Spellbound

Original Edition: Twenty

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. She passed out and her heartrate is low."

Conversation between two familiar male voices carried on around me. I fought to open my eyes as I swayed back and forth, but my legs were not on the ground. Something firm pressed into the back of my knees, bending them so they swung with the motion. My left cheek was warm, and a steady beat thumped against my ear. Someone was carrying me.

I tried to open my eyes again, but my eyelids weren't working with me.

"What did you say to her?" Archer asks.

"Nothing but the truth."

"You shouldn't have sprung this all on her. Let her figure things out on her own, Soren. Why the fuck do you feel so compelled to meddle with everything?"

The chest against my cheek rumbled with annoyance, and the walking stopped. I was lowered to something plush and a feeling of relief washed over me. I didn't think I could have handled the swaying for much longer.

"Maybe you should get her brother. She might need to see a doctor."

I battled against the grogginess, scrambling to stop them before they made a big deal about all of this.

"Stop," I croaked. I struggled to sit up and cracked one eye open to see the familiar surroundings of my suite. My head ached and I still felt like the room was spinning around me, but I had to stop them from getting Hunter. I didn't want him asking questions and getting all weird about Archer, not to mention the two of them sounded like they were going to come to blows any second. "I'm fine, really."

Archer eased down next to me on the couch and slid his arm around my shoulders so I could lean on him. "Are you sure? Your skin is pale, and you're freezing."

Soren grabbed Hazel's favorite hideous afghan from the chair and handed it to his brother. While Archer wrapped me up, his brother turned back to where I was sitting earlier and ran his fingertips over the tome. "How much of this did you read tonight, Gemma?"

My eyes flicked toward Soren, and I focused on his question. "I don't know. Probably like 25 pages? I was on a roll and didn't stop until Betty's entries made me feel like I was going to throw up." My skin heated and I closed my eyes before saying, "Which, I did. Sorry you had to see that."

"You don't need to apologize," he mumbled, eyes glued on the cover.

Archer shifted and furrowed his brow. "Why are you acting so weird about a book?"

"Because Gemma said there wasn't anything written in it at first."

Oh great, I was sure he was thinking that I'd lost my mind way before I blacked out. Who would believe that the writing magically appeared when I read it the right way? Then again who wouldn't think I needed serious help when I told them I was sitting in my dead aunt's suite with twins from another dimension?

Quietly I confess, "I was reading it wrong."

Both brothers cocked a brow, the big question at hand written all over their handsome faces. I felt like such an idiot and didn't want them to think the same.

"I like to read the end of a book first and see if it's worth my time before I start it."

Archer laughed and pulled me closer to his side. "My kind of girl; she goes straight for the good stuff first."

I looked up at him and a smile spread over my face before I could stop it. "Yeah, I hate a sad ending. I want to know that everything the characters go through is worth it," I said, and I heard Soren clear his throat. "Anyway," I continue, tearing my eyes away from Archer, "I flipped to the end of the book. Well, it was blank. I flipped all the way from the end to the beginning and there were no words on the pages at all. It was so bizarre." I skipped how I figured out Wanda Willow's name, wanting to keep the story as short as possible. "I went to see a friend of Hazel's, and she sort of gave me a hint...that doing things in the right order was important. So I started from the first page, and the words just sort of...appeared." I looked down at where my hand had at some point found Archer's, our fingers intertwined in my lap. Glancing up at them, I added, "I know that sounds crazy, but it's the truth."

"No crazier than the past hundred and fifty years in this hotel," Archer said, with a gentle squeeze.

Soren squatted in front of the tome and opened the cover. "Fuck!" He snatched his hand back, shaking it like he was trying to put out a flame. Taking care to leave it closed, he picked up the tome and set it on my lap. "Open it."

Scared after seeing what happened to him, I gingerly slipped my index finger under the corner and lifted it open. Nothing happened. The title page looked as it did when I first started reading it.

"There's nothing written in it," Archer said.

"Yes, there—"

Archer moved to touch the page with his finger, and the book buzzed under me like a cellphone. Just like his brother, he drew back like it had burned him.

Soren shook his head. "Why would you do that after you saw what it did to me?"

The brother next to me shrugged his shoulder. "Because you're kind of a pussy, and I wanted to see if maybe that was the issue."

"You're such a dickhead," Soren said and turned his attention to me. "Do you see something on the page?"

"Yes," I slowly said, finding it hard to believe that they couldn't see what I so clearly could. It was the first time in my life where I could recall having one up on someone.

"It's spellbound."

"Like cursed?"

"Not necessarily, but I'm guessing that only the owner of the Reynard can read it. And with that being said, supernatural power eats energy. So, if you're holding the book, it's feeding off you. You need to be careful when you're reading it, Gemma."

I stared at the book in my hands and looked up at him. "Wait, so you're saying that reading this is what made me get sick and pass out?"

Soren nodded, and I felt Archer's arm tighten around me. "Is she going to be okay?" Archer asked with a note of concern to his tone.

"Yeah, I think so, but you can't read too much of it in one sitting," Soren said, and his voice was serious.

Archer looked down at me. "Is this the first time this has happened?"

"Yeah—well, that's not exactly true. Remember the other night when I fell asleep before our date?" Archer nodded. "I had been reading the book, and I got so sleepy that I couldn't keep my eyes open. I guess that's why."

"Maybe you need to lay off the reading for a bit and occupy your time with something a little more fun."

Soren cleared his throat and with long strides headed for the door. "Or you should make sure you understand everything the women who owned this hotel before you thought was important to pass down."

"Or maybe you should just continue to steer clear of people who enjoy brooding and having a stick up their ass," Archer retorted.

"Fuck off."

"Don't you worry about my fucking, brother."

"I couldn't care less, Archer."

The tention in the room was almost suffocating and the chiming of my cell felt like a sweet reprieve. I jumped forward grabbing it off the coffee table and glanced at the name. My head swam but I worked past the feeling and kept my voice steady. "Hey Larry, what's going on?"

"Sorry to bother you so late, but I have a young woman down here insisting to talk to you. She says she's your cousin."

"My cousin?" I muttered. I only had one cousin that would show up to the Raynard. One extremely nasty, self- righteous cousin. It turns out that vomiting in front of Soren was not going to be the low point of my night, Raven was.