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I’d wanted that kiss, wanted to know if it would melt my mind as I expected it to. I’d also hoped—perhaps irrationally—that it would fizzle and the tension between us would disappear. One kiss and I could, maybe, move on. I was braced, ready—and, yes, damn it, I was excited.
Now he had the right to kiss me, and I had to either think about it constantly to brace for it or be caught unawares. Either way, I was fucked. I’d done as every human in history had when they made a bargain with a fae: believed I was clever enough to come out the winner.
But, in reality, I’d just handed him all the power.
Chapter Nine
We leftEli’s place in a strange silence, and I was fascinated with how peaceful he seemed. Something I wasn’t yet understanding had transpired. I wanted to know why the bargain calmed him—or maybe it was the promise of a kiss. Whatever it was, Eli was relaxed now, and I wasn’t going to disrupt our peace by asking questions.
That silence continued as we took Eli’s modified-for-fae car to Esplanade Ridge. The gearshift was like a barrier between us, and there was no backseat, but Eli’s car was exceedingly comfortable with its leather seats and wood inlay. Somehow, he’d turned a machine into just enough nature to seem fitting for him and topped it with a powerful engine. I didn’t know much about cars, but I knew there was a metric shit ton of magic woven into this one. Eli had explained in passing once--before I’d asked for help on the first job together--that there were ways to make steel tolerable—but that the cost was prohibitive. He’d paid for it at the bar and in his sleek blue car.
And it had done nothing to hamper the obscene speed he could get out of the machine as he darted around the taxis and car service vehicles that made up almost all of the traffic in the city. At this hour, they were scarce, though. His little blue convertible moved with a near-silent engine, unless Eli was in the mood to make it growl. The one time I’d driven it, I had such a fit of sportscar lust that I think I drooled. I’d never thought I was a car person, but I may confess to dating a man or three just to drive their cars after that day.
It didn’t hurt that the car, much like Eli did, blended in with the sort of people who lived in the neighborhood we were visiting. I was relieved that he was at my side for this, as I felt out of place when meeting most of my clients. I hadn’t grown up destitute, but I’d been raised with simplicity and nature. In New Orleans, most money meant layers of demonstration of their deep pockets. Houses. Cars. Clothes. Those who hired me typically were the sort of people I’d never otherwise encounter.
This row of houses was nothing but old estates, stately homes, or squatting palatial mansions that looked foreboding. It felt stifling. And I felt tense just being there.
“What do you need of me?” Eli prompted.
“Be charming,” I said as we approached the gate to be buzzed into the Chaddock Estate. “The widow is young . . . with crocodile tears on command. She hired me because herstepsoncontested the will and filed a case of decedent rights where he would control the estate until his father could fully return to the company.”
“So, the Chaddock son knew his father would rise.” Eli’s tone held all the same questions I’d had when I realized that detail. The dead could be safely housed, warehoused with medical personnel and feeding tubes. It was an expensive stay, but if money isn’t an object, some families were all in. Accidents still happened, though, and people still died.
“The court filing was a prelim motion, an ‘in-case-of-rising.’ She was not to know it was filed, but . . .”
Eli shook his head. “So, the widow had her husband killed a second time to keep from spending it on Transitional Care Homes.”
“Draugrare not alive, so I didn’t actually kill him.” I shot Eli an angrier than usual look.
We didn’t agree on this. Not truly. Newly infecteddraugrwere dangerous enough that I questioned if these well-to-do medical facilities had any chance of success. They had been founded to drain the accounts of the foolish, and they employed the desperate. The pay at the T-Cell Houses was exceptional, but so was the risk of death.
“Maybe she had him returned to his grave, but that’s notmurder.”
“I know your views, divinity.”
“Divinity? How is that a baked—”
“It’s a candy-fudge confection. Sweet and dizzyingly heady.” Eli depressed the buzzer before I could reply and announced, “Ms. Crowe and her associate to see Ms. Chaddock.”
The gate unlocked with a loud clank as I whispered, “I need professionalism toward me and charm toward her, as if you could see her as a paramour, but without being sleazy.”
“Of course, Ms. Crowe.” Then he added, “Later, I’ll bake some desserts for you. That one is rich enough to make your neighbor’s teeth ache.”
I should be irritated with him after our bargaining, but I found myself smiling as we walked up a cobblestone driveway to the house. Gun on one hip. Short blade on my other. I looked like the wrong sort of woman to approach such a house, but at least I had charm personified walking with me. There was definite appeal in having a fae-blood with a devastating smile that I could use against my current employer.
A young woman with an impeccable uniform opened the door before we could reach out to knock.
“Ms. Crowe to see Ms. Chaddock,” Eli said, as if announcing royalty.
The woman led us to a parlor that was ostentatious in the way that screamed old money and gestured at masculine posturing all at once. The heads of dead animals stared out through glassy eyes from wall mounts, and several smaller mammals were intact and caged under glass. The furniture—white, of course, and immaculate—was stiff and unwelcoming. One particularly atrocious ottoman appeared to be made of an elephant’s foot. It was topped with thick gold tassels and a thin cushion. Everything in the room spoke of death and money.
“She paid the retainer, but she owes me the balance,” I said, forcing my gaze away from the dead things on display.
Eli nodded once. “Yes, Ms. Crowe.”
He met my gaze and then glanced to the mantle where I caught the flicker of light in the eye of a bear.
We were being recorded.
