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“He already left with his anchor,” replied Knox.
“I had hoped to say goodbye. Never mind. Jolene, it’s always a pleasure. And Harper, you take care.”
She nodded, smiling. “You too, Malcolm.”
To her amusement, the tick in his cheek did a crazy dance as his smirk fell. “It’s Malden.”
She smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. “That’s right, sorry.”
As the Prime marched away, Knox smiled against her mouth. “Such a tease.” He inwardly groaned as he sensed a very unwelcome she-demon approaching. Isla’s coming.
My evening is complete.
“Hello, Knox.” So deceptively pleasant.
Knox lifted his head. “Isla.”
“I just thought I’d say farewell. We’ll talk again soon. Oh, and do reconsider electing a Monarch. I could improve so much for our kind.”
His smile was as forced as hers. “Your plea is wasted on me, Isla.”
“You always were stubborn.” Her tone was full of nostalgia. Turning to Harper, she held out a small, black velvet bag. “I wanted to give you something, Harper. Call it a peace offering.”
Dubious, Harper raised a brow. “Yeah? What is it?”
“Open and see.”
Curiosity alone made Harper take and open the little drawstring bag. Inside was some kind of silver chain. She pulled it out, realizing there was a silver pendant hanging from it. It was engraved with a triquetra and had a gold dragon attached to it. It also fairly buzzed with power.
“It’s a protective amulet,” Isla explained. “Be sure to wear it.”
The genuine concern in the she-demon’s voice made Harper look up. With a regal nod, Isla turned away and left. “I’m guessing this thing is cursed or something, because there’s just no way that that woman wants me protected.”
Knox took the amulet and closed his hand around it. “There’s power in this.”
“I know, I felt it. But it didn’t feel bad.”
“It isn’t.”
“You’re saying Isla wants to protect Harper?” Levi was clearly skeptical.
“No,” replied Knox. “I’m merely saying there’s no negative power attached to the amulet.”
“Maybe she wants to appear concerned for Harper, hoping it will make us think she’s innocent in all the shit that’s been going on,” theorized Tanner.
“That seems more likely than her giving Harper some kind of lucky charm.” Martina scowled at Harper. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you don’t wear the necklace I gave you with the fishbone charm on it. It’s for good luck.”
Harper frowned. “How can it give good luck? Things didn’t exactly go well for the fish.”
Beck’s laugh earned him a glower from Martina.
“Well, sweetheart, I’m afraid we have to leave.” Jolene gave Harper a tight, one-armed hug. “Come visit me soon, bring Knox. And Tanner and Levi can come along.” She smiled. “It’s always nice to have things around that are pretty to look at.”
Once she’d said her goodbyes to Martina and Beck, Harper turned to Knox. “After we’ve picked up our luggage from upstairs, I’d like to go to my apartment and see what survived the spell.”
Having returned the amulet to the velvet bag and placed it in his pocket, Knox took her hand. He’d shove the amulet in a drawer somewhere later. “I’ll have Keenan take the luggage to the mansion while we go to your apartment. It’s going to be a mess, baby. Be ready.”
It turned out he was right. One step inside the apartment, Harper halted with a groan. The place looked like an abandoned house – the furniture still standing was stained with the ash of the items that had been destroyed by the venom. It was dark, damp, and smelled like a morgue. Like rot and decay.
“You know, it makes no sense to me that the practitioner would perform a spell that put so many snakes inside and then only a few outside,” she told Knox. “The snakes slithering on my front door were a huge fucking warning that there could be more inside. Why give me that warning?”
“I don’t think any were supposed to get outside. But a few escaped through the letterbox, something the practitioner obviously hadn’t considered would happen.”
“Maybe. But why not just do a simpler spell that hid a few snakes inside – they could have taken me off guard and easily bitten me. At first, I couldn’t understand it. But now, looking at this mess, I’m thinking that they put all the snakes inside because they intended to do this much damage. They wanted to destroy my stuff to hurt me, and to help vent their anger. If it’s a reaction to finding out you and I are mates, the news obviously didn’t shift their anger to you.”
And that pissed Knox the fuck off. “Come on, let’s see what’s still intact, box it up, and get out of here.”
So that was what they did. With so much dark energy filling the space, it was a relief to get out of there. The smell seemed to cling to her flesh and clothes. She scrubbed at her skin in Knox’s shower, trying to wash it away. But it was as though the scent of rot had clogged her nostrils. Settled on the sofa in the living area, dressed in her sweats, she inhaled the coffee Meg – bless her soul – had made, hoping it would chase away the horrid smell that seemed to haunt her. According to Levi, it would take a little more work from the incantor to remove the stains of the spell from the apartment.
