Spellbound Falls [5] For the Love of Magic Read Online Free

think of to get you away from your accursed duties long enough to come watch me compete.” He touched his forehead to hers. “Such a stubborn maiden you were, Stasia,” he said softly, using her birth name that he’d imperially changed to
Rana
—which was Sanskrit for queen—upon marrying her.
    But then, who would dare question a divine agent of human affairs—better known in that long ago time as a theurgist—who was determined no one ever mistook his wife for a lowly blacksmith’s daughter? Certainly not his fifteen-year-old bride. And definitely not the bride’s parents, who had still been reeling from the speed of Titus’s courtship, which had ended with their only child’s vow of forever not two months after their magical son-in-law had saved her from the coin-stealing beast.
    “Come home with me,” he whispered, his breath on her cheek making her shiver all the way to her toes.
    Holy Hades, where was that hammer-carrying young knight when she needed him? Because despite her best intentions, she was sorely tempted to climb onto that powerful motorcycle, wrap her arms around her big powerful husband, and go home. That is until one of his hands slipped down to her backside—where it stilled, then softly squeezed, then stilled again—and she remembered
why
she’d run off in the first place.
    “Have you gain—”
    She leaned back and pressed her hand to his mouth. “I had hopes you might grow
wiser
with age. Go away, my love, before you say something you truly will regret.” She met his sudden glare with a threatening glare of her own. “Besides my purchasing a hovel and having gained a few pounds, not to mention my
misguided
need to breathe fresh air.”
    He took her hand from his mouth and tucked it between them, effectively trapping it there by tightening his embrace. “How in Hades can you use
my love
and
go away
in the same sentence?” he asked, apparently not regretting anything. His deep green eyes darkened with his complexion. “I can force you to come home.”
    “But you won’t.” She dropped her forehead to his chest. “Because you love me.”
    “Tell me how to fix this,” he whispered against her hair, making her shiver again.
    “Even your powerful magic can’t fix this, husband.” She tilted her head back. “Only
time
can.”
    “How much time? A week? A month?” He looked at the house. “A
century
?”
    She stepped free of his embrace with a soft laugh. “Longer than a month but definitely less than a century.” She turned serious. “
How
it passes is the true question, Titus, and the only thing you have any real control over. You can choose to spend our time apart being angry and resentful and eventually alienating everyone who loves you, or you can take this opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the small, everyday wonders of this beautiful world.”
    “Poseidon’s teeth,
I’m
not the one going through a midlife crisis.” He gestured at Whisper Mountain looming to the north. “I knew something like this would happen if we spent too much time here. It’s this accursed century, with all its postulating about getting in touch with our
true natures
.” He snorted. “In my time, all a man need worry about was surviving to fight another day.”
    Rana turned to face the sea. “It was merely a suggestion,” she said, shrugging to disguise the fact that her shoulders were shaking with laughter. Sweet Athena, the man was clueless. “Because personally, I intend to spend this time cutting and welding metal into what I hope will be beautiful works of art like that one,” she said, gesturing at the large metal statue of a whale breaching just above the low tide mark. She turned back to face Titus and smiled at his obvious shock. “Do you have any idea how often I’ve wondered who I would be today if my life had taken a different path?”
    “You would be thousands of years dead,” he snapped.
    “Would I have died happy, do you think?”
    The breeze blowing off the