“You mean when I’m ready to kill my mother.”
He reached over and tucked a stray hair behind my ear. “She has a gift for disappearing right when we’re about to win. My suggestion is to try to disrupt that gift. It’s not a natural one for a witch to have.”
“Dad’s right,” Evie said. “She must have an amulet or something similar to your travel potions, Moira.”
“There’s no way to keep her from brewing more if she’s using a potion.” I rubbed my nose and sat up. “But I haven’t seen her consume anything, so it must be a charm.”
Mom wore jewelry, but I hadn’t paid much attention to any of her pieces. It was too late to worry about now, and she wasn’tthe worst thing I had to worry about. “Has anyone heard from Ethan?”
Rowan shook his head. “No. I tried to call today, but he didn’t answer.”
“What about Kinsley? Anything from him?” I needed to text Ethan’s Second and update him on what I’d found.
“He said Ethan is asking a lot of questions. He’s suspicious.”
“Anything about Sarah?”
Rowan’s lips tightened. “On the surface, everything seems normal. But there are large gaps in her memory that bug Ethan. Sarah doesn’t remember a single thing after the date of her death.”
“Well, at least Mom couldn’t fake that,” I muttered.
“True,” Rowan said, “but it’s an issue. It prevents the illusion from being complete.” The Lord frowned. “Well, I guess it’s not an illusion. Sarah is as real as you or me.”
“As long as that spell stays active,” Cliona said.
Rowan nodded. “If Ethan pushes too much, he may damage his psyche. He’s too smart not to see that something is hinky. And his people cannot lie to him successfully.”
Oh shit. I hadn’t thought about that. “If he asks them a direct question and they lie to him, his suspicions will get worse.” I tapped my fingers against my knee. “Couldn’t this work in our favor? Can he break the spell on his own?”
“Possibly,” Cliona said. “How do you think a Lord would react when the spell he’s under breaks, and he realizes the woman sharing his bed has been dead for years?”
Ethan might kill her. Or worse. Which could solve all our problems in one way but worsen everything else.
I groaned. “For now, we stash this body somewhere it won’t creep everyone out while we figure out how to handle Mom.”
“I concur,” Evie said, “as long as we find a place where we don’t have to smell her.”
“Does anyone know who that is?” Rowan asked, eyeing the body.
“We think she might be one of the witches who was after Soren. I’ll confirm tomorrow.” Tonight, I planned to faceplant into bed just like I had last night.
Cernunnos and I locked eyes. I shook my head once at his meaningful look. Sharing a bed with him right now would make me feel worse. He didn’t see it that way. I could tell by the way he was looking at me.
I was tired, both mentally and physically. Tomorrow, I planned to do a deep dive into research to figure out exactly how my mother was able to pull off a spell like this and seemingly have no ill effects.
There was a place Mom had long ago. She kept all her books and notes there. Whether it still stood was another story, but Mom was a creature of habit. She wouldn’t abandon the place if she didn’t have to.
I’d come prepared for running into her, too, and kill two birds with one stone if I could.
There was one more place I’d visit if I found nothing there. After that, if I was still in the dark, I’d resort to brute force.
Cernunnos gave me a slight smile and a nod. “I’m off for now.” He gave me a little salute and disappeared.
Evie slapped me on the thigh. “You and Dad are still being weird. Everything alright there?”
“We understand each other. That’s enough for now.”
She sat up and eyed me. “No sex makes Moira a grumpy girl.”
