The large doll head with eyes turned mostly white rolled by.
Austin swore and jumped back from the door.
“Kick it!” I shouted. “Set fire to it!”
“Now, miss, that is a little overdramatic, don’t you think?” Mr. Tom tsked at me. “I wonder how the head got loose, though. How strange.”
“What kind of a freak-show house is this?” I heard Austin say, and I remembered that he wasn’t big on those dolls either. Big, tough alpha who could make an enemy cower got jumpy around dolls.
Something about that made laughter bubble up. It wasn’t like I blamed the guy, but it was unexpected.
He stepped into the sitting room doorway. I could feel Mr. Tom jog out into the front yard, clearly intending to capture, and no doubt save, the doll head.
“Come in and close that door,” I said, standing. “I need to burn that whole doll room. I’m not kidding. Ivy House, this isn’t funny. No more decapitation jokes.”
The wooden carving morphed into a sea of heads rolling by.
“She has a very sick sense of humor,” I grumbled.
“You’re telling me,” Austin replied.
He stood in front of the newly closed door, watching me warily.
Remembering why he was here, I sat slowly. “Please…” I gestured for him to take the other seat. Breathing evenly, trying to keep my courage up, I waited for him to sit. “I want to thank you for saving my life—”
He shook his head. “You never have to thank me for that. It isn’t a job. It is a pleasure.”
My heart warmed, and I let a smile slip out. But I couldn’t let myself lose momentum—I had to push forward.
“You were able to do what no one else could, even those with Ivy House’s help,” I said. “You helped me fully own my new magic and everything that comes with it. A thank you isn’t enough for that. As you know, I’ve been having trouble controlling the house team. That’s made us ineffective, and it’s kept me from getting a good read on most of the new people. It is putting me and the town both in danger.”
I clasped my hands in my lap and wet my lips, pushing myself to go on. Here came the hard part.
“I need someone that can unite this team. Someone that can help me lead it. For this reason, I’ve let Damarion go. I wondered…” I shifted within that focused blue gaze, close to squirming again. “You told me once that you could help me get people in line. I know you’d rather not deal with Ivy House, but I wondered if you might change your mind if I offered the position to you as a job, where I paid you. Will you help me unite these people? Help me learn how to properly lead people into battle? I mean, I’ll still try to free you from the magic. This isn’t about that. I’ll definitely do that. I was just wondering if you could help me with the other stuff…”
I let my words trail away, realizing I was babbling. Turned out it was even harder to ask for help and face rejection than to tell someone they were no longer needed. I had to work on all of this.
He stood, his gaze still rooted to mine, and turned for the door.
I deflated. That stung a little. I’d figured there was a fifty/fifty chance of him refusing, but I hadn’t expected such an abrupt rejection. Usually he was a little more personable than that.
As he opened the door and walked out, I glared at the wooden carving on the mantelpiece. “Nice going, taunting him with the doll head. What’s wrong with you?”
Doors opened and closed upstairs. I could sense the little doll bodies flopping around in their room.
I stuck out a warning finger, about ready to deliver a threat, when I felt Austin turn the opposite way I’d been expecting. I pushed up quickly and followed, catching him in the hallway headed toward the back of the house.
“What’d he say?” Mr. Tom called from the stairs, holding the renegade doll head.
I ignored him, my chest tightening as I watched Austin turn the corner. He maintained his pace, and I stopped breathing altogether as he approached the door to the Council Room. There he hesitated, and I bit my lip, giving him space, disbelief and hope raging through me.
When he crossed the threshold, my heart thundered in my chest.