Free Mother May I (Knight Games Book 4) by Genevieve Jack Page B

allowed for a fireplace where a lively fire crackled and popped. Two oversized red velvet chairs hugged its warmth. I took one look at their plush cushions and curved backs and sagged with exhaustion.
    “You need sleep,” Julius said. “You’re safe here. I’ll watch over you. Rest a few hours.” He gestured toward the bed.
    I ran a hand through my bedhead and rubbed my sleepy eyes. “Eh, no, thanks.”
    “A drink perhaps? While we talk?”
    I nodded. He disappeared behind the massive bed, and soon I heard the clink of ice against glass and the slosh of pouring liquid.
    “What do you know about the Goblin Trinate?” I asked.
    He emerged from behind the headboard and handed me a scotch on the rocks. With a crook of his head, he led the way to the fire and folded himself into one of the red chairs facing it. “Join me,” he said. From my vantage point, all I could see was his foot draped across one knee and the scotch glass in his perfectly manicured hand on the armrest.
    I hesitated. I was afraid if I sat in the cozy chair, I wouldn’t get up again. But Julius had information I needed, and I was exhausted. If I didn’t sit down, I would fall down. I joined him in the second red chair, curling my legs beneath me.
    “Better?” He gave me a toothy grin. “The Goblin Trinate consists of masters of organized crime. They adore wealth and power and will do almost anything for the right price. Human precepts of morality are foreign to them, although they are usually neutral when it comes to other supernatural entities.”
    “So, why do they want me dead?”
    Julius sipped his scotch thoughtfully. “I don’t think it is the goblins. I fear your intended demise was the work of another witch, one who has potentially given them protection from your magic.”
    “Nightshade’s magic was useless against them. I wasn’t able to judge the goblin. Believe me, I tried.”
    “Another witch’s involvement would explain their sudden interest in you, your inability to sentence your attacker, and how they knew exactly where you would be. Perhaps a friend of Tabetha’s?”
    I swirled the scotch in my glass, watching the ice cut through the thick amber liquid. I needed a drink, but I held off, worried the alcohol would make me too tired to think. “Or Mommy dearest,” I murmured under my breath.
    The vampire froze. “Are you suggesting that the goddess Hecate might be behind the attack?”
    “You heard that?”
    He rolled his eyes. “I’m a vampire. I can hear what the woman at the bar downstairs is ordering.”
    “You might as well know what you’re up against housing me here. Hecate may have given the impression tonight that she, um, might, maybe, want me dead.” I shifted my bottom lip to the side and shrugged as if being on the goddess’s hit list was a stroke of bad luck similar to missing the bus or running out of change at the Laundromat.
    Julius narrowed his eyes at me. “Why?”
    “She’s not happy that I accepted Tabetha’s grimoire in order to save Rick. I can control two elements— control being a generous word since I can’t even stop the roses on my banister from growing.”
    He rubbed a small circle over one temple, peering at me through the corner of his eye. “Can you undo what you’ve done?”
    “That’s the rub,” I said, straightening in my chair. “Hecate said the only way to complete a spell strong enough to remove the extra element is to unite all of the elements and then cast off the extra ones.” I sighed heavily. “Apparently, this would give me almost unlimited power, enough to potentially challenge Hecate herself. And, of course, the goddess does not believe that anyone would unite the elements just to get rid of them.”
    Julius snorted. “Of course not. Who would?”
    “I would.” I threw up my hands. “I just want my life back. I don’t want to be a goddess.” I swirled the scotch in my glass again, raising it to my lips, but lowering it before taking a sip.