Chapter 8

A fter going home to get changed into some old clothes, Iris walked towards Stardust Street a while later so she could make a start on getting the shop ready.

Wolf had been round the night before to explain the technicalities of owning a shop on Stardust Street and ask her what she wanted to make the shop happen. Having never owned a shop before, she hadn't really known what to ask for. All of her sales had been online so she'd never had to think about shop space before. Wolf had told her that most of the shops had themes, which she'd noticed in the impressively decorated entrances and interiors of the ones she'd seen. As her jewellery was made from ice, she'd suggested some kind of ice theme inside.

Wolf had showed her an really amazing magical virtual reality program he'd created where she could wear a headset and see the shop in what he called augmented reality. She could build what she wanted in the VR program, using the shape of the empty shop as a guide, and then he'd make it come true for her. It all sounded very technical and exciting. She was looking forward to having a play with it in her shop.

She had spent the rest of the night before replenishing all of her stock so she'd have jewellery to sell in her shop. Making the frozen ice parts was easy, adding the fittings, clasps and settings was a bit trickier so that had taken her many hours.

She was excited to be starting off down this new road. It was going to be very different to anything else she'd ever done before. So this afternoon she was going to plan out her shop, transform it, at least electronically, into something beautiful and maybe she could open later on this week.

Lynx's shop was open so he must already be here. She stepped inside to find the shop was stunning, decorated to look like she'd walked inside an active volcano. The walls were lined with gorgeous rock formations, with bright red and orange lava seemingly oozing down the walls. There was even steam rising from the lava flows, too. Around the room, perched on top of rocks and pools of lava, were pieces of jewellery that gleamed with red, gold and orange. Some of them were made from metal, some from stained glass, some looked like they were made from fragments of fire or the sun. They were incredible.

She moved into the shop and saw Lynx working away at the back, with no top on, infuriatingly.

She knew she'd said too much earlier. She hadn't told him they were together in their future but he'd obviously jumped to that conclusion. She wondered if he intended to tease her and flirt with her constantly until she just gave in and dated him and this no shirt malarkey was part of that.

As he moved, the sunlight caught the muscles on his arms. Iris swore under her breath but Lynx must have heard her, despite the noise at the back of the shop, because he turned around and flashed her a big smile.

‘Why are you working with no top on?' she asked and regretted it instantly. She didn't want him to know she'd noticed, but how could she not, the man was glorious. He was broad, with muscles on his arms, chest, and even the faint lines of a six-pack. Hair gathered around his belly button and trailed beneath the waistband of his jeans. And the whole beautiful package was sweaty and dirty and that just made him so much sexier for some reason. ‘What would you do if I walked in here with no clothes on?'

The smile on his face grew to ridiculous proportions. ‘Well, that's the kind of work uniform I could get on board with.'

She let out a groan of frustration and stormed off towards the stairs.

‘Wait, Iris, if me not wearing a top offends you, I can put it back on. It wasn't done to piss you off, it just gets so hot back here.' He gestured around him and for the first time she realised he had two big furnaces burning away on either side of the shop. How had she not noticed them before? Oh yes, there was too much naked chest in the room.

He didn't wait for an answer. He summoned his t-shirt from across the room, used it to wipe some of the sweat and grime off his chest and then pulled it on, which was a huge disappointment, annoyingly.

‘What are you doing anyway?' she asked, trying hard to not to pay attention to how good he looked in that white t-shirt, the material clinging to every curve in his arms.

‘Well some of the jewellery I make is from using metal. Copper is one of my favourites as it has that beautiful rose-gold look to it. Do you want to come and see?'

She let out a huff. ‘I suppose it would be quite interesting to watch your process.'

She moved closer.

‘So right now I'm using a copper rod to make a leaf ring. I heat it up in the fire to make it soft enough to bend or mould.' He carried the rod over to the furnace and stuck it into the flames until the metal became white hot. He brought it back to the anvil. ‘Now I continue hammering it until I get the shape I want. The more I hammer, the thinner it will get.'

He started banging it and it was fascinating to watch the metal take shape under his hands. He picked up a smaller hammer and started tapping away at the leaf part of the rod to make the veins in the leaf. It was so small and delicate, it was very impressive to watch him turn the metal into something else.

‘This one is pretty much done, now I just have to shape it into a ring,' Lynx said.

