

I felt him smile against me head. “You’re welcome.”

“So… you have psychic abilities now?”

He chuckled. “How long have you been waiting to pester me with questions about that?”

“Since the night at the Moss’.”

He huffed. “I didn’t say anything because I don’t want people to fear me.”

“Because you’re this astonishingly, inconceivable, all powerful mage?”

“Yes.”

I snickered this time and shook my head. “No one would be afraid of you, Wolfe. You’re too kind to people for them to fear you.”

“I can be fearsome if I want to be.”

I hid my smile. “I know.”

“I can be plenty fearsome.”

“Oh I know.”

“I can-”

Afraid he’d want to prove how fearsome he could be, I said, “You know I’ve discovered something interesting on this quest of ours.”

Wolfe grunted at having been interrupted. “What’s that?”

I drew away from him to lean up on my elbow and meet his gaze. “Mage, Wolfe. Quite a few of them.”

Wolfe frowned. “Well, there have been some…”

I shook my head impatiently. “For a world whose mage are apparently dying out, I find it strange to have come across over a handful of mage since leaving Silvera. I mean, it seems like too much of a coincidence.”

“Meaning?”

“There are mage out there. Lots of them. I’d bet Haydyn’s Somna Plant on that.”

Wolfe raised his eyebrows. “Perhaps you’re right. If so then…”

I sighed. “It has to be taken into consideration with everything else.”

“Everything else?”

Lying back down in his arms, I went on to tell Wolfe about all I had discovered, what I thought of the people of Phaedra and the way we governed.

“What’s the use in the evocation if we don’t solidify its properties with good government? There are places in Phaedra, Alvernia for one, where good people are lumped in with the bad, and nothing is done to help them.”

“You know my feelings on the subject. I agree that people are people no matter their situation or location, good, bad; it’s all to do with the person. And there are certain people I intend to see punished for their crimes, such as Markiz Solom and those damn Iavii. But the bad people will stop being bad when the evocation strengthens again. When Haydyn is well.”

I growled in frustration. “Not in Alvernia. Haydyn’s evocation begins to wane, and people like L and her family are the ones who suffer for that, having to live side by side with uncivilised, foul people who need laws and consequences. What if the evocation is wrong, Wolfe? Do you really think it gives us peace and freedom? Or is it just the pretence of it?”

His chest rose and fell beneath my ear with deep exhalation. “That’s a philosophical question that not only needs time to mull over but… can really only be posed to one person.”

“Haydyn.”

“Yes. Haydyn.” Wolfe kissed me lightly on the lips and slid out of bed.

I took delicious enjoyment watching him dress. I bit my lip. It was all just as Haydyn promised it would be. “Where are you going?”

Wolfe grinned back at me as he buttoned his shirt, and then leaned over to kiss me deeply. I moaned at the taste of him and wrapped my arms around him, trying to pull him back down. If he left the room… my heart beat unsteadily in panic.

Laughing against my mouth, Wolfe pulled away, his eyes telling me it was with great reluctance that he did so. “I have to leave before someone finds me here.”

I dropped my arms at that. That was true. We couldn’t be caught together. I bit my lip. That was something I’d have to think about if we did begin an affair.

I nodded numbly, wrapping my arms around my drawn up knees so I wouldn’t touch him again.

“You are so beautiful,” he told me hoarsely, his eyes running over me, making my skin blush. I smiled shyly back at him. With a heavy sigh, Wolfe picked up his jacket and strode to the door. Just as he was about to disappear out of it, he turned back to me.

“We’ll work it out all, Rogan,” he promised, his expression tender. “After Haydyn is well and good, we’ll get married, and then we can take all the time we need convincing Haydyn of what’s right.”

Wolfe was gone before I could respond, my heart thumping hard in my chest. I groaned and flopped back on my pillow. Damn it. I’d have to tell him.

I was not looking forward to that. Not one little bit.

Chapter Thirty One

Ariana was quite possibly the sweetest person I had ever met; even more so than Haydyn which was quite a feat. In contrast to L, it was almost shocking to sit and converse with Ariana; one so gruff and straightforward, the other so gentle and affable. Despite the effaceable impact L and the Moss’ had made on my life, I found it soothing to sit at a beautiful breakfast table, with refined people, and eat sumptuous food. I almost snorted, thinking of all the times I’d argued with Wolfe for calling me Lady Rogan instead of Miss. He’d be happy to know in the end he was right. I’d been raised a lady since I was a girl and that had made more of a mark on me than I’d come to realise. It was time to accept who I was.

We ate companionably, just Ariana and I, as Grof Krill had business to attend to. He still hadn’t returned by the time I was readying to leave, so I told Ariana to thank him for his hospitality and to tell him that I looked forward to seeing them both at the ball during the Autumn Season.

“I cannot wait to meet again, Lady Rogan,” Ariana hugged me quickly, informally, “It’s been such a pleasure, I do wish you could stay longer.”

I thought of the pack that was being tied to Midnight as we spoke. The pack with the Somna Plant. Haydyn was waiting. We were so close now. I smiled softly. “We will see each other soon.” Catching sight of Wolfe out of the corner of my eye as he mounted his horse, my body woke up. Tingles shot out of my nerve endings and my heart began to race like a galloping horse. My stomach fluttered with nerves. I needed to tell him. Mind you, I narrowed my eyes in thought, it wasn’t as if he’d actually asked me to marry him. He’d just told me. With another farewell to Ariana, I lifted my skirts and tried to act casually as I strode over to Wolfe. I touched his leg, and he glanced down, his mouth widening into the warmest smile he’d ever bestowed on me. I was struck dumb for a moment.