We started from the upper floor, where the offices and a large open space for casting spells were. The place was dark and empty, and according to Luca’s nose, no one had been there that day. No one was on the ground floor either.
“Let’s head to the cellar.”
We followed Kane to an erstwhile vestry of the priory the place had once been. Spiral stone steps led down to a vaulted cellar where the mages kept their wine, safe, and a club to hang out in after strenuous spellcasting.
Lights were on in there, and we slowed, treading as quietly as we could, but the stone vaults echoed anyway. Large columns obscured our view to the club at the far end. We crept past them towards the light source—and paused in surprise.
Jack was standing behind the bar, pouring himself a drink. He looked up when he spotted us and made a sweeping gesture towards the shelf of bottles behind him.
“May I offer you a drink before we begin?”
I stared at him in dismay. Even knowing he’d put the spell on me, I hadn’t wanted to find him at the centre of things. “What are you doing here?”
Luca took a protective stance in front of me. “Who is he?”
“Jack Palmer,” Kane provided, regarding Jack calmly.
“The bastard who put the spell on you?” A growl made Luca’s body vibrate, and I placed a calming hand on his shoulder, though I wasn’t entirely composed myself and the hand shook a little.
Jack smirked at Luca. “You don’t seem to be affected by it.”
“Vampires are special,” he countered, but his muscles were tense under my hand, and I let it drop.
We walked to the bar, but kept our distance of Jack. He gave me a slow once-over, his turquoise eyes gleaming. It would’ve made me feel wanted before, but now it only aggravated me, banishing my nervousness.
“So … are you ready for the spell to come off?” he drawled.
My heart sped up, but I wasn’t that naïve. “In exchange for what?”
He faced Kane. “You concede the council for me … and I’ll break the spell.”
Kane’s eyes sharpened, and he looked like he was genuinely considering his suggestion. I kicked him in the ankle—lightly; he was my boss—startling him. I glared at Jack.
“He will not.”
“It’s not really your choice, is it,” Jack said to me, but Kane had come to his senses.
“She’s the one affected by the spell, so it is her choice.”
Jack leaned his hands on the bar. “And you’re unable to break it without me. So how about it?”
“That’s not an acceptable challenge for my position,” Kane countered, “so how about you tell us everything you know about Blackhart, and I’ll let you challenge me the proper way.”
Jack paled. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“Right…” Kane’s tone was dry. “You did not break the wards on the library door by yourself.”
Jack looked like he’d deny taking part in it too, but thought the better of it. “It wasn’t Blackhart.”
“Who, then?”
“No one you know.”
Kane’s brows shot up. “I know all the mages in London.”
“Are you sure?” Jack taunted him. Since Blackhart had been operating in London for months already, with Kane none the wiser, he didn’t answer.
“Where can I find Blackhart?”
“You don’t want to find him.”
“No, but I want to find Rupert, and Blackhart has him,” Kane stated. Jack pulled back.
“How do you know about that?”
So he wasn’t even trying to deny his involvement. Disappointment brought bile to my mouth.
“We arrived at Rupert’s only moments after you took him. We had to take Jones to hospital after what you did to him.”
“I had nothing to do with that,” Jack denied vehemently, but I sneered, not believing him.
“That’s not plausible deniability.”
His eyes flashed, and a light flush rose to his cheeks. “I was the driver.”
“Right…”
“Just tell us where Rupert is,” Kane said sternly, “and I won’t kick you out of the council for this.”
His threat had no effect on Jack. “I’ll tell you if you concede the council to me.”
I looked at him with contempt. “Are you so weak you can’t even challenge him to a proper duel?”
He huffed. “Hardly.”
And he attacked Kane.
I jumped behind Luca’s back with a small shriek, the flash of Jack’s spell blinding me briefly. But Kane had been expecting the move. He had his defences ready—and an attack spell too.
And this time, he wasn’t being gentlemanly.
Jack had barely parried the first attack when Kane was already slinging the next spell. Even with the bar between them, the energy ball hit Jack, stunning him. He collapsed on the floor and stayed there, unable to move.
That was embarrassingly fast.
Luca and I reached to look over the bar to see if Jack would rally again, but he was only able to glower at us. Kane rounded the bar and stood above Jack, staring down at him with more calm than I would’ve thought he possessed in this situation.
“In front of these witnesses, you challenged me for the leadership of the council of mages, yes?” he asked, the same question he’d asked Cynthia, evoking the spell protecting London.
But Jack wasn’t as ready to accept his defeat as she had been. He glared furiously at Kane, who repeated the question until Jack spat an angry, “Yes.”
“In front of these witnesses, your challenge was accepted, yes?”
Jack nodded, the gesture minute.
“You’ll have to state it aloud, otherwise the spell won’t recognise it,” Kane said.
“Yes,” Jack growled.
“And in front of these witnesses, I won and you lost, yes?”
“Yes.”
“As I free you, you agree not to challenge me again during this leadership cycle?”
If looks could kill, Jack’s surely would have. It took him a physical effort to get the words out. “I agree.”
