Kael parked along a line of shops facing the pier that stretched into the calm waters. I stepped onto the sidewalk and craned my neck to peer up at a sign that read “Cordelia’s” in delicate, looping letters. The hours posted on the door showed we had five minutes to spare. Kael walked in, and I followed him inside to speak to a witch.
When I had heard we were going to a witch’s shop, I had been expecting a creepy sort of place. I thought of pentagrams, candles melted onto shelves, and perhaps a black cat curled up on a shelf of spellbooks.
Instead, I found a tea house .
The various tables were covered in an assortment of floral-patterned tablecloths and ringed with mismatched chairs. A small fireplace crackled on the right side of the room. I took a deep breath and pulled in the mouth-watering aroma of cakes and scones.
A door creaked, and a woman walked in from the back. She was slightly plump with a long braid the color of warm brass hanging over her shoulder. Her cheeks were tinted pink, and while I had the impression she usually had a smile on her face, a frown weighed down her lips as she peered at Kael.
The tiny tassels on her shawl shivered as the woman pulled the cloth closer around her. “You are not welcome here.”
Kael rolled his shoulders back, somehow making himself look a bit larger. He stepped forward a couple of feet. “We are looking for information.” His voice was strict, authoritative. Ever the agent.
I groaned quietly. I was sure there were times his commanding presence worked to draw words from people’s mouths. This was not one of those times. He had managed to move in front of me again , so I elbowed past him and smiled at Cordelia.
“Hi, there. I’m Olivia. You have a lovely shop. May I ask how much for a cup of tea?”
Cordelia narrowed her eyes, clearly trying to decide if it was worth the trouble. Finally, she sighed. “Very well. Tea is four fifty per cup.”
I dug into my bag for a twenty as I followed Cordelia to the register. I bought a cup of tea for myself and Kael, plus some scones with Devonshire cream and jam.
Cordelia told us to sit wherever we wanted as she hurried into the back. I sat at one of the small tables and raised an eyebrow at Kael until he sat down. A smile cracked my face to see the gruff shifter at the delicate tea table with a rose-patterned porcelain cup in front of him .
After a glance over my shoulder to ensure Cordelia was still in the back, I leaned forward. “So, why is it you dislike witches so much?”
Cordelia, while a bit on edge, seemed perfectly nice to me.
Kael’s eyebrows lowered, and he didn’t break his stare from the doorway Cordelia had disappeared through. “A witch cast a hex on me once. It lasted an entire month.”
A witch put a hex on him? That sounded terrible. “What was the hex?”
“Every time I shifted that month, I would change into a kitten instead of my jaguar.”
I waited for him to tell me he was joking, but his tone was completely serious. A giggle bubbled up my throat, and I pressed a hand to my mouth. He finally glanced at me, his expression less than friendly.
“I’m sorry,” I choked out. It was a struggle to get my laughter under control. Every time I thought I was fine, an image of Kael shrinking into a tiny kitten had me laughing all over again.
Kael growled.
I held my hands up in surrender as I leaned back into my chair. “Sorry. I’m sure your tiny, razor-blade kitten claws were very menacing.”
I allowed myself another laugh and finally managed to rein it in as Cordelia returned with the tea and scones.
As the witch poured our tea, Kael peered into his cup with suspicion. My lips quirked slightly. Cordelia started to walk away, and I twisted in my chair.
“Cordelia, would you mind joining us?”
Her glance shifted from our table to the front counter. “I suppose for a minute. I’ll need to close soon, though.”
“We won’t be long.” I took a sip of the tea and cut Kael a glare as he opened his mouth impatiently. A bite of the scone proved her cooking skills were even better. “This is marvelous. ”
Apparently, Kael couldn’t hold himself back any longer. “I want to know—”
I kicked him under the table and glared. Then I cleared my throat as I smiled at Cordelia. “Actually, Renathe sent us over. He said you might be able to help us with something.”
Cordelia finally smiled. It really lit up her face. I’d been right, smiling seemed to be something she did a lot. Why the warning from Renathe about how dangerous she was? He must have been as superstitious as Kael. Men.
“I see that old man’s still sending people over to me when he’s too stumped to figure things out on his own.”
Old man? Renathe couldn’t have been much older than me. Kael took advantage of my confused silence to launch into the story of the mage. He told the witch how the dark mage had taken something of theirs, but I noticed he didn’t say it was the key.
Cordelia’s fingers played with one of the tassels on her shawl as she considered us. “I will need payment for my services.” Her gaze swept to Kael as he reached for his wallet. “Not money.”
I pulled the tiny ice fox from Ren out of my pocket. It hadn’t even picked up any pocket lint. “How about this?”
The witch took the fox from me. “Formed with everfrost?” She smiled. “That fae always has enjoyed gifting valuable rarities to beautiful women. Very well.”
She pocketed the fox. I tamped down the thought of just how much that fox-shaped ice cube had cost me.
“The mage took a key that she found in ruins in the Vale do Javari.” Kael tossed me an accusing glare. He described the artifact in such great detail, I wondered if he had seen it before.
“I know of the key. However, I cannot say more in front of a human,” Cordelia said. “You should know this, shifter. You are held by the same limitations.”
I slowly spun my teacup on the saucer. “I’m not just a human...anymore.” My own words surprised me. What exactly was I now? I most certainly wasn’t normal. What was I going to do after we caught the mage? Would the magic go away? What if it didn’t?
“What do you mean, you are not just a human?” Cordelia asked.
“Ever since I found the key, I’ve had…magic.” Was that the proper way to describe what I could do? Ren had said it was something that had been woken inside of me, but I still didn’t understand what he’d meant.
Cordelia fixed me with a hard stare. “Show me.”
I glanced uncertainly at Kael. He was busy stuffing a scone into his mouth, but he nodded. I pulled in a deep breath. The magic wasn’t something I had been able to just summon at will. So far, it had mostly happened when I was in danger.
I sat very still, the witch and the shifter eyeing me silently. A buzzing energy waited eagerly beneath my skin, warming my body. I embraced it.
The energy came forth, magic curling around my fingers in fuchsia tendrils. I stared at the energy and wondered what I could do with it. It grew larger, dripping from my fingers and crawling across the tea table like smoke.
Power. I could sense it writhing inside of me. If I unleashed it, what would happen?
Cordelia waved a hand, and my magic snuffed out like a candle.
I stared at the witch, and suddenly Ren’s warning about her being dangerous seemed very real. Shadows crawled out from behind the rattling, decorative plates and tea cups clattered in their saucers. Goosebumps raised on my skin as the air grew stale and chill. The cheery tea shop had been a façade.