Chapter 23 #2
She blew out a heavy breath. “You know. I do one favor for you, Soren, and things get shot to hell!” Evie pointed at the cloud. “I can only assume that thing is coming for you?”
Soren’s defeated look only seemed to piss Evie off even more. “Where the hell is the arrogant, know-it-all Lord who’s annoyed me for over a year now? Why are you standing there with your index finger up to its knuckle inside your nose?”
“Evie,” Cernunnos said quietly.
“And why the hell is the Emberwood jeweler here!” Her eyes began to blaze with color.
“Evie,” her dad said once more.
She spun on her heel. “WHAT!”
“This isn’t on you to solve.”
“It’s on my land! Soren is merely borrowing said land, and I swear to the gods if this is some plague meant to kill everything it touches, I’m going to murder Soren if this shit doesn’t do it first, then I’m never ever going to grant another favor to the godforsaken Lords for as long as I live!”
I covered my mouth to hide my smile. Gods how I loved her.
“I’m here because something I created got into the wrong hands,” Ari said, watching my friend with a newfound respect.
Evie’s brow furrowed. “Like a necklace or something?”
“Or something,” I said, so Ari didn’t feel like she had to reveal any more than she wanted to. “We can discuss it later.”
Ben and Soren both eyed Ari with curiosity.
Evie swiped a hand down. “Regardless. What are we doing to stop this right now?”
Cernunnos shrugged. “I wasn’t going to do a thing.”
“Dad!” Evie snapped. “What the hell?”
“I’m not supposed to get involved,” he said, but there was a twinkle in his eye. The asshole was enjoying himself.
“You get involved in everything all the time!” Evie’s eyes were blazing with color now. “From what I understand, you’ve been all up Moira’s ass for the past few days.”
She looked at me. “I have no idea what’s going on there, but I swear if you two are sleeping together, I never, ever, ever want to know about it.”
I almost laughed, but Evie was serious. “We are not sleeping together.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t like that I can’t tell if you’re lying to me.”
Ben started laughing. “She smells like him, Evie. Only due to proximity. I scent nothing amiss.”
I threw my hands up. “Alright. Stop fucking sniffing me, please! It’s super creepy when you do that.”
Evie closed her eyes and exhaled. “Fine. I’m not saying no. You’re both adults, but Moira, please only sleep with my dad if you’re sure you want to like…” Her voice trailed off. “Get married or something.”
She rubbed the spot between her brows. “But I will never call you Mom. That’s weird enough to make my head explode.”
I eyed her. “Are you alright?” She was rarely so emotional. I’d seen her get agitated, but today was something different.
“I’m fine,” she snapped, which was also unlike her. “But for the love of the gods, will someone, anyone, please tell me what the hell that thing is moving toward us?”
“Death curse,” Cernunnos said cheerfully.
Evie blanched. “Meant for Soren?”
“Yup.” Dad grinned. “Turns out witches don’t like being Eskimo sisters.”
I blinked. “How the hell do you know what that means?”
“I learn a lot at that shifter bar downtown.”
Evie looked positively scandalized. “Dad! I’m going to get you banned.”
“You’re the one who suggested I spend more time with ‘normal’ people.”
Ari watched us like a ping-pong match, a look of delight on her face. “You think shifters are normal?”
Evie sighed the sigh of a woman who’s had this argument a hundred times over. “They’re more normal than that guy!” She pointed an accusing finger at her father.
The spell cloud barreled toward us.
I couldn’t help with wards. Not my thing, and none of the weird magic I had would affect them for good or ill. Cernunnos seemed perfectly content to watch Soren die a horrible death, and Evie seemed stunned none of us were doing anything.
I was totally asking for a raise when I got home.
“Soren!”
He stared at the horizon with a resigned expression on his face. “Yes?”
“You altered the original wards. Why?”
He blinked in surprise. “Err. You can tell?”
Claws grew from Evie’s fingers. Oh yeah. She was really annoyed now.
I leaned over and murmured in his ear. “I’d stop asking stupid questions and answer her questions.”
“I wanted to know if you were outside the wards.”
None of us missed the sullen tone.
A ring of crimson circled Evie’s glowing azure and watermelon tourmaline eyes. “This is my land.”
Soren cringed. “I’m aware.”
She turned to look at the cloud. “Maybe I should let it come,” she mused. “It’d serve your ass right.”
Soren sucked in a breath. “Evie!”
She stood frozen, her eyes locked on the horizon. “You Lords are so used to me stepping in to save you.”
Even Ben looked discomfited by that.
“But what have you done for me?”
Now I was really concerned. Evie never asked for anything, nor did she expect anything in return when she did something for someone else.
She wasn’t wrong, but I’d never heard her speak like this.
“Evie?”
She blinked and looked at me. Her face softened. “I’m fine, Moira. I promise.”
Evie reached out and took my hand. “Sometimes people need to learn their own lessons, don’t you think?”
Before I could blink, Evie ripped me into the ether, away from Soren and the black cloud of death coming his way.