Epilogue

Epilogue

Let’s See about You

Loren

They rode up to the back of the house.

It did not bode well to see his wife standing in the open doorway, Carling lurking at her shoulder, her arms crossed on her chest, her lovely face set to, as they put it in her world, really seriously pissed off.

He grinned.

She caught it and looked even angrier.

“Carling! Break out the whisky,” Marlow ordered.

“Do that first, milord, or call a physician?” Carling asked in return.

“Physician,” Middy scoffed through a broken lip.

“We had a deal, you and me,” Satrine called to her husband.

They reined in, and his four brothers were much swifter in dismounting than he.

Corliss’s stable boy rushed forward to grab the reins.

Loren took his time sauntering to his wife, who barely moved as his friends slid by her into the house, Croft being the last and sending him a “best of luck” expression.

Carling followed them.

Loren stopped in front of her.

“I’m not sure what you find amusing!” They heard Mary say loudly and imperiously from inside. “My niece was in a state. There’s nothing amusing about a lady in a state. No, you there, also grab a bottle of brandy. We’re out in the parlor, and I’m parched.”

They waited, and when no more could be heard from the house, she started it.

“I wasn’t in a state.”

“I’ve no doubt.”

And he didn’t. It would take a lot more than their activities that night to shake his Satrine.

“You’re bleeding,” she told him something he knew.

“Tonight was supposed to be reconnaissance. We weren’t expecting action,” he explained.

“I promise, dearest heart, I will do my utmost to keep myself safe. I vow, love of my life, that I will keep you apprised of everything.”

He tried but failed to stop his grin as she pretended to talk in his deep voice.

Thus, she slapped his arm. “Loren! You didn’t tell me a thing about tonight. And when we decided that you would tell Tor that you and the boys would resurrect Tor’s program that was the brainchild of Tor and your dad, the deal was that you would keep me in the know about everything.”

He pulled her stiff, vaguely resisting body into his arms.

“Darling, you were at the theater with Maxie, Mary and your mother.”

“Did you temporarily lose use of your hand? You couldn’t write a note?”

“There wasn’t time.”

“Your mouth seems to be working just fine. You couldn’t brief Carling?”

“Again, there wasn’t time.”

“You’re going with us to the theater every time we’re in Newton,” she threatened.

“Please, gods, no,” he teased. “My transgression wasn’t that bad.”

She tipped her face to the stars.

“Honestly, my love,” he said in all seriousness, and her gaze returned to him. “There wasn’t time.”

She put her hands to his chest and started fiddling with his collar. “It’s very annoying, people doing stupid things that hurt other people, requiring you to go out and stop them from doing those stupid things. Especially when you don’t tell me you’re going out to be all hardass and kicking ass to stop them.”

“It is indeed very annoying,” he murmured, pulling her closer and feeling his lips twitching.

She narrowed her eyes. “If you think you’re gonna get yourself some, mister, you’re very right. Because you rock in bed. And because we’ve been married all of six weeks, and I’m still feeling honeymoon vibes. But I’m also still holding a grudge.”

“Will you stop complaining so I can kiss you?” he requested.

“No. You’re going to clean the blood from your nose and your penance tonight is that there will be no kissing. In fact, you can’t touch me at all. You have to lie there, arms over your head, while I take care of business.”

His cock jumped and a growl rumbled from his throat.

She melted into him trying to pretend she wasn’t melting into him.

“I warn you, my lovely wife, this is not much of a penance.”

“You don’t get it. The penance is, the offer is rescinded if you don’t get your arse inside, safe, and out of the cold in…oof!”

Loren made note that was one way to quiet her pretty mouth.

He then set about leaving his brothers to whisky, brandy and Mary, who right then, he knew from experience, was going about wringing every last detail of their night’s adventure from his friends, and he carried his wife to bed to finish his penance.

Something he achieved.

Valiantly.

And elatedly.

* * * *

Ed

At About the Same Time

In Phoenix…

The green mist formed in the corner.

A woman formed of the mist.

She was a knockout.

And he was totally buying more coke from that guy.

Still, he said, “What the fuck?”

“Your daughter married,” she announced.

“Hunh?” he asked.

“And your ex is the second wealthiest woman in the land.”

Okay, either that shit was laced with some serious other shit or maybe he should just lay off…well, everything for a while.

He shook his head like it’d clear her away, but it didn’t.

Instead, she kept talking whack.

“It is very good that the leaders of this world don’t believe in magic. They can’t put restrictions on it.”

“Okay, baby, if you’re gonna be a fantasy that sticks around, how ’bout sucking my dick while you do it?” he suggested.

She smiled a cat’s smile.

And said, “As such, I curse you, Edgar Bradford Dawes. I curse every woman who might have meaning to you, to spurn you. I curse everything you touch to turn to dust, figuratively, of course. I curse everything you desire, to be elusive. I curse you to living the rest of your life chasing dreams, and falling short. I curse you to misery, Edgar. Unrelenting.”

She took a step forward.

And Ed felt his balls shrivel up.

“And when you die, Edgar, you will remember your beautiful daughter and the woman you used to love who you threw away, both you used and sent into peril. Maxine was beaten, Edgar, pressed to whore herself not of her volition, and Corliss was imprisoned and starved.”

He felt his throat close.

“That guy said that they’d—” he pushed through it.

“He is you, thus, he lied.”

She lifted a hand and opened her fist. A puff of what looked like green chalk dust formed out of it and made its way to him.

“You are cursed,” she whispered as she began to fade away.

The dust grew as it got closer, and Edgar scrambled up, falling over the back of his chair to try to escape it, but it enveloped him all the same.

In the end, he’d spend decades trying to escape it, doing everything he could, going insane in the effort.

But just as she promised he would, he always failed.

* * * *

Two Hours Later

In another room in the Derryman house in Newton…

The green mist formed in the corner.

And the witch formed of the mist.

She wore clothing from her world.

Her heels were high.

Even so, she walked to the bed on silent cat’s feet.

She gazed down on the sleeping woman, her glorious leonine hair unbound and all over the pillow.

“Finally, a challenge,” she whispered.

She took in a breath.

And then Valentine Rousseau stated, “Now, Lady Maxine, let’s see about you.”

The End

* * * *

Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Kristen Ashley, discover After the Climb, Chasing Serenity, Taking the Leap, Wild Wind, Dream Bites Cookbook, Wild Fire, Quiet Man,Rough Ride, and Rock Chick Reawakening.