Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
I wasn’t dead. I wasn’t even one of the few pure humans who never mingled with anything infernal or heavenly. I wasn’t beautiful, with perfect symmetry and perfect curves and perfect slenderness. I was the shocking opposite of everything I was used to seeing in the mirror.
I stood in front of the mirror of the armoire stuffed with the goblin bodyguard’s clothes and stared at my reflection. I looked at a stranger who may very well have goblin blood. My hair had always been carefully styled and highlighted, but now there was no hair to soften my sharp features. My eyes were pale, creepy blue-green that I’d always covered with contacts. They were technically the same, but the rest of me was so alien, haggard, asymmetrical. The word was ugly. At least my pointed nose had grown back without a scar.
I’d done a lot of makeovers for the beauty branch of the family business to showcase the newest line of cosmetics. If I had a client who looked like me, it would be all about the contouring, highlighting and shadowing to get my features more in line, to soften the sharp nose. Or I’d go the opposite way, and go for striking, like that elven woman I’d seen at a gala who had leaned into her unusual looks and went beyond beauty into something unforgettable.
My mother had nudged me as the elven woman walked down the stairs, so unutterably graceful. “It’s how she holds herself that finishes the look. Beauty is only one piece of the puzzle.”
I shook my head, trying to get memories of my mother out of my head. The only time she hadn’t been a constant presence in my life was when I was in boarding school. Would she be devastated that I was dead and gone? Of course she would as far as her business plans went since I was an essential part, both my own work and my upcoming marriage to Philip. But would she actually grieve for me in any real way?
Maybe I should call her, put her mind at rest. What if they were still looking for me? What if they spent years of time and energy searching? No, I had to at least give them closure, let them know that I’d died. Looking into the mirror made it obvious that I really and truly had died. Cassandra Clarence wasn’t ever coming back.
I took off my robe and draped it over the mirror to cover it up before I focused on the clothing. I pulled out a vest that was heavy enough to strain my arm. This was women’s clothing? I poked at it and realized that it was armored. I’d worn armored vests from time to time when I travelled to more dangerous places for my charity work. Not mine, the corporation, but I’d given my face for the effort. Not my face anymore.
I shook my head and dropped the vest on the floor and pulled out another shirt, this time sheer. Was this to be worn over the armored vest? I dropped that and dug deeper. The goblin bodyguard had a few things that were probably appropriate for goblin nightclubs, and the rest was armored.
I stood there, holding armored pants. Mercury was clever. He’d bargained his way into me wearing protective gear, because he was genuinely concerned with my safety. He really was attached to those he brought back to life. Was that a necromancer thing, or a Mercury thing? I finally shrugged and put on the most lightly armored clothing I could find, a pair of leather pants with reinforced knees and seat, and the first vest I’d pulled out. Everything else was heavier. I pulled the mesh shirt over the vest, which provided more warmth than I expected. It must be spelled warm. Everything smelled like essential oils and guns, two scents I’d always liked. It was nice to be dressed, even if I lacked support layers.
Did goblins not need underwear? I suppose goblin skins were supposed to be tough. I could regenerate, but it wasn’t pleasant. I’d have to purchase underwear, but I had no money. I had nothing. Not even a driver’s license and a real name. That thought struck me with the force of a gut punch. Tears rose in my eyes, but I shook my head and took a deep breath. I had to focus on the present or I’d drown in all of the miserable uncertainty. The main thing was that I felt better, my mind was clearing up, and I had to stop whoever had killed me so horribly before he killed someone else.
My room was at the bottom of the tower that housed the necromancer’s laboratory, probably so that the goblin bodyguard could give the stairs an extra layer of security. When I came out of the room, determined to find Bones and the kitchen, I froze then looked to my left where a shadow stood that hadn’t been there when I’d first fumbled my way from the laboratory, down the stairs to my room. Maybe it had been. Was it a person? A ghoul? A demon? How long had I spent staring into the mirror at the whole new me? It didn’t matter. I was hungry and needed underwear before the leather pants really made me chafe. Not that perfect skin was the priority anymore. I had only one priority: find my killer. Also a job. Also underwear. My stomach rumbled loudly. Well, there was that. Fine, I had a few priorities I’d have to juggle.
