Witch In Charge - Celia Kyle Page 0,58

monster from the ground up, in the best possible way. Kelly made a mental note to never be late again.

“Son of a bitch,” Kalliope hissed through gritted teeth. She made a few swift moves and said, “Check your wallet.”

When Ronun pulled it out of his back pocket, it was positively bursting with cash. He looked as stunned as Kelly felt. She’d never seen that much money all at once before. And the witch had magicked it there in small bills—out of spite.

“Looks like it’s all here,” Ronun said, thumbing through the massive stack of ones and fives.

“Count it.” Owyn was firm.

“Oh, come on,” Kalliope whined. “Are you serious?”

“Do I look serious?” Apparently, he tightened the portal even more, because she gave a small yelp.

“All right, all right! Hang on.”

Another few brisk gestures and the brimming wad shrank into a thick clutch of hundreds. Despite the shrinkage, it was still pretty impressive so far as Kelly was concerned.

Ronun flicked through them quickly. “We’re good.”

“Make sure they’re real.” Man, Owyn was ruthless. And Kelly was taking notes.

“Dammit,” Kalliope growled. “It’s all real. Will you please let me go now?”

With a swipe of Owyn's hand, the portal opened enough that she could snatch her arm out of…wherever it was. She rubbed the red circle on her arm where she'd been held and stared daggers at her captor.

“You’re a real son of a bitch, you know that?”

“Don’t try my patience, Miss Le Blanc. It’s already thin.”

She opened her mouth to snap back at him, and as obvious as it was that she wanted to cuss him out, she clearly thought better of it. In a puff of smoke, Kalliope was gone.

“Holy shit, that was cool,” Kelly shrieked, letting out that mawkish bark of laughter.

“I appreciate your help, Mr. Stahagan,” Ronun said, “but what are you doing here? Why get involved in this?”

“There’s no way a swindler like that could help you, Mr. Fluevog. Not from what Miss Holloway has told me about your particular case.”

Ronun shot her a questioning look before slumping back in his seat in defeat. “So it’s hopeless.”

Kelly gripped his hand hard, but he barely squeezed back.

“I didn’t say that,” Owyn said.

“Damn straight,” Kelly broke in. “There’s not a chance in hell I’m just going to let you live with this thing, Ronun. I’m gonna get to the bottom of this!”

She was vehement. Perhaps more than she intended, but it nabbed Ronun’s attention.

“You’re…what?”

Owyn's expression softened, which was as good as a smile, where he was concerned. “Miss Holloway has been most pressing about your case. She’s been asking clever little questions, trying to position herself to break your curse on her own.”

“Really?” Ronun asked. “You're still trying?”

He seemed unaccountably moved by her efforts. Her failed efforts, but still.

“Now more than ever,” she answered softly.

Ronun scooped her into a kiss. At first, she felt mildly self-conscious that he was giving her so much of the real thing with Owyn right across the table. But Ronun’s lips were so persuasive that she forgot all about her boss in short order.

They kissed like they were the only people in the world, let alone in the room. Only when Owyn cleared his throat did they come back down to earth.

“As pleasant as all this is,” he said as they blinked the stars out of their eyes, “we have important work to do.”

“Tonight?” Ronun looked stunned.

“The sooner the better.” Kelly wrapped herself around his arm and snuggled up close.

Owyn slid out of the booth and set about straightening his jacket. After his tangle with Kalliope, he seemed to have the vigor of a man half his age. It was electric.

“We have only a few hours before dawn,” he said. “Given how much we have to learn, there’s not a second to lose.”

“You’re going to help me? Why?”

The old man looked down, almost startled by Ronun’s simple question. He leaned over the table and placed his hands flat on it to look the young man in the eye.

“Because your case interests me. And it certainly interests Miss Holloway. It’s been some time since I had a challenge worthy of my attention. And I'll tell you something else.”

“What’s that?”

Owyn stood up again, that odd half-smile playing at his stern lips. “I’m not going to charge you ten thousand dollars for the privilege.”

With that, he strode across the darkened cafeteria, leaving the young lovers to catch up with him. As Kelly clung hard to Ronun’s hand, she watched the back of the curse breaker ahead of them.

I’m definitely changing