Page 88 of All's Fair in Love and Magic

“So do I. Though I have a feeling you would’ve been weirded out by her quietness.”

I smiled. “Nah, I’d get it. Spell witches need peace. You’d totally be one of them too, if not for all your fire.” I nudged his side playfully.

“Probably. I’d rather have you crack me than deal with any more peace, though.” He tickled my hip, making me laugh as I jerked away from him.

“Peace gets old.”

“It does.”

I met his gaze, and found his eyes soft. He wasn’t smiling, but he was happy. I’d spent enough time with him to see that loud and clear. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad it’s you too, Liam. And I love you.”

Emotion flooded his eyes. “It’s worth a whole fucking lot.” He lowered his lips to mine and kissed me.

Rather than letting it get intense, he pulled away and kissed my forehead too. “What kind of rune are you going to start with?”

I turned to a blank page in my grimoire and grabbed my pencil. “A simple one. Any rune big enough to affect the entire island is going to cost an assload of energy, which I’m lacking right now. Complex runes would take more.”

I sketched out the simple arches and lines that made up one of the first runes any witch learned.

Stop.

“That’s the same rune you put on our door in the tower,” Liam said, studying it closely. “What is it?”

“A command. It stops whatever you apply it to in its tracks. You can use it to lock a door… or to stop anyone from coming through a bubble spell. And other things, of course. But that’s what I’m using it for.”

“So anyone who tries to come in will basically hit a wall?”

“Yeah. I’ll adjust the rune over the next few days, and add others of course, as we figure out exactly what we want to happen when someone new gets here. I just don’t have the power left to make something more complicated.”

“If it’ll keep the witches out, that’s all that matters,” Liam agreed.

“What happened when you went to meet my mom?” I asked. “I don’t think you told me.”

He gave me a quick summary. Though he offered an apology for killing the witches who’d attacked him, I told him not to feel bad.

They deserved it.

They had literally tried to kill me, and they had to have realized death was a large possibility when they attacked a phoenix.

After Liam finished his explanation, I showed him the rune ideas I’d sketched out earlier. He’d seen them before, but now that we were actually discussing necessary protection for the island, everything was more important.

So, we workshopped my ideas without deciding on anything.

When my mom came back with coffee and food—and a smile that told me she’d spent at least a while chatting with someone—we all talked while we ate.

Mom was always friendly enough that awkward conversations weren’t a thing, so it was a good time.

She told us excitedly that the Villins’ mates had offered to let her manage their coffee shop, as well as sell her potions there, after learning about her career with the coven. They were going to talk about ideas, but they were thinking about calling it Coffee & Toffee & Potions, which I loved.

It didn’t surprise me in the slightest that she’d already started forging her own place in the Supernatural Resort after less than twenty-four hours. My mom was a badass in her own cheerful, friendly way.

The caffeine helped a little with my energy, and when we were done eating, mom gave me one last hug before heading to the room she’d been given in the tower.

I returned to my bubble spell.

It was strange to think of it as mine, but it was.

I wasn’t as weak as I’d always had to pretend—and now, any witch who came to the resort would see that.

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