22. ZARA
ZARA
“It’s Tesco’s, Tilly, not an audience with the royal family. Just put on some jeans and a tee shirt and let’s go already.”
She stopped rooting through the wardrobe and looked at me over her shoulder. “It might be only Tesco’s to you, but I’ve never been to a supermarket before. I don’t want to show you up by wearing the wrong thing.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, immediately feeling guilty. “I wasn’t thinking. There’s no need to get dressed up, just wear something comfortable.”
I wasn’t about to tell her some people were perfectly okay with rocking up to a supermarket in a onesie, because I’d seen a unicorn one when I’d helped her unpack and I was pretty sure she wouldn’t hesitate to wear it if she thought that was an acceptable option.
“It’s okay, I understand.”
She didn’t look like she understood, she looked thoroughly disappointed in me, but I just smiled and said, “Come on then, pick something to wear so I can introduce you to the wonders of supermarket shopping."
“And when we get back, you’ll show me how to dream walk?”
The first night I’d left her to do a dream visit, I’d got back to find her sitting cross legged on the foot of my bed, just staring at me because she’d been worried I wouldn’t come back and she hadn’t wanted to go to sleep until she knew I was safe.
Once she’d seen that I was back in my body, she’d bombarded me with questions and had been begging me to try and teach her to do it ever since.
“I don’t think it’s that simple, Tilly, but,” I added as I saw her crestfallen expression, “maybe we could ask Morpheus about it later.” She’d been ridiculously excited when I’d told her that he was coming to dinner with us tonight.
“Oh, that’s a good idea. Maybe he could give me special powers or something, so I can come with you next time.”
I made the most noncommittal noise I could summon and swiftly changed the subject. That was definitely one for our dinner guest to field himself.
“It’s an honour to meet you, Your Godliness.”
I smothered a snort as Tilly dropped into a graceful curtsey that put my attempt the first time I’d met Thea to shame, and I tried to ignore the ‘hoo-eee, what a hottie’ she murmured under her breath.
From the look of alarm Nero shot my way, he’d heard her too, but he also ignored it like the gentleman he was.
“Just Nero will do fine, child. And you are?” I was glad he’d introduced himself straight off the bat, as I’d been wondering whether he’d prefer Tilly to call him Morpheus.
“Nero, this is Tilly.” I couldn’t really blame her for the hottie comment because like her, he’d dressed up for the occasion, and there was no denying he looked good in a suit.
Tilly was wearing a sparkly sapphire-blue dress that was more suited to a nightclub than a quiet dinner with friends, but she’d insisted you had to dress to impress if you were going to meet a real live god.
Looking at the two of them, I was starting to regret the casual outfit I’d chosen for myself, and Tilly must have come to the same conclusion.
“Zara, don’t you need to go and change?” She turned to Nero and said confidingly, “She’s been so busy cooking she lost track of time,” before telling me to “go on and get yourself ready, me and Mr Nero will be just fine.”
I had a sinking feeling that her idea of ‘fine’ meant she intended to either pester him about dream walking or proposition him, and Nero apparently had the same thought as he hastened to reassure me that I looked ‘delightful’ just as I was and not to go and change on his account. Well, that was a first.
“I wasn’t sure what kind of wine to get,” he said, “so I brought a selection.” He snapped his fingers and six bottles of wine materialised on the kitchen table, along with some flowers and a very decadent looking box of chocolates.
“You didn’t have to bring all this,” I said, grabbing the two bottles each of white and rosé to stash in the fridge. “But thank you. We’re having lamb, so could you open one of the reds please while I put these flowers in water?”
Not being the most adventurous of cooks, I’d settled on a leg of lamb to roast with all the trimmings. It wasn’t Sunday, but I doubted Nero would care, as long as there wasn’t a sea creature in sight.
“How about we start with a rosé first?” Tilly suggested hopefully, swiftly liberating one of the bottles from the fridge before I could even shut the door.
Nero made short work of opening the red first, not even bothering to ask for a corkscrew, and then took the bottle of rosé Tilly was waving impatiently at him.
