“Great,” Cindy said. “I can’t wait.”
A lead on Grover’s murder and a potential playdate for Marley. No one could say I wasn’t a multi-tasker.
Chapter 11
“Right this way, Miss Ember. Everyone is waiting,” Simon said. It was time for our weekly Sunday dinner at Thornhold, the Rose family’s grand estate. My aunt’s butler gave Marley a friendly bow. “Miss Marley.”
“Here.” I thrust a small box into Simon’s hands.
Simon appeared perplexed. “You brought a hostess gift this time?”
“It’s considered polite,” I said, echoing Thaddeus’s statement from the coffee shop.
Simon smiled. “Certainly. I’ll deliver this to my lady.”
“I love your glasses, Simon,” Marley said. “Are they new?”
Simon’s smile widened. “As a matter of fact, they are.” He tapped the arm. “A friend suggested that perhaps the old pair didn’t suit me.”
I gulped. Simon couldn’t read minds like vampires could he? Because I was certain my initial thought upon meeting him was that his glasses only served to make his bald head appear rounder. I was inclined to agree with his friend—these black rectangular frames were a huge improvement.
“They’re very nice,” Marley said.
“Ditto,” I added, to assuage my guilt over my unkind thought.
“You’d think there’d be a spell to cure bad eyesight so you didn’t need glasses at all,” Marley mused on our way into the dining room.
“Maybe that’s an area you can focus on when you’re older, Miss Marley,” Simon said. “New spells are always in the works, not all successful, of course.”
I ruffled her hair. “Cool. You’ll be a magical scientist.” Assuming she came into her witch powers. Ugh. I dreaded her next birthday.
“Finally,” my aunt said. “I was beginning to think we’d need to release the hounds.”
“Ha. Funny,” I said faintly, because I wasn’t entirely sure she was joking. Knowing my aunt, she had a pack of hellhounds at her disposal for just such occasions as a tardy niece.
I was surprised to see two additional guests at my aunt’s table for our regular gathering. Sunday dinners were usually restricted to family.
“Alec’s here,” Marley said happily. My daughter was a big fan of Alec’s, both the author and the vampire.
Alec pushed back his chair and stood when we entered the impressive dining room. Every time I came for dinner, I was reminded that my entire apartment in New Jersey could fit inside this one room. It never ceased to take my breath away. Between the huge oval table, the magical chandelier, and the family crest over the fireplace, I felt like I was dining with academics from Hogwarts—that, at any moment, a giant hat might appear and sort me into a different family. Not Marley, of course. In my eyes, she was as perfect as any Rose. Instinctively, I glanced at the dark blue banner that hung above the mantel. The Rose family crest featured a full moon and stars with a red rose in front of the moon. It was undeniably beautiful.
“Good evening, Miss Rose,” he said politely. “Miss Marley.”
Marley beamed like she’d been granted her witch powers a year early. “Can I sit in the empty seat next to Alec?” she asked my aunt.
“Of course, darling,” Aunt Hyacinth replied. “You’ll make an excellent dinner companion for him.”
No doubt. The only remaining seat was across from Alec and next to…“Wyatt?”
The werewolf grinned. “I know, right? I have to admit, I was kinda shocked myself to get the invite.”
“Mother and I agreed that it would be nice to include you again once in a while,” Linnea said from further down the table. “The children specifically requested it.”
“I did,” Hudson said. “Bryn said she didn’t care either way.”
Bryn elbowed her younger brother in the ribs. “I said I didn’t mind either way. There’s a difference between not minding and not caring, knuckle-dragger.”
“I’m not a knuckle-dragger,” Hudson shot back. “You must be confusing me with your boyfriend.”
“First of all, gross,” Bryn said, wrinkling her nose at the notion. “Second of all…”
“You have a boyfriend?” Linnea and Wyatt asked simultaneously.
“No,” Bryn said in a huff. “Hudson’s being a goober.”
Wyatt pulled a bowl of mashed potatoes toward his plate. “Time to dig in yet? I’m starving.”
“One moment, please.” Aunt Hyacinth rang her little silver bell and the rest of the platters floated into the room and set themselves on the table.
