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She smiled, then took a bite of the shortbread. “This is good, but not as good as the brownies.”
The older man shook his head. “You’ll find as you get older, you appreciate less sugar.”
She chewed. “Can I expect all the system crystals to be in the same state as the central one?”
He nodded. “I go out after the dim to avoid people and check them myself.”
She took another bite, then sipped her tea. “It has to be the magic then, somewhere there has been a breakdown in one of the spells.”
The older fae set his cup down. “I think that it is important to fix what is broken, but I think the bigger issue is to determine what caused it to break down in the first place.”
She froze, the shortbread halfway to her mouth. He was right. Fixing it would mean nothing if it broke again. Setting the shortbread back down on her plate, she beamed up at him. “This is why I knew I had to speak to you. Someone who has been maintaining the system for so long would think of things I wouldn’t. I hope you won’t mind if I stop in from time to time to run things past you. As you said, I am young, so I’ll be leaning on your wisdom whilst I try and figure things out.”
Dirk grunted, then looked up at his squire. “This young lady can request to see me at any time, night or day. Together I’m sure we can get to the root of the problem,” he grinned slyly. “That way she can then concentrate on her mating.”
Nevan placed his hand over his heart. “Yes, My Lord,” he said, nearly choking on the words.
Zoe blushed furiously, then batted at the older man’s shoulder playfully. “You’re going to tease me horribly, aren’t you?”
The older man just grunted again, only this time there was the faintest of smiles hovering around his lips.
Satisfied that the older fae was feeling a bit better and was willing to help her, Zoe took a bite of another piece of shortbread.
“Lord Vi’Eirlindol…”
He waved his hand. “Might as well call me Dirk.”
“Dirk, may I ask you an important question?”
He frowned. “Of course.”
“Does shortbread come with chocolate?” she asked very seriously.
To her utter surprise, the man gave another barked laugh and nodded.
“That it does, young Appleblossom, that it does.”
“How remarkable,” she observed and sipped her tea.
Chapter Six
“You absolutely charmed that old goat,” Gage marveled as they walked away from the Eirlindol estate.
“He wasn’t so bad. I grew up visiting Kendrick here and there. I guess I just learned how to tell when the bark is worse than the bite.”
“So, you think it’s the magic?”
She shrugged. “It has to be. The crystals are intact.”
“What do you have to do to check on the spells?”
“There should be central points in the grid that house the spell, kinda like the tree, but maybe not as decorative. I’ll need to ensure that each one is working.”
“That will have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Why? I feel amazing like I’m full of energy,” she said, bouncing up and down as she walked.
“And in about thirty minutes, unless you eat something, you’ll crash like Dirk warned. Let’s go to Dav’s and eat something a bit more substantial than brownies,” he suggested.
