I sighed as I closed the door, then just for good measure I locked it, just in case he changed his mind about the chasing.
Later that afternoon,I was changed, sufficiently de-flustered from Lucas' visit, and on my way to the witches' shop. When I walked in, all of them were sitting around the register staring right at me. Morgana spoke. "We expected you, daughter of Delphi."
My footsteps faltered. I'd never heard that one, but I knew what Delphi was. I didn't consider myself to be an oracle, but it was odd they seemed to think so. I nodded my head at Morgana. "Hello, I'm glad you are all here. I have a...boon to ask of you."
A grin split Morgana's gorgeous face. "Don't be so formal. Would you like a cup of tea?"
Taking tea from the Comey sisters was always a gamble. Or at least that was the rumor around town. "What kind of tea?"
Another sister, this one blond, tsked. "So suspicious!"
"Chamomile and lemon balm. To calm your nerves. Your aura looks like it got hit with a livewire." She poured me a cup from a teapot behind the register and handed it over to me.
"Thank you."
"You have a woman," she began, "hiding a terrible secret."
I nodded. Maybe since they seemed to already know everything I should have just called. "She has an infant."
The blonde one's eyes went white. Errrrmmm...
"He is important," she hissed. "So important."
"Cecily," Morgana warned. She placed an arm on her sister's hand. "You wish to move her. Where?"
"That's what I'm here about. Lucas is being tracked so his hands are tied."
I pretended not to notice the flash of anger across her face at the mention of his name. "I thought you might be able to help us with both the purchase of the land and warding around it to stop tracking spells."
Morgana pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Something like this would be extraordinarily expensive."
I shrugged. "I am not paying for it."
"Lucas will fund this?"
I nodded. "As far as I know."
"And this woman? What is she to him?"
I told them everything. I suspected they knew most of it but there was no way I was lying to the Comey sisters. About anything. That was a recipe for disaster.
"He keeps this promise to a man long dead?" Morgana's gaze grew thoughtful.
"Yes."
"Hmmm. And yet he tried to control you through a love spell?"
"To help her."
"Doesn't make it okay," another sister chimed in from the back.
"I agree," I said. "But I've chosen to forgive him."
"You are a true sage, then," Morgana said. "I will confer with my sisters on exactly what is needed to protect this child." Her eyes darkened. "We will also provide the mother with the means to kill her son if he turns loup."
I swallowed hard. "I'm not sure she will do that."
"If she was the wife of a warrior, her heart will be stout enough to make that decision. It would be a kindness to them both and for the rest of the world."
