“Hyacinth and I have certainly been enjoying each other’s company,” he said. “She’s a remarkable witch. I feel fortunate to have met her.”
His head was surprisingly silent. I decided to try again. Maybe I was too distracted by his oral response.
“Does it bother you that Zale is still sniffing around?” I asked. There. A mention of the competition might whip the brain into action.
Craig laughed lightly. “Hyacinth is a grown witch and can do as she pleases. If Zale is her preference, then I accept that.” He leaned over and whispered, “Though I have to say that I get the distinct impression that I’m her preference these days. I can’t pretend not to be chuffed.”
Not a single thought while he spoke. That made no sense. I decided to stay quiet for a moment and see whether that triggered any thoughts I could read. Maybe if I did something…provocative.
I reached for a cookie and ‘accidentally’ knocked it to the floor. “I’m so clumsy sometimes.” I stood and bent over, positioning my bottom directly in his line of sight. If the guy found kaftans sexy, I wasn’t sure that I was his taste, but it was worth a try.
I lingered in this awkward position, listening for a single thought. None was forthcoming. This guy was either brain dead or blocking spells like mine. My money was on the latter.
“Ember, what in the Goddess of the Moon’s name are you doing?” My aunt’s voice snapped me back to reality and I promptly returned to my seat. She can’t possibly be trying to lure away my darling Craig. She’s far too smitten with Alec.
Well, at least I knew my spell worked.
“I dropped a cookie and Simon wasn’t here to pick it up. You should really talk to him about slacking off. I know he’s worked for you a long time, but you have to maintain standards.” I was so nervous that I knew I was doomed to prattle unless I put a stop to it myself, so I shoved the cookie in my mouth.
“Are you…eating the cookie that fell on the floor?” Craig asked, aghast.
“Ten second rule,” I said, still chewing.
“You’ll have to forgive my niece,” Aunt Hyacinth said. “She wasn’t raised in Starry Hollow.” More like a barn in New Jersey. Do they even have barns in New Jersey? I suppose all the animals congregate together along the turnpike.
Hmm. Still no thoughts in his head. He should at least be expressing internal mortification.
“Ember, you should have joined us on the call,” Florian said, as he returned to the veranda. “There’s a new organization that’s interested in partnering with us.” And the woman spearheading it is hot, hot, hot.
“You need to be careful not to spread your resources too thin,” Craig interjected. “Your generosity is to be admired, but even great wealth has its limits.”
Hyacinth smiled up at him. “Craig, I do appreciate your conservative attitude.” And your handsome face.
Craig’s mind remained a bastion of silence. The longer this continued, the more my concern grew.
Hazel returned to the veranda with a drink in each hand. She handed the eyebright and tonic to me. “A little liquid courage to get you started.” And one for me, for having to endure it.
I could read everyone’s mind except for Craig’s. This was not normal.
“How exactly am I supposed to demonstrate my progress with runecraft?” I asked. “Most of the time I practice translating runes in the book and then drawing my own.”
My aunt produced her wand. “I’ll conjure a rune and you interpret it for us. Simple enough, yes?”
“Easy peasy,” I said, shifting uncomfortably.
“I’ll start with a basic one.” My aunt conjured a rune that looked like a cross between an S and a Z. I was tempted to yell ‘Shazam,’ mostly because I had a brain block as to the actual answer.
Come on. You know this one, Hazel thought to herself. The rune for sun.
“Sun!” I declared triumphantly.
“And what does it mean?” Craig pressed, and I fought the urge to shove my wand up his…
Solace. Success. Hazel’s thoughts pushed through my own.
“It can mean solace or success,” I said. Silently, I thanked Wren for introducing me to the mind reading spell. Who knew how handy it would be?
Hazel gave me a thumbs up.
“Well try one that’s a bit more difficult,” Aunt Hyacinth said.
Terrific. Maybe I shouldn’t have seemed so confident.
