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Ep33
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2024-10-29 19:42:56The army set off at first light. Lisa, Nela, Indi, and Mira rode with the back part of jame’s core battalion. The High King and phillip rode up front but phillip kept moving back to check on each brigade.
They set up camp before dusk and were almost immediately joined by a second army, it’s leader and personal guard riding through and kicking up dust onto everyone as they road to the High King’s tent.
Phillp scowled when he saw the banners. King Ide, he thought of all people it had to be him that answered the call first. But of course it was.
Ide waltzed into the High King’s command tent and gave a sweeping bow before looking around at everyone.
“King Ide you’re most welcome.&rdqu
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They threw her onto the back of horse and she struggled against the bindings. In her mind she kept trying to connect not only to phillip but to her Magic but it was useless. It was like someone had shut the door on it and locked it all away. Every time she tried to reach out a piercing, white hot pain ripped through her and for the first time in a while she was scared for her life.They rode the horses hard away from the camp and up a hill to where they’d clearly set up in a cave. The hauled her off letting her hit the ground hard as she fell. She sat up and looked at them from the dirt but she knew she was defenceless.“Did anyone see?” Someone asked and a few men shook their heads.“Good. And you’re sure you weren’t followed?”
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James paced waiting for them to return. He’d felt the Magic, or rather the attempt to disturb it. He saw the horses approach and expected phillip to bring the girl directly to him but he didn’t.He took her to his own tent.He scowled thinking of how insolent phillip could be sometimes. Grabbing what he could he rushed over there, knowing that he couldn’t let his pride get in the way of saving the girl.Phillip laid her on his bed while Ridley stood at the door awkwardly.“What do you want me to do?” He asked.“Get James.” phillip ordered. “And get a damn healer.”
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Lisa opened her eyes, aware that she was in a tent and that there were thick fur throws over her. It was dark but she could make the outline of almost everything in the tent. She shifted slightly and felt the pelts against her skin, realising that she wasn’t wearing anything except her underwear and she recoiled with fear.“It’s okay.” Phillip said moving to her side so she could see him. “You’re safe.”“Where are my clothes?” She asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.“The Agnai cut them off you.” He replied.Lisa blinked and then looked away. She remembered the cave now. And the men who had all slit their throats. She remembered how she
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The army travelled further towards the coast and Lisa felt the air getting more and more salty the nearer they got. A part of her couldn’t wait to see the sea even though she knew that with it would be war.She ached to spend each night with phillip but she forced herself to sleep alone. To be alone. She knew she needed time to heal, time to forget. She had already forgiven him because after all he hadn’t betrayed her but the anger at what the High King had tried to get him to do was still there and it was raw. And the awful emptiness she felt without her Magic was practically unbearable. All she knew was that she didn’t want phillip to feel it too, she didn’t want him to know the pain that was constantly ripping through her, so she locked herself away, locked her emotions away and she shut herself off from him.
