“Are you coming in?” he asks.
“Not when you’re naked, we’re not.”
He huffs, then walks away.
I take Amber’s arm and guide her into the apartment, still shielding her eyes. “I’m sorry about him.”
“Don’t apologize,” she says, finally lowering the coffee cups to look at me. “Like you said, he never does.”
We both laugh, and I regret not telling Amber about Rosier sooner. Maybe if she had been involved with this mess from the start, things would have gone a lot smoother.
She sets down our coffees, and I’m quick to drink mine. Rosier saunters back into the kitchen, buttoning up his shirt.
Amber ignores him. “Minnie, listen, I know everything right now is… messy. But I want to help–if you’ll let me.”
The steam from my coffee warms my downturned lips. “You think I wouldn’t let you help?” I mean, I need it–clearly–but I’m curious why she thinks I’m so against it.
“You never accept help,” she points out. “None of the Morrises do. Remember when your Gramps almost broke a hip because he wouldn’t let me help him carry something?”
“You’ll have to be a bit more specific,” I admit.
“Exactly my point.” A soft smile appears on Amber’s face. “There’s a lot of stuff that needs fixing. Not just the devil in your apartment.”
Rosier makes a dramaticharumph.
I hold my coffee in both hands. “I know he has to go. Iwanthim to go since he’s such a pain.”
Rosier mutters, “Ironic you mention pain after last night.”
I speak up, so Amber can’t ask what that’s all about. “But maybe he can solve our little curse problem? That’s one of the things that needs fixing, right?”
I can already tell Amber isn’t going for it, her lips in a hard line. “Making a deal with a devil isn’t beating the curse; it's just replacing one curse with a different curse.”
“Not to be cheeky,” I say with a shrug, “but devil you know versus devil you don’t?”
She doesn’t look amused. “To be honest, Minnie, I think there’s a baseline problem we have to solve first.”
There’s a knock at my door, probably Kas. Rosier must assume the same because he goes to open it. I can’t see the entryway, but I recognize the voice.
“Oh–uh, sorry, I might have the wrong apartment.”
It’s Lance.Why is it Lance?I abandon my coffee to go investigate.
“I’m looking for a Minerva–” Lance sees me and his eyes, so similar to mine, go wide. “Minerva, hi.” He smiles and glances up at Rosier. “Who's your friend?”
“A devil from Hell I summoned to get revenge on Arthur le Fay,” I deadpan.
Lance manages to maintain his smile while also looking completely panicked. “That’s… wow, that’s, uh–”
“You don’t have to say anything.”
“No, listen, that’s really, uh, impressive…” His eyes look past me. “Amber!” He says her name the same way someone might say“my hero!”Lance gestures to Rosier with his thumb. “You didn’t mention my sister was proficient in summoning.”
“I amnotyour sister,” I correct him before turning my ire on Amber. “And you told him? What’s he even doing here?”
“He literally just said I didn’t tell him.” Amber crosses her arms over her chest, looking like the spitting image of her Mom. “And I invited him.” I open my mouth, but she cuts me off. “I know you don’t want to talk to him, but he knows the le Fays. There’s no one else that can answer the questions you have, the fears we both share.”
I purse my lips. I’m not interested in a brother… but I am interested in our Father and what he could possibly want with me. I huff and look back at Lance. “Come on in.”
