Page 94 of A Spell for Midwinter's Heart
The sensation spread from her spine to her neck, constricting. “Who?”
“The Goshen Group representatives.”
“Excuse me?They’rehere?”
The room spun, seeming to grow smaller. She did everything she could to steady her breath in a regular rhythm. The uneasy feeling doubled, tripled in size and intensity.
“Yes,” he said. “And Hayleigh’s with them. Honestly, I’m surprised she even wanted to come after what happened.”
Hayleigh.He said the name like she should know it and what he meant by “what happened.”
What exactly was she missing? Her cheeks burned. The room spun again.
“Let’s go to your room,” she blurted.
“Excuse me?” he asked with a laugh.
“I mean, show me your room, before we go join the party. I’d love to see what kind of embarrassing kid stuff you held on to.” The words stumbled across her tongue with forced lightness.
He accepted the explanation. “I’ll give you one in advance, by way of warning—I had an Animorphs phase.” Before they could finish ascending the stairs, Dennis McCreery walked in from the back, his guests at his heels.
“Ah, Rowan, so good of you to join us,” said Dennis. He waved a champagne flute their way. “You two aren’t sneaking off already, are you?”
“Excuseme?” A blond woman in a black cocktail dress emerged, arms crossed. It only took a moment to realize that she was the same woman who had attended the Hunt in the vermillion dress, and from the look of dawning recognition, it was clear the other woman recognized Rowan as well. “You broke up with me forher.For Hotel Girl?”
Hotel Girl?What?
Everyone was stunned.Hotel girl?mouthed Dennis to the man at his side.
“Hayleigh, this isn’t funny anymore,” said Gavin. “This is Rowan. Not ‘Ronan,’ not ‘Hotel Girl.’ The two of you have met multiple times at this point.”
“What?” said Hayleigh. She looked as baffled as Rowan felt. The blond woman continued, “I met her once. At my hotel. After I blacked out. Unless…” She looked at Rowan more closely. “You were dressed as the old witch last night, weren’t you? The one who—” She cut herself off, face sharpening.
“Wait, what was that about you blacking out?” repeated Gavin. He looked first at Hayleigh and then back at Rowan.
For her part, Rowan stood frozen in place, unable to focus on anything but trying to control the brewing storm of panic in her nervous system.
Panic that she didn’t recognize “Hayleigh” as anything other than the woman at the festival.
Panic that everyone in the room thought they should know each other.
Panic that Hayleigh, who apparently worked for the Goshen Group, had overheard their pitch at the festival.
The scene tasted of magic. Rowan’s magic.
What had she done?
“Hayleigh, dear, this is RowanMidwinter,” said Dennis. “She and Gavin are old friends.”
Hayleigh glared at Gavin. “You dumped me for a satanist?”
Gavin pressed his brow with a sigh. “I couldn’t have dumped you because we never dated. And she’s not a satanist.”
“Oh?” said Hayleigh. “I saw what was happening at that party last night. They burned an idol! There were people dressed likedemonsrunning wild in the streets!”
“This is getting very confusing,” muttered one of the other reps.
“Perhaps you’d better see a doctor, dear,” said Dennis, putting a hand on Hayleigh’s shoulder. “You seem confused.”
