Page 64 of Bargains with Benefits
“That was your argument when you said she had no magic. I didn’t believe it then. I certainly don’t believe it now.”
“This is all irrelevant. I’m taking my daughter and going back to the cottage. We’ll leave in the morning.”
“Our daughter, Meredith.” He breathed heavily from the heat of the argument. “And I think it’s time she got another chance to know her father.” He glanced around the room. “I want to give her the inn.”
Mom looked confused. “Give her the inn?”
“Yes.” He waved his hands around. “This would all be hers.She could run it eventually. Not now,” he added as Mom opened her mouth to protest. “When she’s ready.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why? She loves it here. You said it yourself.”
Mom shook her head. I was surprised smoke wasn’t pouring from her ears. “Loving an annual vacation to the city and living here are very different.” Her head was still shaking as she continued. “I won’t even get into the layers of what you owning the property and lording it over her would be like.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. It would be hers free and clear. Whether she wants to see me or not.”
“You can’t buy her affection!”
“I wouldn’t have to try if you’d let me see her.”
He sounded so tired. So did Mom. I found it hard to believe they had ever been a couple. They were talking past each other at every point. Mom seemed ready to assume the worst of Darius, and the worst part was that I didn’t know why. He’d said her time at Pierce House had been bad, and the fae had been cruel. Was all of this to protect me from the same experience?
“This isn’t happening,” Mom said. “We’ll be gone in the morning.” She moved to where I was in the bed, ready to scoop me into her arms and carry me back to the cottage.
“Don’t disturb her. You two can have this room tonight.”
Mom nodded.
Darius stood at the door. “I know I hurt you, Meredith, but you’re hurting her. She needs me in her life, especially if she has magic. If not me, she needs someone to train with to understand it.”
“She does not have magic.” Mom bit out every word.
Darius shook his head. He’d been holding a flower stem in his hand. A moonflower. He laid it on the desk in the room as he walked toward the door. “That bloomed for her tonight.” He pointed to the flower. “I’ve walked this property a hundred times, and they’ve never flowered for me.” He shook his headagain. “She has magic, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. It will make itself known eventually.” He left, letting the door shut behind him.
The memory continued, and I feared I had my answer about whose it was.
Mom dried herself off and got into bed next to me, her hand stroking my hair gently. “You’re not one of them, sweetie. You could never be as evil as the fae,” she whispered. She reached for something in her trouser pocket. It was a vial of liquid, and it was deep red. As she tipped it side to side, the slow viscosity with which it moved made me realize it was blood. “We’ll see if this was worth what I paid for it. He won’t give you the inn if it fails.”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Mom hated magic but was ready to wield purchased blood magic. It didn’t make any sense…yet it made perfect sense. Blood magic was something humans could wield—it didn’t have the legacy of snobbery existing with fae elements. If Klein and other fae had dismissed her in her time at Pierce House, it would only make sense she was ready to fight fire with fire now. She unstopped the bottle and let the drops fall to the floor. The wood soaked them up immediately, and the room began to glow.
Suddenly, I lurched back, no longer watching the scene unfold. Strong arms wrapped around me.
“Luna, are you alright?” Vincent was with me. I was in the present. The door was open. The moonflower Vincent had found last time was still lying on the desk, preserved like it had been the day Darius left it there in the memory.
Somehow, I knew what I had to do. The moon was still bright. Power flooded me as I moved into the light it cast through the window. Water flowed from my hands with little thought. “You can wait outside,” I whispered to Vincent.
His only response was to wrap his arms around me more tightly. “I’m with you.”
The water rushed over every surface, cleansing Mom’s thoughtless blood magic from the space. It scrubbed and dried as it went. There was no way I could have accomplished the removal by simple cleaning. My element penetrated the deep layer of blood magic in the space. I felt the moment the magic lost hold, the moment my water broke through. The how of it didn’t make sense—there was so much about my magic that I didn’t understand—but in the quiet calm within me, I knew the inn was free.
30
Luna
The task was finished, the room and blood magic cleansed by the water magic that flowed through me under the moon’s light. I wanted to crumple. My body swayed as if it might, but the scent of mint and leather hit my nose, and those strong arms that encircled me when I flung free of the memory still held me tightly—still held me up when I was ready to fall.
Vincent was still with me.