Kane offered him a hand, and freed from the spell, Jack accepted it—with ill grace. Luca and I watched them tensely, both of us certain that Jack would attack again the moment he was up, but he didn’t.
Kane nodded at us. “The magical formula is binding,” he explained. “He’s physically unable to attack me, or my successor should I lose, until the next time the leadership is open for a challenge.”
Tension in my shoulders released and I leaned heavily against the bar.
“You may think you’ve won, but this isn’t over,” Jack spat.
“Why don’t you get off your huff and behave like a grownup,” Kane drawled, the tone not very conducive to creating good will between them.
But Jack ignored him and shot me a sneer. “You should’ve accepted my offer. If you think your spell is bad, wait until you see what I have in store for your cousin.”
Before I could find my tongue to answer, he crossed the cellar and disappeared up the stairs.
“That didn’t go the way I expected,” Luca said, breaking the silence that had followed Jack out. Kane shook his head, looking grim.
“If that battle was the best he had to offer, I have no idea how he was able to break my wards, or cast that spell on you.”
“Blackhart must be helping him more than we thought.”
But he didn’t look convinced. “What I’ve learned of him so far, he doesn’t seem like a helpful person.”
He was right. “So is there a third person in play, one we don’t know anything about?”
“He’s recruited our mages to his schemes before, and I’ve already dealt with most of them—or Blackhart has.”
“So an unknown…”
That wasn’t good.
“I don’t like that he’s threatening your cousin,” Kane said, but I wasn’t worried.
“She can handle herself. I’m more worried ab
out Rupert. How do we find him now?”
His lip curled into smile. “I placed a tracking spell on Jack when I helped him up. Where he goes, we can follow.”
“What are we waiting for, then? He could lead us to Rupert. Let’s go.”
Energised once more, we hurried up and through the building to the front door. There Kane insisted going to the car first, in case Jack had left traps on it.
Turned out, there were no traps. He’d done worse.
He’d blown out all the tyres with magic.
It was late when Luca and I exited a taxi outside the magic shop. Kane had left the car where it was to deal with it later, and we’d dropped him off at his house on our way.
He hadn’t spoken much, and he hadn’t suggested we take his other car and search for Jack.
The way his hair had been billowing with anger and his mouth set in a tight line, Luca and I hadn’t dared to suggest it either.
Giselle and Amber were in the kitchen, drinking tea. They looked tired, but they straightened expectantly when we entered.
“Where have you been?” Amber asked. “We’ve been worried.”
“We were trying to locate Rupert,” I said, slumping in a chair. “How’s Jones?” I didn’t even know his first name.
“They’re keeping him overnight,” Giselle said, getting up to take out more cups. “But there shouldn’t be anything seriously wrong with him.”
“But he’s old, so…” Amber added, and I grimaced. Anything could happen after an ordeal like he’d been through. “I take it you didn’t find Rupert?”
“Not for lack of trying,” Luca said dryly. “Blackhart is really good at making people keep their mouth shut. We didn’t even get Danielle to talk.”
That Kane had contacted her understandably amazed the women. We told them everything that had happened that evening.
“That was petty of Jack,” Giselle noted when we finished with the description of the poor Jag with its tyres reduced to pieces.
“Kane took it surprisingly well,” Luca said, shaking his head. “I would’ve gone on a rampage.”
So would I, but for a man with a temper, he’d kept his fury reined in.
“I wouldn’t have thought Jack was a poor loser,” I said, ashamed that I’d been so taken with his beautiful eyes. “And he wasn’t nearly as skilled as we’d imagined.”
“Who do you think it was who helped him to break the library wards?” Giselle asked Amber, but her wife shook her head.
“If they’re not from London, it’s impossible to tell.”
“Has there been any strange mages visiting the shop?” I asked. “They must get the ingredients for their spells somewhere.”
Amber shook her head, but Luca disagreed. “I don’t know all the mages personally, so it’s entirely possible that they’ve been here, maybe keeping an eye on us.”
I shuddered. Amber pursed her mouth into a line.
“We’ll learn it eventually. I’m more worried about Jack threatening Phoebe’s cousin.”
To my shame, I’d completely forgotten about it. “What do you think he’ll do?”
I hoped it wasn’t the same spell he’d cast on me. That would make for an awkward wedding if the groom was repulsed by the bride.
I didn’t sleep well that night. And by “not well” I mean at all, the events of the evening twirling in my mind. I was seriously considering calling in sick in the morning—Kane wouldn’t mind, since I literally made him sick—but I managed to drag myself to the kitchen at the usual hour, relatively put-together.
Ashley was having breakfast, looking fresher after her twenty-four-hour shift than I did. She shot me a puzzled look. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks.”
Since Giselle wasn’t there cooking and I had no energy for it, I poured myself a large mug of coffee and sat next to her. I told her what had happened last night, and she grew angrier as the story progressed.
“I’ll drive you to work. In case the little shit tries to retaliate.”
“I don’t want to trouble you after your long shift,” I hedged, though the offer was tempting.
