“How long ago?”
“Hours, is my guess.”
“Hours?”
That placed him here during my baby shower. How could he be in town and not pop in to say hello? I hadn’t seen him in months. The snub had my vision going wobbly, and I bit my bottom lip to keep it from trembling too.
“Aww.” She wiped my cheeks dry with a tissue. “Hormones suck.”
“They really, really do,” I agreed with a sad little hiccup. “I’m over this weepy crap.”
“You don’t have long to go,” she reminded me, stuffing a fresh tissue into my hand. “Focus on the positive.”
After blowing my nose, I reined in my emotions, hating how easily they slipped their leash. “Thanks.”
“Corbin must be here on assignment. He would have been knocking down your door otherwise.”
“Addie didn’t mention Boaz was in town either.”
“You’ve been in a relationship with Boaz. Do you honestly think he tells her everything?”
“No.” The life of an Elite was rife with secrets. “But that doesn’t mean it’s what he wants.”
“You’re still a sucker where he’s concerned.”
“And you’ll hold a grudge until the sun burns out.”
“Now you’re just being rude. I’m not that old.”
Age was a number Lethe had never shared with me. Gwyllgi lived a long time. The ones with more fae blood lived the next best thing to forever, and she was descended from an ancient bloodline in Faerie.
“This is not great news.” I rubbed my arms. “Either she suspected this might happen, or the Elite did.”
Since she hadn’t told Linus, I was betting the Elite had the inside track and had left us out of the loop.
“That’s how I interpret it.” She flagged down Hood, and he trotted over then shifted. “Well?”
“She took a ride with a necromancer.” He breathed heavily. “I lost them once they hit the main road.”
Given this new information, necromancer might mean Boaz, which was good news.
As much as I hated asking, I would rather do it without Linus present. “Blood?”
“Not that I could scent. She got in the car of her own free will, or her captor was gentle with her.”
A ransom was our best hope for resolving this situation without scandal. That would fit with a necromancer handling her with kid gloves until they contacted Linus with how many zeroes it would cost us to get her back.
The alternative, that she got in the car willingly, even with Boaz, was a puzzle piece gummed by a toddler into unrecognizable mush. It made no sense. Why leave without telling Marco? Or her maid? Or Linus?
“This is when I would suggest to Linus that he call his mother and ask her to put us in touch with Boaz.” I had no other means of tracking him when he was deep undercover, and even she had trouble locating Corbin when he was on assignment. “Since that’s not an option, we’re going to have to go at this from another angle.”
Hood wiped the sweat from his brow. “What do you have in mind?”
“Let’s check in with Linus first.” I glanced over my shoulder. “We need more details before I attempt this.”
“All right.” Lethe didn’t sound happy about it. “He still upstairs?”
“Yeah.” I huffed out a breath like I was the one who had been running. “The grand staircase might as well be a StairMaster.”
“You need to get off your feet.” She winced at them. “Your ankles look like they swallowed oranges.”
Hood appeared at my elbow with a chair borrowed from the dining room before I noticed he had left. The extreme ladder-back wasn’t comfortable, but I sighed with relief to get the weight off my feet.
Squirming on the hard seat, I tried to settle, but there was too much of me and too little of it. “Do you think Linus will still love me if I don’t lose the baby weight?”
“You’re the center of his universe, Grier.” Lethe chuckled. “He won’t care if his universe expands.”
“Women underrate how incredibly sexy they are while they’re pregnant,” Hood contributed. “There’s a primal tug in your gut when your mate is carrying your child.” Crimson sparked in his eyes. “That doesn’t go away after the baby is born.”
“Neither do stretch marks,” I grumbled. “Neely told me to call them tiger stripes.”
“Fierce.” Lethe tilted her head. “I can’t use it because cat, but I fully endorse it for you.”
Clipped footsteps drew my attention toward the stairs as Linus took them at an easy lope that spoke of familiarity from a lifetime of doing that exact thing in that exact way. The maid followed at a more sedate pace, and she huddled into her uniform.
“Are you feeling well?” Linus didn’t stop until his shoe tapped the leg of my chair. “I saw you sitting out here and…”
“I’m good.” I rotated my ankles. I assumed. I mean, I felt like I was going through the motions, but I couldn’t see my feet to be certain it was happening. “My nemesis strikes again.”
