Page 26 of Power Shift
“You believe Ben will prove successful?”
“I have no doubts.” Ben would more than prove worthy and he deserved his own territory, but my reasons for sending him were less my unshakable confidence in his abilities and more of a personal nature. Evie liked Ben, and I suspected he more than liked her.
A huge dick move on my part, but I didn’t regret the decision.
“If you marry the Floromancer, your hold on this region would be unshakeable.” Soren put his glass on the side table and rose.
I studied him with curiosity, never having seen this side of him. “You’d support the union?”
Soren flashed a grin as he headed toward the door. “I’m not interested in getting my head torn off, so you’d get a yes vote from me.”
I tipped my glass to him. “Good to know.”
Soren gave a little salute and headed out the door.
I picked Seymour up and headed down to the gardens at the back of the property, stopping at the stone bench I’d placed a few months back. Once I sat, the pot hopped off my lap and thumped away, no doubt in search of delicious bugs or maybe a dinosaur. Who the hell knew with Seymour.
Every time I sat out here, I felt like Evie sat right next to me. Her power had soaked into the land, mingling with mine, claiming a piece of the Keep even without her physical presence. My shifters adored this part of the Keep, and I’d stumbled on young lovers hidden among the flowers more than once. A heady fragrance floated through the air, the deep scent of moonflowers and night blooming tobacco tantalizing my nose. I let out a heavy breath and basked in Evie’s flowers.
Everything weighed on me these days. Evie’s constant rejection and the ever-growing danger of the Lords’ attention on her, as well as the Chimera threat that had gone suspiciously quiet.
An overwhelming sense of doom had settled over me, and I knew the writing was on the wall. If I didn’t press Evie to accept my advances, she’d find herself in a much worse situation.
As soon as the thought occurred, I laughed at myself. Evie would allow no one to push her around or force her to do something she did not want to do. Not even me.
I’d have to go about this in a different way. My normal mode of running headfirst at an issue was not going to help me with Evie. Nor would it help me with the Chimera threat. A Chimera could appear as anyone, even my own people, and there was little I could do to prevent someone from infiltrating my Keep, other than paying rapt attention. None of the Lords realized Halvar was overtaken until it was far too late.
And with the Chimera’s rapt attention on Evie, I couldn’t afford to relax around anyone. My magic strained against the leash I’d kept it on. If anyone had the slightest hint of a changing scent, I’d know immediately. Scent was a shifter’s most powerful weapon, and the only reason I hadn’t noticed the Halvard deception was because I’d never met the Lord alone. We’d always been in a room with several others, where a change in scent wouldn’t always be noticed when several others intermingled.
I drained the rest of the whiskey and set the glass on the bench. “Seymour.”
The dull thump of his pot made me grin. Of all the gifts I’d received during my years as a Lord, this was my favorite.
Even if Evie had enchanted it to constantly bite me.
I rose when I spotted Seymour thumping his way back over, scooping him up on my way back into the Keep.
Those problems would hold for another day.
Figuring a way to win Evie’s heart would take a lot longer.
Chapter
Six
“Of all the heavy-handed, oafish things to do,” I muttered under my breath, clipping off the woody stem ends before sticking them into wet floral foam. “Arrogant wolf.”
Moira snickered from her spot by the register. “Still fuming over the Lord’s proposal?”
“Moira! Shhh.” She was the only one who knew about Caelan’s insane semi-proposal last night.
“Proposal?” Ash exclaimed from the succulent area; hands paused over his work. “Caelanproposedto you?” His eyes were comically wide. “Is there going to be a wedding?” He clapped his hands together. “This is wonderful news!”
“Ash.”
“Can you imagine the floral display we can do?” Ash grabbed a pen and a clipboard. “Dahlias.” He scribbled something on the clipboard. “Everywhere. A riot of color.”
“Ash!” I barked.
