Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
My stomach hurt. The ache started after Ash and Tess returned to the store, but as the day went along, the ache grew until I was having trouble walking. Immortals didn’t get sick, unless the illness was magical in nature.
It could only be one thing.
Surprised it’d taken this long to start acting up, I rubbed the lower part of my stomach and grimaced when I shifted.
I didn’t want the others to worry, so I didn’t move from my worktable for the rest of the day, except to get up and stretch, which caused a tearing pain in my stomach that made me gasp.
“Evie?” Moira said, eyeing me with a strange expression. “You alright?”
“Totally fine,” I assured her. “I’ve been using more muscles than normal these days.”
Moira grinned. “Caelan putting you through the wringer, is he?”
“I cannot wait until you get a boyfriend.”
The vampire laughed. “You’re going to be waiting quite a while. Boys are too much trouble, and I like my life just the way it is.”
Tess’s head popped up from the computer. “Ash broke up with me today.”
“Oh honey,” I said. “Are you alright?”
She shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be? Everything changes, doesn’t it?”
I walked over, doing my best not to hunch over in agony. “It does,” I agreed. “But that doesn’t mean we want it to. Sometimes change takes us by surprise and it’s difficult to adjust.”
Her silvery eyes glimmered. “But he will still be here, won’t he? I’ll still see him every day.”
Moira and I exchanged a glance. “You will, but things will be different now. At least a little.”
Tess’s face took on a contemplative look. “Like no kisses anymore?”
“Right. No kisses and probably no sleepovers if you ever had those.”
Tess frowned. “I liked Ash’s kisses.”
Moira closed her eyes for a brief moment. “I hope you two can still be friends after this.”
Tess let out a merry laugh. “Why wouldn’t we?” She shook her head. “Ash is still my best friend.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. Tess wasn’t stupid, but she had a way of dealing with the world that wasn’t always the healthiest. “Ash may need more time to think about things,” I said gently.
“Breakups are usually harder for men than they are for women, so it’s important you respect his boundaries until he’s ready to tell you how he wants to move forward. ”
The banshee looked at me, then Moira. “You don’t think he’ll want to be my friend anymore?”
“That isn’t what I mean,” I rushed to say. “You and Ash were still friends when you were boyfriend and girlfriend, but now you aren’t anymore. He may need some time to get used to the fact that things are different.”
Tess slumped. “They don’t have to be,” she said softly. “I can’t help the way I am. It bothers Ash. I think he wanted me to be different. Not me anymore.”
I picked up Tess’s cool hands. “This is an important lesson. Our first love isn’t usually our last, but every relationship teaches us something.
If Ash can’t accept you as you are, then good on you for not allowing him to try to change you.
Eventually you will find someone who loves you exactly as you are. ”
“He loved me that way when we were friends. And you love me, don’t you?”
I gathered her in a hug and took a shaky breath, ignoring the shards of glass feeling in my abdomen.
“Yes, of course we do.” I leaned back and took her face in my hands.
“But a boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or wife should love you in a different way than we do. And if they can’t, then they aren’t the right one for you. ”
Tess nodded against my shoulder. “I understand.”
“Good.”
“Do you love the Lord that way?”
Leave it to Tess to aim a question like a dagger. “I am not sure how I feel about Caelan, but I know I care about him very much.”
“Does he try to change you?” Tess’s silver eyes glimmered with tears.
I thought about it. “No. He does other things that make me question the longevity of our relationship, but he’s always accepted me.” I shook my head. “More than accepted me and my quirks. I have no complaints in that department.”
“Do you think he’ll be your husband one day?”
I blinked.
Moira chuckled. “If it’s up to Caelan, he’d marry Evie today.”
“But you don’t want to?” Tess asked.
“Things are complicated,” was all I said. “If I marry someone, I want to ensure it’s of my own volition, and I’m not pressured to make the decision.”
“I think Ash wanted that,” Tess said with a sigh. “But I’d leave him if I faded into the mist, and I don’t want him to be sad.”
I stilled. “The mist?”
“Your mother has been calling us home, back into the mounds behind the mist.” Tess bowed her head and toyed with her fingers. “The shop wards help me resist.”
That bitch. “She’s calling all the banshees home?”
“I’m not sure. My friend in the graveyard doesn’t hear the call, but I do.”
That bitch. I seethed inside, anger like acid in my chest. “I’ll talk to my mother.”
“Evie—”
“No,” I snapped at Moira. “I can handle her. Things are different from before. My mother knows I’m not someone she can slap down anymore.”
Returning my attention to Tess, I spoke once more. “Keep resisting. How are the wards in your apartment?”
“Strong,” she assured me. Tess had an ingrained talent with ward making, maybe even better than mine. “But I can’t go out much anymore. If she senses me wandering, she strengthens her call.”
Fury made my fingers tremble. “I’ll talk to her tonight.”
Tess’s eyes widened. “I don’t want you to get into trouble.”
Her innocence made me smile. Tess’s idea of trouble was vastly different than my mother’s. If Cliona could get away with it, she’d probably kill me, even if I was her only child.
“Don’t worry about me. Many things have changed over the years. My mother and I are on equal footing now.” Or, at least, the footing was sloped in my favor these days.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Of course.” I checked my phone for the time. “Let’s lock up and get out of here. We haven’t had a customer in two hours.”
The earlier I got out of here, the sooner I could confront my mother.
Hurting Tess wasn’t on her radar unless it hurt me. But it was a message.
Cliona wanted to talk.
Never a good sign.
Much to Hazel’s consternation, I’d never been great at spell work. At its heart, Floromancy was an intuitive magic, driven by the mage’s heart and intent. But I wasn’t just a Floromancer anymore, was I?
Before leaving the shop, Tess gave me a lock of her hair at my request. I carefully snipped off a bead at the very bottom of the gown my father had given me and dug deep into my closet to retrieve a box of childhood memories.
Once I had a dried petal from the only flower my mother had ever given me and the other materials I needed, I went into the greenhouse, where my power felt strongest, and set everything up.
My magic settled inside me, the pain from the seed lesser now for some reason.
I set up four green taper candles at each cardinal point in the circle I’d drawn.
A small silver bowl filled with purified water and graveyard dirt sat in the middle.
I lit each candle, starting from the north and going in a clockwise direction.
Once each taper burned, I touched the charcoal brick of incense with the lighter, holding it to the flame until it sparked and caught.
Once the brick began to smoke, I sprinkled a little incense on top and waited for the smell of rose and lavender to waft through the greenhouse.
My plants grew curious. A few vines stretched from their pots and curled over my shoulder.
Every time I performed magic now, the greenery became a little more sentient than it should. I wasn’t concerned. Yet.
I sensed no danger, only a solid sense of comfort and curiosity, so I continued on.
Tess’s hair went into the bowl first, followed by the bead. The petal was the last to go.
“Cliona,” I whispered. “I heard your summons. I wish to speak with you.”
No one had seen my mother since she left Caelan’s Keep after I transformed into my Chimera form. She was, wisely, keeping a low profile. I didn’t mind one bit, but her screwing with Tess was unacceptable.
The greenhouse shivered, a silvery, opaque portal opening a few feet away.
“You bitch,” I whispered. Cliona was well protected in her own domain. I’d never been to the mounds and had no idea what to expect. My mother knew it and wanted to throw me off my game.
I watched the portal for a few moments deciding whether or not to go through.
“Fuck it,” I snarled, snatching one of the plants from the table—a thorned ivy, one of my newer creations I hadn’t tested out yet. I’d look like a crazy person stepping into the fae lands wielding a potted plant, but better safe than sorry.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the silvery beyond.