Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot) (20 page)

“Already done.” Nicolas glared at his nemesis. “Evan’s paying for it.”

“I can pay. The sheriff wants to give me my job back anyway.”

“Fine,” Evan said. “It doesn’t matter. I just want to make sure you’ll be in touch while I’m gone.”

“Gone?” I sat up, propping myself on my elbows.

“My father and I are leaving within the hour,” Evan said. “I don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”

I studied his face, set with resolve, and nodded. It was just as well. Having him so close for so long had me rattled, and I could use the time apart to regain my composure.

“I’ll just need a ride back to Kaitlin’s,” I said. “Nicolas, are you headed into town?”

“No, but I’ll take you.”

Evan cleared his throat, looking between us. “Nicolas, I need a minute alone with Cassie. Can you wait downstairs in the den?”

Nicolas didn’t look happy about the idea, but he left without argument.

“Things would be a lot easier if you’d move in with me,” Evan began. When I started to protest, he put up his hands in surrender. “I’m not asking you to right now. I’m just worried about being gone and leaving you alone.”

“Is there even a point in suggesting that maybe I’m a big girl and can take care of myself?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“Don’t get that way.” He sat next to me on the mattress and put his arm around my shoulders, trying to coax me to turn toward him. I didn’t, and he didn’t push.

“The men in this town, a lot of them think you’re burned out or repressed.”

“What?” I snapped my head around to face him. I knew what it meant to be repressed or burned out, I just couldn’t believe anyone thought it had happened to me. Repression tended to happen when sorcerers were born into non-magical families, particularly ones that were hostile toward magic or strongly disbelieved. It didn’t happen to a Scot. As for burnout, I suppose it could happen in even the most powerful families, but I would have known.

“That’s why they want you. For the same reason a sorcerer might want a drained woman.”

“What do you think?” I asked.

He hesitated only a moment before looking me straight in the eyes and saying, “I think you’re burned out.”

“Oh.” I didn’t believe it for a second. I had never had magic. A burnout was someone who had magic and pushed it too far, exhausting their body past the point of replenishment. Evan had nearly burned himself out healing me, but there was no way that had ever happened to me.

“And before you shake your head, remember that young children don’t have clear memories, and it could have happened then.”

“My parents would have told me if I burned out.”

“Would they?”

I looked away. I honestly wasn’t so sure anymore.

“I just want you to know what the danger is,” Evan said.

“Well, now I know.”

I knew far more than that, though I didn’t say it aloud. I finally knew the reason Evan wanted me. Oh, maybe it wasn’t the only reason. I knew beyond a doubt that Evan wouldn’t hurt me, but it made sense. He might have shied away from the subject of sorcerers who wanted drained women, especially after I had called the idea barbaric, but I could see how such an arrangement would suit him.

The trouble was, it wouldn’t suit me. I only hoped my eventual choice wouldn’t be between him and some other sorcerer, one who might hurt me.

* * *

Nicolas didn’t take me back to town – at least, not right away. He didn’t tell me where we were going until he had pulled into a driveway in front of an unfamiliar two-story home on the edge of the wealthier section of town.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Grace Blair’s home.”

I froze. “Nicolas, you know I don’t trust seers.”

“He’s reeling you in. Or hadn’t you noticed?”

I didn’t answer for a long time. Of course I had noticed, and for my own reasons it bothered me. But Nicolas was reacting purely out of prejudice, or so I guessed.

“I know why I’m resisting him,” I said. “But why are you? Is this really the worst thing you can think of?”

“Dad thinks it is.” Nicolas put up his hands defensively. “I know how you feel about him right now. And I agree. But would you really deliver our family secrets into the hands of an enemy?”

“I would never turn my back on you guys. You know that.”

“I know if you marry him, he’ll have your strongest loyalties. Not us.”

“So it’s him or you? Is that my choice?”

Nicolas didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.

“Come on, Cassie, how can it hurt to just hear what she has to say? You can ignore it, if you want.”

“Can I? You’ve said yourself she doesn’t lie, which means whatever she says will drive me crazy until I understand the truth.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it? So tell me, Nicolas, what does your future hold?”

He hesitated, looking away and biting his lip. “I won’t last long with the fire department. She’s taking Dad’s side on the whole apprenticeship idea. Thinks it will broaden my options. Says I’m not meant to follow in Dad’s footsteps, whatever he wants, but that I shouldn’t limit my own choices through ignorance.”

I blinked, surprised at what I considered sage advice. On the other hand... “I could have told you that. It sounds like a motivational speech.”

“Maybe, but you didn’t say any of that. No one did, except Dad, and then only because he wanted me to apprentice with Master Wolf like him.”

He had me there. “I guess I just want to support whatever you want.”

“Grace won’t do that. She’ll tell you the truth you don’t want to hear.”

I sighed. “Fine. I’ll listen.”

We stepped out of the car and made our way up the front path to the door. Grace Blair, a handsome seventy-something woman with white hair tied into an elegant knot at the back of her head, had the door open before we had a chance to knock. She and I had met before, since our families were something akin to allies, but she had never read me. For some reason, the idea of letting her do so now made me uneasy, as if it were about to set a whole series of events into motion that would put me in danger – all orchestrated by a deceptively harmless-looking old woman.

“Cassandra Scot,” Grace said with a thin-lipped smile. “I’ve wanted to read you for years, my dear. I’m so glad you’ve come to me for advice at last.”

She held out her hand for me to shake, but my own hand remained fixed to my side, as if it had a will of its own. Its will was to not touch Grace’s hand.

“I won’t bite,” Grace said, her smile faltering.

