Page 2 of Blades of Ice

Cailín cut her eyes to Lydia. “You want weapons that don’t kill?”

“That don’t kill an innocent.”

Cailín growled but didn’t comment.

Sophia was waiting outside when they pulled into the parking lot. Lydia climbed down from the Jeep and met her mother’s open arms. Seeing as she was seven months pregnant, hugging was awkward, but they made it work.

“How’s Gio?” Lydia rubbed her mom’s tummy where her little brother was percolating.

“Giving me indigestion. Other than that, he’s perfect.” Sophia took Lydia’s hand and squeezed it. “Not that I don’t like visiting Luna, but are you here for a reason other than browsing?”

Cailín strolled up to Sophia and got her own mom hug. The redhead’s mother had been several hundred years old when Cailín was born. It was a sad story, but Cailín’s brother, Jasper, and his mate, Trevor, had been on their honeymoon when they visited Aibhlinn O’Hearn. Aibhlinn was ready to cross over having lost her mate. She convinced Jasper to take Cailín and raise her. Jasper and Trevor, with the help of all the female mates, had done a fine job with Cailín.

“She’s being a doofus,” Cailín muttered to Sophia.

“Am not.” Lydia left them to conspire against her and strode into Solaralun. The bell over the door tinkled as she entered the store.

Luna looked up from where she was wrapping something in moon and star tissue paper for a customer. She frowned at Lydia before returning her attention to the patron. Once the customer was gone, Luna rounded the counter, her long flowing skirtswishing around her ankles. She placed her hands on Lydia’s shoulders. “I’m sensing trouble.”

“No, but I do have a favor to ask.” Lydia jingled her bracelets, and Luna nodded. “Come into the back.” Luna pushed aside the curtain that hid her workroom from the store. Once everyone was inside, she gave both Sophia and Cailín cheek kisses before directing Sophia to a comfy chair.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“I wouldn’t say no to a soda if you have one.” Sophia plopped down and let out a sigh.

“Mom—”

“Nope. Your father isn’t the one carrying this kid. If I want a freakin’ soda, I’m gonna have one.” Nikolas was a stickler for the pregnancy rules, one of which was limiting caffeine. Sophia was a bear without her coffee in the morning.

Luna handed over the can, then turned to Lydia. “Okay, spill.”

Lydia pointed at her wrist. “Can you spell the bracelets where the weapons don’t kill an innocent?”

Sophia let out a long belch from enjoying her carbonated beverage. “That wolf wasn’t innocent.” Sophia knew what it was like to take a life, but it had been in self-defense. She never talked about it when speaking of her time in Egypt, preferring to focus on the fact that she had helped rescue her parents.

“You and everyone else have reminded me of that fact forty-eleven times.” As had her Goyle, until Lydia told it to fuck off. It had been silent ever since. It was odd sharing a brain and body with a beast, but it was even stranger when that part of yourself lay dormant because it was pouting.

“Take them off,” Luna instructed. Lydia handed over the jewelry, and Luna spread them out on her work bench. She closed her eyes and waved her hands over the silver, speakingan incantation Lydia couldn’t understand. “So mote it be,” Luna finished and gestured for Lydia to take them.

Lydia returned the bracelets to her arms and spoke the words needed to change her magical bracelets into swords. When she gripped the hilts, Lydia swung the blades in an arc. “Are you sure this will work?”

Luna tapped her long nails on the work bench. “Ifyou’resure. It’s all about intention.”

Sophia muttered under her breath, but Lydia ignored her as she whispered, converting the swords back to silver bangles, and took the stool on the opposite side of the bench.

“I’m with Sophia on this.” Cailín stood off to the side of Luna’s workshop, popping her own bracelets into daggers. “Tinsley had every intention of killing Dakota.”

Lydia huffed, but she didn’t disagree with her friend. “Still.”

Luna reached over the table and grabbed Lydia’s hand. “You did nothing wrong.” A sense of peace washed over Lydia, but it only lasted while Luna touched her.

That sentiment had been spoken to Lydia at least a hundred times since returning from West Virginia. In her heart, she knew she hadn’t been in the wrong. When Anthony called out a warning to Dakota, Lydia turned, swords out. Tinsley, in her wolf form, had been mid-air, and impaled herself on one of Lydia’s weapons. Hell, Lydia’s own father had ripped out the heart of a different wolf, and she didn’t fault him for it, but that hadn’t been her dad’s first kill. Her phone rang, bringing Lydia back to the present. She dug it out of her purse and smiled seeing who was calling.

“It’s Carleigh.” She pressed the icon to answer and put it on speaker even though everyone in the room had shifter hearing. “Hey, C.”

“Hey, yourself. Where are you?”

“At Luna’s with Mom and Cailín. What’s up?”

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