The Fake Dating Spell novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Council

Wynne woke with a leg thrown over a man and a mouth full of his shoulder.

"You bite," Tavish said, into the pillow.

"You snore."

"I do not."

"Like a bear in a barrel."

He rolled her under him and kissed her until she forgot the argument.

When the town house bell rang, they were both still naked, and the gold thread lay across the sheets, humming.

The bell rang again.

"Don't answer it," Wynne said.

"It's the Council's runner."

"Don't answer it."

He did, in his shirt and breeches, and came back up the stairs with a sealed paper and a face.

"Council has called me at ten," he said. "Both of us. The Chancellor is moving on the Keep."

She was dressed and in the sleigh in twelve minutes.

The Council Hall was a round room with a ring of high chairs and a floor of black and white stone.

The Chancellor sat in the tallest chair, a heavy man with pale hair gone thin, and his smile was exactly like his daughter's.

Lorcan stood at his shoulder.

He had a bandage on his right hand and shadows under his eyes.

"Warden Morrow," the Chancellor said. "Mistress Aldercott. Congratulations on the spectacle."

"Thank you, my lord," Tavish said.

"A Show-Love is not a marriage," the Chancellor said.

"The decree says a Warden must be wed by Twelfth Night. A glowing thread is a charming toy, but the law asks for a priest."

"We will be wed by a priest on Twelfth Night," Wynne said. "At the Keep."

The Chancellor looked at her.

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