Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
H is shop assistants were elven. I got that because I’d heard the music, but I hadn’t expected five of the prettiest elves, male and female, that I’d ever seen. These weren’t just middling musicians or whatever mixed with humanity that dulled all their precious beauty. These were the kind of elves that floated instead of walked, that carried mystical allure in every sweet-smelling breath they exhaled. Which was fine. Great, if you wanted to lure customers in with a pretty face and absolute competence, except that the prettiest female of the two was standing close to my Rook, gesturing with her graceful hands about something absolutely nonessential. Because I was going to break those wrists and put all of her in traction if she so much as touched my Rook, who was wearing my chicken on his shoulder.
She touched his arm.
My immediate impulse was to attack the creature and kill her as quickly and efficiently as possible. I’d trained with lions and harps and I was in a music shop, so the methods of killing her were fairly broad, but then my sense kicked in and I smiled at her instead. I walked over to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from him and towards me.
“You’re elven. How long have you been in Singsong city? Are you going to be here long? Your voice is incredible. I’m sure you’re aware that every citizen in Singsong City must donate to the cause of stability, particularly in Song, so the whole upper city doesn’t collapse on you and kill you all. I will have the werewolves come by and help inaugurate you into the program, along with your fine fellows. It’s only a few hours a week singing to the light posts as well as leading in parades and performing in one of the many musical programs that Singsong City is famous for, such as the upcoming Jubilee. Let me know what you’d like to perform for it. The city appreciates so much all the new citizens as well as the old working together to join in one great cause, that of peace, prosperity, and good feeling.”
I turned to Rook, who was now three feet away from her thanks to my persistent and impassioned love for my city, but mostly to get her away from him. At least I hadn’t broken her wrist, but I needed so much help. “Weren’t we going?”
He bowed slightly to me and tucked my hand into his arm. It sent a thrill through me that nothing else could compare to, not even music. The rest of the world became a blur because I was busy staring at him and then we were out on the street of Song, leaving the pretty elves behind.
“The clothing fits you well,” he rumbled, low voice carrying tones of deepest satisfaction.
I took a deep breath and pulled my arm out of his and then straightened the robe, like that’s what I’d meant to do. “Yes, it does. I haven’t worn elven light armor before. Thank you for giving me something besides your shirt to go home in. I could have gone naked, but I’m afraid that wouldn’t be very dignified for a music master.” Because my bright florals were so dignified. Ahem.
“It is yours,” he said with a nod and a flash of gold in his eyes, like I’d insulted him by not realizing it was a gift and taken it with gratitude. I seriously needed an ogre culture guidebook. There were so many things to say and do that I just didn’t know. I did know that this couldn’t go on, because his eyes were absolutely stunning, and I wanted to lick them. Literally, my mouth was watering like a busted fire hydrant. I wanted to comb my fingers through his hair and taste him all over.
Somehow, I took a slight step away from him. “Elven armor is extremely valuable. I couldn’t possibly accept that from you. As a matter of fact, I think it would be best if we went our separate ways, me to my issues, you to yours.”
“Do you have brain damage? You were at the end of a goblin assassination attempt. Your life is at risk.” His furrowed brow had furrows. I wanted so much to touch them, to touch him and forget about everything else in the world.
“I’m not an ogre.” He had to understand that sleeping with me, waking up with me, wasn’t ordinary behavior for anyone angel-touched. He’d heard me play the harp. He knew I had angel blood.
His scowl wasn’t minimized. “I know exactly what you are. You think that if you aren’t seen with me again, goblins won’t be a threat? That is foolishly optimistic.” His rumbling voice went through me like thunder and I took a helpless step towards him before I took two graceful lurches away.
