“I’ll cover the expense.” It was the least I could do. “Whatever it costs, I’ll pay.”
“No,” he said solemnly. “You won’t.” He stood before I could protest. “Fae have no use for cash. She won’t charge Taz a sum. She’ll ask for something only Taz can offer.” A frown wilted his full lips. “I wish there was another way, but big magic requires big sacrifice.”
“All right.” I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t fight him on that point. I had no clue what fae bargains entailed. All I knew was I didn’t know enough to make one. “I’ll wish you luck then.”
“I’ll bring her back to you in one piece,” he promised. “We better go.” He caught Taz’s eye, and she headed to the door where he hesitated. “I’m trusting you not to share this information with anyone. The pack is…” He flattened his lips. “Losing Shane hurt. We can’t risk any of our kin. There aren’t many of them left.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Inadequate, as always. No words held the power to soften death. “I didn’t know him well, but he was a fascinating man, and a kind one.”
Expression tight, Midas nodded then joined Taz in the hall and closed the door behind them.
“I don’t like this.” I cut Linus a look. “Not even a little.”
“Taz will do what Taz wants to do.” He crossed to me and rubbed my shoulders. “She’s a stubborn woman. That’s why you two understand each other so well.”
“Hmph.” I swatted his hands. “I’m not stubborn.”
The barest edges of his lips curled. “Of course not.”
“What’s next on the agenda? A trip to the mall? The corner pharmacy?”
We had hours left to burn, and I was too pumped to sit around and wait for them to crawl past.
“Our wardrobe should be arriving tonight via courier, coordinating luggage as well.” He absorbed my shock with amusement. “Neely handled the details. For both of us.”
“I didn’t realize he was already on the clock.” I massaged my forehead. “This is too bizarre.”
Human friends helping in necromancer business. The Grande Dame would have kittens when she found out that I had brought so many into my household, including one poached from her payroll.
“The best employees do their jobs without having been asked.” He kissed my temple. “He’s in his element.”
“He does love to shop.” And he had a great eye for fashion. “I don’t want to see the receipts, though.”
Initiating him into our world meant he was aware how deep my pockets reached these days. Neely had excellent, and therefore expensive, taste. Given cart blanche, I could only imagine the hurting he had put on my bank account, and I preferred to keep it there—in my imagination.
“His only complaint was not being able to accessorize you in person before you face the Marchands.”
“What about toiletries?”
“Those should come in separate orders as well. He sent cosmetics he deemed foolproof as well as our preferred shampoos and such.”
A frown gathered across my forehead. “I don’t have a preferred shampoo.”
“Apparently you do now.”
“I was fine stealing yours.”
“You’re Dame Woolworth.” His cool fingers skated across my cheek. “You need to look the part.”
“I’m not a fan of masks.”
“I know.” His expression shuttered. “But, with the Society, they’re necessary.”
“As long as we don’t wear them when we’re together, I can deal.” I tapped his chin until he looked at me. “The Society can see what it wants, as long as I get to see it all.”
“No,” he corrected me solemnly, “the Society can see what we choose to show them.”
Understanding creeped in, a warm flutter in my chest. “They don’t get to see us.”
The tentative smile hanging on his mouth told me, ring or not, he wasn’t convinced this was real. I worried that was why he didn’t want to show our true faces to our peers. He might fear what I felt for him wouldn’t stand up to their intense scrutiny. Rumors and speculation would chip away at him, at his confidence. Better to show them a united, if false, front so any cruel jabs would slide right off him.
Oh, Linus.
At this rate, I might have to commit to something as permanent as ink to show him how I felt. The proposal hadn’t done the job if he still doubted me. Us. Though, as everyone and their momma was quick to point out, that might be the fault of the ring. It proved the decision had been a spur-of-the-moment reaction, not what it should have been—a carefully planned occasion.
Hmm. He wasn’t the only one capable of making grand gestures. Maybe it was time I showed him his worth to me in a language he spoke fluently—currency. You can’t buy love, but perhaps his upbringing required me to take an uncomfortable step into debt to show him, in all ways, he was mine. Forever.
