“I’m sure one of my ladies-in-waiting would be delighted to dally a while with you.” She smiled, but it was cold. He doubted she loved him anymore. No, she would see him as a threat and little else.
“A most gracious offer I will have to take full advantage of.” He freed himself from her long-nailed grip and swept her a bow. She still thought him shallow and uninterested in anything but dancing, drinking, gambling, and women. That was exactly how he wanted to be seen. It was much easier to get on with stabilizing Annwyn if no one thought him of any account.
“I look forward to seeing you in my chambers.” She spun and walked away, looking not a day over eighteen, yet she was millennia old.
He touched his pocket. The Counter-Window was still there. He drew it out and gazed into the surface, his image rippled and faded, then he saw only black. Not very helpful in finding the Window, but then for what he had planned it didn’t matter.
He needed to find Verden, Lord of Hunt. It was time Caspian came to Court and met his father. Caspian needed to remember there were rules in place for a reason. He looked at his mother’s back and smiled. With Caspian here he might be able to accomplish several tasks quite simply.
Chapter 14
Caspian’s cell phone rang and jolted him out of his morbid thoughts. He’d ignored the imp, and managed to pretend today was no different from any other even as he kept checking over his shoulder for a messenger from Court. By lunchtime he’d almost convinced himself he’d gotten away with it. As deals went it was very loose, one could almost say less of a deal and more of a mutual agreement.
Lydia’s number flashed on the screen. He answered instead of ignoring it. “Hello.”
“I’m sorry I missed your call. I’ve been working in the garden.”
Caspian winced. “I can imagine.” He should have been there to help with the cleanup. “Are you okay?”
There was a pause before she answered and his heart jumped. “Lydia?”
“Can you come around early? I’ll get some takeout for dinner.”
He didn’t need bribing with takeout to spend time with her. “In an hour?”
“That would be great. See you soon.” She hung up.
Caspian put down his phone. She hadn’t sounded right; there’d been an edge to her voice like she was close to breaking. Had Shea done something? His heart clenched. No, she would have said. This was something else… the inevitable breakup? But why invite him over for dinner if she didn’t want to see him again? He didn’t want to let himself hope, and yet that was all he seemed to have.
His life was making less and less sense with every passing day. The only piece he wanted to hang on to was Lydia. She’d made him remember what it was like to be with someone—the accidental contacts that sent shimmers of heat over his skin, the glances and half-smiles. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed that until meeting her. He didn’t want to be alone, but he needed someone who understood what his life was really like. Maybe after all of this had shaken down Lydia would still want to be part of his life… if he still had one to worry about.
Guess he’d find out when he got to Callaway House, by taxi since his car was now full of dead bees and a large hive had grown out of the backseat. He didn’t know how to report that to insurance. It was one of those problems that could wait. The imp watched, half-hidden by the wastepaper basket. He was about to shoo it away then stopped.
Caspian looked at the imp again and a smile turned the corners of his lips. He pulled a chocolate bar out his satchel, then walked out the back and got a glass of water and put it and the chocolate bar on the workbench. The imp followed, curious now.
“You want to hang around me and soak up some of the Court energy?” This had to be a sweet job that Shea had given the imp. Like a fairy, Caspian decided that keeping his enemies close was the way to keep ahead of Shea. If that meant bribing, so be it.
The imp’s gaze flicked between the water and chocolate; it was a poor approximation of the tea and cookies Caspian would leave for Brownies, but then an imp wasn’t a Brownie. The imp grasped the significance of the layout and nodded slowly.
“My car. And we shall never speak of this again.”
“You will put out a spread?”
“I might leave food out. If it were to vanish, I wouldn’t know who had taken it.” Because agreeing to leave a spread for a banished fairy was almost as bad as the agreement he’d made with Shea.
The imp’s eyes were narrowed as if he were calculating how much trouble he’d be in with Shea. “If your car were to be cleaned, and your shop too, I couldn’t say who had done such a thing. I’m merely here to watch you.”
“Exactly.” Caspian pressed his lips together to keep from smiling. The imp had been banished from Court, but he’d do anything to stay close to its power to keep from dying. Dylis would have a fit. But things had changed, and if the imp began to trust him maybe he’d trust Shea less. Without looking back, Caspian went back into the store and began to close up.
Caspian walked slowly up to the house, carrying a potted plant. It was a lame offering considering the damage. But Lydia had been busy today. This morning the garden had looked like a bunch of fairies had vented their anger on everything they touched. This afternoon the yard looked roughed up but otherwise ordered. The plants were in the garden beds and while they looked bedraggled and droopy, in a few days’ time with a bit of water and sun they would come back. Even the lawn would come in well.
He knocked and waited, but not for long.
Lydia had her hair pulled back in a messy bun, she looked tired, but her eyes lit up with warmth when she saw him. Then she threw her arms around his neck like he was the lifeline she’d been praying for. It had been so long since anyone had held him like that, he almost couldn’t breathe. He slid his free arm around her waist and for a moment just held her. He’d thought she’d slipped through his fingers, but she was still welcoming him with open arms. He closed his eyes, aware of how lucky he was. She was his link to all that was human as he was being surrounded by fairies. But more than that, she understood that he had a foot on both sides of the veil.
He breathed in the delicate scent of her skin and placed a kiss on her cheek. “You’re okay? Shea hasn’t been back?”
She shook her head, still pressed against him. “I haven’t heard anything strange. Whatever deal you made I think they have all gone.”
He wanted to believe that Shea had gone for good, but he knew that wouldn’t be the case. However, at least he wasn’t terrorizing Lydia anymore. “I’m glad. The garden looks better.”
She sighed against his neck and her breath tickled his skin like a lover’s caress. “It looked worse than it was.”
“I bought you a gardenia… and I will pay to get the paving relaid.”
Lydia pulled back. “You didn’t have to.” But she smiled as she took the pot.
“It was my fault it all happened.”
“You can’t help what you are.” She paused and looked at him. “It won’t happen again, right?”
The easy lie was to say no. “I can’t guarantee that. But I hope not.”
She nodded. “I hope so too.” She raked her teeth over her lip. “I didn’t call you to talk about your family—I think I’ve had all the fairies I can handle for today. I ah… I read some more of the diaries. I wish I hadn’t. I don’t know what to do.”
People’s diaries were private, but he understood her curiosity. Unfortunately some things should remain private. And he still had no idea what the best thing to do with them was. “There are names?”
“No, but I’m not a Callaway.”
Caspian blinked. How could she not be a Callaway? “What do you mean?”
“Gran wasn’t my grandmother; a woman died after giving birth and Gran raised the baby as her own. She lied to me. Said my mother was a late life surprise.”
