Chapter 18

That night,after we got home, I texted Bran to let him know how the wake had gone, and we agreed to get together the next morning for breakfast at the local diner. I told Grams I'd be up and out early, and she nodded.

"Then I think I'll sleep in and get some rest," she said.

"Sounds good. I need to talk to Bran about everything that's happened. He should know more about Gloria and what actually went down." I kissed her goodnight. "Sleep well. I wish you lived here, with me."

"That wouldn't suit either of us at all, my dear. However, I'm going to go house-hunting tomorrow. May's agreed to go with me, and I'm going to scour the town for a place of my own. Today made up my mind. While I do love your mother, and I like Ciara, I'm not comfortable around them the way I feel around you, so I'll be moving down here. I'm selling the Port Townsend house."

Before I could clap, she added, "I spoke to Diedre on the phone last night. She's doing all right on her own, and as long as we've got my friend Muriel watching her, all is well. One of the clansmen is watching over the estate for me—he's a friend from my younger days—and he'll make sure that everything's taken care of."

"I'm so glad you're moving here," I said. "I was hoping you would." As I went to bed, Fancypants followed me.

"Is it true that Lady Morgance is moving here to stay?" he asked.

"Well, I don't know about ‘to stay' if you're referring to forever, but yes, she's moving here if she can find a house she likes." I paused, smiling. "You really like my great-grandmother, don't you?"

"I do. She's smart and educated and polite…" He giggled—and trust me, when a dragonette giggled, it was an odd sound, like a cross between a snort and a roar. "She's a good friend, and she gives me some idea of what to expect as you grow into your years.

I usually didn't think about the age difference, but Fancypants was right. He would live far longer than I would.

"Well, then, I'm glad you're happy. She likes you too, Sir Fancypants." That's what Grams often called the dragonette. They sparred back and forth, whether it was playing chess or in ideological debates. It was like they were old buddies. Whatever the case, at least they were friends.

"Good night, Fancypants. Sleep well."

As he flew out of my room, the cats raced in. I left the door cracked so they could get in and out. We curled up together and, with thoughts of the wake filling my mind, I drifted to sleep, feeling like I had closed a door to my past that I didn't even know was open.

* * *

I dressed in black jeans,a black V-neck sweater, and platform boots the next morning before doing my makeup, feeding the cats, and heading out for brunch. Grams was still asleep, so I left her a quick note. I told her I'd call the alarm people and cancel their appointment, given my entire shop had been destroyed.

It felt so good to be able to leave the house without worrying if it was going to be there when I got back, and I realized how quickly my little family—the cats and Fancypants—had wormed their way deep into my heart.

I arrived at the diner by quarter to eight. It was surprisingly busy, but then, I was seldom out and about before nine. It seemed that a whole section of the world started the day bright and early. Well, I thought, looking at the cloud cover, at least early. There would be no sunshine peeking through today.

Bran was waiting for me in a corner booth, and I was surprised to see Daisy there, as well. As I sat down, the waitress brought me a glass of water and a menu.

"Coffee, please. Do you have lattes?"

"Yes, we do. Plain, vanilla, caramel, and pumpkin spice. We also have mocha." She pulled out her pad and pencil.

"Triple shot pumpkin spice latte sounds good. I'm not sure about breakfast yet, I need to look at the menu."

"We haven't ordered yet," said Bran. "Just coffee."

The waitress left to get my drink and I kissed Bran gently on the lips. "Hey," I said.

"Hey," he answered.

"Daisy, how are you doing? Fill me in on what I missed yesterday."

"Don't you want to talk about the wake at all?" Bran looked confused.

I shook my head. "No, not really. It was sad, and beautiful. My mother confined herself to the least amount of melodrama I've seen out of her in years. Oh, and Grams is going to move to Starlight Hollow. She's going house-hunting today."

"That's welcome news," Bran said. "So, you okay?"

I nodded, studying the menu. "As much as I can be, given everything that's happened recently. I think I'll have a waffle and bacon. Grams wouldn't approve. She's got me on this health kick, to increase my ability to use my magic. But it's the day after my cousin's wake, and I want a waffle." Leaning back in my seat, I finally said, "All right. Tell me everything."

"Gloria is being held for observation right now, but it's looking like she'll be extradited to Paris within a month. Turns out her fingerprints were all over the murder weapon that killed Julien. They didn't know the prints were hers because she had no record. I spent two hours on the phone to Paris today, and we sent them over her prints and they match. Julien never held her captive—in fact, after their brief affair, he called it off, his wife says. She gave him an ultimatum—stop cheating, or lose her and his daughter. He chose his family."

"So Gloria killed him out of jealousy?"

"Yes. Before that, he and his wife had reported several suspicious incidents where they thought they were being watched. We've pieced together that Gloria was probably stalking him, and something triggered her to kill him that night. We may never know what, but the wife told the police, at the time, that she and Julien had argued all day over whether they should move to the country. She—her name is Paulette—thought that Gloria was following them. Julien had confessed everything to her about the affair, including Gloria's name."

