Chapter 19 #2
He reached over and tucked a stray hair behind my ear. “She has a gift for disappearing right when we’re about to win. My suggestion is to try to disrupt that gift. It’s not a natural one for a witch to have.”
“Dad’s right,” Evie said. “She must have an amulet or something similar to your travel potions, Moira.”
“There’s no way to keep her from brewing more if she’s using a potion.” I rubbed my nose and sat up. “But I haven’t seen her consume anything, so it must be a charm.”
Mom wore jewelry, but I hadn’t paid much attention to any of her pieces. It was too late to worry about now, and she wasn’t the worst thing I had to worry about. “Has anyone heard from Ethan?”
Rowan shook his head. “No. I tried to call today, but he didn’t answer.”
“What about Kinsley? Anything from him?” I needed to text Ethan’s Second and update him on what I’d found.
“He said Ethan is asking a lot of questions. He’s suspicious.”
“Anything about Sarah?”
Rowan’s lips tightened. “On the surface, everything seems normal. But there are large gaps in her memory that bug Ethan. Sarah doesn’t remember a single thing after the date of her death.”
“Well, at least Mom couldn’t fake that,” I muttered.
“True,” Rowan said, “but it’s an issue. It prevents the illusion from being complete.” The Lord frowned. “Well, I guess it’s not an illusion. Sarah is as real as you or me.”
“As long as that spell stays active,” Cliona said.
Rowan nodded. “If Ethan pushes too much, he may damage his psyche. He’s too smart not to see that something is hinky. And his people cannot lie to him successfully.”
Oh shit. I hadn’t thought about that. “If he asks them a direct question and they lie to him, his suspicions will get worse.” I tapped my fingers against my knee. “Couldn’t this work in our favor? Can he break the spell on his own?”
“Possibly,” Cliona said. “How do you think a Lord would react when the spell he’s under breaks, and he realizes the woman sharing his bed has been dead for years?”
Ethan might kill her. Or worse. Which could solve all our problems in one way but worsen everything else.
I groaned. “For now, we stash this body somewhere it won’t creep everyone out while we figure out how to handle Mom.”
“I concur,” Evie said, “as long as we find a place where we don’t have to smell her.”
“Does anyone know who that is?” Rowan asked, eyeing the body.
“We think she might be one of the witches who was after Soren. I’ll confirm tomorrow.” Tonight, I planned to faceplant into bed just like I had last night.
Cernunnos and I locked eyes. I shook my head once at his meaningful look. Sharing a bed with him right now would make me feel worse. He didn’t see it that way. I could tell by the way he was looking at me.
I was tired, both mentally and physically. Tomorrow, I planned to do a deep dive into research to figure out exactly how my mother was able to pull off a spell like this and seemingly have no ill effects.
There was a place Mom had long ago. She kept all her books and notes there. Whether it still stood was another story, but Mom was a creature of habit. She wouldn’t abandon the place if she didn’t have to.
I’d come prepared for running into her, too, and kill two birds with one stone if I could.
There was one more place I’d visit if I found nothing there. After that, if I was still in the dark, I’d resort to brute force.
Cernunnos gave me a slight smile and a nod. “I’m off for now.” He gave me a little salute and disappeared.
Evie slapped me on the thigh. “You and Dad are still being weird. Everything alright there?”
“We understand each other. That’s enough for now.”
She sat up and eyed me. “No sex makes Moira a grumpy girl.”
“Eww,” Ari said.
“Yeah,” Evie agreed. “I have to separate my brain into separate compartments and pretend Moira isn’t dating my dad when I say things like that.”
Ari leaned forward and peered at me. “Are you alright?”
I leaned back, away from her probing stare. “I’m fine. Why?”
“You look a little peaked.”
“If you haven’t noticed, I have a few things going on.”
Ari’s mouth turned down. “No.” She reached out and touched my forehead. “Have you eaten today?”
“Not much. I had more caffeine than anything.”
Ari frowned but nodded. “Make sure you eat a big meal before bed tonight and get a good night’s sleep.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Ari rolled her eyes. “On that note, I’m off too. Call me when you know something.”
She stood and stretched.
“What do you do with those weapons you keep in that weird portal thing?” I asked, curiosity overriding my need to get back to my apartment.
“Store them,” Ari said with a shrug. “Until they’re ready for their new bearer.”
“Do you give quests to people, too?” Evie said with a snicker.
Ari’s eyes went silver. “Only for the most deserving,” she intoned. With a wink, she disappeared in a shimmer of silvery light.
Then it was only immediate family. “When’s the last time you’ve consumed blood?” Cliona asked.
“I’m just tired. That’s all.”
Cliona snorted. “When’s the last time you’ve been tired? Before Cernunnos?”
So she knew about our little blood experiment. Wasn’t sure how I felt about that. “It’s been a few weeks,” I grumbled. “We’re stretching things out to see how far I can go without a top-up.”
“Looks like you’re due,” Cliona said. “Would you like me to call him back?”
“No,” I said too quickly.
Everyone, including Rowan, raised an eyebrow at my hurried refusal.
“Look,” I said, annoyed I felt like I had to explain myself. “Things are fine. I am fine. If I start feeling the effects, I’ll reach out myself. This is nothing any of you need to be involved in.”
Evie and Cliona shared a look. Rowan unfolded himself and stood. “I’ll see you back at the house,” he said to Evie.
With a nod to me, he walked off. Cliona reached down and brushed her fingers over Evie’s cheek. “I’ll be back in a few days. Call if you need me.”
When she was gone, Evie pierced me with an intense look. “Why aren’t you biting him? No bullshitting me.”
“We really are doing an experiment.”
She grunted. “And now you’re mad at him.”
“I’m not mad.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“I’m not!” I insisted, but it sounded false to me. “I’m really not. More annoyed than anything.”
Evie nodded. “He can be really annoying sometimes. Let me guess. It’s drying up the nether region?”
I laughed. “You’re such an asshole sometimes. But yes. Total Sahara down there right now.”
“And you can’t stop thinking about Ethan?”
“Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking. I want him to be happy. Sarah made him happy. I guess I’m struggling with the morality of it all.”
“I get it. But that,” Evie said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder toward the corpse, “is an abomination. If Sarah’s life is dependent on that horror show, we both know the answer.”
“Yeah, but doing the right thing is hard, so I plan to wallow for a little while.”
Evie smiled and nudged me with her elbow. “Wallow away, friend. I’m going back to the house. Call me if you need me.”
She waved and jogged toward the main house. “Oh, and I’m taking the body with me, just in case you were concerned. Can’t have the kiddies coming out to see that in the morning!”
I sat there for a little while enjoying the cool night. Just as I got up and dusted off my pants, a tall, lean man with glowing golden eyes walked out of the woods.