Chapter Two
Astrid
As I stalk down the foyer away from the front door, I catch Lilli peeking around the corner from the kitchen, her little blonde head like a beam of sunlight.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay in the living room?” I ask, raising a brow.
“What’s the Night Guild?” Lilli asks, eyes wide and innocent.
Shit. A flash of fury moves through me. This is exactly why I don’t need burly dragon shifters showing up at my doorstep and scaring my kid. We’ve been fine on our own Lilli’s whole life, and I intend to keep it that way.
“Don’t you worry about that,” I say. “That was just some stranger at the door. We don’t trust strangers, do we?”
Lilli shakes her head.
“Right. How about some hot chocolate?”
This earns me a smile. I take Lilli’s hand as we walk into the kitchen, and within moments she’s humming and drawing pictures of butterflies at the dining room table. I let out a sigh of relief.
That doesn’t, however, stop me from fuming over the current situation. The last thing I need is some adult babysitter showing up on my doorstep trying to drag me into the Raven Society’s drama. I’d cut my ties with the Society years ago, at the same time I cut them with my mother. Or rather, she’d cut me out, and made sure the other witches had, too. She hadn’t approved of Lilli’s father, so she’d turned her back on us. Even after he died, she’d had nothing more to say than a few insincere words, and she’d only come to see Lilli once since she was born. Even though she lives only an hour away.
And now she thinks she’s going to send some muscly shifter to protect us? To pretend she suddenly cares? I don’t believe for a second she hadn’t had something to do with it. The Society doesn’t just send personal security detail to everyone’s house. She’s the highest-ranking witch in Norway, which no doubt played a part in all this. It’s more likely that she wants to throw her weight around, show how important she is.
Lilli smiles up at me after I hand her the hot cocoa, and while she’s distracted, I take a moment to sneak back to the front of the house. I pass by the sitting room, where there’s a fire roaring to keep off the chill, and my office on the right. I could peek out the window of one or the other, but I don’t need to. The shifter is still there—I can feel his fiery dragon magic even through the thick wooden door. He’s camping on the doorstep as if I’m going to change my mind.
Which I absolutely am not.
It’s almost dark out, and being December, it’s going to get down below zero degrees tonight, especially with the snow falling outside. Last I knew dragons didn’t especially like the cold. Well, I hope this dude brought a really warm coat. He’s going to freeze his ass off if he stays out there all night.
I consider calling the local police, but my mother has no doubt already spoken to them, so that’s a futile effort. Admittedly, I don’t know much about the Night Guild, and I am curious what on earth they want with me. I’m a writer and a historian. Not exactly the kind of person who draws attention. Which brings me full circle back to…
My mother. This has to have something to do with her.
Lilli’s already had her dinner for the night, and before too long it’s time for her bath, and story time, and then bed. I tuck her under the covers, which are pale blue and covered in polar bears. In fact, bears are a pretty dominant theme throughout her room… black bears and brown bears and pink bears and even panda bears. But when I ask Lilli what kind of story she wants to hear before she goes to sleep, it’s not bears she asks for.
“I want to hear a story about dragons,” she says with a shine in her eyes.
I stiffen a moment before nodding. “Dragons, hmm?”
“Oh, yes,” she says. “Like the man outside.”
The smile on my lips wobbles. “Of course, little bug. If you want to hear about dragons, dragons it is.”
And so I weave a story about a queen and a dragon. Part of me wants to talk about how the dragon is vanquished, like the old tales. But I know Lilli won’t have any part of that. So instead, the queen tames the dragon to do her bidding, and they go on adventures, and they live happily ever after.
When I’m done, Lilli immediately asks for another story, punctuated by a big yawn.
“Tomorrow, pumpkin. You sleep tight.”
I kiss her forehead, and she’s snoring before I even reach the door to her room.
My slippered feet carry me to my office, where I sit down at my big antique desk and flip open my laptop. I open my email and stare at what my mother had sent me several hours ago. She hadn’t even bothered to call.
The Raven Society is sending a personal security detail to watch over you. It seems you’ve drawn the attention of some unsavory characters. Whatever it is you’ve gotten yourself into this time…
Yep, Mommy Dearest. A real gem.
I groan and slam the laptop shut again. To distract myself, I start flipping through old runic texts I have on my desk. Runes are a bit of an obsession of mine. They were used by all the Völva, the old name for Viking witches, who were revered like royalty back in the day. Lately I’ve been translating some spells with a series of runes I haven’t encountered before.