Page 41 of Hexbound

"They'd have to catch me first."

That earned her a scoring look. "Verity, the Sicarii aren't ordinary sorcerers. Catching you wouldn't be a problem. And one of them wouldn't even have to try. All she'd need to do would be to click her fingers... and you'd be dead. No matter where you vanished to."

A chill ran through her. "I won't follow you in future then."

And she was going to stay as far away from the Sicarii as she could.

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Chapter 10

"SIT." LADY EBERHARDT pointed dramatically at the daybed in her sitting room.

Verity didn't bother to argue. Bishop shot her a look as though surprised at her compliance, but she'd had enough of arguing today.

Besides, she knew enough about Lady Eberhardt to recognize when such a thing would be a waste of breath.

"I'm so sorry," Marie said, wringing her hands. "I swear she was there one moment, then gone the next."

"It's not your fault, Marie." Bishop smiled at the secretary. "Verity has a problem with following orders and trusting others. You couldn't have stopped her."

Verity folded her hands in her lap and pressed her lips together. She wasnotgoing to bite.

"Meek does not become you," Lady Eberhardt grumbled under her breath as she circled the daybed.

"That's when she's at her most dangerous," Bishop agreed.

Verity couldn't help herself. "I am not!"

He crossed his arms over his broad chest. "You are too."

"Adrian, don't you have somewhere to be?" Lady Eberhardt interrupted, which clearly surprised him. "I'm going to put Verity into a trance and try and see if I can break through the memory hex. You're only going to be a distraction. Clearly."

There was not quite aharrumphon the end of that.

"I was going to see Drake, and let him know of the circumstances."

"Now would be as good a time as any." Not quite a command, but then who would argue against Lady Eberhardt?

"I'll see him out." Marie tucked a hand through his arm. "We'll make sure Verity stays safely here this time."

"Good luck," he muttered as she tugged him through the door.

"I heard that!" Verity called.

Silence fell, broken only by his footsteps on the stairs. Verity turned her attention back to the dragon whose den she'd suddenly found herself in. Lady Eberhardt glared at her. "If you bother that boy...."

"Yes, yes," Verity sighed. "I know. You'll knot me into a quilt."

A beady eye glared back at her as the lady took a seat opposite her, one hand curled around the handle of an ebony cane. "Impertinence is most unbecoming in a young lady."

"I can only imagine you were the very essence of pertinence yourself in your youth," Verity replied.

"Are you giving me cheek?"

"Would I dare?"

They stared at each other. A muscle ticked in Lady Eberhardt's cheek.