Chapter 13 Kayla
Kayla
Kyle was quiet in the car. He’d fought Sebastian on having the driver with us, but Sebastian had insisted. I’d pretended not to listen to their tense exchange, but averting my gaze probably hadn’t fooled anyone.
Sebastian seemed to believe that having Andrews with us offered another layer of protection. Kyle had argued that he didn’t need anyone else, that he could do his job just fine on his own.
I didn’t care. I just wanted Sebastian and Kyle to stop whatever dick-measuring contest they were having because I had places to go and people to see, and they were slowing me down.
I believed in Kyle and his abilities, but I wasn’t in a rush to argue against Sebastian on this.
“Well, gentlemen.” I’d stood up, trying to make sure my smile was as syrupy as possible. “If you’ll both excuse me, I still need to go out.”
Kyle had moved then, striding silently through the door, and getting into the backseat of the car.
Sebastian dropped a kiss to my lips. “Be careful, please,” he murmured.
I’d nodded and waved before I joined Kyle and we rolled out of Sebastian’s gilded cage of a house, and here we now sat, the silence strained between us.
We pulled up outside Lettie’s shop, almost shepherding milling tourists out of our way so we could get right to the spot Andrews apparently wanted to be.
I turned to Kyle in time to see confusion or concern play across his features.
Then he grimaced, pulling his mouth into a tight line, before the moment passed and he wore the same empty but hard expression as always.
Kyle had a face that didn’t invite questions or really any kind of conversation, even if he’d managed the occasional smile, the scar that zig-zagged its way through his close-cropped hair would probably put off even the most curious and intrepid of conversationalists.
But any flash of emotion was so unexpected that I couldn’t help myself. “Is something wrong?”
He didn’t reply, choosing instead to open the car door and get out before walking around and waiting for me. Whatever he’d thought of, it clearly wasn’t any sort of danger, otherwise he wouldn’t be acting like nothing was wrong, so I followed him.
We walked into the shop, and Naomi turned from stocking one of the shelves.
I grinned. “Hey, I know it’s been a while, but—”
Her face crumpled and her eyes filled with tears as she rushed to close the distance between us and threw herself into my arms. I held her for a moment until she raised her head and looked at Kyle, where he stood behind me, looming over both of us like a shadow.
She yanked away from me and her face twisted into something ugly as she pointed an accusatory finger at Kyle. “What the hell are you doing here? How dare you set foot inside this shop?”
“Whoa… Hey, slow down, Nay-Nay. What’s going on?” I placed my hand on her cheek as I tried to get her to focus on me. “Calm down. I’m here now. What’s wrong?”
She turned away from Kyle. “It’s Lettie.” She heaved a breath.
“What about Lettie? You know where she is?” I looked around like the old witch might step out from the back, a handful of crystals clutched to her chest.
“She’s…” Naomi looked at me, her eyes wide and glazed with unshed tears. “She’s dead, Kayla. Francois killed her as part of his war games with Nicolas Dupont.” She pointed to an unassuming clay urn sitting on the counter. “The regent just sent her ashes over.”
I stared at the urn, hardly processing anything Naomi had just said until one phrase filtered through my thoughts. The regent. “What? Sebastian, he… he knew?”
Sebastian had known this whole time that Lettie was dead, and he didn’t tell me?
I’d discussed Lettie with him. He’s had ample opportunity to say something.
How could he betray me like this? I’d thought there was a bond between us but…
maybe not. Maybe being a vampire mate was actually nothing special at all—it certainly didn’t appear to extend to being completely open and honest. My chest hollowed and nausea crawled up my throat.
I swallowed against it and turned to Kyle.
He said nothing and looked over the top of my head, focusing right through the wall of the store, his whole being like a statue.
“How did Sebastian get Lettie’s ashes?” My voice was tight and hard, controlled so I didn’t cry. I wasn’t about to look weak for that man.
“That’s a question for Sebastian.” His face didn’t give away even one hint of emotion, and disgust rolled through me as I looked away.
Fucking vampires.
“You stay here and guard the door.” I delivered the instruction with as much scathing disgust as I could before I swept both Naomi and myself through the store and toward the back, where we could talk without me having to look at a damn vampire.
