Chapter 18
Meera
The penthouse common area was quiet today, except for the soft hum of the refrigerator and the occasional rustle of plants as a breeze from the open balcony door stirred their leaves.
I sat curled on the couch, my phone buzzing in my hand.
The screen lit up with Maa in bold letters, and my stomach twisted with guilt.
I’d planned on calling her much earlier, but since I wasn’t supposed to talk about the egg or the murder, I didn’t really know what to say. I’d avoided it. And now, she was calling me.
I’d gotten a panicked-sounding text from her, asking if I was okay, what happened with the fire, and if I had any details about it.
She’d sent me a news article that questioned whether Karim’s unnamed fiancée, me, breaking up with him over his infidelity had anything to do with it.
Completely caught unaware that my personal life was being discussed on the internet, I’d told her to call me in ten minutes as I cornered Graham and demanded to know what the fuck was happening.
He apologized for not telling me sooner about the fire at Karim’s office.
I resisted quipping back that he couldn’t have told me anything on account of the fact that he had been avoiding me for days.
He also told me that they had pulled some strings to make sure I wasn’t a suspect in the fire, because I was here in Darlington.
Maria’s reaction yesterday on the phone now made perfect sense.
I swiped to answer my phone. "Hi, Maa."
"Meera!" Her voice was sharp, panicked. "Are you okay, beta ?”
My heart warmed at the endearment. It reminded me that no matter how old I got, I was always her child and she loved me, even though we didn’t always see eye-to-eye on everything.
“I just saw the news. Karim’s office burned down, and they’re saying he’s missing! Why didn’t you tell me?"
"I’m fine, Maa. I wasn’t there. I’m sorry you had to find out online. I didn’t know how to tell you. I know you liked Karim so much.”
That was an understatement. Maa had practically thrown me at him. And she was so excited to plan our wedding.
I couldn’t help but notice Graham, who’d just come out of his suite, frowning.
“I thought I could take a few days to organize my thoughts before I told you the engagement was off. And I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone details yet.” That part was true, but she probably thought I was talking about the fire when I actually meant the murder.
How could I explain to my mother that I was afraid to disappoint her because she was excited about the wedding?
Having run off with my father when she was young, she knew better than to restrict my freedom, though she’d always insisted on vetting the men I dated.
Karim had been the only man that she approved of.
“And plus, I was still processing everything. I didn’t want to disappoint you too.”
She sighed loudly. “But you should still tell me, Meera. I’m your mother. I should be the first to know. How long have you suspected him of cheating? Who was it? Was it that randi who works in his office?”
“Maa!” I flinched at the harsh word, something I rarely heard out of my mother’s mouth. That was like calling someone a slut.
“If she’s a whore, we’ll call her a whore,” she said, doubling down. “She has no shame, but my daughter does.”
I sighed. Of course she’d blame the woman.
“Karim’s just as guilty. Focus on him?”
“Okay, okay, beta . But where are you?”
“I’m safe. I’m with…” I looked around. “I’m with friends.” I didn’t know what to tell her, and my confusion must’ve shown because Graham was typing furiously into his phone.
“Friends?” She sounded incredulous, like she didn’t think I had friends. And she’d be right.
Graham handed me his phone. There was a long paragraph, and the words Read this to her at the top. The words didn’t sound like me, so I ad-libbed a little.
“I’m with Redrock Protective Services. Don’t worry about me. These guys are trained to deal with stuff like this. I’m as safe as houses.”
Graham sent me a thumbs-up.
"Houses?" Maa asked.
"It means I'm as safe as I can be."
Maa seemed happy with the response. “Redrock. I’ve heard of them. The authorities have put you somewhere safe. Good. Good. I’m glad.”
She thought the police set me up at Redrock, and I let her believe it. I didn’t want to explain now.
“I know it’s hard to talk to your Maa sometimes but never be afraid to call.”
“Thanks, Maa.”
“The madam is coming by,” Maa whispered. “I have to look busy.”
I chuckled, and we hung up after our goodbyes. That had gone a whole lot better than I’d imagined, all thanks to the fire. She was worried about me and not focused on the fact that I was single again. And she didn’t even need to know about the murder or the stolen dragon egg.
