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“This?” she asked and then groaned. “She said a gift was coming for me. What kind of gift are you?”
I opened my mouth but then closed it. “I have no idea. Klara sent me here. She said I’m like you and you’d keep me safe.”
She frowned. “Well, you don’t have a fat ass and huge tits, so how are we alike?” She tilted her head, studying me. “Right, she sent me a puppy and something naughty. I should have known it would be both with her.” She waved me quiet. “I’m hungry. Let’s get in the gate and figure this out. I brought food.”
I bit back a chuckle when she muttered under her breath about me stealing her leftovers as she got back in her van. I climbed in the rental Klara had gotten me to make the trip here, wondering what the hell else she’d gotten me into.
I followed her through the gate and up to a large commercial building. I joined her at the door and offered to carry what she had.
She nodded, handing some of it over as she unlocked the door and then turned off the alarm.
“Sorry I’m not taking you right up the house, but I need to make the marinade for dinner. I’m super excited to use my new Traeger. It just arrived and got set up yesterday, but I was putting everything into today, so now I can start playing.”
I nodded along with what she said as if any of it made sense as I checked out the huge place. It looked like a factory out of one of those educational shows I enjoyed. How It’s Made was one of my favorites and yeah, it looked like a super cool version of one of those factories that made food from there.
She led me over to some prep tables and sat down, setting everything out and sliding me a container. “So who are you and how are we alike?”
“Finneas Costa,” I answered, checking the container to find a loaded gyro platter. Nice. “Finn. And I didn’t know I was born with magical blood.”
“Ahhh,” she sighed as she opened her own container. “Adrena Gomes.” She checked the bag and tossed me some sauce and utensils as if this was our regular thing and not she was just learning my name now. She built her gyro and took a bite. “Costa? Portuguese?”
I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as anyone’s.”
Her face softened. “You didn’t just not know, but you were lost too.”
I gave a slow nod. “Klara found me in foster care. I felt… I’d felt that magic before, other people coming to check me out but never knowing what it was until she explained it.”
She gave me a sad smile. “People sensed you, but you’re only a boy, so they didn’t care. Yeah, that blows. It does and I’m not downplaying that, but I didn’t know and I’ve got magic.
“Being a foster kid is hard enough, but I kept setting shit on fire and all kinds of crazy that I thought—I really thought I wasnuts. Thora found me after I was in a place because I’d tried to kill myself.”
I almost dropped my food. Not just in shock of someone I’d just met telling me that but how easily she said it. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “I’ve forgiven myself and I think Gaia has too. I had no idea and my power focuses on emotions. It’s… It was eating me alive, and I wanted out even if it meant burning in hell or wherever forever.
“Thora found me and saved me, promised to help me and fill in all I didn’t know if I helped her. She knew what my focus was.” She cleared her throat as if realizing how much she’d admitted.
“It’s overwhelming,” I offered, not sure what else to say. “I’ve known less than a year and I believe, you can’t not believe around Klara, but it’s just so…”
“Yeah, I’ve known for twenty years, but there are still some days I wake up and wonder if I’m really crazy.”
I studied her this time. “Twenty years? You look mid-twenty at most.”
She smirked at me. “Thirty-seven. We stop physically aging at thirty, but you might be pushing that mid-twenties.”
I wasn’t. Without makeup, she had a baby face with full, sexy cheeks and dimples when she smiled.
Fucking dimples. Damn.
She focused on her food and pursed her lips. “It’s not bad, basic, but I could do better. I think I’m going to be ordering a lot of takeout and delivery with all I’ll be cooking already.”
It was hard not to laugh. That was what she was focused on? “So, you’re just cool with me showing up?”
She chuckled. “It’s been a long damn day already, sorry. I’m still riding the high of completely selling out today at my first farmers market booth.” She gave a happy sigh before taking another bite and then focusing on me. “So you need protecting?”
I snorted. “Don’t we all?”
“Good point,” she agreed. “Well, it makes sense that Klara can’t—I mean shecan, but she’s always traveling absorbing hot spots of magic or pulling all the BDE power from a site so it can be used as light magic.” She frowned at me. “How old are you?”
