Page 47 of With All My Haunted Heart

When I finally turn back around, Elle has already slid off the table, and she’s closer than I expect. “Oh. Hi.”

She smiles. “Hi.”

This close, her eyes remind me of green aventurine, a gorgeous stone I’ve used in good-luck spells in the past. Her gaze draws me in closer, until our breath mingles in the same space, warmth and chocolate and her spicy scent. My heart flutters like a wounded bird in my chest, aching yet trying to fly. I raise the glasses between us. “Can I…”

Elle nods and leans forward, her red hair cascading over her shoulders into the space between us. I slide the glasses carefully into place, and when she knuckles them farther up her nose, I shove down the feelings I am absolutely not allowed to have. Feelings she can’t possibly return. Feelings that, even if she did reciprocate on some level, are not allowed.

Because if something were to happen and things went south…

I won’t put Xander in a position to have to choose. I won’t put myself in a position to be the one not chosen. The one left behind. The one who can be cut out of a family like it’s fucking nothing.

“Pippa?” Elle’s voice caresses my skin, full of concern.

Be a professional, I remind myself as I reach for the cloth-wrapped piece of lepidolite. “Ready?”

She nods, but when I let the top of the cloth fall away, Elle’s gaze flicks up to mine. “What if the glasses don’t work?”

So much for being a professional. I forgot the most important step. “While you use the glasses, I’m going to do this.” With my free hand, I trace an amplification sigil over my third-eye chakra and a second one behind my ear. “I’ll be the control for our experiment.”

A soft smile blooms across Elle’s lips. “Your eyes are glowing,” she says, and there’s a warmth to her words that does terrible things to my heart. “Just like the day we met.”

Fondness. That’s the only way I can describe her expression. I swallow the longing and desire clawing at my chest. There’s work to be done. Work that is the only reason Elle brought me here. I hold out the crystal. “You do the honors. Welcome the first ghost to Midnight Manor.”

Elle nods, suddenly all serious, fingers trembling as they reach toward the crystal. She pauses, her hand hovering over the purple-and-white surface, and then she trails her fingers down the side of the lepidolite until they brush against my wrist. I only have a second to experience the sensation of skin on skin before she pulls away and the crystal begins to glow.

There’s a flash of purple-tinted light, and then Laney is standing in the kitchen with us. They look the same as they did in the summoning circle, semitransparent but here all the same.

“Welcome to Midnight Manor, Laney.” I smile at them as they take in the huge kitchen, with its rustic cabinets, gleaming appliances, and the long wooden table at the center of the room.

Laney wanders toward the oven and inhales deep. “This place smells amazing. And it’s so warm and cozy in here.”

“I’m glad you like it,” I say, but when I turn to share the triumph with Elle, she’s frowning. “The glasses aren’t working?” I guess, my excitement deflating.

Elle shakes her head. “Apparently not. I don’t see or hear anything.”

The disappointment in her voice is palpable, and it’s downright unacceptable. She deserves to experience this win. This fucking triumph. Her B&B is officially haunted. Everything she’s sacrificed was worth it. Her heart deserves to soar.

“Here. Let me try something.” I raise my hands to hover on either side of the lenses, the tips of my fingers grazing her temples, and funnel additional magic into the pattern of crystals glued onto the glasses. Elle leans into my touch, just a gentle tilt of her head, but it takes all my strength not to tip my forehead to hers and drink her in.

“Oh, you’ve got it bad,” Laney says from across the room, and I shoot them a panicked look. “Don’t worry. My lips are sealed,” they say, but they’re grinning like this situation is utterly delightful.

I am so fucked.

Be a professional! I refocus on the task at hand and adjust the flow of magic until the crystals are singing with power. I let my hands fall away, my fingers brushing down the apples of Elle’s cheeks. She trembles at my touch, and I tell myself that the skin there is sensitive. That any witch touching her there would cause the same reaction. That it has nothing to do with me.

“Can she hear me yet?” Laney asks, leaning over to smell the drying herbs hanging to the left of the stovetop.

At the sound of Laney’s voice, Elle whips around to face them. “Oh my god. I can see you!” She turns back and reaches for me, her fingers curling around my forearm. “Pippa, I can see them!”

I smile through the thundering of my heart. “That was the goal.”

“You’re a goddamn genius, Pippa. Laney is here and I can see them.” Elle stares at me with open awe as her hands tighten around my wrists. Being seen and held like this makes it hard to breathe. A beat later, Elle’s attention turns inward, her voice quiet in the space between us. “This is going to work.”

“Is it cool if I explore?” Laney cuts in, and they give me a meaningful look behind Elle’s back.

Elle turns away from me, shifting into hostess mode. “Of course. I want Midnight Manor to feel like it’s your home as much as ours. If there’s anything you need, let one of us know.”

“Oh, I can’t…” I clear my throat against the sudden embarrassment. “I can’t keep up these sigils twenty-four seven. I’ll need to figure out a way to recharge the glasses without me. Until then…I can activate them during meals. Does that work, Laney?”