Reg looked down at the locket, shocked at his reaction. She closed her hand around it, holding it protectively, in case he tried to grab it away from her.
“I borrowed it from Sarah. What’s wrong?”
“That witch! It’s a ward,” he snarled, “and don’t tell me you didn’t know that! You’ve been teasing me all evening, pretending to be interested and then withdrawing. All the time, you knew you were wearing a ward against me.”
“I—I didn’t! Sarah just said it would go well with the dress. Everything is from Sarah, right down to the shoes. I didn’t have anything suitable for a place like this, so she helped me out.”
“Is that so. You think she just accidentally gave you a ward against me? She’s been trying to turn you from me from the moment we met.”
“I know. I know she has. But I didn’t realize… she didn’t tell me that there was anything… unusual about it. I thought it was just a pretty, old necklace.”
“She’s put something in it.” He eyed Reg’s hand, still closed around the heart-shaped locket. “The whole thing is buzzing with magic. It is no accident that you’re wearing it tonight.”
Reg opened her hand and looked at it. She couldn’t see or hear anything unusual. She slid her nail into the crack between the two halves of the locket to open it up. It didn’t click open. She tried harder to force it, but couldn’t pry it open. She felt for a catch to release it. It was probably spring-loaded somehow.
But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t find a way to open it.
“If there’s something in it, I don’t know how to get it out,” she told Corvin.
“Take it off.”
Reg hesitated. Sarah had felt it necessary to protect her, and it had obviously worked. But why? Why was she so concerned about Reg getting closer to the warlock?
“If you didn’t know about it and didn’t ask her for it, then take it off,” Corvin challenged.
In the back of her mind, Reg remembered that she had talked with Sarah about getting a ward to discourage Corvin’s advances. Not when she had been getting dressed for the date, but the day before, in the car with Letticia. She hadn’t actually asked Sarah for it, and Sarah had said nothing about it when helping Reg to dress for the date.
Under Corvin’s angry glare, Reg reached behind her neck for the clasp. She would show him that she could be trusted and that she hadn’t intended to harm him or to keep him away from her with the ward. Then he would calm down and wouldn’t be angry toward her. She could feel that warm, enveloping feeling again.
She fumbled with the catch, feeling its shape and trying to figure out how to release it. It didn’t feel like any of the clasps that were standard on the jewelry she wore. It must be older, a different kind of clasp that she wasn’t familiar with.
“Can you do it?” she asked Corvin, swiveling her body to put it within his reach.
He moved back, his breath hissing out. “No. I can’t touch it.”
“Can you see how to open it? I can’t work it out.”
He remained apart from her, shaking his head and not attempting to touch it or to describe it to her. Reg slid the chain around her neck until the catch was at the front near the locket so she could see how to open it. She thumbed the spring-loaded catch, but it wouldn’t move. She wiggled it and worked her nail under it and tried to find a way to release it.
“How did you get it on?” Corvin demanded, watching her attempts. “Just reverse the process.”
“I didn’t put it on.”
Reg remembered Sarah’s comment that it had a sticky catch, and that she was the one who had draped it around Reg’s neck, done it up, and then patted it when she had it in place. “That should do it.”
“Sarah did,” Corvin deduced.
Reg nodded, letting go of the necklace.
“Take it off over your head.”
Reg attempted to do so, but in spite of the fact that she was sure it was large enough to be taken off without undoing it first, she wasn’t able to get it off. She looked at Corvin helplessly.
“I’m sorry. Really, I didn’t plan this.”
Corvin sat back in his chair, pouting, his arms folded over his chest.
“Blast that woman.”
“I’m sorry… but we can still have a nice evening together, can’t we? I’ve really enjoyed myself so far. Don’t let this ruin our night.”
He studied her, still looking petulant.
“Come on,” Reg urged. “Please.”
He sighed, then made what appeared to be a huge effort of will and sat up, uncrossing his arms. He didn’t take her hand again.
