Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
The video call revealed all three faces peering happily into the small screen when Moira answered. They were in the front part of the shop that hosted the coffee pot and small seating area.
“Evie!” Moira called, waving frantically. “We’re so glad you called!”
Tess and Ash waved. I smiled and waved back, my heart cracking a little. I’d been gone for longer periods of time before, but never for something like this.
“I miss you all so much,” I said.
Moira scoffed. “You can’t start the conversation off like that! You end it being maudlin, not begin it!”
Ash reached for something below my view and hauled up a massive piece of pizza.
“New shop,” Moira said. “They make amazing deep dish.”
“Jealous!” Rowan’s chef could cook just about anything, but he was formally trained and had turned up his nose at some of my requests. He’d made them, but I could tell he thought I had the palate of a rowdy toddler.
“So…” Moira began. “Did Simone tell you my idea?”
I nodded. “Yes, but have you told Ash and Tess?”
The vampire rolled her eyes. “Of course I did. They’re both in.”
I froze. “Seriously?” I breathed. Hope filled me at the thought. They were all willing to come to me if I decided not to return. The thought made a frozen piece of my heart crack open.
Ash and Tess nodded. “None of us is married or has any serious ties to anyone in the community. We’ve all been, for lack of a better term, lone wolves. If we hung out with anyone, it was with each other. You’re family, Evie. And family sticks together.”
I had to make sure they weren’t doing this out of obligation. “Moira is sworn in as a member of my court, so she has to agree with me.”
She snorted. “We both know that’s not true, and you’re way too nice to compel me to do anything.”
True. The thought of making anyone do anything against their will made my stomach hurt. “You really do argue too much with your queen.”
Moira crowed a laugh. “And you love throwing that title around when it suits you!”
We grinned at each other before my amusement faded. “We’ll be leaving everything behind,” I said quietly. “All the work we did for the business. All our customers. The friends we’ve made.”
Moira raised a delicate eyebrow. “Friends?” she scoffed. “You mean the same friends who looked like they wanted to chase you down the road, wielding pitchforks and flaming torches?”
Ash grimaced. Tess shrugged. “We all knew it was both a possibility and eventually an inevitability,” she said.
Moira glanced over her shoulder and shook her head. “Tess, you’re being weirder than usual.”
“My time in fae changed me,” Tess said and stuck her tongue out at Moira’s back when she turned to face the screen. “If someone can take me out of my life and make me forget everything important, then maybe nothing is important and we should live each day like it’s the only one we get.”
No one said anything for an uncomfortable amount of time. “For what it’s worth,” I said, breaking the silence, “I am sorry for what happened to you. It was my fault and—”
Tess threw an olive at the screen. “It was not your fault. Lugh’s the one who did it, and I’m glad you locked that scary bastard in monster world.”
That was Tess’ name for the place I’d stowed Lugh inside—a cold, gray realm made of stone and dirt, where monsters of legend roamed.
He could no longer access any portals or use me or any other new World Trees that sprang up as bridges.
Even if that world somehow grew a bridge tree, Lugh was locked to the land I’d thrown him in.
His travel days were over, and I didn’t feel a lick of remorse about what I’d done.
“It doesn’t take away that Lugh was trying to get to me and used you to do so.”
Tess’s expression softened. “You can’t blame yourself for the plans of a despot.”
Moira blinked and turned again. “Who are you?”
I laid a hand over my heart. “It doesn’t mean I’ll ever stop thinking about what happened to you and wondering what I could have done to prevent it.
” I looked at all of my friends, my heart so full, and made a decision.
“Go ahead and shut the shop down for now. Give me a week, and I’ll make a decision.
If we don’t move here, maybe we’ll go somewhere else.
Somewhere with a fresh start. Tess, if you don’t mind, can you strengthen the wards? ”
She shook her head. “I would, but your mom and dad already made new wards. Caelan’s shifters can’t get within five feet of the store.”
I winced. That was bound to go over like a lead balloon.
Moira set the phone on a stand and backed away, nudging Tess over with her hip. “Why wouldn’t you just move home, back to the Seattle area? I know you loved it there.”
I lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “I have complicated feelings about this place. And I don’t know that I can lean on Rowan’s hospitality. He’s been wonderful, but I don’t…” My voice trailed off.
