Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
Ifound the Lord in the kitchen the next morning, eating a bowl of oatmeal topped with blueberries and walnuts. He was still in his sleep clothes: a cotton t-shirt and flannel pants.
“You’ve changed your wardrobe,” I mused, noting the comforting hum of cotton and bamboo.
Every fabric hummed at a different frequency.
Synthetic fibers jangled uncomfortably against my senses, though I was too polite to say anything.
Ash was like me in that regard. The dryad always wore natural fibers, but it took Tess and Moira a while to fully understand how jarring they were to our senses.
Tess had embraced the challenge and hit up every thrift store within a two-hour distance.
Moira went on an online shopping spree and now grumbled about being spoiled by luxury cashmere and silk.
Rowan’s brow furrowed for a moment before he looked down at himself. “Yes. I have a Floromancer staying at my home who made me feel guilty about microplastics and pollution.”
I laughed and reached for a banana hanging on the fruit hook. “Mother Earth thanks you.”
“Don’t you want something more substantial?” he asked, frowning at the fruit.
He was always trying to feed me. I knew why.
My weight loss was obvious now, the new clothes Rowan had bought hanging from my hips and shoulders.
“My appetite is still up and down,” I admitted as I settled beside him at the kitchen island.
“I have a favor to ask, though, and it’s a little personal. ”
He put his spoon down. “Ask away.”
“Lugh destroyed my tattoos. They helped control the worst of my Chimera magic, and I’ve been struggling with keeping my power contained. I’ve siphoned some of my power, but this is not my land, so I’m careful about how much power I feed these grounds.”
He studied me for a moment before saying, “You can feed as much power into the grounds as you like.”
I smiled sadly. “No. I—”
“Whatever you tell me will remain between us, Evie. I promise.”
“I accidentally claimed a portion of Caelan’s land when I did that. When I return to Joy Springs, I’ll have to rectify that.”
He stilled. “You’re returning?”
“I’m not sure.” The indecision was tearing me up.
If I decided to move, Caelan and I would be done.
Forever. Was I ready to sever everything so completely?
Not that he’d thought much of that when he stomped all over my heart.
“Regardless of my decision, I’ll have to return for my things and my plants.
Plus, I’ll have to relinquish the claim on my land to sell my house. Not to mention shutting down the shop.”
“I’ll help with whatever you decide to do.”
Rowan had always been a stalwart friend, but these days, that friendship was skewing in a confusing direction. “Why are you always so kind to me?” I asked, dropping my gaze to study the banana a little too intently.
His soft laugh made my hands still. “That’s a question asked by someone who has not had enough kindness in their life.”
I frowned. “You’ve never made me mad.”
He snorted. “Give it time. I didn’t live in Joy Springs, so we didn’t see each other enough to get annoyed.”
“You’ve never hit on me either.” Where the hell did that question come from? It’s not like I wanted him to hit on me. Did I?
Rowan’s eyes narrowed. He shifted his body to face me. “Would you like me to?” he asked quietly.
Um. No? Yes?
“You’re an honorable man, Rowan,” I said instead.
His eyes glimmered with amusement. “I do not try to take another male’s female.”
This was becoming a dangerous conversation. I no longer belonged to anyone. Not that I ever really had, but I understood his point. “When’s the last time you had a girlfriend?”
Rowan blinked in surprise. “Curious about my love life, Evie?”
My cheeks heated. “I’ve never met any of your girlfriends.”
He chuckled. “I haven’t had a girlfriend, as you say, in a long time.”
I took a bite of my banana and chewed for a while before saying, “Why? I’m sure you have women flocking to you. You’re a Lord. You have all this stunning land. You’re kind and funny. You look like that…” I fluttered my hand at him.
His eyebrows lifted. “Are you trying to say I’m handsome?” He crossed his hands under his chin and fluttered his eyelashes.
A snort escaped me. “Please. You know you are.”
Rowan shifted and leaned in, so close I could smell the blueberries on his breath. “Perhaps I have not found the woman I’m meant to be with.” He lifted his hand and brushed my hair behind my ear.
The light touch of his fingers sent goosebumps down my spine. I swallowed hard.
“Perhaps I’ve been waiting on someone,” he continued, his fingers stroking through the bottom of my hair, lightly tugging the waves on the ends.
“Rowan.”
“Hmm?”