She conjured a rune that I remembered referring to as the X-wing Starfighter in my notes. That was pretty much all I remembered about it.
Day, Ember, Hazel thought. You can do it.
It was kind of nice how invested Hazel was in my achievement. Of course, I knew it was mostly because it was a reflection of her, but still. I appreciated her support.
“Day,” I said, straightening my shoulders. “And it means hope or happiness.” That part spilled from my lips without any help from Hazel. Words like hope and happiness tended to stay with me, probably because I was so desperate to experience them.
Hazel clapped loudly. “Excellent work, Ember.”
“I see your time isn’t being wasted, Hazel,” my aunt said.
“Well done, Ember,” Craig said. “And here I thought you were as incompetent as everyone claims. I should have known a Rose couldn’t be quite that deficient.”
I forced a smile. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Craig.”
My aunt didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered by his comment. The witch had stars in her eyes when it came to Craig and that unsettled me more than anything. Hyacinth Rose-Muldoon was generally unflappable, yet this wizard had managed to turn her into a giddy schoolgirl with minimal effort. Something was definitely off with this guy and I was more determined than ever to find out what it was.
Chapter Fourteen
“Are you certain you’re not overreacting?” Alec asked.
I’d listed fifteen different reasons why Craig was probably a secret cave dweller with an axe to grind, but the vampire seemed unimpressed.
We stood at the bar in Elixir, waiting for our drinks. He’d ordered a Breezeburst for me and an old-fashioned for him. The trendy cocktail bar still took my breath away. Bottles of glowing liquid were suspended from the ceiling, attached to the walls, and even built into the flooring. I’d once told Marley it was like standing in the middle of a giant lava lamp. Then she asked me what a lava lamp was and I sulked because I felt old.
“I’m telling you,” I insisted. “Craig is bad news and not even of the Bad News Bears variety. He’s way worse.”
The bartender handed me the bright liquid that resembled red, green, and orange layers of Jell-O. I took a sip of the delightful cocktail and sighed dreamily.
“Do you know this is the first drink you ever bought me?” I asked.
“A Breezeburst?” Alec queried. “What an odd choice.”
“You thought I’d like it.”
He inclined his head toward the drink in my hand. “Clearly I was right.”
“As usual,” I said. “You always are, Mr. Smarty Trousers.”
His smile faded and he took a soulful sip of his cocktail.
“What’s the matter?” I asked. “Did I say something wrong, because where I come from, telling someone they’re always right is a compliment?”
“Nothing is wrong,” he said.
I wagged a finger. “No, don’t do that. You’re avoiding confrontation because you’re uncomfortable. I can tell because you get that look in your eye.”
“And what look is that?”
“The one that tells me you’d rather be elbow-deep in one of your fantasy novels than having this conversation with me right now.”
“There’s an expression that corresponds to that?”
“Apparently. You’ve pretty much perfected it. You should offer a YouTube tutorial on it.”
He took another long drink and set down his glass. “I worry that you have me on a pedestal,” he said. “And I’m even more worried that I can’t possibly live
up to your version of me.”
Whoa. This conversation got real, real fast. “What makes you think that?” I sucked down my cocktail and slid my empty glass across the counter.
“Comments you make. The more you put yourself down, the more you seem to build me up. I don’t want you to mistake me for someone I’m not, Ember. I’ll only disappoint you.”
The bartender wisely had another Breezeburst in my hand before I answered him. “Do I think you’re the most amazing living creature on the face of the earth? As a matter of fact, I do, but that doesn’t mean I think you’re infallible or godlike. I know you’re flawed.”
“Do you? Because sometimes I wonder.”
“Just the other day, your handkerchief in your breast pocket was crooked. Did that change my opinion of you? No siree, it did not.”
He couldn’t resist a smile. “I’m a vampire, not an angel. Not a werewolf who wears his heart on his sleeve. A relationship with me won’t be without its difficulties.”