I guess I had to spell it out. It’s not like I wasn’t used to humiliation. “Did you see that compulsive movement I just made towards you? That, Rook, isn’t okay. You speak and it’s music. You touch me and it’s fairy dust, the most illegal kind. I am having a weird reaction towards you, probably triggered by my long-time obsession with Rook the Luthier. The music didn’t help. It really was the single most fulfilling musical experience in my life, and music is my life. I am not interested in a casual fling with an exciting new kind of guy. Let me rephrase that. I’m not capable of a casual fling with any kind of person, exciting or not. I come from a long line of stupidly devoted monogamous angels who, when afflicted with the disease of love, never recover. I apologize for my lack of professionalism and my embarrassing frankness, but you needed to be warned.” I nodded and tried not to feel like a complete idiot. I failed. Desperately.
I half expected him to leap away and make an evil eye sign, but of course, an ogre wouldn’t do that. What would a heavenly eye sign look like? Instead, he squinted at me like I had sprouted an extra head. Yes, pointing out my sudden and irrational attraction wasn’t a normal thing to do, but me having this kind of reaction to an ogre was incredibly dangerous for both of us.
“You are warning me that you are preparing to make me your life-mate, your consort, your husband? That is very noble of you to give me an advanced warning. I should have realized when you wore my shirt.”
I blinked rapidly, because that wasn’t what I said, was it? No, I was telling him why we shouldn’t be together, not that we would be. Also, what was with the shirt? “No, I’m warning you about my nature. I have no intention of marrying you or anyone until I’ve brought the music hall back from the edge of oblivion. I’m the music master first.” Right. That was clear, wasn’t it? It felt like a complete lie when the notes to our duet played over and over in my head.
He put his arm around me and pulled me away from a drunk werewolf who would have veered into me without his interference. I hadn’t noticed the werewolf, but I certainly noticed the ogre. I gazed up at him while his touch went through me like the sweetest notes of my favorite song, which was now our duet.
His voice was a low rumble that gutted me. “I have complete confidence in your ability to turn SingSong’s music hall into the greatest in the world. I’ve never heard so much strength in a song, but not only strength, beauty, flexibility, raw emotion combined with exquisite technique that entangles the emotions as well as the higher critical?—”
I cut him off with a kiss. I’d never kissed anyone before, angel, devil, or ogre, but if those words in his melodious voice kept coming out of those soft lips, I was going to die. I physically couldn’t stop my mouth from pressing against his, tusks and all. The slight prickle on my upper lip from his tusks went through me like music, a rush of high notes that crashed down into the depths, sweeping me away entirely.
How long did I stand on the street of Song kissing an ogre? No idea, but eventually Yaga burst into flames, and I broke away from the kiss with a shock. What in the world was I thinking? I was protecting him from my father, not painting a target on his back. Also, I was the music master, not some wanton street walker.
“Yaga, what are you doing? Are you trying to burn everybody’s hair off?” I asked, catching her by her feet, which never caught on fire, and trying to calm her down along with my own rapidly beating heart. I’d completely lost my mind. I had to get away from the luthier before something even worse happened. Yaga squawked and flapped her fiery wings because we hadn’t been getting enough attention. There was probably a vampire somewhere that hadn’t seen my public demonstration of my single-minded devotion to my stolen career. Right.
“Lanise will accompany you,” Rook said, gesturing at the stolid female who didn’t look shocked at seeing her uncle being publicly kissed by a crazed musician. She was probably used to musicians getting this way about Rook the Luthier. That made sense. Said luthier was backing away from me, a peculiar expression on his face, puzzled, like I was a seriously weird female he hadn’t seen coming. He had no idea. Literally, my public kissing was only the tip of the iceberg to my weirdness, that not even I knew about.
My heart ached, and I bit my lip to keep from telling him that I was only joking, he didn’t need to run away, because I wasn’t going to throw myself at him again, but it was a good thing to put distance between us. Because my father would absolutely kill him. And I was intent on my music career, not marriage, particularly with an ogre.
“Oh, that’s not necessary for Lanise to guard me,” I said, shaking my head and folding my arms so I didn’t reach out for him. I really didn’t need the tenacious ogre to watch me as absolutely as she had when I was trying not to itch to death.
