Chapter 6
Chapter Six
CASSIAN
The glowing violet sigil floated in the air, displaying the curse diagnosis. With my limited training, I couldn’t read the runes without a dictionary, but Willorunia could.
Sterling flipped open his journal to a blank page and started sketching.
I watched him, feeling like a flame inside me had been doused.
I’d been trying to keep him away, but I hadn’t considered he would reject me when I finally gave in.
It didn’t feel good, but I couldn’t even be angry. He was here to do a job. That was all.
“Do you know what you’re looking at, Officer?” Willo asked.
“I can look it up later,” he said, not looking up from his drawing.
I leaned over his shoulder to watch him sketch smooth lines. It was almost correct, but even a wrong angle could change the entire meaning. “Maybe you should let me sketch it for you,” I said. “I know what these runes are supposed to look like.”
He finally looked up. “Am I doing a bad job?”
“No, but I could do a better one,” I said as nicely as I could.
“I realize I’m just a lowly mage and you’re an officer of the law, but I can tell you what this means right now,” Willo said.
Sterling turned to her. “Will you sign off on the analysis with your registered signature to be sent to the Ladiall Force?” he asked.
“Of course I will,” she said.
He turned to me. “And will you do the same if I allow you to sketch it?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Oh… I, uh…”
His eyebrows lifted. “No?”
“I don’t have a registered signature yet. I never finished my apprenticeship,” I said.
Sterling frowned at me, clearly fighting to find a way to turn me down again.
“Just give it to me,” Willorunia said, reaching for the journal.
Sterling hesitated before handing her the journal and the pencil. “Are there any other witches in the area?” he asked while Willo got to work.
“Ezzila,” Willo said. “She works in Dreckle. People go to her when they can’t afford me. Or when I reject them, and this, I would have rejected.”
“Did you receive a request for this?” Sterling asked.
“Don’t you think I would have told you if I had, Officer?” Willo asked, not looking up from her efficient and accurate sketch.
“I had to ask, Willorunia. I’d appreciate an answer,” he said.
“Nobody asked me to do this,” she said tersely.
Sterling rubbed his chin and stared at the floating sigil with narrowed eyes. “That could mean it’s someone who knows the inn well enough to know you wouldn’t put your husband’s livelihood at risk.”
“Or it could have been Ezzila herself,” Willo said. “She has always been jealous of me. I bet she can’t stand another witch moving to the area.”
I lifted my head. “Another witch? Who?” I asked.
“You, Cassian,” Willo said.
My face warmed at the amused looks on their faces. “Oh. Right.”
Willorunia stopped drawing to frown at her work.
“Anyway, this diagnosis says your inn is cursed to receive no money for services or food, which explains why your donation system works. The bigger problem is the type of magic. Someone placed Faian rune stones around your property. Most are probably outside the diagnostic perimeter because it’s only picking up two stones, and usually there are five. ”
“Faian magic?” Sterling asked. “So the rune stone you found in the river was part of the curse?”
“You found a rune stone? What did you do with it?” Willo asked.
“I threw it back in the river,” I said.
“You threw it back?! Why?” she demanded.
“I didn’t know what the rune said, and I was afraid it would be dangerous to remove it,” I said, surprised at her reaction. I would have expected her to do the same.
Willo sighed with closed eyes, and then she nodded. “You were right to do that, but Faian rune stones are nearly impossible to find. You might not find it again.”
My heart sank. Throwing the stone back in the river had hindered our progress, and I hadn’t even realized it.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Sterling said. “Often, the person who was hired for illegal magic can make a deal to undo the magic and turn over information on their client in exchange for their own innocence. Perhaps we can get Ezzila to confess.”
“Ezzila will not talk to you,” Willo said, signing off on her drawing and handing the journal back to Sterling. “And she is not the type to give up client information.”
“Thanks,” Sterling said. He lifted and lowered the image, moving his gaze from the drawing to the glowing sigil before finally giving a nod of approval.
“Looks good. Nice job, Willorunia.” He snapped the journal shut and smiled.
“Thank you both very much. I’ll send this off to Ladiall and wait for their report. ”
“You don’t believe mine?” Willo demanded.
“I do,” Sterling said. “It’s mostly a formality, but sometimes they can trace the magic back to the source.”
“Really?” Willorunia asked.
Sterling nodded, eyeing her closely. “While I wait for their response, I’m going to head into town to speak with Ezzila.”
“Hm. Good luck getting her to answer the door,” Willo said.
Sterling and I shared a perturbed look.