“Do you want the rosé, Zara?” he asked as he opened it, and I shook my head.
“I’ll have the red please. I just need to get the food out of the oven first. Have a seat, Nero.” Using the dining room had seemed a bit over the top for just the three of us, so I’d settled on staying in the kitchen. It wasn’t like I was trying to impress anyone.
“So, did Zara show you the video of the hot dance routine she did for Seth as a going away present?” Tilly said just as I was putting the last serving dish on the table, causing me to slam it down a lot harder than I’d intended.
“Tilly! That’s private.” She shrugged.
“Well, you shouldn’t have shown me then. You know I can’t keep a secret. And besides, you were on fire. Where’s your laptop?”
“Somewhere you’re not getting your hands on it,” I told her, thankful that even if she did I now had a password on it after the last time she’d hijacked it. “Nero, please dig in. We don’t stand on ceremony here.”
“Some things are better not shared, child,” Nero chided Tilly gently, as we started to load up our plates, “however proud we may be of our friends’ achievements.”
She screwed her face up as she considered that.
“I suppose you may be right. But some things are much better shared, don’t you think?
Like, say, dream walking powers.” Well, that didn’t take long.
“Zara said you’d share some of your power with me so I can come with you both next time you go on a dream visit. ”
“I said no such thing, Tilly,” I said indignantly, nearly choking on my first bite of lamb. “What I said was that I didn’t think I would be able to teach you to dream walk, but you could ask Nero whether it might be possible.” I shot him an apologetic look.
“Sadly, such powers can’t be taught,” he said, not sounding sad at all. “One must be born with the ability.”
“But you could take me along for the ride couldn’t you? Just once?” She looked at him pleadingly and he shot me a look that screamed ‘save me’. “Pleeeeeease?”
“That won’t be possible either.”
She opened her mouth to argue but I could see he was reaching the end of his endurance by the way he stabbed his fork into a carrot, and I didn’t want her subjected to his ire.
I was impressed by how gently he’d dealt with her so far, but as much as I loved her I was well aware that she could try the patience of a saint even when she was on her best behaviour.
“We’ll talk about it later, Tilly.” I gave her a warning glare and thankfully she took the hint and turned her attention to her food.
“This dinner is delicious, Zara. Thank you for inviting me to share it with you.” Nero was enthusiastically adding some more roast potatoes to his plate, so I pushed the other dishes closer to him and encouraged him to help himself to more meat and veg too.
“You should come to Avalon and try Mrs M’s roast,” Tilly said. “She’s our housekeeper and she’s the best cook in all the four realms – no offence, Zara.”
“None taken,” I murmured. I’d tasted Mrs M’s roast dinners myself and I really couldn’t argue with Tilly’s assessment.
“Oh! Do you sing, Nero? You could come for the next Karaoke night at the tavern. Zara’s got a fantastic voice, and me and Phoebe usually do some duets ‘cos she won’t sing on her own. I’ll do one with you too if you’re shy.”
I snorted at the thought of Nero being shy and he gave me one of the supercilious raised eyebrow looks I was quickly becoming immune to.
“I’ll have to get back to you on that. I have an excellent singing voice, but I do work a lot of nights.”
I supposed it stood to reason he could sing, what with him being a god and all, but I still couldn’t imagine him getting up on stage in the tavern and belting out a bit of Bon Jovi. Phantom of the Opera maybe.
“You’re definitely coming to the next one though aren’t you, Zara? I mean, you won’t have trouble getting time off or anything?” She shot an accusing look at Nero, and he held up his hands in mock surrender.
“I wouldn’t dare.” Thankfully he looked more amused than anything, but it was probably a good idea to distract her before she found something else to pester him about.
“Tilly, would you be a star and get the cheesecake out of the fridge while I clear this lot away please?”
As soon as I started stacking the dishes, Nero gave me a confused look. “What are you doing?”
I would have thought it was pretty obvious, but maybe gods were unfamiliar with the concept of washing up.
“Here, let me.” I gaped as the leftovers disappeared and the now sparkling clean dishes and cutlery stacked themselves neatly in the middle of the table. Now that was a cool trick, although I was a bit disappointed about the leftovers. I’d been planning to have that lamb in a sandwich tomorrow.
