Read Darkness & Discovery (The Bespelled Trilogy #2) for Free Online Page A

and crying. I
don’t know which is worse, actually.”
    An agonized cry
reverberated through the house just then, and every window shattered outward
like an explosion had gone off. Everyone in our group flinched and ducked,
except for Augustine, who merely sighed. Apparently, he was used to it. Almost
immediately, solid glass replaced all the broken windows, some sort of
automatic repair spell undoing the damage. “Some combination of the two, that’s
actually the worst. Damn it,” Augustine muttered, and hurried up the stairs
ahead of us.
    Bryn sat on the floor
in the very center of his bedroom, dressed in ripped flannel pajamas, hugging
his knees to his chest. The space around him was clear in a perfect circle, as
if a whirlwind had swept out the center of the room. And pushed up against
every wall was unidentifiable detritus five feet high, smashed and mangled bits
of things that at one time may have been furniture.
    “Aw, Brynnie,”
Augustine said softly, dropping to his knees beside the warlock. “Did you tear
apart your entire mattress? We’re going to have to move you to one of the guestrooms
now. Which you told me not to let you do, because you didn’t want to destroy
those rooms as well.”
    “Thought you left,”
Bryn rasped, his Welsh accent thick. “Thought you went home and left me here.”
    “No, love,” Augustine
said gently, scooping the warlock up in his arms. “I wouldn’t do that. I was
just trying to make you some food. And you know what a terrible cook I am, so
it took longer than I intended.”
    “Told you I didn’t want
to eat anything,” Bryn murmured as Augustine carried him out the door on the
far side of the bedroom.
    “I know. But I want you
to try anyway. And your friends are here, Bryn. I’m going to tuck you into one
of the guestrooms, and then they’ll say hi. Ok?”
    “I haven’t got any
friends,” Bryn mumbled. “None except for Allie and Joey and Luna, and they’re
off in the wilds of Oregon somewhere.”
    “They’re here, love,”
Augustine said as he carried Bryn into the plum-colored bedroom we’d stayed in
last time we were here.
    “Did you call them?”
    “No. You know they
would never take my call.” Augustine pulled back the duvet and gingerly set
Bryn down on the mattress before covering him up.
    “Your own fault, that,”
Bryn muttered.
    “I know, love.
Everything always is,” Augustine told him softly. “Now look, here’s Joey. And
he made you a sandwich. How about if you take a little bite?”
    Joey sat on the edge of
the mattress with the plate in his lap. “Hi Bryn. You really should try the
sandwich. It’s not nearly as disgusting as the one Gus was trying to make.”
    Alastair went around to
the far side of the bed and pulled off his boots, then climbed on top of the covers
and slung an arm over his friend. “Hey, mate,” Allie said. “Can’t say I’m a big
fan of the redecorating you’ve done in your bedroom.”
    Bryn sighed and said,
his voice thin, “I’ve always liked this room. Shame I’m going to do the same
thing in here.”
    I sat down on the
mattress beside Joey and got my first good look at Bryn. His normally slightly
olive skin was alarmingly pale, dark circles under his brown eyes, his cheeks
hollow and his dark brown hair a spiked and matted mess. He caught sight of me
then and said, “Hello, Luna. Oh God, you’re wearing Elizabeth’s necklace. You
lot really have no idea how to stay out of trouble.”
    “Who’s Elizabeth?” I
asked, my hand reaching automatically for the silver and opal pendant around my
neck.
    And Bryn frowned and said,
“She’s Alastair’s wife.”
     

 
    Chapter
Four
     
    Ok, I had to have heard that wrong.
    There was no way Bryn
said what I thought he did. No way Alastair could have a wife.
    Could he?
    I looked at Alastair,
who was utterly stunned, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide as satellite
dishes. Beside me, Joey muttered, “Oh my God,” under his breath. And then