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The other side of my bed was empty. After our tryst, Trillian had returned to OW to talk to my father. So I was back to dancing with the devil. But the smile on my face was too bright for that thought to quench my good mood as I glanced at the clock. Ten a.m. Oh hell, the store!
I slid into a plum chiffon skirt that flirted with the tops of my knees and pulled on a pale gray cashmere sweater. Zipping up my knee-high stiletto suede boots, I hurried downstairs as I fumbled with my hair, managing to corral the tumbling curls into a thick ponytail. Delilah was waiting, bright-eyed, with breakfast on the table.
"I am so hungry." I slid into my chair and snagged a piece of bacon off the platter. "Thanks. I'm running late."
Delilah wrinkled her nose. She was dressed in a pair of flare-legged jeans and a patchwork peasant shirt in shades of blue and ivory. Thick-soled platform ankle boots raised her to soaring heights. "I think you should call Iris today. We have to start looking for Tom Lane."
I'd hoped to find some word waiting from OIA when I woke up, but there were no messages from either Chase or Trillian.
"I guess you're right. We don't have a moment to waste." I picked up the phone and put in a call on the private shop line to Iris.
"Hey, can you run the shop today? We have OIA business."
Iris jotted down notes as I ran through what she needed to know, then promised to call and leave a status report at the end of the day. She spoke perfect English, even though she'd spent most of her life in Finland, where her kin had bound themselves to a family of humans, coexisting peacefully until the family had died out last generation. With no one left to tend, Iris had signed up with the OIA, and they'd left her Earthside, since she knew the world so well.
Delilah and I lingered over breakfast, Delilah writing up a to-do list while I applied my makeup. A sweep of soft brown shadow, an outline of liquid black liner around my eyes, several coats of mascara on my already-lengthy eyelashes. Finally, I rouged my lips with a deep merlot color and blinked.
"That's better," I said, staring in my hand mirror.
"You're chipper this morning," Delilah said. "Now, what do we need to do?" She held her pencil at the ready.
"Well, we need to find out more about Tom Lane, but I'm afraid that may be a common name over here."
"It is," she said. "I already looked him up while waiting for you. There are several Tom Lanes in Seattle and the surrounding areas. And if he truly lives near the mountain, we have to remember that he might not have a phone."
Delilah buttered another piece of toast and bit into it. She had a healthy appetite and worked it off without a problem. "Maybe some of the local Fae have heard of him and know something."
I cautiously licked the taste of bacon off of my fingers, taking care not to muss my lipstick. "You're thinking Tom and the seal might have become an urban legend?"
"Hey, what about Rina? She lives in Seattle, and if I remember right, she was a historian back in OW." Delilah gave a little purp of excitement. I could tell she was proud of herself.
"Rina? Who's that?" And then I remembered. A few years back, Rina—a member of the Court and Crown—had slept with the King. That in itself wasn't a crime. The problem was that she'd failed to ask permission from the Queen first, and Lethesanar wasn't known for leniency toward thieves of the royal treasures—be they gemstone or consort. Lethesanar had banished Rina to Earth, forbidding her to return to Otherworld.
"Oh, I'd forgotten about her," I said, wondering what Rina had been up to since her spectacular—and fiery—departure from the Court. I'd witnessed that blowup, and it taught me a valuable lesson about "borrowing" the property of the royal family. "Do you know where she is?"
Delilah popped open her laptop and began tapping away, her fingers moving with a speed that made me cringe. She'd learned to type the moment she knew we were headed Earthside, but I'd passed on the opportunity.
"Here she is—I've got a file on expatriates living Earthside. Hey, she doesn't live far from the store. She runs an antique shop and lives over it."
"Is she a member of OIA?" I asked.
"Nope," Delilah said, shaking her head. "The Queen would chew a cow if Rina was given any sort of official status. Lethesanar's grudges run deep."
I gathered my purse and keys. "Should we go visit her?"
Delilah closed her laptop and slipped it into her shoulder bag. "Why not? Afterward, we can pop in on Louise Jenkins and talk to her. By the time Menolly wakes up tonight, we should have more information to go on." She followed me to the door, eying me closely. "How are you doing this morning? I notice Trillian wasn't around at breakfast." It was a question, not a statement.
I flashed her a dark look. "Don't start in on me, okay? He stayed for awhile, and yes, we had sex. Then he went back to OW."
"Oh Camille! You really love him, don't you?" she asked, as we clattered down the steps, the downpour soaking us before we could reach my car. I pointed the keychain, pressed a button, and the locks popped. Modern technology wasn't all that far behind magic, I thought. Sometimes, it surpassed it.
As we settled into the car and fastened our seat belts, I shook my head. "I love him, yes, but I don't like him. Not all that much. He's a drug, Delilah. He's passionate and exciting and…" I stopped, uncertain of how to explain it.
"And he takes you places nobody else can," she finished for me quietly.
I glanced at her. "Yeah, he does. He did last night. I don't know if I want to give that up."
As I pulled out onto the road and headed toward the center of the Belles-Faire district, Delilah seemed to be searching for words. After a moment, she said, "Maybe it's not so bad to be dependent on somebody else. He made you happy, Camille. I remember when you were together. I don't like him, but if you love him, then I'll support you. You know that."
