Chapter 23
Ophelia stumbled against Jena as they appeared beside a roaring bonfire within a circle of standing stones. It was vaguely familiar. Had she been here before? The late afternoon sun lit the sky, and it was warmer than it had any right to be. Not that she was complaining about that, but— “Where…?”
“The ruins above the node,” Jena rasped, looking just as disoriented. “This is the circle at the center of the garden where we summoned you.”
Ophelia chewed her lip. Okay, that tracked, but how had Jena’s dad gotten through all the wards back at the Witchery and here? Weren’t they supposed to keep assholes like him out?
“How right you are, my bright little star!” Jena’s father crowed. “And now for introductions.” He bowed low, sweeping off his hat. “William Seymore, at your service.”
“Hey! That’s my mom’s surname, not yours,” Jena spat.
“Modern times, darling, and you must admit, it has a ring to it.” He stood, replacing his hat and turned to Ophelia. “And you are…?”
She was pretty sure he knew, but— “Ophelia Diamondé.”
“Mmm.” He nodded, as if turning that over in his mind. “Both quite auspicious. Ophelia’s Greek in origin and means ‘advantage,’ if I’m not mistaken, and Diamond, eh? A most rare gem, formed by extreme heat and crushing pressures.”
Ophelia snorted. Diamondé was a perpetual pain in her ass—spelling and pronunciation wise—and she was pretty sure her first name had been inspired by the chick that offed herself in Hamlet, but whatever.
“I wouldn’t scoff, names hold power, you know. I can’t wait to discover what my granddaughter will be called.”
Jena put a protective hand over her abdomen. “She’s not going to be your anything.”
“What’s that saying? ‘Men plan and the universe laughs?’ Or was it God?
Gods?” William bent down and swept a bag of marshmallows off a picnic blanket that’d been laid out.
“Hmm. No matter. Would you like a s’more?
I know it’s a bit gauche to start with dessert, but your mother couldn’t get enough of them when she was pregnant with you. ”
Jena glared at him, backing against one of the stones. “No, and you need to take us back to the Witchery now.”
“Oh, I’m afraid I can’t do that. Ophelia?” he drawled, his brow raised and waggling a bag of Puff-Mallows at her.
“Um. I’m good, thanks.” What the fuck was going on? Gideon and Chase were going to freak when they found out she and Jena were gone.
William didn’t seem concerned.
“Hmph. You two don’t know what you’re missing. Creating the perfect s’more is one of my many talents.” He waved his hand and a long toasting fork appeared in it.
“Why are we here?” Jena gritted out, looking around like she was gauging her chances for escape. Judging by the frustration on her face, they weren’t good.
“I wanna know how he got past all the wards,” Ophelia added.
That damned grin slid over his face again.
“It’s a delightful fact that all magic is merely suggestion when approached from the right angle, and, more often than not, I prefer not to comply.
” Her father impaled a marshmallow and crouched down to hold it above the coals.
“As far as why you’re here, would you believe me if I said I wanted some bonding time with my only daughter? ”
Jena narrowed her eyes at him. “No.”
“Well, then I don’t know what answer to give you. There we go.” He slowly turned the fork. “Nice and golden. Personally, I like them crunchy, but Rebecca preferred them this way. Much less interesting, if you ask me. The char is what balances the sweetness and kicks their flavor over the edge.”
“That’s disgusting, and what I asked you was why we’re here,” Jena snapped. “God, are you always like this?”
“Fiendishly charming?” Her father grinned over his shoulder. “Yes, I’m afraid so. Hand me a honey graham would you, darling?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Go fuck yourself.”
He chuckled and stood to retrieve them and the chocolate himself. Ophelia’s stomach rumbled. Were those salted dark cocoa squares? Damn, talk about sparing no expense.
“I do love your spirit,” William said to Jena as he assembled the dessert, “but I’m afraid it’s rather counterproductive. You and I aren’t enemies, you know.”
Jena snorted. “Wow. That’s news to me after you murdered my mother and tried to kidnap me.”
“Technically, that was an attempted abduction. You’re far too old to kidnap,” he raised a finger at her huff of protest, “but I will admit mistakes were made. I never meant for things to escalate with your mother to where they did. I rather miss her. She was…exceptional.” He got a dreamy look in his eye and turned away.
“What about killing one of my key witnesses?” Ophelia asked, trying to get the line of questioning back on track. “We saw you snap Chambers’s neck.”
“Oh, that.” William waved a dismissive hand, then ran a finger under his eye. “Totally unrelated to your case, but I’ll allow the timing was poor.”
