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“We were running training exercises,” Olav said, his voice clipped. “I told you that.”
Daphne turned on the couch, long legs uncrossing so that her impressively tall heels thumped against the oriental rug. The air in my little study was charged to breaking point with tension, both magical and emotional, and I made a surreptitious glance into the aether to check my warding.
My study slid out of focus, still there but now brighter, with colorful ribbons of magic drifting between the runes etched into the ceiling and walls. Thus far they were holding, glowing blue-gold for truth and serenity, calm and safety. If the tension grew any further, I suspected serenity would crack down the center, and safety was fraying around its edges. Truth, on the other hand, was flaring a deep, navy blue, so at least I knew they were being honest.
I focused back on the physical realm and lifted my pen, which was a mistake because the vampire turned to me, slender nostrils flaring.
“And just what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
I paused with the pen hovering over my paper. “I was going to draw a rune to promote calm.”
“I won’t have my private life reported to the CEB,” Daphne said, dark eyes glittering at me. “Am I understood?”
I took another breath. This was perhaps the most common misunderstanding amongst Bright creatures. “Everything said in this room is private. The CEB does not receive reports from any counselors unless the counselor deems the couple a danger to society.”
It was Olav’s turn to glare at me. “And do you deem us a danger?”
I lowered the pen, laying it flat against the paper, then I folded my hands over the notebook and met his gaze. Their combined anxiety prickled over my skin, but I held the silence while considering how best to help them.
“I do not deem you a danger to society.”
In unison, their shoulders relaxed.
“However,” I said and the two stiffened anew, “I fear your marriage may be in danger. Body language alone tells me that something is amiss, and not just that you don’t want to be here talking to me.”
Daphne’s gaze lowered to the floor.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk to me,” I said. “I understand that the law seems like an invasion of your privacy, and I will not press either of you to do anything you don’t wish to. But for the sake of your marriage, you need to talk to each other.”
“You don’t understand how difficult this is,” Daphne said, and when she looked up, she held my gaze. “We’ve been married for seventy-three years and suddenly we must come to you, a baby warlock, and let you judge us because the CEB says so?”
“I’m not here to judge you, Daphne.”
“You have to decide whether or not we are dangerous,” Olav said.
“And I’ve already told you that you’re not. At least, not a danger to society or suddenly exploding and showing humans that Bright creatures exist,” I said. “You have been married this long without such a spectacle. I highly doubt it’s going to happen today.”
They both gave slight, wry smiles and shared a glance that I chose not to interpret.
“Look, you’ve been coming to me for the past three months and I understand that in the grand scheme of your eternal lives, that’s a mere blip. You don’t trust me yet. And that’s fine.” I took a breath and struggled for the right words. They were listening, and I could sense some small amount of hope in them both. “But what I have seen and sensed between you is alarming. You love each other deeply, but you’re both hurting. I’m not sure what caused it, but I will tell you that sitting in silence and not addressing it is going to break your marriage.”
There was another silence, but this one felt different; less angry. Daphne glanced from her blue heels to Olav, whose face had undergone a subtle transformation. Elves were always difficult to read, but I could almost see a softening around his eyes, and what I could see of his mouth beneath that beard seemed flat rather than frowning. After a moment, Olav shifted on the couch to better face Daphne, who gave him a smile far sweeter than I imagined a vampire should be able to produce.
I looked down at my folded hands, giving them as much privacy as I could. There were days when I knew without a doubt that I was in the wrong profession, such as when an elemental blasted a hurricane through my study, but there were other days when I thought I might be halfway decent.
Maybe. If we were grading on a curve.
But as Nana Bess liked to say, empaths are only good for one thing: counseling. It didn’t matter that I could manipulate the aether, set wards up for protection, or even create runestones, my ability to sense the emotions of others would always be what people knew me for.
“If you don’t mind, Madame Grayson, I would like to take my wife to lunch,” Olav said.
There was still thirty minutes left in the session, but since the tension between them had simmered down and I could sense a true desire to reconnect, I decided to let them go. Besides, the knot in my shoulder was starting to throb and I was more than happy to take a minute for myself.
“Of course,” I said, and waited for them to stand.
Olav did first, lowering his hand in an invitation to his wife, who rose with fluid grace and an even brighter smile. I avoided the thought of what lunch might consist of for these two and set my pad and paper aside. Popular fiction got a lot of things wrong when it came to the supernatural, but vampires really did eat human blood. They were able to eat other things as well, but human blood was what kept them strong and healthy and one look at Daphne proved the woman had not been starving herself.
Within moments they made it to the door. I watched with an acute pinch in my heart as Olav helped his wife into her dress wrap, equal parts amazed that anyone still wore such outfits into the world at large, and jealous of the gentlemanly attention Olav gave her.
