Page 29 of Bargains with Benefits
“The kitchen area is too small for a full meal,” she continued, not noticing my discomfort. “The other day after our…conversation, I baked some bread in here. I wanted to prove it was possible. But light snacks is all the kitchen is good for.”
“It’s still something,” I said. “And it could be a nice touch for trying to recruit weekend hikers to stop by for the view and something sweet to eat.”
She seemed to ignore my comment, her gaze focused up the stairwell. “All the guest rooms are on the second floor.”
“Why do you sound hesitant about that?”
She started up the steps. I thought maybe she’d ignored my question when she spoke again. “My friends and I spent last week cleaning. We did a little shopping to freshen up somefabrics, colors, and decor to make it more cohesive. It didn’t need much,” she rambled, and I wasn’t sure I believed her.
She opened the door to the first room. It had the same energy that the library did. Plush fabrics and light, airy colors that mixed the idea of the seaside with cozy comfort. It felt like her—her style. It was a bit loud for my taste but wholly her and very welcoming for guests.
“We even patched a hole over in that room.” She pointed to the right, and while impressed, I was desperate to know what she wasnottelling me. Lying about or obfuscating information clearly wasn’t her strong suit—she seemed too genuine for that, even if she had done a more than decent job of convincing Kristin we were lovers. Images I had no business remembering flooded my mind.
“The only thing left is the room at the end of this hall.”
Everything came to a halt as I processed her words. “What’s wrong with it?”
She hesitated, like her honesty had gone a step further than she’d intended. This—whatever this was—had her nervous. “Well, it won’t open.”
“Won’t open?”
“Yes, it has some kind of magical seal on it.”
I tilted my head. Magic wasn’t my specialty. I could barely control my wind, let alone the magic necessary to lock a door. My wind flexed as if insulted. It must be blood magic. I had no idea how that worked. However, I did know a magically locked room was bad for business.
“What are we doing about it?” I asked cautiously.
She smiled, and I realized my phrasing. The magically locked door wasn’t my problem. I would tell people about the inn. If she had a room she couldn’t get into, that wasn’t something I had to solve. My wind swirled slowly with curiosity, though.
“Evelyn, my friend, she’s a server at Parkview Tavern,” Lunastarted rambling. “Well, she also works on research projects at the Vesten Library. She’s looking into it.”
We continued walking down the hall and arrived in front of said door.
“Do you mind if I try?” I asked, though I had no idea why. Blood magic was beyond me. I was confident there was nothing I could do. My wind pushed on the bounds I tried to hold all the same.
She gestured toward the door. “Please.”
I twisted the handle and pushed. Nothing happened, but that was to be expected per Luna’s explanation. I knelt and looked in the keyhole. My wind was off and sweeping through the small space before I could think twice. It was always a unique experience to have my wind somewhere I couldn’t see. It didn’t have eyes of its own, but like when Luna had jumped into my wind at the beach, I could feel the shape of things.
My wind swirled around each item, cataloging what was there. I tried to arrange them in my mind. A picture came together and seemed the same as the other rooms she’d shown me. A bed on the left, a wardrobe against the farmost wall, a writing desk and chair, and a moonflower lying across the desk, fully in bloom.
Wait.
My wind returned with a sudden gust smelling of moonflower. I’d smelled it with Luna the night we met. As the name suggested, those flowers only bloomed under the full moon’s light and in the presence of Norden magic.
“Luna,” I said hesitantly, wanting to confirm an assumption, “do you have moonflowers on the property?” I turned my head to look up at her over my shoulder. She stood closer than I realized, trying to peek through the hole over me.
“What are you doing?” she squeaked instead of answering my question.
I laughed, having not explained myself. “Oh, sorry, my wind, it’s cataloging the room to see what’s inside.”
She put her hand over her mouth in surprise. “You can do that?”
I nodded, my chest puffing out without my consent at the awe in her voice. “Most of it seems similar to the other rooms. The only thing that feels out of place is a bloomed moonflower.”
“We do have them on the property,” she whispered. Her eyes darted back and forth in the hall like she was expecting someone to overhear our conversation. Like what she’d say next would be some big secret.
“Luna, the inn is yours, at least for the next six weeks.” Something in the way she’d spoken about the previous manager in the kitchen gave me an inkling of why she whispered.What was his name?“Byrd can’t yell at you for stealing the flowers,” I said with a smile. “You can come clean with me.”
