Page 107 of Love's a Witch
“Mmm, we’ll see.” I didn’t want to bring up the subject of moving in with Knox. As far as I saw it, we were still in a trial period of sorts.
Henry says if we stayed, I could have the entire garden to play in. With my new friends. I might even meet some of my ancestors.
I hadn’t thought about Blue being lonely, and I tilted my head to look down into his sweet eyes.
“More emberwolves?”
No. Dragons. My ancestors.
“And Henry thinks they’ll come here?”
He said they have the space for them. Dragons are curious by nature, so they may come by to check on things. Please, can we stay?
“Blue, sweetie, I don’t know. That’s a lot to ask.” I tried to keep my voice low, but the library was quiet, and Knox was standing close, petting Oswald, who had hopped up on top of the desk.
“What does the lad want?” Knox looked at me, but before I could answer, Oswald bumped his head against Knox’s hand. “Ah, he wants to stay here.”
“Och, right. The three of them can communicate, can’t they?” Here I was trying to be quiet when Haggis and Oswald were listening to everything Blue said.
“Aye, lass. And with the right magick, I think we can swing it that we can hear all of them. If they become a pack.”
“Really?” Intrigued, I stepped forward to scratch behind Haggis’s ears. The mini coo smiled up at me.
“Really.” Knox moved forward and stepped close, running a hand over Blue’s head before cupping a finger under my chin and tilting my face up to look at him. My breath caught. “What do you say, Sloane? Would you like to move in here? On a trial basis, of course.”
My heart fluttered in my chest, my pulse beating like a hummingbird at my throat, and I swallowed. “Um, but what about Broca and my sisters? They need me.”
“Do they?”
“Of course they do.” Didn’t they?
“Or do they need some space to grow?”
“Are you implying that I smother them?”
“I’m not, but you could start to, now that you’re in one spot.” I opened my mouth to argue with Knox.
He’s right. Let them grow.
I looked down at Blue, who turned and swiped his tongue across my cheek.
I like happy Sloane.
Blue was right. I was happy. And I also needed to stop seeing my sisters as people I needed to take care of. They were already incredible women, but they still defaulted to looking to me for leadership. And though it chafed a bit to think about letting go of those reins, I also knew it wasn’t healthy to hold so tightly to them. I knew I’d hated it when my mum had made all the decisions for me until we were able to get out from under her thumb. The last thing I wanted was for my sisters to end up resenting me.
“Fine, I suppose I’ll move in here. On a trial basis, naturally.” I affected a snobby accent.
“Naturally. Only if it meets with your approval.” Knox grinned, and then his lips were on mine.
“Ahem, good morning, sir.” We turned to find Henry at the door, a tray of tea in his hands.
“Henry. Just the man we wanted to see. Will you join us for breakfast?” Knox asked and pointed to the table.
“I’ve already had my brekkie, but a spot of tea will do nicely.” Henry settled the tray on the table and gestured for me to sit in front of a plate with a warming cover on it. My stomach rumbled in appreciation when he lifted it to reveal a full Scottish breakfast.
“Toast is in here.” Henry nudged a basket with a napkin covering it toward me. “Tea?”
“Please.” This was far nicer than any breakfast I usually had.