I didn’t even want to breathe the same air as him. He was polluting my space.
Naomi grabbed the urn as we passed by and hugged it to her chest. I glanced at it before averting my gaze. Lettie hadn’t escaped her contract after all.
Damn Francois.
Damn Sebastian.
I couldn’t trust any of them.
Damn fucking contracts with vampires. Tears pricked at my eyes again and I blinked rapidly. I couldn’t cry right now. There was still too much to be mad about without wasting my time being sad. That could come later.
And so could worry for my own situation. If Lettie hadn’t escaped, maybe that meant that none of us could.
I pulled the curtain shut behind us and Naomi put the urn in the center of the table where Lettie had unpacked all of her deliveries.
I’d watched her unpack deliveries more times than I could count, her movements always methodical and sure.
I hadn’t known a moment when Lettie wasn’t in control — of this shop, of herself, of her destiny.
I glanced around the back room again. It was like an old-fashioned kitchen back here and herbs hung from hooks, their fragrances filling the room.
I breathed deeply. My awareness of Lettie was strongest here.
It was where she had created a lot of her spells, and it was as if that repeated use of power had ingrained her within the very walls.
A sob lodged in my throat, but I swallowed it back down. I still didn’t have time for emotion when there were practicalities to deal with.
“We should say a blessing for Lettie.” I rested my hand on the urn, trying to feel her energy emanating from there, trying to find any sense of her at all in the clay pot. “I’m just so… so horrified. I don’t understand.”
Naomi shook her head. “It really doesn’t make any sense.” She drew up a stepstool to stand on and reached for one of the books from a wooden shelf that ran around the room.
The book was old and many of the pages weren’t even fastened to the spine anymore.
“What sort of thing should we say?” When she flipped the cover open, dust filled the air, and we both coughed then softly laughed. Obviously, Lettie hadn’t used this one in a while.
“I don’t think we need a book, Nay,” I said. Then I brought my hands together and bowed my head to the urn.
Naomi did the same.
“Namaste,” I whispered before I started to recite the familiar words.
“My soul honors your soul. I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the light, love, truth, beauty and peace within you, because it is also within in me. In sharing these things, we are united, we are the same, we are one.”
Naomi joined in and at the end we remained silent.
“Lettie would want to be in the bayou, I think.” I touched the urn again, reverence and respect in my heart. “Her people were from there. I’ll come back tomorrow and we can do a proper ceremony.” It was the least I could do for her, for all the years she’d guided and protected me.
Naomi nodded. “Okay.”
“Are you okay still managing the store?” I looked around and drew in a breath of the herb and patchouli smell that had always permeated the whole place.
I couldn’t imagine not visiting here anymore.
What if Naomi said no to running things permanently now that we knew Lettie was truly gone?
Maybe I could take it on. I didn’t want Lettie’s legacy and influence in New Orleans to simply fade away.
Naomi nodded like she couldn't imagine doing anything else. There wasn’t even a moment of hesitation from her.
I blew out a soft breath of relief as I collected some ingredients from Lettie’s neatly labeled jars and also grabbed one of my oldest grimoires from the shelf.
I’d always kept it here with Lettie’s but now it felt like I needed it home with me again.
I pressed a kiss to Naomi’s cheek before drawing back and meeting her gaze. “I promise I’ll be back in the morning, and we can drive out there together, okay?”
She nodded and I gave her upper arm a gentle squeeze.
“I’m so sorry, Naomi. I never imagined…” I stopped and gestured uselessly, but there wasn’t anything more I could do or say so I slipped the book and herbs into my canvas shopping tote and returned to Kyle.
“Let’s go.” I didn’t meet his gaze, and I kept my words curt.
I still didn’t want to waste my time on him.
I hadn’t even thought about forgiving any of them yet.
As I led the way from the tiny shop and the bell above the door tinkled a familiar farewell, a second car drew to a stop outside and Sebastian climbed from the driver’s side.
Of course he did. Because my day was already so fucking swell. He looked at me pleadingly, and I narrowed my eyes at him in response.