Anomaly (Causal Enchantment #4)(74)
Still, Mage’s concerns were valid. Peace was only ever temporary. And when the flipside reared its ugly head again, would I interfere? Would the faeries deem that a misuse of my power? With no limitations set out for me, what would earn my expulsion?
“How is Mage? Will she come with you?” I asked.
Sofie smiled as Nathan pulled her to his chest. She hadn’t stopped smiling since I’d brought him back to her. “Maybe once she finds that special someone, I can convince her. We’ll see.”
“Okay, well … say hello to everyone. Let me know when you want to come back.”
Placing a kiss on my forehead, Sofie beamed. “I will.” Her eyes searched the pool. “I assume you will all behave while we’re gone?”
My flat look made her chuckle.
“And where will we be living next?” Nathan asked in his deep Parisian accent, his eyes roaming the cave.
Given I could change our entire surroundings with the twitch of a finger, everyone was getting their choice of location. “Well, it’s Julian’s pick, so…”
“Rivendell!” Julian hollered.
Nathan’s blank look—he’d only recently learned what a television was—cracked me up.
“Well, I hope it will be brighter. This cave dwelling is a bit tiresome,” Nathan said with a teasing smile.
“Aren’t you leaving?” Bishop yelled. The Oasis had been his pick.
“Okay, see you when you’re ready.” With just a thought from me, I watched Veronique’s excitement in the image pool as they appeared before her crouched form.
Now that I was up, I decided to check in on someone. The pool shimmered and shifted to Ratheus. I shuddered as Viggo’s cold blue eyes appeared, that vicious twinkle extinguished, replaced by a void. When I’d first shown the others what I had decided to do with Viggo—relegate him to a world without humans, a world he almost created with his own selfishness—they applauded me for my ingenuity. Looking at him now, though, his face marred with four gruesome gouges, sitting in a decrepit house with a hole-riddled ceiling and rainfall soaking through his tattered clothes, the only creature for miles, I felt only pity.
Though he undoubtedly deserved it, the human side of me—a side I hoped I would never lose—wondered if he felt a shred of remorse.
“He hasn’t moved in weeks.” Lilly called, reappearing after an afternoon of wandering around the jungle.
I couldn’t help but stare at her new, more womanly physical form, clad in a fitted tank top and tiny shorts. She had asked me to age her. She wanted to experience life from an adult perspective, to share her existence. I could tell by the way she watched Caden and me that she desperately wanted to understand what having that felt like.
How could I not oblige and give her the chance to feel the excitement, the thrill, the love that overwhelmed me every time I looked at Caden?
A round of whistles from the guys and the sound of skin being slapped immediately after had both of us chuckling.
Lilly shook her head. “Are they ever going to stop doing that?”
“When you get a boyfriend to beat the crap out of them, yeah.”
She tucked a strand of her jet-black hair behind her ear as she smiled, those giant blue eyes still as beautiful. “I may head back there for a while.” She nodded toward the pedestal where Earth sat.
“You getting bored of us already?” I teased. “Because Max would love a game of chess, you know.”
A growl sounded from the corner. We laughed.
“No …” Leaning over the bowl, Lilly gently picked up a world, holding it in the air. Placing it down, she picked up another one, inspecting it the same. Her eyes roamed over the divided quadrants. “You know, this could make one very interesting game board. You’d just have to make up the rules.”
The End