Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
“I’m sure,” Gayle told her. “But if what Cat is saying is the case, they’ve been too beaten down and traumatized to do anything.”
“They probably also all have pretty strong NDAs,” Laura added.
“I should hope so,” Aleece said. “But admin would have the same. Unless Arnaud was more of a complete moron than we thought. That said, Tatra is not. And if they’re Tanyn’s team, he absolutely is not.”
“Someone up to no good won’t care about an NDA,” Zyra remarked. “And I’m sorry Gayle, but if someone is feeling misused, that’s also a motive to strike back.”
Gayle inclined her head to concede the point.
Laura agreed, “Precisely. And making matters worse, if they’ve been underpaid, the serving staff would also still be in play, because they’d be ripe for someone to bribe them for information.”
Too true.
“Okay, so while you’re here, I want you to keep an eye out, an ear out, and your demon, shifter and fae senses open,” I said.
“Wouldn’t Tanyn have beings looking into this if he thinks there’s a leak?” Zyra asked.
“I’m sure he does. That doesn’t mean we can’t do what we can do. We’re living right in the middle of it. Some investigator or agent might not be. Unless Tanyn has someone undercover, and whoever that might be would be a new being to the rest of them, and therefore, if someone is doing something nefarious, a spy in our midst, they’d be wary of them. But we might be in a better position to ferret something out.”
“To be sure, they’d underestimate the females,” Aleece said bitterly.
“Okay, you should know, I got really angry at Aleksei when he told me what Bainon did to you,” Laura announced.
“And full disclosure, I learned about it too, only recently,” I put in. “And Tanyn was just bottom line angry Bainon did it.”
“Aleksei was too,” Laura added. “It was simply…he didn’t feel he could intervene between mates.”
“Same with Tanyn,” I said.
“I’m not mad at you guys,” Aleece told us, and focused on Laura. “Though, I am at Aleksei. He’s my brother.”
Laura grimaced in solidarity.
Oh my Laura, stuck between the male she loved and the overall sisterhood, not a good place to be.
“Mostly, I’m pissed as shit at Bainon,” Aleece went on. “I mean, what the actual fuck?” she turned to Zyra and mumbled, “Sorry about the language.”
“You’ve a right to be upset, lass,” Zyra said. “And no one has a right to ask you to temper it, especially not so soon after learning of this. Also”—she grinned—“that’s one of my favorite words.”
This had all of us laughing, some of us more freely than others, but we laughed. Even Gayle.
“Well, I’m in to suss out a spy,” Gayle said. “It’ll take my mind off things.”
“Mac is such a total ass,” Aleece mumbled to her plate before shoving more egged toast smothered in syrup in her mouth.
“Aleksei’s determined to get him to back off,” Laura shared.
“I’ve ordered a spell,” Gayle announced.
And again, that got all our attention.
“You’ve what?” Laura asked.
“It cost a fortune,” Gayle said. “But…this has to stop. The way I feel. I can’t concentrate on work. And now, I’m away again. I might lose my job. I mean, they’re being cool. It doesn’t happen often that an employee is fated to the prince and future king of an entire realm. And two of my bosses are already mated, so they get it. But there’s only so many times I can disappear to another realm.”
“So you’ve…ordered a spell?” Aleece forced out.
As she would.
There were ritualistic spells that witches conjured, but they’d been doing those for centuries, so ordering those up was commonplace, and it was very rare any of them went awry.
There were other spells that were downright illegal. For instance, love and revenge spells. But for the right price, and if you were able to access the wrong witch, you could still get them. However, if it was found you did something like that, the penalties were pretty severe—for the witch and the customer.
Then there were other spells that could be iffy, if the witch wasn’t well-trained and experienced. Like, if you wished to lose weight, a witch could spell you to lose interest in food. Or if you had a test to study for, a witch could give you a spell so you’d stay awake and alert. There were also environmental spells, like you lived in a noisy area of the city and wanted to block out the noise so you could sleep.
Or, apparently, if you wanted to dampen the link you had to your fated mate.
As such, it wasn’t verboten to go to a witch, and if they spellcast for a living, they had to be accredited, and the accreditation process, to my understanding, was thorough.
It was still widely considered reckless, unless the spell was lowkey.
“I’m sorry,” Gayle said, perhaps misreading Aleece’s reaction. “That was insensitive, since you’ve been living under one unknowingly for forever.”