Bran nodded. "Apparently, they've been looking for her ever since the murder. They thought she was still in France."

"So she returned home and…what? Where's she been hiding out the past few months?"

"We contacted her relatives in town. Gloria told them that Bran had called her, begging to get back together, and that the two of them were making wedding plans. But her folks went on a two-month cruise and just arrived home the other day, so they hadn't had a chance to contact Bran and congratulate him. In fact, we think that's what triggered Gloria to start after the two of you," Daisy said. "She realized that they'd soon know that everything was a lie, and she just…lost it. All her lies were imploding and she couldn't juggle them anymore. We also found out that the police in France had left messages for her parents, asking for her whereabouts."

"Oof," I said as the waitress returned. "Not good. Not any of it." I ordered a waffle with two sides of bacon and one side of sausage. Bran ordered the same, and Daisy ordered a Danish and coffee to go.

"The doctors haven't decided whether she's mentally stable enough to be extradited yet, but they'll keep her locked up in the wing for criminals until she's either deemed too ill to stand trial, or she's deemed fit and then she'll go on to face her crimes in France after that." Daisy shook her head. "They may want to talk to you, Bran. To ask what she was like when the two of you were in Europe."

"She wasn't unstable, but she did seem to be spiraling out of control," he said. "I can tell them that. She was using Methexa, I think—I thought I spotted a bottle in her purse with that label on it."

Methexa was the Otherkin version of Oxycontin. It was extra strong, for those who were witchblood, and it was extremely addictive.

"Oh man, if she was on that, no wonder she was spiraling. Who gave it to her?"

"If anybody did, it was an old frenemy of mine," Bran said. "Lister. He was always jealous that Gloria chose me over him, so he cozied up to her, trying to buddy-buddy with her. I told her he was trouble, and from what I hear, he is."

"Lister Cravitz? Yeah, he's in jail every couple weeks for one thing or another. He's a bare inch from getting nailed as a repeat offender and the judge will toss him away for a few years because of that." Daisy shrugged. "His whole family are a bunch of trouble makers." She glanced at her watch as the waitress brought our breakfasts, and her to-go order. "All right, I need to run. I'll call you in later, as soon as the doctors contact me. I know they'll want to talk to you, Bran. I'll let them know you're available."

As she headed toward the door, I turned to Bran and gave him a tentative smile. "Well, it's over. I had no idea it was going to turn out this way, but it is what it is." I cut into my waffle after drowning it in syrup.

Bran stared at his plate, playing with the bacon. "Yeah, I didn't either. You know, when I first met her, I wondered whether I'd ever be able to fully trust her. It wasn't that she seemed too good for me, or too wild. She just seemed to walk in a different world than I did."

"Well, you and I have a lot to discuss, I guess." I wasn't sure where to go from here. Things like this could bond people, or it could tear them apart. I hoped we'd be one of the former, but there was no way to predict how Bran would react in the coming days.

He leaned across the table and took my hands in his. "You have such soft skin," he whispered. "Has this put you off me?"

Startled, I almost leaned into my waffle with cream and syrup. "Put me off you? No. I thought, though, maybe you'd feel guilty over Gloria and her situation, and decide that you needed to spend some time helping her through this."

Bran's eyes widened. "Not a chance in hell. I didn't take Methexa. I didn't cheat on her. And I didn't go off rail and kill my lover when my fiancée found out. No, I'm done. I'll cut a clean cord with her—that would be best for us both."

"Someday, she may get free from prison and start after us again." I was coming up with every potential block I could think of, to spare it erupting out of nowhere in the future.

"Then, we deal with that when it comes. For now, please say we're still good. I'll help you rebuild your shop?—"

"And I'll help you rebuild your barn," I said, leaning across the table to kiss those full, luscious lips of his.

At that moment, my phone jangled. I pulled it out and glanced at my texts. It was from Kyle.

elphyra—wonderful news! faron woke up. he's not ready to see people yet, the doctors are with him, but he's awake, and they say he's out of danger. i'll let you know when you can come visit. isn't this just the best news?

"Is something wrong? The look on your face—" Bran started to say, but I cut him off.

I couldn't tell him. Not just yet. There wasn't anything I could say, anyway, until we knew how Faron was doing, and what he remembered. The future could lead us in so many different directions, but for now, all I could do was speculate.

"Nothing important," I said, stifling my desire to blurt out the truth. I'd tell Bran later—maybe this afternoon, maybe tonight. I wouldn't wait long, but for now, we needed a moment—just to sit in peace and breathe. Because while one storm had just ended, there was another looming, and who knew how it was going to go?

All I knew was that, sitting in front of me was a man I loved. And somewhere near, in a hospital bed, another man I loved had fought his way back to consciousness. And now, in the depths of my heart, I knew that I couldn't choose between them.

As lightning lit up the sky, I went back to eating my waffle, listening to Bran discuss rebuilding his barn, but inside, the storm brewing in my heart was drowning out the one outside the diner.

* * *