She grinned at me, though her eyes were still red. Still sad. “I’m rewatching Brooklyn Nine-Nine from the beginning. So funny.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. “Great. Good night.”
“Good night.” She popped the earbud back into her ear, then slumped back on the couch, more relaxed than she had been at the beginning of our conversation.
Chatting about nothing apparently worked wonders for some people. And since it usually didn’t kill me, I could suffer through it. I closed the sitting room door most of the way, then headed to bed myself.
I washed my face and got ready for bed as I mulled over my conversation with Ocean — specifically, about what she’d said regarding feeling compelled to protect her mother. Twice. After applying cream to my hands, I climbed into bed. And as I did, I spotted a bouquet of apple flowers in a mason jar on my side table.
I blinked in disbelief. Someone had snapped three branches off my apple trees. That was ridiculously destructive.
I leaned closer. The center of each blossom was oddly dark. Almost resembling the third eye I’d seen on Cerise’s forehead.
I frowned.
That was an odd thought.
So they weren’t apple blossoms. I inhaled the sweet scent of the flowers. Perhaps Aiden had found some other fruit tree or bush growing wild on the property and thought I might like a sprig from it? That made more sense.
The sorcerer did love giving me little gifts.
I snuggled under the quilt and the top sheet, tucking my pillow under my head, facing the flowers. Even though this was our second spring on the property, random crocuses, daffodils, and now tulips were continuing to pop up all over the place. Christopher had actually gotten all excited about some crocuses he found in the garden, thinking they might be saffron. Apparently, one flower produced just a single strand of the spice, which didn’t seem all that sustainable to me.
I drifted, feeling Aiden’s magic as he climbed the stairs, slipped into the room, and stepped into the bathroom. A few minutes later, he climbed into the bed, tucking up behind me, but careful to not disturb me.
He murmured something quietly, and the wards that encased the bedroom shifted. Then he stilled.
I slipped deeper into sleep.
Aiden rose, lifting up on his elbow and looking around.
I rolled toward him, murmuring, “What is it?”
“What’s that smell?”
“Umm … from the flowers?”
I could feel him frowning, more than I could see him in the dark. Then he was suddenly on the other side of the bed, picking up the pretty bouquet. Either he’d moved far too quickly, or I’d somehow drifted off again.
“Sorry, Emma,” he murmured. “These stink.”
It was my turn to frown. Why would he have picked the flowers in the first place if he didn’t like them?
“Didn’t you pick them?” I felt as if I was fighting to form the thought, to voice the question out loud.
“No. I assumed you did. Ocean or Sky, maybe? They’re both completely enamored with the property.” Aiden crossed to the bedroom door, opening it. Then he laughed quietly. “Did you want to come in?”
I rolled over.
Paisley was blocking Aiden’s way into the hall. She huffed at him, presumably because the new wards he’d set were stopping her from teleporting into the bedroom.
Then she sneezed.
A loud, sharp, snot-filled explosion.
Aiden groaned. I couldn’t see, but his bare legs were now undoubtedly covered in demon dog mucus.
Paisley sneezed again. Shaking her head indignantly, she glared at Aiden.
“Okay,” he said. “I was just going to put the flowers in the —”
With a flick of her tongue, Paisley grabbed the flower bouquet, mason jar and all, and ate it.
“Not the jar …” I whispered. I’d started a collection of antique mason jars, and I had only three so far.
Paisley blinked at me, then grinned.
Apparently, I had only two jars now.
I huffed, collapsing back on my pillow. I heard Aiden enter the bathroom, presumably to wipe his legs down.
“Sorry,” he whispered as he climbed back into bed and tucked in beside me, cupping me.
I must have fallen asleep again for a moment, because I was suddenly aware that Aiden’s wards were fully up, and I could feel Paisley stretched out beneath the south-facing windows.
I surfaced long enough to snuggle my ass into Aiden’s groin. He murmured encouragingly, but then didn’t take the suggestion any further. It was unusual for us to climb into any bed and not at least fool around.
