clear to the other side of the peninsula. And there’s builders on the land now to make that fancy new housing development. For what? I don’t know. Nobody living out here is that fancy. I think they’re trying to attract the super-rich as like a vacation hotspot, but don’t you think they’d miss out on the charm of Ireland if they’re tucked away in some fancy new-build construction? What about the history? And the nature? No, it can’t be good.”
“Wait, back up.” Kira waved away Grace’s questions about what the super-rich wanted on their holidays. “You’re saying that Brogan is behind the new development that’s going on in the area?”
“I think so. It’s on his land, from my understanding. Dylan said he protested that it wasn’t his. But Liam said he saw Brogan looking at land use management studies when he was working at Ann’s Café. So it has to be him.”
“Land use… I saw the same. When we collided at the café.”
“You collided?”
“Bumped heads. He dropped his papers and we reached down at the same time. Those were land studies.” Fury ripped through Kira. How dare this man come to their land and try to turn it into a development? And here he’d been playing all cute with the otters too. She curled her fists together, forcing herself to breathe before she did something drastic.
“I can’t believe I was so wrong about him. He seemed to genuinely care about nature. And his aura was good. Is that possible? Can my magick misfire like that?”
“Tell me everything and we’ll go from there,” Gracie said, slanting a look at a bottle of whiskey on the shelf. “Is it too early for whiskey?”
“Not if it’s in coffee,” Kira said.
“I’ve got heavy cream for it too. Let’s go to the kitchen and break this down. Because I do trust your instincts and your magick. I feel like you’d know if he was a bad person.”
“For sure, I would be knowing that,” Kira huffed. She took the metal bowl of cream from Gracie and sat down at the long bench that lined the massive wooden kitchen table where Gracie mixed her potions and tinctures. Needing something to do with her energy, Kira began to ferociously whisk the cream.
“What was his aura energy?” Gracie asked as she measured the coffee.
“Blue and green. It was really a lovely aura, which is what actually interested me at first. I thought, for once, I could enjoy a fling with a nice guy.”
“Hmm, what was Dax’s?”
“Jax. It was brown and red.” Kira hung her head.
“Shame on you.” Gracie tsked. “You know better.”
A brown aura typically suggested someone who was selfish and a red aura would indicate someone driven by passion. Mixing them together would make someone who was incredibly focused on one particular thing. In Jax’s case, it was himself and his music. Not exactly a winning combination for someone as a partner, but it was what had made him successful as a rock star.
“I know, I know, I know.” Kira handed Gracie back the bowl of cream. “But it was what made him incredibly good at what he does. And it was also what made me take notice when I found an attractive man with a decidedly different aura.”
“That’s fine then. So say your aura reading is right – what’s going on, then?” Gracie poured a generous splash of whiskey in each coffee and added a dollop of cream on top. Turning, she came to sit next to Kira and handed her a steaming glass. “Sláinte.”
“Maybe… maybe he thinks he is doing a good thing? That he’s bringing tourists to the area and infusing the economy with money? I mean, I guess he’s giving locals jobs, too.”
“He’s not, though. The locals are working for Dylan on the community center. Remember how people were grumbling over the fact that a new company had brought people in?”
“Oh right, I did hear something about that.” Kira licked the cream from around the rim of the cup and took her first sip of the coffee. It was a perfect mix, and just what a blustery day on the cliffs called for.
“Tell me about your kiss.”
“Well, it was an impulse on my part. I’ve been going up to visit the otters like I told you about.”
Gracie nodded and motioned for Kira to continue.
“Which is why I’ve started this otter Instagram. I wanted to raise support and awareness that their habitats are being threatened. Plus, they’re so damn cute.”
“They really are.”
“And I was up