“Excuse me, could you direct me to the kitchen?” I asked the shadow. Maybe it was just a shadow. Maybe it didn’t talk or respond. I felt so weird talking to thick air, but it moved away from the wall and flowed over the floor ahead of me and then turned left at the next intersecting hall.
Mercury’s house was a labyrinth, built to confuse. I counted halls and turns so I wouldn’t get lost on my way back. I needed to sleep, to rest, because I was alive, but I also needed more nourishment than had been in the IV. And I needed to find out what was going on in the outside world, particularly the Clarence world.
The kitchen was unexpectedly cozy. It was still dusty, but there were crochet doilies in various bright colors over everything, including the refrigerator and the little couch parked in front of a television with rabbit ears. Did those still work in this day of technological advancement? Could it pick up The Warlock Detective ?
Bones stood creakily from the couch when I entered. I turned to thank the shadow for bringing me, but it had already disappeared.
“Thank you for your help,” I said, anyway, because impeccable manners were a habit. Someone might be watching me, and I was always responsible for representing the brand. Only I had no brand. No one would want me to represent anything. Which meant that for the first time in my life, I could be invisible. That would probably help me find my killer.
I smiled and turned back to Bones, who was hovering and looking anxious in a mustard and black striped suit. Where did he get those things? And what would the female version look like? I was intrigued. I didn’t have to be cutting-edge fashionable anymore.
“Beg your pardon, Miss Nova, but the master said I did great wrong in putting you to sleep so roughly. I was unaware that live guests were so delicate. Perhaps if we had more guests, I would be aware of the proper protocols.” His frown was so exaggerated. He was kind of adorable, like a wrinkled apple. All of our servants were always attractive. They were also extremely competent, because as my mother said, there was no reason to not have beauty and sense. Bones seemed to have neither, and yet, there was warmth to him that you wouldn’t expect from the walking dead.
I walked over to him and flung my arms around him, squeezing him tight for a second. “I’m not delicate at all. I can regenerate from death, and even my fingers grow back.” I squeezed him one last time as hard as I could and then released him and stepped back, beaming up at him. “I hope you don’t mind the hugs. I’m alive, so I need lots of human contact.” And that was my revenge for him knocking me unconscious.
He stared at me for a moment, then shook his head. “I’m not human, but if you must try to strangle me from time to time, I’m sure it could only help you improve your grip. It is shockingly weak. And if the master tells me that I did wrong, he is right.”
I deflated. My grip was weak? Weak? I’d have to do something about that. “He’s always right? That explains why he hired you. One must always have servants that can discern your own superiority. Bones, I have two questions for you. The first is, do you have anything to eat? And the second is equally essential. Does your television work? I think it’s almost time for The Warlock Detective. ”
His eyes lit up. “Of course, Miss Nova!” He beamed at me and then hustled to the refrigerator and began getting out ingredients, eggs, peppers, mushrooms, cheese, and a variety of spices. He turned on the stove and a flame flared up before he clapped the iron pan over it.
I watched him slaughter my omelet with something like amazement. When he placed it on a plate in front of me at the small table, he looked so pleased with himself, like he rarely got a chance to exercise his cooking talents.
“I will turn on the television,” he said and hurried off to fiddle with the doily-wearing dinosaur.
I ate a bite and then offered him a smile when he looked up to check if I was eating. It was terrible. The eggs were slimy in the center where they’d been trapped by a heap of uncooked spinach, and the flavoring was entirely unbalanced, with so much pepper in one spot that my eyes watered. I ate every bite with the confidence of one who knows they won’t stay dead if it kills her, and then placed my fork neatly on my plate while he stayed looming over the television, fiddling with it.
