Her steadfast gaze made me queasy. “That’s a little freaky to drop on me before a big party, one where monsters are likely the guests of honor.”
“That doesn’t make it any less true. Braden will be your rock forever if you let him. The question is, do you want to open that door?”
I knew the answer without a moment’s consideration. “I’ve already opened the door.”
Her smile was warm. “I know. I was curious if you knew or not. I was an idiot when Aric and I were getting together. I didn’t realize he’d already won the war until after we’d been separated for almost a year. I’ve never been smart when it comes to certain things. Thankfully, Aric realized that and made allowances for my idiocy.”
“And now you have the perfect relationship,” I noted.
“No relationship is perfect,” she countered. “Although ours feels perfect for us.”
“You even have a mouthy kid to show for it,” I teased.
“Yes, well ... .” She trailed off, her eyes going to the door as Sami pushed her way in.
“Omigod!” Sami’s face flushed with annoyance. “I can’t believe you’re getting all dressed up and I have to stay home in this.” She gestured toward her track pants and T-shirt. “Life is so unfair.”
Zoe refused to get dragged into a potential argument. “One day you’ll have your own party of monsters to look forward to. This is my party. Well, technically it’s Izzy’s party. I’m her sidekick for the night, though, so I get to play along, too.”
I was uncomfortable with her terminology. “I didn’t think you ever allowed yourself to be a sidekick.”
She smirked. “Not generally,” she agreed. “I happen to believe you’re the key this evening. That means you’ll be the focus. I’m just along to supply the firepower ... and mouth.”
“Oh, I can’t believe I don’t get to supply the mouth,” Sami groused. “That’s totally my superpower.”
Zoe grinned as she smoothed Sami’s flyaway hair. “Which you definitely get from me.”
CORMACK WASN’T KEEN ON PARKING AT THE Grimaldi house for a number of reasons, the main one being that he didn’t trust whoever was working with the dark faction of the reaper council not to plant bombs under our vehicles to make sure it was impossible for us to get away.
I hadn’t really considered that as a possibility, but as soon as he mentioned it, I was keen to jump on his “professional driver” plan. He hired a driver he’d already vetted and we all piled into a stretch limo. Options for weapons were limited, but all the men carried daggers inside their coats. As for Zoe and me, we were weapons of a different sort.
“The plan is to stick close together but still look around and gauge our enemy,” Cormack intoned as the driver shuttled us to the party. “I don’t expect Adam to attack the second we walk through the door. He’ll want to draw things out — play with his food, so to speak.”
“What about other guests?” Aric queried, his hand on Zoe’s knee. He’d been quiet when bidding goodbye to Sami but he was the sort of man who weighed a problem, chewed on it, and then went with his gut when opting for a solution. In this particular instance, he obviously figured his wife would need him more. It couldn’t have been easy for him regardless, and yet he seemed calm despite the chaos we were about to embrace.
“I wouldn’t imagine he’s going to have innocent guests on the premises,” Cormack replied.
“See, I think the exact opposite.” Zoe shifted to get more comfortable. “All my dealings with megalomaniacs suggest they like innocent bystanders on hand as fodder. That goes for the politician we took down, and the Academy people, and the cult members. There are always innocent people to take into consideration.”
Cormack hesitated. “But why would he want innocent people knowing what he’s doing?”
“He likely doesn’t want them to know,” Zoe replied. “He probably expects us to go in guns a-blazing and create a scene so he can play the victim. It’s obvious he knows we’re working for ourselves. What he doesn’t know is exactly who is working against him … or why. He couldn’t have planned for Bob or me.”
The latter part of the sentence had me shifting. “Speaking of that, where is Cernunnos? Absolutely nobody has seen him in almost forty-eight hours. What if they’ve somehow captured him?”
“They haven’t captured him.” Zoe sounded sure of herself. “Like I’ve told you multiple times now, he is not here to fight alongside us. He’s here for information and edification. There’s a script he wants us to stick to, and he’ll show up if he feels it’s not going to happen, but otherwise we’re on our own.”
That made me nervous. “I still think he would’ve said something to us.”
“You don’t know him like I do.”
“No, but ... he inserted himself into our lives,” I argued. “He has a plan for us.”
“He does, but he expects us to carry out that plan without him as much as we can. He’s a big proponent of free will. That’s why he didn’t push when he offered me the chance to hop between worlds all those years ago. He laid out my options and then stepped back when I told him my decision.”
“He would’ve totally taken you if he thought he could,” Aric grumbled, his gaze dark. “I know he helped Sami save you — and I will never be able to repay him for that — but he also tried to take you from me. And, now that you mentioned it again yesterday, it’s become apparent he knew you were pregnant when he approached you in that hole and he wanted to take my daughter from me, too. I didn’t even know she was a thing. I would’ve lost you and never known her.”
Zoe patted his knee. “That was never going to happen.
