“Rue isn’t allowed to enchant her food because she’s Fae. Their magic is totally different. If you eat food they’ve enchanted, they can create binding agreements with you. It’s a Fae thing.”
Elwood was right. Declan needed to stay put here in Ravenstone. He had so much to learn about the magic world.
He brightened at that. “Oh well, that gives me a lot to think about then, doesn’t it!”
Chapter Thirteen
Putting the magic into the magic festival
Declan
When Gideon and I left the café, I was reluctant to go our separate ways. It was weird. I’d never been a clingy person, not even when I was a kid. Still, I found myself scrambling for ideas on how I could extend our time together. I couldn’t think of a single thing as we crossed the street to where The Den sat right there on the corner in front of us. Damn it. I was out of time.
Gideon stopped outside the pub and turned to me. Was he trying to think up some reason for us to hang out together a little longer, too?
“I guess I should see if Elwood needs help carting things over to the festival,” I said.
“I should check in with Sable.” He nodded toward the pub. “The last couple of days have been busier than normal. I was thinking of sending Gabe on a last-minute supply run when he starts his shift, but I need to check our inventory first.”
“Do you think you’re busier because of the festival or because people want to talk about what happened to Winston?”
“Probably a bit of both.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You aren’t going to go snooping or asking questions on your own, are you?”
I averted my eyes.
“Dec…” he said.
He’d shortened my name, like a nickname. It was something friends did… or people who were more than friends, too. It made me all warm inside, which unfortunately meant my cheeks were also growing warm. The stupid things always gave away how I was feeling. It’d been mortifying when I was a teenager, but it wasn’t much better now that I was an adult.
“If I see Jim?—”
“No.” He cut off what I was going to say. “Wait until I can be there with you. If he’s the murderer…”
An image of Winston’s dried-up husk of a body with that crystal sticking out of his chest flashed through my mind. Yeah, okay, Gideon might be right. If a vampire couldn’t fend off his killer, how would I?
“Okay. I promise not to corner Jim,” I conceded. “I’ll be too busy helping Elwood set up his booth, anyway.”
Gideon smiled, clearly happy at having gotten his way. I couldn’t even be grumpy about that because his smile was pretty amazing.
How could I be so drawn to this man so quickly? I’d only known him for a couple of days. And I’d only just broken up with Josh. Didn’t the relationship gurus always say to wait several months or even a year after breaking up with someone before dating again?
Although, looking back, Josh and I had both checked out emotionally a long time ago. Did that count toward therecommended wait time? Or was this a rebound thing? It didn’t feel like a rebound, and I really hoped I wasn’t wrong about that.
“I’m going to hold you to your promise to stay out of trouble,” Gideon said.
“Hey, I didn’t promise that…”
His smile widened.Jesus. How was I supposed to resist that smile?
“How about this?” he asked as he leaned toward me. “Stay out of trouble, please. For me. Okay?”
That wasn’t fair. How was I supposed to think when he was so close? He stared at me as if waiting for my answer.
“Okay,” I agreed.
“Good.” His lips brushed against mine.
His mouth was soft and warm. An intense feeling of connection to this moment and this man cascaded through me, but before I could react by kissing him back or, you know, plastering myself against his body for the second time today, he was already stepping back. I wanted to follow, but I managed to stay where I was. Standing on the street in front of his pub wasn’t the right place for me to literally throw myself at him.
