Page 1 of Secrets of the Forgotten Heir

Chapter One

‘Demon or squirrel?’ I whispered to my retriever, Eva.

She let out another low rumbling growl that made my scalp prickle; I’d only ever heard her sound so fierce once before and that had been because of a demon. My heart rate picked up, beating a fast staccato as we stalked forward.

Sometimes I wished my parents hadn’t imbued me with such a fierce need to protect; anyone with any sense would be walking away right now, but they had taught me to runintodanger, not from it. If there was a demon here, I couldn’t leave the humans to deal with it.

At least I had magic, though admittedly only a teeny drop of it, a raindrop compared to my parents’ ocean, but it was still better than nothing. That was a refrain I’d repeated to myself many, many times.

Tension roared through me as the bushes in front of us rustled again – then a small red squirrel scuttled out of the foliage. Eva barked fiercely as it dashed up a tree.

A squirrel. I glared at my three year old dog; I’d been shitting myself. I’d faced a demon once before and once was more than enough.

‘I honestly thought there was a demon,’ I groused. Eva grinned at me, tail wagging, tongue lolling. ‘Laugh it up, fuzzball. You’re not getting any treats when we get home.’ Of course my threat was totally empty.

Eva’s eyes turned sorrowful and her misery hit me like a wave, making me hold up my hands. ‘Dude, that’s emotional manipulation.’

She whined.

‘Fine. You win. You always win. You are an unstoppable force of neediness.’

The tail was wagging again. She had me wrapped around her little paws and she knew it. Three years earlier I’d saved her from that demon, but she’d been saving me ever since.

‘Come on, let’s go home,’ I told her. ‘That’s enough excitement for one night.’ Eva happily turned tail to trot back to my flat.

Walking in darkness had made us both edgy and it was all my fault we were out so late. My self-defence class should have finished by midday and since I had no open PI cases, I’d expected Eva and I to take our final walk while it was still light – but then I’d taken a call.

One of my students had rung to tell me she was going travelling in two weeks and wanted to make sure her skills were up to scratch. Could I fit her in for an extra lesson? Now? I sensed that she was a little nervous and needed some reassurance. I didn’t mind, giving an extra lesson meant money. Despite the inheritance tucked away for me in Witchlight Cove, I’ve spent the last ten years struggling to get by. There was no way I would say no to earning some cash.

I’m a witch with minimal powers living in the non-magical world. My day job is being a PI, but I also teach young women how to protect themselves. It certainly isn’t the life my parents had imagined for me – I doubted any of us could have foreseen this future. No one would have expected me to abandon my place as guardian of the Eternal Flame, least of all me. Weak witch or not, I’d been dedicated to that mission.

I rubbed my eyes as I remembered my passion and zeal. Now I recognised it for what it was: youthful naivety. How could I ever have protected the Flame adequately when all I had was a shitty bit of empathy magic?

Yes, I can fight: my parents had taught me a mix of Krav Maga and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. Krav Maga teaches you practical self-defence, like strikes and quick takedowns, but BJJ focuses on submissions, escapes and control on theground. My skills may be good but they don’t compensate for my magic being about emotions. If someone with strong magic had come to take the Eternal Flame, what could I have done?Lovedthem until they went away?Huggedthem into submission?

When my grandmother had come for it, I’d done next to nothing – except get my parents killed.

The old heartache threatened to overwhelm me. Next to me, Eva let out a sorrowful whine. I swallowed. ‘I’m okay,’ I murmured as I patted her head. ‘Let’s get home.’

Home is a crappy apartment in an even worse area, but the rent is cheap; when you live paycheck to paycheck, that’s important. And it has books, which are always a plus in my column. There was a psychological thriller by H M Lynn waiting for me at home and I was more than ready to curl up with it.

Crummy as my home was, I was looking forward to getting back to its relative warmth. It was late and I wanted nothing more than to sit on the sofa with Eva and a good book, and let her adoration, unwavering loyalty and unadulterated love soothe the raw edges of my soul.

The pavements were full of rat-race workaholics on their way home. At least seventy percent of them seemed to be on their phones, either holding them directly in front of their faces so they couldn’t see where they were going orchatting on Bluetooth speakers at a volume that suggested they wanted to share their conversation with the whole world.

One of the first things I teach my women is to pay attention to your surroundings. Seeing people walking with their headphones on, attention scattered, is my pet peeve because they make such easy marks. You should always leave out one earbud so you can hear the world around you; that way you hear the car or the jogger behind you.

The lady across from me was a prime example: she was so focused on her screen that she didn’t notice the roadworks on the path in front of her. The workers were long gone but they’d left barriers around an open drain; unfortunately, the hustle and bustle of the street had dislodged them and the barrier thatshouldhave protected her from walking into it was now missing.

She was oblivious.

‘Hey!’ I shouted, trying to get her attention before she catapulted into the hole. She didn’t react. Instead, her head kept moving to the beat that was clearly ringing in her ears.

I dived across the path to save her, letting go of Eva’s lead so I could seize the hapless woman with both hands. I grabbed her shoulders and stopped her inches from theopen drain. She whirled around. ‘Hey!’ she said, outraged, and popped out one earbud. ‘What the fuck?’

I gestured to the drain she’d been about to tumble into and her mouth dropped open as she realised how close she’d come to a broken limb. A wad of chewing gum fell out of her slack jaws. Nice.

Behind me, a man was swearing loudly. The words ‘Bloody dog!’ caught my interest and I turned to see Eva cringing with her tail between her legs. There was a man on the ground in front of her and her lead was tangled around his legs. He picked up his phone and resumed his video call as he shot me a death glare and pointedly dusted himself down.

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