Chapter 10
EDWIN
When I stepped outside, the sun had just set, casting a gorgeous soft orangey glow over the front garden.
Trace was pulling up weeds in the flowerbeds, using a random stick and my watering can to soften the soil.
I usually kept on top of the weeding, but with having been away helping the Council and then returning home with James, my routines had not so much derailed as dissolved.
He was a distraction I enjoyed way too much right now.
Somehow I needed to pull my head together and start acting like the adult I knew I was.
Trace wiped his muddy hand across his brow.
I could smell fresh sweat on him on top of whatever his natural scent was, and it revved my libido straight up back to a ten.
What was it about him that was suddenly pinging all my senses?
He was a truly unremarkable-looking man, but I conceded he had a nice arse in his trousers and I’d already imagined how his strong hands could take me apart.
I glanced at James who had parked himself on one of the low containing walls and was eyeing up the crow.
“Hey, Terrance,” I heard him say quietly. “Is it okay to say you’re beautiful?”
Trace’s head turned a fraction and we both watched the crow. He swaggered over to James and fluttered up to sit on his denim-clad knee. His black feathers were iridescent in the early evening light.
“Naturally. Truth should be valued.” With that, Terrance turned his back on my shadow and fixed his jewel-bright lavender eyes on me, assessing me. I knew ordinary crows were intelligent birds, but Terrance was anything but ordinary. His stare felt like it could see through to my soul.
“I thought adult crows had brown eyes,” I said to no one in particular.
Trace stood up and pointed at the pile of weeds. “Hope you don’t mind. I couldn’t resist.” He looked fondly at Terrance. “As you have both worked out by his size and the fact he’d get a degree in snark, he’s no ordinary crow.”
“My exact thoughts.”
“So why should his eyes be regular?” He shrugged, but it was infused with gentle amusement. “Rubbish bin for this lot or...?”
Of course, I was dealing with a countryside witch who was probably a paragon of recycling. “Yes, the rubbish please. I don’t have a compost bin.”
“I was thinking more of an incinerator. I wouldn’t go to the effort of pulling weeds only to mix their seeds straight back into the soil.” Bastard winked at me.
“Right. Of course.” He was going to think I was the village idiot at this point.
“I’m not sure about the laws in this borough regarding smoke.
I can check for you later, if you like.” I hoped I’d remember when I went back inside.
“I think we’ve solved the issue of moving your carriage though.
It needs forty-eight hours before we can put it into action, but if you’re prepared to drive back here again, you can watch some magic unlike your own at work. ”
Trace raised a brow. “Oh yes?”
James looked up at me, his gaze eager. “Are you going to do magic?” His tone, while hopeful, also contained a tinge of doubt.
“Ha, no way. You’ve seen me in action with all the magic I have at my disposal, love.
Thrall is about as good as it gets.” For some reason I didn’t want to admit I could influence his moods.
I addressed Trace again. “You met Charley, Dalziel’s boy.
” It wasn’t a question. Charley was the kind of once met, never forgotten young man that most of us were instantly better for knowing.
Trace looked intrigued. “Of course.” He smirked. “I could hardly miss the boy. Dalziel’s pride in him is palpable. But why is he relevant?”
“Because,” I said, feeling a little smug for having come up with the idea, “we’re going to borrow Charley and his mentor, Isher, to create an organic slide in order to help move the carriage.”
James looked blank at my pronouncement. Trace, however, looked startled. “Fae magic, here?” he said in a low voice that sounded strained. “Is that safe?”
“Isher will be with him so it will be fine. Dalziel has a soft spot the size of a planet where the boy’s concerned, but he wouldn’t risk a supe, or any humans to be honest, just for the chance to show the kid off.”
“What’s an organic slide? And I didn’t hear what you said, Trace.
I feel like I’m being kept out of the loop.
” James moved, careful to allow Terrance to fly off first, then got to his feet.
“I know I’m nothing special but I don’t appreciate being talked over.
I do live here.” He stood next to me, and I automatically draped an arm over his shoulder.
Trace and I both spoke at once. I gestured for Trace to go first.
“I don’t understand why you haven’t cured him. He’s your shadow. Aren’t you supposed to have healing properties in your blood? I thought the whole shadow gig was a two-way street?”