I drifted off again. But just before I fell fully asleep, my thoughts turned to how I’d never seen Paisley eat flowers before. She wasn’t a big fan of anything resembling leafy greens.
But there was one thing she always tried to consume. Magic.
And the sneeze beforehand —
My eyes snapped open. Blinking into the darkness, I felt my mind racing. Piecing together the events of the last few hours. The feeling of strained happiness with Aiden. The odd afternoon nap. The compulsion Ocean had reported feeling.
And now Paisley’s reaction to the flowers.
There had been some sort of magic embedded into the blossoms. Or the flowers themselves were a magical construct — maybe even the source of the apple blossom oracle card that Christopher kept casting?
Anger flushed through me, chasing away any and all of the lingering sense of …
What? Beguilement? Enchantment?
I shifted, intending to wake Aiden and share my thoughts with him. He tightened his hold on me, but didn’t wake. He was exhausted. And stressed. On edge.
I settled back onto my pillow, allowing my anger to resolve into a cool rationality.
Someone was screwing with me. Using magic I hadn’t encountered before.
It might have been Cerise. The elder witch had plenty of reasons to want to keep me compliant and on her side. But it could just as easily have been any of the others. For multiple reasons.
I could confront the witches and sorcerers directly. I could force the reveal of who was using magic to mess with my head, and why. But doing so might absolutely derail the negotiations.
And then Aiden would suffer the consequences.
Somewhat ironically, though, I knew instinctively that I could exonerate Kader Azar from suspicion. The elder sorcerer knew that I had a robust magical immunity. He wouldn’t dare try to use magic to mess with me.
The others didn’t know that, though. Which meant whoever was doing this would try to compromise me again. And the more they did try, the faster I would learn to resist it. The faster I would figure out who was responsible.
So I would bide my time.
And then I’d show them what happened to those who tried to control me.
Chapter 5
Kader was lounging on the couch nearest the front windows of the sitting room, one leg crossed over the other, hands loose at his sides. His tan suit was pristinely pressed, collar open. He wore brown argyle socks. Three dark-suited sorcerers stood between the window and him — Isa, Khalid, and Grosvenor — blocking the bulk of the light coming in from that direction. Cerise, dressed in crisp white linen, sat stiffly, hands folded on her knees, in the center of the opposite couch, flanked on either side by Sky and Ocean.
The length of the coffee table was all that stood between the warring factions. The contract was sitting on it. Cerise hadn’t yet picked it up.
I was situated near the door to the front hall, my gaze lingering more often on Aiden than anyone else. The dark-haired sorcerer was across from me, near the unlit fireplace.
One of the people in this room was trying to screw with me. Or perhaps more than one of them. And although I was choosing to stay my hand until Aiden was in the clear, I looked forward to exacting retribution.
No one came into my home, attacked me, and walked away unscathed.
We’d all been
standing around, not talking, ever since Isa had placed a short stack of documents before Cerise. Apparently, the terms contained within that proposal had already been agreed to by Kader. The brothers had been working with Sky since the witches had agreed to the mediation, first by message and then late through the night.
Kader glanced at the clock on the mantel — 11:13 a.m. Then he sighed heavily. “I understood that you had agreed to my terms, Cerise.”
“She has,” Sky said.
Cerise had been refusing to speak directly to Kader all morning, using Sky as her mouthpiece. Given how annoying I found that, I was surprised the sorcerers hadn’t walked out yet. I just wanted the contract signed, the spell removed, and everyone gone. Preferably before lunch.
Aiden had shaved and put his suit back on that morning, with none of our usual light banter. No morning sex, even though Paisley had disappeared at dawn. And I was near done with the emotional toil being exacted on him.
I was a breath away from forcing the issue. All the issues.
“I was under the impression that I had already been generous,” Kader said. “The house in Paris when you wished to return to your coven, the yearly allowance.”
Sky furrowed her brow.