I cleared my throat and sat up straighter. Rowan’s fingers released my hair, and he leaned away, picking up his fork like nothing had happened, like he hadn’t just stunned me into stupid silence. “Umm. If it’s possible, could you take me to the border of Donovan’s old land?”
Rowan speared a blueberry. “You mean your land now?”
If I had my way, that was about to change. “I suppose. I’d like you to come with me. If you don’t mind.”
“Today?”
“I know how busy the Lords are, so I don’t need to go today. Whenever you are free is good.”
Rowan smiled and scooped the last of the oatmeal.
“You will find, soon enough, that I am not like the other Lords. I do not participate in all the infighting or politics. It makes me unpopular with the other Lords, but my people adore me.” He winked to tell me he was mostly joking and rose to rinse his bowl.
“Give me two hours, and we’ll go. Sounds good? ”
I nodded, surprised by his flexibility. “Sure. It’s colder there, so bring a warm jacket.”
He patted his flat stomach. “I’m a bear, darling. I’ll keep you warm.”
I waved him away with a laugh. “Incorrigible flirt.”
Rowan winked and headed out of the room. I watched the play of muscles in his back until he turned the corner and disappeared.
“Get a grip,” I muttered to myself. Pursuing Rowan was a bad idea for a million different reasons.
But the longer I was here, the harder it was to remember those reasons.
True to his word, Rowan was ready right at the two-hour mark and met me outside on the patio. I pushed a travel mug of coffee I made him over.
“For me?”
I held my travel mug up and waved it around.
“We’ll take the truck. Got a jacket?”
I stood and picked up the one on the back of my chair.
“Good. Ready?”
I nodded and followed him over to the four-wheel drive. Snow covered the ground, crunching under the tires as Rowan pulled away. We’re about five hours away from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a beautiful spot right at the border between Rowan and Donovan’s—no, my—property.
“I put blankets in the back, assuming you’ll need to be on the ground.” He frowned and laughed at himself. “Which makes zero sense. You grow roots.”
I smiled. “It’s the thought that counts. But there’s something else you should know.”
He glanced at me. “Oh?”
“Sometimes, depending on how much power I expend, I do more than grow roots.” I patted the bag I still held on my lap. “I brought extra clothes, just in case.”
“It’s in the thirties there right now and you’re planning on getting naked?”
“Not on purpose. I might grow a barrier.”
He blinked. “A barrier.”
I explained what happened sometimes, ensuring he knew it was usually only when seriously wounded or trying to heal someone. “My magic is acting a little funny these days, and I haven’t been siphoning as I should, so I’m not sure what to expect.”
Rowan glanced at me again. “How long?”
I’d been knocking the edge of my power for a month now. The rest of it was building up inside me and felt like it was about to boil over like pasta water.
When I didn’t answer, Rowan let out a soft exhalation. “Evie. You haven’t released your power at all?”
“I’m not like you,” I said quietly. “I’m not a true shifter. My Chimera and Floromancy are an odd mix, and now that the tattoo no longer works, I can’t suppress my magic like I used to. I want you to see the land, but you can’t be close to me once I release the magic.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Rowan.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said again. “I’m not Caelan.”
“I never said you were.” I watched his fingers tighten on the steering wheel. “Is everything okay?”
“He called last night.”
Shit. “Do I need to leave?”
Rowan scoffed. “No. Absolutely not. He wasn’t even sure you were with me.”
“But he knows now?”
Rowan nodded. “He was already ninety percent sure.”
I didn’t ask all the questions I was dying to ask. Caelan had tried to call me dozens of times, but I refused to answer.
“He looks like shit, but he’s functional.”
I barked a laugh. Rowan grinned.
“He insisted on speaking to you, but I told him no. He’s obviously called you numerous times already.”
I nodded. “He has.”
“Thought so.” His hands flexed on the steering wheel. “You don’t have to speak to him ever again if you don’t want to.”
His words struck a chord deep within me.
I’d been here for a month already and hadn’t once picked up the phone to speak to Caelan.
What was there to say? He told me I was flawed, broken, unfit to serve as his Lady.
Some of those awful things came from Lugh’s influence, I knew.
But some of it hadn’t. My father visited once with Rowan’s permission and gave me a lesson in illusion magic, something I’d proven adept at.
Dad said my talent was due to my Chimera magic.
A Chimera was a creature made of pure magic.
Since we could become anything we could set our minds to, why wouldn’t we be good at the same sort of magic Lugh used to ruin my life?