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“Some memories are too toxic to relive. There’s no shame in leaving them buried.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I thought you were supposed to dig through them so they could be lanced and drained?”
“Why? You are Peri Sanguis.”
“True.”
“You don’t need advice from the internet on how to deal with your emotions,” he insisted. “You are a unique, intelligent, fiercely independent woman who has the sort of magic most mages only dream of.” He shrugged. “You get to choose what’s right for you.”
She released a slow breath. “I need to do this. If only to prove to myself that my mother didn’t break me.” She tilted back her head, revealing her determined expression. “No matter how ugly her betrayal, I came back stronger than ever.”
“Yes.” Valen wryly recalled Peri’s bold habit of cursing demons and even trespassing into his Gyre. She was far from broken. “You did.”
There was a short silence as Peri gathered her composure. “Okay, I’m ready,” she announced. “I’ll look through her things in here.” She nodded toward the armoire. “If you want to check the rest of the cabin.”
Valen moved toward the bed that was neatly made with a nightgown tossed over the footboard, as if awaiting Brenda’s return. The woman hadn’t bothered packing her belongings or preparing to leave the cabin. Presumably she had no immediate plans to use the magic she was so desperate to acquire.
Pulling back the quilt, Valen tossed aside the pillows and lifted the mattress. His brows arched as he caught sight of a familiar item.
“Perhaps your mother wasn’t as averse to technology as she claimed,” he said, grabbing the computer off the box springs.
Peri stared at the laptop in his hand, her lips parting in genuine shock. “That hypocrite. She slapped my face when I asked for a computer for Christm as.”
Valen strolled to stand beside her, using his powers to charge the dead battery. He assumed Brenda had been using the generator just outside the cabin to keep it functioning.
“Let’s see what other secrets she was hiding.”
He opened the laptop and clicked the folder labeled junk mail. A predictable place to hide secrets. Dozens of pictures popped up, most of them taken outside the Witch’s Brew. Peri gasped as she took in the image of herself walking down the street and another one of her standing near the window of the coffee shop.
“She knew I was alive,” she rasped.
“It appears she kept a close watch on you. This last picture was taken less than a year ago,” Valen murmured, making a mental note to discover who Brenda paid to spy on her daughter. And to make very sure the bastard understood that if he ever got near Peri again, he would be a dead man. “Understandable, I suppose. If I tried to kill you, I might be concerned you would return to seek your revenge.”
With jerky motions, Peri turned back toward the open armoire. “I did better. I forgot her.”
Valen frowned. It was the ultimate revenge. To scrub her mother from her life. But he sensed that there was more. Not that it mattered. Not now. And one glance at the mage’s rigid back assured him that she wasn’t in the mood to share secrets.
Valen shrugged and returned his attention to the computer. Clicking on the search history, he scanned the short list.
“It looks as if your mother used the computer to search for magical items. There’s nothing on here that specifically mentions the miasma.”
“Did the name Masque Salon come up?”
Peri turned back toward him holding a tall, narrow box that would be the perfect size to hold a small statue. The name Masque Salon was printed on the side.
Valen scanned the list. “Yes.” He clicked the link and a website popped up with a gaudy smear of green and purple and flashing gold letters. “Masque Salon,” he read out loud. “A gathering place for witches.”
“A hookup spot for magic users?” Peri wrinkled her nose in confusion. “That doesn’t sound like a place where my mom would get her hands on a statue filled with evil magic. Honestly, it doesn’t sound like a place my mother would go for any reason.”
“It’s not a dating club. It’s an auction house for potions and unique spells,” he corrected her. “Your mother was looking at the auction calendar. There was one held two weeks ago.”
She slowly nodded. “I assume that’s when she got the fancy box.” Tugging off the lid, she peered inside. “There’s something…” She reached into the box, pulling out a folded piece of paper. Smoothing it open, she sucked in a sharp breath. “A receipt.”
Valen closed the computer and tossed it back on the bed. “Does it say what she bought?”
“No. It just says lot number twelve. And a price of six hundred dollars that she paid in cash.” She glanced up at him with a humorless smile. “I suppose it would be too much to hope it would list the purchase of an evil magic.”
“I think we should check out the Salon,” he said in decisive tones. “Even if she didn’t get the statue there she might have mentioned it to one of the customers.”
