Chapter 16 #3
“The house has been updated since its original ownership.”
“When was the last time?”
“Ten years ago, when I claimed the seat.”
I couldn’t resist a smile. “You immediately swooped in with an interior design team?”
“I wanted to make the space my own.”
In other words, he wanted to erase all traces of his brother. Understood. “Did you leave anything that reminded you of your brother? Maybe a cuckoo clock?”
His face turned to stone. “What makes you ask that?”
“It’s obvious the two of you had issues.” I rubbed the sore spot again. “How long have I been out?”
“About two hours.”
I bolted upright. “Two hours? I need to go.”
Vale was beside me in one swift movement. “Don’t give yourself an aneurysm. Harriet said it was important to let you rest.”
“I’m fine.”
“You took down a faerie, raided someone else’s subconscious, then got hit in the head for your troubles.
” Vale glanced over his shoulder at an unseen figure in the hall.
“Is Harriet still here? Tell her we need her.” He turned back to face me.
“Harriet is a witch of many talents, including the healing arts. If she says you need rest, then you should rest.”
I resisted the strong urge to tear off the sheet and run.
“Where did you learn to fight?”
“Are you asking in relation to Leanne? Because that, too, was more of a scuffle.”
“I’ve been thinking about our conversation in my kitchen, and what I’ve observed.”
I plucked a thread in what was likely a two-thousand-thread-count sheet. Swanky bastard. “Years of training, followed by years of practice.”
“You’re thirty-five,” he said with a laugh. “It couldn’t have been that many years or you would’ve started as a child.” He stopped talking and stared at me as the realization settled. “You started as a child?”
“I would imagine you did as well. Demigods don’t usually get to attend school and play on the traveling soccer team.”
“Mine was an unusual upbringing.”
“So was mine.”
He gestured to side of the bed. “May I?” I nodded, and he perched on the edge next to me. “I think we might have more in common than we realized.”
Uh-oh. He wanted to go deeper. Fear crawled across my skin. Mayday. Mayday. I glanced around the bed. Where was the emergency eject button?
“We already agreed we can’t pursue this.” I swung my legs to the side and tried to maneuver past him. “I really need to go.”
“Why are you afraid to stay too long on the mainland?” Vale asked.
I positioned myself so that I was seated beside him on the edge of the bed. “I told you, because my identity’s been scrubbed from here. I can’t afford to spend time in a place I don’t exist.”
“For an unconscious person, you thrashed around quite a bit. I considered restraining you, but I thought you wouldn’t take kindly to waking up tied to my bed.”
My gaze narrowed. “You would be correct.”
He patted my arm. “Don’t grind your teeth to a stump. It would only have been out of concern for your safety.”
“From what I’ve heard, Vale’s the consent king,” Harriet said, winking at Vale as she joined him at my bedside.
The witch favored soft, feminine pastels that contrasted nicely with her midnight skin, as evidenced by the ruffled paisley-print linen dress she currently wore.
“Glad to see you’re awake, Maya. How do you feel? ”
“Like somebody used my head for batting practice with the trunk of an oak tree.”
“Which is basically what happened,” Vale said.
Harriet stared at me. “You have a goose egg on your head that’s already healing. How is your skull that thick?”
Vale stifled a smile.
“Just lucky I guess.”
Harriet’s arms whipped into a fold. “Please don’t bullshit me, Maya. I had no idea how to treat you. I thought for sure I would miss a major injury, and you’d die on my watch.”
I touched my head. “It’s the snakes,” I lied. “They add an invisible layer of protection.”
Harriet didn’t budge. “You mean the snakes that didn’t make an appearance, or your opponent would’ve been made of stone? Those snakes?”
“I saw no snakes,” Vale confirmed.
“The protection is for both of us,” I said. “They don’t need to be visible for the barrier to work.”
Harriet’s arms relaxed at her side. “You scared us, Maya. Don’t do that again.”
I wouldn’t make promises I couldn’t keep. “I need to get back to Evermore.”
“Your only job right now is to rest,” Harriet said.
If only. “I’ve been away from Evermore too long.”
“Stay until you’re fed and hydrated. That’s all I ask.” She checked her phone. “There was another oni sighting, Vale, right in Forsyth Park. A red one trying to scare people.”
“Trying to?” I repeated.
“People apparently took videos and selfies with it. The demon got confused by the positive attention and ran off.” She showed off her gap-toothed smile. “Welcome to Savannah.”
“No reported injuries?” I asked.
“One woman scraped her knee when she hurried up the stairs to her front door to get away.”
“I’ll send someone to check it out,” Vale said.
“I should be getting back to The Mad Harriet. Call me if you need anything else.”
“Thank you—for everything.”
“Thank Vale. He’s the one who rescued you.” She gave him a mischievous finger wave as she exited the room.
