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“It’s not funny, bitches.”
“So, you’re going commando today?”
“No, he left my granny panties. I guess they weren’t pretty enough to decorate his house.” Ruby sneers, and I’m a little afraid for Ezra. Ruby is going to retaliate, hard, but I don’t feel bad. He brought this on himself. Those two might end up killing each other one of these days. Half the time I can’t tell if they are joking with each other or out for blood.
“That was thoughtful.” Miri chokes on a laugh, and Ruby flips her the bird.
Miri’s kitchen is totally retro. Some might say it hasn’t had an update in a while, but I love the style of the white farm sink, and the large butcher block island that takes up a big chunk of the room. It’s bright and welcoming.
Just beyond the kitchen is a wall of glass with French doors that lead a few steps down into the conservatory. That’s Miri’s pride and joy. She grows all her own herbs, flowers, and plants that she uses to make all the products she sells in her store, Tonic. It’s impressive.
The kitchen island is covered with cookie ingredients. Ruby swipes her finger in the batter, and Miri swats at her with the spoon. “You don’t deserve my cookies.”
“I just want to enjoy some before you burn them.”
“Oh, you are getting on my shit list real quick, Ruby Laurens.”
Ruby winks at her and then plops down on a stool on the other side of the island. I slide into the seat next to her.
“Do you need help with anything?” I ask, but Miri waves me off.
“No, I’ll just get these in and then we can figure out what we’re going to do.” Miri quickly fills up some trays, and motions toward a little table in the corner of the kitchen. “I found some books in the library that I thought we could look through. I dog-eared a page about magical testing.”
It’s a reflex to pull in a shocked breath. I whip my head around to look at the leather-bound books that are God knows how old, and my mouth gapes open.
“You are actually clutching imaginary pearls.” Ruby chuckles, but I spin around to glare at Miri, who’s trying not to laugh.
“Just kidding. I would never, Lena. I used a piece of paper.”
“Wow, did you guys both take asshole pills this morning? I haven’t even had any coffee yet, and this is what you joke about?”
This day is turning into a real fucking mess. Maybe it’s me. Have I messed up my juju by messing around with my friend? I should go back home and crawl into bed, sleep the day away, and pray that when I wake up tomorrow, things will be back to normal. Boring, but normal. Right, that’s what I want.
A mug of coffee appears under my nose, and I flinch back to see Miri holding the cup. “You were in a zone. Apology coffee for my bad joke?”
“Is there sugar in here?”
“A lot.”
I grab the cup from her and take a sip, giving a low hum of approval. “Fine. You’re forgiven.”
Miri cleans her mess off the island in record time. She has her own coffee in hand as she brings a few books over and lays them out in front of us. Ruby’s holding a glass of juice, because she’s naturally caffeinated or something and doesn’t drink coffee.
“So, I found this book in the library called Mythos of the Fae. Sounds fancy, right? Anyway, there’s a section in here that talks all about the four Courts of Fairy. It reminded me of that book you showed me a while back, Lena. The one that talked about each season. They all had their own mascot and were associated with a specific type of magic.”
One side of my mouth lifts in a smile. “I wouldn’t call them mascots. More like symbolic representations of the four seasons, four pillars of the earth, or possibly the four Courts of Fairy.”
Miri shrugs her shoulders and takes a long drink of her coffee. “You know what I mean. I think, since we know that Anthony is looking to open up a gateway to Fairy, that maybe they really do represent the four Courts.”
“Except we don’t actually know that there are Courts in Fairy.” Ruby grabs a book and starts flipping through pages with a wild abandon that has me wincing and praying for the fragile paper.
“That’s true. All we really know is that the Fae are real, and at one point, the veil between our two words was open. Let’s just go with it and assume there’s some truth to the island legends. The stories say there were sentinels sent here to help protect humans and close down the veil from our side of the yard. If that’s the case, then it’s not a far leap to think some of them may have documented this stuff. In case there was a future need for this info.”
“There are a lot of similarities between the texts I’ve collected over the years. Certain histories and details change from one book to the next, but the basics essentially stay the same.”
Miri claps her hands together. “Okay, then. Let’s follow this road of assumptions and talk about the four Courts, and their symbolic representations.” She lifts a brow at me as she says the last bit, emphasizing that she didn’t call them mascots again.
“There’s Boreas, Zephyrs, Notus, and Eurus. And they represent, respectively, winter, spring, summer, and fall.”