“It sounds like Neely has everything handled.” At this rate, I would owe him a bonus soon. “What’s left for us to do?”
Our rendezvous with Tisdale was at eight the following morning, since gwyllgi tended to keep a diurnal rather than nocturnal schedule.
“I have a meeting with my team.”
“Ah.” I scanned the room, already searching for something to do until he or Taz returned. “I should have anticipated that.”
“Would you like to come?” He ducked his head. “It can be tedious, but they would love to meet you.”
“I can go?” Excitement thrummed through me, and not just to have something to do. “That’s allowed?”
“I am the potentate, and you are my fiancée.” He took my hand. “Allowances can, and will, be made.”
Three
On the circuitous drive to meet the mysterious team who helped keep Atlanta free of supernatural crime, I kept turning over Taz’s reappearance in my head. “How did she end up with Midas?”
“The pack is hooked into an extensive network of gwyllgi across the country. They have the means to hide and protect individuals in the short term, and do, as part of their security work.” Diverting his attention from the road for a second, he flicked me a glance. “I didn’t know they were sheltering her, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“I was wondering,” I admitted. “You’re in a position to make those types of connections happen, so I would have understood if you made the arrangements.”
“Boaz claimed responsibility for her safety. I’m guessing he clued in to the vastness of the gwyllgi network too and hoped that, as a favor to you, they would be willing to help for the right incentive.” He peered through the windshield, his expression more relaxed than it had been in days. “The Society is so insular, they wouldn’t have looked for her among the pack. They would have assumed she had gone underground alone or was holed up with other necromancers.”
“Just how much interaction have you had with the Atlanta pack?”
“Not much. I met Hood, Lethe, and Midas through their work at the Faraday.” He canted his head to one side. “I met their mother through the course of my duties. She made it clear I could report gwyllgi crimes, even detain them, but I wasn’t to punish any of hers. She would do it herself, and I was welcome to watch.”
Having witnessed a gwyllgi trial in my front yard, I would rather take my chances with the potentate.
“We’re almost there.” Linus passed me his phone. “Text this code to this number.”
Thumbs at the ready, I waited as he rattled off both sets of digits. “Done and done.”
The screen lit up seconds later with a string of numbers I read back to him.
Back and forth, we traded texts and lines of code with the person or persons on the other end.
“This is all very cloak-and-dagger.” Not to mention it required a knack for memorization.
“We have to be careful.” He pulled into a parking deck and placed his hand on my thigh. “Keep your eyes open.”
The cool of his fingers raised chills up my leg. “Your meetings are dangerous?”
“We might have been followed. I’m careful, but I’m not perfect.”
I fluttered my lashes to do Neely proud. “Says you.”
A blush swirled over his cheeks, ripening them to apples, and I could have taken a bite.
How did he conceal this part of himself from the world? How did he partition his heart from his head?
There was so much he could teach me about how to blend in among our High Society peers, how to take my place in their ranks, but I resented his proficiency in social survival skills stemmed from his complex relationship with his mother.
Kids were down the line for us. Way down the line. Way, way down the line. But I couldn’t help but hope that we could raise them with clear eyes and open faces. I wanted them to know love came without price tags. That it cost nothing. It was given freely, and we had endless amounts to gift.
Kids.
Kids?
Exhaling through my teeth, I reached for Woolly on instinct. Of course she wasn’t there. Our connection was strong, but it wasn’t two hundred and fifty miles strong. Still, I would be giving her an earful when I got home. I was starting to suspect she was beaming images of infants and toddlers direct to my brain during the day while I was sleeping.
Bypassing the grungy elevator, Linus guided me to the stairwell. We climbed two floors before I noticed the discreet numbers painted within circles on the walls. Five levels after that, we hit a shorter staircase than the others. There was no number at all, just a door marked maintenance with a keypad beside the handle. Linus approached it, punched in a code, and it swung open, admitting us into a sleek office space that must exist between floors.
“Welcome to Base Two,” he said, ushering me across the threshold before locking us in.