James ground his teeth. “And again, I. Am. Right. Here.”
I tightened my grip on his shoulder. “Hang on, love.” I jerked my chin at Trace.
“This isn’t a conversation for the front garden where anyone could walk past.” I drew James even closer against my side, and we reconvened around the table in the back.
I shuffled back on my chair and pulled James into the small space left between my open legs, ignoring his protest he would squash me — if only! — and regarded Trace.
“Firstly, whatever bullshit James spouted about not being anything special is just that — bullshit.” Without taking my eyes off Trace, I curled one arm around James’ slender form.
“He is going to learn not to put himself down. Aren’t you, love?
” Without waiting for a reply, I pressed on.
“I don’t know what you’ve been told about vampire blood, but it does heal.
That much is true. My blood helped James a lot when we first met him.
But his ears aren’t diseased. He’s not sick. ”
Trace digested this. “You were born deaf?”
James shook his head. “I’m not Deaf, I’m hard of hearing.
And no, I don’t know, maybe?” I could sense his discomfort even without seeing his face.
“I think I was…kind of…neglected by my mum. She tried, but she was a bit rubbish at being a parent. I might not have lost my hearing if she’d been better at taking me to the doctor when I was sick.
I dunno.” He gave a tight shrug. “I’m used to it now. ”
“So, it seems as if it could be fixed with magic then.” Trace seemed to be thinking. “You want me to have a go?”
I felt James stiffen. I did too, but probably for a different reason.
What kind of powers did Trace have if he thought he could reverse hearing loss?
Then I thought, No wonder the Council wanted him on board.
They wouldn’t like the idea of a witch this powerful at large, potentially as an enemy.
I had a nasty moment when I realised I was also jealous as hell.
If Trace was able to make James hear perfectly when I couldn’t, I worried I would resent him for doing something for my shadow that I couldn’t do.
An even briefer moment followed when I selfishly didn’t want James to owe Trace anything.
My God, I was a horrible person. I should want James to have anything and everything he needed to make his life easier.
I leaned my chin on his shoulder so he could hear me.
“I want you to be happy, whatever that means to you. If that means giving Trace a chance, you can trust him not to hurt you. He has the Council’s full backing to use his magic.
” I was proud of how sincere I sounded. It was the truth.
I did want James to be happy. I wanted, I knew with a sudden blinding clarity, to give him the fucking world. Where did that come from?
James turned so I could see him mouth, “Thank you,” to me.
His accompanying smile was sweet. However, his tone when he addressed Trace was laced with bitterness.
“You think I’m broken? That I’m somehow less than you because I can’t hear as well as you can?
That I’m only going to be worthwhile if my hearing is a hundred per cent?
What if I need glasses when I’m older; will you magic those away too so I remain unsullied by artificial aids?
When will it end? When will you tell Edwin he can do better, that even with regular blood and our bond, that I’m too old, too worn out for him?
Will you suggest euthanasia?” Evidently riled up enough to have lost any shred of his previous shyness, he added, “I’m surprised you think grey hair’s acceptable. ”
Trace’s expression was dumbfounded. He sat for a long moment when James fell silent, his throat working visibly. I could almost see the cogs turning. Finally, he cleared his throat.
“James, I wish I could take back everything I just said. I have obviously deeply offended you. I…I genuinely didn’t think it through.
I blithely assumed this was something you wanted fixed.
That was crass of me. I hope you can accept that it was an offer made in good faith and not a comment on your abilities or your value as a person.
I would never wish to treat someone as lesser due to a…
” He stumbled to a halt. “Is it okay to say disability?”
“It is,” James affirmed.
“Right. I don’t ever want to treat someone as less than another because they have a disability.
” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, messing it up even worse than it had been.
“What I mean is, and this isn’t an excuse, but might go some way to explain why I was thinking what I did, is that I’m used to hanging around supernaturals and their overgrown egos with regards to their physical prowess.
It might have skewed my perspective a bit about what is and isn’t necessary. ”
“Christ, just tell the man you’re sorry and move on.” I could feel my patience waning.
James put a hand on my arm. “I think he’s sorry. Aren’t you, Trace?”