The Cat's Meow (15 page)

Kale inclined his head. “Of course.”

Magdalene leaned forward and kissed his cheek, her voice softening. “Bring yourself home safe, too.”

When she backed away from him, he smiled down at her. “That’s the plan.”

She gave him a firm nod, and then shifted those kind eyes onto me. “While you’re used to using spells like a witch’s brew from ingredients, these spells tap into the Goddess within you by the use of powerful chants. She’s there for you, and all you need to do is trust in her and she will aid you.”

“Okay.” What else was I going to say? I was still stuck on my interaction with Kale and a little dumbfounded over the tenderness between these two—something else to get to the bottom of.

After good-byes, I could’ve sworn before Magdalene closed the door she whispered under her breath, “Good. Now I can leave.” But I wasn’t confident. Hell, as of late, I wasn’t confident of much.

Kale approached the SUV and I trotted up behind him as the warm wind brushed across my skin. “How do you know her?”

“She’s my mother.”

My eyes went the size of the teacups we drank from, and I skidded to a halt. “Your mother?” I wanted to smack my head as I remembered her eyes being the same shade of gray as Kale’s, plus the sweet looks she gave him. But then I groaned as I realized my error. “I wish you would’ve warned me before I was so mouthy with her.”

He turned to me, eyebrow lifted, and amusement flashed over his features. “You care what my mother thinks of you?”

Good question. Why did I care? It’s not like I had to impress her.

I cursed under my breath because I knew exactly
why
I cared. I
did
want to impress her.

Before I could stammer out a reply, Kale chuckled. “Not to worry. You made quite the impression on her, just as I knew you would. My mother could equal you with her smart mouth and tough attitude. She wouldn’t have asked for you to return if she didn’t like you.” He tapped the book’s cover. “Now read. You have one night to learn as much as you can and find anything to help us.” Then without my permission, he took my car keys from my hand and strode off.

“I hate to state the obvious.” I opened the passenger side door and dropped into the seat. “But what if the spells don’t work?”

He slid into the driver’s seat and put the key in the ignition. “They will.”

“How can you be so sure?” I countered.

He turned to me then, placed a hand on my shoulder, and lowered his head. His gaze met mine dead-on and never, not once, had he looked at me like this—no hint of doubt showed in his features. “My mother wouldn’t have given you the book otherwise. Those spells are centuries old, Libby. The book has been safeguarded until the
right
witch could use the spells, and that witch is
you.”

He leaned away, faced forward, and then started the engine. “Besides, I noticed your reaction when you touched the book.” As he glanced at me, his eyebrow arched with the same stern set to his eyes. “You smiled and did a sexy little shudder, I might add. Maybe you didn’t realize it, but I certainly did. The Goddess wanted you to find those spells.”

The world did a flip around me and I exhaled the breath I’d held. It wasn’t about my reaction to the book—I couldn’t have agreed with him more—it was how he looked at me now.

I saw for the first time what he looked like when he told the truth, and the fact that I hadn’t seen that until this moment discouraged me. For all we’d been through, I should’ve seen the same level of honesty many times and I hadn’t.

Why did Kale have to keep so much hidden?

He tapped the book. “Read.”

The hum of the engine roared beneath me as Kale drove off. I flipped open the cover to the first spell and my breath sucked in as I read the passage, and then I burst out laughing.

“What is it?” Kale asked.

I shook my head, keeping my attention fixated on the page. “Nothing.” I skimmed my fingers over the page and absorbed every single word of the spell.

Goddess, you never disappoint, do you?

Chapter Fourteen

The night table light cast a warm glow over my bedroom as I sat cross-legged on top of my duvet. I had studied the book for two hours now. My eyes were heavy and I rubbed the tiredness out of them, but exhaustion wasn’t my biggest concern. The next step took a push from within myself that hadn’t arrived. The spells intrigued me, and I thought I would try one now to prove to myself this would work.

Only problem?

Something stopped me from going any further, a deep-down hesitation I couldn’t ignore, and a little voice in my head telling me to think this through before I jumped in.

