Page 34 of Shift of Heart (Shifter Lords #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

CAELAN

A ll the Lords had convened at the Keep once more, requiring me to be on constant alert. We sat in the War Room, at a round table reminiscent of days of yore, except with a massive pile of food and drinks in the middle instead of maps to plot our conquering.

There were seven Shifter Lords in total. I controlled Texas and the Borderlands. Halvar, Lord of the Midwest, sat to my right. He was dark-haired and blue-eyed and possessed a melodic accent, European, if I had to guess. Maybe Irish. I’d always been crap at identifying accents.

He was different from how he used to be, and none of us could pinpoint why, though some of us guessed it had to do with his wife leaving him a few years ago. Bringing it up would be a certain death sentence, so we all tiptoed around it and pretended everything was fine.

Rowan was at my left. Lord of the Pacific Northwest. He was a strange shifter, deeply tied to his lands. I suspected he possessed more than a little nature magic. If I had to call any of the Lords a friend, it would be Rowan.

Next to him was Soren, a silver-tongued asshole who ran the Deep South territories. Ethan was beside him. I knew him the least, but knew him to be a paranoid bastard, deeply tied to tradition. He was the most likely to oppose me if tensions in our Council ever got to that point.

Thorvin sat next to Ethan. He was the quiet scholar among us and Lord of the Northeast territories. I respected him and knew to listen when he spoke.

The last Lord was Donovan. I liked him the least. He craved alliances more than power, which made him the most dangerous because our Council relied on votes to pass motions.

He was susceptible to flattery and bribery, meaning you could easily win his vote if you had the right amount of money to offer.

“The Floromancer might be a danger,” Ethan said once the gavel cracked against the table, announcing the start of our meeting.

Rowan snorted. “You think a plant mage is a danger? Pray tell what makes you draw that conclusion.”

Ethan gave him a dark look. “She feels like no other Floromancer I’ve been around.”

“Still not a reason,” Rowan said. “Perhaps there is something additional in her blood that makes her magic different. She’s committed no crimes.”

“I’d say that massive purple eyesore outside is a crime,” Soren said dryly.

Evie’s display of power still had the Keep in a tizzy, though I’d instructed everyone to keep their mouth shut once the other Lords had arrived. If anyone was going to investigate Evie, it’d be me. Not the others who didn’t belong here.

“The reports of rogue magic aren’t Floromancy related,” Thorvin said quietly. “They are divine in nature. Did you sense any presence of the divine in this Evie woman?”

Ethan gritted his teeth. “No. But that doesn’t make her innocent. Divine beings can disguise the truth in their blood.”

“It doesn’t make her guilty either,” Rowan said mildly. He glanced at me. “Care to chime in, Caelan?”

“Evie has not posed a danger to my people.” If my people heard this, they would beg to differ, but she’d hurt none of us.

All she’d done was fight for her independence and embarrass the hell out of me.

The flytrap wasn’t her fault either. Not technically.

She did warn the others to keep away from it.

What the fuck was wrong with me? I should be siding with the other Lords. Evie was dangerous. I knew it in my bones, and yet, she’d done nothing violent. I’d been the one to launch through her window and terrify her. I’d been the one to react each time. But I was dangerous, too. We all were.

Every mage was dangerous, and we didn’t put them down, did we?

“We have a professional working relationship. She occasionally acts as a florist for Keep events. The eyesore, as Soren so eloquently put it, was merely a misfire of her power.” I smirked. “I hardly think an oversized tropical tree is cause enough to merit a meeting of the Shifter Lord Council.”

“If she is not the cause of the magic, then we must know where it’s coming from before we leave,” Ethan said.

Fury slid through me. “You are welcomed into my territory for one week and one week only. You’ve already been here too much this month.”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “And why is that? Are you hiding something you don’t want us to see?”

A bark of laughter escaped me. “Every one of us has secrets no one wants revealed. We are not friends, Ethan. Do not pretend to be. One week and you’ll vacate based on the rules of our Accords.”

He flicked a dismissive hand at me. My power rumbled through the room at the insult. Rowan stilled and gave me a warning look. Soren chuckled under his breath. Halvar, who’d remained too silent, merely lifted a brow.

“And you, Halvar?” I questioned. “You’ve been silent both times we’ve met. What is your opinion?”

Halvar merely stared at me, the deadness in his eyes sending a chill down my spine. “I’d like to meet this Floromancer and make my own determination.”

“Then we will visit her shop tomorrow,” Soren said, still looking at me, his eyes sparkling in challenge. “I’m sure our Floromancer won’t want to turn down business from any of the Lords, would she?”

“Do not terrorize any of my citizens,” I growled, the threat in my voice clear.

Halvar smiled, showing too many teeth. “Relax, Caelan. We merely want to gauge what we’re dealing with. Your precious Floromancer is safe.” He rose, nodded, and headed for the exit.

The other shifters all did the same, except for Rowan who stayed behind, a contemplative look on his face.

The doors opened, revealing Garrett and Simone, both armed to the teeth and guarding the door. Once all the Lords had passed, Garrett poked his head in, spotted Rowan, and gave me a questioning look.

“Close the doors. We will be out shortly.”

Garrett nodded and obeyed.

When we were sealed behind the doors again, Rowan spoke. “Is she a threat?”

