Page 27

Chapter

Twenty-Two

A fter three turns of flying, three turns of the knights taking turns watching my every move, I’m ready to scream.

There’s only so much ceiling cleaning one can handle before wanting to throw in the towel.

Or blanket, in my case. I made it my mission to clear the cobwebs to give myself something to pass the time with, but I want my cloud bed back.

Trying to sleep while dangling mid-air isn’t fun.

As I reach out to clear another web, I float down a few feet. “Um, guys?” I call out, hope sparking in my chest. This will work—a slow, gentle descent into the arms of my knights as the venom wears off.

Then, like someone has sucked the magic out of my body, I lose every semblance of lightness and slam downward, a shriek ripping from my throat as my arms flail.

Strong arms catch me, and after my heart settles back in my chest, I smile up at Malachi and pat his cheek.

Tonight I’ll share a bed with not one, but two knights.

Idols help me. I am equal parts excited and terrified.

“Good catch,” I murmur.

He shakes his head as he lowers my feet to the ground and holds me for a split tempo to ensure I am conquering gravity. The other knights press closer until I’m caught between them. They don’t speak, but their casual touches of reassurance feed my soul.

Gwyneth comes hurrying into the room, with Mr. Tick shuffling behind her. The crocodile’s presence has had the bonus effect of warding off curious folks from gazing at the spectacle of the flying maiden, which I can only be grateful for.

“Good, you are down,” she breathes, holding a hand to her chest. “I was a little worried you would be stuck up there for an annus.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I tell her. “I would never survive an annus. How would I eat?”

She rolls her eyes and swings her thumb over her shoulder at the crocodile. “He wants to know if you can send him back to the ocean.”

I raise a brow at Mr. Tick. “Couldn’t find your offensive fairy?”

He emits a low growl. “I found her fine, but vengeance isn’t all it’s promised to be.”

“It never is,” Gwyneth advises.

“Why do you want to go back?” He seemed pretty adamant that he should be on land, not in water.

“Down there, I am someone. I have respect, riches, and admiration. I have an empire, friends, and property. Here, I am nothing and have nothing.”

My chest tightens for him. I can understand the pain of being a nobody, as it’s what I have been most of my life until I came here and got caught in the knights’ tangled web. Now, I would fight to stay here.

“I don’t know how to send you back. I’m sorry.”

Mr. Tick sighs. “Could you at least try? I feel flat, dull, and lifeless here.”

“Nobody but us can go inside our chambers,” Nash says. “We spelled it that way, and I’m not willing to widen the net.”

“Let’s meet in the library,” Gwyneth declares. “There’s more space, more knowledge, and few folks actually grace the room.”

“With the trident?” Mr. Tick asks.

“Sure,” I answer.

“No,” the knights counter.

I fold my arms. “My trident, my rules. It’s not like anyone can even hold it. So what’s your worry?”

Nash’s nostrils flare as he narrows his eyes. “Fine.”

Gwyneth leads Mr. Tick, Hart, Theo, and Malachi to the library, while Nash accompanies me to their chambers. Well, he leads the way, given I still have zero sense of direction in the warrens that connect the rooms in this castle.

Something tugs in my chest as we get closer. The sword, I believe, is calling to me. A stark reminder of my duty and how I am bound to it.

Nash never lets go of my hand as he storms ahead.

He throws open the door to their chambers, tugs me inside, and slams it closed before pushing me against it and pinning my arms above my head with one hand.

He runs his nose from my ear down along my jaw and ghosts his lips over mine, making them tingle.

“Tell me what Hart did,” he growls low.

I blink. Hart? I don’t think he did anything... oh. Oh shit. I swallow against the tight knot in my throat. “He tasted me, much like you had the previous sundown.” Albeit, Hart was less gentle.

“Did he lay you down on a bed and kiss you sweetly?” Nash murmurs as his teeth scrape across the delicate flesh of my throat. He hovers around the pulse, which thunders against his lips.

“No, he stripped me bare and made me stand.”

“Then?”

“Then I did the same to him.”

Nash sucks in a breath and pushes his knee between my legs. His thigh puts pressure on the place I need him the most. “Did you bring him to orgasm, Daphne?”

“Yes,” I reply as he grinds his thigh in a slow circle, making my eyes roll in the back of my head.

“Did you swallow him down?” he growls.

