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Lusgu paused what he was doing and slowly turned, his brows pulled together in question. “What?”
Wynona couldn’t hold his gaze. “I...I’m sure you heard there was another murder here last night?”
Lusgu nodded curtly.
“When I was talking to the chief about it, the question came up as to whether you could be involved...” Wynona swallowed hard. “And it took me a minute before I defended you. I just wanted to tell you I was sorry. That I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t kill someone like that, and I’m sorry I doubted your character.” She straightened her shoulders, preparing herself for his anger. “It’s not what friends do.”
Lusgu stared for several moments before his thin, dry lips pulled into a grin. He snorted, but instead of his usual disdain, Wynona could almost hear laughter in the noise. “It’s apparent, girl, that you don’t know me well at all.”
Wynona paused. “Excuse me?”
Lusgu shook his head and turned away from her. “If you think I wouldn’t kill, then you don’t know me well at all.”
Wynona fell against the counter top, gripping it hard to hold herself up. “I don’t understand.”
His black eyes were fairly twinkling when Lusgu glanced her way. “I existed many years before I came here, and odds are I will exist many more after you are gone. Don’t assume you can imagine the life I have led, or will yet lead.”
Wynona’s head was spinning. She had never heard Lusgu speak so much, nor had she ever seen him anything but dour in his expressions. In only the space of a few moments, she realized he was right. She had no idea who this creature truly was.
She knew he was a brownie. She knew that her grandmother had maneuvered the situation so he would be hired by Wynona when the time was right. She knew Lusgu was powerful enough to stop her own magic, and to build himself a portal in the corner, where he disappeared to every night, but Violet was the only other creature who had ever entered that portal with him.
As far as Wynona knew, he never left the shop and didn’t have any other friends, though he obviously knew Mama Reyna as they both had made plans with Granny Saffron before her death.
Wynona tilted her head to study him. “Where are you from, Lusgu?”
He grunted. “This isn’t the time.”
Wynona was undeterred. This morning’s shock seemed to have emboldened her. She pushed off the counter and put her hands on her hips. “Then when is the time?”
Lusgu glared.
“I’d really like to know where you’re from.”
“And I’d really like you to leave me alone,” came the waspish reply.
“Hello?”
Wynona turned at the sound of Prim’s voice. She sighed. Her conversation with Lusgu would have to be continued another time. Prim had apparently finished talking with the police and Wynona should make sure she was okay. “We’re not done here,” she said to Lusgu.
He shrugged, not the least bit intimidated by her warning.
Wynona shook her head and walked out. She was starting to have the sense that there was far more to Lusgu than she knew. “Prim?” Wynona walked out into the dining room.
Prim stood near the room entry, still looking far too pale. “Hey.”
Wynona gave her a sad smile and walked across the room with her arms wide.
Prim poofed into her human size and embraced Wynona. “This is going to cause such a ruckus in the fairy community,” she mumbled into Wynona’s shoulder.
Wynona rubbed Prim’s back. “I’m so sorry.”
Sniffing, Prim pulled back and nodded. “I know Dralo wasn’t a fairy, but he was dating the daughter of one of our most prominent families. If Thallia’s guilty, this won’t go over well.”
Wynona shook her head. “Thallia isn’t guilty, so don’t count her out just yet.”
Prim’s pink eyebrows shot up. “You’re sure? She had an alibi?”
“No...” Wynona trailed off. She finally shrugged. “I mostly just have my gut instincts. Unfortunately, Thallia had time, motive and no one to back up her alibi. Chief Ligurio really wants to believe it’s her.”
Prim folded her arms over her chest, looking angry. “Yeah, well, we know how that goes.”
“Be nice,” Wynona scolded. She pulled Prim farther into the shop. “Have a seat and I’ll get us something to eat.”
Prim plopped herself in a chair and put her face in her hands. “You have to help her.”
Wynona waited to answer until she had pulled a tray with lavender tea and a plate of pastries on it out to their table. “Help who?” she asked, though Wynona was pretty sure she knew the answer.
“Thallia,” Prim said. “You have to help her. I know what it’s like to be accused of something you didn’t do and to have no evidence to help save you.”
Wynona nodded. “I know you do,” she said softly. “But I don’t think I should get involved.”
“Why not?” Prim demanded, setting her cup down a little too hard. “She needs you.”
Wynona sighed and leaned back. How many times had she had this argument in the last few hours? “Because it’s a conflict of interest,” Wynona started with. “And because I’m still dealing with Celia and now I have to figure out how to keep an income coming in while the police solve yet another murder that ocurred in my office.”