“Bones, you have the potential to become a truly talented chef. I can tell that you care about each ingredient that goes into your masterpiece. It must be a challenge to cook when you, yourself, don’t eat.” There was no way he’d be able to cook so terribly if he had any sense of taste.
He nodded ponderously, looking up from his work. “It is difficult. The master himself forgets to eat, however elaborate a dish I prepare. I worry about him a great deal. Perhaps if you convinced him that you’re afraid of me and need his company to eat comfortably, he would take better care of himself.”
“Ah.” Mercury had specifically told me that I could order anything in from Apple City or Singsong. Did he not tell Bones that he ate out? Of course not, because it would hurt his feelings to know that his precious master didn’t like his cooking. Mercury always worried about the dead’s emotional health. “Bones, I’m not afraid of you, but perhaps I could cook something as a thanks for all of his help. Surely he wouldn’t turn down my offering of thanks.”
He smiled brilliantly. “Yes! That’s a very good idea. Do you know how to cook? The bodyguard didn’t understand anything about cooking. Sometimes she’d eat the rats.” He shuddered like that was beyond the pale, then turned and thumped the television. “Why won’t it turn on? It worked the last time I tried.”
I blinked at him, feeling a wave of revulsion at the thought of eating rats. “I wouldn’t ever eat the master’s pets. Why don’t I make a nice, simple fried chicken dinner with mashed parsnips and a nice green salad with aoli? Can I make a list for you of ingredients to get? Why don’t we go to the market together, and I can buy a few clothing items while we’re there, things that I couldn’t find in the goblin’s closet? That is, do you think the master would mind if I spent some of his money? I don’t have any right now, and he’s reluctant to give me a job until I’m fully rejuvenated.”
He nodded eagerly, forgetting about the malfunctioning tv. “You don’t need to worry about money, Miss Nova. I will show you how to make a fine dinner, and you will convince the Master to eat it, and then he won’t be quite so thin. The market will have some clothes for you to buy while we’re there. We can go now.” He nodded decisively, apparently motivated most of all by the need to fatten up his master. He was sweet. Simple and sincere. The dead don’t lie. That’s what Mercury had said, why he was so comfortable with them. He didn’t want to wear his mask all the time to hide his vulnerabilities. But he wouldn’t let me walk away until he was sure I was safe, because he’d found me when I was dead and already taken me under his evil sorcerer’s wing by the time I came back to life. So much so, that he was willing to play the hugging torture game.
I stood, weaving slightly before I found my balance. “Yes, let’s go.” Really? Now when I’d barely gotten off an IV? When my blood was barely chugging through my veins? Yes. I had to go into the outside world and find a way to let my parents have closure, as well as find out what I could about Calista and Breanne. Mercury didn’t want me at risk, even though it was ridiculous to think that anyone who knew me then would recognize me now, but I had armored clothing and Bones, who could probably rip off people’s arms if The Warlock Detective had it right.
He drove the large black car while I sat in the back. He’d insisted that guests couldn’t drive or ride in front, so I had to sit in the back and try to stay awake. It helped that he took such creative license with his driving. He swerved around a corner, barely missing another car, passing on the right side instead of the left. No way he had an actual driving license. Could the dead apply for a license? What would I do for identification? What about work? What kind of life could I build for myself now? Everything I knew involved mergers and marketing. Management. Well, even the dead or the recently-dead-currently-immortal needed managing. But was that what I was good at, or just what I’d done?
I took a deep, steadying breath. I needed to do that a lot. I had to focus on one thing at a time. Underwear and contact, those were the priority.
The market was not for people like I’d been. I hadn’t even thought about what it would be like, but when Bones pulled up at the bottom of a sheer cliff on the edge of the undercity of Song, I didn’t think he’d keep driving into the cliff, into the dark, narrow tunnel that clipped the sides of the long black car, coming out in a parking lot that overlooked a large separate cavern that was an absolute warren of shops built two and three high with winding paths between them.
