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The woman blinked rapidly at Conn. I gave her my friendliest smile when she turned back to look at me. “Do ya know if the Wu Shaman went home?”

Her mouth turned down. “We don’t ask people where they’re going when they leave us.”

“No. Of course, ya don’t,” I said, smiling harder. “To be fair, she didn’t know we were coming. I’m sure we’ll have a good laugh about this when we catch up to Mulan tomorrow. Thank ya so much for helping us. Have a nice evening.”

I grabbed Conn’s arm and dragged him out. When we got to the car, I squeezed both his arms and dug my nails into his skin until he yelped.

Then I lowered my voice to whisper. “I know ya marked her, Conn. That’s what yer kind do to keep other demons away from people ya secretly think of as yer property. Now, stop freaking out and see if ya can find her.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. I dropped my hands and stepped away. His eyes flashed red and then white before they turned back to human. “Her energy left a residue here, but her primary life force is not in this place. They were telling the truth. She has left.”

“Good to know. Now let’s go home. That’s probably where she went—to her home, I mean. Ya can track her down tomorrow and have yer say.”

The men climbed into the car when they saw I intended to leave with or without them. We drove back toward the guard.

I glanced over my shoulder. “Rasmus?”

“Yes, darling?”

I slowed nearly to a stop at his sultry reply. “I was jabbing at the guard for calling ya my son. Ya don’t have to placate me by flirting.”

His smile was barely there. “I know, but this is as good a time as any to tell you that my thoughts about you arenotmotherly and haven’t been since the moment I saw you. And I know you think I’m too young, but I’m not. So there... it’s on the table. I can’t help that I look like a younger version of your old boyfriend. You’re going to have to live with that.”

Conn chuckled and looked out the window.

I chose to overlook his declaration. I didn’t have time to be an intriguing puzzle that he could take his sweet time figuring out. But I also didn’t see how to change my fate.

“Ya have all the time in the world to cure yerself of yer infatuation, Rasmus. Right now, yer job is to give the guard a middle finger salute as we’re driving away. I want that young man to fear our return. Ya can consider this a lesson insubtlyintimidating those who don’t play nice with ya.”

His chuckle had me grinning. “You are a highly unusual trainer.”

I smiled at the kind of praise I loved. “Conn and I never point a gun when making a scary face will do.”

Rasmus snorted at my words, but I felt him turning in his seat to look back at the guard. Conn’s head swung to watch and then he laughed.

“I waved first,” Rasmus said, spinning back to face forward again. “Does that count against me?”

“Not at all,” I said with a grin. “I encourage all forms of self-expression. My daughter flashed her cleavage to get us past him before. She told him I’d gone daft and that she was cursed with putting up with me. He claimed his mother was the same. They had a real bonding moment over it.”

For the first time ever, Rasmus let loose a full belly laugh. It was loud enough to fill the car. Conn looked over at me and smiled. I knew what he was thinking. It was written in his wicked eyes. The old Rasmus had barely smiled, much less laughed. I’d always thought that was a shame given how tough life could be without finding the humor in things.

Okay, so maybe gaining a sense of humor was a big upside to his changes. I wasn’t any less mad at Orlin for the part he played, but I was less mad at Rasmus since he was capable of truly laughing. Maybe his humor counted in my favor too, because my heart felt much, much lighter.

ChapterSixteen

Habits can be good or bad. I liked the routine they brought me because my life tended to be chaotic most of the time.

One thing I could say about all those years I spent at the cottage was that I hadn’t had a lot of drama in my daily life. Sure, Fiona brought drama with her when she visited me because teenagers thrived on it. She and I spent many hours drinking tea by the fireplace and sorting through what her friends said and did, and how she felt about it all.

When Fiona started college, the drama in her lessened with her realization that life was not about what someone said when she wasn’t around. It was about so many more important things, such as studying and doing research, and finding quality friends to spend yer leisure time with.

Today, though, Fiona was all in a tizzy. She’d scheduled two makeup exams on the same day. This meant she was ranting about her lack of sense as she dressed and did her hair. I made sympathetic noises and said supportive things. Mothers were cheerleaders after all.

But I got distracted by her drama, which was why I slipped on the scrying locket without thinking… or shielding myself. Wearing it had been my habit until I discovered how deep the locket could take me into a vision. This morning I didn’t realize I’d put the locket on until my knees hit the floor.

A colorful, but horrifying vision filled my head. The spell caster was sitting at a computer in a lush-looking bedroom. It looked like an expensive hotel. The woman was made up perfectly with ruby lips, sleek hair falling over both shoulders, and eyes lined in a way to make them look like they tilted upward at the corners. She reminded me of an Egyptian goddess draped in enough gold to shame a queen.

I breathed through the locket’s magick taking me over and tried to focus on keeping my mind intact. I wasn’t centered well enough to be thrust into the vision without it taking a toll on my energy.