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“Vulgarity is not necessary in ladies,” Iggy said primly.
“Aaaargh!” I grabbed an apple and bit a chunk off. Tonight was starting to feel like I needed more than a nip of intoxication.
I glanced at Eli. “I’m going to crash soon. Lashback. Stay?”
Oblivious to everything but his Master Hexen objectives, Iggy said, “I respect your attempt to escape. It shows cleverness. However, you cannot evade me, Miss Crowe. In the entire world over, you are the one spot of warmth for me. I can always find you simply by following the heat trail you leave in your path.”
“I see.” I hadn’t, of course, but I wasn’t going to admit ignorance just then. “So like a hunting dog?”
“No. Like a reanimated being drawn to the energy of the magic you used.” He gave me an almost kindly smile. “You roused me, Hexen.”
“Right but—”
“Your wards,” Iggy continued as if I hadn’t tried to reply, “were quite adequately done. I’ve made note of areas we could improve, but they’re passable.”
To Eli, I whispered loudly, “Iggy thinks he’s my coach or something.”
“Ignatius,” came the reply from the dead man.
“Where did he . . . when . . .why?” Eli asked in a surprisingly calm voice.
“Grave, earlier tonight, no fucking clue.” I ticked my answers off on my hand. “He refuses to get back in his box.”
“I see,” Eli said. He sounded flustered, but I was starting to think part of my appeal was the drama I seemed unable to avoid. “Do you have a plan?”
I shrugged. The corporeal dead do not simply appear. That was a law—and yet here he was. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to come up with a workable plan.
“Sleep on it?” I suggested.
Iggy wasn’t going away, and I wasn’t sure what to do. The magic cost of tonight’s activity was pushing at the walls I’d erected. Those walls would crash, crumble to pieces, and I needed a way to direct that energy.
So I walked toward the far end of the room where my guest apartment was. It was impersonal, looking like a floor model or fancy hotel, but it had a door—and boundaries were important in any roommate situation.
I jerked open the door and pointed.
“This will be where you stay, Iggy.” I held his gaze. “We can discuss what it is you want to teach me, but this”—I waved the sword around the apartment—“is my home. You want to be out here in my space, you knock or text or something.”
“Text? What is—”
“Tomorrow. We’ll cover texting tomorrow,” I said with a reluctant smile. “Otherwise, you go read a book or something. Tonight, I’m going out. You are staying here.”
“I should assist you, as a teach—"
“No. I give my word that I’ll return, but I need a recharge. Without you around.” I glanced back at Eli, who was watching the whole thing in curiosity.
“Perhaps the fae is the one who is beguiled,” Iggy murmured.
I flipped Iggy off. “We’ll have boundaries, or I swear to Pete, I’ll lock you in a box and salt it enough to mummify you. I’m going out. I’ll be back; this is myhome.”
“Tomorrow.” Iggy held my gaze with an assertion I was not expecting. “Or I will find you.”
“You will not follow tonight, though.”
Iggy nodded once. “My word.”
And I don’t know if I was on to something with the threats or Ignatius was just courteous, but he went into the guest apartment without another word.
Chapter Five
