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Ah. That was the term Blair had used.
He placed Maxie down on the bed, and she curled into a ball on the sheets, assuming her new position. “Tell me more about what that means.”
“Well,” Evelyn said thoughtfully, “one’s magic is connected to one’s familiar. Like calls to like. A witch and their familiar speak to one another.”
He joined her at the door. “Do all witches have them?”
“No. Witches keep pets, but familiars are rare. They find you—that’s the difference. I was walking home with my sister—” Evelyn stopped, catching herself.
They stared at each other, the slip sitting in the air between them.
Kade opened the door, motioning her to join him outside. “Go on.”
“Maxie scurried out from a bush about five years ago. Ran over my shoes. Scratched my feet. Followed me the whole way home. My magic recognized her the moment she appeared.”
“Sounds like fate,” he whispered.
“Indeed.”
The rain had shifted to a slow drizzle. Kade pulled up his hood as Evelyn did, and they braced themselves together. Below the steps, Bleu waited. When they reached him, Kade helped Evelyn into the saddle, a question burning inside.
“Upstairs, you seemed surprised when I held her,” he said. “Why?”
Evelyn stayed silent, hesitating. Then she sighed. “Maxie doesn’t like others. She despises my friend Tovi, tolerates my family, and ignores strangers entirely. No one has ever held her like that but me.”
Shock rippled through him. He swung onto the saddle to hide his reaction. Did Maxie’s ease with him mean anything, or was it a coincidence?
“I’ll chalk it up to my incredible charm,” he said, not believing a word of it.
Evelyn snorted, and Kade pulled on the reins, urging Bleu to begin their journey to the Kerry estate.
The closer they came to their destination, the worse it rained. Dark, dreary clouds draped over Callum. Fog ghosted between hills, and gusts of mist pelted them.
By the time they’d made it to the Kerry estate, Kade swore the rain had drenched his bones. Evelyn’s cloak repelled the rain, and he guessed it to be enchanted. Yet her face was wet, her lips rosy from the cold, and the loose strands of her black hair were matted to her forehead and hood. She appeared fierce, determined, and he ignored the swell in his chest.
She still trembled as she dismounted Bleu, taking Kade’s hand and swinging her legs to the ground. When Bleu sidestepped, upsetting Evelyn’s precarious balance, she squeezed Kade’s hand harder and leaned into him for support. Kade sent her an encouraging smile as she avoided looking at the ground.
“Worse than the demons we faced yesterday?” he joked.
She scoffed. “Absolutely.”
Once she was off Bleu, they gazed at the Kerrys’ estate, so different from the McCarthys’. Unlike the white-washed cottage with the thatched roof, the Kerrys’ home was a two-story, red-brick manor.
It reminded Kade of the wealthier homes he’d seen in Nua that belonged to the affluent covens. A brick wall matching the manor stood at waist height. At each end, a cypress grew, their crooked branches bending around the estate as if shielding it from the outside.
The front door swung open with such force, it sounded like a thunderclap. A middle-aged man emerged and stormed toward them. Silver stubble lined his jaw, and his eyes were bloodshot. Kade assumed he was Fiona’s father.
“Commissioner Doyle said you’d be here an hour ago,” he barked. “You’re late.”
Evelyn stood still, her fierceness and confidence fading. “We apologize for the delay. The weather—”
Fiona’s father held up his hand, silencing her. Anger shot through Kade, but before he could interject, the other man pushed between them in a rush, bumping his shoulder into Evelyn. “Follow me.”
Kade saw red. He took a step toward the man, ready to say something, when Evelyn grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t,” she said in a hushed tone.
Kade gritted his teeth. “He can’t treat you that way. We’re here to help.”