Cerise cast her gaze out the window overlooking the barn and gardens.
“The trust funds for each of your children.”
“Mom?” Ocean whispered.
Cerise didn’t answer her daughter.
“But it’s all nothing,” Kader said, his tone sharpening. “I’ll give you whatever you want. The gold and platinum. The extensive list of artifacts. Some of which I was honestly unaware I possessed.” He smiled. “You were thorough in your documentation before you left the compound.”
“You stole ten years of her life,” Sky snapped. “You forced her to … you raped her! And then you stole her child, her son.”
Kader narrowed his eyes at Sky. Then he slowly transferred that gaze to Cerise.
The dark-haired witch’s back stiffened.
“Is that how you recount it?” Kader’s tone was smooth, even. “Rape?”
Sky clenched her hands, pressing her fists to the tops of her thighs. “Magical beguilement is still rape. You took away her ability to say no. That’s rape!”
Behind Kader, Grosvenor flinched.
“Beguilement …” Kader murmured. “Why not report me, Cerise? To the Convocation?”
“What proof did she have?” Aiden asked, his tone cool. “You stopped enforcing the binding after I was born.”
A quiet look of triumph filled Cerise’s expression as she transferred her attention to her firstborn.
That was an odd reaction, wasn’t it? And for some reason, I felt the need to counter it.
“How did you know you wouldn’t hurt Aiden?” I asked before anyone else could speak. “When you stole his DNA to construct your strike against Kader. To drain his life, his power, through your son.”
Aiden’s face blanked, then he looked sharply at his mother. As if he’d forgotten what she’d done, even though we’d already discussed it. As if something was affecting his judgement.
Like the flowers had affected my judgement the previous night.
Today, though, I couldn’t feel anything untoward in the sitting room. No unexplained magic. Nothing being currently cast. So had I built up a resistance already? Or was it just exhaustion and stress — and trying to not outright hate his mother — that was affecting Aiden?
Sky’s mouth had fallen open, and she looked at her mother incredulously. Ocean placed her hand over her mouth, slumping against the arm of the couch.
Aiden’s gaze flicked to his youngest sister, his expression becoming grim. “You used Ocean?” he said quietly. “The study sessions? I thought …” He quashed the emotion threatening to break through his measured words.
Ocean’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at her mother. “That was for this … spell?” she asked in a whisper. “You said you were strengthening the wards on Aiden’s apartment.”
“You didn’t know,” Kader said smoothly, watching Cerise like a raptor watches a mouse. “You had no idea whether or not the price of killing me would cost you Aiden. Because the only reason he is standing before you, hale and hearty, more powerful than ever, is because of Emma.”
Magic started shifting around the room, emanating from multiple sources, including Aiden. The dark-haired sorcerer — my dark-haired sorcerer — stood stock still, his face completely blank. Thinking everything through, piecing together the timeline.
Specifically, the downhill spiral that he’d been on before being dumped in Lake Cowichan by Silver Pine.
“But, Mom,” Ocean whispered. “What about my hair and nail clippings, and Sky’s? They were for the house wards, right?”
“What?” Sky hissed.
Aiden’s gaze locked to mine, a sudden desperation shining in his bright-blue eyes. “Emma …”
“I know.”
“That is not why I’m here.”
“I know.”
He took a step, coming up against the coffee table hard. “That is not why I stayed.”
“I know, Aiden. But let’s move forward with getting the spell off you.” I looked pointedly at Cerise.
Sky stood up. “No.”
Aiden blinked at his sister, shocked. “No?”
She glanced at him, clearly fighting through her own confusion. “Not that. I just mean … our mother would never hurt you. Never. Or us.” She glanced at her younger sister.
Khalid snorted. “All evidence stands to the contrary.”
Sky pointed her finger across the room at him. “Don’t you get involved, sorcerer.”
“Involved?” he asked mockingly. “All our lives are on the line because of your mother!”
“All of this is because of your father!”
