Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SELENE
The light showers stopped near noon the following day. Not long after, Maeve announced she needed air and headed down toward the lake. I watched her go from the tall window nearest the door, her red hair catching the pale light through the glass before she disappeared from sight.
The quiet she left behind brought a smile. Life would be boring without her energy. I slipped my safety glasses back into place, but the sound of footsteps echoing from the stairwell kept me from turning on my grinder.
I glanced over my shoulder to find Bren emerging from the entrance. I wondered if his appearance just after Maeve’s departure was a coincidence, but when he headed straight for me and not his workstation, I had my answer.
I raised my brows in question as he approached, trying to keep the mood light. “You appear to have something on your mind.”
A glint of silver sparked in his eyes, surprising me. “I do.”
He came to a stop near me. Not close enough to crowd, but his proximity increased my pulse. “I’d like specifics on what Margaret said.”
I set down the grinder and removed my glasses. “She asked about my work here. And she had more questions about my experience and how I came to decisions regarding replacement versus repairing.”
He remained silent, waiting for more.
I shrugged. “If you’re asking me if something felt off, it did. Her questions would have been appropriate during my interview, but not now. I wondered if she was trying to get rid of me.”
Bren folded his arms. “That’s no longer her choice. What else?”
I studied the lines of his tight jaw, the look of determination burning in his eyes. “Are you asking my thoughts on the matter?”
He dipped his head once. “I am.”
My stomach tightened at the memory. “Okay then. I wondered if she knew about me, knew that I’m a ward witch. Did you tell her?”
Bren narrowed his gaze. “Never.”
I nodded, accepting his answer, as I replayed my interaction with the woman. “Then maybe she doesn’t know, but I had the distinct sense she wanted me to say something she could use against me for reasons unknown.”
He eased out a slow breath. “And?”
I swallowed against the bud of fear sprouting inside me. “My instincts warned me to be careful, so I was. I kept my answers general. Professional. I repeated what I had said during my interview with the council regarding my experience. She could find the same information on the firm’s website.”
Bren was quiet for a moment. “Good.”
He sounded relieved. I was anything but. “What’s going on? Does she know something?”
His eyes flashed silver again as he scoffed. “If anyone’s a target, it’s me. There’s no way for her to know about you.”
The stones beneath my feet trembled slightly, but he didn’t react.
Still, it, along with what he said, left me with an undeniable chill.
“I’m certain that I’m in her sights. She either knows what I am or sees me as someone who’s in the way of what she wants.
” I shifted my stance. “Would she try to end the contract if she learned about my heritage?”
He paused, choosing his words. “She’d have grounds to raise concerns with the council. She might try. Her family has long held strong views on certain kinds of influence in heritage work.”
I swallowed the breath lodged in my throat. “Influence? Do you mean magic?”
Bren huffed softly. “I do.”
My thoughts drifted back to my interview. Margaret, at the conference table, her smile too controlled, her questions too careful. I’d read her as someone with a difficult personality. But I knew more now. “Does Margaret have abilities herself? Do others on the council?”
He hesitated long enough that I suspected he was measuring what to say. “They all have something in their family lineage. Diluted. To what extent it’s manifested in any of them individually, I don’t know them well enough to say.”
I nodded. He hadn’t given me a full answer, but it was more than he’d have given me two weeks ago.
He held my gaze for a moment longer. “Tell me immediately if she contacts you again. Answer only what you’re comfortable with, and nothing more. That goes for any of the council.”
His instructions seemed insufficient. But he knew them better than I did, and I didn’t want to make more of it than it was. “Nora cautioned me to tell no one, so I haven’t. Especially not Margaret.”
“Good.” The corner of his mouth quirked. The gesture wasn’t quite a smile, but close, and then it was gone.
Without warning, he stiffened, the angle of his head shifting away, and a familiar chill slid between us. He gave me a curt nod and turned toward the large oak table where he’d set up his laptop.
I slipped my safety glasses back into place and turned on the grinder, hoping the sound of it would chase away the sting.
It wasn’t too long before a gust of cold air and the smell of damp grass caught my attention.
I cast a glance over my shoulder as Maeve walked in, pulling her scarf loose, her cheeks pink from the wind.
She paused just inside the threshold, her gaze moving from Bren at the worktable to me by the fireplace.
She raised her brows, but she said nothing. After dropping her bag on the table and draping her coat on the back of a chair, she headed toward me.