Prim huffed. “It’ll get done much faster if you help. That’s the best way to save your business.”
Wynona shrugged. “The police are plenty competent.”
“For the most part,” Prim admitted, “they’re good people. But some of them need a good kick in the pants.”
Who’re we kicking and do I get to help? Violet asked as she sauntered out of the kitchen.
“Where have you been?” Wynona asked as her familiar climbed the table leg.
Around.
Wynona rolled her eyes, then turned back to Prim. “Ignore her.”
Prim smirked. “I can’t hear her. You’re the one who has to do the ignoring.”
Wynona made a face. “Sorry.”
“Although I am curious as to what she said that has you all huffy.”
“I’m not huffy,” Wynona argued. “I just...am tired of everyone saying I should jump into the investigation.”
Prim leaned forward. “Why aren’t you?” she pressed. “If everyone is after you, it’s for good reason. There has to be something else that’s keeping you from helping.”
Wynona stared at her teacup and twisted it back and forth.
“Nona...” Prim urged. “It’s me. You know I won’t judge you for anything.”
Wynona glanced up from under her eyelashes. “I know,” she assured Prim. “It’s...it’s stupid really, but I just...” She sighed. “Is it so wrong to want to live a normal life? To let the police handle the murders? To only want to run my tea business and learn about my magic like every other creature in Hex Haven? To not want everybody to want something from you or feel like the only people who don’t want something from you only stay away because they’re too afraid to ask for it?”
The table was silent for a few moments other than Violet’s muching. She didn’t seem the least bit concerned by Wynona’s emotional turmoil.
She hadn’t really meant to blurt it all out, but sometimes it all felt like too much. First she had no powers and learned to adjust. Now she had too many powers and no idea what to do about it. Meanwhile, she somehow kept getting roped into murder investigations, she fought with her parents, killed her own grandmother, was living with a sister who hated her guts, was desperately trying to learn how to control her rising abilities and had only recently found out that she had special soulmate powers with a wolf shifter. How much was too much before a creature went completely insane?
Prim’s lips pressed to the side and her eyes narrowed. “Nona...I don’t mean to sound trite about anything, but...maybe you’re looking at this all wrong.”
“And how is that?” Wynona snapped. She paused. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“I know.” Prim pushed her cup aside. “You’re stressed. I get it.” With a flick of her fingers, Prim grew one of the vines from a plant at Wynona’s window and had it spreading across the room until it arrived at the table with the women. “You see this?”
Wynona gave Prim a look. “How could I have missed it?”
Prim smirked and waggled her eyebrows. “This is known as a princess of the night.”
Wynona leaned back. “Really? That’s cool.”
Prim nodded slowly, fingering the petals. “That’s kind of a blanket term for a plant such as this, but I thought it applied to our situation.” Prim turned her bright eyes to Wynona. “It not only blooms at night, but only once a year.”
Wynona slumped a little. “It’s kind of hard to enjoy it if it only blooms once a year while we’re sleeping.”
Prim pursed her lips and ticked her head back and forth. “You can say that. Or you can see that by blooming at all, she helps bring beauty to the world and changes us for the better.” Cupping the vine in her fingers, Prim stilled and slowly Wynona watched as a bud formed, eventually spreading into a stunning white flower with spikes and petals that sprang in every direction.
“You’re obviously trying to teach me a lesson,” Wynona said softly, her eyes still on the flower. “But I don’t quite understand it.”
Prim’s eyes were closed and she didn’t answer right away. After a moment, she let out a long breath and looked at the flower, only to have it fade right in front of her, finally turning to ash. Prim gently set down the vine and allowed the plant to go back to its original size. Folding her fingers together, she turned to Wynona. “Was it worth seeing the blossom?”
“Of course. It’s beautiful,” Wynona responded.
“Even though it requires circumstances to be just right in order for it to come out?”
Wynona nodded. “Even then.”
Prim leaned in. “You’re like that flower, Nona. You required special circumstances in order to bloom. It took so long and was so different from every other path that you’re not quite sure what to do with yourself. I understand. My path has been different as well, but that doesn’t mean your flower isn’t worth blooming. There’s a reason the rarest blooming flowers are the most beautiful.” Prim winked. “It’s because they’re the ones worth waiting the most for.”
Wynona laughed softly. “Excellent lesson.”
Prim preened. “Thank you.”
“But I don’t completely agree with you.”
Prim shrugged. “I knew you wouldn’t.”