I found Graham watching me with an unreadable look on his face.
“What?” I asked, sharper than I meant to.
“You were nervous talking to your mother.”
I exhaled. “Yeah. She loves me, but sometimes she tries too hard to prevent me from repeating her mistakes.”
“What do you mean?”
I traced the plastic edge of my phone case. “She met my father in the UK, and they started a secret relationship. When her family wanted her to come home and marry someone they’d picked, they ran. Dropped everything and came to the States.”
Graham nodded, urging me to keep talking.
“Money was always tight growing up. They fought. A lot. He blamed her for him not finishing school. She blamed him for being a bad provider. Then, when I was old enough to go to school, Maa went to work. She started making more than he did, and that somehow made it worse. Instead of yelling at each other, they just stopped talking. One day, my father just… left.” I swallowed.
“She doesn’t want that for me. But she also wants to give me the freedom to choose.
She liked Karim because he had money and roots in the old country.
She wanted him to take me to India, show me where she came from, because she can’t do it herself.
And she thinks if she’d picked differently, I’d have had more. ”
I could still hear her voice, the way it cracked when she said, I wish I’d chosen better for you.
“She’ll say things like if she’d married the doctor her family chose for her, I’d have grown up in a large home with new clothes, and always have enough to eat. And I always have to remind her that if she hadn’t chosen my father, I wouldn’t exist at all.”
I blew out a breath, suddenly aware that I was spilling not just my life story in front of Graham, but the gritty part of it. The insecurity of knowing that my very existence had trapped my mother in a hard life. The poor guy didn’t sign up for this.
“I’m sorry. I made things all weird.”
“No, don’t be. We all have burdens.”
“Even gargoyles?”
“Especially gargoyles.”
But he didn’t offer, so I let it be. I’d spilled enough for both of us for one day.
As if on cue, his body language changed, and so did the general atmosphere around us. It lightened like it was giving me permission to step away from the past, the instability it had left behind, and enjoy today,
“Ready for the best coffee you’ll ever try?” Graham asked with a grin.
“Am I ever. Last one to the door is a rotten egg!”
The bell above the door chimed as Graham all but body-checked me into The Witch’s Brew , his wings catching briefly on the door above like he’d forgotten he’d had them.
I bet they got in the way often. He was a huge guy even without them, and they stuck up over his body, despite being already folded.
Even in Darlington, he still wore his glamour when he went out. I guess old habits die hard.
I took one look at the inside of The Witch’s Brew and immediately decided this was my new favorite place in Darlington, except Graham’s bed.
Crystals dangled from the ceiling like Christmas ornaments, mismatched mugs lined the counter, and shelves upon shelves of knickknacks cluttered the walls.
Was that a taxidermied raven? And a jar of…
eyeballs? Please don’t be real eyeballs.
The coffee shop was a maximalist’s wet dream. And it was a wonderful departure from the decade-long chokehold minimalism had had on our collective psyche.
“This place is perfect. Five stars.”
“You haven’t even tried the coffee yet,” Graham muttered, rolling his eyes.
“Details, details.” I waved him off and sauntered toward the counter, where a redheaded woman with a warm smile was wiping down the espresso machine.
“Griselda,” Graham said, with a familiarity that told me he came here often, even though there were dozens of coffee shops closer to the penthouse. “You have red hair again.”
“Yeah, I got sick of maintaining the black.” Griselda’s eyes were on me, though, and I could sense an unasked question already. “You must be new. I haven’t seen you around.”
“Meera is visiting from New York. I’m giving her a tour of the city.”
Technically true. But not the whole truth. Our little outing had two purposes. The first was that I wanted to see Darlington, and because Graham had been a jerk to me for days, I’d told him he owed me a tour. And second, Graham wanted to see if my presence in the city would draw out my ex.
The lead Mateo and Desmon’s men had been following had run cold. They still didn’t know who Karim had worked for and where the hell he was now that his office had been torched. His apartment had been abandoned too.
They were using me as bait, and I honestly didn’t mind.
At least they believed that the wolf shifters and wizards who had been after me were off my tail.
They should know Desmon already had the egg by now, so there’d be no point in going after me anymore.