“You don’t need to thank me,” Vale said, once Harriet was gone. “I would’ve done the same for anybody.”
“I’m not special. Got it.”
“Do you want to be special?”
I recoiled against the pillow. “What? No. What do you mean?”
His smirk suggested he found my response amusing. “It’s okay to admit it, Maya. Many women would love to be in your position.”
“Recovering from a concussion?”
“In my bed.”
“You said this was a guest bedroom.”
“Yes, but it’s still mine. I have others you can try, should you find this one inadequate.”
“If you circle back to restraints, I’m leaving.”
He laughed. “Gods, you’re easy to rile.”
I made a show of rubbing my head. “It’s the injury.”
“Right.” He clapped his hands as he stood. “Now, what would you like to eat? Are you hungry for a meal or a snack?”
The thought of food made my stomach rumble. “A meal, apparently, but I can eat at home.” I started to rise, but Vale urged me back to the bed.
“You heard Harriet. She said no releasing you until you’ve had food and water. I won’t have you passing out and falling overboard.”
“Fine. I’ll eat and run. Normally that’s considered bad manners.”
“I don’t think anyone here expects manners from you, Maya.”
My mouth opened to object, then snapped closed again.
He was right; manners weren’t my forte. Never had been.
Not much opportunity to practice them. It would’ve been strange to exchange pleasantries with someone right before plunging a sword into their gut.
Anonymity and detachment were survival tools.
They still were.
“Knock, knock. Delivery service.” Nina entered the bedroom, carrying a tray overflowing with food and a tall glass of water. “Hope you’re hungry.”
“Thank you. That looks amazing.”
“Thank you, Nina. That’s all for now,” Vale said.
The shifter withdrew without another word.
I smeared a slice of toast with butter and grape jam and took a satisfying bite. It tasted like childhood.
Toast in hand, I walked to the window that stretched from floor to ceiling and peered through the curtains. The square was quiet and devoid of people. Then I noticed the color of the sky—dark purple, like a bruise. I turned to Vale. “Is it sunset?”
“Just about. Why?”
“See for yourself.”
He joined me at the window. “Ominous color.”
“No kidding.” The sunset should’ve been orange and yellow. Maybe pink. But deep purple? The hairs on my arms stood at attention. “I sense magic. Do you feel it?”
“Coranians?”
“Seems likely.” I darted to the bedside table to retrieve my phone and noticed it was at full battery. “You charged my phone?”
“There are chargers in every room. What are you doing?” Vale asked.
“Calling Justine to update her on the situation.”
“Whatever’s happening, Maya, it’s happening in my territory, not yours.”
“And if it spills over to the island?” If anything happened to the Neighborhood because I wasn’t there, I’d never forgive myself. “Weapons. I need weapons, and lots of them.”
“I know you’re talented, August, but you only have two hands. How many do you think you can wield at the same time?”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Actually, I don’t think I would.” Vale tapped his phone screen. “Gage, I need you and Cowboy to round up help. We have a developing situation.”
I dared to glance outside again. The purple had deepened to black. The sky had become a void, a dark funnel through which seven sorcerers were about to make another entrance.
But where?
I whipped toward Vale. “Harriet mentioned the oni at Forsyth. Where were the other sightings downtown?”
Vale paused to think. “Drayton Street. Gaston Street. Whitaker. They all surround Forsyth.” He redialed Gage.
“I need people on every block near Forsyth Park. Bring weapons but be discreet. I don’t want to induce mass panic.
” He hung up and looked at me, stress rippling across his rugged features. “This is all my fault.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You did. Like you said, all these fae appearances can’t be a coincidence. Word has finally spread that the eighth son is weaker than his predecessor.”
“And what? Because you’re number eight, you retain only a small fraction of your father’s power? Genetics don’t work that way.”
“The fae have never had much interest in science.”
“Well, it shows.” A clever foe was hard. In some ways, an ignorant one was even harder.
“I made it clear from the moment I accepted the seat that I was neither my father nor my brother. There are those who’ve misinterpreted my position as weakness.”
“They see a power vacuum,” I said. “The fae are testing you. That’s why the Coranians are here. They’re nomadic. They’ve never cared about magic stones or seizing land before, but suddenly they’re collecting stones and cozying up to fae like Leanne. It isn’t their style.”
Vale’s gaze snapped to mine. “You think the Thornborn are at the helm?”
“That’s my best guess. If they believe Savannah is up for grabs, they want to be the ones to grab it. A coastal stronghold would be a huge win for them.”
His brow creased. “Stone treaty or not, they can’t possibly think they can reclaim the mortal world after all these centuries.”
“It’s their sole purpose, Vale. They’ll win or die trying.”
His eyes burned with determination. “Then so will I.”