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“Sure,” I said, glancing over at the door. Leo was scuffing the snow off his boots out on the back porch. “Well, I guess we’re about to find out which way the cookie crumbles.” I flashed Peyton a strained grin. “Let’s just hope the crumbs all fall close to home. Hansel and Gretel had it easy compared to me.”
“Yeah.” She gave me a thumbs-up. “Because if Lannan so much as gets a whiff of the gingerbread house, he’s going to be on your tail like white on rice.”
“Or snow on snow,” I added softly, staring out the window at the drifting banks that continued to grow ever taller.
Chapter 14
Leo was grumbling as he came through the door. “Damned snow. I wish it would give it a rest.” He looked up and saw Rhiannon entering the kitchen, with Kaylin and Chatter right behind her, and the frown turned into a smile as his face lit up. “Hey, honey, I’m home!”
As he enfolded her in his arms for a long kiss, I hoped to hell that I wasn’t going to be a wedge between them. I also hoped that Peyton was wrong about Leo—and that my own secret suspicions were off.
I sliced the pizza and slid the pie on the table while Peyton poured drinks all the way around and set out the pudding and cookies. Kaylin and Chatter slid into their places and I stared at Kaylin, wondering what he’d say. He’d been against my dreamwalking with him the first time, but a lot had happened since then. He glanced up to meet my gaze, unblinking. A dark smile fell across his lips as he lifted his beer and slowly saluted me with it.
As we all fell to eating, I glanced over at Rhiannon. She nodded. No time like the present. I leaned back and licked the melted cheese off my fingers.
“Guys, I need to talk to you about something. I need your help.”
“Peyton and I have already agreed to help her in this, and we’re not changing our minds, so I suggest you think twice about turning her down.” Rhiannon swallowed her pizza and blinked. “Kaylin, we especially need your help.”
“Why do I think I’m not going to like this?” Leo frowned, pushing his food around on his plate.
“Because you feel it’s your duty to protect us even when it’s not. But we’re here to help each other, and no single one of us is strong enough to protect the others.” Rhia gave him a playful kiss, but he scowled at her.
“What’s up? I can feel something coming.” He reached for another slice of pizza.
I took a deep breath. “I’m planning something. I need your help, Kaylin, but if you aren’t comfortable then I’ll find another way. No matter what, I’m going through with this.” In a rush, I spilled out, “I’m going to steal some of the antidote and give it to Grieve.”
Leo choked on his pizza, coughing so loud I thought we were going to have to thump him on the back. I glanced over at Kaylin, who raised his eyebrows but didn’t say a word. Chatter looked at me like I was crazy.
After a moment, Leo pushed his plate back and stood up. “This is insane. You’re going to get all of us killed.”
“I’m not asking you to help. I’m not asking Rhia and Peyton to go in with me. I’m just asking you to keep your mouth shut about it. As far as you’re concerned, you don’t know anything.”
“If Geoffrey finds out that I’m keeping this quiet, he’ll rip my throat out—and yours, too!” Leo slammed his hand on the table. “You can’t do this! I know you’re hot for Grieve, but face the fucking facts: He belongs to Myst now. You lost him, he’s gone. Buh-bye!”
I slid out of my chair, staring at him, unable to believe the extent of his anger. Leo seemed mild-mannered on the surface, but he’d shown a nasty temper more than once now.
“Excuse me, but you don’t own this house and you don’t own me. You’re not my brother or my keeper. Grieve means more to me than you can ever comprehend. If you can’t accept the fact that he and I have been bound for lifetimes, then you never will.”
“We don’t always get what we want.” He turned a cold eye at Chatter, then back at me. “We don’t always get who we want.”
He was jealous. Chatter had a crush on my cousin, and Leo knew it, so he was taking it out on all of the Cambyra Fae.
“You’re threatened—Grieve and Chatter threaten you!” I shoved my finger against Leo’s chest. “Grieve scares the hell out of you and you’d do anything to keep him out of my life. And Chatter—you don’t want him near Rhiannon.”
“Fuck that! I’m not scared of some freakshow Fae. What I am scared of is having a member of the Indigo Court under the same roof as me. A member of the race that killed my sister. That killed my fiancée’s mother. Your aunt, might I remind you! And I take my job for Geoffrey seriously. I owe him—”
“You owe him what?” Rhiannon turned on him. “A paycheck? He’s one of the vampires, Leo. I don’t mind you working for them, but I’ll never trust them.”
“At least the vampires keep their word—”
“Yeah, right. And they use every trick in the book on us. Look at the contract I signed with them.” I waved my hand, accidentally knocking over my juice. I ignored it as it trickled across the table. “Lannan’s not going to keep his word—he’d love a chance to humiliate me, especially now. You think they have respect for you just because you play toady for them?”
“Don’t you ever call me that again!” Leo knocked his chair over as he backhanded me across the face.
I reacted instantly, kicking him in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. “You ever touch me again like that and I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.”
His eyes wide, Leo slid to the floor. “I’m sorry . . . I didn’t mean to hit you . . .”
