Chapter l390

Chapter 0390

The next day, Elva and I spent some time with Veronica in the library. Veronica was nose deep in her books. Elva had begun their time together by flittering through the stacks pretending to be a dragon. Now, she was dozing on a big, comfortable, high-back chair.

Watching her sleep so soundly helped quell some of the rebelling instincts within me. Every once in a while, I would catch myself glancing out the window at the forest.

My instincts were difficult to ignore. But I could do it. For Elva. For Nicholas. For Julian. For everyone, even myself.

Veronica slid me a book across the table we were sitting at. “Read this.”

I looked down where she pointed and read through the passage. In was an innocuous, boring diatribe about the rise and fall of the grain industry in the late seventeen hundreds.

I lifted a brow at Veronica. “This has nothing to do with teleportation.”

She shrugged. “I know that. It was to help you focus. Did it work?”

I blinked a few times. Yeah, it did kind of work.

“When your urges feel overwhelming, find a way to refocus them,” Veronica said. “Read a book. Start a conversation. Play hopscotch. It doesn’t matter what it is. Just put your brain somewhere else.”

“Okay,” I said, and pulled the book closer. For the next hour, every time my instincts heightened, I read another passage. I was going to be an expert on late seventeen hundreds agriculture before the end of this.

Eventually, Elva woke up from her nap and grew bored. The nanny offered to take her for a walk and Elva agreed. But not before she came to give me a hug first.

“We’ll meet after,” I said.

Elva nodded.

When she left out the door with the nanny, I heaved a heavy sigh.

Veronica watched me. “You are struggling.”

“Non-stop,” I said. “But I can’t do that to her again. I scared her so much.”

1/4

+15 BONOS

“You scared all of us,” Veronica said.

That surprised me. Veronica and I were friends, but I didn’t expect that kind of emotion from her.

“I knew what was happening,” she explained, “But knowing what was happening and being able to do anything about it are so different. Nicholas and Julian came to me for solutions but I couldn’t give them one. It frustrated me. Did they think if I knew how to stop the urges, that I wouldn’t have suggested it first off?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. I had apologized a lot since my return, but only because I had so much to apologize for. Veronica was just one more victim to my

carelessness.

“I know you couldn’t help it,” she said. “I’m sorry I didn’t have answers.”

“I never blamed you for a moment.

Her eyes met mine, and though she didn’t exactly smile, her eyes were kind with friendship.

I took the agricultural history book with me when I left Veronica to her research. Throughout the day, I referenced it several times, whenever my desire to run felt too strong. Yet, each time I read through it, it seemed less effective than the last.

By the time I made it to the eighteenth century in the book, my hands were shaking so much I couldn’t hold the book straight enough to read it.

I had to run. Elva was busy playing dress up with Charlotte and the nanny. No one would notice if I sl*pped out. Just for a small run. A tiny run. No more than a few steps really. Then I would come right back here. They wouldn’t even know I

was gone.

I left the book in my chair and headed for the door. I said hello to the guards at my bedroom then hurried through the hallways.

I just needed to get outside without Veronica, Julian, or Nicholas seeing. They were the only ones who would really know where I was going and why. Susie and Tiffany would know, but I was confident I could talk my way around them.

Yet just as I was about to reach the stairwell, a pair of arms sna tched me around from behind. They dragged me to the side and suddenly I found myself in a very familiar closet. Nicholas clicked on the overhead light.

His eyes were filled with disapproval. “Where were you headed, Piper?”

I felt like a petulant child as I crossed my arms, but I couldn’t make myself stop.

214

“Out,”

415 BONOS

“Out where?” Nicholas asked, voice dropping, lower, dangerous.

I didn’t have a good lie not one he would believe. So I crumpled. “I just thought if I had a tiny little run, it would take the edge off…”

“Veronica warned me about this,” Nicholas said.

“She did?” I asked, surprised,

He hummed. “She said the book might stop working.”

“She told you about the book?”

“She did. And she said you might need other distractions before long.”

Distractions? “What did she suggest?”

“It wasn’t what she suggested. It’s what I offered,” he said.

“Which is?” I asked.

At once, he leaned forward and k*ssed me.

I melted in his arms. He deepened the k*ss, taking my pliancy for the green light it was. His tongue delved into my mouth. I clung to his shoulders.

“Nick,” I whispered against his l*ps.

“Is it helping?” he asked.

It was. “Do it again to be sure.”

He smiled. “As many times as you need.”

“I might need all night.”

“Then you’ll have it.”

He k*ssed me again, and again. His hands were firm on my back. He had no intention of pushing this moment toward anything. He merely stayed in each other’s company trading lazy k*sses and secret smiles.

As I laughed, he k*ssed the corner of my mouth, then my cheek, my ear, and the tip of my nose.

So easily, I was a relaxed puddle of happy goo in his arms.

“This is so much better than the book,” I said.

He smiled. “What was it about?”

+15 BONOS

“Agriculture.”

He laughed. He was so handsome like that, I had to k*ss him again.

As we returned to ourselves, Nicholas said to me, “When you start to feel the urge again, come find me. I will help you, even if I have to k*ss you all night and all day long.”

I laugh a little, light and happy. “You’ll k*ss the sense back into me?”

“I will, if you’ll let me.”

“Of course, I’ll let you.” I throw my arms around his n*eck and drag him back for more. “I might need a bit more reinforcement right now, before I head back out on my own.’

>>

His hands stretched out over my back as he deepened the k*ss once more. Go d, he tasted so good. He was such a good k*sser too, so diligent and giving. If this was the only way to return to myself, I was absolutely fine with that.

I’d love to be in his arms more, as much as possible.

I’d live and breathe in his embrace if he would only let me. If only such a thing were possible.

If only the entire world didn’t pull us apart the minute we stepped out the door.

“I swear, Piper. I’m here for you. Trust in me.”

I did, so I told him so. “I trust you, Nick. With my life.”