Page 1 of Locking Down Qetesh

Chapter 1

QETESH

I made my way into the large hotel now owned by the Jinx Dating Agency, feeling the usual jump of nerves that I got whenever I considered how I'd tied my name to Jinx. It wasn't that I regretted it. My Lock and Key parties had been doing better ever since I'd agreed to join with the agency, especially because I didn't have to do everything myself all the time.

But it was still my name on the line. I'd spent years building a reputation, and it would be remiss of me not to be concerned about how that could be affected.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw Aine waiting in the lobby. I smiled at the Celtic goddess of love and beauty, while internally wondering about what she was doing here when she was kind of my boss.

"Hey, Tesha," she said.

"Hi," I responded. "I didn't expect you today."

"I thought I sent an email, but I must have forgotten. We've had a new hotel manager start this week and I wanted to introduce you to him, he's going to be working with you for your events."

"Ah." I had no idea if that was a good thing or not. "Is he a god?"

She shook her head. "But he knows that we are, so there's nothing to worry about on that front."

I laughed. "You mean you're not going to make us pretend to be mortals?"

"If anyone took one look at you, they'd have no doubt you were a goddess," she responded.

"Thanks."

She nodded. "I've been meaning to stop by one of your events again, but I haven't had time to yet."

I laughed. "You mean you're worried that Min will call in a favour and ask for the key that matches your lock again?"

"That was a risky choice to say yes."

"I didn't give it to him. I don't actually know which key goes with which lock once they're on the table. I just gave him one when he asked."

Surprise showed on her face. "He said..."

"He asked, I gave him a key. If it fit, then it was purely a coincidence."

"Huh. So it was fate or something?"

"There are only twenty-five sets, and they all have a match. There are lots of combinations, but it's not supposed to be impossible to find the set."

"He's going to be heartbroken when I tell him," Aine mused.

I laughed. "Then don't. He asked, and I gave him a key. That's all he needs to know."

"I suppose he got what he wanted anyway."

"That was obvious to anyone who was watching you," I responded.

"Maybe." From her expression, I could tell that there might be more to it, but I didn't know her well enough to be able to pry. Unlike most of the supposed love gods from around the world, I'd mostly kept to myself. Sometimes, it made me feel a little lonely, even if I knew that it was better not to court the complications that came from spending a lot of time with them all.

"I should go set up for the event tonight," I said, gesturing towards the room I used for my Lock and Key parties. There wasn't a huge amount of set-up that needed to be done, especially since the room was already laid out the way I wanted it to be. It was certainly easier now that Jinx owned the hotel where I was hosting.

"I'll bring the new hotel manager in when I have a moment," she said.

"Thanks." I smiled at her and headed inside. It was larger than the room I'd had at the previous hotel, which did make me wonder whether I should consider releasing more tickets. I hadn't expanded beyond the size of my event in about five years, but it might be time to.

I reached out to touch the leaves of the peace lily on the bar, closing my eyes and letting the inherent dryad magic I'd had my entire life spring into being. I fed some of the energy into the plant, while also gaining a boost from being around one that was so healthy. It definitely helped that I was feeding it with magic every week. It wasn't necessarily something that added anything to the event other than a general welcoming atmosphere, but I loved it. I went around the room and checked on a couple of other things, but I wasn't entirely surprised to find that everything was in place for tomorrow's event. The staff at Aine's hotel did a good job at making sure everything was set up the way it should be.

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