Ellie's Bodyguard by Lisa Daniels

Author:Lisa Daniels [Daniels, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight – Mason

There was something hollow in Mason’s heart. Something that widened with Ellie’s response to something that had been meant. He’d been reminded, brutally, that they were just client and bodyguard. Master and servant. That whatever friendship that might have developed between them over the years had only been within the service of his job—they would never have met otherwise.

He consoled himself with that, even as those branching blossoms of his heart shriveled up and curled into their rightful places.

He kept an eye on her when she went to the precinct, when they gave her specialized training that even her previous background as a deadring fighter couldn’t cover. She didn’t know, for example, the binding to stop a spirit from being taken by another necromancer, when it was supposed to be under her control. She didn’t understand how to interrogate a spirit so that it offered up information without resisting her and draining magic. Mason didn’t know about these things, either, not being a necromancer himself. All he knew were the restrictions of his culture, and the work of a bodyguard, his only true job. What did someone like Mason know of other people, of affection and love, of what made them tick and what beat at the heart of everyone who mattered?

Nothing, it seemed. Mason watched as Ellie tentatively began filling in an application to try and get into Talia’s university. He watched as she socialized with Talia, and Talia herself attempted to give Ellie more of a life outside the mansion. Twice he didn’t follow at all, though it went against the grain for him, though he knew that she needed more independence, without him hovering like a mother dragon over her clutch of eggs. He needed to let her risk some danger in areas where she could have fun, as long as he stuck to the main detail. After all, people didn’t necessarily identify her as a necromancer upon the street. She didn’t have any special markings that denoted her magic, and she didn’t wear any unusual uniform that showcased her as someone dark and ominous and most likely to mutter curses at skulls. For all intents and purposes, she was normal.

A normal person, raised up in an abnormal environment.

A person that he was forbidden to get any closer to, because she had made her intentions perfectly clear. He always knew there would be no crossing that professional line, but a part of him had sometimes wondered if there might be more going on between them. If Ellie looked at Mason and just couldn’t imagine a future without him.

Waking up one morning, in his comfy bed and ornate surroundings, he washed and dressed himself, and checked on Ellie, though she was already gone, joining Talia for an admissions interview at the university. He usually got up much earlier, but he’d been feeling exhausted and unmotivated for the past two weeks since Ellie submitted her application. Since she’d so forcibly rejected even his simple, friendly overture that she’d be welcome in his family.

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