Page 51 of Of Magic and Murder

Oh.

That’s right. He did. Then again, he hasn’t. Not really.

For the last week in particular, Riordan has been there almost every time I turn around. He takes me to the library. He drives me around Moonburrow. He spends hours searching the woods with me, then finds reasons to take me out to eat.

But, all along, I thought he went home at night only to appear at the door at nine o’clock.

Apparently not.

Goddess damn it.

“This is my fault,” I say in a tiny voice, backing away from him.

Riordan’s expression goes wolfishly alert. “What is?”

“This.” I gesture between us. “You being here. Following me everywhere. Patrolling the downstairs after dark. Shit, Riordan. Do you even sleep? What did I do to you?”

“You didn’t do anything⁠—”

He’s wrong. “I cast a spell.”

“On me?”

I nod miserably. “Honey wanted me to cast a locator spell. To find you and bring you back to Moonburrow. And I did because she asked, but I didn’t think it worked, and then, suddenly, there you were, and now you feel like you have to be at my side every minute and every hour and it’s all my fault!”

For a second, he only stares at me. Then Riordan rubs his jaw. “Penelope… I say this with all the love in the world, but your magic isn’t very… accurate.”

I sniffle. “I know that.”

“So why do you think it did anything to me?”

“Because you came back!”

His brows rise.

“You were gone for two months. I cast a locator spell because Honey wanted you home, it fizzled out, and then Olivia died and suddenly you came back. And ever since then, you keep insisting you can’t leave me alone.”

Something in his expression changes. “Pen.”

“What?”

“Did you feel the spell attach itself to me?”

“No.”

“Do you see any magic on me that wasn’t already there?”

I hesitate, realizing what he means. All along, I’ve noticed the neon green wisps that surround him, but that’s all there is. I don’t see any hint of another spell, and especially not one with my own magical signature.

“No,” I whisper.

“See? Pen… I’m not here because your magic says that I have to be. If you don’t believe anything else I say, please believe that.”

“But—”

“No ‘but’. I’m a wolf.” His voice softens. “Magic has a scent, Pen. Especially magic that’s attached to me. I’ve lived with a curse for fifteen years. I know what it feels like when a witch gets inside of my skin.”

Oh. That actually makes sense. But if the locator spell didn’t make Riordan come back, and it isn’t forcing him to stay near me…