Linus knelt and took first one ankle and then the other in his cool hands, his fingers tickling over the swollen joints, and his touch was better than an ice pack.
“We need to get you home.” He stared up at me. “Otherwise, I’ll be carrying you straight up to bed.”
“I wouldn’t complain.” I touched his flushed cheek to draw his attention. “Are you done here?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s my turn.” I palmed my knife. “Bring me the maid.”
The order caused an unexpected reaction, in that the maid overheard and zoomed off at a sprint.
“I did not see that coming,” I said to Cletus, who materialized behind me as the others rushed after her.
Cletus, a wraith of few moans, bobbed on unfelt air currents in solidarity.
Four
Linus growled low in his throat, the howling void in his head screaming at him to give chase, and he did. A tide of fear swept through him for Grier, but he refused to let it drown him. Her pregnancy was a test of his resolve to let her continue on as the strong, independent woman she had grown into rather than swaddling her and leaving her safe behind the wards at Woolworth House.
History had proven there was no such thing as safe for them, and his mother’s disappearance reaffirmed that belief.
“I can’t believe you left her alone.” Hood shot him a sideways glance. “I’m proud of you.”
“Don’t be.” A smile tickled the corner of his mouth. “I drew an impervious sigil on her ankle.”
The gwyllgi barked out a laugh then let the transformation have him, emerging on all fours in a splash of crimson magic.
The fastest of them, Lethe snapped her teeth at Josephine’s heels, and the maid wailed in fright.
Only a fool ran from predators. As a vampire, she ought to know better.
One misstep cost Josephine, and the maid went down hard on her stomach with Lethe poised over her, teeth at her nape.
Hood arrived next, his tongue lolling in a doggy grin at his mate that she returned with a tail wag.
Linus slowed to a prowl, and black mist wafted from his skin as his cloak and cowl settled around him.
“Why did you run?” He squatted in front of Josephine. “You must be aware of how that makes you look.”
“I’m a-a-afraid of dogs,” she panted, her fangs slicing into her bottom lip. “Please, get it off me.”
A rumble from the it in question caused the maid’s pleading to taper into a squeak.
Magic splashed across the floor as Hood traded one skin for another.
“You reek of old fear.” He prowled closer. “You’ve been stewing in your panic for hours.”
Meaning the gwyllgi had merely tipped the already precarious balance of her emotional state.
“N-n-no.” She squeezed her eyes shut and produced pinkish tears. “Please.”
“Why wait until Grier called for you?” Linus pressed. “You chose that precise moment to run.”
“I don’t want magic used on me.”
“You’re animated with necromantic magic,” he said, cold seeping into his voice. “How is this different?”
“She’s not like the rest of you,” Josephine rasped. “She’s…”
“My wife.” Linus gestured to Hood. “Bring her to the Lyceum for formal questioning.”
The vampire and necromancer communities had yet to heal from the wounds inflicted on them by Gaspard Lacroix. His ties to Grier meant she was as often revered for being his granddaughter as she was reviled for it. As dedicated as his mother was to Grier’s success, albeit often for her own reasons, it struck him as odd she would continue employing a maid with such leanings.
“I’ve got this,” Grier huffed from her efforts to catch up to them. “Get her on her knees.”
Josephine thrashed in their hold, careful not to lash out and harm Grier, which he found peculiar despite the fact the maid must know how poorly it would end for her if Grier was harmed. There was more to this than he perceived, but Grier appeared to have an inkling, and he trusted her judgment.
“I prefer to do this with consent,” she told Josephine. “Do I have yours?”
The maid pinched her lips closed and shook her head.
“I prefer it.” Grier palmed her trusty pocketknife. “I don’t require it.”
The blade bit into the meat of her palm, and she used a fingertip to draw two complex sigils on the maid’s forehead.
“This sigil will compel you to answer my questions.” She tapped the first one’s center, and a pulse of gentle magic swept through the room. “This one will give us a visual indicator if you’re telling the truth.”
The maid trembled, but she gave no other outward indication of her nerves.
As usual, Grier started Josephine off easy to get a baseline reading. “Are you a maid in this household?”