Anathema (Causal Enchantment, #1) Read Online Free Page B

one
of a kind,” a male voice called in an unusual accent. I jumped,
startled, as an attractive blonde man of about thirty in a
pinstriped suit approached along the path. “The smoothest white
marble imaginable. Go on, touch it!” he said in a commanding
tone.
    I obliged almost mechanically, leaning forward
to slide my fingertips along the statue’s toes. They were icy cold.
“Very smooth,” I agreed, straightening. Blood instantly rushed to
my head. The ground began to sway. I closed my eyes, vaguely aware
of a strong hand grabbing my arm and moving me.
    When the dizziness disappeared, I found myself
sitting at a bistro table near the statue. Sofie, Leonardo, and the
blonde man stood around me, concerned expressions on their faces.
What’s wrong with me lately?
I felt my cheeks grow hot.
“Must be the flight. Or the wine. I’m sorry.” I smiled sheepishly.
When Sofie’s distressed expression didn’t fade, I added, “This
atrium is spectacular,” hoping to redirect their
attention.
    The blonde man’s sparkling cobalt–blue eyes
roamed over the gardens, a proud smile stretching his lips. “Isn’t
it, though? I hate the long, cold winters but I love this city too
much to move to a warmer climate. This atrium is the perfect
compromise.”
    “ Yes, the gas company agrees
whole–heartedly. The fool keeps them in business, heating this
place,” a man muttered darkly behind me in a thick French accent. I
turned to see a tall, broad–shouldered man with chestnut brown hair
and black eyes marching toward us. He was dressed as sharply as the
blonde.
    “ You ridicule, yet you have no
trouble taking full advantage,” the blonde retorted with a deep
scowl, pointing toward the bistro table. When his attention fell
back to me, his face lit up again. “Welcome to our home,
Evangeline! I’m Sofie’s friend, Viggo. That grouch there is
Mortimer.” Viggo draped his arm casually around my shoulder as if
he were a long–time friend. My shoulders tensed in response,
unaccustomed to the closeness. Luckily, if he noticed, he didn’t
seem bothered.
    This entire place is theirs?
Wide–eyed, I scanned the multitude of balconies again. “Thank you
for letting me stay here.”
    “ Oh, Sofie warned us that you were a
darling, with such manners,” Viggo said, smiling. “I hope it didn’t
take too much convincing to get you here.”
    Mortimer chuckled deeply. “Sofie could convince
a troll to abandon his bridge if she set her mind to
it.”
    Viggo threw an unimpressed glare at Mortimer
before turning back to me. “But you are far from a troll, my
beautiful Evangeline.” He laughed, his eyes twinkling as he pulled
me out of my chair and squeezed me in a fatherly
side–hug.
    It was how I had always imagined my father
would embrace me, if I had known him. My dad had never been in the
picture, deciding fatherhood was too daunting the second he learned
of his seventeen–year–old girlfriend’s pregnancy. Oddly enough, he
had no concerns about scaling treacherous cliffs. It was a freak
mountain climbing accident—not the cries of a little girl—that had
killed him.
    My face flared with heat at Viggo’s brazen
compliment. “Give her room to breathe, Viggo,” Sofie warned. “She’s
been two seconds away from a mild coronary the entire trip
here.”
    Viggo chuckled. “Come. Let’s show you to your
room. You must be exhausted. This way.”
    I turned to follow him. And gasped.
    Four beasts stood in a row ten feet away from
me, their unsettling, beady yellow eyes studying me with suspicion.
I call them beasts because they were simply too large to be
anything else. Their cropped, pointy ears were level with my
shoulders—and at five foot nine, I was by no means considered
short. Their muscular bodies, covered in glossy black fur, were
easily triple my weight.
    One of them sauntered forward, its talon–like
claws clicking against the cobblestones with each step. It halted
in front of Mortimer for a sniff and a pat, its