Chapter Five Rab #2
Raven shrugged, fingers twiddling a crystal that hung on a long chain around her neck. “It’s anyone’s guess. If we’re lucky, Lyra’s magick will finally manifest. Poor thing’s been having a rough go of it without her magick. Such a shame, really.”
“Hmmm.” I refused to be drawn into a conversation about Lyra. It was her family’s curse and her problem, not mine. There was a time in my life I’d been willing to put everything on the line for Lyra MacGregor, but years of silence from her had deadened any of those inclinations.
“Coming to the Mabon party this weekend?” Raven asked as Knox finished up, patting the man on the shoulder and assuring him everything was under control.
“I don’t much care for dancing.”
“Och, that’s a lie, isn’t it, then?” Knox snorted and Raven laughed, the sound like wind chimes.
That was the other thing about small towns, and friends you grew up with—they knew you too well.
In truth, I was an excellent dancer.
“You’re brilliant on the dance floor.” Raven gave me a steady look that seemed to see all the things I wasn’t saying.
“I didn’t say I was a bad dancer; I just said I didn’t much care for it.”
“Does this have anything to do with the MacGregors hosting—”
“Listen, I really have to run.” I held up the bag of food in my hands. “Late for an appointment with Liam. We need to go over his books before he opens for the day.”
At Liam’s name, Raven’s expression softened.
“Hold on just a second. I’ve got a wee gift for him.” Raven ducked back into her store and returned with a small satchel. “A tea. Tell him to not argue about it and just take it. For his back pain.”
“Will do.” Knox took the satchel, and we headed down the street toward the Rune & Rose, the main pub in town.
Painted a soft cream color, with a red door and large arched windows, it was the perfect mix of magical and cozy.
Though Liam had been young to take ownership, Knox had bankrolled him when Briarhaven had gone through its magickal makeover.
The Rune & Rose was now hugely successful, with both locals and tourists alike, and the highlight was Liam’s inventive magickal-themed drinks, many in honor of historical women who were tried and executed as witches.
We found Liam at a table in the back, sleeves rolled up and his ledgers in front of him.
“Sausage rolls,” I said, dropping the bag on the table and shrugging my coat off. It had been unseasonably cool this year, enough that I’d taken to a wearing a coat when I usually preferred not to. I pulled out a chair. “And coffee.”
“A brekkie I don’t have to work for. I’ll take it.” Liam flashed a smile. With light brown hair, blindingly blue eyes, and Celtic tattoos snaking up his arms, Liam had more than his share of women and men alike coming on to him.
But, much like me, since dating was troublesome in a small town where many people were clients, he largely abstained.
“A gift from Raven.” Knox sat and placed the satchel on the table. Liam’s eyes warmed. I’d always suspected Raven was another big reason why he didn’t date much, but he’d never once spoken a word to us about her. And with my own doomed love life, I wasn’t one to pry. “For your back.”
“Och, my back’s fine. She’s always blethering on about taking care of myself.” Liam shrugged, though he did take the bag and tuck it away in his pocket. “I’m not old yet.”
“Can’t imagine lifting all those kegs is great for your back,” I pointed out and took the cover off my coffee to blow on it. “I’m guessing she’s just being friendly.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Liam swatted my words away and dug in the bag. “These Marcie’s? I hear Lyra’s working there now.”
I pressed my lips together, not wanting to talk about Lyra.
“She sure is. And guess who came to her rescue this morning?” Knox put his hands under his chin and fluttered his eyelashes at me. “Our sweet Rab. A true knight in shining armor.”
“You know what, mate? I can still gouge your spleen out with this.” I held up the wooden spoon that had come with the coffee.
“Spleen? Why his spleen?” Liam wondered, breaking off a piece of his roll.
“Because I don’t want to kill him, necessarily, and you can live without a spleen.” I shrugged and took a sip of my coffee and sighed with satisfaction. Perfect, as usual.
“But you’re fine with me being in horrible agony from tearing my flesh open with a spoon and removing an organ?” Knox raised an eyebrow at me.
“Och, aye. Toughen you up.”
“Brutal,” Liam observed, his lips twitching in a grin. “But, perhaps deserved. Knox, why are you interrupting my accounts meeting?”
“I knew you weren’t meant to come here,” I grumbled, annoyed at Knox.
A grin flashed on his face, and Knox leaned back, coffee cup in hand.
“A few reasons, but the first is that I’m staging a coup.”
“A coup? Whose country are we taking over?” Intrigued, I reached into the bag for a sausage roll, my stomach already grumbling in anticipation.
“Maybe it’s an intervention, then?” Knox squinted as he considered it.
“Why? Has one of us taken to drugs?” Liam looked at me, and I shook my head at him, bewildered.
“Basically, I need someone to go on this reality show, and it has to be one of you two,” Knox spit out, pointing a finger between me and Liam.
Liam leaned back and hooted with laughter.
“Mate, if you think for one second I’m going to leave my pub—during a busy season, mind you, with the added bonus of an entire production cast of a reality show being in town to film and needing food and drink—well, you’ve lost your damn mind.”
Both men swiveled my way.
“No,” I said, taking a bite of my roll, and closed my eyes in bliss. Marcie never missed. When I opened my eyes again, my two friends were staring at me. “ ‘No’ is a complete sentence, by the way. I don’t have to elaborate.”