AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Tell him he did a great job, and thanks for the detailing on the door. Nice to have my baby purring like new again.”
“Good. Well, I’m off. I have some late work to get done and Jason wants to go out for coffee—a twenty-four hour Starbucks opened near our house and we can walk there.”
“Okay. Be careful, dude. There are monsters in the dark.”
“I know that all too well since meeting you. But even before you opened up the portals, we had plenty of monsters of our own, honey. Some of them are called bigots.” He signed off and a minute later, a text came through with Violet’s password.
I turned the ignition, then headed for home. The day’s events had started to catch up with me, and by the time I pulled in the driveway, I could barely think. I tumbled into bed and the next thing I knew, I was out like a light.
• • •
Shade was gone when I woke up, he’d left a message that he had some business to attend to and would be back by dinner time. Missing him, horny and lonely, I moped around, but by the time I came down for breakfast, I felt relatively refreshed. A shower had cleaned any residual gunk off me that I had been too tired to pay attention to the night before.
Camille was sitting there with Iris, who had a relieved look on her face. Iris beamed at me.
“It’s so good to get out of the house for a little while. Camille’s been filling me in on everything. I can’t believe how the world falls apart when I decide to take some time off.” She was joking, but turned serious. “Delilah, I’m so sorry about your father.”
I blinked. I hadn’t even begun to visit the pain that I’d locked away inside, and I suspected neither had Camille nor Menolly. Right now was not that time.
“Thanks.” I leaned down and kissed her. “How are you, little mama?”
“Tired. I have a nanny—the Duchess insisted on hiring someone. But I am sore and achy, and my nether regions still feel like I passed a couple of watermelons. Birthing’s not easy and don’t let anybody tell you it is.” She chuckled. “But my Maria and Ukkonen are doing well. They both have extremely healthy lungs and they know how to use them. Bruce is a deer in the headlights, but he’s feeling his way along.”
“And how do you get along with your mother-in-law?” Camille set a cup of herbal tea and a plate of cookies down in front of Iris.
I rummaged through the refrigerator. “Where’s Hanna? No breakfast?”
“Make it yourself. I gave Hanna the day off and she went shopping.” Camille fixed herself an iced latte and sat down at the table with what looked like a leftover plate of spaghetti.
Iris cleared her throat and glanced around. “The Duchess . . . I’ve never met such a bossy woman. But she is kind and she loves her grandchildren, and so far she hasn’t tried to change my house décor, so we’re good. That’s one thing about sprites and leprechauns, we respect the connections others have to their homes.”
I found some leftover turkey breast and pulled it out, slicing it and slapping it between pieces of French bread, and slathering it with mayo, mustard, and ketchup. I added three slices of cheese and called it good. Pouring a big glass of chocolate milk, I sat down at the table with them and bit into the sandwich.
Camille pulled out her phone and tapped on the screen. “We have to pay Ivana’s debt today. I called her and told her to come by this afternoon. And did you want to ask Chase if he wants to move in here?”
“Chase, move in? What is this, a boarding house? He can stay with Sharah—she should be having that baby any day.” Iris looked a little put out and I thought that, even though she had her own home now and it was only a minute or two away, she still missed living with us and being queen of the household.
I glanced over at Camille, then back at Iris. “I guess we missed telling you. Sharah had her baby and because Queen Asteria is dead, she’s now the Queen of Elqaneve and they made her leave the baby and Chase behind. He’s a single father, for the moment.”
“The entire world is falling apart around my shoulders and I seem to have no clue.” Iris shook her head. “Well then, he can’t possibly take care of that child on his own.”
“Sharah sent a nanny and a wet nurse over Earthside,” I started to say, but Iris waved me quiet.
“Nonsense. I’m producing an abundance of milk. I can wet-nurse his baby as well as my own. We have two guest rooms, and Chase can stay in one, and the nursery can hold a third baby. The Duchess loves children of all makes and models, she’d probably be overjoyed to add another one to her care while she’s here, and it will keep her busy.”
By the wicked grin on Iris’s face, she had an ulterior motive hiding behind that cunning smile. “You call him right now. That way he won’t be taking up your house space, and Bruce will welcome the male company. I’m afraid the estrogen factor is getting rather strong for him.”
I grinned. “Whatever you say, Iris. I’m not going to argue.” I dialed Chase’s number. He was quick to answer, but he sounded groggy.
“Delilah, what’s up?” There was an edge to his voice and I had the feeling he was already going down for the count.
“I have an offer for you from Iris and I think you should take her up on it, at least for a little while.” I quickly outlined her proposal. “So you’ll have a babysitter for . . . what did you name her?”
“Astrid, after Asteria. It seemed the thing to do.” He sounded hopeful as he said it, and I had the feeling we wouldn’t have any trouble convincing him to hie it on over.>Menolly glanced over at me, and I looked down the line. We were all poised on the edge of the clearing now, and the dreglins hadn’t noticed us, so wrapped up in their gruesome meal they were.
Lysanthra began to vibrate in my hand. She was spoiling for blood and I was about to give it to her. But Menolly would go in first, disrupt them and take down one of them. Vanzir motioned that he’d go in second. Again, he stood a better chance of not being harmed by the dreglins’ toxins.
We waited, then, in an imperceptible flicker, Menolly leaped out into the group. She said nothing, gave no war cry, just went for the throat of the biggest one. As she landed full-frontal on it, she knocked the woman to the ground, taking her down.