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I covered my mouth and nose with a hand as the smell hit me with the force of a Mack truck. I knew that smell. My job as a journalist had put me in more than one situation involving the dead or dying. I turned the corner and entered what was undoubtedly known as “the parlor”. Governor Welling lay motionless on the ground, a small, neat hole drilled through his forehead. I sat down hard on the floor, my legs unwilling to hold me upright. I tried to untangle my emotions as I sat there. I wasn’t exactly sure what I should be feeling, but I was fairly certain it wasn’t the mixture of relief and disgust that roiled through me.I heard the sound of wailing and it yanked me back to the here and now. I followed it to the back door where a woman in a pale-blue tracksuit sat on the steps, huge gasping sobs shaking her tiny body.“You’re the one who called me,” I said, knowing this had to be the housekeeper whose pani
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My first stop was the house neighboring that of the governor. Of course, “neighbor” might not have been the correct term, since there was a good mile between the Welling mansion and the smaller, but equally lavish, home to the east. I knew it was a long shot, but it was a rather out-of-the-way location without much traffic. The person who lived here may have noticed a car driving by early this morning. And there was the possibility that he or she had travelled in some of the same social circles as the governor. Being an ex-con had removed him from a few select groups, but he was far from a pariah. I found it rather odd that notoriety could make one popular among certain crowds. Just look at the Kardashians.I drove up to the wrought-iron gates and pushed the call-box button.“Who’s there?” a female voice boomed over the speaker.“Jessie Wells,” I answered.“What? I’
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Jason shook his head as he walked up three steps to the screened-in porch of the Craftsman he had purchased four years ago. He had just caught what was going to be the biggest case of his career and what was he thinking about? A chestnut-haired reporter who was destined to make his life hell for the foreseeable future. He could still feel the tingle where her hand had touched his and see the pain in those hazel-brown eyes. Pain he was sure she thought was well-hidden. Was that what had gotten to him? That vulnerability behind the tough protective shell? Or maybe he had imagined the whole thing. Maybe Jess was every bit the hard-as-nails journalist who really didn’t give a damn that her father was dead. In any case, he knew without a doubt they would cross paths again sooner rather than later.“Dalia! Tess!” Jason called as he shut the door behind him. A willowy blonde in yoga pants and a slim-fitting baby-blue tee hurried into the foyer wiping h
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Dammit!” Jason exclaimed as he stomped out Cara Montgomery’s front door. He had made a point of warning Jessie to keep out of the investigation, and she’d gone ahead and poked her nose into it anyway. God, he hated reporters! What kind of woman used her own father’s murder for a story?“It could’ve been worse,” said Dillon, interrupting his inner tirade. Intelligent and wiry as a coat-hanger, he had been Jason’s partner from the time he joined the VSP four years ago.Jason glared at the smaller man. “How?” he demanded.“Well, she is a school teacher. She could’ve sent you to the principal’s office.”Jason ignored his partner’s lame attempt at humor, his brain throbbing with questions. How the hell had Jessie learned about her father’s girlfriend? She had probably lied about searching the house before the police arrived &ndas
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One year later . . .“I look ridiculous,” I said as I stared at my reflection in the full-length mirror. “Why did I let you talk me into this?”“Hush up!” Gail commanded as she fussed with the silky white fabric that flowed like a waterfall over my hips and down my legs in a shimmering cascade. “I didn’t talk you into anything. You look beautiful, and you know it.”I did look beautiful, thanks to my trio of fairy godmothers – Gail, Agnes, and Tess – who had devoted the entire morning to my hair and make-up. I stared at my reflection; I didn’t look anything like myself. My normally stick-straight hair fell about my shoulders in glorious, shiny ringlets, and framed a face that belonged to me, but boasted eyes that appeared huge, luminescent, and more gold than brown. My cheeks were faintly pink, as were my lips.The dress was magnificent. Beautiful c
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My head was pounding as I swam through the soup of sleep and dreams and into consciousness. The night had been long, and I had spent most of it either crying or shouting into my pillow. God, how I wanted this nightmare to be over! I forced myself to struggle to a sitting position, and it was only then that I realized my head wasn’t the only thing that was pounding. Someone was knocking on my door. Crap! I really wanted to wallow in self-pity right now. I didn’t have the time or the inclination to deal with whoever was out there.I flopped back down onto my bed and burrowed under the covers. The knocking stopped, thank heaven, but then my phone started buzzing. Damn, but someone was persistent! I groped on my side table, swearing as I knocked both the cell and the lamp onto the floor. I scrambled out of bed and snatched up the phone, hitting the answer button without bothering to check to see who was calling.“What?” I barked
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Jason felt his skin crawl, looking at this horrid creature with stringy blond hair and Jessie’s hazel eyes.“So, if you wanted to hang on to Welling, why did you do it? Why the faked death? Why come back and kill so many people?”Gloria gave an inelegant grunt. “Adam was going down hard and I wasn’t going to go down with him. Who was going to associate with the wife of someone like him? I had to reinvent myself. I got a new face, a new name, courtesy of a few Swiss bank accounts he knew nothing about.Voila! A whole new me.”“But you didn’t change everything, did you?” Jason asked, his eyes raking over her golden pantsuit. Your signature color suits you. Bet you didn’t know you left a little of it behind with the governor’s body.”“The ME declared you legally dead,” I said. “He had proof that you died in that fire.”
