Page 6 of Code Mages & Empty Pages (Frostfire #2)

Dawn

I couldn’t believe I’d let Desmond, Mia, and Luc talk me into moving into his house. I still wasn’t sure how Luc felt about me, but I couldn’t afford a hotel room for weeks, and I definitely wasn’t about to crash on someone’s couch for that long, either.

Luc offered to take me back to the cottage so I could grab a few things, but I refused.

I needed to wrap my head around the situation on my own, and honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted him in my space.

The thought of Luc seeing my house with the walls covered in spicy character art and the silicone replicas of my MMCs’ peens (for research purposes, obviously) scattered across the bookshelves was just too discomforting.

He’s doing enough by letting me stay in his guest room. He doesn’t have to chauffeur me, too.

I moved fast to pack all the art and my peens into a box and filled two more with clothes and odd bits I didn’t want to leave behind.

“Goodbye, little cottage. I hope I’ll see you soon,” I said as I pulled the door shut behind me.

This was my home, and I didn’t want to leave it for weeks on end. Yet everything I had found on Kraken had clearly supported Luc’s point.

“ Don’t go back in, and if you have to, wear a mask, and for goodness’ sake, don’t stay for long and don’t sleep in it.”

So here I am, being a good girl.

I loaded a few things—some clothes, a couple of books I couldn’t live without, and my laptop—into the boot of my car. The address Luc had given me wasn’t far from my cottage and it took me only about fifteen minutes to get there.

Wow.

Luc’s cottage had a brick exterior and a thatched roof. It looked like the product of someone’s fantasy, not the place where my colleague lived. It was freaking gorgeous.

I parked in the front yard and had only just turned off the engine when the door opened. The chubby goodness that was Lucien Atkins stepped out.

“Hey. Did you find the place okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, it was super easy to find. It’s not that far from my house. Thanks again for the offer, Luc,” I said with a tiny smile.

“Don’t mention it,” he brushed it off. “Let me help you carry your things inside.”

Luc took the box with my clothes, and I grabbed the one with my work equipment, my comfort books, a couple of fidget toys, and my peen collection.

“This is the guest room,” he said unnecessarily when he had led me up a tiny staircase to an even tinier landing on the upper floor.

The house hadn’t looked huge from the outside, and I’d expected a minuscule room with a single bed, maybe a tiny desk, and a wardrobe just big enough for the two boxes of stuff I had brought. Yet, it was surprisingly spacious and pretty.

I strolled across the room past the queen-sized bed to peer out of the window. It looked out into a garden, and there were friendly woodlands behind the fence of his ingrown, fairy tale-looking plot of land.

“Wow, I had no idea your house was this beautiful, Luc,” I said as I turned back around to him. “Thanks again for letting me stay.”

His tail twitched and slapped against his knee.

Another nervous tic?

“Don’t mention it. Want a quick tour of the place?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure. I can unpack later. I didn’t bring a lot.”

I set the box I held in my arms on the beautifully crafted desk made from dark, highly polished wood and followed him back out onto the landing.

“This is the bathroom.” He held the door open. It, too, was a spacious room for such a small cottage. If I hadn’t known better, I would have said the house was bigger on the inside. I gasped. “Luc, this is gorgeous!”

“Oh, thanks. It was a lot of work,” he said.

“Wait, did you renovate it yourself?” I gaped from him back to the stunning bathroom.

“Yeah, I did. I also did everything in your room.”

“What do you mean you did everything in my room? You didn’t build that desk, did you?”

“Well, actually, I did. I’m pretty handy,” he said, rubbing a hand over his nape and ruffling the longer fur there. His hairs gleamed silver when the light hit them right.

“Wow, I can’t believe that, Luc. You’re an artist.”

His tail twitched again, and he spun on the spot and pointed at the door across from my room.

Yep, got you. Shy and hides from compliments.

“This is my bedroom.” He did not open the door, and I did not ask.

We went back downstairs to a decently sized kitchen. A small vase with fresh flowers stood on the scrubbed wooden table that I was sure he’d also built himself.

Holy shit, he was great at this.

On the other side of the entryway was the living room. It was a cosy space with a small fireplace and doors that led out onto a deck and into the garden. A half-empty bookshelf spanned an entire wall. Oh gosh. I was glad I didn’t spot any of my books on the shelves.

I didn’t think I’d survive him asking me to sign them. The idea of my colleague reading my writing made my face heat. It was cosy, yes, but also hot and filthy.

“There’s still a lot to do, of course,” he said gruffly.

I nodded, although I didn’t know what he meant. His house was beautiful. It was way more gorgeous than mine would ever be, and I’d always thought I’d scored on the property market.

“I really like your place, Luc. Thank you so much for letting me share it.”

He met my eyes and for the second time in a week, he sank into them. I suddenly realised how close I stood to him. I’d stepped nearer to look out into the garden from here.

“Um, are you hungry?” he asked in a shaky voice.

“Uh, yeah, I could eat,” I muttered as I tore my eyes away.

“Good, I’ll fix us some dinner if you want. Why don’t you unpack your boxes and come meet me in the kitchen afterwards?” He took a deep breath and fled the room without waiting for my answer.

It took me barely fifteen minutes to set up my laptop and writing journal on the desk and sort my clothes into the wardrobe. I pushed the box that now held two of my scarves and my toys into the back where a longer dress concealed it from view.