“I spend a lot of time with you, Alec. I’ve heard you in therapy. I know you have stories to tell.” Granted, he was still fairly quiet in our sessions, but I recognized that avoidance was one of his flaws. I didn’t pretend he was perfect. “When you’re ready, you’ll share them with me.”
His features softened. “How can you be someone who kicks a tire when you don’t feel the pump is filling it with air fast enough, yet you have unending patience when it comes to me?”
“Because, Mr. Fang-tastic. You’re super hot and that tire has remnants of roadkill and is in desperate need of rotation.”
He chuckled. “I think you should slow down on the cocktails, or at least locate Mr. Andersen before you drink anymore.”
“Good plan. See how considerate you are?” I swiveled for a better view of the bar.
“Do you happen to know where we can find Todd Andersen?” Alec asked.
“What do you think I’m…?” I turned to see that he was asking the bartender. “Oh.”
The bartender pointed to a booth against the opposite wall where a string bean of an elf sat across from a buxom troll. They held hands across the table and seemed entirely smitten.
“Well, I guess he has a type,” I said. Maybe he never got over Shayna’s rejection of him and that was the reason he killed her. Only one way to find out.
“Perhaps I should accompany you,” Alec said.
I waved him off. “I got this. You stay there on your pedestal with your excellent bird’s-eye view of the bar.”
He smirked. “I’ll keep a bird’s-eye on your drink while you’re gone.”
“No tasting,” I called over my shoulder. I sauntered over to Todd’s table and suddenly wished I had forgone the cocktail until after the interview.
Neither the elf nor the troll noticed me until I cleared my throat. They were too wrapped up in each other.
“Hi,” I said. “Are you Todd Andersen?”
“That’s right,” the elf said. “Do I know you?”
“I’m Ember Rose and I’m a reporter for Vox Populi.”
“Oh, yes,” he said. “I read it every week.”
“You do?” I tried not to sound so shocked. “I mean, you do. That’s nice. So I guess you’ve heard the horrible news about Shayna Masters.”
His jaw tensed and he released the troll’s hands. “Yeah, I heard.”
“Is that the ex you told me about, Todd?” the troll asked. Her voice was much softer than her appearance suggested.
He gave a curt nod. “I saw her recently for the first time in ages. If I’d known it would be the last time…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?” I asked. “I’m trying to write this article on her and it would be good to get a well-rounded view of her, you know? I don’t want to stick to customers of her shop. It’s not a complete picture.”
“She has a boyfriend. Did you interview him?”
“A little, but he’s so shaken up by her death,” I said. “I thought I’d try someone with more…distance.”
Todd looked at his date. “Would you mind leaving us alone for a couple minutes, Hattie?”
“Sure thing, honey,” she said. “I’ll go powder my nose.” She slid out of the booth.
“Do women still do that?” I asked.
The troll touched her wide green nose. “I’m always shiny. I look like a hormonal dragon when I don’t use powder.”
“Got it.” I took her place across from Todd. “Thanks for speaking with me.”
“No problem.” He fiddled with the edge of his beverage napkin. “What do you want to know?”
“Let’s start with your general impression of her. You were engaged once, so you must’ve thought pretty highly of her.”
Todd grunted. “At the time, sure. She has…Sorry, she had a big personality. Sometimes that was awesome and sometimes that was overwhelming. When we were still hot and heavy, it was awesome.”
“What did you find overwhelming about her?”
Todd tipped back his glass of ale and drank. “She could be rude. Said hurtful things. She wasn’t trying to be malicious, though, and I knew that. She was just thoughtless sometimes.”
“But you overlooked it?”
“Yeah, sure. I was in love with her. You overlook a lot when you’re in deep, right?”
“So what changed?” I asked.
“Nothing for me,” he said. “She broke off our engagement out of the blue. I was blown away, to be honest. I thought she was the one for me. Not a shred of doubt.”
“Were you angry?”
