Gray Witch (Black Hat Bureau 5)

“I apologize, again, for my misstep.” I was making a great impression, I could tell. “He referred to you as ‘Asa’s mom,’ and I did the same without thinking.”

“You’re friendly with that—?” She bit down on her next words. “You’re close to that part of him?”

“I am.” I heard the testiness in my voice. “And we are.” I elbowed him. “I’m his second-best friend.”

“Asa mentioned he met someone.” Her gaze sharpened. “I didn’t think he’d choose a witch.”

“We get that a lot.” I shrugged like the slight didn’t matter. “Good thing love conquers all.”

“You love him?” Her doubt stung me, but it was the daemon she fixated on. “All of him?”

“That’s how love works.” I might not be a pro, but I knew this to be true. “I’m all-in.”

“Do you think, as a witch, you could bind him?”

Ba-bump.

A rush of anger so cold it scalded crashed over me, deafening me, sweeping away all my good intentions until her heart became the only sound in my world. “What do you mean?”

Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

“His daemon half,” she explained, as if it were obvious. “Could you bind it to his fae half?”

Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

Light strobed behind my eyes, and then I was holding my athame to her delicate throat. “Come again?”

“You can’t mean to share your life with both of them?” Her horror was palpable. “That’s unseemly.”

“Lady, I’m a black witch. I’ve done the worst things you can imagine and then some. Usually, I was smiling while I did them. Laughing even. But to bind the daemon to the fae as one personality would be to strip away the facets of the man I fell in love with, and I would rather slice you in half than tear him down the middle.”

Tears filled her eyes and tumbled down her cheeks, and her bottom lip trembled as she held in a sob.

She must not have experience with blades being pointed at her throat.

As my maybe future mother-in-law, she better get used to it if she had more of these bright ideas.

“I’m done here.” I paused in front of the daemon. “Even if Asa and I don’t work out, if she ever tries to cage you, come to me. I don’t care where I am or what I’m doing. You come to me, and I’ll fix it.”

With a sour taste in the back of my throat, I returned to our room.

Alone.

This was not how I pictured meeting his mother would go. I hadn’t meant to act like a jealous harpy, but with the restrictions placed on Asa’s person, I was floored to see another woman fondling him. Though, I guess with it being his mom, it wasn’t technically fondling, but still.

How had she gotten here? What did she want? Did I care?

I was still so mad at her gall in asking me to bind her son, I wanted to stab something.

I sank onto the bed and scrubbed my face with my palms. I didn’t look up when Asa entered the room. I didn’t peek when he knelt in front of me. I didn’t blink when he pried away my hands. I stared at a stain on the carpet that reminded me of Saturn and waited for him to reprimand me for scaring his mother.

“Come here.” Asa dragged me into his arms, and I pressed my face into his neck. “I’m not mad.”

“I am,” I mumbled against his skin. “She asked me to bind you.”

“I know.” He nuzzled me. “I heard.”

A throat cleared behind him, and I found Callula, lovely as ever, standing in the open doorway.