Page 63 of Secrets of the Eternal Flame

I struggled to place the woman for a moment. Fran looked so different with her long blonde hair loose rather than tied up behind her head in the austere way it had been every time I’d seen her on the beach. And she wasn’t in her usual uniform – no blue-and-white pinstripe apron like the one she wore day in and day out at her ice-cream cart.

‘Fran?’ I said. ‘What’s going on?’

‘We were in prison at the same time,’ Scarlett admitted. ‘Fran got done for theft.’ That would have been a helpful fact to have known earlier.

‘Jail birds together,’ Fran sneered at me. ‘Some people get all the bloodline but none of the sense. As ifyouwere born of the great Grand Sorceress Dahliaandyou’re a descendent of the oldest magical line in Witchlight Cove? What a damned waste.’

Eva was at my side, growling at her.

‘You’re a sorceress too?’

She looked at me impassively. ‘Not yet. Do you have any idea how hard you have to work to earn that title? To what depravities you must sink?’

‘And you don’t want to sink that low?’ I asked.

‘Oh, no, I want to. And if I bring the cup and the grimoire to your grandmother, she’ll help me on my path.’

I shook my head. ‘I don’t think Granny is the helping-hand type. She’ll take the goods and then she’ll kill you and collect your soul to use in black-Flame magic.’

‘No! She’ll be grateful.’

I laughed. ‘Do youreallythink so?’

Fran drew herself up. ‘Yes. And I’ll bring you with me as a hostage, just in case.’

I turned to the other woman. ‘Scarlett,’ I said, hoping there was still a hint of sense or humanity in her that I could reach. ‘You need to think this through. The woman she’s talking about – my grandmother – she’s dangerous. She’s a mass murderer. You need to stay away from her. Please, if nothing else, think about your mother.’ It was a low blow to what I knew was her most tender spot, yet it didn’t have the reaction I expected.

‘Oh, but I am,’ Scarlett said, as a smile broke across her face. ‘That’s all I’m thinking about. I owe you, but I owe Fran so much more. Fran saved my mother.’

I turned my eyes back to the ice-cream seller and I finally connected the dots. ‘You used the goblet on Scarlett’s mother?’ I asked, knowing the answer.

Fran’s sly smile widened. ‘It seemed like the least I could do. Scarlett wasn’t there when I stole the relics. I would have missed her entirely if you hadn’t so kindly given her money so she could buy an ice cream for her mum.’

I swallowed hard, suddenly remembering the shocked look on Scarlett’s face. Oh bugger. Fran was right, this whole mess was my fault.

‘Fran made me an offer,’ Scarlett admitted. ‘If I brought you to her, she would heal my mother.’

‘And because I’m agood person, I healed her mother first,’ Fran said smugly. ‘You know, to build trust. And now Scarlett is here making good on her promise.’

The puzzle pieces were clicking into place. Scarlett would doanythingfor her mother – and that included handing over a PI witch who meant next to nothing to her. ‘Did you kill Gwen, Scarlett?’ I asked. ‘Did you kill your boss?’

Something flickered across her face. ‘No,’ she said quickly. ‘I didn’t.’

‘Tying up loose ends.’ Fran winked. ‘In case she remembered me popping in too many times.’

Did that mean she still hadn’t used the death to unlock the Codex? Maybe she didn’t know what was required. If she hadn’t broken the ward, at least she wouldn’t have a shit tonne ofextra dark magic at her fingertips. I might still have a chance of getting out of this mess alive.

‘And you’re okay with that?’ I asked Scarlett. ‘Her killing Gwen?’

Scarlett looked at me with unhappy eyes; no, she wasn’t okay with it. ‘Gwen was a total bitch,’ she said finally.

‘Where are the Codex and the cup now?’ I asked, focusing on Fran. ‘What have you done with them?’

‘They’re safe.’ Her voice was syrupy sweet.

‘And what? You’re bringing them as a present to my grandmother?’ I scoffed. ‘Whatever she’s promised you, you can’t trust her. She killed her own daughter-in-law – you can’t possibly think she cares about you.’

Fran’s smile broadened and she gave a long sigh, as if she were some high-school kid thinking about the person she had a crush on. ‘You’re only saying that because you don’t know her. The Dahlia I met is exceptional, gifted. She saw the potential in me right away. And I’ve proved her right. I tracked down the cup and Codex in mere weeks when others have walked past them for years!’

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