eldritch files 07 - elemental blood by phaedra weldon Page B

where they were. Eventually, nothing else moved in the area in front of the cabin but the Wolves and us. I dismissed my Elementals with thanks and gave Solomon a hard look when he turned to face us.
    He shrugged. "That is a very serious look, Miss Hawthorne. Welcome home."
    "What did you just do?" I approached him. In the woods, he looked regal, even in his suit and tie.
    He gave me a weak smile. "As for what I did, I averted a disaster. I don't know who summoned a Purs, but if it'd run loose here, it would have turned everything to stone. That's what they do."
    "You said turn everything to stone?" Crwys said as he approached.
    “That is what they do,” Brahms said as he came closer from the porch.
    "Brahms, this is Crwys Holliard. He's a detective."
    Brahms gave him a courtly bow. "I am Brahms Bounderfoot. I am the Risi King's Chevalier."
    Everyone gave introductions at that point, but I kept my eyes on Crwys, and his locked on mine. Blushing with embarrassment and a pretty large amount of worry, I looked around for Bastien and noticed the Wolves were gone. Kyle stood with Dharma and Ivan by the cabin. Dharma was on the phone. I looked back to Crwys. "You already know about the missing Nissah Rissy king?"
    Crwys rubbed his face before he walked up to me and then thumped me on the back of the head.
    "Ow!" I rubbed the spot.
    He had his finger in my face. "Don't you ever leave me like that again. Got it? I won't be so forgiving next time. And yes. We know about the missing king. We had a visit from his first in command. A mouthy lady named Yolyn."
    "Yolyn?" A base played dun, dun, duuuuun in my head when I looked at Brahms. "Yolyn was the one who attacked you, right?
    “Yes.” Brahms looked at each of them. "Yolyn led the charge against our retinue. She was the one that wounded Satar."
    "Really now…" Crwys said as he narrowed his eyes. “Funny how she failed to mention that.”
    "The King," I piped up. "But you saved him. You put him through a gate to safety right?" I looked at the odd looks on Tas’s, Levi's and Crwys's faces. "What?"
    "Babe…" Crwys put his hand on my shoulder. "There's something at the shop you need to see…"



ELEVEN
    I stood in front of the wall where my basement used to be and scratched my head. "I got nothing."
    "So"—Kyle stood to my right—"you didn't do this."
    "No."
    Ivan leaned against said wall on my left. "You're sure it wasn't something…subliminal?"
    I shifted my gaze from the wall to his adorable face. "Yes."
    Dharma stepped up with three mugs of tea. Ivan took one, then me, then Kyle. "I think you all should start looking at another possibility?"
    We pinned her with our stares. "What?" Ivan said.
    "That maybe the King did it himself?"
    Brahms, who'd been standing off to my right with a strange, distant look on his face, blinked abruptly and stepped forward. "I believe the Water Witch is right."
    My gaze shifted to him. I arched my brow at him when he looked at me.
    "As the Chevalier, I was raised since birth to be attuned with the King. I know his mannerisms, habits, and I can taste his magical signature."
    Kyle blinked. "Taste?"
    "Magic has a sense to it. Sometimes it's a smell, and other times it's a taste, or even a noise."
    I could relate to the sensory thing. In the beginning when I was infected with Arcane, it smelled like rotting chicken and looked like squirming red worms. Then later, as it fused itself to me, the worms turned into sparkles, all red and flash, and the smell faded away. Now it was something more akin to baked cinnamon. "So you sense Satar's magic?"
    "Yes. And I can see it. It's covering this wall. It could be possible the King's protecting himself."
    "So leaving him here wasn't a bad idea?" Arden said on approach. She'd been talking with Crwys, Tas and Levi in my office. About what? Who knew? And who cared? I wanted my basement back. It took a lot of power and a lot of long nights to carve that basement out of…well…it's hard to explain.
    "I don't think