This was a goblin market. And we were here for the fruit. Or vegetables, but same incredibly dangerous difference. When Bones opened the door for me, I let him help me out, but I was distracted by the sight beyond the stone rail of the bewildering market. I walked over and bumped a man I hadn’t seen, probably because of the way the shadows wrapped around him.
His eyes glowed red and then another man stepped out of the shadows. The same thing, the red glowing eyes and pale skin with prominent teeth. Fangs. Oh. They were vampires. How exciting. I stared at the nearest one’s fangs and tried to decide if they looked real or not. It didn’t seem real, but that was my life lately.
They looked me up and down, then gave me leers. Leers? I’d just seen myself in the mirror. There was absolutely nothing to see.
I was confused enough that I kept staring at them until one of them took it as encouragement and leaned closer.
“I don’t suppose you have the time,” he drawled, flashing a smile that showed fangs fully extended, up close and deadly.
I gasped and stepped backwards, bumping into the car and then losing my balance. I would have fallen if Bones hadn’t been there to steady me. Ah, I was attractive as dinner. That made more sense.
“Easy, Miss Nova. You should rest when we get back to the manor. The Master wouldn’t like you to fall. Oh dear. Perhaps I shouldn’t have brought you outside until you’re entirely recovered.” Bones frowned in consternation while the vampire backed away with raised hands.
“I meant no offense to Mercury’s guest.” His gaze was speculative now, but not leering. Apparently, if I was with Bones, I was off the table. Literally in the case of a thirsty vampire. I definitely didn’t have enough blood to donate, no matter how worthy the cause.
Bones turned to give him a puzzled glance. “You offended Miss Nova?”
“No, of course not,” I said, patting his wiry arm. “Let’s get shopping. I’m definitely going to take a nap when we get home.”
He kept staring at the vampires until they’d turned and rapidly vanished into the shadows, then he gave me a sweet smile. “Yes, we will shop quickly, then return home before the master misses you.”
I’m sure he’d miss me desperately. No, I was the only person at the house without any work to do.
The market would have been terrifying without Bones hovering behind me. As it was, it was overwhelming and confusing. I’d never seen a goblin before, but here, they were everywhere I turned, bargaining here, gesturing there. Was I actually one of those strange green monsters with sharp, jagged teeth?
I grabbed onto Bones’ arm and looked around like a tourist who’d never been out of the country. I’d never been in goblin country. That was quite evident. The magical goods were incredibly eye-catching, and a werewolf was arguing with a vendor about a bag of herbs that he could smell was not as it was labeled. Bones walked happily through the market, and everyone stepped around him, giving him and me cautious looks, like we were the dangerous ones.
Apparently, the necromancer did have an impressive reputation. I’d hate to burst anyone’s bubble by revealing that he was secretly a teddy bear. Maybe he saved that side of himself for his dead. Probably. And now he was stuck with me, who wasn’t dead, but still had a killer to catch.
It was difficult to find human vegetables in the goblin market, but I wasn’t eating anything that wasn’t clearly grown in normal soil. Eventually we found our way to the vegetables, and there got everything we’d need, plus an assortment of fruit and berries that would be nice for some snacks. Did Mercury like snacks?
The goblin who was helping Bones had an assistant who gathered the produce, and I pointed out which ones I wanted, which of course were less shriveled and sad looking than the others. I’d done several photo ops of the local farmer’s market when I’d been the face, and my dad’s passion was gardening, edibles as well as ornamentals. This was not like either of those. The assistant kept sniffing me, but I tried to ignore her.
“You smell like death,” she finally said. “What happened to your hair? And your fingers?”
I curled my hand into a fist and realized how far I’d gotten from Bones, who was trying to understand what the produce goblin was trying to say about older vegetables actually being better for cooking.
