Read Online Witchful Thinking by H.P. Mallory - Free Book Online Page B

men.” He sighed, and his gaze settled on the vista outside the window. “I thought perhaps England could adopt some of the American values I had come to believe in, but of course that was entirely impossible due to the fact that my country had always been a monarchy.” He turned to face me again, and there was fire in his eyes. “But when I realized the Underworld didn’t have to follow the path of monarchy, my hopes for a republic were born. And I’ve never given up on my beliefs that the society of Underworld creatures should be governed by and unto themselves, not overlorded by a monarch.”
    I nodded and sighed. His feelings were obviously carved in stone. Crap and a half. “So if I do become Queen, things will be over between us?”
    “I didn’t say that.”
    But he didn’t have to. Realistically, how could he love me and be with me if he didn’t condone my day job? It would tear us apart; I could see it as clearly as if I were peering into a crystal ball.

“Jolie?” Rand’s voice accompanied a strong rap on my door.
    I stood up from my position of sloth on the couch and turned down the volume of the television. The clock above the TV announced it was eleven thirty at night. Wondering why he could possibly be visiting so late, I pulled open the door and found him before me, dressed in loose-fitting dark jeans and a white T-shirt that glowed in the rays of moonlight behind him.
    “Is everything okay?” I asked.
    “Yes, yes,” he said dismissively and eyed the inside of my house with what appeared to be longing.
    “Do you want to come in?” I held the door open wide and stepped aside.
    “If you aren’t otherwise engaged, yes please.”
    “I’m not.”
    He walked inside and eyed the surroundings of my house as if he hadn’t seen it before, as if this was the first time he’d ever viewed what once was the butler’s quarters of Pelham Manor. I closed the door behind us.
    “I couldn’t sleep and found nothing entertaining on the telly,” he started and ran an agitated hand through his hair that told me he was uncomfortable or, at the very least, nervous. What he had to be nervous aboutwas anyone’s guess. But really, that was just Rand. He could never be described as predictable.
    “Oh,” I said, not really knowing what else to say.
    “I, uh, thought perhaps you might like some company.”
    I shrugged, attempting to give the idea that I was cool, calm, and in control of my emotions when the truth of the matter was that I could think of nothing more appealing. “Sure.”
    Secretly I wondered if he might resume the last conversation we’d had—about what would happen between us should I become Queen. Of course it wasn’t a conversation I wanted anything to do with, so it wasn’t like I was about to bring it up. And hopefully neither would he. I just wasn’t in the mood for a long-winded and difficult discussion.
    “I wondered if perhaps you might be interested in a magic lesson?”
    “Now?” I asked, my tone echoing my surprise.
    Rand chuckled, a deep, harmonious sound. In fact, I never tired of Rand’s laugh—it was one of those sounds I couldn’t help but love.
    “Tonight is a waning crescent moon,” he started.
    “Huh?”
    He laughed again. “When the moon enters the waning crescent lunar phase, just prior to becoming a new moon, the impetus for magic is at its highest.”
    I glanced outside my window at the sliver of moon, which looked more like the white top of a French-manicured fingernail. “That sounds like an important detail,” I said, glancing back at my warlock. “How come I’m just learning it now?”
    Rand shrugged. “It’s taken me over one hundred years to amass all the knowledge I have today, and yet I’m still a novice.”
    “Great. I have a long-ass time to look forward to then.”
    Rand cocked a brow and just smiled.
    “So what lesson am I in for tonight?”
    “Astral projection.”
    “Astral what?” I asked and eyed him suspiciously. I couldn’t