Rook frowned and jabbed a strong finger at me. “You owe me a life debt. You will accept the company of my niece and the armor which will protect you. You will also accept the work of my stone masters, who will assist you in rebuilding your hall.”
I stared at him, the mystical creature that had somehow become even more amazingly attractive with those magical words, ‘stone masters,’ and ‘rebuilding your hall.’ He stared back with those beautiful eyes. My chicken pecked my cheek, reminding me that the rest of the world existed. How long had I been staring at him? No idea. I had to get away from him before I tried to kiss him again. “Okay.”
He finally smiled, and I whirled around and marched off with Lanise close behind before I smiled back, and then touched him and tasted him and then dragged him to the hourly motel and really made a mess of our lives. My dad would kill him.
Gavriel was in town. I needed to track him down and find out what he knew about the goblin attack. If my father’s enemies knew where I was, I would have to hunt them down or hire someone else to do it for me. Gavriel was an excellent hunter. He’d worked for elves in a mercenary capacity. Maybe I could hire him. I’d pay him with my elven armor because I was broke. No, he could work on commission for my father if the threat came from that direction and not the goblin politics issue. Too bad I didn’t know anything about goblin politics, or their culture, or social structure. Sigh. I really needed to find Libby.
Libby was in the Library of Antiquities in one of the study rooms upstairs, frowning down at a book and a sheaf of papers she was marking up. The guy who had brought us to her knocked on the door, then pushed me inside before closing it on me leaving Lanise and Yaga outside.
Libby slammed the book shut and lurched towards me, grabbing me while I gasped and kind of froze. When she moved fast, she was lightning. “Are you okay? I heard about the goblin attack. Everyone in Song is absolutely furious about it, like that makes you feel better. Sit down! Why are you out of bed? Did you get badly injured? Where are your—” She gasped when she got a look at the fancy elven armor. “Mirabel, that would buy ten, no, twenty years of sushi at the best places in the world. Where did you get it?”
A firm knock sounded on the door and then it opened and Lanise stepped inside, my chicken under her arm, all of her looking like an ogre bodyguard plus dinner.
“Not leave,” Lanise growled.
I gestured at her and tried to look more professional. “This is my new acolyte at the music hall, Lanise, who is very eager to learn everything she can from me.”
Libby snorted. “How nice for you. You’re saying you got armor and a bodyguard? I heard that some ogre with political clout was stirring things up in the undercity, but I didn’t know he had money. I take it your kidnapper didn’t like anyone else taking advantage of your body.”
I took a deep breath and released it slowly as I tried not to let my mind dive into reliving the moment I’d woken up wrapped up in Rook the Luthier’s arms. I turned to smile at Lanise. “You need to wait outside while I talk to Libby. It’s personal.” I couldn’t talk about all the things I needed to with her there.
She sank into her stance, clearly not about to go anywhere. “I stay.”
So much for talking privately. I rubbed my forehead and turned to Libby. “Anyway, what were we talking about?”
She grabbed my tunic top and yanked it up, then poked my still bandaged core before prodding a lot more of my skin than I was used to showing. She let me pull the top back down, shaking her head. “This was bad, worse than I heard. You should be dead. What kind of magic did the ogre use on you? Did he feed you nefarious blood?”
“No, of course not. He’s just an incredibly capable healer. Truly, he’s absolutely remarkable at everything he does. Except kidnapping. He’s not a very good kidnapper.”
“Well, that’s okay, because the next time he kidnaps someone, he’ll have you to help him make it really effective. Here are the notes I took on the texts I’ve been going through on that subject you requested.” She shot a look at Lanise, because the ogre might not like that I was researching her kind. “And here’s a book that is the least obfuscated. Which isn’t saying much. There is so much contradictory information, it’s almost as if it’s intentional.” She glanced at Lanise, who looked back dully, like she was just a stupid ogre who had no capacity for subtlety. She definitely had tenacity, though.
“Food,” she said in a rumbling growl.
