Page 47

My head felt ready to explode. Getting hit in the head with a troll club would have hurt less. “What else have ya not chosen to tell me? Mulan thinks Ezra came to Salem to win me back.”

Sighing, Conn sat back down at the table and stared at me. “You don’t want to hear this, but I agree with her. I think it vexes your fairy that you feel nothing for him anymore. It wouldn’t surprise me if he arrogantly thought he could pick up with you where Jack left off. The guardian’s interest bothers me too, but at least Rasmus likes you for you.”

If it had been only the three of us present, I’d have bragged to Mulan and Conn about all the amazing things Rasmus and I did in bed just to hear them laugh. But I couldn’t acknowledge the pleasure I’d found with Rasmus in front of Dylan.

“Vexes?”I asked, snickering at Conn’s word choice. “If I vexed Ezra, it was an accident. I’m saving my vexing skills for when Rasmus returns.”

Conn’s lips flattened into the same thin line they took when I pretended to be obtuse. I shrugged as he stared at me. “Ya know I’m not comfortable talking about my sex life.”

Conn narrowed his gaze as he glared openly at me. “You’re a powerful witch, Aran, and as much of a descendant of a god as the fairy is. You don’t see it but your power is nearly as great as Ezra’s. The Dagda spent centuries imbuing that stone you carry with his energy. Only one of your predecessors ever tapped into it because the others couldn’t handle it. Who knows what effect taking it inside your body will have? I look forward to your discovery of its true purpose, and yet I dread it at the same time.”

“Who was the only predecessor able to use it?”

“Cermait.”

My eyes widened. “The Dagda’s own son?Goddess, that was centuries and centuries ago. Someone else had to have used it since him.”

Conn shook his head. “All others were content to rely upon me. I advised them all to embrace the stone’s power but no one before you listened. The others wore it like a talisman, just as your grandmother did. In the beginning, you didn’t listen to me, either. You only put the stone inside you to keep Jack from stealing it again.”

I bit my lip and tried not to look as guilty as I felt. Everything Conn said was true. Most of what I did in my life was to fight back from something Jack did to me. I needed to move past the anger I felt for my ex-husband for my own sake. How was I supposed to do that when I still hated him?

“Your relic sleeps,” Dylan said, pointing at my chest. “It rests near your heart, Aran. Your relic allows me to see it when my relic is nearby. I bet the fairy sees your relic too. Maybe he came to see you hoping to steal its power.”

I hoped Dylan was wrong because the only way Ezra could get to the Dagda stone would be to rip it out of my dead body. Conn was right that I put it inside me to keep Jack’s power-hungry hands off of it.

I put my hand over where it lay in my chest and felt the skin heat under my hand. Keeping myself alive was also keeping the relic alive. I had thought it would be safer inside me.

My wariness about Ezra coming to the States to tell me of Hisser’s escape suddenly made more sense. I’d nearly convinced myself that my mistrust of Ezra’s motive was a PTSD issue leftover from being in prison for so long.

Had the stone been trying to warn me? Was I guilty of not listening to it? I nearly wished it could talk to me the way Da’s ring had. But that would be creepy. Right?

Then I had another thought.

Had Ezra used his fairy influence on Ben to convince my mostly human boss to leave so he could substitute for him? Was he playing at being boss to keep tabs on me?

I knew the fairy too well to believe he’d have stolen power from me and run off without bragging about doing so. He enjoyed not only being powerful but being known for it. Like Jack, Ezra liked being famous.

Despite his encouragement for us to do nothing, Ezra had to suspect I would ignore his advice and track down Hisser anyway. That’s what I’d done in the past, even after killing Hisser’s witch lover. I felt sure the snake shifter had recruited a whole new batch of crazed followers by now. His tricks would be stronger and more convincing of his fake godliness. Desperate humans looking for a spiritual leader wouldn’t stand a chance.

I rubbed my forehead. My suspicions about Ezra gave me the kind of headache that made me feel sick.

Goddess, I hoped Fiona chose better lovers for herself than I had chosen. It had taken me over twenty years to figure out that I had terrible taste in men. If I didn’t like sex so much, I would give men up completely.

But I did.

So why even entertain the thought? The only thing on my mind was wondering when Rasmus was coming back.

Chapter Fifteen

It turned out that all the chaos at the main house had a purpose. The foyer looked like something ya’d see in a New York hotel when I walked back inside.

In the short time my team had met with Ezra, Henry had transformed the entire entry space. Leather couches and coffee tables were positioned under windows on each side of the stairway. Multiple tall valets waited for coats to be hung on them.

A large, round, and highly polished table now filled the center of the space. A massive green vase of expensive flowers rested majestically on it. The tall vase somehow directed yer gaze immediately to the dual stairways leading to the upper floors.

I’d planned to grab a nap and see if I could make this headache go away. Unfortunately, I got ambushed by both Henry and Gale before I could turn left. They asked if we could talk in the library for a few minutes. I agreed with the stipulation that someone make tea.

I figured the demon couple had made some decision about which floor of the house they wanted to claim as their own and wanted to discuss it with me. All I could do was say one more time that I didn’t care what rooms they chose.