By the time dessert came by, Corvin seemed to have gotten over his temper tantrum, and was once again the attentive host. The dessert could have been billed as a brownie, but that didn’t begin to describe the rich chocolate, whipped cream, and drizzles of chocolate syrup. Reg had never had anything that compared. She could no more call it a brownie than she could call the sun a lightbulb.
“That’s unbelievable,” Reg told Corvin. “How could something like this even exist? This restaurant should be bursting at the seams and booked five years in advance.”
He gave her a slow, catlike smile. “I know how to take care of a date.”
“Wow. I thought the canapés were amazing. But this was just… wow.”
He traced a finger down her arm, drawing out more anticipatory shivers. Reg grabbed his fingers with her other hand, unable to stand it.
“Come home with me,” Corvin whispered.
Even after the pleasures of that evening, Reg was wary of the invitation. She shook her head. “No.”
“Regina.”
“Come to mine,” Reg countered. At least she knew her own cottage. There were no weapons, bonds, or dungeons there. She didn’t know what kind of medieval torture to expect after the warnings from Sarah, but at her own place, at least she was close to Sarah’s protection and knew her surroundings.
Corvin hesitated.
“It’s a compromise,” Reg said. “Come on.”
He stared deep into her eyes. Reg felt like her skin was on fire. Finally, Corvin nodded.
⋆ Chapter Twenty-Two ⋆
Corvin motioned to a big, sleek black car waiting at the curb. “Our carriage awaits.”
It was not the white compact he had been driving the day they had been out looking for Warren. It was a luxury vehicle, lots of leg room and all of the latest features. But Reg shook her head.
“We’ll take mine.” She held her valet tag out to the boy waiting to assist her.
“Yours. Why can’t you trust me, Regina?”
“I want to take mine. I’ll drive and we’ll go in my car,” she said firmly. She wasn’t going to be distracted by nice wheels.
Corvin nodded to the valet, who hurried off to get Reg’s car. Corvin leaned close to Reg, his warm breath on her ear and neck. “Do you really think you’re still in control?”
Reg shivered and couldn’t repress a smile. She couldn’t deny she was being driven by her desires, barely keeping her head. But she could at least act like she was making safe, logical decisions.
Corvin gave a knowing grin. When the valet drove the car around, Corvin held the door for Reg and shut it once she had managed to hike up her dress and slither into the seat. He folded his body into the passenger seat beside her. Reg rolled down the windows, wanting as much fresh air as possible. She wasn’t drunk, but she certainly felt intoxicated.
Corvin gazed out the window. “Do you ever wish you didn’t have any powers?”
Reg pursed her lips, thinking about it. “I don’t know. I never even thought of them as powers… just as my imagination… part of my brain that didn’t work right…”
“And do you want to be like everyone else? Just normal?”
“Well… sure.” Reg could remember screwing her eyes shut and covering her ears, trying to banish the ghosts and the voices. After so many punishments, psychologist visits, and med changes, she had ended up having a
breakdown. She hadn’t slashed her wrists, but she had certainly considered it.
After that, things had been different. She had succeeded in blocking out the worst of the visions. It wasn’t until she had started the gig as a fortune-teller that they had started to return. “All I ever wanted was to be like everyone else.” She shrugged and sighed. “But they say normal is overrated.”
“Is it?”
Reg had no idea what normality would be like. Did her imagination and intuition really amount to a psychic gift? Was it supposed to be something good? Were the diagnoses she’d received over the years all just a misunderstanding of a paranormal phenomenon or was she truly damaged?
“I don’t know. I guess I’d have to experience being normal to tell.”
“And would you? If you had the option, would you take it?”
“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. It’s not like that’s ever going to happen.”
She got to the house and parked in the back. Hopefully, Sarah would not see her car and figure out that she was home. She wouldn’t show up, asking how Reg’s date had gone.
