Page 1 of Shift of Morals
Chapter
One
Moira and I stared down at the shriveled plant lying on top of my new worktable. I’d experimented for weeks to nurse the vine back to health, but nothing I tried had worked. I’d gone from a gentle nudge to something more substantial before attempting a full-blown magic blitz.
Nada. If plants had tongues, this one would be nana booing me.
“Why won’t it get any better?” the vampire asked. Moira was my best friend and shop employee. A lock of dark hair fell over her eye as she bent forward to peer at the poor thing.
“There isn’t much I can do for a plant that refuses to live.”
Moira blinked and looked up at me. “You’re just going to let it die?”
I held my hands out. “Contrary to popular belief, I am not a plant god.”
She frowned and reached out a pale finger, gently touching one of its leaves. “But you kind of are.”
“It’s not that simple. Sometimes things don’t want to live. I can nudge and encourage, but I never force. Even if I did, any boost would be temporary. If a plant decides to die, there’s nothing I can do for it.”
She gave me a sideways glance. “And this one has decided?”
“Looks that way.” I sent a soft pulse of magic into the heart of the plant and felt its flickering life force against my mind.
Moira’s expression as she stared at the lifeless plant twisted my heart, so I pulled my magic away and turned to grab a small pot from the shelf behind me. I set it before her and pushed the special pot of soil next to her. “All I can tell you is to give it the best possible environment to grow, put it in a window with lots of natural light, and keep the top layer of soil moist. If you want to go the extra mile, play it some Beethoven a few times a week. We’ll revisit in a month, okay?”
Moira tugged the pot closer. “Think it will work?”
I didn’t want to give her false hope. “Love and care can turn the worst situation around. All you can do is try.”
Moira nodded and straightened, grabbing the soil scooper. I left her to tend to her new project and headed back over to the register. Tess was there, wearing new sparkly barrettes in her hair and new lip gloss. I’d been dying to say something all morning, but I didn’t want to embarrass her.
Things between her and Ash were progressing at a glacial pace, but then things like this happened, and I knew she and the dryad were well on the way to a warm and cozy romance. “How’s it going?” I asked as I came up beside her.
“Fine,” she said in her monotone voice. “It’s not very busy today.”
Tess wasn’t wrong. Ever since Caelan had stopped coming around so much, it was like the townspeople were too scared to pop by, thinking I’d fallen out of favor with the Shifter Lord. This couldn’t be further from the truth as he (or someone at his Keep) had requested I do the flowers for his upcoming wedding.
The wedding I tried not to think about. After the disastrous dinner party where Finn, the attacker who’d turned me into a Chimera, had shown up and tried to get me to make amendsand become his …I had no idea, actually, things had gotten real weird.
Everyone in Joy Springs was abuzz about the identity of Caelan’s mysterious fiancée, but no one had seen her yet. Not even me, and I was part of the wedding planning team. I’d spent way too much time thinking about what she must be like if she’d caught the Shifter Lord’s eye.
Beauty was the obvious choice. But she was probably smart and politically savvy, too. She had to be to keep up with Caelan. The question I’d had in my mind since the second Simone walked into my shop and broke the news was why. Why would Caelan pursue me and make me feel like he wanted me, then abruptly go and get hitched?
It made no sense.
My life over the last several years made no sense.
Par for the course, I guess.
“You alright?” Tess’s querulous voice nudged me from my maudlin thoughts.
I blinked and straightened. “Yes. Sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”
The banshee fidgeted with the ink pen by the register. “Caelan getting married is a good thing,” Tess said. Her words were slow and even, as if gauging how I might react once she said them.
My stomach clenched. His upcoming marriagewasa good thing. Every strong leader needs a partner, and Caelan had been running this region by himself for a long time. He deserved one.
So why was I so bothered by the thought of his wedding?
