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“Wait a minute,” Iris said, frowning. “I’m sure she did. They even referred to her as ‘the lady who came in with the satyr’ when I asked for her. And when the cops came in earlier, they said they spoke to him.”
The nurse blinked a few times, then said, “Oh, that satyr. Yeah, he left.”
He did? Ouch.
“Did he say anything before he left?” I asked. I wanted to ask if he’d inquired about me but couldn’t bring myself to.
“Nope. The cops came to talk to him. I heard something about a nullified love spell or something, and he left right after.”
The crazy guy at the library did say something about recovering the magic from the spell. A nullification spell must have been what he’d thrown down. I’d read about those when I was doing my research on love spells. In order to work, it had to be crafted by the same person who’d done the original spell.
I turned to Iris. “The server from the gala who crashed into me. I think he thought I was you. He admitted the spell was his. I think he’s after you.”
Iris didn’t look surprised. “I heard something about that. The pair of five-oh’s came in earlier, but you were still asleep. I told them to come back.”
As the nurse checked over my charts, my brain started piecing everything together. Shane had woken up, free from the love spell, stayed around long enough to talk to the cops, and then left without even checking up on me or asking about me.
I looked around for my phone and found it next to the hospital bed. I picked it up, and saw no missed calls. I dialed Shane’s number; it went straight to voicemail.
“He’s not picking up…” I said, more to myself than to anyone else.
The nurse turned to us. “Honestly? It’s for the best. A nice girl like you shouldn’t be mixed up with a satyr. Love spelled to a monster?” She made a face. “How horrible. Here’s some advice, sweetheart: if anything happened between the two of you, keep it quiet. Good, decent men would never look at you twice if they knew you’ve been with one of those things.”
Her hateful words sank in slowly, but before I could say anything, she’d already left and was on her way to her next patient.
“What a bitch,” I muttered.
“Total butthole,” my sister agreed.
I’d known there were people out there who were against the idea of monsters and humans dating or marrying. Living here in Darlington, though, it was rare for someone to say it so bluntly and not even try to hide their prejudice.
Iris looked at me with concern in her eyes. “How are you feeling? I mean, do you feel any different now that the love spell has been nullified?”
“I don’t know… I think I feel the same. I still like Shane. A lot.” Hurt filled me at the thought that he’d woken up and not felt the same toward me as he had just this morning. “We were supposed to visit his forest this weekend.” I looked over sadly at my duffel, which sat on the chair next to Iris. “I’d packed my good lingerie and everything.”
I’d already told her about Shane showing up at the library last Friday and that we’d spent all weekend together, but hadn’t mentioned we’d also met up midweek. I also hadn’t told her that he’d planned on showing me his forest this weekend. That was a big deal for a satyr, apparently.
“Everything felt so real, you know? I thought for sure we’d love each other even without the spell. Or at least majorly like. He said it himself: we zeroed in on each other at the gala before the whole love spell incident. We were already dancing for a reason.” My voice cracked a little, and I had to take a deep breath to stop myself from breaking down entirely. “He was so sure that a mate bond would have happened between us even without the spell, and I believed him…because I’m stupid.”
“Aww, honey.” Iris came over to give me a hug. “You’re not stupid. You’re the smart sister, remember? If you’re stupid, then what am I? I mean, yikes.”
I’d been right to worry that Shane wouldn’t feel the same without the spell. And yet, I’d been a dummy and let the spell take over anyway. Now real feelings had developed on my side, but not on his, and I had no one else to blame. I’d gone into this fully knowing the risks. Crap.
“Let’s go get some ice cream and wine once you get sprung from here,” Iris said. “We’ll make it a girl’s night.”
My sister always knew how to make me feel better. I wasn’t sure how much wine and ice cream or even chocolate would help this time, but I’d try anything to make it hurt less.
There was a knock at the door, and I looked over to see two officers standing there.
“Hi, I’m Officer Hayes,” said a blonde cop with a crew cut. “ And this here is Officer Cooley.” He gestured to the woman next to him. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay,” I lied. I wasn’t sure they wanted to hear how heartbroken I was.
“Great.We wanted to ask you a few questions about the incident.”
“Sure, no problem.”
I answered their questions as best I could, giving them a description of the server from the gala.
