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He’s worried about what will happen to her if she gets close to me, only to have it snatched away.
“Come,” he murmurs tiredly. “Let’s get back to bed.”
22
AZRAEL
The whole of the following day, Willow seems off. I don’t know if she’s seen the news of the murders or if it has to do with the bundle of letters her sisters gave her that she was quick to hide. As I’m walking her down to dinner, I decide now is the time to ask exactly what they were. “What did your sisters give you yesterday?”
“Huh?” she asks, eyebrows rising.
“You had a bundle you took to your room.”
“Oh. That. Just some clothes and things. Nothing really.”
“Hm. I got the impression you didn’t want me to see them.”
“Did you?”
I study her, see how she doesn’t quite meet my eyes. She’s a bad liar.
“There was a stench in the house today, Azrael,” Grandmother says, ending our conversation as Willow and I enter for dinner.
Willow rolls her eyes.
“I’ve opened all the windows in the sitting room to air it. I hope we can get it out.”
“Is that the best you can come up with?” Willow asks her. “Really?”
Grandmother holds her dish out to be served a slice of roast, her lips tilted upward in one corner. “Your sisters won’t be welcome here going forward. You belong to us now, girl,” she says to Willow directly.
“I belong to you?” Willow raises her eyebrows. “I certainly do not—"
I put my hand on hers, a gesture Grandmother doesn’t miss.
“Bec, how did your appointment go?” I ask my sister, ignoring my grandmother altogether. Bec had an appointment with her doctor.
My sister opens her mouth to answer but Grandmother is quicker. “No change. They’ve increased her dosage.”
“I don’t want more of the medicine. It makes my stomach hurt,” Bec says, eyes pleading.
“What is the medicine?” I ask.
“Are you a doctor now?” Grandmother asks me. Admittedly, I’ve always let Grandmother take the lead when it comes to Rébecca. I was young when she started to have strange bouts of illness, but they went as mysteriously as they came. Although over the last year she has only seemed to grow sicker.
“If her stomach hurts when she takes it, then they need to find her an alternative.”
“Medicine isn’t candy but it is necessary.”
“Bec, what is the diagnosis exactly?” Willow asks.
“I don’t think the witch needs to be involved in a private family matter, do you, Azrael?”
“They don’t know,” Bec tells Willow, ignoring Grandmother. She seems different tonight. More confident or something. I wonder if it was her dress-up session with Willow. “They can’t figure it out.”
“Where is your brother?” Grandmother asks, changing the subject as she stabs a bloody piece of meat.
I notice Willow helping herself from a casserole dish set beside her and don’t comment although I am sure Grandmother has noticed. I requested something appropriate for vegetarians, and Willow seems to be enjoying it, so I’m glad.
“Yeah, actually, where is Emmanuel?” Willow asks.
“He had an appointment,” I say, realizing how late it has run and fairly certain where he is.
“Your sisters seem nice,” Bec says.
“You should meet them,” Willow answers. “You’d love them, and I know they’d love you.”
Grandmother snorts, cutting into her meat angrily.
We finally get through dinner, and I’m glad to see Bec eat about half of her dessert, which is more than she usually does. I make a mental note to ask the chef to make it again. Just as coffee is being served, I hear the front door and a minute later, Emmanuel enters the dining room, eyes bright and looking energized.
“Where have you been? You missed dinner,” Grandmother says, her disapproving gaze moving over him.
“I’ll grab a sandwich later,” he tells her dismissively. He glances at Willow, then at me. “Talk later? Bec and I are binge watching the last season of The Vampire Diaries. Ready?” he asks her.
“Haven’t you two watched the series like three times now?” I ask.
“Yep.” Bec smiles wide and pushes her chair out. “I hope you’re not going to get all emotional like you did last time,” she mutters to Emmanuel with a roll of her eyes.
I raise my eyebrows.
He holds up his hands. “I’m a romantic at heart. What can I say?” He pokes Bec in the ribs. “Snitch.” He picks up her spoon and shoves the last of her dessert into his mouth. “Now I may have to eat all the popcorn myself.”
“You got popcorn?” she asks as they disappear down the hall.
“Salty and sweet. And M&Ms.”
“Yes!” Bec touches her fists to his. It’s such a normal gesture for a normal girl and to see it fills me with something akin to hope, at least momentarily.
“She’ll be sick tomorrow,” Salomé proclaims, then stands. “Goodnight,” she says to me and heads out of the dining room but stops on the threshold and glances back at us. “Oh, I meant to ask if you’ve chosen the date to present The Sacrifice to Shemhazai yet?”