He put the rod back in the fire again and then took it out and, using a pair of metal tongs, wrapped it round a metal pole, shaping it and twisting it until the ring had a leaf on one end and a curl of metal at the other that sat perfectly below the leaf. Then he used a wire brush to get all the black off the ring and it wasn't long before the ring was glowing with that gorgeous copper colour.

He pulled it off the metal pole and held it out to show her.

‘Is that not hot?'

‘The metal cools very quickly.'

She stepped closer to look at it. ‘It's beautiful and so delicate.'

‘Here, you can have it.'

‘Oh no, I couldn't possibly.'

‘Take it, I can make another just as easily.'

Iris hesitated and then picked up the ring, sliding it onto her finger. It fitted perfectly. ‘Thank you, it's lovely. You know, you make it very hard for me not to like you.'

‘Well that's the plan.'

She moved her hand around so the ring caught the light. ‘I would have thought, as a witch, you'd be sitting back, drinking a cup of tea and letting your magic do all the work for you.'

‘I love the process of it. I find it very cathartic and relaxing. I do use magic for some of my jewellery but not stuff like this. And I do cheat a bit. The fires are witch fire. So they never go out until I want them to, I can control the temperature with just a wave of my hand and I can't get burned from them. Hence the not wearing a top and no need for protective gear.'

‘Clever. Thanks for the ring. I better go and sort out the upstairs.'

‘Well, I could come and give you a hand in a bit.'

‘What, so you can nobble the competition?' she teased.

He laughed. ‘Oh, I'm going to pull out all the big guns, whatever it takes.'

She rolled her eyes and made for the stairs. ‘Feel free to take your top off again.'

His eyes widened with shock and joy at that comment. ‘Did you like what you saw?'

Her cheeks flushed. ‘I didn't mean for my pleasure. I meant, you should be comfortable in your own shop, I don't want you to feel like you have to cover up for me. You just carry on as normal.'

She was making it weird again, so she hurried up the stairs away from him.

‘You didn't answer my question,' Lynx called after her.

She didn't reply, cursing herself for telling him to take his top off, what had she been thinking?

She walked through the door of what would be her new shop and looked around. It was dusty and in desperate need of a clean but three large windows let in a lot of light which would showcase her water and ice jewellery perfectly.

At the back of the space, hidden away, was a small kitchenette and a store cupboard containing various cleaning utensils.

She waved her hand and a bowl of hot soapy water started filling itself in the sink. She waved her other hand and the vacuum cleaner floated out of the cupboard, plugged itself into the wall and started vacuuming round the shop. Within ten minutes the place was spotless. Magic definitely had its benefits.

She lifted the virtual reality headset from the bag Wolf had given her and slid it on. She could still see the shop through the headset, but there was also a toolbar she could use. She'd never used a VR headset before but she had used several design programs for marketing her jewellery online, so these tools seemed familiar. She picked up the two handsets so she could access the tools. She selected a tool that looked likely and with a swish of her hand she painted an entire wall with ice. She laughed – it looked so real but she knew it was only on the VR headset right now. Wolf would make these images a reality later. She covered all the walls in ice, some of it dripping down the walls in frozen icicles, and added icicles over the windows too. Then she decided she would create little tunnels and separate ice chambers, one for earrings, one for necklaces, one for bracelets, one for rings and one for other jewellery like cufflinks or brooches. She started painting the room with ice walls and icicles, creating tunnels of ice that led to different ice chambers. She added ice tables or platforms to showcase her jewellery, then added lights, moving them around to get them in the exact right spots to show off her jewellery perfectly.

She looked around at the beautiful room she had created. It looked like she'd just walked into a cave in the deepest Arctic – all it needed now was a polar bear. Just for a laugh, she added one to the ice room and giggled when it sniffed and grunted as it walked around the room.

She heard footsteps on the stairs and after a few moments Lynx appeared, carrying two mugs.

She directed the polar bear towards him and laughed as it appeared to sniff at him. ‘Get him, eat him.'

‘Do I want to know what it is that you're encouraging to eat me?'

She laughed. ‘Death by bear, just as I predicted.'

He laughed and she took the headset off, disappointed to see the shop hadn't changed to a beautiful ice chamber as she'd seen with the headset on. But it hopefully would soon enough.

‘Can I see what you've done?' Lynx said.

She handed him the VR equipment and he looked around the room she'd created. ‘Cute bear. Probably not too practical to have a real one here, but you could have everlasting ice sculptures.'

