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practically touching. “All right, I’ll tell you
what. We won’t pop from here to Mont Blanc,
as I planned. We’ll go straight back to Calais and
take a train south to Geneva, just like the
Mundanes would have to do. And when we get
there, we’ll build a fire, pitch a tent, and toast
some marshmallows or something.”
“Are you sure you’re up for it?” Felicity
wanted to know. Lance opened his mouth to
answer her before they were summarily
interrupted, and he had to shut it again.
“Good afternoon, my friends,” said the
waiter as he stepped to their table. “May I take
your orders?”
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“Yes, I believe we will have a couple of
specials, and a couple glasses of red wine,
please,” Lance answered. “If that’s okay with
you, Felicity?”
“Yes, of course,” she agreed, and the
food they asked for appeared before them almost
instantly.
“Enjoy your meal,” said the waiter. “And
as always, if you want anything else, you need
only say so, and it will appear before you.”
“Thank you, sir,” Lance said, and waited
for him to leave before he turned back to Felicity
again.
“Miss Lake, I am up for the endeavor if
you are,” he informed her as they ate. “But, are
you certain that you are up to spending an entire
week alone with me?”
Somehow the tone of his voice changed
in such a way as to suddenly make Felicity feel
like he’d wrapped her back into his arms and
stuck his tongue right down her throat. It was
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difficult to get out the words as she answered, “I
spend time alone with you every day.”
“Oh no, my dear, you spend the daytime
alone with me every day,” he pointed out. “But
when we are at work, you are able to return to
that flat of yours once the day is over.”
“So?” she whispered on a shaky breath
as their foreheads came together, and she
realized she’d somehow leaned into him as he
spoke.
“You haven’t ever spent bedtime with
me,” he said in a velvety soft voice.
“Hmph,” she said bravely. “It can’t be all
that bad.”
“No, no, not bad at all,” he said as he
smiled into her eyes and sat up again. “So, it’s to
be the train, then? This little adventure is
shaping up to be even more dangerous than I had
first supposed.”
“This steak is really good, Lance,”
Felicity mentioned just to break the heavy,
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heated sort of tension that was building up
between them.
“Yes,” Lancelot agreed as he paid equal
justice to his own meal. “Eat your fill, my dear,
and then we’ll go shop for supplies. I’m certain
no Mundane would go into the forest without
supplies.”
“I should think not,” she agreed.
The two ate the remainder of their meal
in companionable silence. When they were
finished, Lance stood by her chair and held out
his hand, and Felicity took it as he helped her to
her feet.
“So, where would a Mundane go to shop
for supplies?” he wondered aloud.
Giggling at such a silly question, Felicity
shrugged her shoulders. “At some sort of store
or other, I’d imagine. Let’s return to Calais, and
see what we can find.”
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TWENTY-ONE
As Lance and Felicity returned to the city
of Calais, where they had landed in the first
place, they came across a wonderful little
shopping mall quite near the train station they
intended to go to afterwards. Grinning at one
another, they decided to go inside.
“My goodness, this place has a
specialized store for everything,” Felicity
commented as they passed many of the shops by.
“Quite right,” Lance agreed. Then they
thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they went
from shop to shop, showing each other items of
interest for a time.
“Hm, perhaps we should get one of these
things while we’re at it,” said Lance as they
passed a rack full of highly erotic lingerie items.
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“I don’t really think that’s considered
camping gear,” Felicity pointed out saucily.
“Well, now, that all depends, love,” he
said. “It could be, if the bedtime was more
important than the rest of the adventure.”
“Well, it couldn’t possibly be as
important as determining which direction to take
after we’ve packed in the gear,” Felicity
commented with a grimace. “We may even be
too sore once the tent was up to care about
changing our clothes, let alone anything else.”
“Mm, you’re right my dear, it seems we
should pack light if we wish to avoid such a
terrible fate,” Lance chuckled. “For that matter,
we wouldn’t really even need more than one
sleeping bag, given the right scenario.”
