“I suppose this information will cost me something?”
Renathe’s eyes danced. “Perhaps another date, since this one was ruined by a pesky cat?”
Kael growled. He was getting tense. It was time to wrap it up.
“Well, you have my number, Ren.” I scooted my chair back. “Thank you for your help, and for dinner. I had a lovely time.”
“And yet you are leaving with a different man.” He shook his head sagely, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“You know, you seem to have ensnared the attention of a group of women over there.”
Ren leaned over to peer around me and grinned. “So I did.”
He wouldn’t be alone for long. I supposed most women found him irresistible.
I gave Ren a final smile and turned. He caught my wrist, and I glanced down at him.
“One more thing.” All playfulness had gone from his eyes. “Whoever possesses the key will also have the ability to control you and your power. Keep that in mind, Olivia.”
I merely nodded, but I caught an expression of worry on Kael’s face as we made our way through the tables.
Chapter 30
I groaned as I slid a large box full of books out into the hallway where I intended to take them down to the garage at some point. Back in the study, I squinted at the section of bookshelves I had cleared and wondered if it would be enough room. I had been re-organizing the room for three days. I wanted to add a section on all things supernatural.
Puffing out a heavy sigh, I leaned against my desk to give my arms a break from the heavy lifting. It was a quiet day. The sky was blue through my window but a step outside would bring a crisp breeze, the first whisper of winter a couple of months away. A faint hint of woodsmoke permeated the house. I loved sitting downstairs in the living room in front of a warm, crackling fire—it was usually calming—but the flames had been unable to soothe the restlessness I had felt over the past few weeks.
My phone chirped behind me, and I twisted to grab it. I swiped the screen and rolled my eyes. It was Renathe. Again .
I ignored the call. I’d call him back later. I had yet to hear anything from him about a solution to my magical problem, and since he had gotten into the habit of calling me frequently without offering one, I’d fallen into the habit of assuming his calls would be unfruitful.
I didn’t mind him calling too much, but I couldn’t decipher if he was being flirtatious, friendly, or just interested because I was some kind of magical oddity, a delightful puzzle to figure out. He had ended up asking for another date as price for looking into my problem, though he wanted this one to be one hundred percent sans shifter.
I pushed away from the desk and walked over to the window. I opened the curtain and peered out at the empty street. I hadn’t heard from Kael since he had left, the day after my date with Ren. He had gone back to wherever his PITO headquarters were to report to his superiors. He’d told me he also intended on disclosing the information we had discovered about the pack of wolf shifters in England.
I twitched the curtain wider to let in more sunlight and shook my head. I really hoped he wouldn’t get into trouble. We had left quite a mess behind us. Not only the deceased sisters at the bed and breakfast, but also the dead wolf shifters. It had been fortunate that Kael was able to call in some favors to get us back to the States before more about us was found out.
Kael hadn’t called once since his departure, and I wished he would. I plopped down in my chair at my desk.
“It’s not like I miss him or anything,” I muttered to myself.
His sudden absence made me feel disconcertingly adrift. I was introduced to this world of magic and shifters and fae, with Kael largely by my side since the beginning of the entire ordeal, and then I had been dropped right back into reality with some rather hefty baggage I didn’t know what to do with.
I tugged the keys out of the front of my shirt and stared at them. I didn’t like wearing them all of the time, but when they weren’t on my person, I was uncomfortable. Especially given the fact that one of them had my soul trapped inside.
I ran a finger down the tarnished, golden length of the key I had plucked from the depths of the rainforest. If I held it long enough, I swear I could almost sense my soul...and the ties binding it to the key.
I clicked my tongue and dropped the relics. What was I supposed to do now, besides wait for a date with the fae and worry about my bound soul?
Getting back to some actual work would likely be a good thing. I had a research paper to turn in, and my boss was breathing down my neck. My sudden trip hadn’t sat well with her, seeing as I had just returned from South America.
My laptop sat opened and mocking on the surface of my desk, and I glared at it distastefully. I used to enjoy my work, but lately it had seemed tedious and dull. I yearned to be back out in the field, though Kael had cautioned me against it before he had left. It was dangerous, he’d said, given the little tidbit Ren had graced me with about others being able to control me if they got a hold of the golden key.
A dull throb pulsed at my temples, and I rubbed the heels of my hands against my eyes. The headaches had been a mild annoyance that had pestered me frequently since my return home. No amount of medication, sleep, or caffeine had chased it away. It hadn’t been a stretch to assume it must have something to do with the magic churning inside of me. Since Renathe hadn’t come up with any information yet and Kael had gone quiet, I had turned to the only other person nearby who I thought would be able to help me…Cordelia.
When I went into her tea shop last week, the witch had been a bit more welcoming, presumably because I didn’t have a grouchy shifter in tow. We sat sipping tea while I told her about the adventures I’d had since the night we stepped through her door. I’d meant to tell her about her witch friends who had gone missing, but as soon as I’d started to tell her, she’d lifted her hand and shook her head.
“I already know, Livvie,” she’d said. “I felt it...I felt it the moment they…” She swallowed and looked away. “I had ho ped I was wrong, but I scryed for days. Their spirits are no longer on this earth.”
“I’m...so sorry,” I said, not knowing what else to say. But she just wiped her eyes with her wrists, plastered on a smile, and told me to tell her the rest.
After I told her about my confrontation with the mage, and what had come of it, Cordelia sat in quiet for some time. Finally, she told me my headaches were from suppressing my magic and that it wasn’t made to be shut in. Though part of me—almost a living thing—the magic would grow restless if I didn’t exercise it.
I didn’t see that I had a choice but to keep it in. Whenever I thought about practicing, I saw Kael being tossed across the ground. I had done that to him with hardly a thought, and I didn’t want to hurt anyone again.
I shoved away from the desk and grabbed a teacup I had left on one of the shelves I’d been cleaning. The tea inside had grown cold, but I still downed it in a couple of swallows. I grimaced. It wasn’t the best-tasting tea, but Cordelia had given it to me, and it did help with the headaches for a time. She also gave me a basket of scones; my stomach growled at the thought of them.
I think there’s still a couple left .