“What’s all that?” Holly asked, rushing to him. She urged him to set the bags down and helped him out of his jacket. Outside, the rain was pouring down in sheets.
“My sister was more than happy to lend you some things.” He grinned. Holly hung his coat on one of the many coatracks. Now, all the coatracks made sense.
“Some? I refuse to believe she has any clothes left!”
“It’s not just clothes,” he said. “Well, most of it is clothes. She also sent over some rain boots, her old hiking boots, a pair of heels in case you’re feeling fancy, shower stuff, makeup, hair ties, and pretty much anything else you could think of.”
“And she just had all this lying around?”
“She’s got mad coupon game.” Garret shrugged. “She gets things in threes or fours and stores what she doesn’t use in case of emergencies like this.”
“I have no response to that other than thank you.” Holly nodded, swinging the duffle bags over her arms. Combined, they weighed almost as much as she did. Getting them up the stairs was going to be a nightmare and a half.
“Did you find out anything interesting about the prophecy?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “Apparently, the king is whoever the maiden chooses to have the magic baby with.”
“Is magic baby the technical term?”
“I have to deal with a lot of nonsense here, I may as well try to make it fun.” With that, Holly turned on her heel and started the daunting task of getting her borrowed wardrobe up the stairs.
CHAPTER 20 - Johnny
Johnny looked up from the book he was pretending to read when Garret entered the study.
“You’re going to drip on the carpet,” Keller warned.
“The carpet has survived worse things than a little water. It’s from Russia.”
“So?”
“Pearl bought it at a museum auction. It was in the palace during the time of the Romanovs.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. This carpet has seen some shit.”
“Well, now I feel bad for standing on it.”
“That’s why I sit on the desk,” Johnny said. “Unless this desk came from some other palace where some other horrific historical event took place.”
“No, she got that at the antique store in Gallant Green,” Garret said. “Did Holly get it right that the maiden chooses the king?”
“She did.” Keller nodded. “It’s not a point and choose deal, though. She’ll be drawn to the king in a special way.”
Johnny watched Garret’s expression, looking for some kind of tell. Of course, both he and Keller already knew what had happened when he had followed Holly into the woods earlier today. Bears had damn good hearing and there was only one reason Holly would be sighing the way that she had.
Garret kept his expression impassive, much to Johnny’s frustration.
“So, how do we figure out who it is?” Johnny asked.
“I have some thoughts on that,” Keller said. “I found an account of the maiden in this book. You know how she taught those who’d fallen into the dark ways how to find humanity? She was a hands-on teacher.”
“What?” Garret and Johnny said in unison.
“You guys would’ve known this if you had bothered to help me with the research.”
“I was busy hauling a closet’s worth of shit across town,” Garret said.
“I have no excuse,” Johnny replied. “What do you mean, hands-on?”
“According to the account in this book.” Keller held up a deep red, leather-bound volume. Despite its luxurious outside, the pages were like thin, jagged sheets of bark. “The maiden found the king after getting close with every eligible firstborn.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“The maiden was very thorough in her search, that’s what it means,” Johnny said. “We can only expect Holly to be the same.”
“But she’s not like that.” Garret shook his head.
“She might not be, but you are,” Johnny shot back.
“I care about her,” Garret snapped. “She was alone, she was scared, and she needed someone to be there for her. Guess what? I was there.”
“Oh, we know,” Keller joined in. “Neither of you were subtle.”
“You’re not the only one who cares about her, either,” Johnny said. “I care about her, too. She’s special and not just because she’s the maiden. I couldn’t care less about that.”
“Sure, you don’t.” Keller rolled his eyes. “That’s why you tried to paint yourself as the good, honest fella she’s been looking for.”
“I tried to make this easier for her,” Johnny said through clenched teeth. “You’re the one who tried to keep her in the dark.”
“Because it’s what Pearl wanted! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Keller exclaimed.
“Of course, it does! Pearl treated me like her own after my parents died. She was the only family I had in this whole town.” Johnny hated thinking about that dark time, the time after the death of his parents.
“You aren’t the only one who’s lost people,” Keller seethed. “I’m sure as hell not going to let you use your tragic backstory bullshit to manipulate Holly for your own gain.”
“And your intentions are totally honorable, right?” Johnny scoffed.
“More so than yours.”
Johnny pushed off the desk and charged at Keller. He wasn’t about to let that Eagle Scout wannabe disrespect him like that. Before he could throw a punch, Garret stepped between them.
“Enough!” he roared. He was the only person strong enough to keep both Johnny and Keller at bay. He took them each by the shirt and held them still. “This isn’t how this is going to go.”
“You have an alternative?” Johnny sneered.
“Yes,” he replied. “We care about Holly. That’s obvious. If it were just the three of us crushing on the same woman, maybe we could brawl it out and see who wins, but that’s not the case. There are things at work far greater than our understanding and completely out of our