Five minutes later, I found nothing else I could do to give him more time to acclimate to having me in his space. When I walked down the stairs, I made sure to stomp my feet loudly so he could brace himself for an unexpected guest.

Our first shared dinner was an awkward affair.

I didn’t understand his hot and cold behaviour; there were moments when I thought he was finally coming around and cracked a joke.

His eyes would drop to and linger on my cleavage or my lips as I spoke, and each time his intense gaze sent a shiver down my spine.

Then he would snap back to his standoffish behaviour…

I just did not understand!? My brain desperately tried to solve the equation but couldn’t unravel all the variables.

Is he mad at himself for liking me?

As awkward as it was, Luc tried to make me feel welcome in his own, clumsy way.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” he asked once we’d cleared the table of the remnants of a delicious rice dish he’d improvised from whatever he found in the fridge.

”Yes, please.”We settled on the couch with our tea, and Luc even handed me a fluffy blanket I could wrap myself in.

It felt unexpectedly comforting. It was the sort of gesture that told me he was trying, even if he didn’t have the first clue how to relax around me.

He cleared his throat. “I’m usually not someone to give unsolicited advice, but, uh, can I offer some?”

I smiled into my mug. “Go ahead. I can take it.” He nodded, looking relieved.

“I used to work for an electrician, and I know a guy who runs a fungus removal company. His name’s Gerry McBriar. If he can’t get rid of the stuff in your house, nobody can. I’ll give you his number. Tell him I sent you, okay?”

”That’s… actually really helpful. Thank you.”

He shrugged, a little awkward again. “I just want you to be able to breathe easy.”

The next morning, I took a short break and finally dialed the number Luc had given me.

“Spore No More, Gerry speaking. What can I do for you?”

“Hello, Mr McBriar? This is Dawn Kent. Lucien Atkins passed along your contact info.”

“Oh, Luc, my man!” he boomed, sounding genuinely pleased. “How’s the old wolf getting on?”

The old wolf? What was I, then? Ancient?

“He’s doing okay, yeah,” I said, a little taken aback by the enthusiasm. “He suggested I call because I’ve got a problem at my cottage. I found a green fungus on the wall in my hallway cupboard. I can send you pictures if that helps, but I’m fairly sure it’s Greenleech.”

“Shite,” he said, sympathy thick in his voice. That didn’t do much for my nerves, but at least he sounded like he cared.

“I was hoping you could come out and take a look? Maybe we could talk about what it’ll take to get rid of it.”

The next day, I drove out to the cottage with a knot in my stomach to meet Gerry McBriar.

He was already there when I arrived and was deep in a phone conversation so loud I could hear it through the closed windows of his car.

When he spotted me, he waved and climbed out.

He was even beefier than Luc, with a bald head and bushy eyebrows.

Something about him said magical creature, maybe a Brownie, though nothing outwardly gave it away.

“Alright, Miss Kent,” he boomed, voice carrying easily. “Let’s see what sort of mess you’ve got here.” He handed me a disposable mask and a pair of goggles. It was a small gesture, but it almost made me cry.

I did cry, just a little, when Mr McBriar crouched to inspect the mold in the hallway cupboard and then looked up at me with a fatherly smile.

“Oh, that doesn’t look great, Ms Kent. I’ll need a minute to open this up and test it, but I’m 99% sure you’ve got Greenleech.” A moment later he added, “Sorry. Let’s get out of here. I’ve seen enough.”

Back outside, we shed the mask and goggles, and he invited me to join him for a short walk around the yard.

“So, Ms Kent, there’s good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”

“The good news,” I said tentatively, bracing myself.

Gerry nodded. “It’s removable.”

I let out a small breath. “Okay. That’s… something.”

He hesitated, then added, “But the bad news? It’s going to take a couple of weeks to get it all out. Greenleech never just stays in one spot. It usually starts in the cellar and works its way up. By the time you spot it, it’s already spread through a fair bit of the house.”

My heart sank. That sounded expensive.

He read my face. “And it won’t come cheap. I’m sorry. I’ll give you a proper quote, but you’re looking at somewhere between eight and twelve thousand crowns.”

“Holy shit,” I whispered, and dropped onto the bench beneath my moss pear tree.

Gerry sat beside me, his presence oddly reassuring. “I am very sorry, Ms Kent. But listen, you couldn’t have known. It’s definitely fixable, and none of this is your fault. By the time anyone spots it, it’s already too late. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He gave my shoulder a fatherly pat, and for a moment, I just let myself be comforted.

“Okay. So… how do we go on from here?” I asked, rubbing my hands over my face, trying to gather my thoughts.

“I’ll test the sample I took and send you a proper quote,” Gerry explained.

“Once you have it, you can let us know if you want to go ahead. But Dawn, right now the house isn’t habitable.

Greenleech spores spread everywhere. It’s dangerous to stay.

We’ll need to close the place off, contain what we can, and decontaminate your things. ”

”Yeah, that’s what Luc told me,” I said.

He handed me a small list. “For clothes, wash everything at least twice on hot. I’ll send you the full list in an email, since I know this is a lot to take in.”

I nodded, not trusting myself to say much else.

After he left, I drove straight back to Luc’s cottage.

There was no way I could face work after that.

I barely knew anyone else in town, and even though Luc and I weren’t close, his house was the only place that didn’t feel completely unbearable.

I waited there, numb, until Luc came home from Frostfire.