“Excuse me,” I said with a slight smile and then walked as quickly as I could to Bones. I slipped my arm in his and turned to face the goblin that was trying to rip him off. Bones always came here and cleaned out their worst produce. As though his cooking needed help being any worse. “You must be unaware, but fresh is best these days. I know that trends change, but as a vendor, you should be on top of these things. From now on, Bones will always buy the freshest fruits and vegetables. Do you understand?” I said, my calm smile in place, but my voice firm. This voice did firm very well, because the goblin was nodding and apologizing before money exchanged hands.
I put my hand on the goblin’s skin and didn’t pull away, however strange it felt, tough hide, but soft and silky. “That’s not the right price.”
He looked at me, anger flaring through his eyes. “Who do you think you are? What do you know about the price of fresh goods?”
“I’m Nova, and I know that we’re going to shop in the upper city if the prices here aren’t reasonable. They have a much better selection. What do you think, Bones? Should we go to the upper city?”
He blinked his eyes at me. “Upper city?”
“You can go out in the light, can’t you? Is it too late?”
He shook his head. “I can go out in the light.”
I patted his arm and returned to facing the goblin. “What price did you say we owed you?”
He cocked his head as he studied me, then licked his lips and flashed his teeth at me before he turned to Bones with a smile. “Half that is a fine price for our good friend, Mercury.” He flashed a furious glance at me before renewing his smile. “His new friend is going to stay with him long?”
Bones smiled broadly and turned to me, and patted my head. “Miss Nova will stay home forever.”
I’d never had a bald head before, so feeling his cool skin on my scalp was disconcerting. It reminded me of what I was now, how I looked, and what people were probably thinking when they looked at me. I wasn’t going to think about the ‘forever’ thing. I wasn’t going to stay with the necromancer forever in his creepy house. I was going to make my own life on my own terms. As soon as I found my killer.
The Goblin muttered, “Thinks she’s a queen,” while casting a dark glance at me that Bones didn’t notice. Good thing. Bones might take offense, and I didn’t want him to do something rash.
After Bones paid, we went along to a clothing vendor, passing a phone place with a stack of disposable phones.
I grabbed Bones’s arm, tugging him to a stop. “Bones, I need a phone. Can we get one really quick? I think it would be so useful so that I could call Master in case of an emergency. Does he have a phone?”
He stared at me blankly, then turned to frown at the stack of burners I’d been pointing at. “You want a phone to call Master? I want a phone to call master too. Give us two,” he commanded the goblin girl who looked at him shyly and then at me curiously.
“What kind of phones do you want?”
“Untraceable,” I said, nodding at the burners. I’d spent a lot of time with Fin, who had thoroughly educated me on everything related to sneaking around behind her parent’s back.
“You can call the necromancer?” the girl asked with big golden eyes. Her cheeks were pink-hued, like the tips of her ears, and I had to admit that she was quite charming.
“Now I can,” I said, picking up the phone and smiling.
She flushed and her eyes glowed. “Is he coming to the goblin market again? He hasn’t come for so long, just sends Bones. He doesn’t like the way we treat him. He’s the real Vilus.”
Wait, had she just referred to my show? I leaned closer. “I was thinking more like Vilus’s older brother, if he wasn’t an orphan.”
She positively beamed at me, which exposed a lot of very sharp teeth. Unnerving. “Yes, that makes more sense. Have you ever seen him with his shirt off? I heard that they recorded an episode where Vilus…”
“Miss Nova,” Bones said, tugging on my hand. “We need to get back soon, before Master misses you.”
I grinned again at the girl and looked around for the nearest shop with clothing options. The stall had extremely bright underwear dangling from the rafters. That would work for now, because I didn’t have time to shop for something I’d actually like, not with Bones getting antsy, and not with the fact that I needed to check in with the world.
