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"I can kill, Cicely. If I don't learn how to deal with this, I can kill without even blinking an eye. I've done it before, I can do it again. Long ago, Marta said they should burn out my powers before I ever fucked up again. Maybe she was right."
"Don't ever say that!" I dropped her hands and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her gently. "You will learn to control this and you will master the flames that are burning inside of you."
She studied my face, searching. "Do you really believe that?"
"Yes. Yes, I believe it." I looked over at Leo, and his jealous face confirmed my suspicions on just what had caused the argument. "We'll ask Chatter to help you. He taught you when you were a child, he can do so again."
"No--" Leo started to say but I stopped him with a single glance.
"Don't even go there. You can't help her. And Kaylin and I don't work with flame so we can't. Chatter's our best bet at this point."
And just because you're jealous, dude, doesn't mean you can stop her from getting the help she needs, I thought.
"What about the idea of asking Anadey?" Leo's lips were thin and white and little lines flared around the edges of his eyes. Oh yeah, he had it bad and he was aware enough to recognize that Chatter had eyes for my cousin.
I looked at Rhiannon. "It's up to you--either we ask Chatter, or we go to Anadey's this evening and ask her for help. Whichever you choose is fine by me, but we have to get you help and it has to be soon."
She debated, glancing at Leo, then at the front door. After a moment she whispered, "I guess we'd better ask Anadey first. If she can't help me, then maybe Chatter will."
Leo visibly relaxed. "Good choice," he muttered, but I gave him another look and he shut up. The last thing we needed were testosterone wars running rampant around here.
At that moment, Grieve and Chatter returned.
"We'd best be gone and back to the Barrow," Grieve said. "They'll be expecting us."
"What if they know you two were the ones who helped us get away?" I held his gaze, not wanting him to go, wanting to go upstairs and do unspeakable things with every inch of him.
"Don't worry--they won't. I promise you. But you need to guard this house or get yourselves away from here before nightfall." He lifted my chin, reaching down to kiss me lightly. I ignored Leo's and Kaylin's bristling, and draped my arms around his shoulders, letting him lift me to my feet as the kiss intensified.
Heady. He tasted like summer wine and incense and wild mushrooms and cinnamon, and I let out a faint groan. Grieve sucked in a deep breath and leaned his head back, his teeth glistening and sharp, ready for the strike.
"Grieve--" Chatter's timid voice broke through the sex haze I was drifting in and I gently tapped Grieve on the shoulder.
He held me fast for another minute, staring into my eyes, a triumphant smirk on his face, then he let go and--without a word--turned to leave. Chatter mumbled a hasty farewell, and before we could blink, they were gone from the house and I closed the door behind them.
I turned back to the others.
"Don't say it. Don't say a word. Grieve and I . . . We are whatever it is we're becoming, and like it or not, he and I are linked."
"You want it to be that way," Leo said, a slight accusatory tone in his voice. "Don't trust him, Cicely. He's one of them."
"No! Yes . . . but not fully . . ." Frustrated, I kicked at the burnt chair. "I can't explain this. Grieve and I have some sort of bond that formed long before he was turned by the Indigo Court. Why else would I have the wolf guardian tattoo and why else would he have a tattoo of me on his thigh? I trust him . . . as far as I can."
"Fine," Leo said abruptly. "You trust him, okay. But what are you going to do about balancing your work for Regina and the Crimson Court, and your feelings for Grieve?"
"It's not like I forgot about the vampires. Trust me, dude. I'm as confused as you are and whatever I do has to straddle both worlds. And I have to decide whether to tell Grieve about it."
"You're going to feed Grieve the information that you're spying on him and his people? How stupid can you be?" Leo jumped up. "I don't care if you fuck him. But are you forgetting the little matter that Grieve's new family kidnapped your aunt and my sister and our friend Peyton? Did you forget all of them?" His face contorted and then he punched the air and took off toward the stairs.
"Leo--" I started, but Rhiannon stopped me.
"No, let him go. He's just angry and worked up. I'll try to calm him down. I understand both sides, unfortunately." She turned and raced after him.
Helplessly, I turned to Kaylin. "Is he right? Am I just not seeing things clearly?"
He sidled over to me. "Little girl, you aren't seeing anything but the sheets."
I bristled at the "little girl" but he just snorted.