Magic exploded. Raw power from Sky, countered by an almost detached response from Khalid, who snapped a shield in place with a murmured word.
Sky flung her hands out, stepping forward as she tried to sharpen the attack she had instinctively begun.
Khalid laughed, crossing around the couch. I could feel the spell brewing in his other hand. It would cut Sky down.
Grosvenor shouted. Magic was welling from both him and Aiden. But I leaped onto the coffee table, avoiding the contract and grabbing Sky by her ear, then easily breaking through Khalid’s shield to grab his ear.
They started to struggle.
I pulled a large chunk of magic from each of them, absorbing it for myself.
Sky screamed. Losing her balance, she momentarily hung from my hold on her ear, before she braced herself against my hip.
Khalid stumbled, then raised his hand to slam the spell he’d been aiming for Sky against me.
“I’ll take that too,” I whispered, pulling a long draught of power from him, absorbing the spell as well.
Khalid’s face paled.
Sky wrapped her hand around my wrist, her confusion and pain and frustration thundering through from the empathic bond made by our skin-to-skin contact.
“Good,” I said, holding Khalid’s horrified gaze. “Now you know I’m not here to play, sorcerer.”
Kader chuckled under his breath. A self-satisfied smile curled his lips as he lounged back on the couch. He hadn’t moved at all.
Isa remained as quiet as ever, but his alert gaze was on Cerise, not me. Aiden was at my back. Grosvenor shifted on his feet, gaze flicking from Sky to me as if he was uncertain whether he should intervene.
“Stay where you are,” I said to the curse breaker.
He stilled, almost guiltily. As if he hadn’t known he’d drawn my attention.
“Oh,” Cerise exclaimed. Her blue-eyed gaze was difficult to read. Perhaps shock? Easing into what might have been disapproval?
For the first time since we’d all entered the room, she looked directly at Kader. “She’s one of yours.”
“That’s enough.” Aiden’s tone was hoarse, edged in magic. “Em
ma can rescind your invitation easily enough. And we all know where that would leave you, Father.”
That wiped the smirk from Kader’s face. “I can admire a specialist at work … a piece of art … without nefarious intent.”
Aiden snorted derisively.
“Um,” Sky ventured. “Can I have my ear back?”
I let go of her. She stumbled a little, then straightened, rubbing her ear while meeting my gaze. “And the magic you took?”
“That’s mine.” I looked at Khalid. “Consider it a tithe.”
The dark-eyed sorcerer sneered at me. But then he raised his hands in surrender.
I let him go. He immediately returned to his post in the far corner by the front windows. I stepped off the coffee table, moving next to Aiden instead of continuing to block the doorway to the hall.
Sky hesitated, rubbing her ear and looking at her mother. Then she shook her head and crossed into the hallway. She stood there for a moment, obviously torn as to where to go.
“Grosvenor,” Kader said. “It’s almost lunch. Why don’t you and Sky pick us up some food?” He shifted his gaze to me. “Is there a place you like in town, Emma?”
“The Home Cafe,” I said stiffly, feeling as though I was giving away another piece of myself — but knowing that refusing to answer would make me appear weak.
The curse breaker stepped around the couch, heading toward the hallway and Sky before I’d finished speaking. He glanced at Aiden. “Keys?”
“In the SUV.”
“What?” the curse breaker exclaimed. “You leave it unlocked?”
Aiden huffed out a laugh. “Tip generously.”
Grosvenor looked affronted as he moved into the hall. “When don’t I?” The younger sorcerer stepped around Sky, not looking at or speaking to her, heading for the front door.
The door opened. Slowly, Sky turned and followed the curse breaker out of the house.
“So like you,” Cerise spat. Speaking to Kader. “Ordering everyone around.”
Kader eyed the witch. “The timing has been bothering me. Not so much the idea that you would strike at me, though that too is out of character. But why now? A bid for power within the Myers coven? Are you planning to usurp your aunt?”
Idols and Enemies (Amplifier 4) Page 17