Wyatt rubbed his hands together. “Everything looks delicious.”
“His approach to food is basically his approach to women,” Aster said, and Linnea glared at her from across the table.
“Now, Aster,” Aunt Hyacinth said. “We don’t need to raise unpleasant topics at the dinner table. You know better than that.”
“And in front of our children,” Linnea added.
“And in front of me,” Wyatt interjected, although he didn’t seem particularly upset by the remark. Probably because he knew it was true.
My aunt lifted her flute. Time for the family toast.
“Carpe noctem,” we said in unison.
Alec’s lips stretched into a smile. “Ah, yes. Seize the night. I’d forgotten that was your family motto. An excellent choice.”
“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Wyatt said.
“I would think werewolves favored eventide as well,” Alec said.
Wyatt scrunched his nose. “Don’t go getting fancy on me, vamp. I’m not in the mood to Google ‘eventide.’”
“Use your context clues,” Marley said, completely in earnest.
Wyatt turned his scrunched nose in Marley’s direction. “What kind of clues?”
Aster heaved a sigh. “Just drink from your flute, Wyatt. And do try not to dribble.”
Wyatt made a show of pouring the bucksberry fizz down his throat in one go.
“Any updates on the investigation, Ember?” Florian asked, in an effort to take control of the conversation. “The competition ends soon, but no one’s talking about it anymore. They’re too concerned about the murder.”
“That’s understandable,” Linnea said. “If there’s a killer running around targeting teenaged boys, we should be concerned.”
“I don’t know that one death means there’s a killer targeting teenaged boys,” Aunt Hyacinth said.
Bryn grabbed her brother by the shoulder. “Take Hudson next, whoever you are.”
Aster cleared her throat. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about murder at the dinner table.” She jerked her head toward her two sons, Aspen and Ackley.
“The sand maze is so cool,” Aspen said. “I’m glad nobody died in there.”
Wyatt shrugged. “We don’t know for sure that he didn’t die in there. He could’ve been killed in the maze and then the body was moved to the casket afterward.”
“Wyatt!” Aster hissed.
Aspen’s eyes rounded at the thought. He looked at his mother. “Can we go back to the maze? I want to look for blood.”
“That’s enough, Aspen,” Sterling said firmly. Aster’s husband gave Wyatt a sharp look. “Let’s put a lid on the cauldron, shall we?”
“I’d like everyone here to go to the beach for the winner’s ceremony,” Florian said. “We need to keep the focus on the competition.”
“I agree,” Aster said. “It’s important to the tourism board that this competition is a success.”
“And it’s important to me,” Florian said. “I finally managed to do something productive. I don’t want it overshadowed by…an unfortunate incident.”
“Well, if we don’t want to discuss updates on the murder investigation, how about an update on you and my brother, Ember?” Wyatt asked. “Can’t say I was shocked when I saw you two canoodling at the Wishing Well.”
My back straightened. “We were not canoodling,” I said hotly. “We were c
ommiserating. And who says canoodling anyway? You’re not a Hollywood tabloid.”
Wyatt shrugged. “You say commiserate. I say lick each other’s faces off.” He heaped another spoonful of mashed potato onto his plate.
Alec cleared his throat. “That sounds like quite an interesting evening.”
My cheeks burned. “There was no licking of any kind.”
Aster rolled her eyes. “Mother, was including Wyatt in our dinner plans really such a good idea?”
Wyatt held up his hands. “Hey, I wasn’t responsible for licking anyone that night. My tongue was firmly in cheek.”
Hudson snorted with laughter as his mother groaned.
“I don’t think you understand that phrase,” Marley said.
“The sheriff and I are friends,” I interjected. “He was bothered by the…unfortunate incident. So I joined him for a drink to talk about it.”
“A drink?” Wyatt asked. “Or a few drinks?”
“What’s the difference?” I asked. “It was perfectly innocent either way.”
“After a few drinks, you might misremember how innocent it was,” Wyatt replied.
“Yes, Wyatt’s the expert on that,” Aster said.
Linnea pointed a finger at her younger sister, ready to strike back with magic.
