I took another swig of the gin and then twirled the glass between my fingers, watching the light play in the patterns.
“Aren’t Shadow Witches super rare?” Astrid asked, her pink eyebrows scrunched up in a frown. “Like, I’ve never met one. Hell, I’ve never even heard of one living.”
“You’d be right,” I agreed. “I’m the lucky one who managed to get that gift. And, because fate seems to think it’s funny to find ways to piss me off, my vessel is Byron.”
“Shut the front fucking door!” She gasped. “No way. Byron? Really?”
“Yep,” I said propping the ‘p’.
“Isn’t he human?”
I nodded. “But somehow my magic has decided that this man can protect it whilst I’m beyond the veil.”
Astrid bobbed her head from side to side. “Well, that does kind of make sense.”
I stared blankly at her. “It does?”
“Yeah,” she said with a wide smile. “I mean, think about it. The guy kills people for a living. And not just humans. Somehow, he can manage to kill any kind of supernatural being. He’s the perfect one to protect youandyour magic whilst you’re most vulnerable.”
She had a point. Which I hated. It was just another reasonable excuse for Byron to insinuate himself into my life.
Astrid leaned over the table and wrapped her hand around mine. “Look, things sound like they’re pretty intense in your life right now. Would having Byron in it be so bad?”
For such a simple question, there was one hell of a complicated answer. “I don’t know.”
I’m pretty sure he was also deeply obsessed with his twin. I didn’t want to compete with Bishop, hell, I didn’t think Icouldcompete with their relationship. So where did that leave me? Was I supposed to like Bishop too?
Fuck. Why was I even contemplating any of this?
I groaned and dropped my head to the table. I had bigger problems to worry about than Byron Blake and his twin.
“Talk to me about something else. Anything else. Please,” I begged. I needed a distraction for the sheer shit show my life seemed to have suddenly turned into.
“Ooh a new witch has moved to the area. Haven’t got his name yet, but he’s beautiful.”
I perked my head up at that. New witches were few and far between in these parts. Misthaven was a safe space for supernaturals. It was run by the three ruling families, the Morozovs, who were vampire, the Leveaux, who were wolf shifters and the Rowans. Although, there were less of us than the other three families and only two true Rowans. We’d become a coven of powerful misfits, taking in those who’d needed a home and could contribute to our coven. We’d built it from scratch.
Now I understood why. We’d clearly left our family and coven when Dara took me away to protect me from my father. There was so little that I remembered of my past. I knew I had a father, but where was my mother? Did I have any other siblings? Or cousins or nieces? Nephews? Who was I?
“What’s he like?” I asked, trying to stop my mind from spiralling.
Astrid tipped her head to one side in thought. “Classically handsome. Older. Salt and pepper hair and green eyes. Dresses like he’s in finance but I got the sense that he’s hiding a lot of power under his three-piece suit.”
“Doesn’t sound like your type at all,” I chuckled. Astrid tended to go for the type of man who grew up fighting for everything he had.
A man like Byron…
“Might change my tastes for this man, though.”
“What kind of witch is he?”
“Not sure, actually,” she said, pursing her lips in thought. “Kind of got the vibe that he was a bit of an everything kind of witch but I’m sure he’ll be back in my shop soon.”
It was odd she didn’t know what kind of witch he was. Astrid was unnervingly good at detecting power signatures. “Why do you think that?”
She bit her bottom lip, and a blush blossomed across her cheeks. “We kind of flirted over a discussion of the healing properties of various different plants. It was a verystimulatingconversation.”
I snorted. “You’re ridiculous.”