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Everything disappeared: The house, the cops outside, her nerves. All that existed were Jason and the delicious icy fire racing through my blood. He pulled back, leaving me panting and feeling quite bereft. I raised my arms and almost wrapped them around his neck, wanting to be closer to him, wanting even more. But then I remembered my heartache and let them fall. That would only lead to more pain.“I’m sorry,” he rasped, still catching his breath. “I’m sorry.”“Don’t worry about it,” I managed to whisper and turned away so he wouldn’t be able to read the doubt on my face. How was I going to stand this? How could I spend three hours teetering on the very edge of insanity? It would take so little to push me right over. I had to find a way to keep my mind busy.“Tell me about your family,” I said, not really sure why I was asking, but knowing anything was better tha
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I was nervous, anxious to have the whole thing over and done with. I wanted to look my father’s killer in the eye. And I was ready to cut Jason Anders out of my life once and for all. After tonight, we could go our separate ways.I’m not sure why I was so angry, he had just proven to me what I had known all along. You can’t trust anyone but yourself. But I had trusted him. I had let down my walls enough to give him a peek inside. I had thought he was the one who would have my back. My mistake had been disastrous and humiliating, but I had learned my lesson.I stuffed my hurt deep down and looked at my watch, a scratched Timex that I had been meaning to replace for over a year, but had never gotten around to doing. It was only one o’clock. The day was crawling along at a maddening pace.I heard the thunk of my front door, accompanied by the clomp of heavy, booted feet. My back stiffened. Jason had returned, car
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I snuggled my backside against warm, hard male and sighed in contentment. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so sated, both physically and emotionally. Emotion had never been a part of my love life. It was nice. I was surprised to discover I liked it. I wanted more. I didn’t know much about Jason, really. I knew he was handsome, smart, exasperating, and very sexy. I knew he was a hero from Louisiana who had a young daughter. I didn’t know his favorite food or what his mama called him. I wanted to know those things, which shocked me. Did I also want him to know all of my secrets? It shocked me even more to realize I did. After so many years of avoiding intimacy like a root canal, I now found myself craving it.What did I most want to know about this complicated man? His little girl. The answer came easily. I wanted to know about the most important thing in his life. A sharp stab of guilt pierced my heart. How could I want to make this little girl i
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“Okay,” he said. “So, let’s hear your plan.”Shit! “I don’t have a plan, exactly,” I said. “It’s more of an outline.”“I’m shocked,” he deadpanned.“Look, smartass, we have too many villains and no way of knowing which one committed which crime. We do know that one of them wants me dead.” Jason flinched when I said this, but didn’t interrupt. “If we figure out a way to make him or her think they’ve got an easy shot at me, we’ll have ’em.”“And how do you propose we do that, seeing as how we don’t know who they are?”That was a good question, and I didn’t have an answer – at least not a good one. I did have an idea, but it was mediocre at best.“We make sure all of them know that I’m breaking into Cara’s house to
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What?” he asked, confused by the quick change in tone and subject.“My head is too muddled right now to deal with more than one thing at a time,” I answered. “So, let’s get to work on solving my father’s murder. All cards on the table.”“Fine,” he said, heaving a sigh and sinking back into the hard hospital chair. “So talk.”“Uh-uh. I’ve already shared a couple of things. Now it’s your turn.”“I don’t think . . .”“All cards on the table,” I repeated. “I give you my word nothing will appear in print without your permission.”He raised one of his expressive brows.“Do you want a blood oath, or what?”A smile lit his beautiful face. “I don’t think we need to do anything that drastic. Besides, I hate the sight
