Chapter 12 #2
Jasper closed his eyes, pinching his nose as if she had greatly aggrieved him. ‘I did not think I had to warn you of this. I never supposed you’d be running around in the forest at all hours of the night, unaccompanied.’
Thea’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Please tell me you are not concerned about my virtue?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ Jasper’s eyes snapped open.
His voice lowered to a growl. ‘The Crossroads is the seam of the world. The point where it brushes against other, darker worlds. Worlds where demons prowl, where incubi hunt for women like you, where fate-weavers hold the fabric of the universe at their fingertips. That’s why you have found potent ingredients here: it’s magic from those worlds bleeding through. ’
Thea folded her arms. ‘I know all of this.’
Jasper’s voice turned dangerous. ‘Then why have you been walking right along that seam, knowing that with just one misstep you could just slip through and be lost forever?’
‘Do not treat me like a child when you know well it is your apothecary I am contracted to run, to stock its shelves with magical ingredients. Where did you think I was getting them from all these years?’
The colour seeped from Jasper’s face. ‘That did not occur to me.’
‘No, why would it? After all, you’re off busy doing whatever it is you do while I’m running your apothecary.’ Thea hesitated. ‘What do you do with your time?’
‘The apothecary is not my sole business venture,’ Jasper snapped. He relented. ‘If there are some ingredients you don’t have, you should come to me. I will supply you anything you might need.’
Thea’s thoughts halted. Maybe she should ask him if he happened to have a lake spirit’s fingernail floating around in a drawer somewhere. But then she’d have to tell him about Malek and his key, and something about that felt very much like a bad idea.
‘You can tell me anything,’ Jasper added, as if he’d read her mind. ‘Have there been any updates about the wards? I have been looking into it, but they are a complex magic. I’m afraid it will take some time.’
Maybe she should tell him how she’d been threatened by way of Biscuit, or what she’d overheard the last time she’d been here. ‘Are you coming to the Quarter meeting tonight?’
‘Absolutely not.’
‘Maybe if you came, the other residents would see that fate-weavers are not to be feared simply because they have the power to alter destiny,’ Thea pointed out. Although, she was about to attend to tell them that a fate-weaver had threatened their safety . . .
Jasper cut a sideways glare at her. ‘If I turn up, the other magical folk will leave.’
‘Perhaps if you weren’t so grumpy—’
Jasper’s glower deepened.
‘This concerns you, too. The apothecary sits in the Magic Quarter and there’s a rift through our ceiling.’
‘I am looking into that myself.’
Thea gnawed at her lip. ‘Since you’re not coming to the meeting, I have to tell you that the last time I came here, I accidentally overheard two people talking about how they’d infiltrated the Quarter, that they were the ones who’d riled up the Hunters – they mentioned weaving, Jasper.’
Jasper stilled. A predator hiding its claws, teeth, power, lest it scare away its prey.
Thea winced, unsure if she wanted to share the rest.
‘What happened?’ Jasper ordered. ‘Tell me everything. This instant.’
‘It’s fine, I’m fine,’ Thea said in a hurry.
‘They sent some bludi?ka after me, but I escaped them, and the fate-weavers never learnt my identity. No harm done.’ She smiled, ignoring the flash of crimson light that blazed through her memory, of sharp teeth and empty eyes and the way they’d crept under that moss, all long fingernails and scurrying bodies, lying in wait for their next victim.
How her memory of the conversation she’d overheard had immediately vanished from her head, only returning hours, days later.
Jasper’s jaw clenched. ‘Then you were lucky. Though it proves my point: stay out of this forest. It is not the place for you.’ He began striding from the clearing.
Thea pursued him, taking two steps for each of his strides. ‘It’s funny, I’ve been hearing a lot of that lately and I’m getting awfully tired of it.’
Jasper halted abruptly. They were sheltered from the moon here, the surrounding spruces fracturing her shine. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘This.’ Thea fished in her pocket for the note that had been pinned to her door. Along with Biscuit. A reminder that she would not give in, would not give up. It was speckled with flecks of raven blood; bright red tears. ‘I came home to it one night.’
Jasper’s face was stone as he read it, his reaction unknowable. ‘I will look into this.’ Pocketing the note, he strode away.
Thea pursued him.
Jasper muttered something under his breath. Out loud, he added, ‘I’ve heard that Pan Novak has you in his sights. That you were defiant towards him. Provoking him.’
‘Who told you that?’
‘You are not the only one I speak to in the Quarter.’
Curious. ‘He deserved it,’ Thea said.
Was that a suggestion of a smile crossing Jasper’s lips?
‘Oh, I am certain of that, but the fact cannot be denied that he is a powerful man, and you must not invite his wrath. Any more than you already have. Pan Novak may be human but that doesn’t make him any less dangerous.
His hatred and distrust of magic is not to be underestimated; he could outlaw the entire Magic Quarter, revoke our permits to conduct business in the city.
Which is why you must stay away from him. ’
‘Yes, yes, fine,’ Thea huffed impatiently.
Jasper was pacing through the forest as if it had been set alight and her legs were beginning to burn with keeping pace.
‘But if you’re going to look into the threat, and the failing wards, you should let me help.
I can access places which you, your Lordship, cannot. ’
They reached the main path, well-trodden by fellow foragers and hunters.
Here, the forest was placid, the creatures commonplace.
The mushrooms perfectly ordinary and delicious in a stew.
Finally, Jasper slowed to an agreeable pace.
He gave a single shake of his head. ‘I do not wish for you to be anywhere near this—’
‘This is not the time to be a lone wolf—’
‘It’s too dangerous,’ Jasper said softly, cutting a glance at her. ‘I don’t want it on my conscience if you come to harm.’
Well, that was unexpected. Still, Thea did not relent. ‘You’re powerful, are you not?’ she asked, bolder in her determination.
‘Yes—’
‘How powerful?’
Jasper stopped, turning to face her. ‘Too powerful to fall prey to whatever game you’re playing here.’
Thea lifted her chin. ‘Then you can make sure I won’t come to any harm.’
He gave a dry laugh. ‘You, Theodora, have trouble written into your bones. Every time I see you, I am reminded of what an impossible task I took on the day you became contracted to me.’
‘Fine.’ Thea walked away, taking another path home. ‘Then I will have to attend the meeting and investigate by myself.’
‘Thea,’ he called, exasperation etched into her name. ‘Theodora, it is not safe out here in the dark!’
‘I am not the defenceless creature you imagine me to be,’ Thea called over her shoulder. ‘Do not make the mistake of underestimating me. I will not be caged for your comfort.’
He stopped following her then.
‘Send me a raven when you arrive home,’ he ordered. ‘Do you hear me? I want to know the minute you get back safely.’
Thea waved a hand, though she had not one intention of following his orders.
She needed to attend the Magic Quarter meeting and decide her next move.
Because no matter what Jasper thought, she would not be sitting idly in her apothecary waiting for the wards to shatter and the next threat to land at her doorstep. She would be hunting them down herself.