Mrs. Neilfellow looks back at him, her face pinched. “Why are you fighting this?”
“Probably because he accidentally fused his magic with Kit’s during the reversal,” Ash says. “And now they’re playing fated mates.”
The room falls silent, as if everyone in the tea shop is listening. And judging from the owlish stares, they are.
“There are humans here,” Rowan quietly snarls to Ash.
Thankfully, it’s only one couple. Right now, the rest of our patrons are fae.
Ash clears his throat and scans the room, finding the humans in question. “I’ll take care of it.”
“What does he mean you ‘fused your magic?’” Mrs. Neilfellow demands, her eyes going between the two of us, looking like we told her all her stocks just crashed.
Rowan sighs. “We can’t do this here. We’ll talk about it later.”
“No.” Mrs. Neilfellow takes his hand and squeezes it…scared. “Tell me, Rowan. What do you mean?”
He frowns at his aunt’s hand, unnerved. Perhaps, like me, he expected her to be mad, notterrified. What is this reaction?
The bells on the door chime as another patron walks into the shop.
Ryder pauses in the entryway when he sees Mrs. Neilfellow and Keira at the counter, rightly assuming this isn’t a mess he wants to get tangled up in. Too bad for him, Rowan calls his name, waving him over.
“Hey, Mrs. Neilfellow,” the elf says when he reluctantly joins us, uncomfortable. “And…Keira.”
“Watch the counter for us, will you?” Rowan asks.
Ryder’s eyes go wide. “What?”
“Just do it,” Rowan all but snaps.
“Sure thing.” Ryder gives me a grin. “Hey, Kit, how do I make tea?”
I pull my phone out of my pocket and open my notes app. “My tea journal is in here. It has notes for steep temps and how much to use.”
“Send it to me, and then you don’t have to leave your phone.”
I nod, deciding that’s a good idea.
After I have him set up, and Ash has worked a little memory magic on the humans, Rowan, Keira, Mrs. Neilfellow, Ash, and I head up to the apartment.
To be honest, I’m not sure why I’m here. Surely Rowan and Ash can handle this conversation on their own.
But then Rowan meets my eyes, and I realize he needs me for emotional support. I nod, giving him a small, encouraging smile.
“Tell me what happened,” Mrs. Neilfellow demands.
“Ash summed it up pretty well,” Rowan says with a sigh. “Ansel used Kit and Ryder’s magic to reverse the metamorphosis. What we didn’t realize until later was that it somehow created a bond between Kit and me, linking our magic in a way that’s behaving nearly identically to a shifter bond.”
Keira gasps, but Mrs. Neilfellow goes white.
“I believe I can undo it,” he says, “but I need time to examine the magic?—”
“No!” Mrs. Neilfellow exclaims, her eyes wild as they dart between us. When she controls herself, she says, slightly more calmly, “That sounds too dangerous. You won’t do it.You can’t. I will not lose you again, not a second time!”
“I don’t think it’s dangerous,” Rowan says, frowning. “And I don’t have a choice. I can’t leave Kit tied to me.”
“You certainly can’t,” Keira snaps, angry.
