I thought about it, but shook my head. “It’s not the bride’s fault. When is she expecting the flowers back?”
Moira consulted the clipboard again. “Two weeks.”
“Good. Let’s pack this back up.” I turned to Ash. “Can you grab one of the magic dampening sacks?”
“I’ll get it,” Tess volunteered. She floated away in a hurry.
“Chicken,” Ash muttered.
“Don’t be jealous you didn’t volunteer fast enough,” Moira chided.
I laughed. “Once Tess gets back, we’ll secure the flowers. I didn’t sleep well last night, and I don’t want to work on them while my head is fuzzy.”
Ash leaned over and felt my forehead with the back of his palm. “Feeling alright, Evie?”
I brushed his hand away. “You know I’ve never run a fever since you’ve known me.”
The dryad shrugged. “First time for everything. Some illnesses of our kind manifest in a higher body temperature.”
“Nothing but weird dreams plaguing me,” I confessed. More than a dream, but I wasn’t ready to tell them the fae king had popped up and had a disturbing convo with me.
“You’re off tomorrow and should take it easy. You’ve had an interesting few days.”
At Ash’s curious glance, Moira winced. “With the number of customers coming in, we’ve been busier than normal.”
Ash didn’t say anything, but he gave us both an odd look.
The bell over the door rang, announcing a new customer. Tess and Moira went to the front while I wrangled the evil bouquet. Ash winced when I picked it up, which made me laugh.
“It’s not a bomb,” I teased.
He shuddered. “I’m glad you’re wearing gloves. Touching that with bare skin seems unwise.”
I tucked the flowers into the magical pouch and carefully zipped it up, ensuring all the blooms were carefully tucked in. I couldn’t leave it for too long. Even with the magic in the shop, fresh flowers still needed to be looked after or preserved as soon as possible if they’d already been cut. “I’ll look at it in a couple of days.”
“When you catch up on your sleep,” Ash said as he probed but pretended he wasn’t.
“Yes,” I said and smiled sweetly. Handing him the bag, I waved and went to help Tess and Moira.
“Evie!” Ash gasped. “You are the worst!”
I laughed and pushed through the connecting doors.
Moira spun around, eyes wide. “Go!” she mouthed, frantically waving me back.
I stopped and blinked, about to ask her what was going on, when a staggering and familiar magic washed over me.
Tess’s face brightened when she spotted me. “Oh! Here she is now.” She came out from behind the counter, her cheeks pink and eyes sparkling, a look I had never seen on her. Tess put the ’s’ in morose.
“Evie Quinn is the owner and knows everything about flowers. I’m sure she can answer any questions you have.”
Moira squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled before slapping a smile on her face and turning around.
The Shifter Lord and a small blonde woman with smiling green eyes walked by Tess’s side. My heart leapt in my chest, and I quickly moved to control my breathing.
Caelan was one of the most powerful shifters in the country. If I had an extreme physical reaction, he would get suspicious. A suspicious shifter was the absolute last thing I needed.
Moira didn’t have to worry about it because she had no heartbeat, and Tess, bless her dark little heart, was clueless.
