Chapter 72 BRACELET AND THE SWAN
WILLA’S POV
I wiped the foggy mirror clean with the palm of my hand and immediately saw how pink I actually looked.
I would surely earn a raised brow over the hue that had taken over my entire face. But then I could always blame it to the steaming stream of the shower, and not to the thought that Gallahan bloody Wick jerked himself to completion in my bathroom with the scent of my personalized shower gel pervading the air.
Shaking away the notion and the unholy image it brought along, I steeled myself to leave the bathroom. It was imperative that I was emotionally and mentally ready to face Gallahan again after… after…
Ugh.
Why did he have to do such an indelicate activity in MY bathroom?
I angrily slapped my cheeks three times, worsening the pinkness of my skin. “Nothing happened. Who cares anyway? We had fucked before. So this is not a big deal.”
But it kind of was.
Did Gallahan get himself all hard and randy because of the artificial scent of my soap that always mingled with my own natural scent? Or was it because of the thought of having access to a space as intimate as my personal bathroom?
Either way, Gallahan had gotten himself wound up without my physical presence. No kisses. No touches. Nothing that could naturally arouse a man.
He got himself all raging with primal and carnal desire with just the thought and scent of me.
Somehow, it seemed a lot more intimate. Because it told me of a want that was deeper than just…
I swallowed thickly and shook my head again, as if doing so could actually free me from my whirling thoughts.
It was worth the try, though. Because I couldn’t dwell on it. I shouldn’t dwell on it.
So I gave one last stern look at my reflection in the mirror and finally made my exit out of the bathroom with nothing but a pale pink bathrobe keeping me decent.
Then, without bothering to spare a second to look at Gallahan, I retrieved a set of clothes from my wardrobe and quickly went behind the dressing partition.
The room remained silent as I slipped my clothes on, but as soon as I emerged, donning a plain white tee and coffee-colored lounge pants, Gallahan said, “Why are you so pink?”
“Hot shower,” I answered vaguely as I walked towards the bed.
“Okay,” Gallahan said in a low and long drawl. “You did not scald yourself, right?”
I gave him a blank, unimpressed stare. “Of course not.”
He squinted his eyes at me for a moment and said, “Hm. Just making sure.”
I joined him in the nest, and he immediately loosened his hold on Calisto. It allowed me to pick up our son and cradle him close, as if he was still a newborn baby.
“Speaking of making sure,” I said as I moved to lean my back against the headboard. “I was wondering… Are you sure it’s alright that you didn’t head back to Moonshire?”
Gallahan looked at me for a moment without giving me an answer. Then he let out a sigh and imitated my comfortable position, sitting up and holding Gillian against his chest like a baby.
“Han,” I egged on, “Are you really sure?”
He huffed out a short, amused chuckle. “I’m absolutely sure, Willa. So don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”
“But your father-”
“He will have to suck it up,” he interrupted, sounding a tad bit stern. “Because I intend to stay with you and our children, and that is final.”
My pulse traitorously skipped a beat and picked up speed. But I ignored it in lieu of focusing on whatever else Gallahan was saying.
“Besides, I trust Zuleika will handle it. She can be dangerously and cunningly persuasive if she wants to. I trust her.”
“If you’re truly sure…”
“Of course, I am. I already told Zee to handle Dad for me. So like I said… Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”
His words made me pause, and my mind whirred as if trying to backtrack on our conversation and replay what I just heard.
“Wait,” I said, turning to him with a frown. “You told Miss Banfey? But how did you…”
“Through this bracelet.” He lifted a hand to showcase to me the beaded bracelet on his wrist. “She had cast a certain spell on it or something. I just crush a bead, and then I say whatever it is that I want to say. She’ll know about it then.”
I looked at the unassuming bracelet for a moment or two, before saying, “How curious. Can she communicate back to you?”
“Through the bracelet? No. But she could always send me her spiritual familiar if she wanted to contact me.” Gallahan paused for a split second. Then he turned his attention to the open window and said, “Like right now.”
As if he had summoned it, a gust of wind that had a lovely scent of lavender, intermingled with the soothing aroma of spearmint, blew into the room through the window, carrying with it flickering images of luminescent and translucent mint leaves.
The wind and magical fake leaves then coalesced into a shimmering but pellucid spiritual familiar in the form of a swan.
Because, of course, everything about Miss Banfey was beautiful and elegant. Including her spiritual familiar.
I couldn’t even stop the awe-filled ‘wow’ that pushed past my lips.
Enchanted, I watched closely as the swan gracefully floated in the air, moving closer to us.
“Beautiful, Gee,” the swan spoke, but it wasn’t Miss Banfey’s voice.
Gallahan’s lips broke into a proud grin. “Of course, they are, Leika. But you wouldn’t have come here just to gawk at my children, right?”
“Hm.”
“So anything from Zee?”
The swan bobbed her head up and down in confirmation. Then the voice of Miss Banfey resonated from its mouth.
“Damn you.”
Gallahan cackled. It was a full-bodied laugh, twinkling with life and something that encompassed the man that Gallahan was. It was a sound that was as enchanting as the swan’s beautiful appearance.
But then Miss Banfey’s irate voice cut through his laugh, effectively freeing me from being utterly spellbound by him.
“You know I hate dealing with your Dad when he's in a bad mood, you damn pillock. He was so terrible. Much more terrible than you are. But I endured it for you just this once, for the sake of your pups. But no more. Alright? No more.”
Then with clear fondness, Gallahan murmured to himself, “Pffft. You care for me too much to ever say no to me.”
“On another note,” Miss Banfey continued. “You really must get back to Moonshire as soon as you are done with the nesting. I believe your Dad had secretly pushed through with the arrangement with the Drummonds. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.”
The life in Gallahan’s eyes flickered and wavered, and the vibrancy of his smile dimmed.
“But don’t think too much about it in the meantime, alright? You wouldn’t want to derail your progress there. Anyway, that’s all. Maliya and I will handle things here in Moonshire while you’re preoccupied. Use the bracelet if you need anything else from me. Bye.”
The swan bowed to Gallahan in farewell, then erupted into a shower of glittering dust of magic.
I watched with rapt attention as Gallahan tried to gather his composure and heave it back to shore before it could get lost in the stormy sea of his anger. His eyes were screwed shut, focusing himself on taking even and steady breaths over and over again.
And as curious as I was about the matter with the Drummonds that got him so worked up, I tactfully kept the questions all to myself.
So we spent the next few minutes in still silence, lost in our thoughts and emotions.
Until I accidentally blurted out a question that my mind kept tossing and turning, unable to find an answer for.
“How in the world did you know that her spiritual familiar was coming?”
Thankfully, it seemed to be a safe topic for Gallahan to talk about. In fact, he looked like he welcomed the question appreciatively, given the way the tension left his entire body.
“I just know Zee well. To the point I could sniff out her spiritual familiar even at a certain distance. I know her the same way she knows me too.”
I cracked a smile to hide the crack in my heart.
Sometimes, it was truly wiser to never ask questions. Especially if one wasn’t ready to hear the answer.
It was a reminder that I really ought to keep in mind for the rest of our nesting period. Lest, I would end up more wounded than I already was.
Because life was a bitch, and so was fate, it seemed.