40. ZARA #2
“Speaking of bringing out the worst in someone,” she grimaced.
“Eli’s gone into arsehole mode again like he did when he first met Jed.
He’s sniping at Nero about what he was doing at the manor in the middle of the night to run into Seth.
We might need you to come back in and help unruffle some feathers. ”
Oh bloody hell. I loved Eli dearly, but he could be an absolute nightmare sometimes. He hadn’t batted an eyelid when I’d told him about Nero being here that night, but he’d obviously just been biding his time.
“How’s Nero handling it?”
“With obvious enjoyment,” she said with a giggle. “He’s pretending he has absolutely no idea what Eli is getting at and Eli can’t quite bring himself to say it outright.”
“So the ruffled feathers…?”
“Oh, definitely Eli’s. Do you want to come back in and catch the rest of the show?”
We walked back into the dining room just in time to hear Jed snap, “Oh for fuck’s sake will you just give it a rest, Eli, so we can get on with this meeting.”
“Hey, sorry about that.” I slipped back into my seat between Eli and Jed. “Just needed some air. What’s Eli got his Y-fronts in a twist about?”
He gave me an outraged look. “I do not wear Y-fronts. And I was just asking Nero if he makes a habit of visiting you in the middle of the night."
“I really hope you’re not insinuating what I think you are, Eli,” I said, giving him my best death stare. “Or you and I are going to fall out.”
“Don’t worry, it’s my honour he’s questioning, Zara, not yours,” Nero drawled before his tone turned icy as he turned his attention to Eli.
“So for the record, Zara is my apprentice and also my friend, nothing more. I hold her in the highest esteem, and I will always have her best interests at heart. I assume your feelings towards her are much the same, no?” Nero looked at Eli steadily, until he gave a reluctant nod.
“I don’t need to justify my friendships to you or anyone else, any more than Zara does, but I know she cares deeply for you, so I’m making an exception in your case. Raise the matter again and you will not find me so tolerant. Is that clear enough for you?”
Another reluctant nod was followed by a terse “crystal”, and I could feel the resentment coming off him in waves. I hated that Nero had felt the need to call him out like that in front of everyone, but honestly he only had himself to blame. He just didn’t know when to stop needling sometimes.
I gave his leg a little nudge with mine so he’d know I wasn’t mad at him – well, not too mad anyway – then whispered ‘twat’ under my breath so only he would hear it.
I was rewarded with the tiniest little twitch of his lip as he tried his hardest not to smile, and I felt some of the tenseness flow out of him.
“Zara!” I looked up as Jed said my name, and not for the first time judging by the impatient look on his face.
“Sorry, I was miles away. Did you ask me something?”
“Yes. I asked if I can count on you not to enact any more of your harebrained schemes without running them past at least one of us first.”
I was about to take him to task for being so rude when I heard Terrah mutter ‘sounds like someone needs a cupcake’ under her breath and my indignation dissolved into a fit of giggles at the look on Jed’s face.
After that Nero took his leave, but not before shooting a challenging look in Eli’s direction as he promised to pop back later to discuss the wards.
“I should probably be getting back too,” Eli said as soon as Nero had gone. “I’m taking Rachel to that new bar that’s opened in town tonight and you’re welcome to join us, Zara, if you’re at a loose end.”
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to make up for being a jerk or attempting to stop me spending the evening with Nero. Either way, sitting in a noisy crowded bar playing third wheel had no place on my ‘things I’d like to do’ list.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll just have a quiet night in. Catch up on my reading.” Or work on my campaign to get Gabriel to bring Seth back.
“That band you like is playing at my local on Saturday night if you fancy nipping back to Fae for the weekend,” Terrah offered as she was leaving. Everyone seemed to have decided it was ‘keep Zara busy so she doesn’t do anything stupid’ time.
“Don’t say it,” I warned Phoebe as soon as she opened her mouth and she laughed.
“Ok then, I won’t, but the offer’s always open, you know that,” she said as she hugged me. “And if you’re looking for distraction, watching Tilly run rings around Quinn is the most fun I’ve had in ages. We could all go out for dinner at the tavern.”
“Soon,” I promised, resisting the urge to tell her I had to finish coming up with another harebrained scheme first.
“Is the coast clear?” Nero appeared in the lounge and pretended to be looking around anxiously before folding himself gracefully into one of the armchairs with a grin.
“I’m so sorry about Eli,” I said with a groan, setting aside the book I’d been trying, and failing, to get into. “He means well but he just doesn’t know when to stop sometimes.”
He shrugged. “He cares deeply about you. That’s not a bad thing, Agapiméno.”
