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“I told him we suspected it was a gift, and he clammed up until I reminded him of guest rights.”
“That’s a fae thing.”
“It’s a white witch thing too.”
“You’re making that up.” I rinsed the daemon’s hair. “You are, right?”
“It’s very much a white witch thing. They offer weary travelers succor, they establish and maintain neutral grounds, and they’re often selected as arbitrators.” He smirked. “You’ve got a lot to learn.”
Guest rights meant Aedan was safe from harm on my property. Even Asa couldn’t touch him. Unless he wanted to go through me to get to him.
“Right now, I’m more worried about not eating people.” I shrugged. “Etiquette lessons can wait.”
“You’re further along than that,” he scoffed. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
Done rinsing the suds, I began toweling the daemon’s hair dry. “Back to the issue of pups.”
“Too bad they’re not like possums,” he mused. “We could have wiped it and its young out in one go.”
“Life is never that simple.” I started brushing to keep the daemon occupied. “Besides, they’re babies.”
“Aedan says they’re born the size of corgis. They might be babies, but they could eat someone’s baby.”
“True.”
“Point of interest.” He lifted his index finger. “It might not have been pregnant when it was caught.”
“Um, okay?”
“Aedan says they can reproduce via parthenogenesis, an asexual form of reproduction. Confinement on land might have been enough to trigger, or confuse, its natural instincts and result in a pregnancy.”
Remove the possibility the creature acted on instinct, thanks to a preexisting condition, and our dumped theory rocketed back to the top of the list.
“Hmm.” That kind of insider info was handy. “Do you think we could convince him to consult?”
“Since this isn’t an official case, which means we can’t officially hire him, sure. Why not?”
“I need to finish up here.” I accepted the hairbands the daemon passed me. “Can you ask?”
The mention of our uncase reminded me I had to pack a change of clothes for after work.
Monster hunting in kitten heels, pressed slacks, and a nice blouse was a fast way to ruin a wardrobe.
“Uh, no. Hard pass.” Clay backed away slowly. “Wait until Asa comes back from la-la land and ask him.”
“Ask him to do it, right?” I narrowed my eyes on him. “I’m sure you didn’t mean ask his permission.”
“Night, Rue.” He pivoted on his heel and headed down the hall. “See you in the morning.”
“Chicken,” I called after him then settled in to pay my dues in the form of two tidy braids.
