Witch Bound (Twilight of the Gods) (6 page)

“Then we destroy the town.”

He fell silent, meeting her gaze to see if she was serious. She was dead serious. When he saw that, his face paled a little and she continued, “It takes a lot of practice and you have to know what you’re doing. Lois was right to ask to check my work before we activate them. You always want at least one other person to double-check your work. Anybody can make mistakes, and mistakes can kill you.”

He was paying attention, all that young energy focused on the rune she drew on the first stone. She’d burn them later when she was satisfied that everything was right and activate them once they were positioned on site. That small magic she could do. It was the big stuff everyone had been expecting from her since she was a child, the kind of thing that would make her suitable as a clan witch, that eluded her. Julian looked at her, all wide eyes and held breath. “You know what you’re doing, right?”

She sure hoped so.

Chapter Five

Christian was an astonishingly good-looking man. Generally, Raquel was more comfortable with the jeans-and-T-shirt crowd, but even she could appreciate how well he wore a suit. Turning around in the middle of the hallway before he caught sight of her, she almost crashed into Audrey.

“Maybe you were right about the heels.”

Audrey held up her hand, the sexy shoes dangling from her fingers. “Of course I was right. I bought the dress to go with the shoes.”

“What? That’s so crazy backward I don’t even know—”

Audrey pointed at the bench beside the hall closet. “Sit and I’ll get rid of those things.” She waggled her fingers at Raquel’s perfectly acceptable, versatile and comfortable shoes. “I don’t know why you thought they’d look okay with that. I can’t believe you didn’t pack a dress.”

Raquel slipped her feet into the shoes and ignored how weird they felt as she bent to close the tiny buckles at the ankle. “I did pack a dress.”

“Your wedding gown doesn’t count.”

“Okay,” she said, standing and smoothing out the dress she’d borrowed from Audrey. It was a little too tight, too low cut, too everything, but Audrey’s grin told her she didn’t agree.

“Gorgeous.”

Raquel blew out a breath.
Okay
,
here we go.
It took her a few steps before she caught her balance and then got into it with a little bit of hip sway. When she grinned at her sister over her shoulder, Audrey shook her head and rolled her eyes heavenward.

Raquel stuck out her tongue. She felt sexier in heels, more the type of woman who could make a man like Christian look twice. She couldn’t back out of the betrothal, but she wanted Christian to look at her as something more than just duty. Maybe she’d been naive to look for love, but attraction—that was a possibility, wasn’t it? Esteem? And then eventually, there might be love. Three more weeks until they were bound... She blew out her held breath and wiped her palms on her thighs. She could do this.

Christian stood when she entered the room, a slow smile spreading across his features. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” Warmth flushed her skin, not only at the compliment but at the look in his eyes. She could get used to that kind of appreciation. Oh, yes, she could.

Christian was a gentleman, helping her into her coat, thanking her mother for the coffee, making her mother blush and then Audrey too when he kissed them both on the cheek and promised to have Raquel back at a decent time. Then, a few moments later, there she was, standing on the porch alone with her husband to be. He was a stranger. But a kind, intent and attractive stranger. And that was something.

A cold front had moved in during the day, and Raquel waited until they were in the car before asking him where he was taking her. Even inside the car, her breath came out in white puffs. She cupped her fingers to her face as he turned up the heat and backed out of the drive. The leather seats were heated and her butt warmed long before her nose did.

“Porter’s in town. It’s the only restaurant other than the diner, but the steak is excellent.” He paused. “They serve chicken too and a few vegetarian dishes...if that’s what you prefer.”

“I love steak.” She grabbed at that, happy to have found common ground. Maybe you couldn’t build a relationship on steak, but they had to start somewhere.

He glanced at her and smiled. “Good.”

As they entered the restaurant, Christian was greeted with familiar smiles and they were seated at what she was proudly told was the best table, overlooking the river. It was a Tuesday night and there were only a few other customers who, to give them credit, did their best not to stare openly. As a newcomer, she was granted temporary celebrity status in town. All that was missing were the paparazzi. The staff had left this corner of the restaurant empty and it was as private as she could have hoped.

Once seated, they talked about inconsequential things. The menu and town. Christian’s job and whether Raquel wanted to continue on with the tradition of running the floral shop as clan witch.

