Dark Flame (The Immortals #4)(26)
“Look,” I finally say, starting to feel better, almost human again. “I’m—I’m sorry for coming here like this. I was actually on my way over to give you this.” I reach for my bag, rooting around for the small white package I then hand to him. Watching him peek at the contents as I say, “It’s your prescription. I picked it up earlier and meant to leave it on your desk, but then I forgot all about it ’til now.” He nods, silent for a moment, studying me carefully as he says, “Ever, what’s this really about? Clearly, you’re not here to talk about my meds.” He pushes the pills aside with his cast, catching my look when he adds, “Trust me, I have no plans to take ’em. Pain pills and me—not a good mix. As I’m sure you’ve already witnessed.”
And when he looks at me, I know he remembers. Everything. All of it. The full-on confession he made.
I press my lips together and lower my gaze, fiddling with the hem of my dress, knowing I’m just going through the motions when I say, “Well, you might want to take the antibiotics at least—you know, to ward off infection and all.”
He leans back in his seat and places his feet on his desk, crossing his legs at the ankle as his amazing green eyes narrow on me. “What do you say we move past all this and get to the point—what’s really going on with you?”
I take a deep breath, smoothing my dress over my knees before tentatively meeting his gaze. “I did come here to bring you the pills, really. But on the way over—something happened—and—” I look at him, knowing I need to just get to the point, spit it out already before he loses his patience with me. “I think I accidentally bound Roman to me.”
He looks at me, trying hard not to balk, though he still kinda does.
“Or, actually, I bound myself to Roman. But not on purpose—it was an accident. I meant to do just the opposite, but then, when I tried to undo it, it just made things worse. And even though you have absolutely no reason to help me—believe it or not, I have nowhere to turn.”
“Nowhere?” You sure about that?” He lifts his spliced brow.
Gathering my words, hoping they’ll work to convince him, I heave an audible sigh when I say, “I know what you’re thinking, but you may as well forget it. I can’t tell Damen—he can never know what I’ve done. He doesn’t work magick—doesn’t really trust it for that matter—so it’s not like he can do anything to help. I’ll just be hurting and disappointing him for no good reason. But you—you’re different. You know your way around a spell. And since I need help from someone who’s familiar with this kind of thing—well, I thought you could show me how to set things right.”
“Sounds like you’re putting a lot of faith in me.” He tosses his dreadlocks over his shoulder and rests his arms on his lap.
“Maybe.” I shrug. “But then I truly believe that it’s warranted. I mean, now that I’ve proved you’re not evil—” I nod toward his arms, the sight of them sparking an idea, something I just might broach at some point, something that just might be the perfect way to make it all up to him—but in the future, not now. First I need to get through this. Swallowing hard as I lower my gaze, horrified to have to admit this, to say the words out loud, but knowing it’s the only way. “It’s like I’m obsessed with Roman.” I glance at him briefly, seeing him blanch slightly but grateful for his efforts to contain it. “I’m totally and completely fixated on him. He’s all I think about. All I dream about. And no matter what I do, I can’t seem to stop it.”
He nods, head bobbing slightly, as though in deep contemplation. Like he’s flipping through his mental spell-reversing book, searching for just the right cure. “This is a tough one, Ever.” He takes a deep breath and levels his gaze right on mine. “It’s—complicated.”
I nod, hands clasped in my lap, already painfully aware of that.
“Binding spells—” He rubs his cast against his chin. “Well, they can’t always be undone.”
I lean forward, striving for calm, striving to speak past my agitated breath. “But—I thought everything can be undone—you just have to work the right spell at the right time—right?”
His shoulders rise and fall in a move so final it makes my stomach dip, his gaze on mine as he says, “Sorry, I’m just telling you what I’ve learned through my years of studying and practicing these things. But you’ve got The Book, you’ve got this supposed code that gets past the code—so, you tell me.”
I sigh, leaning back in my seat, fingers picking at the hem of my dress. “The Book’s not much help. I mean, I pretty much did exactly what Romy and Rayne said—used most all the same elements—and—”
He looks at me. “The exact same elements?”
“Well, yeah.” I shrug. “For the most part. I mean, in order to reverse a spell—you need to repeat the same steps as before—it says so right in the book and Romy and Rayne confirmed it.”
He nods. Doesn’t say a word, just nods. But his attempt at restraint rings loud and clear.
“So I can’t imagine what made it go wrong. I mean, at first I thought I’d nailed it, but then it—it completely got away from me and started reversing itself all over again, repeating the same sequence of events as before.”