“I know. But questioning our relationship was a step too far. Especially in front of everyone like that. He’d be horrified if anyone ever suggested there was more than friendship between him and me.”
“Well, hopefully I’ve set his mind at rest, and he’ll let it drop now. I’m quite enjoying spending time with your friends, so I’d hate for anything to spoil it.”
“He’ll get over it. He was exactly the same with Jed when Phoebe first met him. She soon set him straight though.” With a little help from me.
“Ahhh. I thought Jed looked like he enjoyed seeing me take him down a peg or two. That explains it. But enough about that. What about these wards? I’m assuming you don’t want me to leave them up?”
“Not entirely,” I agreed, “but I’ve been thinking about it and while I want Gabriel to be able to come here if I need him to, I don’t like the idea of him being able to get into my personal space any time he feels like it.
Is it possible just to ward my apartment against him, and maybe the offices?
” I had no idea if there was anything sensitive kept in there, but it probably wasn’t a good idea for Gabriel to have access to them.
“That sounds like a sensible compromise. I’ll tweak them for you before I leave, but first, perhaps you should run whatever ‘harebrained schemes’ you’re currently plotting past me. Because knowing you, you don’t have any intention of sharing them with any of the others.”
“I wish I could,” I said with a sigh, “but all I’ve got so far is ‘make Gabriel bring Seth back by being a giant pain in his arse’. If you’ve got any suggestions, I’m all ears.”
As soon as everyone had left earlier, I’d called Gabriel again but this time he’d ignored me.
That hadn’t stopped me yelling out my demand for him to bring Seth back, just in case he was listening, and warning him that I’d be doing this morning, noon and night until he relented, but he still hadn’t put in an appearance.
“You already know my advice would be to leave Gabriel alone and trust Seth to look after himself. But you made it perfectly clear last night that you don’t like that idea.”
“I can’t do that. I’d never forgive myself if we found out later that he was in trouble and was waiting for us to rescue him.
I need to see him, Nero, even if it’s only for long enough for him to tell me that he’s okay.
And honestly, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal.
If Gabriel brought him here once, there’s no reason why he can’t do it again. He’s just being a prick about it.”
“And this is exactly why Seth wanted you to think the last visit was a dream.”
“That’s different,” I protested. “If he’d told me that it was a one-off thing and that it couldn’t happen again, I—”
“Wouldn’t have pestered Gabriel relentlessly to bring him back again anyway? Really?”
“Well it’s irrelevant now, isn’t it?” I said irritably, hating that he was right.
“And this is different. That was an, I don’t know, a bonus visit.
This is him not coming back when he was meant to.
I’m allowed to be worried.” And angry. Let’s not forget angry.
“So do you have any suggestions I can actually use?”
“I don’t I’m afraid. But I still stand by my first one.
Gabriel is the one holding all the cards here.
If you keep pushing him, eventually he will push back.
I don’t want to see you get hurt. And frankly, I think you’re being a tad selfish with your insistence on going against Seth’s team’s advice.
He trusted them to take care of you in his absence and you’re making it very difficult for them to do that. ”
Tears pricked at my eyes, and I fought to keep them back, unwilling to let him see how much he’d hurt me with that accusation.
“I don’t say this to be unkind, Zara,” he said gently, “but you have a very blinkered view of the situation right now. Watching your friends at that meeting today it was blindingly obvious that they’re worried sick about you.
And about what you might do next. How do you think it will go down if Seth comes back and they have to admit they let you get hurt, or worse? ”
“What I think is that I’d like to be alone now,” I choked out. “We can sort out the wards another time.”
“The very last thing you need right now is to be alone.”
He strode over to the sofa where I was curled up and sank down next to me, pulling me into his arms, and the dam broke.
I wailed incoherently while he rubbed my back and made soothing noises.
When I’d finished crying all over him, I extricated myself from his arms and grabbed a tissue to wipe my face.
“Better now?”
I nodded. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to have a meltdown all over you. I just want him back, Nero.”
“And we’ll get him back. But you have to understand that antagonising the one person who could actually make it happen is not going to help achieve it.”
Maybe he was right, but I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Because I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if the situation was reversed Seth would already be tearing the realms apart, stone by stone if necessary, to get me back.
“The wards are tweaked now, so you’ll be perfectly safe in your apartment.
” He must have done that while I was having my meltdown.
“And I do have one more suggestion for you. Take the night off and get some rest, because you look exhausted. I recommend a warm bath, hot chocolate and snuggling up in bed with that book of yours.”
“That actually sounds really nice. If you’re sure you don’t need me?”
He huffed. “I managed without you for a whole week, I don’t think one more night is going to break me. Rest well, Agapiméno. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He was gone before I could thank him.