She groaned. “Maybe I should ask someone else.”
“No!” Trevor gave her hand a squeeze. “No, it’s…I’m sorry. It’s hard to hear you defend him even if it’s done out of ignorance.”
She wrenched her hand away from him. “You’re not helping your case!”
“Out of the loop!” he corrected, vainly I should add. “The point is, you don’t have the same information I do, and…one of the things I love about you is how you give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty.” She relaxed, and he grabbed her hand again. “So, let me keep going.”
Delia gazed down at their hands for a moment, then interlaced her fingers with his. “Okay.”
Chapter Sixteen
My New Life
I went to bed that night in a strange room. A big one too. Probably twice the size of my old one back at the farm. I don’t think I slept longer than a couple of hours. My whole body buzzed with my new, magical energy. That coupled with the adrenaline of my big move to run away left me too excited to do anything but stare at the ceiling and contemplate life. A waste of time, I know. I should have explored the house, but I was too terrified of pissing off my new landlords. Best to save that sort of thing for after I got the house rules.
When the sun rose and poured in through a crack in the curtains, I climbed out of bed and went in search of a bathroom, followed by the kitchen. Priorities. The grandfather clock in the hallway read six thirty. Hopefully, someone else would be awake.
I got lucky and that someone happened to be Lucrectia. She sat in the dining room, stirring a cup of tea, her gaze fixed hard on the table in front of her.
“Fancy meeting you here,” I said. “Are you always awake this early?”
She shook her head. “I’ll sleep as late as possible if I can get away with it. Back home, in my old world, it was common to be awake well into the evening and sleep during the light hours. Here, it seems to be the opposite.”
“We get up with the sun, so we can go straight to work.”
“Then this is normal for you.” She finally gazed up at me. There might have been a smile on her face, but there was a sadness present in it.
I shrugged, trying to not be disarmed by her emotions. I wanted to comfort her, to press her to tell me what bothered her so. Doing so felt too intrusive. The moment just didn’t seem right. Instead, I listened to my gut and let it be.
“Normal, yes. Still hate it. My body has always been that of a night owl,” I said.
That got a giggle from her. “There’s tea in the kitchen.” She pointed to a door to my right. “Kettle should still be warm, and I know I made enough water for at least five cups. We also have coffee if you’d rather have that. But…I’d wait for Belinda to make it. She has a special method, and it’s so divine.”
“When will she be awake?” I asked.
“Two hours or so.”
“Too long. I’ll go with the tea.” Though getting a caffeine fix was far from a priority of mine. I’d be running on adrenaline until after lunch, and then I was at the mercy of my new companions.
Most of the day ended up being tame. I’m sure Belinda and Damion knew I’d have a strong reaction to my new magic. What troubled me was how Lucretia avoided me at all costs. Last night, she’d stuck to me like glue. So why the big change? I let her get away with it until after dinner, which was awkward. Belinda and Damion gave me the two house rules: stay away from the cellar, and don’t leave the property without talking to them first. My curiosity was definitely piqued—especially about the cellar! For the time being, I’d push it aside.
Lucretia poked at her food the whole meal, then excused herself as soon as it was polite to do so. With permission to explore to my heart's content, outside of the cellar that was, I made it my goal to find where she’d gone to hide.
I started with the bedrooms even though I knew better than to expect her in one. Too obvious of a getaway point. I checked the study, the den, and the ballroom. Just as I was about to go into another room, I realized she wasn’t even in the house.
All I had to go off of was a hunch, a hunch that said she’d be in the woods where we’d met before. So that’s where I wandered, and I sure hoped it counted as being on the property.
My instincts were right. Lucretia sat on the fallen tree we had enjoyed together, looking up at the sky. When she heard me approach, she startled. Her gaze met mine for a second, and then she averted it down to her feet.
I walked toward her slowly. The same way I would a scared animal because I feared she’d run like one if given the chance. “I’m not here to harm you.”
“Yes, but…” She hopped off the log. “We shouldn’t be together like this. Not alone. It’s not appropriate.”
I raised both of my eyebrows. “You didn’t have any issues with it before. What has changed?”
“Elements I can’t explain. I don’t understand them myself,” she confessed. “Belinda advised me it would be wise to create some distance between us until your magic is sorted out.”
“Teach me something. The faster I learn, the sooner we can spend time together again.” I flashed her a mischievous grin. “I also promise to keep all of my thoughts pure. Being your friend is not a problem for me. This connection we share can wait
