Ashworth finished closing the distance between us. Once again, I was struck (almost knocked over) by his good looks. It was his stupid, well-cut dark hair, and his dumb—

Well, no. His blue-green eyes were intelligent. Not dumb at all. That was part of the problem. Could I call his facial features dumb? Probably.

—and his dumb, perfectly sculpted facial features.

Automatically, my tongue turned into a clumsy hunk of worthless meat.

He descended on me with that awful, charming smile of his, and he stood close enough that he wouldn’t have to raise his voice.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, Miss Cole,” he said.

“Uh. Yeah.” I forced myself to look at him. “I…uh…I guess I should’ve seen this coming. You’re one of the special guests, aren’t you?”

“I am.” He turned to motion to Ellis and the stranger. “Mistress Oliversen was kind enough to invite me, and I wouldn’t miss it for all the world.”

Ellis and the other man came up beside Ashworth, forming a loose, lopsided circle of conversation. Mrs. Oliversen’s face was calm, but her narrowed eyes bored into me. I got the feeling they were trying to unearth the reason I was there and why someone as important as Owen Ashworth would know my name.

Ashworth turned back to me. “I’m sorry, have you had the chance to meet Mistress—”

In my embarrassment, I cut him off. “We’ve met.”

“Oh?”

Sure! We’re great friends, I thought. Why, she picked me up from a police station this morning.

Mrs. Oliversen said, “Miss Cole is staying at my house.”

I didn’t even need to look at Owen. I could sense the note going up in his brain, right beside my name: Emerra Cole is close enough to Ellis Oliversen to stay with her when she’s in Craftborough.

No doubt, I was driving the man crazy.

Count Vasil had once described Owen Ashworth as “a classic self-serving aspirant.” After I’d learned what that meant, I agreed with the assessment. Ashworth found it useful to know other important people. The problem was that he couldn’t tell if I was important or not. He didn’t know who or what I was, or what my powers were. All he knew was that I kept showing up around Jack Noctis and, now, Ellis Oliversen.

At this point, he probably wouldn’t even believe me if I told him I was a freeloading nobody that Jacky had dug up out of nowhere.

Ashworth gestured to the stranger. “Should I bother? Or do you already know him as well?”

“I do not,” I said.

The rumpled man offered me a straight, twitchy smile. “Cameron Misserly.”

“Doctor Cameron Misserly,” Owen added.

Misserly’s smile twitched again. He shook his head. “Not that kind of doctor. Ph.D. Not a medical degree.”

The doctor might have been in his mid to late thirties. He had dark eyes, and his wavy hair lent itself to the over-all rumpled appearance. Now that he was closer, I could tell he actually did look disheveled—it wasn’t just because he was standing next to Ashworth. The knot in his tie was squished into a malformed lump, it was pulled down by a half inch, and the top button of his shirt was undone. This was a man who knew enough about social expectations to own a suit, but he wasn’t used to wearing one.

My empathy reached out to embrace him. We could be slobs together.

“I’m pleased to meet you,” I said as I shook his hand. “I’m Emerra Cole.”

“He’s another special guest,” Owen explained. “He’s here representing the alchemists.”

I glanced at the torrman. “Not Klara Reynell?”

“She wasn’t able to make it,” Misserly said, “so she was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to come instead.” He nodded to Ellis, to acknowledge that he was speaking as much to her as to me. “It was an honor. I appreciate how rare an opportunity like this is.”

“We’re glad that you could make it,” Ellis said.

Ashworth said to me, “Have you been in town long?”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“No, I got here yesterday,” I said.

“Does that mean you’re staying through the festival?”

I was glad he’d phrased it that way. Going to the festival? Who knew? But staying through it? That one I thought I could answer.

“It looks that way.”

Ashworth’s foot scraped backward a few inches so he could divide his attention between me and Mrs. Oliversen. “If you’re staying at Mistress Oliversen’s, does that mean you’re coming to the party tomorrow?”

Gosh. Was that an icy gust, or was the head of the coven watching me? “Uhhhh…”

“She’s been invited,” Ellis said.

What a line! What perfect delivery! It assured Ashworth that he hadn't accidentally created an awkward situation by mentioning the party to someone who wasn't invited, but it also didn't commit me to coming. In fact, her voice had been pitched so perfectly, I couldn't even tell if she wanted me there.

I had to fight back the urge to bow. That woman was a queen.

And Owen Ashworth knew you never refused royalty.

“Then you have to come,” he said.

Dang it! Where was Olivia when I needed someone to be rude for me?

“I—uh…I’m hoping we can make it,” I said.

Right. That wasn’t a complete lie, and I still wasn’t committed to anything. But if I ever wanted to move up the ranks from “annoying peasant,” my diplomatic voice would need more confidence.

“You make it sound like you’re busy,” Ashworth said. “You’re not here for the festival?”

