Page 59 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal

I picked it up on the third ring.“Hello?”

“Ms.Rain.”Irritation saturated the familiar voice.“Come fetch your menace sidekick.”

It took me a second to identify the person on the phone and to guess the menace he referred to.Leaning back in my chair, I crossed one leg over the other and toyed with thephone cord.“Owen, you sound stressed.Still having problems with your wards?”

“She’s— Stop that!”Something thumped in the background.“She’stouchingthings again.”

“Only because you wouldn’t give me the key,” Astrid said in the background.Then, louder, “Tell him to give me the key.”

“The key to what?”I asked, genuinely curious.I hadn’t known Astrid left The Rain, let alone why she’d decided to go to Gamecraft & Witchery.

“My safe.”The last word came out strangled.“It’s not in my office.Stay away from my desk!”

I covered the phone receiver, muffling my laugh.Astrid absolutely loved getting under Owen’s skin.And it was so easy.

“If you don’t get her out of my store in the next thirty seconds, I’m selling her warped witch glass and destroying your credit score.”

“I can hear you,” Astrid called out.

“Destroying my credit score?”I kept my voice light despite his words hitting a nerve.Did he know how bad The Rain’s finances were?Probably.He always knew way more than he should.“What did I ever do to you?”

“You brought her here.Andyou gave her a coven.”

“You can’t give a witch a coven,” I said, twirling and un-twirling the cord.“Plus she did give you a chance to join.”

“Kennedy—”

“Give her the phone,” I said.Owen was reaching the very end of his patience.Besides, I wanted to know why she was there.

Owen grumbled something but complied.

“Hey, you,” Astrid said, the phone obviously in her hand now.“What’s happening?Have any magic requests only I can perform?”

“Heisgoing to ban you one day,” I said.

“Nah, he loves me.”

“I’m working on a curse right now,” Owen said in the background.

Astrid laughed.

“Why are you tormenting him today?”I asked.

“I had an opening on my calendar.”

“Astrid.”

“It’s the truth,” she said.“I figured out my issue—”

“Have you,” Owen quipped.

“—and there’s that whole deadline you have.”

“Deadline?”Was she deliberately being vague because Owen, connoisseur of secrets and buyer and seller of information, was listening to every word?I didn’t know what she was talking about though.The closest thing I had to a deadline was resolving my bargain with Canyon.She knew about the bargain, but I hadn’t talked to her yet about the possibility of nulling Garion’s token.

“Yes,” Astrid said, drawing the word out.“Christian told me about thepower outage.”She emphasized the last two words.First, Christian hadn’t been to The Rain since the electricity cut off.Second, Astrid lived at The Rain.She knew the power was out without having to be told.

Would Christian have told her about trying the spell?That didn’t make sense, but what else could it be?