But she snorted. “It was nothing. We didn’t even have any alarms. I’ve practically slept the whole night.”
Since it was more sleep than I’d had, I accepted her offer. I didn’t fear that Jack would attack me, but I didn’t feel like tackling the commute.
Morning traffic was horrible, but I wasn’t in a hurry. Kane could manage his tea himself this once. I had a comfortable seat in Ashley’s Range Rover, and I didn’t have to drive.
Despite the best efforts of the Central London traffic, we reached the antique shop eventually. Since Ashley couldn’t drive into the pedestrian court, she parked the car—illegally—by the street and walked me the rest of the way.
“Is this really necessary?” I protested, but she stared at me down her nose, eerily like her wolf had done the other day, and I gave in.
“In that case, would you like the world’s greatest blueberry muffin?”
Her face lit up. “Absolutely.”
I led her to my favourite café, happy to have her with me as a buffer. The usual morning crowd filled the place, everyone so sleepy that they didn’t even react when a six-foot-one bald amazon walked in. I bet that didn’t happen to her often.
Jack wasn’t there. But as I was queueing, the sensation that someone was watching me suddenly returned, burning my neck as if it had a physical presence.
I resisted rubbing the spot. If Jack wasn’t here, who or what was causing the sensation?
Surreptitiously, I moved to stand right in front of Ashley so that she blocked my back, but the sensation remained. Was I imagining it?
I studied every reflective surface to look behind me, but the woman in line behind Ashley had her eyes glued to her phone and I couldn’t see her face. No one else was looking at me either. With Ashley there, no one would.
We got our orders and I hurried out of the café, not looking left or right, but the sensation followed me. I rushed across the court to the gallery, with puzzled Ashley at my heels.
“Are you late for work?”
“No, but I feel like someone’s watching me.”
She turned to study the court as I opened the door to the offices and switched off the alarm.
“I don’t see anyone watching you.”
I shuddered. “I must be imagining it, but I’ve felt it for days now. Usually on the Tube.”
“Maybe someone’s keeping an eye on you with magic, over a distance.”
My knees buckled, and she reached to steady me. “They can do that?”
“Shit, I don’t know. It’s just a thought.”
“I’ll ask Kane.”
She walked me all the way to my desk and then went through the rooms to see that no one was lurking there.
“Thanks for the ride,” I said when she was convinced the office was safe.
“Thanks for the muffin,” she countered, lifting the bag. “And if you need a ride home, just call me. I’m free until morning.”
I said I would, but I had no intention of troubling her more today.
I was running late, so I hurried to make Kane’s tea. I had everything ready when I heard the door open downstairs. I put on my professional smile—though he had an unnerving skill of seeing through it—and faced the door.
Olivia walked in.
“Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said—and burst into tears.
Chapter Thirteen
I hurried to meet her and she collapsed on me, sobbing in delicate gulps. She was smaller than me, but her full weight was on me, almost making me collapse.
I glanced around, as if help would miraculously materialise, but apparently magic didn’t work that way, because I was alone.
Out of options, I walked Olivia to Kane’s office and the sofa there. He wouldn’t like that I invaded his private space, but it couldn’t be helped.
“What’s happened?” I asked once I had her
settled and equipped with a tissue.
“Henry … broke off the engagement,” she hiccupped.
My entire body went cold, and I had to sit down too.
“Just like that?”
Was this Jack’s doing?
It couldn’t be. Maybe Olivia and Henry had had an epic fight; maybe they’d realised they’d become engaged too hastily. Perfectly normal explanations.
She wiped her eyes with the tissue, careful not to smudge her makeup. “He woke up this morning and asked who I was. And not like it was a joke. He genuinely had no idea. He was scared and then he got angry, and he threw me out.”
Well then … not normal. And far worse than I could have imagined.
But I still searched for an explanation other than Jack’s meddling. “Had he been in an accident? Hit his head maybe?”
“No. Everything was fine last night, and then—bam.” She paused to blow her nose. Daintily.
“I tried to tell him we’re engaged and about to get married, but he refused to even hear me. And then he spotted the engagement ring and demanded I give it back, because it belonged to his grandmother.”
She buried her face in her hands and started to sob again. I patted her back, at a loss for words. Kane appeared at the door just then, took in the scene, and froze. The look of utter horror on his face would have been comical in any other situation.
Sorry, I mouthed at him, and he beat a hasty retreat, closing the door behind him.
“What are you going to do now?” I asked my cousin.
“I don’t know. I love him so much and it destroys me that he doesn’t even remember me.”
“Could he be pretending for some reason?”
She lifted her head and shot me an offended look. “What reason could there possibly be?”
I gestured with my free hand. “I don’t know. Guys get cold feet all the time, and you were moving so fast. Maybe he took a more brutal approach.”
She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands, spreading the mascara. “What could possibly have changed during the night?”
I knew the answer to that, but I couldn’t reveal it to her. “Night is the time when all the nasty worries take over.”
“Henry isn’t like that. He would’ve told me about his worries.”
Saved by the Spell. House of Magic 2. Page 10
