Seething best described Luke’s reaction to my decision to join the Queensmen. He’d nearly jumped down Aurelio’s throat when he’d walked back into the sitting room and ‘reintroduced’ me as the Enchantress. I’d reminded him about the fact that everything I did was a choice I made. It didn’t necessarily phase him. Instead, Luke spent more time glowering at me with his arms crossed over his chest than actually listening to what Aurelio was saying.

I really had no choice but to let him have his pout session. I’d upset him. There was no denying that. However, I also knew it was pointless to try and coax him out of it. He’d come around eventually. All he needed was some time to process then it would be okay.

Unfortunately he seemed to need a lot more time than I realized.

“Are you still mad at me?” I asked him several hours after we’d finally left Aurelio’s and Bianca’s brownstone. I had to force my hands away from the page of the book balanced on my lap. It was a book Aurelio had given me to study magic. I doubted he wanted it back with worried and ripped corners.

Luke glanced up at me. The bags under his eyes almost looked darker. Like something was haunting him. Again. Part of me wondered what he saw when he went far away in his head. A larger part of me was scared of the answer.

“I’m not mad at you,” he muttered after a painful silence. “I’m… I can’t explain it really. Being a Queensmen is dangerous and every time I close my eyes I go back to that clearing—”

His voice broke off as he shook his head. I guessed that he was referring yet again to my previous death. My fingers itched to brush over my scars. I didn’t want to linger on those thoughts either so I cleared my throat and went on. “I know it’s dangerous but did you honestly think that I would sit by when there might be something I could do to help? You know me better than that.”

A heavy sigh tore from Luke’s throat. “I know… Trust me. You’ve never been one to let beasts, of any kind, steamroll anyone.”

The way he said the last part was so different from the first half that it took me off guard. I quirked an eyebrow. However, Luke just shook his head. Cryptic phrases kind of ruled our conversations more often than not now I noticed. “What do you mean by that exactly?”

“It’s nothing. Forget I said anything okay.” A stricken look flashed over his face. He shook his head semi violently and waved his hand through the air dismissively. I opened my mouth to call him on it but he started talking again before I had the chance to get a word out edgewise. “And as for the being upset with you for joining, just give me some time. I’ve spent the last two years or so of my life trying to figure out how to keep you safe. Now you’re going to be on the front lines with me. That’s gonna take some time to get used to. It will happen. I promise.”

“Okay,” I murmured. My eyes drifted downward and my fingers worried the edges of the magic book.

His hand wrapped around mine. “I’ll get over it,” he repeated sincerely.

Then his phone went off. Luke cursed under his breath as he dug it out of his pocket. He cursed even louder when he saw the name on the caller id. “Dare I ask what has you swearing loud enough for the entire building to hear?”

“My debate partners for my politics class. I completely forgot about meeting up with them today to work on the project.”

I winced. “You should probably go then.”

“I can call and cancel with them. They’ll understand if I tell them an abridged version of our family crisis.”

“No, go. It’s fine. You should do what you need to do.”

“You’re more important to me than some stupid debate on economics. I don’t even know what Keyesian economics are.”

He laughed a little but his voice died away when he saw the harsh glare on my face. “I’m not going to leave you alone less than twenty four hours after realizing that you’re living life number two and are now a sworn to protect innocent bystanders from vicious magical creatures.”

“When you have a debate that’s worth about forty percent of your grade due in the next three weeks you will.”

“I don’t mind to blow it off until Monday. Everyone will survive.”

“Luke!” I snapped and threw my arms in the air. “I don’t need you to baby me. I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself.”

He jumped back a bit with his hands in the air. “Sorry, sorry. I don't want to ditch you is all.”

“Go do your homework. You're not ditching me. Besides I could use a little time to myself. No offense but I've seen way too much of you today.” I shot him a little smirk to put him at ease.

He glared at me. “Gee thanks sis. Never felt so loved.”

Luke didn't move right away. He stood behind the couch and stared at me. “Go!” I said firmly.

“Okay, okay. I'm going.” He backed away and turned towards his room.

Luke came back with his backpack slung across one shoulder. He typed furiously on his phone, reassuring his anxious classmates that he was actually on his way I guessed. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” He asked me one more time.