I forced my hand upwards and clasped hers, feeling an odd jolt as her frail skin touched mine. For a second, I stared at her hand. Then my eyes roamed to her face, which was paralyzed in what I can only call shock. Quickly, I pulled my hand away.

“Mrs. Blair?” Nicolas asked.

Grace shook her head and stared at me. “That explains so much.”

“What?” I asked.

“Are you going to invite us in?” Nicolas asked.

Grace shook her head. “That wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Thanks for the help,” I said. “I thought you were going to advise me on how to get away from Evan.”

She laughed. “Just walk away.”

“And the debt?”

“The debt is all in your head.”

I looked at Nicolas, who shrugged, clearly as bewildered by this conversation as I was. “I suppose it is, but it’s pretty firmly affixed to my head. Aren’t you supposed to be able to tell me what’s going to happen in the future?”

“So many possibilities,” she said. “Nothing’s ever certain.”

“That’s useful.” I turned to leave. “Come on, Nicolas.”

“Wait!” Grace said. “There is one thing I can give you. Call it a warning.”

I turned back to face her. “What?”

“Beware your heart and soul, for before he is done, Evan will have broken them both.”

I gaped at her. “That’s it? What does it even mean?”

“Some prophecies aren’t meant to be understood until after they’re fulfilled.”

“Says who? You?” I felt irrationally angry with the woman, and felt sure she was manipulating me.

“Since I’m the one seeing the future, then yes, says me. But trust me on this one – there’s nothing you can do to change it, anyway.”

“Why not?”

“You’ve already lost your heart.”

I started to deny it, but she cut me off with an all-too knowing look, and I swallowed the lie before I could give it voice.

“And he will break it.” With that, Grace slid back into the house and shut the door in my face.

“That was helpful,” I muttered as I turned away, back down the path.

“What did she mean?” Nicolas asked.

I had almost forgotten his presence. “I’d tell you if I knew.”

“I mean about you having already lost your heart.”

“It’s not true.” I said the words forcefully, to convince myself as well as him. “You know what? I don’t need Grace’s obscure prophecies. I have my own idea. Evan can make me do whatever he wants, so what I really need to do is convince Evan he doesn’t want me anymore.”

“How?” Nicolas asked.

“Ever heard of an anti-love potion?”

He shook his head.

“Me neither, but there’s got to be a way to do it. Want to help?”

“Absolutely.” He even smiled, which hopefully meant I had done a better job of convincing him than I had myself.

S
OMEHOW, I SLEPT THAT NIGHT. IT
could only have been the result of
all the magical healing, because my skin still felt raw, the beanbags were still uncomfortable, Kaitlin still snored, and – oh, yeah – Grace Blair creeped me out. Her words haunted me, even though they made absolutely no sense at all. Of all the things I thought Evan would do to me, breaking my heart was not among them. I don’t know why, since he had never claimed to love me, but breaking my heart suggested that he would abandon me. That, I couldn’t see.

And as for breaking my soul... What did that even mean? I thought of his claim that a soul could be trapped, but that couldn’t have anything to do with it. Could it? It’s not like I even had a gift that would make my soul worth trapping.

Evan called early the next morning from somewhere in southern Arkansas, just to tell me that he and his father had picked up a magical trail they were pretty sure belonged to Mackenzie. Also, they might be out of cell phone range off and on throughout the day. I had a feeling he was keeping things from me, but then again, I didn’t volunteer any information about my trip to see Grace.

Kaitlin sat at the kitchen table when I emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed and ready for the day. There was a half-eaten piece of dry toast on the table in front of her, and a faint gray cast to her skin.

I sat down in the empty chair across from her. “It’s almost seven o’clock. Didn’t your shift start an hour ago?”

“I don’t feel good.”

“You called in sick?” My voice must have betrayed my shock because Kaitlin never called in sick, even if she felt sick. She always said that when you live paycheck to paycheck, you can’t afford luxuries like sick days.

“I think it’ll pass. I had Kim come in early, and I’m going to go in for lunch and stay for dinner.”

“I didn’t think dinner pulled in as much business as breakfast.”

“It doesn’t, but it’s better than missing a day.” Kaitlin picked at her toast, but didn’t eat.

“Listen, Kaitlin, I’ve got some cash. Evan’s paying me for the case I’m working, and it looks like the sheriff is finally relenting on the deputy job.” Without giving Kaitlin a chance to respond, I grabbed my purse from the couch, dug through it, and extracted the thousand dollars Evan had given me for the case.

Kaitlin’s eyes went a bit wide when she saw the fistful of hundred dollar bills. “I can’t take all that.”

“Of course you can.” I thrust the money across the table at her. “I owe you for rent and groceries, so here it is. Then maybe you can take the whole day off instead of just the morning. What’s wrong, anyway?”

“Headache, sore throat, upset stomach, nothing that bad.” Kaitlin gave me an appraising look. “What happened to you, anyway? You look pretty sunburned.”

“It’s not a sunburn.” Briefly, I described the events of the last couple of days.

“So yesterday you nearly die of smoke inhalation and third degree burns, and today you just look like you spent too many hours in the sun?” Kaitlin sighed. “Sometimes, I want your life.”

I recognized Kaitlin’s mood and resisted the urge to get into a fight over whose life sucked worse. It was never fruitful. “Have you taken any medicine?” I asked. “You said some of that stuff you keep in the bathroom cures aches and pains.”

Kaitlin shook her head. “I don’t want to take any of that.”

That was odd. I studied her expression carefully, but it was a mask. “How about some chamomile tea?”

She hesitated, then gave me a slight nod.