“That’s not my first priority, no.” In another sudden fit of diplomacy, I stapled “sadly” onto the end of that statement.

“Are you working on a project?” Misserly asked.

His foot had inched toward me when he spoke, and he was leaning in, his eyes wide and bright.

My gaze wandered from him, over to Ashworth. Owen was watching me in that careful, patient way I’d seen once or twice before, like a cat waiting for a sign of movement from the mouse hole. Misserly had asked the question, but it was Ashworth who was most interested in the answer.

And darn my rebel nature—but I didn’t want to give Owen Ashworth so much as a crumb.

I turned to Misserly. “You seem excited.”

The doctor wasn’t prepared to be called out like that. He straightened up, and his eyes darted away as he cleared his throat.

“Yes, well. I…” He smiled sheepishly and started over. “Experimental magic is my passion. That’s a large reason why I was so excited to come here.” He pointed to ARC Hall. “That building is a treasure trove of knowledge.”

“You can feel the inspiration almost wafting in the air, can’t you?” I said.

His smile twitched into a wider one. “Something like that, yes.”

“Are you working on any experiments right now?”

“Always.” Misserly glowed with a low-key pleasure. “I actually took time off work to come down here early so I could work on another one of my side projects.

“You took time off to do more work?” Ashworth shook his head. “I admire your diligence, Doctor. I came in early so I could relax! This is a vacation for me.”

“You got here yesterday?” Ellis asked.

“Yesterday morning.” Ashworth pushed his hands deep in his coat pockets, arched his back, and looked up to the sky. “This is a wonderful town to relax in. Quiet streets. Everything I could ask for is within walking distance of my bed and breakfast.” He said to me, “There’s this charming coffee shop right down the street—”

On the near-zero chance (but not nearly close enough to zero chance) that he was about to say, “we should go there sometime,” I hurried to insert my own comment.

“Maybe I’ll head there after this.”

Ashworth nodded to my hands. “Does ‘this’ have anything to do with that tuna can you’ve been holding the whole time?”

Oh, geez. And here I thought I’d been making a good impression with my diplomacy and engaging questions. But, no. I’m standing around, chatting with a torrman while holding week-old garbage.

I blushed and tossed the can into the nearby trash bin. “No, that was a bit of litter I found. I’m actually waiting for my friends.”

The doors of ARC Hall opened.

“And here they are!” I cried, my voice loud with relief.

Big Jacky walked over to our group without a hint of hesitation. There was a momentary glitch in Olivia’s pace when she saw her mother, but she recovered and walked up to us with a palpable air of dignity.

No prizes for guessing who she’d inherited it from.

“Noctis!” Ashworth said.

Jacky nodded to his fellow torrman. “Mr. Ashworth. How do you do.”

“I didn’t know you were coming to the festival.”

“It’s a coincidence. I’m here on behalf of my apprentice.” He moved back a bit so Ashworth could get an unobstructed view of Olivia. “She recently gave her first year’s report.”

“Your apprentice?” Ashworth’s eyes widened and his eyebrows rose.

I held my hand, palm up, to gesture to the lovely teenage redhead. “Mr. Ashworth, this is Olivia Oliversen.”

Owen turned to Ellis.

“My youngest,” she explained.

Christmas had come ten months early for the information hoarder, Owen Ashworth. He beamed at Olivia and extended his hand.

“Olivia,” I said, “this is Owen Ashworth. He’s the sorcerer’s torrman.”

The girl was even tougher than I thought; she didn’t blush or stutter when she shook his hand and said, “Pleased to meet you.”

I went on, “And this is Dr. Cameron Misserly. Alchemist.”

When Misserly and Olivia were done shaking, Ellis said, “Olivia, what were you doing in the Hall?”

Olivia met her mother’s cold gaze with her own. “Research.”

They stared at each other for almost a second, then Ellis turned to her special guests.

“I’m sorry to drag you gentlemen away from this conversation, but I’m afraid my time is limited. We should be getting on with the tour.”

“No,” Ashworth protested. “Of course. It was thoughtless of us. We don’t want to keep you, Mistress Oliversen. Besides,” he turned to the rest of us, “we should have the chance to catch up with them at the party tomorrow.”

Misserly and Ashworth said goodbye before being led away by Ellis Oliversen. She held the door to ARC Hall open for both of them. They passed through, and Ellis gave Olivia one last look before going in.

Big Jacky, Olivia, and I turned away from the hall and started walking.

We only made it two steps before Olivia curled over and put a hand to her forehead.

“Holy shit,” she said.

I laughed. “I know, right?”

She looked at me. “Do you think he knows he’s that attractive?”

“Olivia Oliversen,” I put my arm over her shoulder, “I guarantee it.”

Jacky sounded perplexed. “How do you know who she’s talking about?”

My arm fell away. “Don’t worry about it, Jacky. It’s double-X telepathy.”

He sounded more perplexed. “It’s…what?”

“It’s a girl thing.”