Todd gave a rueful smile. “Who wouldn’t be? I felt disposable. I knew she’d broken off an engagement before mine, but I thought…”
“You thought you were different?” I prodded. “Special?”
He rubbed his hand over his cheek. “Yeah. That.”
“How long ago was this?”
“A year and a half, I guess.”
“And you haven’t been in touch since then?” I asked. My head was getting a little fuzzy from the cocktails. Hopefully, I could wrap this up before the alcohol hit me too hard. I’d forgotten how potent those Breezebursts could be.
“Not really,” he said. “I sent her a few texts not long after the breakup, wanting answers, but I eventually gave up when she ghosted me. Then I saw her here recently, like I said.”
“And how was that?” Running into a former fiancé couldn’t be high on the list of happy moments in life.
“Fine for me, but Shayna was…She was in overwhelming mode, let’s just say that.”
“What do you mean?” I hiccupped and quickly covered my mouth. Apparently, the alcohol was having an effect on multiple body parts.
“She was loud, abrasive, insulted Hattie.” He shook his head. “It was a good moment for me, to be honest. I saw her clearly for the first time and realized how truly awful she could be. I got the closure I needed.”
“Why do you think she was in overwhelming mode?”
He smirked. “I think she got pissed when she saw that I was happy with Hattie and that we were engaged.”
“Oh, congratulations,” I said. “That’s great.” It was good to know that he’d managed to bounce back after heartbreak. I needed to hear those stories, not just for me but for Granger.
“Thanks. I thought Shayna would be happy, too. I figured she didn’t want me. What would she care that I was going to marry someone else?”
“But she surprised you?”
He released a breath. “Oh, yeah. She sure did. She seemed annoyed that Hattie’s a troll. Felt like I was replacing her, which went against her world view that she was irreplaceable.”
I raised my eyebrows. “She said that?”
“In her own way, yeah. She told Hattie that she should try contouring makeup to minimize her features. That Elixir’s artificial lights weren’t doing her any favors.”
After the way Shayna behaved at the wedding, this information didn’t really surprise me.
“Was Hattie upset?”
“Actually, no.” Todd appeared pleased. “Rolled right off those sturdy shoulders of hers. She could tell that Shayna was lashing out.”
I frowned, remembering what Lois had told me. “So you and Shayna didn’t have a disagreement or anything that night?”
“No,” Todd said. “Shayna was clearly shaken up and went back to her boyfriend or whoever he is.”
“Franco was with her?” I asked. I downed the rest of my drink. It was too tasty to let sit for long. Probably not the best idea when I was interviewing a suspect, but he didn’t know he was a suspect, so really I was providing a cover.
“They came in together, but she left him in a booth when she came over to talk to me,” Todd said. “I think she expected me to react differently to seeing her and, of course, she didn’t know about Hattie until that moment.”
So it seemed that the reason Shayna had been upset when she shared the story with Lois was because Todd was engaged, not because he’d said or done something horrible to her. Interesting.
“Tyra was also here that night,” Todd continued. “I don’t know if they chose to avoid or snap at each other, but they were definitely in the bar at the same time.”
“Who’s Tyra?” And why did that name sound familiar?
“Tyra Langley, one of Shayna’s regular customers.” He paused. “Well, she was back when Shayna and I were together. They had a falling out from what I’ve heard.”
“Do you know why?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Business. Money. It was Shayna’s primary focus, so if there was an issue, that was generally the reason. Tyra’s a wardrobe designer so she’s always in the market for the kinds of items at Be-switched.”
A gear in my brain clicked. Tyra Langley had attended the wedding. Shayna had made a caustic remark about her. I hadn’t registered it at the time because—let’s face it—Shayna made caustic remarks about everyone.
“Thanks. That’s helpful, Todd.” Very helpful.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Hattie lingering. I turned and waved her over. “Thanks for your help, Todd, and good luck to you both.” I vacated the booth so that Hattie could reclaim her seat.
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