“That’s bullshit,” Jena spat.
He glanced over his shoulder, his expression one of total agreement. “My words exactly. Can you believe that after he failed to make good on a bargain we’d struck, he had the audacity to contact me in hopes of alleviating the predicament he’d found himself in?”
“Yeah, I can.” Jena pinched the bridge of her nose. “And I’m assuming you granted his request by murdering him?”
“Well, of course.” Her father flashed that grin again.
“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how important the fine print is, and karma’s a sticky, sticky wicket.
” He thrust the s’more he’d finished making at Ophelia, and she took it reflexively.
“There you are. Be a good girl and eat it while it’s still gooey. ”
“Do not put that thing in your mouth,” Jena snarled.
Ophelia looked between them, not sure what kind of a fucked-up family dynamic she’d stumbled into, but positive she wanted to stay out of it. Her stomach growled again, and she glanced at Jena. The witch glowered back.
“Tell me you’re not tempted.” He waggled the bag at Jena again.
“Not in the slightest.”
“Well, if you insist on being obstinate, then no dessert for you,” William said, crouching with another marshmallow on his toasting fork. This one he gleefully thrust at the coals. “See, I would have made a marvelous parent, giving boundaries and such.”
“Too bad you don’t have any,” Jena muttered.
“And it’s incredibly freeing. You should try it sometime.” He chuckled as his marshmallow burned, then he extinguished it with a quick puff from his pursed lips.
Ophelia glanced at Jena, then raised hers to sniff. She didn’t know what the big deal was, and it smelled really good…
“Don’t,” Jena growled.
Ophelia rolled her eyes and took a crumbly bite of goo. God in heaven, it was divine. “Oh, stop it,” she said around her mouthful. “If he saved us from the vampires, he’s not going to kill us now with poisoned s’mores. Besides, the node doesn’t seem to mind he’s here.”
“Yeah, and like you pointed out, it didn’t mind the dragon either,” Jena snapped.
“True.” Ophelia licked a glop of chocolate off the side of her hand. “But that kind of worked out with the whole fire-breathing-gargoyle-thing.” Granted, there was still time for it to go horribly awry, but silver lining and all that.
Jena made a noise of disgust and turned back to her father. “And I wouldn’t put it past him to have told the frickin’ vampires exactly how to get down there in the first place.”
“My, you’re a clever girl.” William licked a crumb from his lip. “You’re right. I did tell them about it.”
“Y-you what?!” she sputtered.
Ophelia glanced between them. “Jena, you literally just said—”
“I know what I just said, but I didn’t think he’d admit to it!”
“Why would I deny it? How else would they have known how to circumvent your ward and get into Havers?” He raised his brow and took another bite, then sucked marshmallow from his thumb.
Jena stared at him in disbelief. “Why would you do that?”
“Now, that is the question, isn’t it?” He grinned at her and popped the last of the s’more into his mouth. Ophelia had long since finished hers and was dying for another, poison notwithstanding, but she was pretty sure that if she asked, Jena would murder her.
The karma sparking at the witch’s fingertips underscored the theory. “Yeah, that is the question, and you need to answer it.”
“So tenacious.” He shook out his pocket square and wiped his hands.
“You get that from your mother, I’ll have you know.
I’m acutely reminded how tiresome her intensity could become at times.
Of course, there were far more moments that made up for those.
She was quite the firecracker.” He snapped the cloth in the air salaciously before tucking it back into his pocket.
“Ugh! Just—stop talking about her!” Jena didn’t quite stomp her foot, but it was close.
Ophelia scooched over to the picnic blanket and took a seat to watch the show.
She had a feeling they were going to be there for a while, and, as sketchy as Jena’s dad was, he was equally as entertaining.
Well, unless you were Jena. She looked like she was going to blow a fuse.
Ophelia paused. Shit. That couldn’t be good for the baby.
“You get that he’s pissing you off on purpose, right?
” Ophelia asked. “Look, it’s obvious he’s working toward his own agenda, and if the node doesn’t mind him being here, whatever it is, it’s probably serving it in some way.
Not for nothing, but my ill-intent charm didn’t zap him when he grabbed us either. ”
Jena spun at her, realization dawning over her face and the karma at her fingertips fizzling. “Damn it, she’s right, isn’t she? What deal did you make with the node?”
William frowned at Ophelia. “Well, aren’t you a little killjoy. I take back what I said about liking you.”
“Why are we here?” Jena asked again.