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I opened my eyes to Morio sitting beside me on the bed. Squinting in the morning light, I pushed myself up and looked around. I was alone on the king-sized mattress. Last night Morio had slept on the daybed near the window, while Smoky and Trillian flanked me. I’d nixed any wandering hands, though, too exhausted to even think about sex.
“Good morning.” He gave me a quick kiss and, as I slid out from beneath the covers, slipped his arms around me, drawing me close.
“You didn’t get any last night, you’re not getting any this morning.” I gave him a playful thunk on the head.
“I wasn’t looking for any,” he whispered. “What I am looking for is for you to haul your lovely ass downstairs. We’ve got a full day, sleepyhead.”
Not sure whether to be insulted or just annoyed, I glanced at the clock. Nine-thirty? Oh shit, I had overslept by a good two hours. I jumped up and grabbed a towel.
“Let me catch a quick shower.”
“Iris said if you want breakfast, you’ll be there in ten minutes.” He laughed, then headed out the door after giving me a sharp slap on the ass. “I’ll be out in the studio, cleaning and purifying our ritual gear.”
Twenty minutes later, fully dressed and in makeup, I showed up in the kitchen. Good to her word, there was no breakfast on the table, but when Iris saw me coming she opened the fridge and, before I knew it, I was settled in my chair with yogurt, a toasted English muffin, a banana, and a cup of coffee. Not quite the hearty breakfast I was used to, but it would do.
Delilah came running through the back door, breathing heavily. I gave her a quizzical look and she pulled off her Windbreaker and tossed it over the back of a chair. “When Morio said you were taking a shower, I decided to get in a quick run down to Birchwater Pond and back.”
I glanced around the kitchen. “Where’d Smoky and Trillian go? The house seems empty today. And where’s Maggie?”
Iris answered before Delilah could. “Smoky took off for his barrow. He said he had something to do. Trillian went shopping with Roz. Vanzir’s out in the studio, and Shamas is at work. Maggie’s in my room having a time-out.”
“Time-out? What did she do now?” Maggie had reached the stage where she was getting into anything and everything. Sometimes the only way to make her realize there were boundaries was to give her a time-out.
“She bit me,” Delilah said, holding up her index finger. A sturdy white bandage was wrapped around it. “The little dickens snapped at me when I tried to put her back in her playpen after giving her breakfast. She’s got to learn no biting or eventually she could take someone’s finger off.”
“No kidding.” I stared at her finger. “How’s the bite? Any infection, you think?”
“No. It’s clean and Roz spread some of his wonder salve over it. So what’s on the agenda today, as if I didn’t know?” She slipped into a chair and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table. “Iris, what’s with all the fruit lately? The farmer’s market having a run on apples and oranges?”
“It’s good for you. You eat far too much junk food.” Iris turned around from the sink where she was finishing up the dishes. She put her hands on her hips and stared down Delilah’s irritated grunt. “If you want doughnuts all the time, you’re going to have to get them yourself. You’re addicted to sugar and it’s not healthy.”
“I can handle it,” Delilah muttered, but bit into the apple anyway.
I spooned up my yogurt. “I guess today we plan out our strategy. Asking Aeval to help us with Stacia isn’t going to be a lot of fun.” I really didn’t want to go there but we had no choice. We needed help and we needed it soon.
Delilah crossed her arms on the table and rested her chin on them. “Do you really think Father’s sleeping with Tanaquar?”
She sounded so wistful and sad that I put down my spoon. “What’s the matter, Kitten?”
“I just . . . he always said he couldn’t forget Mother . . .”
So that was it. I reached across the table and patted her hand. “He loved Mother more than anything, but he has to move on. I just wish Tanaquar hadn’t gotten her claws on him. I think she’s using him and I doubt if he knows it. I think he wanted to tell me about it while I was there, but chickened out.” As I bit into the English muffin, a burst of buttery goodness melted into my mouth and I closed my eyes, enjoying the flavor.
“I know he has to move on. I want him to. But . . . it just seems . . . he’s sleeping with the Queen. That’s just so wrong and I can’t tell you why I feel that way.” Morosely, she tossed the rest of the apple in the compost bin and rooted through the cupboards until she finally pulled out a bag of generic potato chips. “I knew we had to have something good in here.”
Iris finished putting away the dishes and crossed her arms. “Fine, I give up. I’ll buy the damned junk food next time I’m grocery shopping but when you break out or realize that it’s sapping your energy, don’t come running to me.” The phone rang just then and she picked it up. After a moment, she handed it to me. “Camille, you’d better take it. Henry’s on the line.”
Wiping my hands on my napkin, I took the receiver. “Henry? What’s up?”
“Camille?” Henry sounded shaky. “We’ve got a problem. I’ve called Detective Johnson and he’s on the way. I think you’d better come down to the shop right away.”
“What’s going on?” I frowned. If Henry said there was a problem, there was. He wasn’t prone to exaggeration.
Henry lowered his voice and it sounded like he’d cupped his hand around the receiver. “There are two men and a woman prowling around the shop. I’ve never seen any of them before. Camille, they frighten me. I asked if I could help them and one of the men growled at me.”
Shit! My first thought was that they were from the Freedom’s Angels group or maybe the Brotherhood of the EarthBorn.
“I’ll be down there in twenty minutes, fifteen if traffic is with me. Meanwhile, you hang tough. And get out of there. Don’t worry about anything in the shop—don’t stop to take the money or anything else. And, Henry . . .” I paused, wanting to warn but not knowing what to warn him against. We could have demons down there, or anti-Fae humans running around, or even somebody who had a personal grudge against us.
