Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
As we entered the house, Fancypants flew out to greet us. He fluttered down to rest on the coffee table. “Faron, hello,” he said, beaming. He had formed an attachment to the wolf shifter when we were seeing each other.
“Hey Fancypants, it’s been awhile.” Faron sounded exhausted.
I could tell he just wanted to rest. “Faron’s tired right now. Maybe we can let him rest before—” I started to say.
“It’s okay,” Faron interrupted. “I’m happy to see FP again. But you’re right. If I could take a shower and get some sleep, I’d really appreciate it.”
“You can have the guest room,” I said, “although I haven’t had a chance to put fresh sheets on the bed.”
My house—or rather, Bran’s and my house now that we were married—had three bedrooms. The largest, we slept in.
The second largest was my office and ritual room.
And the third was the guest room. The latter had seen a lot of use since my Grams first came over from Scotland, but for the past six months, it had been empty.
Fancypants slept in it, curling up on the bed like a cat.
“Come on,” I said. “I’ll get you some towels.” I turned to Bran. “Make him some food?”
Bran nodded. “Will do,” he said, heading for the kitchen. “Hey, what about your brownies?”
“Oh hell! I forgot. They’re ruined now. Can you call…whoever it is that’s in charge and tell them we can’t make it after all? I can order a couple dozen brownies from some bakery to be sent there, if they need.”
“I’ll give them a call,” Bran said.
Faron followed me to the guest room. I stopped at the linen closet to get him a couple towels, a wash cloth, and a hand towel.
I also pulled out a second blanket since the one on the bed was thin, and it was chilly.
Then, I ducked into our bedroom and dug out one of Bran’s old robes, and a pair of pajamas he hadn’t used yet.
Returning to the guest room, I found Faron had taken off his shirt. I handed him the robe, pjs, and towels. “Go shower. I’ll get the bed ready for you. Bran’s making some breakfast and, after you eat, you can get some rest.”
“Will you call Daisy and ask her if they know anything about Lucretia? I want to know…I guess I just want to know what they found out.” He ducked his head, but I caught sight of the tears that were slowly trickling down his cheek.
“Faron, you really did love her, didn’t you?” I said. Faron was good at hiding his emotions and it seemed like he might have developed more than an appreciation for the woman chosen to be his wife.
He let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. Maybe? I don’t think so, but I was fond of her. I cared about her and I wanted her to be happy. I wanted life to work out the way it was supposed to. But that never happens, does it? Does anybody ever get the chance to live the life they dream of?”
I couldn’t answer.
I was happy, yes, but my life had been nearly destroyed a few years back.
Anything seemed better compared to that.
But, after I’d walked out of the darkest shadow of my life, I realized that I had no idea what I wanted.
I only knew I wanted to feel safe. And with Bran, I felt exactly that…
Well, as much as I could ever feel safe.
But I couldn’t answer Faron. I couldn’t say anything that would help at this time.
“Faron, take your shower. Eat and get some rest. I’ll talk to Daisy.” I spread the blanket on the bed, then turned and left him, ignoring the gorgeous bare chest that I all too easily remembered being pressed up against me.
* * *
While Faron showered and Bran finished making eggs, sausages, and toast, I called the sheriff.
Daisy Parker was a tall, lithe puma-shifter, and she was excellent at her job. She was all business, but beneath the badge, she had a heart. And, unlike some authority figures, she wasn’t arrogant. In fact, she was so unassuming that others underestimated her, which often gave her an edge.
“Hey Daisy,” I said as she answered her phone. “I need to talk to you about Faron’s wife.”
“I assume Bree told you,” she said. “Yes, she’s dead.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Lucretia was a good-hearted person. But, I have some questions that I need to ask you.”
Daisy sighed. “You’ve talked to Faron? And he’s scared, I assume.”
“You assume correctly. He’s here, staying with us. In the past forty-eight hours his entire world has come crashing down. I promised him I’d check with you. He’s afraid that you might suspect him in Lucretia’s death. I think he’s had such an adrenaline rush that he’s hypervigilant.”
“Well, I can tell you this: he’s not a suspect in her death, so ease his mind on that. But Elphyra, I’d like to ask for your help.” Daisy hesitated, then added, “I have a few questions and I think you might be able to help sort them out.”
“Me?”
“You’re good at communicating with ghosts. I want to know if she killed herself on purpose. I want to know if Lucretia committed suicide. And if so, did something drive her to it?”
“You mean like another car? Surely there would be skid marks?”
“No, I’m not talking about that. I think…I think there might have been some creature in the car with her. When we got to the scene of the accident, the passenger door was open. I spotted a few tracks in the snow before they just stopped.”
I froze. “Tracks? Human?”
“Not any human I’ve ever met. These tracks showed a small, round foot, with three long toes. I don’t think it was very big.” She paused, then said, “Maybe the size of your dragonette.”
People knew about Fancypants, even though I did my best to keep him secret. “Dragonettes don’t bond with shifters,” I said.
“I didn’t say that. You asked what size and I told you.” She paused again, then asked, “What kind of feet does your dragonette have?”
“You can come look or I can send you a photo, but he has more than three toes, and his front feet are more like arms, with fingers. Five of them. He’s got his own form of thumbs. You aren’t insinuating anything, are you?” I was probably feeling touchy, but Daisy was starting to irritate me.
“Elphyra, I am not saying I think your dragonette—or you—had anything to do with this. I’m trying to establish size, and some semblance of what it might have looked like.
