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“Not at all. We sign contracts; it’s all above board. Really, Mom, I get paid more by the hour that way.” We wouldn’t get into how overqualified I was at this point to troubleshoot printer problems or remind people how to run a reboot. “And it gives me more flexibility, in case I feel like setting off on any other impromptu road trips.”
I gave her another grin, hoping she’d take her cue from my tone, but her brow stayed furrowed. She looked away for a second, and something in her stance made me tense up with the suspicion I wasn’t going to like whatever she said next.
She pulled her gaze back to me. “I’ve also heard you’ve been going out to the Hallowell estate.”
No point in denying that. “Why wouldn’t I? Rose is back, and she’s a friend.” I wasn’t allowed to say how much more than that she was to me. “Maybe people need to find some new hobbies if that’s the most exciting news they’re finding to pass on.”
Mom still didn’t return my smile. “We might have been distracted by our own concerns after the family picked up and left all those years ago”—and fired Mom and Dad from the jobs they’d had on the estate, she didn’t add—“but I know it shook you up pretty hard too. You cared a lot about that girl. I’m glad you’ve been able to reconnect, I just… I don’t think you should extend yourself too much.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What do you mean?” She’d seemed perfectly happy to have Rose over for lunch a couple months ago.
“You know what they’re like,” she said. “The Hallowells. They don’t really mix with us here in town. She might enjoy having your attention, but I wouldn’t want to see you get your hopes up for more than that and then—”
“Mom,” I interrupted. It was almost ridiculous, how little idea she had of how much Rose had already committed. And even more ridiculous that she thought she needed to lecture me like this. “I’m not a lovesick teenager. I’ll be twenty-six in a month. So far I haven’t gotten myself into any catastrophes I couldn’t find my way back out of. Come on.” Was this the whole reason she’d invited me over?
Mom shifted her weight uneasily. “I just wanted to say my piece. Her coming back, this strange trip you went on, leaving all your clients—I don’t know what to think. I just want to know you’re okay.”
“I am,” I said. “Nothing’s wrong at all.” Well, other than the malevolent demons lurking less than a day’s drive from here, but she didn’t have a clue about that. She was just, what, trying to protect me from a broken heart?
She’d always fussed a little more over me, as if she wasn’t sure I really could handle the real world after all the time I spent staring at screens, but I’d thought she’d gotten over that. Ihadsurvived on my own just fine since I’d left for college eight years ago. How much more proof did she need?
“Ky,” she said, “if you’d just think what I’m saying through, make sure you really know what you’re doing here…”
I got up. I didn’t know whether I felt more hurt or angry, but neither of those emotions was going to take this conversation anywhere good. “I always know what I’m doing, Mom. I thought you’d trust my judgment more than this by now. Are you hasslingSethabout how he’s been spending his time lately?”
Mom blinked at me at the mention of my twin. “Why?” she said slowly. “What has your brother been doing that I’d be worried about?”
Crap. She didn’t realize how much time he’d been spending with Rose too. I guessed with him out in his new house out of town where he could hop the stone wall into the estate without anyone noticing, the gossip mill hadn’t started going about him too. He’d slipped under the mom-concern radar… until now.
“I don’t know,” I said, hoping my face didn’t show how flustered I felt. “I was just making a point. You definitely don’t need to worry about him either. And I, ah, do actually have a job to get back to at home, so I’d better get going. Thank you for the pie!”
“Kyler,” Mom said, but I was already heading out the door with a little wave.
Chapter Three
Rose
When I stepped close to the stone wall that surrounded the estate, the magic I’d already cast into and over those worn blocks tingled over my skin alongside the cool early morning breeze. Still there, still holding, but not with enough power that I felt completely secure.
The sun was only just peeking over the horizon, streaking the sky with a hazy glow, but I had to do this outside work now before the estate’s few remaining employees from town showed up. I could only imagine what people would be saying if word got out that the newest Lady Hallowell went dancing along her wall every day.
The grass whispered under my bare feet as I set them down in the first movements of the form. I reached to the spark of my magic inside me and pushed that energy out through my body with the weaving of my hands. Every gesture I made called for protection, for shielding. I sent that energy up from me, all around the estate. The Frankfords might control some of my actions with the oath we’d taken, but I wasn’t letting them get anything else from me. No magic of theirs was going to break through this barrier to spy on us. No sound would travel over these walls from more than a few feet away.
It would have taken hours for me to circle the entire estate with its extensive forested grounds. At the back I simply cut across the gardens, tying my protections to the farthest hedges. When we’d first returned here, I’d laid down a basic warding spell around the whole property. I’d bolster that once a month. The guys and Naomi knew not to say anything sensitive that far from the house, just in case.
My two guests… well, I hadn’t been able to explain to them why I was setting up protections in any detail, but they’d gotten the gist. I didn’t think they’d be shouting about their secrets in the forest anyway.
That forest used to be the part of the estate that gave me the most sense of safety. Back when it’d been just me and my father and the employees, I’d escaped the loneliness of the big old house to ramble among the trees with the guys who were now my consorts. Recently, while we’d still had to hide our relationship, we’d snuck out there to meet. So many fond memories were tied to those woods—and now the Frankfords’ looming threat had cast a shadow over them.
I set that thought aside and focused all my concentration on solidifying the magical wall laid over the real one.
By the time I’d made it back to the front gate, my muscles were trembling from the effort and sweat had formed on my forehead. I wiped it away, letting the strain fall from my body with an exhaled breath. I had a lot of power—Naomi said more power than she’d ever seen any witch use before—but not a lot of practice yet. An hour of concentrated magicking every morning should be doing wonders for my endurance.
I was just turning away from the wall, wondering if I might slip up to the garage-top apartment and pay Gabriel an early visit, when an engine rumbled up the road outside. Not one I recognized. I stepped closer to the wrought-iron bars of the gate, into the range where my voice would travel past it if need be.
The tan compact pulled to a stop just outside. The driver-side window rolled down. A woman with a wispy black pixie cut leaned her head and arm out. She didn’t speak, her mouth set in a flat line, just flashed an ID with a crest I knew way too well. She was requesting entrance on the authority of the Assembly’s Justice division.
I gave her a tight smile and pressed the controls for the gate. The Frankfords had sworn that they and their allies would see that the charges they’d encouraged against me were dropped and that they wouldn’t pursue any further ones, but that didn’t mean the rest of the Assembly couldn’t take issue with what I did. I still had to play by their rules when they came calling.