“You do realize you’ve stared at the same page for half an hour?”

I glanced away from the faded parchment paper and found Kale at the doorway leaning against the frame. “That long, huh?”

He smiled, stepping into my bedroom with a teacup in his hand. “I thought this might soothe you.”

The gesture was so Kale, caring in odd ways and confusing at best. He offered the teacup and I accepted it, and then I considered him. “Why do you do this?”

He laughed. “Bring you tea?”

I nodded and inhaled the warm sugary scent that did comfort me. “Yes, do sweet things.”

He frowned. “I can’t do nice things?”

“Of course you can.” I rolled my eyes since he totally missed my point. “But
why
?”

He released a deep breath, sat on my bed, and watched me with troubled eyes. “Did you know when you’re stressed you rub your eyes?”

“Ah…” Did he pay that much attention to me? “Yeah, I guess I do.”

A little smile quirked up the side of his mouth. “You’ve been doing it for the past hour.” His smile faded, yet his intense stare never left me. “I noticed at my mother’s you seemed to like tea, so I hoped it would make you feel better.” His eyebrow arched. “Is that so awful?”

“Not at all.” Yet he still avoided the question as to
why
he did such caring things for me when he didn’t have to. But maybe I already knew the answer, which was because he cared for me and wanted to make me happy, and perhaps I did my best to avoid it.

“So…” he looked over the book, then back at me, “have you tried one?”

I sipped my tea. Clearly he’d watched me make mine at his mother’s because it tasted perfect, and my stomach danced with butterflies—even if I did my best to quash them—to know he was so attentive. “I’m working up to it.”

His head cocked. “What’s the problem?”

“Life-changing moment,” I replied honestly. “I’m still trying to decide if I’m ready for this if it works.”

The Goddess loved my having this book and these spells, but her warning came with it. All I knew as an Enchantress would be forever changed and, strangely enough, the warning was more powerful than usual, and I couldn’t make sense of it.

What would change so drastically by my using new spells? It didn’t add up and that worried me.

“A good change?” Kale inquired.

“I’m not sure.” I sipped my tea, and the warm liquid gave a boost to my energy levels. “That’s the problem.”

He considered me a moment. “Most would be thrilled to receive a higher power and grow in their abilities.” His look became measured. “So, why does it worry you?”

“Not
worry
necessarily.” I shook my head and tried to sort it all out in my own mind—exactly what I’d been doing for half an hour, apparently. “But the Goddess is lit up inside me right now.”

He paused as if I had totally stumped him. “Lit up?”

I glanced at the book, placed my hand on top, and heat rushed through my veins as if I had a high-grade fever. “She’s confusing me.”

“Confusing how?”

“She likes me having this book and these spells are mine to use, I don’t doubt it, but she’s so active it almost feels like a warning. As if something is going to change the moment I use them.”

He smiled. “Maybe you have never practiced this level of magic and it has awakened her in ways you’ve never experienced.”

“Possibly.” True enough, the Goddess would feel different to me now. I’d experienced that even while in training. A shift in power always made me feel stronger and more confident, but this was
different
.

Kale must have read the hesitation in my expression because he asked, “You think there’s more to it?”

I nibbled my lip, running my hand along the rough paper. Tingles tickled my fingertips and rushed up my arm. I cleared my thoughts, attempting to read her, see past my own thoughts and focus only on
her.
“She’s normally active like this when she’s warning me of danger. Right now I’m not in any, so, yeah, it’s confusing.”

“The danger tomorrow night, maybe?” he offered.

“Another possibility.”

Too many possibilities were laid out before me and without a solid one to grab, it was troublesome. “But it’s more than that and, like I’ve said—life-changing. Almost like by using the spells more danger awaits me, yet at the same time she wants me to accept it.” I shook my head in frustration. “Now you get why I’m confused.”

Kale shifted on the bed, bouncing the mattress under both of us. Some tea spilled over the ridge of my cup onto my jeans. “How do you think your life would change?”