Moira pointed at me. “Get those self-sabotaging thoughts right out of your head.” She wiggled her index finger. “I can see them swirling around in your noggin. Rowan is so far removed from Caelan it isn’t even funny. You won’t be leaning on him for anything. That man would open up a vein for you.”
Tears burned the backs of my eyes. “I don’t want to be reliant on anyone ever again,” I whispered.
Moira’s expression darkened. “You never relied on anyone in the first place. You were the one who gathered us all. You were the one who kept us together. You were the one who started the shop. You were the one who survived everything and thrived.” She leaned forward and her voice lowered.
“Do not let that sonofabitch trick you into thinking he was your savior. You saved yourself, Evie. And you saved us, too. We are here because we love you, not because we want to own you, and not because we feel like you owe us anything. Wherever you go, we will go. Like Ash said, that’s what family does. ”
A tear slipped down my face. “I just need to know you want to come and that you don’t feel obligated. If we do this, it will be a huge change for all of us. We’ll have to work hard to get back to where we were.”
Moira, Ash, and Tess looked at each other, then back at me. “We were getting bored here, anyway. Joy Springs is in the middle of nowhere, and Fredericksburg isn’t our kind of vibe.”
Tess and Ash both nodded.
My heart felt full for the first time in a long time. “I’ll think about it,” I said softly. “Until then, close up shop. You’ll continue getting a paycheck and benefits. Think of this as an unplanned vacation.”
“We don’t mind working,” Ash said. “There’s no need—”
“How many customers have come in this week?” I interrupted.
Ash winced again. Tess nudged him.
“Four,” he grumbled.
Shit. Much worse than expected. “Then it’s settled. Right now, it’s more expensive to be open than closed. A week, then I’ll decide.”
We talked a bit more, and I told them I loved them. When I hung up and set the phone on the nightstand, I let out a slow breath and sank back onto my pillows. Could I do it? Could I walk away from Caelan and the life that I’d built? Was it worth it?
A soft knock on the door jostled me from my thoughts. “Come in.”
Rowan poked his head around the door and peered in. “Want to take a ride?”
My eyes narrowed. “Is that a euphemism?”
His eyes sparkled with amusement. “It wasn’t, but it can be.”
I laughed. “A ride where?”
“Get dressed,” he said instead. “Wear comfortable shoes.”
He winked and shut the door behind him, leaving me on the bed staring in confusion.
My bed was super comfortable, but my curiosity won out. With a groan, I rolled over and got out of bed to change clothes.
“I’ve never been here,” I said, gaping at the bustling and thriving town square. It wasn’t like Joy Springs, not at all. This place had a vibrancy similar to that of a larger city, but magic hummed in the air. “Are there any humans?”
“Plenty,” Rowan said as he backed his truck into a reserved parking space. “But Emberwood doesn’t hide. Every human who lives here is aware of us.”
I snapped my attention to him. “How?” I breathed.
“Similar to your fae oath,” he said simply.
“If they want to live here, they must apply. Each human applicant undergoes a thorough background check, and a mage of my choosing performs an even deeper sweep. If they pass, they are informed of what our town holds and required to undergo an oath tied to their blood. They simply cannot tell anyone who has not taken the oath anything about us. The magic prevents them.”
My misgivings must have shown on my face. Rowan smiled. “You wonder what happens if they ever want to leave.”
I nodded. “Can they?”
His low chuckle wasn’t amused. “I am not your other Lord, Evie. No one is held here against their will. They do not tithe or bow to me as a god. There is a simple spell that activates when they announce their intention to leave. Their memories remain, minus the magic.”
I blinked. “How does that work?”
“I am not a mage,” Rowan said, “but no one is harmed. They remember everyone they’ve met, but they do not remember anything of magic, only that of a fantastical city, one with whimsy and not power.”
“You’ve never had a spell fail?”
“Once,” Rowan said, his eyes dimming. “Before we could reach her, the woman’s new city had dubbed her the kooky eccentric.
Our mages visited her and made things right, but it was too late.
” A smile tipped his lips. “But she made the best of it and embraced her new status as the town kook. Last I heard, she was running a thriving incense shop somewhere close to Portland.”
“No one gets weird about humans living here?”
He shook his head. “No, because our magic keeps us safe from harm. The humans know what we are and do not fear us.”
“What a world that would be,” I mused.
Rowan slid out of the truck and jogged over to open my door. “Come, Evie. Let me show you my world.” He held out a hand. I slipped my hand in his and let him lead me toward the bustling heart of Rowan’s city.