“I don’t want to push Lois out, but I think we’re going to have trouble working together.”

“She can be difficult,” Christian said diplomatically.

“I noticed that.”

Some of her frustration must have come through in her tone. Christian sighed and reached across the table for her hand. Startled by his action, she stared at their joined hands for a moment before looking up into his concerned gaze. “This is a stressful time for you. Coming to a new clan. Being asked to assume your duties right away on a major project. Taking a husband.” He smiled gently. “I want you to know that I’ll help you in any way I can. To ease the transition. The ceremony is in three weeks, but we don’t have to rush this relationship.”

It felt as if someone closed their hand around her heart and squeezed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you have a lot on your plate and I don’t want to cause you any extra stress if I can avoid it. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes. I only ask that you let me know when I do.”

She swallowed past a lump in her throat. The temptation was there to bring up his conversation with Aiden, but she wouldn’t throw that at him. Not when she’d already decided to move past it.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and he tilted his head. “What is it?”

“You kissed my sister.” A blush crept up her cheeks. “And my mother. You kissed them both before me.”

“I didn’t think anything of it,” he said carefully. “It’s how I say goodbye to my own mother.”

“I’m not saying...” She tipped her head as she considered how to put into words the crazy mess of emotions that hit her every time she was in his presence. The mess of emotions she’d been struggling with since she found out this was all about duty to him, anyway. She wanted a clean start. “I didn’t mean for that to come out as an accusation. It’s just that this is all so strange. Everything out of order.”

He’d placed his menu on the table. His fingers toyed with the laminated edge. “And how do you think it should be? We’ll end up at the altar like everyone else.”

She shook her head. “For most people,
that’s
the ending, for us it’s the beginning.”

“We’ve known each other our whole lives.”

“
She’s in love with an idea and a face
...” The truth hurt but it was always better to face it. “I knew a picture and a pen pal. Do you think you know me?”

He gave her a heated look that should have melted her insides. “Not as well as I’d like, no. But we’re changing that—” He broke off as the waitress approached to take their drink order. When she was gone, he reached across the table and took Raquel’s hand. He had big hands, calloused from the sword. He managed the co-op. Doubtful that his hardened skin and strong grip came from that work. “You’ll be my wife. Nothing will change that. I want our first kiss to be special, the one that seals our marriage. But if it will quell any doubts you have, I’m perfectly willing to take this however far you want to go now.”

And he looked so serious while offering up his body like some kind of sacrifice that she couldn’t help teasing him. “Like right now, here in this restaurant? We’ll shock the bartender and the old couple who keep sneaking peeks at us over their cocoa.”

He smiled crookedly. “The bartender we
might
shock, the Petersons won’t bat an eyelash. And that’s whiskey they’re drinking, not cocoa. I’ve had to drive them home and tuck them into bed too many times to believe the innocent act.” He leaned forward. “Last time, I swear, Bertie grabbed my ass on purpose.”

She laughed and withdrew her hand as the waitress returned with their drinks.

“You’re not going to look at your menu?”

“I get the same thing at steak places,” Raquel said. “Eight-ounce filet, medium rare, loaded baked potato and side salad.”

“Always?”

“I like predictability.” She had a thing for order, maybe a clinically diagnosable thing. But he didn’t need to know
everything
about her upfront. In fact, that was one of the least important things she had to tell him. Best to get this necessary conversation out of the way. Christian was so incredibly calm. Imperturbable. And they were out in public. He wouldn’t flip out on her in public, right?

He smiled that charming, beautiful smile. “What else don’t I know about you, wife-to-be?”

She set aside her drink and clasped her hands together to keep them from trembling. “Well, now that you mention it, there is something that you should know.”

* * *

It didn’t take long to drive to the Odin’s home, to call the core members of the hunt and Lois as well. Christian had offered to let her finish her meal first, but Raquel lost her appetite the moment he reached for the phone.

He hadn’t wanted to discuss it with her first and that hurt. She’d hoped to have the chance to explain it to him alone, that he’d maybe be on her side when they went to speak with Aiden. But apparently Christian was not confused in the least as to where his loyalty lay and it wasn’t with her.

He was throwing her to the wolves.

Christian didn’t speak the whole way out to Aiden’s secluded farmhouse so near the fault her body sparked and fizzed with the magic pouring over her. He didn’t even look at her until he put the car in park and cut the headlights. Those hands she’d so admired gripped the steering wheel hard.