“It’s cold. Let’s go inside,” I said.
I gave Willo her jar of cateyes before she left, and then I helped Jasmine with the rest of the evening, checking in guests and serving the evening meal and drink.
It was busier than I’d ever seen it as the owner.
When the night finally wound down, Jasmine pulled open the key drawer to reveal the barren slots.
“Empty again,” she said. “Looks like you’ll have to get in bed with the Force. ”
“You didn’t save him a room?!” I asked.
“Don’t act like you don’t want to share a bed with him,” Jasmine teased.
“I don’t!”
She shrugged. “Oh well,” she said just as the door blew open and Sterling entered the room in a whirl of snowflakes.
He pulled his crimson scarf down to reveal his beautiful smile. Snow dusted his dark hair and broad shoulders, but he didn’t seem bothered by it as he strolled up to the counter. “Just the innkeepers I was looking for,” he said. “Can I ask you both a question?”
“Sure,” Jasmine said.
“Would it be all right if I took Cassian into town tomorrow? I want to bring him along when I question Ezzila, because he knows more about magic than I do.”
“You didn’t go today? What have you been doing?” I asked.
“Making copies of Willorunia’s drawing and sending the original to Ladiall,” he said. “There wasn’t enough time left to make the trip to Dreckle.”
I withheld a sigh, knowing he was right. I didn’t want to spend the entire night and day with him, because I actually did want that. Badly.
“Ezzila?” Jasmine asked. “Is that what the diagnosis told you?”
“No, but I can’t leave any stone unturned. I might as well look into it instead of waiting for confirmation, right?” Sterling asked.
“Right,” I said. “Can you watch the inn tomorrow, Jaz?”
“Of course, Cass! You deserve a day off,” she said with a wink.
“Thank you,” I said miserably. It would be more exhausting than a day on.
“Of course. I’m ready for things to go back to normal,” she said.
“Me too,” I said with a sigh.
“I think I’ll turn in for the night, then. We should be up bright and early tomorrow,” Sterling said.
“I’m afraid we’re out of rooms again tonight. You’ll have to keep sharing with Cass,” Jasmine said.
“Oh…” Sterling watched her, deliberately avoiding eye contact with me for a painful couple of seconds. “Is that all right with you, Cassian?” he asked, finally fixing his beautiful gray eyes on me.
“We have no choice. Go ahead and get to sleep. I’ll be there in a minute,” I said, nodding toward the door behind me.
“All right. Goodnight, Cassian. Night, Jasmine,” he said, rounding the counter to disappear behind the office door.
It was another hour of fulfilling guest requests for food, drink, and extra blankets before I finally made my way back. By the time I arrived, he was asleep.
I let out a sigh of relief as I watched the rise and fall of his breathing beneath the heavy blanket. I’d be sure to save him a room tomorrow.
I got ready for sleep and slipped beneath the covers, painfully aware that his shirtless chest was just inches away from me. We’d be sharing body heat all night to stay warm, and the thought was excruciating.
I felt him stir beside me. “Goodnight, Cassian,” Sterling said in his low voice.
My heart pounded. I hadn’t taken care of myself in the bathroom like I did the night before, because I thought I was safe from him. Even the sound of his voice shifted the flow of blood to somewhere beneath my waistband. I was grateful for the thick comforter for hiding my growing desire.
I looked over my shoulder to see him smiling in my shadow behind the flickering firelight. “Did I wake you?” I asked.
“It’s too cold. I’m having trouble getting to sleep,” he said.
“Do you need another blanket?” I asked.
“No, thank you. I wouldn’t mind if you kept me warm the way you did this morning, though.”
“I have no magic left for today. I’m sorry,” I said.
“That’s not what I meant.”
I faced away from him, realizing he wanted me to cling to him like I had been when I woke up that morning. I couldn’t do that. He would definitely feel how hard I was. “Maybe when the case is over,” I said.
Sterling sighed. “I’m not on the job while I’m sleeping.”
“You better get to sleep then.” I gripped the blanket tight in my fist, fighting my desire to face him.
Sterling sighed. “All right. Goodnight, Cassian.”
“Goodnight.”
I lay there thinking about the conversation and realized I had been acting stupid.
What was I thinking? Sterling had turned me down earlier, so why wasn’t I jumping at the chance to get closer?
Had I missed it? His rejection hurt my ego, so maybe I just didn’t want to feel desperate.
I was desperate, though. Not for affection, but for him.
I turned around, and Sterling’s eyes were already closed. He appeared to be asleep. My chance had passed.