What he’d explained fit with what she’d overheard on his calls, but his blunt explanation hadn’t set her mind at ease at all.
He cleared his throat. “My hope is that, knowing what we are up against, you can work with me to find out who they are, and then, hopefully, get some clues leading to your sister’s killer as well.”
Becka let out a long whistle. “I appreciate you coming clean. Sharing your big plans. And the risks you’ve been willing to take to find my sister’s killer.”
“But?”
“I want to run away from all of this, the testers, the mystery caller, and House Rowan, doubly so after all you revealed.”
Her gaze drifted to the walls below the balcony. Guards stood posted on the ground floor, eyes studiously trained on her presence. There’d be no midnight escapes via the convenient balcony for her.
Quinn noticed her attention shift and followed her gaze with his own. “You are not so surreptitiously inspecting the manor walls. Careful, you might give those guards the idea you are plotting a future escape attempt.”
“I’ll have you know I’ve scaled the wall to this parapet more times than I can remember. I’d bet I could even do it with my eyes closed.”
“I would wager the guards still remember your athletic leanings,” he replied.
Becka sighed. “I bet they do.”
“I doubt Maura would take an escape attempt well, under the circumstances.”
“You’re assuming I’d be caught in the act.”
Becka stared off into the distance. The wind swayed the pines, conifer, and aspen, inviting her to escape deep into their hidden paths.
“Are you planning to run?”
She sighed. “No, I have too many people after me, and too much hanging over my head. I mean, I bet I could outwit Maura and the testers. But then there’s the guards. And it sounds like this mystery person knows things, has connections, and won’t give up either. Plus there’s this potential curse.” Becka slumped against the railing, feeling trapped like an exhibit in a museum. “You may not be the only one this person is manipulating.”
“I doubt it, but there’s no way to know.”
“Do you think there’s a way out of dealing with the tester?”
“I do not understand what you have against the testers? They are harmless.”
“Mostly harmless. I’ve been examined by a tester three times. Each examination was more uncomfortable and invasive than the last. It’s like having my skin scraped with a pad of steel wool.”
He winced. “Are you not concerned with what they might find?” His guarded expression spoke volumes.
Did he know something or was he wondering if she’d been keeping some magic hidden from him?
Becka groaned. “I don’t know what they’ll find, as the prior testers found nothing. But what if I’ve been cursed or jinxed or hexed?”
“One assumes House Rowan would work to remedy the issue.”
“Hopefully the cure is an easy and fast one, because I’m out of here yesterday.”
“That assumes a jinx is to blame… You are getting a bit ahead of yourself. Regardless, if you do not get this quirk diagnosed, you or others could be hurt.”
Becka shot him a withering look, but he was right.
Becka went back inside and slumped down onto the bed, curling herself around a pile of pillows she’d stacked earlier in the day. She grabbed her journal from the nightstand and cracked it open. Quinn seemed to understand she needed a few moments of solitude and sat on the divan across from the bed.
She sketched up the glyphs from Tesse’s neck, just like she’d done for Quinn, but these were for her reference. There was something familiar with them, but she couldn’t quite place it. They’d been such a chalky-gray, she wondered what the ink had been made of. She wished she’d touched them, but out of respect for Tesse, hadn’t quite been able to bring herself to do it. Most likely, she’d seen them somewhere in her studies years ago. She’d need to review her past journals when she got back home to see if anything popped out.
Becka turned the page and drew a graph of everyone she’d spoken with, both House Rowan, other fae, or even shifter, and how they were all interconnected. Pondering the connections, she wondered why Alain had been chosen as Tesse’s future husband? He was a member of House Hawthorne, aka the House of Thorns, home of the Fire Guild. She drew a picture of the Unbreakable, the phoenix, which had been gifted to Rowan by Hawthorne, next to Alain’s name. The coincidence tugged at her mind, but she couldn’t see a deeper connection. Perhaps this history was the reason Maura had arranged to bring a Fire elementalist into the fold?
Quinn paced the length of the room, staring out the windows as she wrote.
She wrote down: “Quinn - The mysterious Enforcer.”
They’d known each other for only three days, and yet she’d come to relish the feel of his calming, stable presence. His undercover work gave her pause, but she respected he was willing to take on a high risk. She ticked off a list of what she knew about him. Dedicated Enforcer. House Oak. A killer smile. Clever. Only lied by omission. Shoulders she wouldn’t mind nibbling on.
Whew! That was a train of thought she didn’t mind entertaining. Her gaze drifted over him, past the pages of her journal. Quinn was a bit too charming for her practical, down to earth mindset, but she couldn’t deny feeling a tiny thrill of excitement every time his burnished gaze cast her way.
Assuming she could trust him. Becka was going out on an emotional limb extending him the faith others had cautioned her against. But her heart believed his genuine nature, even if her head wasn’t altogether sure why.
“I’m exhausted.” She placed the journal on the nightstand, thoughts still swirling around her mind, competing for mental airspace. Becka flopped down on the