Heat flashes down my spine. “Yes.”

He freezes as his heavy breath caresses my neck. “Fuck.” He buries his head against my throat and sighs. “How many?”

My eyes flutter closed. “Threefold,” I confirm.

With his free hand, he lifts my skirts and pushes my panties to the side to dip his fingers inside of me. He groans as he finds my wet heat. “Get your weapons, Daphne. Let’s deal with your crocodile friend and then...”

I want to drag him to his room and make him finish the “and then.” These knights have me wound tighter than the grandfather clock with the mouse infestation.

“If you don’t deliver on that promise, I will find it in the arms of one of your brothers,” I snap.

He chuckles and drags his fingers free. He holds my gaze hostage before sliding his glistening fingers into his mouth.

“Oh, fair Doris, I have found you,” the mirror man says. I tilt my head to look over Nash’s shoulder. My mirror man is back in his original mirror. He blinks at me. “Are you well? Is the knight holding your hands because you cannot stand?”

“You won’t be able to stand when I am done with you,” Nash whispers, fire blazing in his eyes.

“Neither will you,” I promise.

“Should I retrieve Miss Geraldine?” the mirror man asks.

“No, I’m good. Nash was just testing if he could make me taller by stretching my arms.”

“But you are the perfect height. There’s no need to change yourself,” the mirror man declares. I love my constantly positive mirror man. He’s such a giver.

Nash releases me with a sigh, and I grab Excalibur and the trident.

“Meet us in the library,” Nash calls out over his shoulder as he slams the door closed and leads the way.

I give up trying to memorize the twists and turns as I haul the sword and trident along.

It feels like I’m led on a different route every time, which makes no sense. There can’t be endless possibilities.

We burst into the library to find the key librarian waiting for us. He scowls as he places his hands on his hips. “I am not the central meeting place for wayward magical creatures, characters, and objects,” he snaps before his eyes slide to the sword and then the trident clutched in my hands.

“Is that Excalibur?” he whispers as he drops his hands to his sides.

“It is,” I confirm.

His eyes lock on mine. “Making you the Lady of the Lake?”

I nod once. “That’s right.”

“How is this possible? You should be tied to the water. No Lady has ever graced the land once the legend claims her.”

I shrug. “I’m rewriting the rules of the legend. No small-minded Idols will keep me shackled to the water. Do you know they haven’t even heard of sausage?”

He blinks at me like I am a creature from another world before his eyes fall on the super shiny fork.

“And the trident, it hums with power and knowledge. How did you come across such a thing?”

“Funny story. Pos?—”

Nash pushes on my back, urging me forward and past the librarian. “It’s a replica of the one Poseidon possesses.”

“Replica? Right,” the librarian says as he tracks us across his domain. The frown on his face makes me believe he doesn’t believe that for one tempo. “Your friends are over by the far wall. Last meal has been delivered.”

Oh goodie. I am starving. All this trekking, fighting, floating, and flirting has built an appetite. We walk toward the murmur of voices in the corner, when the door bursts open behind us, making me and Nash spin.

A woman in a gold dress waltzes into the library, a Beast in a fancy suit following behind her.

“My gift to you,” he snarls. Damn, he needs to work on his delivery.

“I told you people this is not that library,” the librarian huffs.

The wannabe Belle twirls in a circle, ignoring the librarian. “It’s not as big as I imagined.”

Poor Belle. I snort as the Beast gazes at the vast library. “It’s the largest in the land.”

“Doubtful,” Nash murmurs in my ear. His body is flush to my back, and the evidence of his largeness presses against my butt.

Belle’s gaze lands on us, and she stamps her foot. “I want my very own library. This one is full of stinky Burghers.”

Oh wow, like her shit doesn’t stink. If I had the chance to remake this world, I would make sure everyone was on equal footing.

Beast wraps his arms around her waist. “This is all that is on offer until we marry. After that, you can have your own.”

She huffs and pries his hands from around her waist. “I cannot commit to ifs, buts, and maybes. Get me my library, or get out of my life.” She turns and waltzes out of the door with a defeated Beast trailing behind her.

“And you think I’m problematic,” I mutter as I turn to Nash, keeping my arms out to the sides to avoid touching him with my weapons.

He drops a heated kiss onto my lips. “No, I think you are perfect.” With that life-changing comment, he leads us to our waiting group.