I wiped at the dampness on my leg. “I wish I knew.”

“Because it would give you answers?”

I snorted. “Because it’d make deciding whether to go down this road or not a lot easier.”

His expression turned gentle, as it usually did when he noticed my stress. “You’ve got a bright future, Libby, regardless of if you use those spells or not.” He placed his hand over mine and a shot like electricity sped up my arm. “The choice is yours to make. You don’t have to do this.”

I drew in a long breath and stared at our hands, wishing it was that easy. “No big decision has ever been mine, really. The Goddess led me and I followed. I’m not sure if I’m hesitant now because…”

Kale allowed my pause for only a few seconds before he said, “All the distrust around you right now is causing you to have a hard time cutting through the bullshit to see what the right thing to do is.”

Wasn’t that spot on? “Exactly.”

I looked down again to our hands. As odd as it was, a strong connection existed with Kale, and it made me sad because he was a big part of the bullshit I needed to sort out. “I don’t trust my judgment.”

Kale stayed silent for a few long moments, and then he removed his hand. “Soon, Libby, life will settle.”

“Yeah, well, any time would be great.”

He glanced down at his lap, hesitating long enough that it was clear something serious was on his mind. “I know I’m not entitled, but can you answer something for me?”

I took another sip of tea. “Depends on what it is.”

“When I first met you, you seemed to think the worst of warlocks and then your behavior since—even with Jace—has only confirmed it.” The intensity in his eyes deepened. “I understand in part because of what happened with Bryon, but there has to be more to it than that.”

Oh, I so didn’t want to go there with him. But truth was, deep down I wanted to tell him. Besides, maybe I could use this as an advantage to get him to talk, too. With that hope, I pressed on. “It’s complicated.”

He smiled in his tender way, and said equally softly, “It can’t be that complicated.”

I glanced down at the now-half-empty teacup. “I had a shitty father who wanted nothing to do with me. Plus, in my job, with the gifts I have, warlocks can get competitive.”

“Have you met your father?”

Of course he’d focus on
that.
“Never.” I finally lifted my head, and the sadness in his eyes stormed into me and raised my defenses. “Don’t pity me. Honestly. Don’t.”

“It’s not pity, Libby.” He shook his head slowly. “Sympathy, yes.”

“I don’t want it,” I countered. “I don’t think, or care, about him.”

“I beg to differ. That broken relationship drives you.”

What was this, a therapy session? “No, that relationship set the foundation.”

“Meaning?”

“I had a predisposition to dislike warlocks because one wronged my mother. It’s her you should pity. Her heart holds the scars of his actions.” I loosened my fingers when I realized I was gripping the teacup too tightly. “Warlocks had to prove themselves to me. Guess what, none did. They were exactly as I thought.”

“Because they were competitive?”

I nodded. “They were always out for the glory.” I offered him a pointed look. “Arrogant. Secretive. Not what they said they were.”

His jaw clenched, but that was the only sign that what I said affected him. “But what if they had no choice?”

I sipped my tea, watching him. The torment that ran through him was a fierce thing to behold. “Then that’s on a case-by-case basis, isn’t it? I can forgive, Kale, but some things are unforgivable.”

Kale’s expression twisted as if this troubled him, and I wondered if the remaining secrets between us might be unforgivable.

“Do you know who your father is?” he asked.

I allowed the shift in topic since I wasn’t too keen on it anyway. “I have no idea who he is.”

“Your mother never told you?”

I took another sip of my tea. “I never asked.”

His brow furrowed. “You didn’t want to know about him?”

“Why would I?” I retorted. “He walked out on my mother after she told him she was pregnant. I know all I need to about him. I want him in my life as much as he wanted me in his.”

“I see.”

Kale stared at me for so long it became awkward, but he obliged me with a no-pity look. Maybe he realized this conversation was done, because after a few moments, he tapped the book. “Decision time is now. You need rest if you intend to help tomorrow, and it’s almost dawn now.”

