"If you think it's best," I said.
"I do," Morgana replied, effectively ending that line of questioning. "In a week's time, I will find you and tell you whether or not we can do this."
I was about to protest the timeline, when she held something out to me - a small bundle. "Give these to your man. Tell him to bury them in her yard and have the mother and child wear the charms. It will confuse those sent to find her. They will forget why they are there and she will be safe for awhile. We will give you our answer before the spell wears off."
I accepted the bundle. "Thank you." I made eye contact with each of the sisters, and their power buzzed over my skin. "I wish you all a wonderful day."
"We will meet again, Daughter of Delphi."
I wish they wouldn't call me that. "I look forward to it, Morgana."
I left the store fairly confident they would come through for Marissa. She was a mother and she'd lost her husband. This was right up with the causes they'd chosen to support. I just hoped Lucas could live with the cost of it. When I'd gotten back into my car, I let out a shaky breath. Those women were scary as hell. A snort burst from me when I thought about poor, intelligent Colin getting tangled up with Morgana. I couldn't wait to see if that actually happened. I'd fork out money to see that courtship.
When I pulled out of the parking lot and happened to glance in my rearview, Morgana was standing on the stoop of her store watching me pull away. It was almost as if she knew I'd been thinking about her.
A shiver rolled down my shoulders and gooseflesh broke out all over my skin. That woman...those women. I never wanted to be the one to cross them. Not if I knew what was good for me. I liked a perfectly intact lifespan and an entire body, thank you very much. From what I heard she’d done to Lucas, Morgana was lucky I didn’t prostrate myself on the floor at her feet when I came into her shop.
When I got home, I was still shaken up. I grabbed a big glass of cold water, drained it in several swallows, then made myself a massive sandwich. I didn’t have any appointments today so I thought I’d take the rest of the day off and do absolutely nothing except for veg out in front of the television. Nothing important was waiting for me. Finally.
I hadn’t even heard from Portia in weeks now, so whatever was happening with Lucas seemed to pacify her. It certainly pacified me. Although now when I looked at him I imagined things like tearing his shirt off with my teeth or even worse things. Yikes. It had been awhile and Lucas was like an ice cream cone mirage in the middle of the desert.
“Calm down, woman,” I said to myself. “You aren’t even sure whether or not he feels the same way.” I kind of had a feeling he did, but we still hadn’t talked too much about us. Or if there was an us. Even though it kind of felt like an us.
I sighed. This was the bane of dating. The wondering, contemplating, and agonizing self doubt. I was starting to regret my whole lets camp at Portia’s doorstep until she bowed to my whims campaign.
If and when Lucas decided to make it an us, I would just bide my time and take it slow. Forcing things never went well for anyone. Even with Portia and annoying her enough to start setting me up hadn't done me any favors. I'd been on tons of terrible dates, fought with Lucas for months, and had finally given up when he'd managed to come around.
Was this Portia's plan the entire time?
I frowned. If it was, it seemed like a terrible plan. But I'd always heard she had an odd way of doing things. I couldn't imagine she'd force Lucas to act like an enormous jerk, though. That really seemed like all his doing.
I flipped on the television to get my mind off things. There was too much to worry about right now, so I decided to do the next best thing: not worry about anything at all.
