I’d win him and the iguana over eventually, though.
The electric kettle hummed when I clicked it on, and I put a few cookies on a plate while I waited for the water toboil, reflecting on everything that had happened since Maia had taken over as the official head of the Oniguro family and instructed me and Sage to “scram.”
We were on the road less than an hour after my dad’s death, neither of us fully breathing until the venomous glow of Ignareth had disappeared in the rear-view mirror.
It had simultaneously been the worst and best dinner of my life, a recurring nightmare that left me jolting out of bed sometimes, my wrists burning from the adamantine, searching for Sage to make sure she was safe.
She was.
We both were.
But even after getting back to Cindralis, we still found it difficult to relax.
The first thing we did was bring her parents back from their fake witness protection program.
Then, I threw myself into the house renovations, starting with the kitchen, while Sage had enrolled in online classes at Umbris U. She finished her degree, but declined the invite to go back to Noctis and walk the stage.
ManagingKaldrintook up a big chunk of her time, too, but she still tried to fill her days to near unmanageable levels with projects.
Being bored was triggering.
The kettle clicked again to tell me it was done, and I poured the hot water into the waiting mug, dipping in the bag of herbal tea and heading back outside.
“So, have the demon and witch hooked up yet?” I asked with a smirk, handing her the plate as I sat down.
She laughed. “The familiar keeps cock-blocking them. I don’t think he likes the demon.”
“Ouch,” I replied, taking one of the cookies for myself. “I hope when you find your familiar, they won’t mind me too much.”
Sage’s birthday had been two weeks ago, and tomorrow was the new moon. Five years late, but the priestess at the Temple of Hecara assured Sage that she hadn’t missed her chance.
“A witch and their familiar have a sacred, Hecara-blessed bond that cannot be soured by time. They are waiting for you.”
Morgana’s familiar, Vesper, had apparently assured Sage that her familiar was still out there, too.
And yet, she still doubted. Still worried that maybe, because she was late, and because of what she’d gone through, she was too broken, too scarred, to ever have that type of bond.
“If I find a familiar,” she mumbled.
I’d tried reassuring her before when she’d spiral into these negative thoughts, but it turned out, humor worked better.
“Well, if you come out of the Covenant Woods alone, we can stop by the pet store and get a collar, and I’ll pretend to be your familiar.”
“Ew,” she chuckled. “You know witches and familiars don’t sleep together. It’s practically incestuous.”
I pretended to scoff. “Excuse me, are you saying that your desire for me is so great that even if I were your familiar, you’d struggle with your lust for my hot body?”
With a snort, she skipped over the opening credits for the next episode, diving right in. “Feeling humble tonight, aren’t we?”
“I’m always humble. The most humble person you’ll ever meet. Seriously, there was a ‘Humility Contest’ in Ignareth and I won first place.”
She rolled her eyes, giving me her “are you done yet” look.
“But then I gave the trophy to the runner up. Because I’m so humble.”
She barked a laugh, covering her mouth quickly to keep from waking the neighbors. “Oh Hecara, you’re such an idiot.”
I shoved another cookie in my mouth and winked. “Only for you.”