My head nearly exploded. “Yep, I'll be fine.”

“You can call me if you need anything,” he said, fiddling with his phone.

“Don't worry. I will. I'm pretty certain I'm just gonna take it easy here at home for a few hours. Not every day that I call off of work so I should make the most of it right.”

Luke nodded. I held up the magic book. “I'll probably just see if I can make sense of some of these spells.”

“Good luck. Don't push yourself to much. I know you're the Enchantress and you don't have to pay any price for casting spells but some of them are exhausting on principle.”

“I'll keep that in mind. Now get out of here.”

He rolled his eyes at me before heading to the door. I could tell that he hesitated there for a moment. However, Luke slipped out and I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I sighed, sinking back against my seat. The magic book in my lap sat heavy. That was also the moment that I realized my head hurt. Blood practically pounded against the inside of my skull. I knew it was from the stress. There was no sense in taking anything for it. It wouldn’t help any ways. I highly doubted that I would even be able to concentrate on any of the spells with it.

Massaging the sides of my head, I cast a glance at the magic book. Despite my headache, I flipped the cover open and turned a few pages idly. I'd browsed through it some while Luke and I had sat in icy silence for a good portion of the afternoon. The throbbing in my head instantly got worse. How had I even managed to create a shield? The amount I understood from what I’d read was less than half. The first spell I’d looked at had to be written in a completely different language! Maybe the next time I saw Aurelio, I’d ask him if he had the picture book version.

I dropped my head into my hands again. Some kind of Enchantress I was. I didn’t understand a power that was supposedly intrinsic to me. This whole Queensman thing was off to a fantastic start. A fat lot of help I would be the next time a pack of Trolls came tramping through the city. I’d end up being more of a liability than anything.

My stomach rumbled, breaking me away from the train of thought. I spun around in my seat to look at the clock. Had I been at the restaurant, I’d be in the middle of my lunch. Come to think of it, I hadn’t actually eaten breakfast. I’d only put out the half fire that Luke had made. I sat the spell book off to the side. There was no sense in me trying to make sense out of the spells right now. Besides, I needed to eat something and maybe getting up and out would help my headache. At least it would help me forget about what was going on right now.

Chicken and rice soup sounded really good right about now. Okay, so chicken and rice soup always sounded really good but it was exceptionally tempting today. Perfect comfort food for a stressful day.

Decision made! I was getting chicken and rice soup from my favorite diner.

I slipped out the door about fifteen minutes later with my bag on my shoulder. In the lobby, Joel and his partner were packing up and getting ready to end their shift. Roger’s shift had ended about an hour ago so he was already gone. “Heading out too Ms. Harper?” Joel asked as I passed.

Nodding, I answered, “Just for food. Luke and I forgot to take something out to defrost this morning and I don’t feel up to cooking this evening anyways.”

“Can’t say that I blame you,” said Joel. I turned a little too pink to brush off his statement casually. Thankfully, he didn’t push much more. “Please be careful this evening. The Knight and Huntsman were seen a handful of hours ago. If they’re active then that has t mean that something’s up.”

It took a moment for that to sink in. Yeah I kind of had to agree with that sentiment. “Where there’s one Troll, there’s usually two or three more,” the newbie guard added stoically. His scowl was even deeper than normal. “They only killed the one last night.”

I turned to look at him with wide eyes. He cast a glance at me before ducking his head and looking back down at the back pack he was packing. I almost had to physically shake off the chill that ran down my spine. That had to be the grimmest reminder of the day. “I’m just saying is all,” he mumbled under his breath when neither one us responded.

“Don’t stay out too late tonight. Just to be safe. I told your brother the same thing.” Joel pointed a stern, fatherly finger at me.

I held my hands up. “Just to the diner and back. I promise. See you tomorrow morning guys.”

Joel waved to me but I felt his and his partner’s eyes on me the entire way out the door. I didn’t exhale until I was well down the street and on to the next block. Hopefully Joel would relent after a few days of giving me a side eye. He usually did. If not then it looked like I was in for some huge pain because sneaking around him as a Queensman was not something that I really wanted to do. How had Luke avoid both his and my suspicion for as long as he had?

I breathed deeply. Everything would be fine. I just needed to come down from the fresh jitters that ran through my body.