Two days — and several more cracks later — Alanna met with Rosa and Beth at the Cookery Nook. Meeting for breakfast every Wednesday was a ritual they never missed, especially since Rosa had been Called to Marylebone. Life was different for all of them, as she no longer resided in Raven’s Creek every night of the week. Rosa still worked at the Gallery, made her pieces of jewelry, and pottered about in her apothecary kitchen in Rose Cottage, but as a neophyte and bound to the second-most senior Dragon; she also had her own apartment in Marylebone, a place neither Beth nor Alanna could visit. And would never visit, unless they, too, were Called.
“So what’s up?” Alanna tried hard to care what was going on in her sisters’ worlds, when all she could think about was Gregori. This morning, another thin line had appeared, right between the eyes, stretching down the bridge of his nose. There was another one, too, at the corner of his mouth and it gave the dragon an odd, lopsided leer.
Beth shrugged. “Not much. Although, I did dream about you last night.”
“What?” Alanna’s attention was diverted. “About me?”
As a Spell Weaver, her sister dreamed people’s futures and wove them into tapestries. She was often commissioned to make wedding and christening pieces even though none of the sisters encouraged the public to believe the rumors they were witches. There were very few in Raven’s Creek who knew the truth and they preferred to keep it that way. It didn’t hurt business though. The Gallery was highly successful and brought a lot of tourists and visitors to the small community.
Beth looked at her intently. “You need to start sculpting again. It’s your creative outlet. You need something to do while there’s no magic in your life.”
The only outlet Alanna wanted was to be free of Gregori. “I have no creative talent to speak of anymore. It was all entwined with my magical potential.”
“You must try. I’m weaving. I’m even dreaming. It’s helping. The fairies in the garden are beginning to return. I can’t see them, but I hear them occasionally. They’re a comfort.”
Alanna fought hard not to lose her temper. “I’m not a Pollyanna like you. You see the best in everything and I see the worst. That’s how the game is played between us. That’s my role.”
“Life isn’t a game,” Rosa frowned and stared intently at her, as if she could see the worry in Alanna’s aura. And maybe she could. “If you don’t like the life you have, change it. Don’t wait for someone to change it for you.”
Alanna hated it when Rosa went all know-it-all on her. She was the eldest and the bossiest. Well, actually, that wasn’t strictly true. “I wait for no one. I control my own destiny.”
“Then start sculpting.” Rosa had been their protector, the one who they looked up to during the darkest time in their lives. Without Rosa’s sheer grit and determination to keep them together as a family after their parents’ death, they would have been put into foster care. She’d needed to be strong and, at times, bossy.
“Rosa’s right,” Beth insisted. “I’d almost forgotten I wove things long before I learned any spells. At least this way, when my magic comes back, I’ll be prepared.”
“I thought I was prepared,” Rosa said, the truth shining in her eyes, “until the bells tolled for me.” She spoke to Alanna. “You’re strong, and you’re powerful. They’re likely to toll for you, too. Are you prepared for them if and when they do?”
“Give me a break. That’s not going to happen without magic to back me up.” Alanna was definitely feeling antsy, ready to flout authority wherever she found it. It was a game with her, and now it had become a habit hard to shake.
Rosa was deadly serious. “And you don’t think that would make an interesting test?”
Beth was horrified. “How would she bind herself to her mate? What if that happened to me? Marylebone is still untangling our magical mayhem.”
“They’re not going to do something so silly,” Alanna paused as a waitress placed a creamy omelet in front of her. “Thanks.” She waited for the waitress to move away. “You’re plucking at straws. Besides, Goran said you’ll get your magic back soon and surely, the fact you can hear fairies and are dreaming means you won’t have long to wait.”
“And we all know yours could take years,” Rosa reminded her, not so kindly. “Goran said that, too. The sooner you realize the precariousness of your situation, the sooner you’ll be back on the path to regaining your power. What are you going to do until then? Sit around and complain how you’ve lost your mojo? It’s not very attractive.”
“That’s downright nasty. Your role is to lift my spirits, not depress them.”
“My role, as you put it, is to train neophytes at Marylebone and make jewelry for the Gallery. I can suggest things, but what you do with my suggestions … well, that’s entirely up to you.”
Rosa shrugged as if she didn’t believe Alanna would ever listen to anything she said. But Alanna was listening. She just wasn’t about to admit it right this second. Obstinate? Maybe. But only when it came to being told what to do by Rosa.
And yet she’d asked for advice, and she’d gotten it. She just didn’t happen to like this particular advice or the censure in Rosa’s tone, despite deserving it.