Chapter 30

**YARA**

I had no idea what Julian told Aiden but the way Aiden’s mood changed after that left a somber mood hanging over our heads and he hadn’t said a word ever since the drive to the pack started. I hadn’t spoken either and that was because of what was on my mind… and on my lap.

The spell book was in my bag and I had chosen to keep it on my lap instead of in the trunk with my other bags because I had been paranoid that the car would go over a bump too fast or swerve around a corner too fast and that would make it slip out of my tote bag. That was the same reason why I hadn’t placed it on the floor but keeping it on my lap and holding it in place didn’t make me feel any better because I sort of felt like Aiden would see through the bag if he glanced at it. And yes, I knew that was ridiculous but I couldn’t help it.

As for what was on my mind, it was what Aiden had asked me before Julian showed up. What I wanted our future to look like… *Our* future. That sentence and the fact that he was already thinking of having children with me had engulfed me and I made a decision regarding the *magic relinquishing* I was deliberating on.

I wanted to be with him, I wanted *us* to have a future, so I was going to do it. I was going to relinquish my magic.

I sucked in a breath and glanced at Aiden who looked incredibly worried and slightly angry. “Aiden?” I called out and he blinked twice, as though he had been lost in thought, before facing me.

Despite the turmoil that must be going on in his head, he managed to give me a smile and placed his hand on my thigh. The move startled me a bit because his hand was now right next to my bag and the tome in it immediately felt heavier. It had been gaining extra weight with every minute that passed since when Aiden and I went back to the suite to get my things and I couldn’t wait for us to get home so I could find somewhere to stash it.

“What happened?”

Again, he shook his head dismissively at the question, not wanting to bother me with whatever was bothering him, and I frowned because I *very* much wanted to know what was bothering him. It was obviously something important and I was beginning to think someone had died. I opened my mouth to ask again but stopped as I realized that he probably didn’t want to respond in the presence of the pack member who was driving us. We were almost at his place so I decided to hold off the question till we were alone.

The car finally turned into Aiden’s driveway moments later and I got down from the car, holding my bag firmly. Aiden didn’t move to get down too and when it became clear that he wasn’t going to, I paused.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said and I pressed my lips together, glancing at the man in the driver’s seat, before nodding.

“Okay.” I shut the door and headed towards the house while the car pulled out of the driveway. By the time I realized I left the bags containing my clothes in the car and didn’t have a house key, the car was no longer in sight. “Crap.” I returned my attention to the two storey house, wondering if Vernon was in it, before I resumed walking to the front door.

Thankfully, the door handle didn’t protest when I turned it and I walked into the house, relaxing my death grip on my bag a bit. Light filtered out of the kitchen and into the hallway and the sound of someone talking in there let me know Vernon was there so I slowed as I got to the door.

Vernon was sitting at the island and muttering to himself as he ate a whole cake from its board, taking spoonfuls from the center.

“That’s crazy.”

He paused, lifted his gaze from the cake, stared at me in silence for a couple of seconds, before the corner of his mouth turned up. “The cake or talking to myself?”

I hadn’t even fully registered that he had been talking to himself. “The cake.”

“So I’ve heard. I believe it’s the best way to eat cake,” he replied and I snorted. “Where’s Aiden?”

“Uh, something happened in the pack, I think. I don’t know. He said he’ll be back soon.”

“Hmm.” He resumed eating his cake and when I shook my head at him, he smiled again. “Wanna join me? There are tons of cakes in the fridge. You can eat like a *normal* person if you want to.”

“Sure.” As I stepped into the kitchen, his gaze dropped to my bag and I immediately stopped, remembering that I needed to find somewhere to stash my mother’s spell book. “Ah, let me get changed first.” I turned on my heel without waiting for a response and briskly walked over to my room.

It took me a couple of minutes to decide on a temporary hiding place for the book – the space under my bed – and after keeping it there, I changed into comfortable clothes. When I got back to the kitchen, Vernon was done eating the cake and heading towards the kitchen’s doorway.

He gave me a dismissive wave. “My offer has expired. Eat alone,” he said and I tsked while he walked out.

“Are you going out?” I asked since Aiden had said he always left home and came back late at night ever since he came back.

“I’m going to the game room.”

*Game room?* “There’s a game room?”

“You don’t know?” he asked and I shook my head.

“I haven’t gotten a tour yet.” Aiden had offered me a tour on my first day here but I’d turned it down because all I wanted then was to escape to my room after the moment we shared in the kitchen. Thanks to that, the only places I knew in this two storey were the kitchen, my room and Aiden’s room.

“Ah… Do you want me to give you one?” he replied as I began to think of asking Aiden to do that if he was in a better mood when he got home and I didn’t want to turn him down.

“Sure.”

He nodded and resumed walking while I followed him.

The game room was on the first floor, not far from my room, and it looked well-used. Aiden had lived here alone for years so I figured he was the one who frequented it and that he liked games., and the fact that I learnt something new about him made me smile.

“Where does that lead to?” I asked, gesturing at the door opposite the game room as we stepped out of it, and Vernon glanced at the door before setting his mouth in a hard line.

“…The basement.” He frowned after saying that, as if the words had left a bitter taste in his mouth, and the expression on his face as he stared at the door told me that he didn’t like the place *at all*.

“Is it haunted?” I joked and he faced me.

“Sorry?”

“You don’t like it.”

“It’s really dark down there,” he replied and I nodded my understanding because I also didn’t like dark places.

The tour continued and after seeing the wine cellar, home gym, home theater, library, and other rooms, it finally ended at the double doors at the end of an hallway on the second floor.

“And that… was Aiden’s mother’s bedroom.”

“Aiden’s mother?” I asked, drawing my brows together. When he showed me the door that led to the father’s bedroom, he had referred to it as *our father*.

Vernon must have understood the reason behind the confusion in my voice because he said, “I’m Aiden’s half-brother. My mother was a witch.”

The last sentence slammed into me without warning and my mouth fell open while my eyes widened. For one moment, I thought I’d heard him wrong but then the words replayed in my head. Nope, I heard him right. For a second moment, I wondered if maybe he was making a joke but the serious look on his face immediately killed that thought.

Vernon’s mother was a *witch*.

“What?” I managed to say and his eyes darted from the door to me. *Does Aiden know? What the fuck? Of course, he knows.* “I–” I remembered Aiden said he had been trapped in a prison world by a witch for all those years and began to wonder if the witch that did that was his mother. *No. Aiden would have said so if that was the case and– Wait a minute… Does Vernon have powers?* “So you’re–”

“A witch?” He raised his brows and I swallowed as I nodded. “No. I’m not anything really. Well, I am something. I did get half.”

“Half?”

“I’m latent,” he said and I blinked at him, a bit surprised at that revelation while not knowing how to feel about the fact that he didn’t have powers.

“Oh… Me too.”

Vernon tipped his head to the side, a faint tremor of amusement on his lips as he regarded me silently before my phone buzzed, drawing my attention away from him. It was a message from Aunt Allison, asking if I was free to talk now so she could call me.

“Tour’s over, Yara,” Vernon said as he walked past me. “You should go back downstairs.”