‘Oh, good idea.'

He moved around the room and she saw him smiling as he took in all the tunnels and ice chambers.

‘This looks spectacular,' Lynx said, handing back the headset. ‘I can't wait to see it for real.'

‘Me too. It's very clever, isn't it.'

‘Wolf is great at stuff like that.' He handed her a mug. ‘I thought you could probably do with a coffee and a break. It's hazelnut.'

‘Thank you, that's very kind.' She took a sip. ‘Ooh, this is nice.'

‘All the coffees from Mystical Morsels are amazing and they do so many flavours of coffees. I had a pineapple one the other day.'

Iris smiled. It was still going to take some getting used to that she now lived in a place that had a potion shop; a shop that sold cauldrons, candles and everything else a witch could need; a shop that sold every herb and spice imaginable for potion or spell work; and, in the case of Star's shop, a place that sold cakes to help solve every possible problem. She wondered if Star had a cake to solve the problem of really liking a man when she really didn't want to.

‘So you like living here?' Iris asked, taking another sip.

‘I never used to. I was born and raised here. For a few years we moved to a mundane village when I was a child. My parents wanted to give us some normality rather than only knowing the world of magic but Wolf and I were bullied for being different, Wolf a lot more and a lot worse than me. Even our parents were treated as outcasts. When my mum got sick, no one helped my dad or us and it made us feel very alone. We came back here but shortly after my mum died and then my dad died when I was thirteen. Wolf was my guardian. He looked after me, and the rest of the villagers helped too.'

Lynx took a sip of his drink before he continued.

‘Wolf's brush with the outside world made him wary of it. He closeted himself away and never wanted to leave, although of course as he grew up he did leave several times for one reason or another, but never for very long. But for me, I wanted so much more. I'd had a taste of it and I wanted to see it all. Yes there are dark, dangerous, scary parts of the world, yes there are people that are nasty and some that are downright evil. But there is also goodness and kindness and a desire to help people, and in my experience the good far outweighs the bad. There are parts of the world that are just incredible and beautiful and I wanted to see every little corner of it. So as soon as I could I left the village and travelled the world, saw so many wondrous things. I met other witches and learned more about my magic than I thought possible. But… I always loved coming back here, which surprised me. I thought I would hate it because it's so secluded and cut off from the world. I still want to visit and enjoy the world but this is home and I think it always will be. Unless of course, I marry a beautiful Scottish woman, then it will be home for half the year and the other half will be spent in Scotland, swimming in lochs and rivers.'

Iris smiled but decided to ignore his last comment. ‘I can definitely see the attraction of Midnight. Having somewhere where you're safe and where you can be completely yourself is wonderful. And raising a family here, knowing your children would never be bullied or made to feel different, that's pretty special.'

Lynx nodded. ‘When Wolf had Blaze last year, I fell in love with her instantly and I know without doubt this is the safest place for her. The weather being so warm lately, Wolf and Star are often out in the front garden with her. Blaze sits there trying out her magic in that way kids do, where they have no idea they are doing it, or what they are doing, and no one bats an eye. And I know if I ever have children, which may be a long way off, I'd want to raise them here.'

Iris smiled as the memory of her and Lynx holding their baby pushed its way to the front of her mind.

‘And you want that? Children, marriage, the whole caboodle? Won't that interfere with your need to travel and see the world?'

‘Blaze makes me broody. I want the life that Wolf has, happily married with the woman he loves, a child, probably another on the way. I don't know if that will ever happen for me but I'd like to think that one day it might. What about you, do you want the caboodle?'

She sighed. ‘Yeah, I did. I mean I do. But I've never found someone… worthy enough to want forever with.'

‘Worthy enough? What do they have to do to be worthy enough?'

‘I don't think it's a big ask, not being a complete dick is a good start. I've only gone out with mundane men, been in love a few times too, but it never ends well.'

‘That's where you're going wrong, you need to find yourself a nice witch man.'

Iris rolled her eyes.

‘I don't mean me, just someone you can trust to be yourself with. I've dated mundane women too and I always felt like I wasn't being completely honest with them when I hid my magic. And what kind of relationship is that? The one or two women I did talk to about my magic, the relationship fell apart shortly after. They either thought I was pulling some kind of stunt and lying or were just completely freaked out by it. I'm not sure that witches and mundanes can ever have a real relationship or even a friendship if you can't be the real you.'

