Page 74 of Shift of Morals
“Call the courier and have him here soon. The essence won’t last very long.”
“I’ll do it now.” Eager to get away from that thing, I retreated to the front of the shop to make the call.
The courier was eager to make a buck and agreed to come by within half an hour. I shot Caelan a text.
Courier on the way to you. A strange bouquet we received for preservation is linked to one of your shifters. Someone at the Keep was recently married, but there’s been no sign of the bride that we can tell. Hazel extricated the shifter’s signature.Take a look. I suspect something might be off with whomever this is. The magic feels off.
I said nothing about the bouquet being triggered to me or that Finn was entangled in the mess. My Chimera secret was still safe, and I’d do everything in my power to keep it that way.
His response, when it came, was short.
I’ll have our Keep mage take a look. Anything else I need to know?
Be careful. The magic has an attitude problem.
Much like our resident Floromancer? I’ll pass the warning along.
Funny wolf, I responded.
Caelan didn’t text back. Oddly disappointed, I tucked my phone into my pocket. Ash and the others were gathered around the coffee pot, fortifying for the day.
My thistle tattoo still burned against my arm, but this morning it was worse. I ran my fingers over the raised area where Finn had cut me, hissing when I found a tender spot.
All three of my friends stopped what they were doing. “Evie?” Moira inquired. “You alright?”
“Tender area,” I said with a smile. “I gotta stop poking things.”
“Bears especially,” Ash agreed.
“Evie has not met a bear she didn’t want to poke,” Tess added.
I laughed. “When did it become pick on Evie day?”
“Every day is pick on Evie day,” Moira said, sliding a mug of hot coffee over.
I took it gratefully. “Thanks.”
“We’re going to the back to come up with some seasonal marketing campaigns,” Ash said. “Things have been too busy, and our social media presence has suffered.”
Part of that thanks to the Shifter Lord.
“Make sure you announce that we’re working on an important wedding,” I said absentmindedly. Caelan hadn’t said anything about the most recent samples, so I don’t know if they were a hit or miss. I’d wait until he came back with something about the shifter before I nudged him about those.
The wedding was fast approaching, and we had to crank it into high gear if we were going to get everything finished before the day. And I still had to do the bonding ceremony flowers.
I made a mental note to text him later about both.
And whispered a prayer he’d allow me a little more leeway with the bonding ceremony flowers because the red and white candy cane hellscape that was this wedding was living in my head rent-free right now.
The shop fell silent, still too early to welcome in many customers. I sipped my coffee and enjoyed the silence, sending my senses through the shop to touch my plants and gently rouse them from rest.
It happened instinctively before I remembered everything that had gone wrong with my magic these last few weeks, and just as I jerked in remembrance, the plants responded, their gentle natures brushing against my mind.
Tears came to my eyes. My Floromancy was still there. Deeper yet unchanged.
My lips parted, and I exhaled, relief so profound it held me in a chokehold. If I had lost that part of my magic, I would have lost myself. Maybe forever.
I might be forever changed, but the most important thing was I was still me.
