Page 116
Story: Bespelled
For several minutes, the two of us lie there, Memnon playing with my hair and me tracing his tattoos. I nearly put myself in a trance, following those flowing, curving lines.
“What’s the strangest thing about the modern world?” I ask.
“There are many strange things about this world,” he says smoothly, as though the question isn’t completely out of the blue. “Cars, computers, phones, television. There is such precision to even common things, and there are so many choices—gods, the choices. There’s also the ease of existence. Things that once took hours you can now buy instantly and cheaply.”
“Is any of it off-putting?” I ask.
“It isalloff-putting.”
“You wouldn’t know it,” I say softly. This is a man who’s electronically deposited money into my account, who drove me in his car, then his motorcycle, and who is holding down a job, even if it is for the supernatural mafia. A man who has some grasp on modern fashion and who now speaks English flawlessly.
“I have spent whole weeks mining people’s minds for information on this modern world so that I might not fall prey to it,” he confesses.
I try not to think of what that must’ve looked like and how many people’s heads he must’ve pried into.
“Do you regret being here, in the modern world?”
“If you had asked me before I saw your memories, I would’ve saidyes,” Memnon answers. “Now, however, I know truly what you did. You, Roxilana, bought us a future when there was none, and you paid for it with your life. We no longer have armies or palaces, but we exist, little witch. You go by a different name and speak a different tongue and wear different clothes, but you are still my soul mate and my queen.”
And you are still my king.I almost say it, but I bite back the sentiment.
“I do have a family,” I say instead.
That was one of my deepest agonies in my past life—losing them. And it is something I took for granted up until my memories returned to me.
Memnon’s face lights with interest. “Your family,” he says, as though it’s only now clicking. “They were in your photo albums.” Despite seeing their pictures, it seems as though he’s only now putting together what that actually means to me. “I haven’t met them,” he says, and there’s true regret in his voice.
I nearly laugh. Of course he hasn’t met them.
“You’ve been too busy making yourself my enemy to get the chance to meet your future in-laws.”
I realize my mistake immediately.
Unfortunately, so does Memnon.
“My future in-laws?” His voice is dripping with delight.
I cannot evenexplainthe slip of tongue.
“I can,” Memnon says, listening in to my thoughts. “You rode me better than I ride horses. Of course you want more.”
Goddess above. I cover his mouth. “You are never to speak another lewd comment that involves me and horses.”
“Forever?” he asks solemnly, his response muffled by my hand.
“Forever and ever and ever,” I say, feeling a perplexing combination of relief and disappointment that the command seems to take.
“Aw, damn, soul mate,” he says, dragging my hand away. “Now you’ve just given me a challenge too good to pass up.”
He moves down my body.
“What is the challenge? And what are you doing?”
The sorcerer keeps lowering himself, the tips of his hair brushing against my skin. It’s not until he’s settled himself between my thighs and spread them apart that I become aware of what he intends to do.
“It’s dirty down there!” I say, attempting to close my legs.
He easily catches them and moves them one by one over his shoulders.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116 (Reading here)
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201