‘That's it exactly, I've had the same issues with men. Jack even proposed after two years of dating and I said yes, I thought we were going to be together forever. But when I told him the truth he didn't want to know me. I was so hurt by that. I was still the same person he fell in love with, just with the added bonus of a bit of magic.'

‘You want to be with someone who will love every single part of you,' Lynx said, softly.

‘And that's what I mean by worthy enough.'

‘No, I get it.'

‘And that's why I said I did want that. I'm not sure if I'll ever find it,' Iris said.

Although according to the future she'd seen, she found it with Lynx.

‘Yeah, me too. I don't know if it will ever happen and I would love to have a family of my own one day. I feel a bit sad that I've never met the right woman that I'd like to share that with.'

She chewed her lip. ‘If you promise not to ask me any questions, I'll tell you one thing that I saw in your future.'

His eyes widened. ‘OK.'

‘I saw you with your child in the not-too-distant future.'

A smile grew on his face. ‘I have a child?'

‘Remember what I said before, it's one possible future. Nothing is set in stone.'

Lynx stared at her and when he spoke his voice was rough. ‘Is it… our child?'

‘I can't tell you that. And you promised not to ask any questions.'

‘But if you told me more details, like who the mother of my child is, then when I meet her, I could make sure I pull out all the stops to impress her, charm her with my brilliance.'

‘If it's meant to be then it will happen without any interference from you. And what if you pulling out all the stops to impress her is the thing that turns her off?'

‘How could she possibly be turned off by my brilliance?' he teased.

She smiled and rolled her eyes. ‘You're so smug, it's not an attractive quality, you know.'

Although she knew that wasn't true. He didn't take himself too seriously and that made her smile.

‘So no clues at all.'

‘I've already told you too much. And it might never happen so don't get too carried away.'

‘Five minutes ago, I didn't think it would ever happen, so I'll take a possible future over no chance any day.'

‘Why do you think it will never happen?'

‘I think my problem is I'm too picky. I date a woman, we have fun, but then I end it because I'm searching for something deeper, something more. And I don't even know what that looks like. I want that spark, that instant connection, and I've never felt that with anyone. Well, there was one woman but I probably pissed her off with my brilliance.'

She smirked.

‘Maybe that crazy in love never really happens. Maybe I should just settle down with a nice woman and stop looking for the impossible.'

‘Definitely not. Never settle for anything less than that head-over-heels-in-love feeling, that great big love story that fills your heart to the top. If you marry a nice woman you quite like, I guarantee you'll be divorcing her after a few years. Real love is the kind that lasts forever. Tell me about the woman you had that instant spark with.'

‘It was you.'

Iris laughed. She'd walked straight into that one. ‘You can't tell me you've fallen in love with me after one kiss.'

‘One incredible kiss, the best first kiss I've ever had. But no, I never said that, I said I felt a spark. From the moment you took my hand I felt something I'd never felt before. Which is why I'd like you to go out to dinner with me to see if there's something more than just a spark.'

She had felt that too, that incredible connection, it was something special.

‘I'll always remember that kiss too,' she said, softly, as she stepped closer to him. His eyes fell to her lips. Then she fixed him with a scowl. ‘As the moment you stole the locket from me.'

She stepped away and he groaned. ‘I do feel really crappy about that. But don't tell me if the situation had been reversed you wouldn't have taken advantage of the situation too.'

She knew she probably would have, but she wasn't going to admit that to him. She wanted him to feel bad about what he'd done.

‘I just think the kiss can't have been as good as you claim it was if you had time to think about and execute stealing the locket. If I was enjoying the best kiss of my life, my attention would have been one hundred percent on that.'

Her attention had been one hundred percent on that, because she'd never realised he was stealing the locket.

‘My attention was a hundred percent on you, but then I moved my hand to your hip and felt the locket digging into my palm and I… I am sorry, I never meant to hurt you.'

‘Oh, I'm made of stronger stuff than that. But, I suppose, I forgive you.'

He smiled. ‘So does that mean we can be friends?'

She thought about it and nodded. ‘We can be friends.'

He stuck out his hand. She didn't really want to shake it, knowing she'd feel that connection all over again, but she couldn't exactly refuse. She averted her eyes when she took it, focussing on their hands rather than the jolt of awareness, the way her heart leapt, the spark that burned like fire and that ache of need for him. She released his hand and looked up at him and knew instantly he'd felt the same.

She was in big trouble.