I turned off the grinder and waited. She glanced over the wall. “How’s it coming?”
Her presence was a sorely needed balm. “It’s manageable.”
She nudged me with her elbow. “That’s what you always say.”
The anxious feelings eased. “It’s true, isn’t it? Has there ever been anything we haven’t managed?”
Maeve slid a sly glance in Bren’s direction. “Not so far.”
She settled next to me, and we continued our work. Fifteen or maybe twenty minutes passed before she tapped my arm. I turned off the grinder with a questioning look. She leaned slightly toward me. “He came down the minute I left, didn’t he?”
I shot a quick glance in Bren’s direction. He’d left the room, and I hadn’t noticed him go. I lifted my chin in answer, and she gave me a knowing nod.
When Maeve nudged me again a short time later, I turned off the grinder with a frustrated look. I was prepared to tell her she needed to stop interrupting me, but she gestured with a tip of her head toward the door.
I turned to find Cormac standing in the doorway, broad-shouldered and clad in his deep brown coat. The atmosphere in the room shifted to something lighter the moment he crossed the threshold. It wasn’t quite the way Maeve brightened a room, but his presence changed things.
He grinned at Maeve first, then at me, and then his gaze settled on Bren as he strode toward him. “There he is. Working hard for once. Or at least trying to look like he is.”
Bren closed his eyes for a moment, as a look of pure annoyance washed over him. “Why are you here now? We had plans to meet at the pub later.”
Cormac only grinned, apparently immune to Bren’s sharp replies. “I know. But there’s been a fair amount happening at the castle lately, so I thought I’d stop by.” He dropped into a chair near his friend and eyed the papers in front of him. “Am I interrupting?”
Bren answered without hesitation. “You know you are.”
“Great.” He grinned at us. “How’s the restoration coming?”
Maeve answered, looking just as entertained. “Ahead of schedule, which is extraordinary.”
“It is.” Cormac slid his gaze to me. “Selene’s magic, no doubt.”
A shiver of fear left bumps on my skin, and I jerked my gaze to Bren, shooting him an accusing look. Cormac must have caught my reaction because he lifted a meaty hand. “He didn’t tell me, if that’s what you’re about. I sensed you’re a witch all on my own.”
I struggled for words as I turned back to Bren. “If people can just sense it, then why not Margaret?”
Cormac and Maeve both glanced between Bren and me, waiting for an answer.
Bren tightened his jaw and then relaxed. “Cormac is aware of things Margaret could never be.”
I shook my head at his answer. “That doesn’t reassure me.” I pinned Cormac with a hard look. “You tell me what tipped you off.”
His expression stilled. He glanced at Bren, who scoffed his displeasure, closed his eyes, and shook his head once. “Tell her.”
Cormac focused on me, his brown eyes warm despite the seriousness that hovered in them. “I was with Bren when you first came to Killarney. Your arrival created quite the ripple.”
I dropped my jaw, stunned. “Say that again?”
Bren groaned. “It’s not how it sounds, Selene. Yes, we felt your presence. Or should I say the Veil did? I’m highly attuned to anything that might be a danger.”
Maeve wrapped her fingers around my elbow, her whisper sounding bewildered. “A ripple, then?”
I struggled to find the words to respond. “But…then others must have noticed too. You’re not the only one capable of that, right?”
He flattened his hands on the table, not as at ease as he’d like me to believe.
“Sure they did, but they’re incapable of tracking it.
They’re aware something occurred, but they have no idea what.
Truth be told, I used that to push my agenda, to force them to allow me access to Mystwood.
Enough of the council were unsettled by what happened and by my insistence that the Veil grows thinner every day.
They questioned Margaret’s continued refusal and voted against her. ”
I’d been the thread who’d helped him weave his web? He’d used me?
No. He’d used what had happened, and I couldn’t blame him for that.
That information settled me somewhat. I nodded at Bren. “Okay. If you’re sure.”
His expression shifted into a soft smile. “I’m sure. You’re just fine.”
Cormac glanced between us several times. “Do I sense something here? Perhaps you need some alone time to kiss and make up?”
Maeve released my elbow and turned to me, her eyes bright and questioning. “Oh? Do they require time alone?”
I lifted a hand to keep things from spiraling. “Cormac.”
He winked at Maeve. “Only if they want to kiss again.”
I dropped my jaw and slid my gaze to Bren. There was no way Cormac could have known unless he’d said something.