I gauged how much to say, but Rowan sighed. “Caelan. Cut the shit. You and I have been through too much together not to trust each other now. Tell me about the woman.”

I rose and gestured for him to follow. We went out through a secret door in the War Room, bypassing the normal exit. Without a word, Rowan followed until we were in my study.

I didn’t have to say a word. Rowan let out an exclamation and headed right for Seymour.

“Careful. He bites,” I warned.

The Lord grabbed a chair and placed it a few feet away from the plant. He sat down and studied it. “You’ve been bitten?”

I shook my head. “It took out one of my shifters, though. He was down for a few hours.”

His eyebrows rose. “Down?”

“The damn thing is poisonous. A paralytic.”

Rowan let out a delighted laugh. He sent out a touch of bright green magic as he examined the flytrap. “Red Dragon,” he murmured. “But not quite. Something else.”

“Gelsemium,” Ben said as he entered holding a spray bottle and the bag of worms Evie had given us.

Rowan snapped his fingers. “That’s it! How in the world did she do that without changing its physical properties?”

Ben shrugged. “She did change them, technically.” He crouched and pointed at the flytraps’ teeth. “If you look closely, you can see the poison dripping there.”

Rowan chuckled. “She is a danger, then.” He turned and looked at me. “Tell me how you came to be in possession of this genetically spliced delight?”

Ben grinned and pulled up a chair.

“She sent it as a message, along with a check to repay me.”

Rowan tilted his head in curiosity. “Repay you for what?”

I clenched my jaw. Ben let out a guffaw but covered his mouth and pretended to cough when my eyes started glowing. “I destroyed a good portion of her shop and took it upon myself to...repair the damages.”

Rowan’s eyes went wide. “May I ask why you damaged her shop?” His mouth fell open as he made a realization.

“No. No fucking way. Evie was the one responsible for those automatons, wasn’t she?

” A dark chuckle escaped him. “Those were the talk of the council. I thought for sure the florist you hired had a mage’s help with those. ”

“She was taunting me,” I growled.

“Hmm. And what did you do to make her respond like that?” Rowan asked, crossing his arms.

I blew out a breath and sat down. “Victim blaming is beneath you, Rowan.”

Ben snorted and fished in the bag for a handful of worms. Seymour perked right up and opened his mouth like a dutiful puppy. At the first toss, Seymour grew four inches in height to snap the worm from the air.

Rowan swore and scooted his chair back.

“He acted like every Shifter Lord,” Ben mused. “Like he owned Evie and the entire town, and he strong armed her into working for him when she didn’t want to.”

Rowan clicked his tongue. “She’s a brave girl to stand up to you.”

“She’s a damn fool,” I snapped. “Look where we are now.”

The other Lord rubbed his jaw, his face thoughtful. “Do you think she’s responsible for the rogue magic?”

“No. I’m having her monitored.”

“Ah,” said Rowan. “And how do you imagine Miss Evie might respond once she realizes you’ve added stalking to your list of crimes against her?”

“Goddammit, Rowan. I’m trying to help her.” Frustration rose inside me. Seymour sank back down to his regular height and tilted his head. The damn thing was looking at me. I knew it. Even without eyes, I knew I had fallen under its scrutiny.

“A Shifter Lord’s help always comes with strings attached, Caelan.” He shook his head. “You old fool. You pissed her off, and she responded, only to come under the scrutiny of the Council. Now you’ve probably screwed her worse than if you’d killed her.”

“I would never harm her,” I swore savagely.

I realized my mistake when the room fell silent. Rowan’s look was contemplative. Ben’s was concerned.

“Ah,” Rowan breathed. “My friend, you’ve gotten yourself into quite the pickle, haven’t you?”

But Ben, one of my oldest friends, sat back in his chair and studied me, an unreadable expression on his face.

“You and I go way back, Caelan,” he said before rising and closing the bag of worms, setting it on the windowsill.

Seymour reached for the shifter and rubbed the top of its trap against Ben’s forearm.

The healer chuckled and gently scratched Seymour before returning his attention to me.

“I always respected your choices and deferred to your authority, but we may be at an impasse when it comes to the Floromancer.”

Rowan’s brow furrowed.

“Oh?” Power prickled against my skin. I suspected where this was going, and I was hit with both grief and rage and an insane amount of jealousy all at the same time. “Why do you say that?”

“Because,” Ben said as he walked to the door, “if the Council goes after her, you will stand against me.”

Rowan sucked in a breath and went still.

“You would stand with a lone Floromancer against your own people?” I asked in a low, deadly tone.

Ben, not even a tenth as scared as he should be, grinned and tapped on the door jamb. “As long as she says yes when I ask her out,” he said and began whistling a tune as he shut the door behind him.

I swore and kicked Ben’s chair so hard, it shattered into pieces against the wall.

Seymour’s pot shook as the plant grew an extra foot in length, its main trap shooting out like a snake to bite me right on the arm.

“Fuck!” I snarled, numbness setting in the second Seymour drew his teeth back and slithered back to normal size.

Rowan’s hearty laughter rang throughout the room. “Should I call your healer back or do you just want to deal with it?”

“Get bent,” I snarled as I tried to stalk from the room, only for my legs to give out.

Rowan was bent over double with laughter as I fell to the floor with a hard thump.

For the next few hours, I held a massive grudge against all plant life and a beautiful Floromancer who was fast becoming a massive and literal pain in my ass.