Chapter 10
HEL
Garmr snored from his bed, exhausted from his walk.
When he looked like this, I could almost forgive him for the puppy regeneration.
He was so adorable when he was sleepy, and it made me want to cherish him.
At least until he started teething, then I'd be wishing for him to hurry up and be full-grown again.
"He's very sweet," Clara said, drawing my attention to the woman on the other side of my desk.
"He has his moments," I responded, trying not to question what I was doing too much.
I'd already seen her once more than I'd intended, and her having a connection to my uncle was another concerning factor.
It was getting dangerously close to seeming as if there could be some kind of emotional connection, and I knew better than to let that happen.
That was how I got left behind and hurt.
"I always wanted a puppy as a kid," Clara said, unable to take her eyes off Garmr.
"Why didn't you have one?" I asked curiously.
"My parents said that I wouldn't look after it enough, and they didn't want to be the ones who were always walking it and picking up after it. They were probably right."
I laughed. "They often are."
"I can't imagine that Loki would say no to you getting a puppy," she said.
I snorted. "They'd say no, but they'd also plan to bring home an orca."
"Where would you put one?"
"Nowhere, they should be in the sea," I responded. "My father is known for their mischief, not their logic."
"That must have been an interesting childhood."
I shrugged. "They weren't around much. But we're not here to talk about childhoods or Loki," I said.
"You have questions about a potion?" I was already playing with fire when it came to answering the questions she was asking.
I wasn't supposed to be forming a connection to her, even if it felt like I might be.
I leaned back in my seat and picked up the cup of coffee I'd thought to suggest we got on the way back to the mortuary.
Though Clara had once again opted for herbal tea.
"Yes." She cleared her throat and pulled a folder out of her bag. "I don't know how much you know about potion-making..."
"The basics," I responded. "Necromancers don't tend to be very adept at it, but my father and uncle are witches."
"How does that work if you're not?" she asked curiously.
"No idea. Genetics were never my calling. I take after my mother, and my brother takes after his. Perhaps that's for the best."
"Right. Well, I'm trying to brew a potion that will make you dream of the dead," she said. "But it's proving a little challenging."
"Often the dead don't want to be spoken to," I responded. "It's like being in the middle of a nap and someone yelling your name in your ear."
She did a double-take. "Is that true?"
"I don't make a habit of lying about my magic," I responded. "That's how rumours and bad information get spread."
"So you're saying that my potion is a bad idea?" She toyed with the sleeve of her travel cup.
"No. There are plenty of the dead who want to talk to the living. You just have to be careful about how you call them. I'm guessing that it's your dad you want to see?"
She nodded. "Am I that obvious?"
"You mentioned him. If you hadn't, then I wouldn't have been able to guess," I said. "Or maybe I would have. It's normally a parent or a partner that people want to connect with again after the veil between the worlds has been shut, and you don't seem like you've lost a partner."
"So how do I do that? I've been trying to find a way. A piece of hair, focusing on a memory, that kind of thing. But I don't seem to be getting anywhere."
"The memory is going to get you closer than any hair," I responded. "Which is a good thing. Your potion would be rather limiting if it involved having to have a part of the deceased body on you."
"It wasn't my preferred option," she admitted. "But I was just trying to find a way to make it work at all."
"I might have something." I pulled open a drawer and found the small vial. "It's called veillock." I held it out to her.
Clara reached forward and took the vial from me, her fingers brushing against mine as she did.
A new awareness that I wasn't used to started up around me.
I wasn't usually one to be affected by other people, but maybe that was because I didn't spend much time with those whom I'd taken to bed.
My body remembered what Clara's touch was like, and that was why I was reacting to her.
I pulled my hand back and cleared my throat. "Try that in your potion."
"What is it?" Clara asked as she rolled the vial between her fingers, making it shimmer in the light.
"It's a plant that grows in the god realm," I responded. "A lot of necromancers use it to help them when they want to talk to the dead. If they can get their hands on it, anyway."
"To talk to the dead?" Clara asked, looking straight at me with intelligent brown eyes.
"That's what necromancers do. Or one of the things we can do. It might not work, but you're welcome to try."
She looked down at the vial. "Are you sure? This looks expensive."
I shrugged. "I can get more next time I'm in the god realm."
"Right, because you can do that."
"Anyone can do that. They just have to go through the portal," I responded. "Though I wouldn't recommend doing it without a god with you."
"I doubt I'll ever go to the god realm."
"You should never say never," I responded.
"You mean like you should never say never to potentially seeing someone again after spending the night with them?"
I laughed. "It seems that I would be eating my words if I'd said that."
"I hope that it isn't too much of an issue," Clara said.
"It's fine," I assured her. "We're adults, we can deal with a couple of conversations about death."
"So you're willing to talk to me again if I need to know more?" she asked, a hint of hope in her voice.
"Make an appointment, and we can talk more," I said. "But business only."
She laughed. "It's okay, I understand that you don't want to see me in any other way."
There was a slight hint of disappointment within me at her words, but I squashed it down.
As good as the single night with Clara had been, and as sweet as she seemed, I wasn't one for relationships, and I wasn't about to change that for a cute witch.
I had my heart to protect, and I was going to do that the same way I always had.