Reg left the dress shop with a bag full of goodies and nearly ran into Letticia on the sidewalk outside.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Letticia looked her over. A stern, sour-looking old witch, she always made Reg feel small and inadequate. But she had spoken gently to Reg when Sarah’s health had been failing, had served her tea, and spoken up in her defense when she had gone to Corvin’s tribunal to testify. And she made tasty chocolate chip cookies. The woman wasn’t all bad. There was something soft and warm under the tough exterior.
“You’ve been shopping,” Letticia observed.
Reg felt unaccountably guilty. She clutched the bag closer, as if she had to protect it. What was Letticia going to do? Take it away? Tell her she couldn’t afford it and force her to take it back? Reg had paid for it, and it wasn’t any of Letticia’s business.
“Yes. I… needed a new dress.”
“Indeed.”
Reg resisted the urge to insist that she really did need it. Letticia seemed like every stern schoolteacher Reg had ever had, always catching her out doing something wrong, even if Reg had no idea she had been doing anything bad in the first place.
“I had one of your cookies the other day. The ones you gave to Sarah. They’re really good.”
Letticia’s face softened a little. “I’m glad you enjoyed them. Don’t eat too many of them if you want to fit into that dress.”
Reg rolled her eyes. “You’re right about that. It at least has a lace-up bodice, so there is some leeway. But too many and my investment is going to go down the drain.”
Letticia nodded. “You’re… going out tonight, are you?”
Reg hadn’t said so, and wondered whether Letticia had psychic skills herself, or whether she was guessing.
“Yes, actually. Tonight.” Reg didn’t know what else to say. If Letticia were fishing for gossip, Reg wasn’t about to give it to her.
“I heard you were seeing Damon Knight. Is that who you’re going out with?”
Reg shook her head and didn’t identify who her date was. Letticia raised one eyebrow, looking disapproving. She didn’t say who the next most likely suspect was. She didn’t need to.
“I heard you like to play with fire.”
Reg was working on her newly-discovered fire casting abilities, so the phrase had a double meaning. She wasn’t sure whether Letticia meant it that way, or whether she just wanted to warn Reg away from having anything to do with Corvin. But Letticia’s coven was also shunning Corvin, and it would seem she wouldn’t even mention him by name. Reg was happy to leave it that way. She didn’t have to lie, and she didn’t have to tell the truth. She would remain silent on the subject of Corvin, just as Letticia was.
“I don’t know where you heard that,” she said lightly.
But she could make an educated guess. Letticia had heard it from Davyn, the leader of Corvin’s coven. He was Reg’s mentor in fire casting and also the equivalent of Corvin’s probation officer, keeping track of what he was doing and if he were complying with the rules of the community. The one who would decide when Corvin had paid for his sins. Davyn would have lots of inside information to share with Letticia. Reg would have to be careful what she revealed to him if it were going to get passed on to the witch. Reg had assumed that they had some understanding of privacy between them.
Reg looked pointedly at her phone. “I’d better get moving. Lots to get done this afternoon.”
Letticia nodded and stepped aside without a word. Reg navigated around her and Letticia gave her a smile that looked more like a grimace, then went into the dress shop.
Reg let out her breath. She was glad she didn’t belong to a coven, or whatever the equivalent was for a psychic. And she was particularly glad that she didn’t have to report to Letticia.
She kept herself busy until the time for her date with Corvin was bearing down on her as quickly as that truck had sped down Francesca’s street. She needed the dress, some jewelry, a small handbag so that she didn’t have to take her monstrously big shoulder purse, and a manicure. She chickened out and didn’t have a beauty shop do her makeup for her. She had done enough new things for one day. She wanted to make sure she still looked like herself on the date, not like some model with all of her freckles blotted out.
The dress fit her and was pretty comfortable. Though it was fancier and much more expensive than her usual daily wear, it wasn’t so fancy that she wouldn’t be able to wear it to other events or even just for a night out with the girls. Dressed up with a little jewelry, her hair up, and the new manicure, the dress would look elegant. But not so much so that she felt like she had stepped into someone else’s body.
Her phone vibrated with a text notification. Corvin.
I’m here. Coming back to collect you. Don’t shoot.
Reg grinned. Come at your own risk.