“Lance!” Felicity gasped, putting her
hands on her hips as she cast him a stern look.
Then she said, “Oh look, there’s the camping
supplies now.”
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“That sleeping bag looks mighty cozy,”
Lancelot mentioned as he pointed out a larger
sized one on a nearby shelf.
“That’s
good,”
said
Felicity
circumspectly. “I will get the cart, and you can
retrieve the gear. Let’s get two of them.”
“Must I?” he grumbled with a smirk just
touching his lips. “But they’re so bloody
expensive. I hardly think two is at all the thing.”
“Like you care one jot about the cost,”
she scoffed.
“Well, you know I don’t have much
Mundane money with me,” he told her with a
hopeful grin.
“I’m sure you’ll make do,” she said
unrelentingly.
“I am wounded to the quick, my dear,”
he said as he held his hands over his heart,
making her giggle.
“Here, we should get a couple lengths of
rope, too, I think,” she said. “We’ll be going to
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the mountains, after all. You never know if they
might come in handy.”
“And a lantern as well, I think,” he
reminded her. “We won’t be using wand light if
we aren’t using our wands.”
“Good thinking,” she agreed.
“Now that we’ve amassed all of this, we
still need to get you a jacket,” Lance reminded
her, and she felt his hand briefly pat her lower
ba
ck, almost touching her arse. “You’ll need it
to cover up the nightie if you happen to step
outside. We wouldn’t want to give the bears a
peep show.”
“Lancelot Jones!” Felicity gasped, and
swatted his backside before she even realized
what she was doing. She blushed furiously as
Lancelot gazed at her, brow raised, teetering
between amazement and mirth.
“Um, sorry?” she grimaced.
Lance stood gazing at her for one
moment more, and then he chuckled, and took
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her by the hand with one of his own as he pushed
the cart they had acquired for all of their
purchases with his other.
They stopped at a rack of warm coats.
Felicity looked over a few coats while Lancelot
did the same.
“This one is perfect,” he said as he drew
Felicity to the front of him and stood her there.
With deft movements, he took a lovely
black suede coat with fur trim off the rack and
wrapped her into it. His hands glided over her
arms before he set them inside the sleeves.
Felicity thought she was going to melt
from the heat—and she didn’t mean the heat
provided by the coat she wore. With a slight
smirk gracing his lips, Lancelot zipped her in
and straightened her collar. He ran one hand
down each of the sleeves in turn, smoothing
them into place.
“Perfect,” he whispered as his hand
came up to smooth her hair over the shoulders as
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well. Felicity was fairly certain he was not
talking about the garment when he said it.
Lance slid the coat back off again, and
leaned in to brush his face against her tawny
waves of hair before he tossed the jacket into the
cart with the rest of the things. Felicity blushed
and looked down at her feet.
“You’re sure about that nightie then?” he
asked hopefully, making Felicity laugh and
shake her head. “Well, if that be the case, I
suppose we’ve got everything we need here.
Now we need to get some food. Might I suggest
we shrink the lot of this for now? It would make
it much easier to get it to the campsite if we do.”
“Why not? I guess since we’re not
officially camping as yet we can cheat just a
little,” Felicity agreed. “After all, what’s the use
of having magical abilities if you can’t make use
of them sometimes?”
Lancelot laughed at this, and said,
“Indeed. Spoken like a true Magi.”
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Felicity cast him an innocent look, and
Lance bumped his shoulder into hers. She did it
right back, and the pair of them giggled like
school children.
“Now, where do we want to go to get the
food?” Lance asked her with another smirk.
“Paris? Rome?”
“How about the grocery store across the
street instead?” Felicity inquired with a smirk of
her own.
“Spoil sport,” Lance teased her.
Not too much later, Lancelot and Felicity
walked hand in hand along the avenue, heading
for the train station. Each one of them wore their
own jacket, and had one small backpack slung
over a shoulder. They had lapsed into silence,
though it seemed to be a companionable one.
