Chapter Twenty-One
Seeing Silas try to contort his six-foot-plus frame into her Beetle had, at least, given Katherine a much-needed mood boost. He looked ridiculous, his knees practically pushed up to his chest, his head repeatedly hitting the roof as her car rumbled down the highway.
“Sorry about that,” she said. “Tallest person I usually have in here is Fiona, and you’ve got at least ten inches on her.”
“It’s fine,” Silas replied. “I’ve been meaning to go to the chiropractor anyway.”
Despite herself, Katherine laughed. Silas stared at her, his jaw dropped in mock surprise.
“Did I just make the elusive Katherine Barnes laugh?”
“I laugh,” Katherine said, her instant frown utterly contradicting that fact.
“At pain and suffering, I assume.”
“Only yours.” Katherine pulled onto the exit, trying to figure out why it bothered her so much that Silas thought she was some sort of world-class grump. “Where’d you get the idea that I don’t laugh?”
“Your reputation precedes you,” Silas said. “You’re not known around other covens for being the most open person.”
Katherine bristled. “Well, maybe if they were less annoying I’d be more inclined to entertain them.”
Silas held up his hands in surrender—or tried to, at least, even though his body could barely move in the tight space. “I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing. People say you’re smart, capable, efficient. There’s nothing wrong with not being known to suffer fools.”
And yet here I am with you, Katherine thought, but then she realized that she didn’t actually mean that.
Her dislike for Silas was alarmingly lessening with every moment she spent with him.
She needed to remedy that as soon as possible.
He was trying to turn her safe space into a country club.
It was her civic and moral duty to ensure the snack bar employees would forever spit in his smoothies.
Silas cleared his throat. “Better to be known for being no-nonsense than for being a useless pretty boy, anyhow.”
For some reason, that rankled even more than hearing about her own reputation. Anyone who actually talked to Silas for more than a couple minutes would be able to see that the carefree attitude was just a front. Except she had a sinking feeling even he thought that’s all there was.
“A useless pretty boy who can do a Class 5 spell without flinching.”
Silas shrugged, the motion again inhibited by the tight quarters.
“I’ve had access to Class 5 spells for my whole life,” he said.
“I can practice them whenever I like without having to worry about using up a spellbook. Most people only get to try them once or twice a year. For me, it’s just a random Tuesday. ”
Katherine hadn’t thought of it that way, but it was true. Hadn’t she herself only tried the compulsion spell once because she was nervous about wasting coven resources on her failures?
“Well,” she said, not quite sure how to respond when he was being this frustratingly insightful and decent. “If you ever want to share the secrets you learned on random Tuesdays, I’m all ears.”
“From what I’ve heard, you don’t need any help with magic,” Silas said, fixing her with that solid copper-flecked gaze again.
“You’re one of the most effective Executors in the country.
Most Executors in a city this size would have a whole team behind them, but you’re doing it all yourself. And doing it well.”
Katherine ignored the flattery—even if that was true (which she doubted), she still wasn’t good enough.
She didn’t manage LA herself because of her skills.
She did it because she found other people too annoying and hard to trust to bring anyone else on.
That had nothing to do with her magic skills, just her lack of personal ones.
“I have trouble with the more delicate stuff,” she said. “Ward work, mostly. I always overload them.”
Silas laughed. “Of course you do.”
“What’s that mean?”
“You wanna know the secret to delicate spells?” Silas angled his large body toward her, his hair brushing the glass of her sunroof.
“You can’t think about them. You have to totally blank your mind of everything but the magic.
” Silas tapped his forehead with a long finger.
“I’ve got nothing going on up here to begin with, which makes it easy. But you?”
They stopped at a light and Silas reached out, laying his thumb softly on her temple. “You’ve got the whole world running through your brain.”
Katherine flushed, the soft warmth of his finger sending shivers down her spine. Her pulse skyrocketed, blood rushing to that spot. She’d never thought of thumbs as particularly erotic, but the touch was enough to make her core clench.
A honk sounded behind them, and Katherine yanked away, flooring it through the now-green light. The spot where Silas’ finger had been actually felt cold.
She flicked her blinker on, saving herself from more of whatever the hell that was with their arrival at Niles’ coven.