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Gunter hated the pain the information had brought Nikki. It was clear in the labored way he breathed, the tight hold he had on Nikki. As if he wanted to absorb the pain right out of Nikki’s skin. Gunter had not wanted to bring that bad news to them, but had still read it through.
God, they loved this man.
Gunter spoke in a rough rumble against Nikki’s forehead. “If you want to visit their graves, I’ll take you.”
“I do want to. Just not…right now. I want to sit on this information and absorb it a little.”
“That’s fine. We’ll go when you’re ready.”
“How are you feeling, Nikki?” Cassie asked quietly. “Did this help?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it helped. Now, at least, I know. I kinda always suspected, but it’s good to know.” Nikki lifted their head to give her a wan smile. “Thanks for your help. I wasn’t even sure how to search that out.”
“My Google-fu is legendary,” she agreed with a wink. “You tell me if you want to follow up on this at all. Their case is probably still considered a cold case. You can reopen it with testimony, if you’d like.”
“No.” Nikki’s instinctual answer came out firm. “It’s not something the police can handle. Trying to shift it to their court will just get them killed. I know who did it. Let’s take the crime directly to those responsible.”
She grinned, the expression a little feral. “Revenge is best served cold. After eleven years, I’d say it’s the perfect temperature.”
Nikki offered a fist bump. That was precisely how they felt about it.
Gunter sighed. “Just…take me with you? For when you do blow them to hell.”
Blinking up at him, Nikki asked, “How did you know I was thinking of exploding them straight to hell?”
Gunter’s expression was deadpan in the extreme. “It’s like you think I don’t know you. Of course, you’re thinking bombs.”
To be fair, he was not wrong.
Nikki didn’t know if they could ever complete anyone. Driving them batshit crazy sounded more likely. But looking at Gunter’s patient face, Nikki suspected it might not be as hard as they thought. There was a lot of love, and trust, and affection in this room right now. More than Nikki had ever dreamed of.
And really, they didn’t need anything more than this.
If asked, Gunter could regale you with the full history of magic in the world, the main mage lineages and how they splintered off—including their specialties—and any other amount of niche magical knowledge.
But modern tech? A little outside his field. For that matter, when was the last time he’d gone shopping for a car?
By himself?
Gunter actually strained his brain trying to remember. Maybe…never?
That said, he was determined to do this right. He’d researched online, he’d found the right car (he hoped), and it was just a matter of swinging by the dealership in Sonthofen and picking one up.
In theory.
Theory got dashed to smithereens pretty quickly. Barely five minutes into the sales room, in fact.
Gunter looked at the sales clerk and repeated, “You don’t have that model?”
“I’m sorry, sir, we’re completely out of stock,” she said with an apologetic smile. “We sold our last model this morning.”
“Oh.” Gunter stared at the sea of parked cars, at a loss now. He had no idea what else to pick. Every car at the castle had been something picked out by someone else, and Gunter had purchased his because he’d liked what Baldewin had chosen. No deep thought had gone into it. Without having done research on any other model, Gunter wasn’t sure what to choose. Who would know cars?
Cameron was an engineer….
Wait, that was a good thought. Gunter gave her a staying motion. “Hold on, please. Let me call for a second opinion.”
“Of course.”
Gunter tried Cameron first, as Cassie would get far too much mileage out of this. Cameron was more inclined to be helpful.
“Hi, Gunter.” Cameron sounded a little surprised, for some reason. “The world must be ending for you to call me.”
“Uh, no, nothing like that. I’m just a bit perplexed. I came to the dealership to pick up a car, but the model I researched isn’t available. I don’t know what else to get that might be good.”
“New car? Are you looking to replace yours?”
“No, no, it’s fine. This one’s for Nikki.”
There was a digestive pause. Then a smirk visible in the tone. “Ooooh. It’s for Nikki. I see.”
Gunter sighed. Maybe he shouldn’t have called Cameron.
“Gunter, you playboy, are you finally courting Nikki openly?”
“I’m trying to,” Gunter grouched at him. “Assuming our clan consort stops being annoying and helps me.”
“Put your RDF away, you’ll scare the nice employees of the dealership. I’ll help you. Alright, so what did you pick and why?”
Gunter didn’t trust this mood of Cameron’s but obligingly answered. He’d chosen a car that was a little smaller because Tori had reported that the size of the car made Nikki a little anxious, so a smaller car would fit them better. And of course something durable. He wanted something with good safety ratings so even if Nikki were in an accident, they’d be protected.