Malachi glances between us with an arched brow, but doesn’t comment, while the mirror man studies us from the large mirror against the wall.

“That cheat would never be the fairest,” the mirror man declares. “She is only after the largest. Unlike you, her beauty doesn’t shine from within. Being fair isn’t about beauty on the outside. It exists in every molecule of your being. From your pretty eyes to the goodness in your soul.”

I smile at him as I lay the trident and sword down on the table. “Thanks, dude.”

“Why the sword?” Theo asks as he glares at the weapon fated to cause his death.

“I have an idea how to get Mr. Tick back where he belongs,” I declare.

Nash settles against the table with his arms folded in a show of silent support. He didn’t question when I grabbed both weapons, and his quiet confidence in me is everything I need.

“Actually, I have two ideas. But since one involves an Idol, I would prefer that be the backup plan.”

“We are listening, Daphne,” Gwyneth reassures me with a nod from the armchair she’s curled up on, while Mr. Ticks waits on the floor to hear my plan.

I point at the sword. “I can send Excalibur anywhere my heart desires. Since Mr. Tick can touch it without enacting the knights’ legend or blowing himself up, I think he should hold it while I send the sword back to my house in the ocean.”

“Have you moved a living person before?” Mr. Tick asks.

I shake my head. “But I also have never tried, so I wouldn’t call it a failure.”

“And the trident?” Hart asks. “What’s your grand backup plan?”

I grimace. “Well, I think I can call Poseidon to it, and then hopefully he will take Mr. Tick with him.”

“Poseidon is bound to the ocean,” Mr. Tick says. “Otherwise, he would have been here already.”

“Oh, then I guess we risk the sword plan.”

“Fine,” Mr. Tick says, shuffling forward. “Let’s get this over with. I can’t stand it here a tempo longer.”

“Wait, how will you get the sword back?” Gwyneth asks, leaning forward.

“I’ll just call it.” I’m fairly certain this plan will work—which likely means it won’t. “Ready?” I ask.

Mr. Tick rears up and leans his short forearms on the table. “Ready.”

He wraps his claws around the handle, and I close my eyes.

I picture the stand in my bedroom and take a deep breath.

The weight of the power pushes on my chest, like the sword is protesting my choices.

I reason with it that once Mr. Tick is delivered back into the ocean, I will bring it right back here to me.

I am negotiating with a sword. Idols help me.

“It worked,” Malachi mutters.

My eyes flick open to the empty space before me. “How do we know?” Nash asks. “They could be anywhere.”

“I shall check,” the mirror man says before disappearing from sight, leaving us staring at our reflection as we wait for him to report back.

The genie poofs into existence beside me. “Recall your sword, Daphne. Now.”

I yank on the magic, but it won’t budge. What in the blazes? “Something is blocking it,” I grumble.

Genie huffs. “Dammit. Poseidon is holding it hostage. I thought you had a tempo before his magic took hold.”

Panic flares in my gut, making my stomach twist and my gremlin groan.

“What does he want with your sword?” Gwyneth asks.

I glance at the glowing trident. “Nothing. He wants a trade.”

Theo jerks to his feet. “You are not going back down there.”

“I agree,” Gwyneth says. “He won’t let you escape a second time.”

I rub a hand down my face and sigh. “But I need it back.” I think I might actually die without it. It’s linked to my life force now.

Gwyneth jumps to her feet and claps her hands.

“We can figure this out. Hart, grab the stack of books about Poseidon I left on the top level. Malachi, claim every book about the sword and your legend you can find. Theo, find me information on Mr. Tick. Something doesn’t add up.

” She spares me a glance and before turning to Nash.

“Nash, keep our girl safe and out of mischief while I gather what I can on deals with Idols.”

They sweep out to the four corners of the library, leaving me with Nash and my genie.

I fold my arms and sink onto the sofa. “Do you have any other news from the ocean?” I ask Genie.

A little gossip will help keep me distracted from the fact I fucked something up in the knights’ legend—again. Genie grins. “Girl, I have so much to tell you.”

Nash hands me a plate of food and takes a seat next to me. The genie launches into the gossip from the ocean, and I try to push down the feeling that everybody might be better off without my meddling and calamities.

Send me a sign, Idols. Am I meant to be part of their story, or am I an impediment to their happiness? Any sign, big or small. Just make it clear.