Chapter 22
22
JOSEPHINE
R: I’m picking you up at eight. Dress warm.
I stare at Roman’s text for the hundredth time today. He sent it around lunch, and I was so unbalanced for the rest of the day that I barely noticed my mother’s insults. My sister was at the spa today and even she couldn’t distract me with her jabs about my appearance. I sent Roman back an “okay” and then proceeded to worry about why he wanted to meet for the rest of the afternoon.
I’m ready well before eight. I start to clean my apartment, but that only makes me sweat, so I settle for intermittent pacing and sitting rigidly on my couch. Ava and Piper came over after I panicked and forwarded the text to them both.
“Where’s he taking you?” Ava throws a piece of popcorn up and catches it in her mouth. She’s probably one for five, and kernels litter the chair she’s sitting in. She’s watching some show where no one knows how to bake.
“I know as much as you. He didn’t tell me.” I gnaw on my fingernail and then fluff the pillows on the couch.
“Have you had any motherwort tea lately?”
“Ava.” Piper scolds, but she’s trying to fight a laugh as she turns to me. But then she can’t help herself either. “Have you?”
Motherwort tea is the witching world’s equivalent of birth control and protection from all diseases. I gasp and press a hand to my chest even as my cheeks heat. “Piper. I expect this from her, but you?”
“Why?” Ava snorts. “You know Piper’s probably a freak in the sheets. It’s always the quiet ones.”
“I am not.” Piper laughs. It’s been a while since she’s looked so carefree. It’s nice to see.
“Only for lack of opportunity. I’m sure Bobert Randolfo couldn’t find a clit if you pointed a giant flashing light directly at it.” Ava rolls her eyes.
“First of all, his name is Bobby, not Bobert. And secondly, I have never and will never touch that man in a sexual way.” Piper shudders, and I nod in sympathy.
There’s a knock on my door, and my stomach leaps so far up my throat that I’m afraid it’s going to pop out if I open my mouth. I knew he was coming. Why am I so surprised?
“Wish me luck.” I throw on my jacket and open the door to a devastatingly handsome Roman. His dark hair is almost entirely hidden by a beanie pulled low on his forehead. He’s wearing jeans, hiking boots, and a hooded jacket.
Roman’s eyes trail down my body and back up until I’m so hot I’m desperate to get outside and into the cold air.
“If we don’t hear from you in three hours, we’ll assume you’ve been murdered and call the cops.”
Roman’s brows lift, and the corners of his mouth fight a smile. He leans into my apartment.
“Hello, Ava. I’ll take good care of Josephine. I promise.”
Ava makes a choked sound, and the faint response of “I bet you will” is enough to get me out the door.
I squeeze past Roman and pull the door closed so quickly it slams hard enough to make the walls vibrate.
“Eager to get going?” Roman chuckles.
“Yep. Let’s go do this mysterious thing.”
Roman’s car is waiting at the curb. I vaguely remember it from the other night when he rescued me from the woods. It reminds me of him as a man. Dark, handsome, powerful. He opens the door for me. It’s so foreign that, for a moment, I’m frozen. No one has ever opened a car door for me. What a stupid thing to stop me in my tracks.
“Jo? I swear no murders are planned for this evening?” Roman’s hand brushes down my back. I have layers of clothing on, but the touch still makes me swoon. His words bring a smile to my lips and reset my brain into action.
“Planned? But some may still occur?”
“Never say never.” Roman grins at me as I get in the car.
The temps outside are in the single digits, but it’s still warm inside from his trip to come pick me up.
“We’ve got a little bit of a drive,” Roman announces once he’s settled in his seat and pulls away from my apartment.
“I’m just going where the night takes me. Murder and all.”
Roman sticks to the residential streets as we drive through town. Technically, the Tenebris coven isn't supposed to be on the Lumen side of the river. It’s a completely absurd practice because who’s even enforcing it? Mystic Hollows has a tiny police department staffed by a handful of humans. They wouldn’t even know that Roman shouldn’t be on this side of town. That’s not to say that someone from the Lumen coven won’t see Roman’s car and connect it to him. Then, the coven leaders would fight it out with little to nothing coming of it in the end, except for a bunch of wasted time.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going yet?” We pass by houses glowing in the night. They all look so warm and cozy, but you never know what’s happening behind closed doors. Images can be deceptive.
Roman glances my way. The dash gives off a blue-tinted glow, and his features look more defined than normal. “Are you someone who likes surprises or not?”
I chew on my fingernail, but Roman gently tugs my hand away, threading his fingers through mine. Warm currents of energy flow from the touch, and I sink back into the seat, almost instantly relaxing. My magic reacts as if Roman struck a match and lit my soul on fire. It strains toward him, making my body feel like it’s glowing. Roman makes a low, rumbling sound that takes me from relaxed to aching in less than two seconds.
I fumble to answer his question, lost to all the sensations swirling under my skin. “I suppose it depends on the surprise. Mostly I’ve just had the not fun variety in life, so I tend to want all the details. Not that I often get them.”
“In that case. I want to take you on a date.”