I darted through the crowd away from Bones, and ducked into the small shop where a female of some kind was running the most shocking lingerie shop I’d ever seen. So many things were sheer or had spikes, but the most overpowering thing was the brightness of everything.
“How can I help you?” the gray-skinned female asked, giving me a once-over to check my size before refocusing on my face. “What are you trying to seduce?”
I stared at her blankly. “I…” I’d never even thought about seducing anyone before, much less a what. I mean, I wouldn’t mind seducing Vilus’s incredibly attractive older brother, but I could barely hug him without feeling weird. I was a million miles away from seducing anyone. That hadn’t changed about me.
She threw her head back, laughing in a way that made the skin on my scalp tighten. “Is he a goblin?”
“No, I don’t want…”
“Miss Nova, you must stay close,” Bones said, putting his large hands on my shoulder as he loomed over me. “Master doesn’t want to lose you.”
The woman got a delighted look on her face as she looked from Bones to me. “Oh. The master doesn’t want to lose you? I have just the thing.” Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she fetched this and that, lacy silks and wild prints.
I grabbed a pile of bras from her hands and ducked away from Bones. “I need to try these on in the changing room.”
It wasn’t really a room, just a curtained area, but it was enough to give me some privacy while I pulled out my new phone.
I’d no sooner got it flipped open when the curtain was swept to the side, and an ominous figure filled the doorway.
I screeched and dropped the phone and the pile of underwear while Mercury stepped into the tiny space, eyes flickering dangerously.
I backed away from that whirling dark energy, but didn’t go far because there wasn’t far to go, but also because he secured my wrist and tugged me so I fell against him.
I stared up at the dark sorcerer, his heart pounding against my palm, while his eyes narrowed and lip curled.
“Miss Nova, you are not being a very good prisoner.”
I widened my eyes and tried to look innocent. “Isn’t it the duty of a prisoner to escape periodically? Otherwise, she’d just be a guest.” I tried to straighten up, but he had me secured against him.
He studied me with a thoughtful frown. “Do you know how exhausted you are? You’re going to fall over without me or a bed to land on, and then what?”
“And then Bones would carry me. I still have to teach Bones to make a nice chicken dinner before I can really rest.”
His eyes were slightly cruel as he picked me up sideways, in a bridal carry. “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen. You really are a workaholic. You were supposed to go to bed when I prevented Bones from turning on that deplorable show, but you went out shopping instead.” He shook his head. “Unbelievable.”
I kicked my feet as he started to carry me out. “I’m not going anywhere until I have some underwear. Do you have any idea how much my sensitive skin will chafe in these leather pants?”
He froze for a moment, looking down at my pants and legs like he’d never seen them before. “Hm. I hadn’t considered the dangers of chafing.”
The gray-skinned underwear shopkeeper dodged around us and retrieved all the fallen merchandise. “I’ll send it with Bones,” she said eagerly, giving me a look that was positively gleeful. “I can see you’d rather carry her off directly, so don’t worry about taking care of it yourself.”
Bones was the worst haggler in the world. He’d definitely get taken advantage of without me there, but Mercury only nodded at her and carried me out with one hard look at Bones, who looked like a scolded puppy. We were all his puppies.
He strode very quickly through the market and soon reached the car. He put me in the backseat and then slipped in next to me, nudging me over until I was crowded against the other door with him there, frowning at me so ominously. I carefully touched his cheekbone, surprised that it didn’t cut my fingers, it was so sharp.
“What did you learn?”
I blinked at him, then at my fingertips. “All the goblin girls want to seduce you.”
“Pardon my imprecision. What did you learn about your murderer?”
I frowned up at him. “I didn’t have time to learn anything. Not that I was trying.” I crossed my arms and wanted to pout. Well, why shouldn’t I? “I spent a lot of energy coming out here, and you dragged me away right before things got interesting.”
“You fell over into my arms because you’re exhausted. Do I have to personally watch you sleep to keep you in bed while you recover?”
