City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

too. You can bring Lucy. We can see if there are any other shadow beasts nearby so we can drop her off with her own kind.’

And here was me thinking I’d slid by that one for another few days, given all our other distractions. ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘I can do that.’ Then I remembered what I’d said to Fab. ‘Except I said I’d try and be there for the grand tour. Julian’s going to show Fab around.’

Monroe growled in my ear. ‘Julian can do whatever he wants. You should come with me to patrol.’

I rolled round to face him. His dark-red curls were tousled from sleep but his blue eyes were alert and sharp. ‘Are you trying to keep me away from our visiting billionaire?’

He didn’t look away. ‘No.’

I reached up and touched his face, enjoying the feel of his coarse stubble under my fingers. ‘You don’t have anything to worry about. I choose you. I’ll always choose you.’

‘I’m not worried.’

‘Besides,’ I continued, ‘he’s stuck behind that daft suit. And I doubt that a cleaner with blue hair is his type.’

‘When was the last time you actually cleaned anything?’

Hmm. I glanced round the room at the piles of clothing and the dust collecting in the corners. I should be ashamed of myself. ‘I’ve been busy. The kitchen is clean.’

‘That’s because I scrubbed it from top to bottom at the weekend.’

He had as well. He’d cleaned the entire place while wearing nothing more than a frilly apron. All I’d done was watch and occasionally offer helpful tips.

‘True,’ I whispered. ‘You did an excellent job. Unfortunately,’ I added, planting a brief kiss on his lips, ‘you’re not doing such a great job of changing the subject.’

Monroe’s mouth twitched. ‘I thought I was being incredibly masterful.’

I smiled. ‘Nope.’ I leaned in until our noses were touching. ‘But you don’t have to be concerned about me and Fabian Barrett. I’m not attracted to him. Even if I were attracted to him, he wouldn’t match up to you.’

‘What do you mean, if you were attracted to him? How many people are you attracted to?’

‘One,’ I said.

Smoky promise danced in Monroe’s eyes. ‘Good.’

‘I can’t help it,’ I sighed. ‘Whenever Julian talks about what a great job I’ve done with the city’s plumbing, something inside me melts and I can barely hold myself back from…’

Monroe’s arm tightened round me. ‘Traitorous wench.’

I grinned. ‘Make me forget about him then,’ I challenged. ‘Make me forget about Julian and his taut biceps and…’

Monroe pulled me closer, before lifting me up and swinging me round until I was on top and straddling his hips. ‘If you insist, sunshine.’

We strolled out, hand in hand. Monroe wasn’t often given to public displays of affection so the fact that this was twice in as many days was testament to his unease about Fab. If he could see inside my head, he’d know he didn’t need to give the billionaire a second thought – not as far as romance was concerned. It wasn’t because Fabian Barrett was a lot older or because he had a propensity towards arrogance and self-possession. Neither was it because I wasn’t wholly sure that we could trust his intentions. It was because no one else occupied me in the way that Monroe did. No one else made me feel complete.

‘I love you,’ I said suddenly.

‘Good.’

I stopped in my tracks and pulled my hand away. ‘Well?’

Monroe blinked at me. ‘Well what?’

‘Don’t you have something to say to me other than good?’

The tiniest frown marred in his forehead. ‘Have you had your hair done?’ he asked.

I put my hands on my hips and glared. ‘You have a tell, you know,’ I informed him sniffily. ‘Your left nostril flares.’

Monroe appeared amused. ‘Does it?’

I crossed my arms over my chest and stalked ahead. ‘Yes,’ I called out behind me. ‘It does.’ I edged round the front of Fab’s tent, noting that two of his men were outside and staring grimly around as if expecting to be attacked at any second.

‘Charlotte!’

I ignored Monroe’s yell and marched on.

He shouted again. ‘Charlotte!’

I tutted and turned.

‘I love you!’ He was down on his knees with his hands clasped towards me in entreaty. It was an entirely un-Monroe-like action. ‘You’re the only one for me!’

‘Idiot.’ I tossed my head and started walking again. I couldn’t stop smiling.

He caught up to me quickly, grinning like a loon. ‘For the record, I’m not worried about you and Fabian Barrett.’

‘Really,’ I said sarcastically.

‘Really. I know you’ll never get anything as wonderful as this again.’ He gestured to himself.

‘Lucky old me,’ I muttered.

He smirked and leaned in. ‘I’m not the only one with a tell, sunshine.’

Yeah, yeah. I tsked loudly. From my backpack, I heard Lucy squeak. She was supposed to be on my side. I rolled my eyes and both of us set off again. And both of us walked with just that bit more of a bounce in our step.

At first we walked round the enclave in ever-increasing circles. Everything looked much the same as usual. A few of the larger trees showed signs of gnaw marks, although from what it was difficult to say; they could have been from preternaturally large squirrels. There were few other signs of sentient life, although an urban fox terrified me when it skittered across the road in front of us. It was more scared of me than I was of it, however.

The magically induced wings on the fox’s back unfurled in an instant and it took off into the air, flapping off to the nearest safe perch. I cursed under my breath. Then I frowned. Hang on a darned moment.

‘What is it?’ Monroe asked.

‘It’s probably nothing.’

‘But?’

I sighed. ‘Those pigeons, the ones carrying Fab’s message. They flew across the city back to wherever they came from. He and his men are terrified of picking up any magic. They wear those suits because they don’t want to become infected like us.’

‘But,’ Monroe said slowly, understanding what I was getting at, ‘the birds