Shards: Book One of the Anderian Series

Chapter 12: Stress Relief

Mature Content

"You bitcth," Tiffany lisped through swollen lips as blood trickled from her nose.

I shook my hand to lessen the sting. The witch had a hard face, that was for sure, and I was pretty sure the scrape on my knuckle came from a tooth. When she grimaced, baring her teeth at me, it confirmed it.

"You're welcome."

"For what?" She screamed, magic sparking around her.

"This." I circled a finger around my mouth. "Straightened that entire business out. You don't need braces now."

Kay threw up a shielding spell just in time, and I tossed them a grateful look that was returned with a frown. Okay, just because they wanted to protect me from getting my skin melted off my body, it didn't mean they wanted to be my friend. Duly noted.

"Bria, enough." Jac pushed me back into the chair I'd vacated just minutes ago. Judging from the red slash across his high cheekbones and the glittering in his eyes, he was really annoyed or turned on—probably both. If I recalled our best sex happened when we were irritated with each other.

"It's her fault. She laughed at me."

And to be fair, punching her had been predicated on a wrong look. Laughing at me when I said I was the Shard Keeper was basically a golden ticket to getting her ass handed to her, and she better thank whatever gods she worshipped I was not magically inclined. Otherwise, Jac would be reading me my rights while carting me away for murder. I hated being laughed at more than almost anything else. It was right there next to rapists, child molesters, and people who talked in the movie theater.

"Because what you're saying is abthurd," Tiffany screamed.

Kay pressed their lips together as if they were fighting back a laugh of their own, and I looked away to stop myself from joining in. This entire situation was really far too serious to be cutting up, but she really did sound ridiculous trying to talk through her busted lip.

Inhaling and staring at the ceiling, I said, "You wanted to know why the Anderians came after me. What makes more sense than that? Only a Shard Keeper would be worth exposing themselves to everyone, right? And it isn't just that. This morning, I nearly passed out in the shower because of a pain in my chest. It was like I was cut open and branded."

Jac flinched as if he wanted to reach for me, but he stopped himself and dropped his arms to his side, looking nearly as pained by my confession as he had by my lie about the brain tumor. Seeing him like this really screwed with my head—it made me think he really cared for me, and believing that was more dangerous than the monsters lurking in the dark outside.

"I guarantee if you find Molly's son, you'll find out he died today."

It sounded so detached. So cold. Molly's son. I could just as easily say my father, but that wasn't true. A father was a man who showed up. Who taught you to ride a bike and stand up for yourself and took pictures at your graduation. This man, whoever he was, did nothing but contribute to my DNA, and man did he really fuck me over with that.

"She's not lying," Kay finally said.

"Oh, is that one of your skills?" I asked them, impressed. Cian had been able to do it too. "It would've been a nice skill to have as a detective. Loads better than touching things and getting knocked on your ass. Not to mention you don't always get what you need from a vision..."

"No," Kay cut me off and held up their phone. "Jay just messaged me. Report came back they found Molly's son. Pritchard Young. He was murdered early this morning. They found him behind the law firm he worked in drained of all his blood, and they cut his heart out."