I glimpsed the lightening sky through my bedroom window. It was now or never.

Fate gave me this book, the Goddess approved, and right now I focused on that. Even though my own thoughts were more confused than ever, I looked past my doubt and apparent lack of confidence, and did what I always did. I accepted my path because the Goddess led me to it. “All right. Let’s do this.”

He smiled, and gave a firm nod. “Good.”

“Pass me your dagger.” Kale’s smile left his face so fast, I laughed and waved him on. “Just give it to me.”

Hesitantly, he extracted it from his boot and offered me the handle. “I’m not about to become your test subject, am I?”

“You’re safe.” I chuckled and gripped the handle, then placed the dagger against the fleshy part of my forearm.

Kale lifted the dagger off my arm with such speed my eyes couldn’t register the move, and he gripped my forearm as the blade pressed against the back of his hand. “What’s your plan?”

“Cut myself,” I replied. “Move.”

His fingers tightened. “Not unless you give me a good reason why.”

This almost amused me, since Kale was the first warlock who ever would’ve stopped me, or who I wouldn’t smack upside the head for the attempt. “I’m not suicidal, Kale. I need to test one of the spells—as you’ve reminded me—and this is the only one I can do right now that’s a sure shot.”

Awareness filled his expression mixed with relief. “A healing spell, then?”

“You got it.” Since he didn’t release my arm, I gave him a
look
. “I won’t cut deep.”

He removed his hand slowly, clearly not wanting to. “Be sure you don’t.”

Keeping my focus on him, I dug the tip of the blade into my forearm, and when I cringed in pain, he placed his hand on my knee and squeezed in comfort.

Blood trickled down my arm and I winced as it dripped onto the teacup resting on my legs. In haste, I read over the passage in the book and said, “Bright light. Shining light. Heal my hurts with all thy might.”

A wave of power blasted over me so fast it stole my breath. My hair waved around my face as the Goddess roared with a fierce burn. Her glee over how I touched her raised a bubble of laughter.

In that moment, I wondered why I questioned her and made such a big deal about it all, but then the happy sensations shifted into pain that gripped me as fire scorched up my arm. My body bucked and I screamed out in agony as a blast of energy burst wide-open within.

Kale had my hand in his in a split second. “All right?”

“Ouch. Fuck. It hurts.” I hissed as my skin weaved its way back together—the wound stitched up before my eyes.

To my delight, the spell took seconds—even if those seconds dragged on like an eternity—and the pain ceased. I peered down at my now-healed skin in wonderment. The only evidence of my wound was the blood on the teacup.

It totally shocked me that the spell had worked. All I experienced now was slight exhaustion. With all the worrying and warnings, I expected something
big
to happen, yet the only thing I felt was the Goddess’ contentment and pleasure that I had tapped into her.

While I should be relieved, it made her warning all the more curious. What was ahead of me that she knew and I didn’t? Of course, I had no idea until it happened, so why fret?

“Wow.” I looked at Kale. “It works.”

His nod was so confident—as if he had no doubt, and was maybe slightly relieved, too. “I’m pleased it did.” He stood and scooped up my teacup from my lap. “Now you rest.” He turned to leave.

Just as he reached the door, I called, “Wait.” He glanced over his shoulder and before I lost my nerve, I pressed him for the information I now hoped he’d share. “Fair is fair. I told you my dark past secrets, so you tell me something from yours.”

I waited for him to shut me down, but then his eyes slowly darkened. “I had a lovely childhood and worked extremely hard while I trained until I was nineteen. From there, my past is clouded with secrecy and death. Besides what you know of me, everything else is surrounded by bloodshed and danger, Libby.”

Time seemed to stall as he exited my room. I shivered as I remembered the cold-blooded killer I’d seen. But somehow I couldn’t see him as only that since I’d met his mother, and love remained between them. And even though secrets existed between us, he’d shown me nothing but kindness. The tea I still tasted in my mouth was indication enough that he cared for others. My heart reached out to him at the pain in his voice—unmistakable loneliness.