The boy appeared at the door of the funeral home.Salem.Two women stood behind him, likely hired by Druwolf since Finn and Tecca had no family.Leander wondered why Creek would have lied about there being a contract on the boy.
Druwolf had no reason to target Salem.Salem was a child of ten—all big eyes and brown curls and probably an annoying habit of throwing things at teachers when their backs were turned.He remembered Finn doing that in sixth grade—and getting backhanded by the teacher who caught him, and then the school had fired the teacher and they’d been stuck with a series of subs so bad even the smart kids had failed the state test.
Finn had been kind and strong and wonderful and stunningly handsome, but he had also been a bit of an ass.Leander imagined Salem was the same.
The boy stopped right before getting into the car that had pulled up at the curb, and his gaze swept the street like an enforcer searching for police surveillance before showing off a bit of dangerous magic.Leander stood under the boy’s scrutiny for the half second it took for his eyes to move on.And then the kid got in the car, and the two women followed.
Leander kept his gaze on the funeral home door.Big players in the game would still be there.Being this close to power made him want to run away, but the thought of a child being targeted—of Finn’s child being targeted—created an itch under his skin.Almost involuntarily, he checked the traffic and crossed the street.Someone had turned the music off, but the detritus of the funeral still littered the room.Pictures of Tecca, flowers that she would have hated, even an enormous portrait of Tecca and Finn in formal wear from their wedding over a decade ago.They looked impossibly young.
“I didn’t think I’d see you here,” a deep voice said.
Leander calmed his fear and schooled his expression.“I didn’t want to attend the funeral and hear everyone talk about how perfect she was when we both know different, but it feels wrong to send her away without saying farewell.”
Cadell studied him.“Always so proper.”
“Not really,” Leander said.“But we were on the same side.”
“True.”Cadell watched the room.There was enough magical power in this one spot to start a war.Leander was a small fish compared to all these sharks, but he had tricks the others didn’t know about.He ran a finger along an obnoxiously colored bouquet: orange roses, sunflowers, Asiatic lilies, blue delphinium.Someone had even added artificially pink carnations.
He let his hand drift to the next arrangement.Delphinium would give him the clearest connection.Fingering the small blue blossom, he watched the room.That allowed him to avoid the open coffin.He would remember Tecca as cursing madly and threatening to eviscerate some asshole who had annoyed her.And usually the idiot in question had been Leander.His power over plant life had paired well with her blood magics to create powerful tonics and drugs.Leander still had his magic and skills gained from years of study, but he would never be as strong without her.
He touched a grevillea, running a finger along the feathery leaves.They would be more discreet, and they would offer a wider range for his magic.Flowers were too fickle to hold it for long.Leander plucked one and pushed magic between his fingers.He tangled his life force with the tiny leaf.This was just one power his sifu had taught him to access through meditation and respect for magic itself.He felt the warmth grow in his belly as he drew on his power.
“Victor says you should attend our next neighborhood watch meeting,” Cadell said.His calm had an edge of darkness to it, more than Creek who controlled literal darkness.
“My influence is hardly enough to warrant my attendance, and without Tecca to help me with my...cooking...I’m even less useful.”He suspected the police had surveillance here, and the trick to remaining free of magical constraint laws was to never admit to magic in public.
“Tecca always called you arrogant.”
“Because she tried to tell me how to...cook.Anyone who suggests I add one grain more or less of salt than is correct will suffer my wrath.I will describe their stupidity in unambiguous terms and in small words so they don’t miss any part of the lecture through ignorance.”
Cadell finally looked at Leander, his eyebrows going up.“There is the famous arrogance I’ve heard of.Tecca believed you had a right to your arrogance, and there are few people she admired.”
Leander didn’t want to hear she had praised him.He had worked with her because it had been required, the same as he worked with any of the people Druwolf told him to.She was better than most because she railed against the violence their side used with the same fervor she complained about the draconian laws targeting magic users.That meant he had objected to her involvement less than others, but he had still loathed her existence.He let the leaf fall from his hand, guiding it with a twitch of a finger so it landed in the cuff of Cadell’s pants.
“I try to be honest, not arrogant,” Leander said.“But now I have paid my respects to my colleague, it is time for me to leave.”Leander bowed his head and left the stuffy and overly floral air of the funeral home, escaping into the rain and car exhaust of the street.It was infinitely better.