She opened the gate and Corvin followed close behind her, his feet whispering over the cobbled path. Reg turned her key in the lock and swung the door open. She looked at Corvin, standing behind her, unmoving. She raised her brows and reached back for him.
“Invite me in,” Corvin said.
Reg smiled. “Come in.”
His lips spread in a smile that showed his teeth and he went with her over the threshold into the cottage. He bolted the door behind him as he had the last time, but Reg didn’t mind. She didn’t want to chance Sarah barging in on them.
She heard Starlight jump down from the bed and his soft footfalls as he approached the living room. When he saw Corvin, his lips parted in a snarl.
“I’ll take care of him,” Reg told Corvin. She grabbed Starlight and took him to the spare room, where she shut him in. He yowled in protest and clawed to be let back out.
Reg bit her lip. She hadn’t expected him to be so loud or so upset.
“He’ll be fine,” Corvin assured her. “He’ll settle down in a few minutes.”
They had another drink from Reg’s stores. Her nerves were all afire. She couldn’t calm down and relax with him as she had at the restaurant. They sat together on the couch. Corvin held her lightly by the shoulders as he leaned in and kissed her. Reg’s heart was beating so hard it hurt. She wanted nothing more than to be with him, to be completely his.
Corvin released her from the kiss and looked down at the locket.
“I can change everything for you.”
Reg was sure he could. Every touch rocked her world. He had access to tastes and pleasures she had never even dreamed existed. Corvin knew her, understood about her childhood and the pain her gifts had brought her like no one else ever could.
“You can remove the ward if you want to,” Corvin whispered. “It will only work for as long as you desire a protection against me.”
Reg grasped the locket in her hand, prepared to yank it and break the chain. The catch opened and the two ends of the released chain slithered down either side of her neck and it lay free in her hand. Reg put it on the coffee table.
He reached for her again, hands stroking her collarbone and throat and dropping down farther. When he kissed her again, it was like an explosion. Reg’s senses reeled. She was drowning. She pushed back against him, wanting to stop and yet to go both at the same time.
Corvin broke the kiss, but he didn’t let go or back away, his face filling her vision, his eyes wide, dark, hungry pits she couldn’t see the bottom of.
“Yield to me,” he murmured.
Reg took a deep breath.
“Yes.”
⋆ Chapter Twenty-Three ⋆
She awoke slowly, disoriented, feeling as though she had never slept so deeply in her life. She opened her eyes and looked around the tidy cottage bedroom with its pristine white sheets and coverlet, the smell of the sea breeze blowing in the window. It was bright, the full light of morning. Her body was relaxed and sated and all of the fog and fatigue gone from her mind. It was as if everything were suddenly crystal clear.
Reg reached across the bed for Corvin, but he wasn’t there. Reg sat up and looked around, holding the blanket to her chest to keep herself covered. Had he gone? Left her there alone?
There was something wrong.
She was only vaguely aware of it at first, but it slowly spread through her.
She thought at first that she had lost her hearing. Everything was so quiet, like stepping into an empty theater.
But she could hear the pulsing of her heart. The shifting of the sheets as she moved. The waves lapping at the shore, where she still hadn’t gone to gather seashells. She could hear birds outside and the buzzing of bugs.
But something was missing.
Reg slid out of bed and pulled on her housecoat. She belted it around her waist and left the bedroom.
Corvin was sitting on one of the chairs in the living room, sipping a cup of tea and looking down at the locket in his hand. Reg remembered how he hadn’t been able to touch it the night before, and her stomach tied itself in a knot.
What had she done?
Corvin turned and looked at Reg, though she was sure she hadn’t made any sound or movement to attract his attention.
“There’s my sleeping beauty,” he said. “How are you feeling this morning?”
His voice echoed in her head. It was too loud. She wanted to cover her ears.
“I… I don’t know…”
Her own voice too was too loud. It was as if the room were in a great, yawning silence, only she could hear everything. Reg’s nerves jangled at every sound. She jumped at every movement. The room seemed to echo with its emptiness.
