"I might have something." I pulled open a drawer and found the small vial. "It's called veillock." I held it out to her.
Clara reached forward and took the vial from me, her fingers brushing against mine as she did. A new awareness that I wasn't used to started up around me. I wasn't usually one to be affected by other people, but maybe that was because I didn't spend much time with those whom I'd taken to bed. My body remembered what Clara's touch was like, and that was why I was reacting to her.
I pulled my hand back and cleared my throat. "Try that in your potion."
"What is it?" Clara asked as she rolled the vial between her fingers, making it shimmer in the light.
"It's a plant that grows in the god realm," I responded. "A lot of necromancers use it to help them when they want to talk to the dead. If they can get their hands on it, anyway."
"To talk to the dead?" Clara asked, looking straight at me with intelligent brown eyes.
"That's what necromancers do. Or one of the things we can do. It might not work, but you're welcome to try."
She looked down at the vial. "Are you sure? This looks expensive."
I shrugged. "I can get more next time I'm in the god realm."
"Right, because you can do that."
"Anyone can do that. They just have to go through the portal," I responded. "Though I wouldn't recommend doing it without a god with you."
"I doubt I'll ever go to the god realm."
"You should never say never," I responded.
"You mean like you should never say never to potentially seeing someone again after spending the night with them?"
I laughed. "It seems that I would be eating my words if I'd said that."
"I hope that it isn't too much of an issue," Clara said.
"It's fine," I assured her. "We're adults, we can deal with a couple of conversations about death."
"So you're willing to talk to me again if I need to know more?" she asked, a hint of hope in her voice.
"Make an appointment, and we can talk more," I said. "But business only."
She laughed. "It's okay, I understand that you don't want to see me in any other way."
There was a slight hint of disappointment within me at her words, but I squashed it down. As good as the single night with Clara had been, and as sweet as she seemed, I wasn't one for relationships, and I wasn't about to change that for a cute witch. I had my heart to protect, and I was going to do that the same way I always had.
Chapter 11
CLARA
Even though Daisy had been with Thor for over a year, I still found it surreal to be going over to their house for dinner. Maybe it was because there was something so normal about the activity, and yet it somehow involved a Norse god.
On the other hand, there had been some activities of my own involving a Norse goddess that were also feeling a little surreal. I wasn't even sure what to do about the situation with Hel. She didn't want anything more than the night we had, and I knew that before we went home together. And yet it was proving impossible to get her out of my head.
But I needed to. Especially when I was about to sit down to dinner with her uncle. Thinking about the way she'd touched me when we were alone in her bed was not appropriate given the circumstances.
I pushed thoughts of Hel out of my mind, fully intent on spending the evening not thinking about her, and rang the doorbell. It only took a couple of minutes for it to swing open and for Daisy to beam at me as she gestured for me to come in.
"You look great," she said.
"So do you," I responded.
"Yes, but I don't need to impress anyone."