In another minute, she could hear his dress shoes clicking on the stones of the pathway. She pulled the shimmery shawl she had purchased around her shoulders and stepped out the door to meet him. It was dusk, the shadows just starting to gather around them so that they could still see each other. Corvin drew close to Reg and looked down at her.
“You look charming, Regina.”
She smiled. He was the one who was trying to charm. But she was glad he hadn’t gone over the top and said she was breathtaking or gorgeous. She wouldn’t have believed that. Charming she could believe. Even bewitching.
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
He wasn’t in tux and tails this time, as he had been for the Eagle Arms. But he was spiffed up in a dark suit, white shirt, and tie. He looked buffed and polished and smelled like… himself. A clean, musky smell. Not roses. Just Corvin.
Corvin offered his arm and Reg took it. With several layers of fabric between them, she didn’t get the electrical buzz that she felt with skin-to-skin contact with Corvin, but still felt a warm, heart-quickening thrum.
Corvin led her up the path, back to his car parked at the curb in front of the big house. The big black luxury car, not the little white compact he buzzed around town with the rest of the time. He politely opened Reg’s door for her, then walked around the car and took his own seat.
The car’s engine purred as he turned the key, put it in gear, and pulled out into the street. There was quiet music on the radio. Jazz, she thought. He waited a few moments before saying anything, looking at her sideways to assess her mood and the results of her preening.
“And how is Regina tonight?”
“I’m good.” Reg let her breath out slowly, consciously relaxing her muscles, but not her vigilance. She needed to remain focused and ready for any attempt by Corvin to charm her.
It was the first time in recent months that she could say she felt like she was on top of her game; well-rested, strong, and focused. As long as she didn’t let herself get distracted with thoughts of Vivian and her accident and the puzzling trinity of images she had seen in the tea. Tree, house, kitchen. Reg shook off the images and nodded.
“I’m feeling pretty good.”
“Glad to hear it. And hopefully, you’ll be feeling even better by the end of the night.”
Reg ignored the innuendo and the honeyed smoothness of his voice. He really did have the whole seduction package perfected. When he was in pursuit, everything he did was calculated to charm and attract her.
“I guess that depends on where we’re going for dinner,” she said cavalierly. “Where did you pick?”
“I took the opportunity to get us a reservation at Uncle Mike’s, a little off-the-beaten-path restaurant that serves the best barbecue in Florida.”
“Off the beaten path?” Reg wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that.
“I followed your instructions. It’s public. No private dining room. And it’s always full.”
“You’re sure?”
“Would I lie to you?”
Of course he would. Reg gazed out the window at the gathering darkness. “Exactly how far off the beaten path are we talking about?”
“It’s out of town.”
“Not in Black Sands?”
“No.”
“Then where is it?”
“It isn’t in any city limits. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere. But you know Florida, even out in the middle of nowhere is still a stone’s throw from civilization.”
Reg had nearly gotten lost looking for Letticia’s house in the Everglades. That was wild enough for her. It would be very easy for someone to get lost out there in the wild and never find her way back to civilization. Or for someone to hide something he didn’t want found.
“I don’t know about this.”
“Trust me. When you taste Uncle Mike’s ribs, you are going to forget all about everything else. As far as I know, the cooks don’t do any actual magic there, but you would swear it’s ambrosia.”
The word was familiar to Reg, but she couldn’t remember what it meant, other than that something tasted good.
“Ambrosia is…” She was pretty sure it wasn’t barbecue.
“Food of the gods. Greek mythology.”
“Oh, yeah. Right.”
Did she really want him to take her out of town? Away from the relative safety of Black Sands? Though, after everything that had happened since she had arrived there, they might actually be safer outside of Black Sands. Gather a bunch of magical practitioners into one small town like that, and anything could happen.
“You will be safe, Reg,” Corvin assured her, putting his hand on her knee. Reg was glad that she had on a long skirt rather than a short one that would have left her knees exposed. She could feel the warmth of his touch, but she could resist that.
“You’d better pay attention to your driving,” she advised, pulling her knee away.
“You think I can’t drive and talk to you at the same time?” He smirked and rested his arm along the back of the seat, behind her head. Reg shifted, keeping an eye on him.
“This barbecue place had better be really good.”
“Oh, it is.”