“Don’t you dare,” Aster said, eyeing the trigger finger.
I tossed back the rest of my drink and tried to keep the steam from pouring out of my ears, cartoon-style. I really needed a spell to keep Wyatt in line. I was so mortified, I avoided eye contact with Alec all together. It wasn’t like I was dating either one of them, but I still felt self-conscious about the implication.
“Girls, no magic at the table,” Aunt Hyacinth warned. “Wyatt, I think it’s high time we left Ember well enough alone, don’t you?”
Finally. What took her so long to step in? Usually she was in there with a backhanded compliment or a Southern-style putdown before anyone could draw breath.
“Jonnie Rastelli got expelled from school today for dropping glitter bombs from the second floor,” Hudson said. “One landed on Mr. Peters.”
Linnea laughed. “The gym teacher? Isn’t he a satyr?”
Hudson nodded gleefully. “You should’ve seen him. He was so red, you could see it straight through all the glitter. And then there was a trail of glitter all the way to the teachers’ lounge.”
There was an audible sigh of relief as the topic shifted. While the chatter turned to school hijinks, my mind was still focused on Wyatt. He was such a perpetual thorn in my side. I thought of the spell Wren had taught me and wondered whether it would be worth trying it out on Wyatt before I took aim at Hazel. Nature knew the whole family would thank me for getting us through dinner without further trouble from Wyatt. And his kids would be happy because he wouldn’t be tossed out on his backside, which still felt like a real possibility to me.
He sat right beside me. I could do the deed without anyone noticing. As discreetly as I could, I slipped my wand from my waistband. I focused my will, pointed my wand at the offending werewolf under the table, and opened my mouth to murmur the magic word. At the last second, Precious leaped onto my lap and knocked the tip of the wand a good ninety degrees. For a brief moment, I thought she’d ruined the spell, until Wyatt spoke.
“Linnea, your hair has never looked better,” he said. “It’s the color of the full moon. How I miss stroking it in the evenings.”
Linnea’s features softened. “Thank you, Wyatt. That’s very sweet.”
“It’s a Rose trait,” my aunt said, patting her own white-blond chignon. “It isn’t exclusive to Linnea.”
“Not all Roses,” I reminded her.
“No, indeed,” my aunt replied, her disappointment evident. “Have you considered coloring it?”
My hand flew to my dark hair. “Absolutely not. I’d look ridiculous with light hair.”
Aunt Hyacinth scrutinized me. “True. Your complexion would be completely washed out.”
“I think you could get away with any color, Miss Rose,” Alec said.
Gallant vampire to the rescue. “Thank you, Alec, but I’m sure my aunt is right. I’ve got freckles, too, which doesn’t help.” Whereas my Rose cousins all enjoyed flawless skin. They were like walking, talking pieces of art and I was the toddler’s fingerpaint equivalent.
Thanks to my secret spell, the rest of the meal went off without a hitch. Wyatt was on his best behavior and no one seemed suspicious. They probably assumed it was down to Hyacinth’s reprimand.
“I’d like to say goodbye to my ex-wife before I go,” Wyatt said, once everyone had gathered in the foyer after dessert. “Tell her how beautiful she looked tonight and how much I miss her honey and lemon scent.”
Next to me, Alec said, “That’s kind of you, Wyatt. I’m sure she’ll appreciate the sentiment.”
When Linnea emerged from the downstairs bathroom, Wyatt blocked her path. “Would you mind if I came by and helped make dinner one night this week? I’d like to spend more quality time with you and the kids. I miss you all so much.”
“Yes,” Hudson said, and fist pumped.
“You actually want to help make dinner?” Linnea queried. “Not just eat it?”
“I also want to fix that railing you told me about,” Wyatt said. “Although I’ll never understand why you don’t use more magic.”
“Because too much magic is exhausting,” Linnea said. “I’ve always told you that.”
“It’s time I start listening, right?” Wyatt said. “I’ve never been a good listener. It’s one of my worst flaws. I spend too much time thinking about my own needs and disregarding everyone else’s.”
Linnea stared at him, stupefied. “Better late than never, I suppose.”
