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He wasn’t who I wanted, though.
“He may not own you, but I doubt he’d want me taking advantage of you in your hour of need, either.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes, which only managed to make the room start spinning. “Just run the shower, buddy. What Cade does and doesn’t want from me, or relating to me, is a discussion for another time. A long, long, long time from now.”
Leo ruffled my hair and chuckled. “If you say so.” He disappeared into the bathroom, and a moment later I heard the water running.
Left alone, I stared at the empty chair by the bathroom door, where Macha had been sitting earlier that morning, and suddenly a huge wave of nausea-inducing fear swept over me.
She’d given me two weeks to solve an impossible crime. Two weeks to figure out who or what was murdering would-be initiates. And I had absolutely no clue where to begin. Prescott said it wasn’t him, but all the same he was still someone I should keep in mind. Because who else would do something like this?
Someday, if I didn’t die first, there would be a week where I didn’t have multiple gods coming to me making demands of my time. Where I could, like, have a vacation.
I would sleep for a week straight.
Which was exactly what I wanted to do right now.
Instead I got to my feet and inched my way over to the bathroom, every muscle in my body screaming its protest. Lay down! Stop moving! Why do you hate yourself?
I didn’t hate myself.
The gods certainly seemed to, though.
I woke up several hours after my shower to find Leo filling Fen’s food dish. I said a silent thank-you to myself for remembering to put on pajamas—with pants no less—before I’d passed out.
“Most people break in to steal things,” I mumbled.
“It’s not breaking in when you have a key.”
“Says the expert.”
“I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of flexible legalities.” He chuckled and put Fen’s bowl on the floor, where the fennec proceeded to start wolfing it down at an alarming rate. Guess I’d forgotten to feed him the night before in my stupor.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
I sat up in bed, wedging the pillows behind me. Apparently I hadn’t bothered to get under the covers. Classic move. “I feel like I took a baseball bat to the head, and while I was unconscious, someone used that same bat to clobber me all over my body.”
He pulled the chair over from next to the door and plopped down, propping his feet on the end of my bed. Guess he was planning on hanging out for a while. I was actually grateful he was here, rather than having to wake up alone and achy. Chatting was a good distraction.
“You don’t have the things on your arms.” Leo jerked his chin towards my bare shoulders. “The spider-web ones.”
“The Lichtenberg figures?”
He shrugged. His enormous frame looked strangely comical wedged into the little chair.
“I only get those when I channel lightning,” I explained. “Everything else just makes me tired.”
“They make you a big baby.” He kicked my foot playfully.
“Pfft. Ask a guy to run you one shower and suddenly he’s an expert.”
“I like to think I know you pretty well.”
I gave him a curious look, wondering if I could say the same. “How are you doing. Really?”
“You just controlled a storm for almost twelve hours and you’re asking me how I am? You can pretend you’re a hard-ass, Tallulah, but I see that softie you’re hiding under the surface.”
“Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to uphold.” Fen hopped up on the bed next to Leo’s feet, gratefully licking his chops. “Seriously though. You’ve been at the temple for two months, left your whole old life behind. How are you doing?”
