Turning back to Elfie, Cole sneered at the woman who remained focused on Kaylia. “We don’t need her help.”
“But we do!” Kaylia protested. “We can’t….” She broke off and glanced around before looking to Elfie again. “We have to talk privately.”
“I don’t want you, orthem, in my home,” Elfie stated.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Kaylia’s rare show of temper caused Elfie’s eyebrows to rise. “I don’t care about your history with them. It’s the past! We’re talking aboutallour futures. If you plan on having one, then you’ll speak with us. It’s important, Elfie, or I wouldn’t be here. I left the crone realm because of this!”
Elfie remained unmoved for a minute before reluctantly stepping aside. “Come in, butonlyyou.”
“You’ll want to speak with all of us,” Kaylia said.
“They’re not coming into my home.”
“This isn’t going to work,” Lexi said. “Let’s go. She’s not worth this.”
Elfie looked down her nose at Lexi. “I am an ancient, girl. You best watch your tongue.”
“And you best watch yours,” Cole warned. “Or I’ll tear it out so you can see it.”
“Enough!” Kaylia snapped.
Stepping closer to Elfie, she bent and whispered something in the woman’s ear that Cole didn’t quite catch. Elfie didn’t move, but her eyes flew to Lexi and her mouth parted.
Her hand trembled before tightening on the door. Eventually, she stepped back and waved a hand at the open doorway. “The two of you can enter, but not them.”
“She’s not goinganywherewithout me,” Cole stated.
“I’m not allowing—”
“I’m not going anywhere without them,” Lexi interjected. “I don’t leave my family behind.”
The dig had its intended effect as Elfie winced. Kaylia slapped her palm off her forehead and Cole grinned at Elfie when she looked at him again.
“Lexi is my fiancée,” Cole told her.
“Oh, Colburn,” Elfie breathed as she closed her eyes. “You were always so determined to walk in your father’s footsteps. It will be your doom.”
“What doesthatmean?” Varo demanded.
Cole didn’t have time to get annoyed by Elfie’s words as the angry, accusatory tone of Varo’s question shocked any irritation from him. He’d never heard his brother speak to someone like that before.
Instead of answering, Elfie stepped aside and gestured for them to enter. “All of you, come inside.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
Kaylia and Lexi entered first;Cole ducked under the doorframe to follow his fiancée inside, and Varo brought up the rear. Once they were all inside, Elfie closed the door.
It didn’t shut out much light as more streamed down from the hole in the top of the tree. The light pouring down from above shone off the dozens of suncatchers hanging inside. A myriad of different hues from the suncatchers danced around the room and bathed it in color.
A winding set of stairs spiraled to the top of the tree. A couple of doors branched off the stairs, but they were all closed.
Elfie waved a hand at the round table, carved from wood, set in the center of the room. The thick knots in the table’s wood were black, and many were nearly the size of his head. Four chairs surrounded the table.
“Please sit,” Elfie said.
No one sat. From one of the thick, wooden beams running across the center of the tree, Elfie removed a shining copper pot. She filled it with water from the small spigot sticking out of the tree and positioned over a white basin.
When she finished, she placed the pot on the metal hook hanging over the fire on the other side of the room. The small fire crackled in the hearth as its smoke spiraled up the chimney and out the side of the tree.