“Would you like some tea? Some breakfast?” Corvin inquired.
“No. I don’t think so.”
He stared down at the tea in his cup. His eyes were big and bright. He almost purred with contentment.
Something had definitely changed. She had changed something.
Corvin cocked his head as if listening to something. “They’re very loud,” he said. “I don’t know how you could shut them out.”
And then in a rush, Reg realized what was wrong. They were all gone. The voices. The memories from Warren. The presences from the other side. It wasn’t the room that was empty, it was her head.
She stared at Warren, wide-eyed.
“What have you done?”
He smiled like the cat who had swallowed a canary. Reg looked around the room, feeling rudderless. It was like she was alone in her own head for the first time in her life.
Starlight yowled to be let out.
Like a zombie, Reg walked to the spare room door and opened it. Starlight pushed his way out. He rubbed against her leg, looking up at her. Then he sat back and washed his whiskers. He advanced into the kitchen and looked over at Corvin. He looked back at Reg. His glare was like an accusation.
“And now the fun begins,” Corvin intoned.
Reg looked at him, no idea what he meant. There was a brisk knock at the door, and the handle turned, but it was bolted from the night before, so there was a soft thud on the door when Sarah had expected it to open and instead ran into it. Reg looked at Corvin and didn’t move.
“She’s not going to go away,” he told her.
It took a long time for Reg to get her feet moving. She shuffled over to the door and slid the bolt. She opened the door.
Sarah took one look at Reg and color rushed to her cheeks. Her eyes snapped. She entered the room and looked around for Corvin.
“You beast! How could you do such a thing? I’ll have you before your coven!”
Corvin smirked. “I had her consent. I haven’t broken any rules.”
Sarah turned her head to look at Reg. “You gave him your powers willingly?”
“I…” Reg tried to make sense of their conversations and what had happened the previous night. “I d
on’t know. I guess… I did. I don’t really remember…”
“He glamoured you.”
Sarah looked at Corvin, who was casually swinging the locket by its chain. Scowling even more deeply, she strode over to him and snatched it from his hand.
“That is not yours.”
“I didn’t break the ward.”
“No,” Sarah agreed, shooting a look at Reg. “I did everything I could to protect you. I told you that you were playing with fire. Why would you break the protections I put in place? You brought him into your house. You removed the ward. Why?”
Reg hugged herself. There was a yawning emptiness in her, like she was hungry, but it wasn’t hunger. She felt naked and vulnerable in front of Corvin and Sarah, and it wasn’t because all she had on was the housecoat. “I didn’t know!”
“You had to know. You had to give him leave!” Sarah sent another accusing glare in Corvin’s direction.
“She expressed a wish to give up her powers,” Corvin said smoothly. “She invited me in, broke the ward, and yielded them up. What more do you want from me?”
“I didn’t understand,” Reg protested. She closed her eyes and covered her ears, trying to reset the silence in her head. It was like the feeling of her ears being blocked after swimming or flying, waiting for them to pop and restore her hearing. She knew it wasn’t physical, but she didn’t know what to do. “He tricked me!”
“Well, what did you expect from a warlock?” Sarah said scathingly. “I told you he was dangerous. You thought he would be honest with you about his intentions?”
“I didn’t… I never even knew it was possible…”
“All the more reason to be careful and listen to your elders! You played the part of a willful child and look what happened!”
Reg just wanted to fold up into herself and disappear. “I’m sorry. What am I supposed to do? How do I…?”
Sarah looked at Corvin. He shook his head.
“No. She’s not getting them back. I gave her what she wanted, she gave me what I wanted. It was a fair exchange.”
“It’s never a fair exchange with one like you.” Sarah turned back to Reg. “He would have to restore them willingly, of his own free choice. No one can force him or take them from him. And these soul-suckers never give them back by choice.”
What the Cat Knew Page 17