“I’m not angry,” he bit out. “But I don’t understand why we weren’t told about this sooner.”

“The way I was told about the urgency of your situation? If you don’t stabilize your portal, you’ll have to evacuate the town.”

“Which is why we need a witch. A competent one, powerful and capable of performing her duties.” She turned to look out the window so he didn’t see her wince, but he must have realized he’d hurt her because his voice softened. “Raquel, I didn’t mean it like—”

“My parents didn’t want to tell you,” she said. “They planned to wait until after the ceremony. My mother will be angry I told you now.”

He was quiet for a moment while he absorbed that. “Why did you?”

She glanced over at him. His hair was disheveled and his face was tight. Ruffled, after all. “It was the right thing to do. I don’t like keeping secrets. And my mother doesn’t have to live here.”

An SUV pulled in behind them and Christian nodded at the driver before getting out and coming around to meet her. He held her arm as she tried to walk across the gravel driveway in Audrey’s heels. Fen came up on her other side and walked ahead of them to open the door.

A warm glow spilled into the chill yard from the picture window. Another light down the drive lit the area between the rear of the house and an old red-painted barn. Farther back was a newer metal outbuilding. Even with the patch of trees forming a windbreak, her wool coat couldn’t block the cold. The wind whipped around her legs and up her skirt. Her teeth were chattering by the time she made it inside.

Grace sat on the couch in the living room with Hallie curled against her side in flannel pajamas watching cartoons. She whispered something to the girl and then followed them into the kitchen. The whole time, Christian’s hand stayed low on Raquel’s back. Under the circumstances, the gesture felt more like a jailer’s touch than a lover’s. She’d considered calling in her mother and sister as reinforcements when Christian stepped onto the balcony at the restaurant to make his phone calls but had decided not to. Her mother could be difficult when upset, and Raquel didn’t need the distraction. And...it seemed wrong to hide behind her parents. Her fiancé. Her clan. Her battle.

Taking a seat in the chair Christian held for her, Raquel folded her hands in her lap and struggled to conceal her anxiety. He immediately crossed the room to break up the argument Aiden and Lois were engaged in at the other end of the kitchen. It wasn’t a big enough room that she could ignore what was being said.

“She’s useless to us.” That was Lois.

“She’s sitting at the table,” Christian snapped. “Behave yourself and let’s talk. Try to figure out what to do about this.”

Grace took the chair in the corner and Fen leaned against the wall not more than a foot from Raquel’s shoulder. She didn’t look up at him. She couldn’t. Fen was the only friend she’d made so far. He’d be angry too, and she was barely holding on as it was.

“The twins?” Christian asked.

“They’re not answering their phones.” Aiden broke away from Lois and walked to the table. The chair scraped harshly against the floor as he pulled it out and sat directly across from Raquel. Her shoulders began to droop and she fought to straighten them. Her palms were sweating and her stomach was knotted, but they didn’t need to know that. She wouldn’t cower. No matter what. When Aiden fixed her with a hard look, she met it dead-on.

“Christian tells us you’re not a witch.”

“I am a witch.” Maybe not the caliber of witch they’d ordered but...

“You failed your initiation.”

She nodded. “That’s the truth. I have the power and the training but not the control. Kathy, our clan witch, says it’s something like a spigot—but there’s so much pressure on the one side, it makes it...difficult to release the valve.”
Impossible
was actually the word Kathy used, but Raquel had never accepted that, still didn’t even now. “It doesn’t mean that I won’t ever be able to pass the initiation, just that I can’t yet.”

“You’re calling yourself a late bloomer?” Lois spat. “
You’re twenty-five years old.
Most people begin to learn to control their gift at puberty.”

With no good answer to that, Raquel remained silent. She wasn’t certain why Christian had insisted she come here. She’d explained her problem to him and this was a decision for his clan to make. She’d given him an out. If he didn’t want her...if he’d only agreed to the wedding so his clan could have their witch, then this was his chance to run.

“There was never any guarantee that she’d be able to fix the problem with the portal,” Fen said into that tense silence.

Aiden’s expression flickered. Worry not anger, she realized. Worry tamped down tight and hard. “We’ll need to replace the wards one way or another. Lois said you have an idea that will buy us more time?”