“Mind that puddle, my dear,” said Lance
as they stepped off onto the street. He guided her
carefully around it, and Felicity laughed again.
“We wouldn’t want your feet to get all wet,
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would we? Camping with a cold cannot be much
fun.”
“I suppose not,” she conceded.
“The train station is just ahead. I must
confess I think this is going to be fun.”
“I think so, too,” Felicity agreed.
“And Felicity, don’t think for one
moment that I did not see the three books you
bought in the store,” he added. “You had better
not think you’re going to have your nose in them
the entire time. This trip is supposed to be for
you to get out and about, as much as it is to
obtain the Grimoire.”
“Is it?” she asked with one brow raised
delicately in his direction.
“It is,” he said firmly as they stepped
through the entrance to the train station and
started across the hallway towards the ticket
booths.
Felicity scowled deeply, but held her
tongue. Seeing this, Lance chuckled.
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“Trust me, Felicity, you’ll thank me for
it by the time we’re done,” he said. “You mark
my words.”
Felicity rounded on him then, and her
eyes snapped with ire. “Just what makes you
think you know what’s good for me, Lance?”
she demanded hotly.
“A great deal more than you might
imagine,” he said as he stepped away to buy two
tickets.
Felicity fumed as she waited for him near
a row of benches, too irritated to bother to sit
down. He found her pacing when he returned,
and he was certain she had more to say.
Felicity practically exploded as she tore
into him. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, deciding
upon what I do and do not need, don’t you?” she
demanded indignantly as she followed behind
him.
Abruptly, Lance stopped and turned to
face her, ready to say something that he thought
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better of before it left his lips. He sucked the
words back in and shook his head.
Instead he said, “Listen to me, Felicity. I
am the one who is supposed to train you for the
next six years, aren’t I? It falls upon me to take
care of all your needs in that time, to make sure
that you are at your best. I have always prided
myself on doing the best possible job at
everything I do, and therefore I must make sure
that you do, as well. So yes, whenever it’s
necessary I will decide what you do and do not
need. Got it?”
Felicity’s face screwed up with emotion
as she tried to come up with a suitable retort, but
she just couldn’t seem to find one. She felt a
lump in her throat, and her eyes began to sting,
because at some level she had been hoping that
he’d been doing what he had been doing so far
out of some sort of feeling for her.
If what he had just said was true, that
meant he had merely been doing his job. That
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the attentions he’d thus far paid to her had
nothing to do with any great desire for her, as
she’d been imagining. That was a very upsetting
idea.
Lance watched her for a moment, seeing
the hurt in her eyes. He said quickly, “Felicity, I
didn’t mean—”
“No, don’t say anything,” she cut him
off. “I understand completely.”
“You don’t,” he insisted. He pulled her
to him and crushed his lips to hers.
Her heart fluttered madly in her chest.
Her breath caught in her throat, and the tears
she’d been holding in check now began to spill
from her eyes.
Felicity pushed him away from her and
snatched one of the tickets from his hand,
making a mad dash for the waiting train. He was
right about one thing, at least. She most certainly
did not understand; not at all.
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TWENTY-TWO
Felicity hadn’t been at all sure where she
was headed when she’d boarded the train, but in
her state of heightened emotions she’d just had
to get away from Lance. She had crashed into
someone along the way, and the man had set her
onto her feet again. She’d broken free and
continued on her way, but other than that she
hadn’t really interacted with anyone since.
She was still in shock that Lance had
actually kissed her. It was frightening, and
exhilarating, and she didn’t know what to feel.
She had known for some time now that
she wanted the wizard with a desperation
bordering on insanity. She just hadn’t known
there was any possibility that she might actually
have that want fulfilled.
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But there could be no mistaking the
intensity behind the kiss Lance had given her.
He had tried desperately to make her understand
just how much he wanted the same thing she did.
Gods, she could hardly believe she was
willing to let this happen at all. She’d always
thought she would get on without a man in her
life, being accepted for her own merits alone.
But somehow Lance had crept right into her