Get it together, Cece!
She took a few deep breaths, turning and smiling at Willow and Mal when they stepped into the kitchen with Briggs. “Hi there.”
“Hi, Cece. How are you?” Willow said.
“I’m good,” Cece said. “I’m making coffee, but I have some tea I can brew as well.”
Willow made a face. “Yay tea.”
Despite her lingering embarrassment, Cece couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s peppermint tea, if that makes it any better?”
Willow brightened. “Actually, it does. Thanks, Cece.”
Ten minutes later, the four of them were sitting at the table with steaming cups of coffee and tea, and a plate of cookies.
Willow was snuggled up to Mal, and Cece gave them an apologetic smile. “Sorry that it’s so cold in here. My furnace isn’t working that well.”
“It’s no problem,” Willow said.
“I wanted to chat with you about a protection spell on some of the employees at the firm,” Mal said. “It wouldn’t be many. Just any of the ones who will be providing security for you.”
Feeling weirdly uneasy, Cece said, “I, um, thought Briggs was my security person.”
“He is,” Mal said with a glance at Briggs. “But he’ll take scheduled time off, and we’ll need to bring in other employees to cover for him.”
“Oh, right,” Cece said. She glanced at Briggs, expecting him to protest and tell his boss that he wasn’t letting anyone else protect Cece.
He returned her look but didn’t say anything. The silence spun out, and Mal studied them both before saying, “Is this not working? Do you want to be reassigned, Briggs?”
“No,” he said without looking away from Cece.
Her face hot despite the chill of the kitchen, Cece took a sip of coffee. What was wrong with her? This was a job for Briggs and nothing more. Lust was turning her brain to oatmeal.
“So, what do you think, Cece?” Mal asked.
She blinked at him. “About what?”
“Doing a protection spell on a few of the employees,” Mal said.
“You want me to do the spell?”
“Yes,” Mal said.
“I’m sorry, I can’t,” she said. “I’m not powerful enough to do that. Another witch could easily break any protection spell I tried to do.”
“What about doing one on yourself?” Willow asked. “Would it be stronger because it’s on yourself?”
“Maybe a little,” Cece said. “But it still wouldn’t be all that powerful. I’ve been practicing witchcraft for less than a year, and my specialty is creating potions for healing and harmony, that sort of thing. I’ve done very little spell casting. Even if I had, any blood witch could break an apprentice witch’s spell.”
“You’re a blood witch,” Willow reminded her gently.
Cece grimaced. “I am, but blood witches have different power levels, and I’m on the low end.”
“How do you know that?” Mal asked.
“If I were a powerful blood witch, my magic would have been more apparent before now. It’s only in the last few weeks that my magic has been more, um, noticeable, and I think it was set off by, uh… an event.”
She glanced at Briggs, but if he was remembering their first meeting like she was, it didn’t show on his face.
