“I don’t mind if she stays.” I reach for another slice of pizza and try to sound nonchalant. “Hey, Mill, do you have a sleeping potion that can keep a person from dreaming?”
“Sure.” Millie pours us all glasses of wine. “Do you want to swing into the café tomorrow? I’ll give it to you.”
“That would be great,” I admit. “I’m sleeping fine, but my dreams are all over the place, so I’m always tired.”
“That’s exhausting,” Millie says. “I have something that will help.”
“Great, thanks.” I sip my wine. “Jackson came by today.”
“Tell us everything.” Brielle takes a drink. “Did you get naked?”
“Of course, not.” I roll my eyes.
“Oh, come on, Daph,” Millie says. “He’s still hot. Maybe hotter. Are you telling us that you feel nothing for him?”
“No, I’m not saying that at all. I’m as attracted to him today as I was when I met him at seventeen.”
“Then why won’t you give him a chance?”
“Who says he wants a chance?” I ask.
“Oh, come on. Jack’s still into you.” Brielle points at me. “You’re just being stubborn.”
“I’m protecting myself,” I admit. “He hurt me. No, he destroyed me. And if I let him in now, he could do it again. I don’t think I’d survive it a second time.”
“Maybe stay wary, but also let him kiss you,” Millie suggests. “Because he wants to kiss you.”
“Stop reading his mind.”
“I haven’t read him,” Millie insists. “You don’t have to be psychic to know that man wants to get his lips on you—and probably other things, too.”
I laugh and fill our wine glasses again. “Well, he can keep his lips to himself.”
“That’s so boring,” Millie insists.
“Then here’s to boring.” I hold my glass up in cheers. “Just because you two are all about hearts and flowers doesn’t mean I have to follow suit.”
“We want you to be happy, Daph,” Brielle says.
“I am happy.” I smile, but I know they can see through me. See the lie.
They always do.
“I’m totally happy.”
Chapter Three
Jackson
“What a lovely surprise.” Miss Sophia opens the door of her cabin in the bayou and gestures for me to come inside. “I just put on some tea.”
“At six in the morning, I’m usually a coffee man.” I smile down at her as she closes the door and gestures again for me to follow her. “But you always make a mean cup of tea.”
“It’ll be good for you.”
“Are you going to add a protection potion like Millie does?” I ask and lean on the doorjamb of her tidy kitchen as she pours the cups.
“No, she has you covered there,” Miss Sophia replies with a wink.
“I’m sorry if I woke you.”
“You didn’t. I knew you were coming, so I was up early, brewing this tea.” She passes me the cup and offers me honey and milk, but I take it black. “You’re worried.”
“Yeah.” I push my hand through my hair and sit across the table from Miss Sophia, who just sips from her mug and watches me with wise, blue eyes. “He’s going to try to hurt her.”
“Of course.”
She doesn’t even play coy, asking who he is.
I love that about her.
“How do I stop it?”
She sips again and watches me over the rim. “You know I can’t tell you that.”
“No, I don’t know it. If you know how to resolve all of this, why won’t you just tell us so we can get rid of this murdering bastard for good?”
“Because that’s not how it’s meant to be.” She smiles when I curse under my breath. “Ah, Jackson, I did miss you. And I’m glad that you’re home now, where you should be.”
“I feel like I’ve come into a game at the end of the fourth quarter and haven’t warmed up. But I’m still expected to throw the winning pass.”
“If you’d joined the others sooner, it wouldn’t have been the right time. Not right for you, nor right for Daphne. Each sister had to complete her quest before it was Daphne’s turn.”
“My turn.”
She doesn’t answer. She simply smiles.
“The others told me that I’m one of the six.”
“Oh, you’ve already met with them then? How lovely.”
“No.” I stand and pace near the table. “No, nothing about this is lovely.”
“You’re right. But I’m happy to hear that you’re working together. The sooner, the better.”
“Horace has already started,” I say and turn to find her serene smile gone, and her sharp eyes narrowed.
“Tell me.” Her voice is a whip.
I explain what Daphne and I both saw at the wedding reception. The one that was held just behind this house, out in a field where the coven performs sacred rites regularly.
“And I’m having visions,” I admit.
It’s not encouraging when her jaw drops.
“Jackson, the spells I cast to keep your visions away, everything we’ve done to prevent exactly that, are strong.”
“And yet, here we are.” I sit again and watch her grimly. “It seems the visions are going to happen, regardless. I thought of dropping my shields altogether so I could see better and protect Daphne, but Lucien said no.”