Her smile vanished and her expression turned somber. “No, I worked last night which is why I need some caffeine. You don’t happen to have an espresso machine, do you?”
I waved my hand through the air before grabbing a mug that Skylar gave me. It said, ‘I’m a Nightmare Before Coffee’ and had Jack Skellington’s face on the front. “I wish. Tim promised to get me one for my birthday as soon as he had regained his strength after his first round of chemo, but he never got a chance to go shopping before he passed away. Now, I just can’t see spending the money on that, especially since I have stopped working.”
Aislinn accepted the mug with a smile. “Are you doing okay? Do you need a job? There are plenty here in town we can arrange. We can’t have you move away. We need you.”
I’d decided to move here to start a new life centered around me taking care of myself. For longer than I wanted to admit, my life had been about the needs of others. First my husband, then my kids and my job, then my husband and job again. Now was all about me, yet when she said that I didn’t feel like my needs were neglected.
“I’m good financially.” Between my husband’s life insurance and the inheritance from my grandmother, I had plenty of money to support myself. “It helps that my bills are minimal, and I have no mortgage or car payment. I just can’t see spending that much money for coffee. Anyway, as much as I enjoy your company, you didn’t stop by just to bring me pastries. What’s up?”
Aislinn sat in one of the chairs at the small table in my breakfast nook. I brought the pink box over and lifted the lid. I was going to need to run an extra ten miles today if I ate all these. I grabbed a pastry and slid the rest to her.
“Please tell me you found something that helped you discover the ins and outs of being Cottlehill Wild’s Guardian.”
I swallowed the bite in my mouth, and it sank to my gut like a stone. “No. Violet even came over last night and helped me. I nearly got her killed, but I didn’t find anything that will help me. Why? What happened?” I hated to ask, but if I learned one thing in life, sticking my head in the sand helped nothing.
“Crap. That was what I was afraid of. You need to fix the ward, and now. Dark Fae are coming through in increasing frequency. If we don’t do something there won’t be anyone left in our town.” Aislinn was picking at her croissant and eating the almond slivers from the top even though her face had gone pale, and she looked sick to her stomach.
“Violet and I discovered that firsthand last night,” I admitted. I gave her a brief rundown of what had happened, leaving out the part where I wanted to throttle Sebastian then kiss him senseless. I didn’t understand what that was about and had far more important things to worry about than some guy I both loathed and lusted after.
When Tim died, I decided that I had experienced enough love for one life and didn’t need the drama finding another man would bring. Someone or something wanted me dead. That outweighed anything else.
“Dammit. I wondered why they risked coming into town last night. Now it makes sense. With Bas helping you, he wasn’t around to catch the evil Elf that had slipped into the bar.” Aislinn wiped a tear from her cheek and lifted grief-stricken green eyes to me.
My chest ached for her. “What happened? What evil Elf?”
She sniffed and resumed the picking of her croissant. “I was closing Phoenix Feathers shortly before midnight and telling Zed it was time to go when the doors burst open. Before I knew what was happening the Elf had buried a knife in Zed’s back and was coming after me.”
“Holy shit. How did you get away?” My heart was pounding in my chest, and I couldn’t catch my breath until I reminded myself that she lived through the ordeal.
She pushed her red curls away from her face, revealing a large purple bruise on the side of her face. “I wouldn’t have gotten out of there if Desmond hadn’t come back to grab the deposit. The Elf was so intent on killing me that he never heard Des sneak up behind him and slice his throat. I’ve never seen so much blood in my life.” She hunched over and sobbed into her hands.
Jumping from my chair, I rounded the table and hunched at her side, and wrapped my arms around her slim shoulders. “You survived, Ais. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you.”
She lifted her tear-streaked face and wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands. “You were too busy fighting for your life. And someone is trying to stop you from doing your job and discovering how you can protect our town better. We need to get that information, so they don’t take us all out one by one.”
“You, Violet and I were targeted last night. That’s no coincidence. But who? And how?”
Cottlehills was a small town, and I knew almost everyone. It seemed unlikely someone who lived here tried to eliminate me, but I couldn’t rule it out. It was entirely possible the dark King was sending his minions through the portal. I had no idea where it was or how to stop creatures from crossing.
“I have no idea, but there has to be something somewhere to help. Did Violet find anything in her store?” Aislinn asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I tapped my lips as I tried to recall what we’d talked about the other day when I went to see her. It seemed like another lifetime ago when I sought her out to confirm Aislinn’s assertion that I was the new Guardian.
I shook my head. “Not that I know of. When I went to see her, I asked if what you said was true. Nothing else. We came here to look for any information my grandmother might have left to help me in my new role. I didn’t find anything from my grams. Not even a letter.”
Aislinn pushed back and stood up. “Sounds like we need to pay Violet a visit. Perhaps there’s something there that can give us some information.”
I shook my head but stood and grabbed the pink box before I followed her to the door. “She told me she didn’t have anything that would give me information on my job or anything.”
Aislinn opened the driver’s side door to her car and gestured for me to climb in. “That might be the case, but there’s more now it seems. More often than not our focus is narrow. There’s never been a reason to look too deep or consider alternatives. We’ve lived a life of relative safety while Isidora was alive. Now that we’re facing unknown threats.”
I latched my seat belt as she turned the key then took off down my dirt road. “Fair enough. I’m still struggling to wrap my mind around all of this, so I guess I should keep my mouth shut and leave it to the more experienced. Unless it’s Sebastian making the suggestion. Then I’ll seek a second opinion.”
Aislinn snickered as she turned down Main Street. “Bas has always been moody, but he seems to have a little extra for you.”
“Understatement. The question is why? I’ve never done anything to him.” I could hear how petulant I sounded, but I couldn’t help it. He unsettled me and brought up every doubt I’ve ever had in my life.
Aislinn lifted her shoulders as she pulled into a parking spot close to Pleasure Bound, Violet’s bookstore. “He’s a hard Fae to crack.”
I got out of the car clutching the pink box while considering a muffin. “He’s as hard as a macadamia nutshell. I wonder if I apply three hundred pounds of pressure if he’d crack, too.”