I wagged a finger at him. “It’s your fault for blocking the show. If not for that, I’d be happily dozing on the couch with Bones. But think of the chafing.”
His expression darkened. “I am trying to not think of the chafing, Miss Nova. Your na?ve innocence is alarming. You are mine to protect, but it would be so easy to consume you.”
Was he talking about personally or in general? I glanced out the window in the direction the vampires had gone. Probably in general. “I had Bones to protect me.”
“Bones isn’t here now.”
I looked up at him, skin prickling at how close he was, the way he loomed over me trying to be threatening. He was just too ridiculously attractive to really be scared of. “I hadn’t noticed. Do dark sorcerers feed on human flesh? Or is it blood? Maybe just certain organs like hearts. Do you think my heart would grow back like my fingers? There’s only one way to find out.”
He pulled away slightly, leaning against the seat while he studied at me like I was a puzzle he was determined to untangle. “There are actually several ways to find out, each more shocking than the last. For someone who was recently brutalized, you have a nerve-wracking lack of fear.”
I hesitated and then took his hand. “I’m afraid of a lot of things, but not of you. If you wanted me to believe that you’re evil and vicious, you shouldn’t have rescued me from the sewer. Thank you. I’ve never been so scared, so hurt, so helpless. So smelly.” I smiled at him. He was taking on a blurry glow that probably meant that I was about to pass out. “You’re right that I’m exhausted, that I shouldn’t have gone traipsing through the goblin market, and that I need a bed to fall over on. Can I rest my head on your shoulder and take a tiny nap? If you refuse, I’ll probably die.”
“Die? You’ll likely come back immediately. Still, it’s better to avoid death where possible.”
I took that as permission and promptly dropped my head on his shoulder and grabbed hold of his muscular arm. I squeezed the biceps, thinking about the goblins and how much they wanted to see him without his shirt. I’d seen him without his jacket, but I’d been too dead to appreciate it. Was it that one-eighth goblin that made me find the dark sorcerers so attractive?
“Do you ever go swimming?” I asked.
“I avoid it where possible. For some reason, the only time swimming seems to come up is in the sewers.”
“Ah. The water in sewers is to be avoided. Pity you couldn’t find a nice lake or pool to take some laps in. It’s very good exercise.”
“Are you subtly suggesting that you’d like a pool to swim in for exercise once you’re more fully recovered? No, you’re probably trying to find a job cleaning a pool, or perhaps you were a lifeguard in your other life.”
“Actually, I’m wondering how hard it would be to see you without a shirt. All the goblin girls were talking about it.” I rubbed my cheek on his jacket and smiled because I should have felt humiliated saying that to him, but I didn’t. “Although I am a very good swimmer and could definitely be your lifeguard, if you needed one.”
“Hmph. I see it now. You’d sell tickets to all the goblins so they could watch me while you were paid at the same time to be my lifeguard. You seem to have a head for shady business dealings.”
“It must be the goblin in me. Do you think that they’d actually pay to see you without your shirt? They probably would.” I raised my head and looked at him speculatively.
He squinted at me and then pushed my head back down on his shoulder. “Stop looking at me like you’re measuring me for a coffin. I already have several, and all of them are full.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Go to sleep, Miss Nova. I’d prefer to pay you directly and forget about the expenses of a pool and the humiliation of being goblin eye candy.”
“Yes, but you wouldn’t pay me for any of that.”
“On the contrary. I would pay very well to avoid being pursued by goblins.”
“Goblins like me?”
“You can’t pursue me. You’re my prisoner. In my possession. Mine.” His low voice rippled down my spine like a feather. He made it sound incredibly dramatic and passionate, better than Vilus.
“Yours to protect,” I said, nodded against his jacket, then closed my eyes. “Like Bones is yours. I will try not to humiliate you too badly in the cause of employment.”
He sighed heavily. “I would appreciate it. Sleep, Nova. Sleep like the dead.”