So it would probably just be Karim. And I was a hundred and ten percent sure Graham could take him.
I wasn’t too excited about going back to my old life, not with all the new friends I was making here and this exciting new thing between Graham and me now that he’d given up hiding.
After our shower yesterday, he’d brought over my toothbrush from the guest bathroom and made a little spot in his personal bathroom for me. That had to count for something, right?
Unlike the shared area, Graham’s wing was loft-style, with two huge bedrooms on the second floor.
His bedroom looked out over the city of Darlington and boasted a large balcony above the rooftop patio.
The second room had a balcony that opened out to the city, but a second window that overlooked the common area.
It had a perfect view over the living room where I’d spent a lot of my time. I hadn’t even noticed there’d been windows up on the walls of the living room. I’d immediately recalled all the times I felt like I was being watched and called him out on it. He hadn’t even tried to deny it.
I looked through the menu once more and decided on the lavender latte.
“Which bean?” Griselda asked, gesturing to the two hoppers full of beans. “This one’s a little more caramelly, and the other is lemony.”
I squinted at the descriptions on the cards stuck to the front of each hopper.
Origins: Brazil
Roast Profile: Medium Roast
Taste Notes: Caramel, Mixed nuts, Baker’s Chocolate
Okay. That sounded good. And the second one?
Origins: Ethiopia
Roast Profile: Medium Roast
Taste Notes: Citrus, Oolong, Sunshine
I frowned. “How do they know what sunshine tastes like?”
Griselda chuckled. “They mean it’s bright.”
That didn’t really help, because I had no clue what “bright” tasted like either, but I was curious, so I went for it even though it was two dollars more.
I’d never understood the flavor profile of things like wine and coffee.
They’d always tasted the same to me unless actual flavored syrup was added, and then it was just in your face.
Maybe this would change my mind, but I wasn’t betting on it.
“Great choice,” Griselda said. “The lemon goes so well with the lavender.”
I tried to imagine it, but failed. “I’ll take your word for it.”
Graham ordered an Americano with the first bean.
“Here or to go?”
“To go,” Graham said. “I promised to show Meera around.”
Griselda rang us up, and Graham insisted on paying for both of us. “The tour is on me. To make up for the past few days.”
I wasn’t going to argue that.
“Where’s your first stop?” Griselda asked as she fixed our drinks.
It was only now that I noticed a large stand behind her that looked like the stand Chicken Nugget used back at the penthouse, but much bigger. I peered around but didn’t see any birds. Oh well, too bad. Maybe next time.
The first sip of my lavender latte was shocking. The citrusy lemony zing was totally there, but the strong, unavoidable scent of lavender permeated in the best way. And I actually tasted the sunshine. It did taste bright.
“What magic is this? Is there actual lemon in here?”
Griselda grinned. “Nope! And no magic. It’s the result of a fermentation process.”
“Huh, really?” Graham reached for my drink. “Let me try. Yoink!”
I gawked as he grabbed the drink right out of my hands and took a sip.
“Ooh, that is lemony. That’s good.” He took another sip. “Ten out of ten, would steal again.”
“Hey! Give that back.”
He grinned and brought the drink to his mouth again like he was going to chug it all.
Griselda laughed. “You two are adorable. You should stick around, you’re good for him.”
“Oh, I’m just here for a bit. I’ll be back in New York soon, hopefully.”
Just because Graham had finally admitted there was something between us and we were actually spending time together now didn’t mean I expected anything permanent.
The man was a gargoyle, a stupidly attractive and offensively rich one.
I kept repeating that this was just a fun chapter for future me to laugh about, not something serious to get hung up on.
Also, I’d just ended things with Karim. I shouldn’t be diving into anything serious again, even if a very reckless part of me really, really wanted to.
“So where are you two headed next?”
“The farmers’ market. Graham says it’s different from any other farmers’ market I’ve ever been to.”
“It is! Especially since The Wall fell. We’ve got a whole slew of green witches in the area, and they always have something interesting to offer.” Griselda said that like green witches were a totally normal thing.
“I can’t wait!” I snatched my drink back.
“Well then, slowpoke, what are you waiting for?” Graham asked, already turning for the door. “Let’s go.”