Until genuine affection blossomed, and I began to understand why witches thrived in communities.
Maybe that was the problem with Asa and me. I didn’t have to act. I didn’t need a script. I was just…me.
And he liked it.
“Not this again.” I frowned at the notification. “A camera on the edge of the property caught motion.”
“Anything to be concerned about?” He rose with a blanket around his waist. “Can you check the wards?”
“I’m too far away to feel them.” I pulled up an interior camera. “But I did get smart about it this time.”
Patting the mattress beside me, I kept scrolling until I found the angle I wanted, then I showed it to him.
“The traffic light.” He smiled at me. “Very clever.”
The wards had a few different indicators I rigged for Colby, who couldn’t feel them the way I did. The most common was a blink, which meant that a person or object had made contact. I had the sensitivity dialed all the way up while I was away, which meant anything bigger than a chipmunk would trigger one.
The blink itself was conveyed via a decorative traffic light I’d mounted on the wall above Colby’s monitor. I fixed it so brief contact with the wards would flash yellow for caution. Prolonged contact turned it red. If all was well, it remained green.
“We’re green.” I closed the app. “That means we’re good.”
“It’s thirty minutes until midnight.” He noticed the time on my phone. “We might as well stay awake.”
“We have another black witch to catch.” I huffed out a breath. “You can stay here with—”
“No.”
“You’re hurt.” I kept my newfound fear in check. “You don’t have anything to prove.”
“I was hurt.” He smoothed a hand down his defined chest, inviting me to look my fill. “You healed me.”
Without permission from my brain, my hand shot out to trace each puckered scar. “Colby healed you.”
“She is the arrow.” He captured my hand and pressed it over his heart. “You are the archer.”
“And you were a target.” A sour taste flooded my mouth. “Because of me.”
Laughter shook his shoulders, and he kissed my fingers. “You forget who I am.”
“Do you use that tone on all peasants, or am I special?”
“You are special, and I don’t address the horde. They, however, have Father’s express permission, and his encouragement, to repay what I attempted to do to him tenfold. I have been a target since the day I was born, and I will remain one until the day I die.”
There was so much to unpack in that statement. “Your father put out a hit on you?”
“His successor must be worthy of his legacy,” he mocked. “Or a new one will be appointed.”
“How are you so chill about this? Does Clay know? Does the Bureau?”
“I’ve had a lifetime to accept death is inevitable.” He glanced away. “And yes, they’re both aware.”
For a good three seconds, I debated strangling him, which would make his dire prophecy come true.
“How is the director okay with this?” I couldn’t put two and two together to get four, not with Asa’s birthright. “He just lets it happen?”
“White witches are hunted from birth by their dark counterparts,” he reasoned. “No one stops that.”
“That doesn’t make it right.” I balled my hands into fists. “Not all cultural practices are great ideas.”