Full Moons, Dunes & Macaroons_A Cozy Witch Mystery by Erin Johnson

Author:Erin Johnson [Johnson, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-02T22:00:00+00:00

12

Slow Hands

I hustled through the halls of the palace, skirting by busy servants. The whole place was in a tizzy as the household prepared for the wedding tomorrow. The garlands of lilies, roses, and jasmine hung over the railing into the courtyard and the servants scurrying about with piles of wrapped presents made it hard not to think about Hank's impending marriage. And I was trying really hard. I attempted to catch someone's eye to ask directions to the bakery, but no one paid me any attention.

I'd gotten in late last night and Maple, K'ree, and Annie were already sleeping. Iggy had opted to sleep in the oven with the other baking fires apparently, so I slid into bed and pulled the mosquito netting shut around me without a chance to speak to any of my friends. I lay there for a while before I fell asleep, thinking over Bernhardt's death. If Urs was guilty, it was going to be difficult to prove, and I'd have to make sure I had hard evidence. Urs himself had admitted that the protective spells had allowances for both him and Bernhardt, making Urs one of the only people with the ability to use magic against him. But Bernhardt hadn't been killed with magic. Had Urs killed him in that way because using magic would have turned suspicion on him?

On the camel ride back to the city last night, Horace had explained what the warden had meant by "emergency spell." The Air Kingdom was full of innovators and inventors, they loved to mix technology and magic. And apparently they manufactured little boxes that stored spells for deployment in an emergency setting. Bernhardt's had ensured that the murderer's magical powers were disabled in the tent, which should have given Bernhardt an advantage, except that this person was both strong and had military training in hand-to-hand combat.

Horace also explained what Urs had likely meant when I overheard him at the crime scene saying one of his spells would have made an intruder violently ill. The Air Kingdom had perfected the use of charms for holding spells. Some existed that, if hung over a doorway (or an entrance to a tent), would cause anyone who entered without permission to become ill or suffer some terrible fate. The charm required magical charging daily, but it was effective protection.

No matter how hard I thought, the pieces wouldn't come together, and I eventually drifted off to sleep. I'd awoken about half an hour ago and found a note on my nightstand from Maple, telling me that she'd talked to Amelia and gotten her to lift my ban from the bakery. I'd been elated, then horrified to find it was nearly midmorning and I was hours late for work. Of course, my boss was Maple so I wasn't too worried about getting in trouble, but I felt anxious to see my friends. So much had happened yesterday, and while I wasn't sure how much I was ready to share, especially about meeting with Horace, I craved the comfort of talking some of it over with Maple and Iggy.

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