“How about I escort my family home to Palmetto House?” Wyatt asked. “It’s already dark.” He tossed a smile over his shoulder at Alec. “Or eventide, as some might say so elegantly.”
“That’s very considerate of you, Wyatt,” Linnea said, unable to hide her surprise.
“Thanks, Dad,” Bryn said.
“Where’s the lady of the house?” Wyatt asked. “I need to thank her for such a nice meal.”
Although everyone stared at the werewolf, no one dared say a word and risk ruining the moment.
As if on cue, my aunt appeared in the doorway. “You’re quite welcome, Wyatt. If you keep up these manners, we just might have you back.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and offered his arm to Linnea. “My beautiful former bride.”
Once the four were out of the house, Aunt Hyacinth smiled. “See what a little hospitality can do? That’s a good lesson for us all right there.”
A little hospitality and a little magic, I wanted to add, but I kept quiet about my spell. I didn’t want anyone to know what I’d done. For one thing, I didn’t want to cause trouble for Wren. The whole point of learning that spell was to use it as a practical joke on Hazel, not revenge on Wyatt for being a wereass. Plus, I had no idea whether the spell lasted until I reversed it. I needed to ask Wren.
“What a pleasure to see Wyatt in such generous spirits,” Alec said. “He’s rather charming when he sets his mind to it.”
“I agree,” I said. “I wonder what got into him.” I tucked my wand further into my cloak pocket.
“Who cares, as long as it continues?” Aunt Hyacinth said. “Goodnight, everyone. Lovely to have you, Alec. You know you’re welcome here anytime. Impeccable manners, as always.”
I knew from experience that wasn’t strictly true. Telling Alec he was ‘welcome anytime’ was in the same vein as ‘let’s do lunch’ or ‘how are you?’
“It’s always an enjoyable evening at Thornhold,” Alec said, with a little more enthusiasm than he typically demonstrated. Technically, my aunt was his boss, so a little ass kissing was to be expected.
“Have a good night, Alec,” I said.
He stood and extended his hand. “Why don’t you walk me out? It’s such a clear night. Perhaps
we’ll see a few constellations.”
“Um, sure. Why not?” I walked with him as far as the driveway.
“I’ll see you at the office bright and early tomorrow, yes?” Alec asked.
“I won’t have time tomorrow,” I said. “I’ve got a packed schedule.” Runecraft homework, a vet appointment for PP3, Cindy’s lead to follow up on, a psychic skills class, and a stop at the Wish Market because I promised Raoul I’d pick him up a slug parfait, which was apparently a delicacy in certain circles.
Alec flashed a proud smile. “You’re very impressive, Ember. You’ve stepped into these new roles with the greatest of ease. Your family must be very pleased.”
“I guess so.”
Alec gazed at me with a look I’d never seen him wear before. If I wasn’t mistaken, it looked like…adoration.
“I’d very much like to kiss you goodnight,” Alec said.
“I know, but you won’t,” I said.
His fangs dropped down. “Won’t I?” He reached around my waist and pulled me closer. His lips were warm and inviting against mine. I didn’t even mind the gentle scraping of his fangs. I was so wrapped up in the kiss, even if he drew blood, it was doubtful I would’ve noticed.
When he finally released me, I stared at him, dumbfounded. “Is this because of what Wyatt said about his brother? Because we were not canoodling in the bar.” And no one knew about our kiss outside the cottage.
“My behavior is not dictated by Granger Nash,” Alec said.
Maybe not, but I was sure it gave the vampire a little motivation. I didn’t wait for him to dismiss me with his usual ‘goodnight, Miss Rose.’ Instead, I beat him to the punch.
“Goodnight, Alec,” I said, outwardly maintaining my composure. I didn’t want him to know that I was about to keel over from shock. “Drive safely.”
I quickly returned to the house for Marley, my heart beating like a hummingbird’s wings.
Chapter 12
I walked across the open fields to where the Starry Hollow matchball team was playing against a neighboring town. I had no clue what matchball was, but, whatever it was, there was an impressive crowd gathered for a game at the high school level.
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