Page 64 of The Witch is Back

She could just picture Clarissa’s face if her only daughter made a few potted plants bloom. “It’s not enough.”

He flattened his lips, a frown settling heavy on his forehead. “Why do you even care what they think?”

She didn’t. And she did.

When she didn’t respond, he gave her a soft nod. “I’ll help, of course I will. Not that I know how.”

Relief body-checked her and she impulsively reached out and caught his knee. “Thank you.”

He stared at her hand. “No problem.”

Emma took the hint and removed it, clearing the awkwardness in her throat. “Today?”

“Egypt,” he reminded her. “Kole.”

“Right.” She bit her lip. She wasn’t sure when the Exhibition was; she’d have to get that out of Kole that afternoon, if Clarissa didn’t message first. But she wanted to be ready and Bastian was one of the most powerful people she knew.

You could ask Tia, an inner voice pointedly reminded her.

She brushed that well under the rug and put a table on top of it for good measure.

He took one look at her crestfallen face and sighed, just as he had when they’d been teenagers and he’d taken pity on her. “I’m at the bar tonight,” he said. “You can come by and we’ll practice there.”

“In front of humans?”

“Unless you want to learn to work with fire or lightning, I think we can keep it quiet.”

She wondered if he remembered how much he’d spilled last night. “Leah’s working.”

They shared a stare: her desperately neutral, him weighing it up.

He remembered something, but how much she didn’t know.

“I’ll distract her,” he said finally. “Eight sound good?”

She nodded.

“Great.” He stood. The air rippled over his clothes as he changed to ones more suited to hotter climes. “I’ll get off now while it’s still early there.”

“What time is it?”

“They’re seven hours ahead so...” He consulted his watch, counted forward, “Around two thirty in the afternoon.” He grimaced. “Not so early. At least Ethan has air-conditioning.”

“That’s the warlock you were telling me about?”

“Yeah. You’d like him, he likes to bury himself in work, too.”

She scowled at him, which only made him grin. Then he’d created a portal and was gone.

CHAPTER 13

Emma enjoyed her lunch with her brother, relaxing as she only could with certain people, especially when Sloane joined them halfway through. Kole had found out about their half sister with Emma so while it remained a secret from the rest of their family, Kole had invested time and effort in getting to know the young girl. They talked about life, hobbies, movies, books—anything but her relationship with Bastian and the tattoo on her wrist. She’d worn long sleeves, but it peeked out just to mess with her. And so did Sloane, when she brought it up, complaining that she wasn’t allowed to meet Bastian or go to the wedding.

“Consider yourself lucky.” Kole had tweaked her nose and laughed as she’d glared at him. “Those things are boring, Jellybean. How about we throw her a party—a going-away party for Bastian.”

Emma rubbed her forehead as Sloane ran with that idea like it was a one-hundred-meter sprint.

Kole had made his opinion of the engagement clear, especially as he knew the entire story of what had happened seven years ago. He knew, however, that if Emma was going along with this marriage, she had good reason, so he let the subject slide with only minimal grumbles. He really was her favorite brother.

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