“Oh, wow, can you teach me to do that?” Tilly said as she came back over with the cheesecake and I groaned and shot Nero an apologetic look.
“It’s not something that can be taught to just anyone, child, but you might be able to learn how to do it if you practice. You’re a sprite, correct?”
“Half sprite, half fae,” she said eagerly. “I can do some little bits of magic, but I’ve never tried anything like that before.”
“Well you’re already halfway there then. You should definitely try. Perhaps when we’ve eaten dessert you could practice on these plates.”
“That’s a great idea, Tilly,” I said enthusiastically. I’d been going to tell her that no, Nero couldn’t teach her how to do it, but this was a much better way of dealing with her. “Think how much time we’d save on doing the dishes if you could learn how to do it with magic.”
As soon as we’d finished eating, Nero suggested we leave Tilly in peace so she could concentrate properly, and I agreed before she had a chance to protest that she didn’t mind us staying to watch.
“That child is exhausting,” he complained as soon as we’d escaped from the kitchen. “Charming, I’ll grant you, but exhausting nonetheless.”
“She gets a little over enthusiastic sometimes, but she’s the most loyal friend you could wish for. She’s not a child either, she’s about the same age as me, she just has a very innocent way of looking at the world.”
“Just promise me you weren’t lying when you said you wouldn’t try and set me up with her.” He looked genuinely scared and I giggled.
“You know I don’t lie. And besides, I’m not even sure if she’d have you. I think you’re too intimidating for her.”
“Intimidating,” he said with a snort. “I’m the one that’s intimidated. I’m pretty sure she would face down an ogre without so much as batting an eyelid if the ogre had something she wanted.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” I said with a giggle. “And if you light the fire for me, Your Godliness, I might even give you a glass of brandy and share these chocolates with you.”
“So what do you think of Nero?” I asked, once he’d left. He’d look like he was relieved to escape in one piece, and I hoped I wasn’t going to get a telling off for exposing him to an evening of unfiltered Tilly next time I saw him.
“Meh. He’s alright I suppose. A bit stuffy. Can’t deny he’s a looker though. And he’s definitely got a soft spot for you.”
“Yes, well, I’m very fond of him too. And he’s not at all stuffy once you get to know him properly.”
“Ooh, sounds like Seth’s got some competition,” she sing-songed, much to my horror.
“What? No! It’s not like that. For heaven’s sake don’t go around saying things like that, Tilly. Nero is my boss, and a friend. That’s all there is to it.”
“If you say so,” she said with a shrug. “But I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to tap that at least once.” For the first time since she’d arrived, I regretted inviting her to come and stay. “So what’s the plan for tomorrow? Can we do some sightseeing?”
“Not tomorrow, Tilly. A friend of mine is coming over for a catch up.”
A sad look flitted across her face and I immediately felt bad for saying we couldn’t go out.
In the week she’d been here the most excitement I’d been able to show her so far was tonight’s dinner, a clothes shopping expedition, a visit to the local zoo, a six hour Enchanted marathon and a trip to Tesco.
I’d have to make it up to her soon, before she got bored and started finding mischief to get into.
“I understand. I’ll stay in my room while they’re here.” Was that why she’d looked sad? Because she thought I’d want her to make herself scarce?
“Don’t be daft. I want you to meet her. Well, unless you’d rather not, but I think you’ll like each other.” Ali’s personality was nothing like Tilly’s, but I was pretty sure she’d appreciate Tilly’s brand of ridiculous the same way I did.
“Oh, well if you’re sure,” her expression brightened, “I’d love to meet your friend. Be interesting to see what she thinks about you and your hot boss getting it on.” I counted to five very slowly, wondering if this was how Seth felt sometimes when he got exasperated with me.
“For the last time, Tilly, Nero and I—”
“Are just friends. Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m just messing with you. See you in the morning.” She gave me a cheeky wink as she left the room, leaving me wondering how long it would take for anyone to notice she was missing if I locked her in one of our ‘guest rooms’ in the cellar for a bit.