“A date?” my voice squeaks, and Roman grins, his eyes staying on the road as we leave Mystic Hollows.
“Unless you want to go shopping at Woodroot’s Apothecary, there really isn’t a spot in Mystic Hollows where the two of us can go without setting both covens on our asses.”
He’s not wrong. Which makes me wonder what we’re doing. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to feel touch without pain, and the more time I spend with Roman, the more I realize that I really like him. But in the long run, how could anything possibly work between us? I shake my head. It doesn’t matter. I’m getting completely ahead of myself. For Maiden’s sake, he’s taking me on a date, not proposing.
“My brother, Ambrose, Odie, and I have a cabin on Eternal Mists Lake. It’s far enough to get away from the pressures of the coven and our families.”
There are lakes all over the Upper Peninsula, but Eternal Mists Lake is close enough that I’ve heard of it. It’s about a forty-five-minute drive from Mystic Hollows.
“Do you get along with your family?” The radio is on, but the volume is turned down low. I catch snippets of a blues riff.
“Bram and I have always been close. I don’t have a great relationship with my parents. They’re more concerned with appearances than anything else. Well, my mother. My father’s main focus is sleeping around. You have two sisters, right?”
I nod, causally absorbing the comment about his father and leaving it alone. “I do. I’m close with my youngest sister, Penelope. Camille is nineteen, but we don’t really get along. My mother is all about power and the hierarchy of the coven. In my family’s eyes, I’m not the right representative of the Delvaux lineage. Camille will take over as head of the family when my mother steps back someday.”
Roman’s brows pinch. “You’re the oldest, though.”
“I know.” I shrug. Honestly, that doesn’t bother me. I don’t want to be part of the coven’s council. I don’t want to argue about how we’re superior to the Tenebris coven. I can’t imagine anyone would listen to what I have to say, especially because I want things to change. Still, I can’t help but think about what my mother said to Camille the other day. About my curse and her plans for me. I haven’t been able to figure out what she meant.
“Does your sister have more power?”
“No. I’m the strongest healer in the family. My mother has water magic. The healing abilities come from the Delvaux line. Camille has middling abilities, but she doesn’t often use them. Penelope is still learning, but she may be more powerful than me in the end. I’m better at harnessing my magic because I use it every day, but Pen will probably surpass me since she doesn’t have to deal with the curse.”
The car swerves a little, and I grab hold of the door with my free hand. Roman’s still clutching my other hand in his fingers.
“You’re a masseuse. You use your magic every day. Even though it pains you?”
I fall silent. I guess that didn’t occur to him before now. How can I explain that I don’t mind helping people? I just wish it were others more deserving than the rich assholes who come into the spa. I don’t get a chance to respond because Roman asks another question.
“And does your sister Camille do the same work?”
I hesitate, knowing how this will sound. “No, she works on the office side of things.”
“But she has healing abilities and doesn’t have your curse.” Roman’s words grow clipped. His relaxed posture has disappeared.
“No. She doesn’t,” I murmur.
Roman sucks in a deep breath, like he’s getting ready to unleash a barrage of questions or maybe a lecture. Instead, he blows it out. His shoulders relax with the exhalation.
“Did you find anything in the grimoire the other day?”
I mentioned in a text that I checked out one of our coven’s grimoires. I shift in my seat, thinking about the punishment my mother inflicted after she found me there. She enlisted the help of my father and Camille to grab me after work and hold me down until I passed out.
“Not much. I didn’t have a ton of time before I had to get back to work.”
I study Roman’s face and don’t miss the way his jaw clenches when I mention work.
“If you didn’t have family obligations, if you didn’t work at the spa, what would you want to do for a living?”
We’ve moved deep into the countryside, the road winding beneath the naked oak and maple branches. It should feel desolate, but there’s freedom in escaping our small town and the watchful eyes of our covens and families.
“I’d still want to heal people. I volunteer at the hospital whenever I can. I don’t have a lot of free time, but I like helping.” I smile a little. “Piper and I used to dream of opening our own store. She’s incredible at brewing potions; in fact, she does a lot for Morty. I would help with healing tonics.” My sigh is heavy and resigned. I don’t want to talk about dreams that will never come true. “What about you? Is the hotel industry where your heart lies?”
Roman chuckles. “Honestly, neither Bram nor I are suited for any of the front-of-the-house business, but I don’t mind the other aspects. Thankfully, we have good staff to help with the people side of things.”
It’s my turn to laugh. Brooding does appear to run in the family. I haven’t been around Bram often enough to know his true personality, but he’s a bit of an enigma. One moment, he seems quick to smile, and the next, there’s a darkness that’s almost frightening.
“What would you do if you weren’t locked into the family business?”
Roman opens his mouth and then closes it. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never considered the option.” He makes a sound that’s part surprise, part consideration. “Everything in my life has always been set in stone, you know.”
I nod because, yeah, I do.
Roman takes his eyes off the road, briefly looking at me. “It’s only recently that I’ve even considered that maybe I shouldn’t settle for how things have always been done.”