An hour, probably. Beneath them, the streets were gridlocked as usual.
“You sure know how to show a girl a cold time.”
He chuckled. “There’s something wonderfully fresh about rain. The smell of it, the promise of life it brings.”
“I liked kissing you in the rain,” she said wistfully, remembering that time on the rooftop of Fisher Hill. Another reminder that the house was gone. She wondered if it was, even now, crawling with police and forensics, and what they would find.
“I would kiss you anywhere,ma chérie.When this is over, we should visit every country and make sure you are well kissed in each of them.”
“Will you take me to France?”
“We would go there first.”
She smiled against his chest. It was a nice idea, and one day it might even happen.
“We have arrived,” Antoine said, touching down on the roof of a moderate-sized house surrounded by trees. He dropped offthe edge like the fall didn’t matter, landing smoothly with bent knees, then set her on her feet. “Come. Let us see what Belle has to say.”
Forty-Nine
A thrall opened the door almost as soon as they knocked. He gave them a swift once-over, then peered out at the street, his hand under his shirt at the small of his back.
Efficient and scary. Exactly Belle’s style.
He stepped back to make room for them, conspicuously lacking a Marcel-style greeting. Antoine took Cally’s hand and led her in.
Inside, the house was perfectly normal. Functional, modern, largely open-plan. It didn’t suit Belle at all. Another thrall waited in the kitchen, in jeans and an untucked black button-down, no doubt armed too. He leaned against the island and watched them with the steady gaze of a predator.
Belle sat in a chair in the living area, wearing slacks and a cream blouse under a cropped camel jacket, casual but chic. Gabe stood by the window in a white silk shirt and black suit, tailored so it wouldn’t split when he flexed. He nodded to Antoine and winked at Cally.
“Ah!Mon amour.” Belle rose, then gestured, taking in the plain gray sofa facing the television, the low coffee table, the dining table pushed against the wall to make room. “Hardly the opulence I’m used to, but welcome to my home.”
Antoine pulled off his leather coat and threw it over the back of the couch. “Where is Tobias?”
“Straight to business, as usual.” Belle rolled her eyes, then smiled at Cally. “How are you,ma fillette?”
It was somewhat incongruous to be greeted with such polite interest, then to be addressed in Belle’s preferred pejorative, as a small girl. Especially when she was tallerthan Belle, and they were approximately the same age—by appearance, at least. Give or take half a millennium.
Cally gave her a cool stare and said nothing. She was damned if she was going to be polite to the vampire who had killed her mother. And anyway, Belle wasn’t in the least bit interested in her reply; this was all for Antoine’s benefit. As was everything she did.
“Tobias?” Antoine pressed.
“In the basement,” Belle said, her tone carrying a touch of resignation at his refusal to engage.
They followed her through to the kitchen, and Cally made sure to hang back near Gabe. “How’s Eve?”
“She’s fine,” he said, distracted, his attention fixed on Antoine in that steady, assessing way he had. “She’s safest at my place. Three of my best thralls are guarding her.”
“Thank you for healing her.”
“Of course.” He glanced her way only briefly, the bare minimum of courtesy, before his eyes drifted right back to Antoine. And unless Cally was imagining it, they were absolutely on Antoine’s ass. Itwasa nice ass; she enjoyed looking at it herself. But… Gabe? Really?
She checked his expression, expecting something playful. Not the quiet, unguarded yearning she’d seen in Eve’s eyes too many times.
So that’s why they were allies, why he had poured all he had into getting Antoine back. Was that why he always called him ‘our boy’? She’d thought it was just his easy familiarity.
Noah had said Gabe was bi. Did Antoine know?
But Belle opened the door to the basement and took them down, and Cally shoved the thought aside. If Gabe had feelings, they weren’t hers to untangle.
