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Things I’d left at my mother’s house thinking they’d be safer there than at university. But now I don’t want to risk her getting angry at me and destroying them or something. By the time there’s a knock on my door, I have all of my boxes stacked neatly in one corner of my room, clearly marked as keep and donate. All the stuff I’m okay with being tossed in the garbage, I just leave where it is.
I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time before she clears out my room and turns it into something cliche, like a yoga studio. She’ll finally be able to have the life she wanted.
When I open the front door, there they all are. All four of them, looking unsure and a little awkward. But I’ve had enough time to calm down. Listening to Ashnikko on repeat helped me to get all my frustration out and now I’m just resigned.
Fielder is the first to speak, his tone brisk, bordering on businesslike. “I took the liberty of hiring some movers. They’ll deliver all of your things to the house we’ll be staying in this summer.” He motions behind him, where I see a truck and two burly looking dudes.
My brows arch and I try not to let the thoughtfulness of the act soften me too much. “Thanks. I hadn’t gotten around to doing that yet.”
I step back and push the door open more, letting them in and Fielder motions the movers forward, and directs them upstairs, to my bedroom. I don’t ask how he knows what room is mine. He probably used magic to figure it out or something. Instead, I move around the downstairs of the house, gathering the last few things I need, slipping on shoes and grabbing my purse.
All of them are silent as I take these last few moments in the home I’ve lived in for the last six years, a home that I likely will not be returning to anytime soon. When the movers have loaded the last of my stuff, leaving just two suitcases with things I need in the immediate future, I give the house one last look.
Hardin and Fielder take my bags out to the car, while Ezra and Gideon stay with me. They both maintain their silence as I bid the house farewell, doing nothing more than lacing their fingers with mine.
When I’m ready and not a moment sooner, I turn on my heel and stride out the front door, waiting for them to follow, before shutting and locking the door.
I stutter to a stop midway down the front walkway, realizing that they switched the three cars for just one. Gideon’s hand on my lower back ushers me forward and Fielder opens the back door for me, letting me slide into the middle seat before he slips in next to me.
Hardin takes the driver’s seat, Gideon the front passenger and Ezra brackets my other side.
After fifteen minutes of silence, just after Hardin has navigated to I-5 south, I clear my throat. “So, where are we going?”
Fielder’s green gaze moves over me. “Northern California. Ezra has a house there. It’s not terribly far from where the coven meets.”
I nod. “Okay, and we’re driving? I kind of assumed we’d take a plane or a helicopter or something.”
“There’s a private airfield not far from here. Our jet is going to meet us there,” Ezra says, braving my anger to lace his fingers with mine again and placing our joined hands on his thigh.
A brief laugh burbles out of my chest, and I shake my head. “It’s crazy how casual you are about things like owning a jet. It’s not normal, you know that, right?”
All of them seem to relax at my gentle teasing. Hardin meets my eyes in the rearview mirror. “Does this mean you aren’t mad at us anymore, love?”
“No, I’m still mad. I’m just handling it better than I was. My mom was never going to have a good reaction to our relationship. I knew this, but I just wanted to have some time to ease her into the idea. You know, introduce each of you to her separately, hang out all together without it being obvious that I’m with all of you. And then eventually just let her come to the conclusion of what we are to each other herself. I didn’t want to smack her in the face with it.”
“If you think about it, we kind of did what you wanted. Just at a much faster pace,” Gideon points out from the front seat. I use my free hand to punch him in the shoulder. “Ow, dammit, Rosalind. You don’t have to resort to violence!”
“Tell me how having my mother refer to me as a whore is the same as what I wanted, Brightwater.”
He twists so he can look at me. “Well, we all hung out together, and she concluded that you’re dating all of us.”
“Because Fielder straight up said he was my boyfriend, and then Hardin practically tongue fucked my face, and then you and Ezra came up all sweet, dropping kisses all over me. That is not easing her into it!” I drop Ezra’s hand and throw both of mine toward the ceiling. “You know what? I don’t want to talk about it anymore. We’re just going to disagree about it and I don’t feel like going in circles when I’ve just broken my relationship with my mom. So please, can we drop it?”
Not one of them agrees, and I know that means they aren’t done talking about this. They want to hash this out. To explain their side. The problem is, I don’t want to hear it. So I change the subject.
“Tell me about the trials I’ll have to do.”
Fielder sighs. “We can’t.”
I glare at him. “Can’t or won’t.”
“Can’t, Sweeney. Each person’s trial is different. I didn’t have the same test as Ezra. Even if we tell you about them now, there isn’t any guarantee you’ll have the same one.”
I hum and tip my head back to its resting on the seat. “Okay, then tell me what I’ll need to do in order to be let into the coven. Why do I need to be tested in all sects, if I have an affinity with Shadow and Veil and we know that? You said that the coven prevents members from having magic outside of their sect.”
“Most magic, yes, but not all,” Gideon answers, twisting his head to look at me over his shoulder. “There are some magics that overlap, or that are shared. For example, a lot of castings can be done by anyone with magic.”
“Like the protection spells you guys put on me.”
