A Little Green Magic (The Little Coven #1) - Isabel Wroth Page 0,70
it helped release the tension pent up inside Uriah for having to be patient instead of impulsive.
Ivy was quickly coming to realize she detested waiting for the other shoe to drop, but at least there were pleasurable distractions.
*****
In the morning light, Ivy reached out and cupped her brother's flower in her hand while Uriah stood at her back, scanning the forest in hopes of locating the messenger. Like before, the flower snapped open to reveal the red letters carefully written across the petals.
Pick your battles. Don't let him make the first move.
A strange sort of peace washed over her at her brother's advice, but doubts crept in. If Ilex had been able to find her, why wouldn't he tell their father?
Wasn't that the 'him' Ilex was referring to?
Why warn her unless he was attempting to draw her out?
He'd looked so sad and tired when he looked up at her last night, the expression there before he'd seen her. It could be genuine, or could he have sensed her the way she sensed him and schooled his features before glancing up?
Ivy sighed, rubbing at her forehead as that sense of peacefulness vanished. “What do you think?”
Uriah gave a shrug, his hand rubbing up and down her back. “Despite the unknown source, it's sound enough advice. I don't much like waiting around for an enemy to surprise me.”
“The other shoe,” she murmured. “It always drops.”
Uriah gave a bearish grunt. “Not if we drop it first.”
Ivy brushed her thumb across the red letters written on the white petals. It was good advice. Something any brother might give his sister.
The flower withered in her palm, turning thin and papery, crumbling to dust that blew away on the wind. She wiggled her fingers until all the remnants were gone and looked up at Uriah with a nod.
“Not if we drop it first. I need to do some studying.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
All the girls waited patiently, except for Juliet, who sat drumming her fingers, leg bouncing, glaring at the bowl of peaches at the center of the table. Her agitation no doubt had to do with the lion enforcer currently holding up the wall with his broad shoulders, a look of aloof boredom on his face.
Uriah was by the door, and had he been in his fur, it would have been bristling with impatience.
Rowena finished sealing the dining room to prevent any Fae outside the room, namely the Brownies, from overhearing the conversation about to begin.
Ivy felt a pressure in her ears that made her pinch her nose and blow air through her sinuses until they popped, noticing no one else seemed to feel the discomfort. Evidence, she supposed, that the spell was working.
“Alright, let's get down to business,” Rowena announced, her cute pink kitten heels clipping across the floor as she moved to take her seat at the head of the table. “I assume you've finished reading your mother's journal?”
Ivy nodded, unable to keep from smiling when Uriah pushed away from the door to come and settle his hands on her shoulders.
His thumbs rubbed up and down her throat, offering her comfort and reassurance that he was there to lean on when she struggled through deciding her opening move.
Over the past few days, Ivy had leaned heavily on him, worried he would find her too needy or clingy. To her surprise and intense relief, Uriah seemed to thrive on her needing him.
In fact, it seemed to settle him. He took care of everything, of her, with a smile on his face and contentment in his loving expression.
“I did. She confirmed all of the things Le Doux hinted about in her letter, but I didn't learn anything about why my father is searching for me. I wanted to talk to all of you about the second message left for me. 'Pick your battles. Don't let him make the first move.' Uriah and I agree that waiting for the other shoe to drop is the wrong play.”
Astrid nodded as though having expected this, and for all Ivy knew, Astrid had the inside knowledge of exactly when and where Ivy's father would appear and to what purpose. Ivy had long ago learned that even if she did know, Astrid wouldn't share those details if it meant altering fate or destiny.
But, that nod in and of itself was telling. Ivy was heading down the right road.
“You want to summon him before he shows up with the upper hand,” Kerrigan said, pressing her fingertips together studiously. “I like it. Ambush?”