“And it doesn’t fix the fact that I’m really busy.”
Prim raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think you’ll ever not be busy?”
Wynona opened her mouth, but paused. There was truth in that statement. Life hadn’t been what she planned ever since she escaped the palace. There’d been murders, fighting, loving, learning... Her life had been on the go ever since she’d left home. To believe that it would calm down if she didn’t help with the investigation was probably a bit on the naive side.
“You mentioned that everyone either wants something from you or is afraid of you,” Prim said softly. “But this time it’s my turn to disagree.” She gave Wynona a sad smile. “We don’t all want something from you...we need something from you.” She leaned in. “And you need something from us.”
Wynona took a sip of tea. The heated drink felt good going down her throat as she contemplated what Prim was trying to explain. “And what is that?”
“Support. Acceptance. Friendship.” Prim shrugged. “Call it what you will, but the very thing every creature in Hex Haven is looking for is the ability to feel like they belong somewhere and have a purpose. So, yeah, we need that from you.” She grinned. “And you seem to have taken on the challenge of accepting all the weirdos, so...congrats on that.”
Watch it, Violet muttered.
Wynona absentmindedly scratched behind Violet’s ears. She grinned at Prim. “You realize you’re talking about yourself, right?”
Prim fluffed her pink hair. “And proud of it.” She dropped her hand. “But seriously, the world wouldn’t be the same without you, Nona. We need your bloom, not just your plant. And I know you well enough to know that you won’t be able to sit by and let Thallia be accused of a crime she didn’t commit. It would eat you up inside. So why not just skip all the hullabaloo and jump in with both feet?”
Wynona dropped her friend’s eyes and stared at her empty teacup. “What about Celia?”
Prim shrugged. “Celia’s here. We don’t know how sincere she is yet, but only time will tell us. Meanwhile, working the case will get you out of the house and away from her prying eyes.”
“You think she’s here for Mom and Dad as well?”
Prim pursed her lips. “I’m not sure. Honestly, as much as I hate to say it, I want to believe her. I want to think she’s itching for a change and that your dad’s empire is about to be shaken, but she’s been with them a long time and I’ve seen her do some nasty things, so...”
Wynona nodded. “Yeah...I feel the same way. I want to believe her, but I’m not quite sure how.”
“So what will you do?”
Wynona pinched her lips together. “I suppose first I ought to make sure Thallia’s taken care of.”
Prim snorted and grinned.
“Then I should find Granny’s grimoires.”
Her friend nodded.
“And finally, I should keep an eye on Celia and see what she’s up to.”
Prim held her teacup in the air. “That’s quite the list, but it sounds decent to me.”
“Oh,” Wynona said wryly. “And all the while I’ll work to keep my business from going under, hire a new employee, keep my relationship with Rascal moving forward and learn to control my magic even though no one can help me.”
Prim laughed. “Here’s to the road less traveled.”
Wynona held out her cup and muttered good naturedly, “I’m not even sure this road has been invented.”
“If anyone can pave the way, my princess blossom...it’s you,” Prim said with a wink.
Wynona shook her head. “Don’t call me a princess.”
Prim’s eyes widened. “Why not? Technically it’s true.”
“Because it’s what my parents called Celia all my growing up years and I want nothing to do with that.”
“Fair enough.” Prim finished her tea. “Now...you have a fairy to save and I have a gossip chain to tap. I’ll let you know what I find out.” She leapt up from her seat and began to walk away.
“Where are you going?” Wynona asked.
Prim grinned over her shoulder .”The Curl and Die... Where else?”
“Have fun.” If anyone would know the secrets of the Pearlily family, it would be the hair and nail salon. Those creatures knew more secrets than an invisible servant.
“Oh, I will!” Prim called out just before she opened the front door. “And I’ll check in soon! Love ya! Bye!”
Wynona smiled as the door slammed. “Love you too,” she whispered. She was touched by Prim’s pep talk. Her little fairy friend truly cared and had also been right. Everyone needed a place to belong.
The tea shop was Wynona’s place and she worked hard to make sure it was open to every creature who needed a place. Her community was still pretty small and yes, they might be some of the more unusual citizens of Hex Haven, but Wynona was pretty sure her life wouldn’t be the same without them.
“So...now it’s your job to protect this place,” she told herself, standing up. “And to do that, you have to make sure Thallia is exonerated. Once the true killer is caught, this place can be a sanctuary once more.”
She wiggled her fingers and began to clean up the tea mess. It was time to contact Rascal.