Page 38

Is that a…new kink?

Evan plopped down on his bed, rubbing a hand down his face. That’s when he felt the cold edge of something metallic againsthis jaw. When he glanced down at his hand, his frown dissolved immediately.

A silver ring glistened on his index finger with a red crystal at its center. At first glance, it was definitely Crimson Eye, his mother’s ring that had been crumbled to ash. If not for its polished new look and lack of evidence of its long existence, Evan would’ve mistaken it for his ring.

His brows furrowed.

Was this a token of apology? It probably didn’t possess the magic of Evan’s old ring—Crimson Eye was hundreds of years old, passed down from his mother’s ancestors, laced with ancient magic—but that thing had somehow managed to make this new ring look exactly the same as Crimson Eye.

How? What exactly was he? And more importantly, how was Evan going to find him now?

A bell chimed overhead as Evan entered the oldest antique shop in Emberlyn, and almost immediately the scent of candles, dust, and rusty old books filled his nostrils. Wooden shelves lined the narrow entrance towards the central room, dim and deserted. For newcomers, it resembled a doorway into another realm.

Rubbing a hand across his nape, Evan stilled at the door. Was this the right time? He’d delayed their usual meeting by a week. She was sure to be angry.

The tip of Evan’s ears warmed in warning, and he shuddered.

Maybe it would be better to come back later.

Tiptoeing back to the way he’d entered, he clasped the door handle, but before he could pull it, a presence lingered at Evan’s back, warming his skin through the fabric of his shirt.

Evan froze.

Oh…shit.

“How many times have I told younotto turn away from the door right after entering?” Rough, bony fingers pinched the tip of Evan’s ear, and he winced as someone tugged him around. “It takes away future opportunities.”

Evan smiled tightly at her frowning face. “Good morning, Rhea.”

Silky, silver hair tied loosely at the nape; faint wrinkles lining random patches of her stern face and stormy grey eyes that seemed to see things beyond the human eye. Over a decade since he’d first seen her, but Rhea hadn’t aged a day since.

She pinched Evan’s ear harder, eyes narrowed like a teacher reprimanding her student, a mother scolding her son. “You’ve lost weight,” she grumbled, combing her fingers through Evan’s hair and feeling the top of his head. Her brows dipped. “And you’re anxious.”

Evan’s lips thinned.

As expected, she saw right through him. He searched for words, a beginning where things had started going wrong, but came up empty-handed. What was he even supposed to tell her? Where was he supposed to start?

“I might’ve done something…irresponsible,” Evan clenched his fingers, the new ring warm against his skin. It gave him a fake sense of solace, pretending it was still his mother’s ring. “And I don’t know how to undo it.”

Rhea silently stared at Evan, pupils dilating. That was the look she’d had while exorcising spirits that’d possessed Evan in the past, when he was still learning about his craft. Her eyes could identify and differentiate between two souls trapped in a body and exactly which one did not belong there.

Whatever she saw in Evan made her rear back in alarm.

“You saw him,” she whispered.

Evan’s mouth parted next, not even surprised she knew he’d seen something. “Who?”

“How did you even—” She started but then sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Moments later, sharp eyes snapped towards Evan. “Where did you go last week?”

“Huh? Oh, uh…” Evan scratched the back of his head. “A haunted property…uh, at the edge of—of the Dark Woo—” Rhea’s claws clasped Evan’s ear again, dragging him into the shop. “Ow ow ow!”

“This is exactly why I ask you to inform me before wandering off into unknown places on your own. You knew I wouldn’t let you go into the woods, didn’t you? That’s the reason you didn’t visit last week,” she effortlessly tugged Evan forward, her petite stature not hindering her in any ways. “Tell me everything that happened. And don’t you dare lie or leave out anything.”

Passing through the narrow hallway, they entered the main room of the shop. Tables and more shelves filled with porcelain artifacts, marble sculptures, antique clocks, paintings, and everything in between were jam-packed into one room. It was as if Rhea couldn’t stand parting from a single item in the shop and shoved them all in one place.

Evan stumbled and sidestepped over things, fearing he was going to stomp on something that he wouldn’t be able to compensate for even if he sold a kidney and his left testicle.

At the far end of the room was a table shaped in a crescent made of some rare stone that shimmered in the dark. Rhea called it her office desk.