To callanyplace home?
Jaci’s throat tightened. More than anything, she wished she could talk to her cousin. Meech had always had such a strong sense of place, of home. And her dimples and sass had never failed to shine a little light in the dark places of Jaci’s heart.
But Jaci hadn’t heard from Meech since before Viansa had crash-landed on the earthly plane, and now she was too terrified to evenattemptanother summoning. If Meech was off the grid—and Jaci truly hoped that was the case—better that she stay hidden. At least until Viansa was out of the picture.
“Mind if I hide in here with you?”
Jaci let out a little squeak and dropped her phone, but it was only Aiden, returning from a trip into town for some emergency blood bags from the clinic—just enough to hold them over until Dorian’s regular delivery tomorrow.
“Not at all,” she said with a smile. “I’d love some company.”
“Likewise.” He shut the door behind him and headed straight for the bar.
“Not in the mood to kiss Rogozin’s ass tonight?” she teased. “The others are still in there.”
“When it comes to snogging,” he said, selecting a bottle of bourbon from the stash, “I’d rather go all in on the bottle than on Rogozin’s puckered arse.”
“Cheers to that.” Jaci joined him at the bar and topped off her mug, the ratio of rum to tea tipping further into the rum direction.
“Where’s Charlotte?” he asked. “I figured you two would be at least halfway to hammered by now, if not full-on blasted in the hot tub, giggling about some ridiculous film full of sparkly vampires.”
“Sparkly vampire movie night isnextweek,” Jaci teased. “Charley turned in early tonight. She spent most of the day helping me and Isabelle, but she was pretty wiped out. I made her go to bed an hour ago.”
“Probably for the best,” Aiden said as they settled in before the fire. “How’s it going with Isabelle, anyway? Did the Spooky Sisters crack the case?”
“Still working on it. Isabelle will be back first thing tomorrow.” Jaci sipped her boozy tea, trying to ignore the new chill that had taken up residence in her bones. “The problem is… We can draft a hundred versions of the spell, make a hundred potions to support it, write up a hundred predictions about the outcomes. But we can’t test it on anyone but Viansa herself. And the moment we do, it’s no longer a test—it either works, and we bind her, or it doesn’t, and we die.”
“Nowthat’sthe spirit,” Aiden teased. Then, his voice turning as soft and kind as his eyes, “I know it’s terrifying, Jacinda. Viansa, Azerius, the curse… It’s a lot. But we’re going to figure it out—I promise you. After all, we’ve got the world’s foremost experts on the case.”
“Experts?”
“Absolutely,” he said with mock seriousness. “When it comes to dealing with toxic, dysfunctional families, the vampire royals are unparalleled. If anyone can devise a way to murder an evil half-sister and break the curse inspired by their terrible cunt of a father—forgive me, but it’s the only word for him—it’s the Redthornes.”
Jaci couldn’t help but laugh. Aiden just had that effect on people.
Reaching into his breast pocket, he retrieved a blood bag, then glanced at her. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.”
He tore off the top, then took a deep drink, alternating with sips of the bourbon, straight from the bottle.
“I’m not sure I could ever drink blood,” she said. “All this time around vampires, and I still can’t really wrap my head around it.”
“It is a bit odd, isn’t it? I’ve been a vampire for hundreds of years, and most days I can’t wrap my head around it either. Today’s emergency feeding frenzy notwithstanding, Charlotte still takes hers with gin.” He took another sip from the bag. “When I was human, I couldn’t stand the sight of blood. The smell. Even the word itself had the power to make me gag.”
“How did you get used to it?”
“Dorian. After we were turned, there were times I wanted to… Well, notdie, exactly. But give up. I hated being a vampire. Hated everything about it. Dorian though… He always made sure I ate. Found all sorts of ways to trick me into it. I swear the man was one step away from turning a spoonful of blood into an airplane and zooming it into my mouth.”
Jaci cracked up. “Nowthatsounds like a fun story.”
“Perhaps I’ll share it at his wedding. I’m sure he’d love it.”
“I can tell they mean a lot to you,” she said softly. “It’s sweet. I mean, even with all the teasing and bickering—the arguing—you’re all so close. You say they’re the experts on toxic families, but from where I’m sitting? Behind all those rough edges, all I see is love.”
Something like regret flickered in Aiden’s eyes, and he turned away from her, gazing into the fire and taking a deep drink from the bottle.
For a minute Jaci worried she’d said the wrong thing, but when he finally looked at her again, his eyes were full of warmth. Affection.
