“Yeah, but don’t you think this is going to fuck up Thanksgiving dinner if Evie sends assassins after you once she realizes what you’re lying about?”
“Assassins?” I shook my head. “Not her style. She’d do it herself. Probably while I was in my garden or something.”
“You joke,” Garrett said in a somber voice, “but that girl has been betrayed more than anyone I’ve ever known. Myself included. If I were you, I wouldn’t be sitting here debating with me. I’d be at her house throwing myself on her mercy.”
“I’m not you,” I growled.
Garrett rose, carefully setting Seymour down on top of my desk. “If I ever had the chance with a woman like Evie, I wouldn’t squander it. The gods be damned.” He headed toward the door, turning one more time to look at me. “You keep fucking up, Caelan. She won’t wait forever for you to get your shit together. There is at least one pretty Lord waiting in the wings who wouldn’t mind shooting his shot.”
Fucking Rowan. And now I had to worry about Ben. Literal wolves were circling around the love of my life just waiting for me to screw this up. “Heard and noted,” I said mildly, trying not to show how pissed off I was at the thought of Rowan or anyone else swooping in to claim her. He had no designs on her, I kept telling myself. Otherwise, why would he give me the necessary advice to finally right things between us?
Because he knew I’d fuck it up again by doing something stupid like keeping her sister a secret?
“Fuck,” I muttered.
Seymour hopped over and jumped into my lap, but even he wasn’t enough to lift my dark mood.
I needed to get into contact with Cernunnos and end this once and for all.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Ash and Tess opened the shop today while Moira and I paid Thalia a visit.
The seer opened the door and gestured for us to come in. I wondered if her powers had clued her in to the reason for our visit.
Garrett, thankfully, was nowhere to be found. “Slipped your jailer for a little while?”
“He’s on a coffee run.”
Moira laughed with delight. “You sent Caelan’s Second out for iced coffee?”
“No,” Thalia said. “I sent him out for a caramel drizzle, white chocolate, whirled latte.”
She gestured for us to sit. Thalia’s apartment was a riot of color. Her couch was a modern shape in a pretty teal fabric. Burgundy throw pillows were haphazardly tossed on each side, and the couch rested on a teal and burgundy rug in an abstract pattern. On the other side was a squat burgundy chair with a book lying face down on the seat and a blanket across the back. A scarred round wooden coffee table scattered with magazines sat in the middle.
Two large bookshelves were crammed with beat-up paperbacks, a mix of fantasy, romance, and modern literature. Her kitchen was small but neat, clean dishes still dripping on the rack.
“Cute place,” Moira said. “How are you liking Joy Springs?”
Thalia shrugged. “The place is cute and quirky, but there’s not much of a nightlife around here.” Her lips turned down. “Not that my jailer would let me go out after eight.”
Moira’s lips twitched. “Evie mentioned you don’t know how old you are?”
Thalia shook her head.
“How old do you think you are?”
“Twenty something, I think. I remember low-waisted jeans being all the rage when I was in primary school.”
“Maybe born in the late 90s?” Moira mused aloud. “You don’t remember any years?”
Thalia shrugged. “Not really.”
Something about this girl was way off. Who didn’t remember the years they spent in school or events that happened in the world? Was she under some type of spell or charm? If she was, and we could figure out how to break it, would she remember everything?
Or was Thalia just being herself and maybe this was just the way seers were? Their brains were under constant attack from psychic visions, and maybe that affected their memory.