I stared at her. “What? Oh, right. Did you say something about taking me to get sushi?” I asked Libby. Lanise had been very fixed on my needing to get food before I did anything else. I’d only convinced her to let me stop at the library because it was supposed to be on my way to dinner with Libby who would pay.
Libby grinned at me. “Yes, I did. I think Anna’s going to be at the Cat’s Pause, then I can get you a ride back to the Music Hall after you’re stuffed to the gills. You shouldn’t be walking around in that condition.”
“I’m fine.”
She stared at me for a beat longer. “Mirabel, you’re not fine. You’re full up of whatever magic or drugs that are keeping the pain at bay, but they’re going to fade and you’re going to hurt. Whatever you do now while you feel fine is going to bite you in the butt.”
Lanise nodded. “I like friend. Food, now. Then bed.” Her glare said if I didn’t move, she’d gladly tie me up. It was not an idle threat.
I nodded and hurriedly gathered up the books and papers Libby’d gotten for me. Her notes were written in angelic runes. I blinked at them for a second before I checked the book. Yep, angelic runes. I was going to get a migraine reading that, but at least Lanise wouldn’t know what I was up to. How in the world had I ended up with elven armor and an ogre bodyguard when I couldn’t even afford to buy sushi?
We left the Library of Antiquities, moving slow, because I was starting to feel my injuries. I was also feeling the rush of whatever magical love dust was turning to a lurch of miserable aching. Would I never see Rook the Luthier again? I shouldn’t see him. I really shouldn’t, but it made me physically sick to think about it. Which is why I wasn’t thinking about it.
When we got out of the library, Lanise released Yaga, and my chicken squawked and fluttered over to me. I held her close and squeezed her tight while I took one slow step down the stairs at a time. The sushi bar was diagonal from the library, so not a far walk, but I was flagging by the time I got there. Inside, Anna was sitting on the piano singing at the top of her lungs some rock ballad while people clapped in time. She was one of the most musically interesting people that I’d ever met.
“Sit down. I’ll go get Anna,” Libby said, ushering me into a small table past the bar. Lanise took a position near the wall where she could watch everyone, not trying to blend in, which was good because it wouldn’t work.
“I heard what happened,” Anna’s redheaded daughter, Gabriela said, sitting down next to me. “The goblins are getting bolder every year. Do you want me to start a litigation against them for you? I would consider it a great honor.”
“I don’t think it was goblins,” Anna said, dropping down in the seat to my left so I was pinned in by the two most terrifying women I knew. I felt perfectly at home there.
Gabriela tsked. “Mom, of course it was goblins. You know as someone who survived a goblin attack that the methods they use are consistent with the attack on Music Master Mirabel.”
Anna said, “I only survived because they chose not to kill a pregnant woman. And you know the goblins are working on their public image right now. If goblins really were behind the attack, they’ll be ripping apart their own ranks looking for whoever was stupid enough to take that kind of contract. Goblins aren’t stupid. I think it was either someone who hates goblins and wanted to stir up the ogres to take them apart, or someone who used goblins to hide behind. It could be both.” She took a sushi roll and popped it into her mouth, chewing with obvious pleasure.
I studied her before my sushi came, considering the implications, and then I was eating. I was so hungry. For some reason other things came, like a salad, and a nourishing lentil soup. I ate those too between sushi while Anna, Libby, and Gabby talked about the goblin assassination. None of them brought up that it might be from my father’s enemies. Was it not a goblin attack after all?
I was so tired and kept glancing up at the door every time someone came in. It took me a few times for me to realize who I was looking for.
Rook the Luthier.
Ugh. Seriously? Why was I so stupidly attached to someone I’d barely met? Maybe because he’d saved my life and was a legend of musical mastery. And he had the prettiest eyes and the most stunning smile, and his voice was like happiness made sound. I’d probably terrified him with my kissing, with my awkward confession of my own lack of ability to play the field like an ogre. Basically, I was the total package. Someone kill me now.
But not goblins. I really couldn’t allow them to get away with that attack on Singsong’s Music Master. They had to respect the position, even if I had stolen it outright.