” She let out an exasperated sigh. “But I need your help. Would you be willing to come out to the scene and see what you can find out? You’re the only person I can think to ask. ”
I shook off the mood. “All right. I can come out this afternoon. Text me when and where to meet you. Do you need to talk to Faron?”
“I’d like to, but only to ask him some things about Lucretia and her life. Maybe if we can find out who or what she’s been hanging out with, we can get a better feel for who might have wanted her dead.”
“I’ll talk to him, and see if he can meet with you later. He desperately needs sleep. He spent last night huddling out at the Carlton farmstead, hiding in the basement. I don’t think he even knew what he was doing there.” I agreed to meet her at around one-thirty.
Bran and Faron were sitting in the kitchen, eating. I sat down at the table, grabbing a piece of toast to nibble on.
“I talked to Daisy,” I said.
Faron glanced at me. “And?”
“She’d like to talk to you, but not because you’re a suspect.
In fact, I’m headed out to the crash scene this afternoon to see if I can help out.
Apparently, something crawled out of the passenger seat of her car after she crashed, struggled through the snow a little ways, and then just seems to have vanished.
Whatever it was had small feet and three long toes. ”
Faron blinked. “Three toes?”
“Right. Daisy wants to talk to you about what Lucretia might have been up to. I told her that you might be able to talk to her this afternoon. She can follow me back, after I’m finished helping her.
” I crossed to the espresso machine to make myself a second latte—this time a triple.
By now, the morning one felt like it had worn off.
“That should give you a chance to sleep for three or four hours.”
“I’ll stay home today,” Bran said. “My mother can handle the immediate chores, and we have help now so the animals are covered.”
As a small town farm, Brambleberry Farm boasted several cows, goats, a lot of chickens, some sheep, and bee hives.
May sold honey, preserves, eggs, and meat, along with some charms and other magical goodies.
Bran had finally hired help so that May wouldn’t have to work so hard, and he usually put in long days helping the men.
He was about as physically fit as you could get.
“Give her a call now so she knows you’re taking the day off,” I said. I glanced over at Faron, who had finished his breakfast. He was nodding off at the table. “Faron? Faron?”
“Huh?” Faron jerked awake. “What… Did I fall asleep?”
“Yeah, you did,” I said, feeling protective.
He seemed so wiped out right now, and so confused.
It reminded me, uncomfortably, of his days when he was in a coma, and then afterward—when he was trying to remember his life.
He’d been so painfully vulnerable. I’d sat there at the hospital day after day with his brother, hoping for good news. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
Bran motioned for me to help him. “I’ll put the dishes in the dishwasher and clean up,” he said. I met his gaze and saw the trust there, and understanding. Mouthing a ‘thank you,’ I led Faron back to the guest room.
He slid out of his robe, draping it over the brass clothes rack near the bottom of the bed. Then, he turned to me, and I froze. The look on his face was one I remembered from brighter days.
“Elphyra…” His voice was low. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me. You and Bran. You didn’t have to.”
“That’s what friends do,” I said. “We’re so sorry about Lucretia, but Faron, we’re even more sorry about what happened to you. Did you know? That you couldn’t have children?”
He shook his head. “Maybe something happened when I was so badly hurt. I don’t know.
I’ve never had a woman tell me I got her pregnant.
I was always careful. I had to be—I was in line to be king.
I couldn’t have a gaggle of children running around who could challenge for the throne.
They wouldn’t be allowed, but it would have complicated matters. ”
“So you never had fertility testing before?” I asked, pushing him by the shoulders so he sat down on the bed.
“No, I didn’t. Lucretia and I fully expected to be parents by now.
Or at least, expecting. And the council demands a child within the first two years, so we were getting a little concerned.
Before she married me, she was required to undergo testing before the marriage, to make certain that she could bear children.
It’s archaic, but it’s Pack Law. So…the council demanded that I get tested.
I did. Much to my surprise, I have almost no viable sperm.
” He blushed, one of the rare times I’d ever seen him embarrassed.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “And that means…”
“Exactly what happened. They did a second test, to double check, and it came back worse than the first. I can’t ever father a child, Elphyra.
I can’t have children. And a king who’s infertile, can’t produce an heir.
So I resigned, because I knew the next step would be to dethrone me.
I decided to make it easier on all of us. ”
I sat on a chair near the bed, trying to put some distance between us. “What did Lucretia say?”
He winced. “I’d rather talk about that later. She wasn’t…kind. In fact, it made me realize that her only goal had been to secure herself as queen. At least, I tried. I can carry that in my heart, knowing that I treated her right.”
I remembered that, at first, Faron had suggested that I be his mistress. But I wasn’t interested in a secret assignation. So I’d let go of the vision of the three of us together. Bran and I had gravitated together, and it worked, though I knew that I’d never fully be over the wolf-shifter.
Bran was connected to me in a magical way that permeated our love-making, that bound our souls. With Faron, the energy had been more primal, and a gut-deep emotional connection. They were two sides of the man I needed, and they complemented one another, rather than rivaled.
“Hold onto that,” I said, standing. “Now, rest. If you need a sleep-aid, I have an herbal remedy that’s gentle, but effective. May taught me how to make it.”
“I might take you up on that,” he said. “If I can’t sleep, I’ll let you know.” He slid his legs beneath the covers and curled up, resting his head on the pillow. Before I even could leave the room, Faron was snoring, slowly and rhythmically. I brushed his hair back from his face.
“Rest easy, sleeping beauty,” I whispered, before tiptoeing out the door.