“You stop worrying about me and you make it better.” Eleanor fumbled in the pocket of her sweater and removed an already snot-soaked tissue before trying to blow into it again. “Just make it better.”
“I’m on it, Eleanor.” Cheyenne gently pried the half-empty glass out of the woman’s fingers and handed it to Ember. “I really think it’s a good idea for you to get into bed, at least. You know, sleep all this off?”
“I don’t know anything anymore.” Eleanor shook her head and weakly batted at Cheyenne’s hands as the halfling tried to help her up. “What am I supposed to do without her, huh?”
“Who, Mom?”
“I’ll be useless. Pointless.” Eleanor sank back against the chaise, her eyes fluttered closed, and a startlingly loud snore escaped her open mouth.
Ember stifled a laugh behind her hand. “Only four drinks.”
“Four drinks and the shock of seeing my mom caught in a magical curse from some other world.” Cheyenne gestured at the windows looking over the valley behind the estate. “Plus everything else that’s going on right now.”
“True. Should we just leave her there?”
“Probably not. I’m imagining her rolling over in her sleep and right onto the floor.”
Ember snorted. “Sorry. Not funny.”
“I mean, it kind of is. Okay.” Cheyenne leaned down and slipped her hands under Eleanor’s body as gently as she could before lifting the housekeeper in her arms and heading for the stairs. “This is seriously weird.”
“What, you mean watching you pick up a full-grown woman like she’s a baby, or something else?”
“Well, yeah, that too. With all the drinking that goes on in this house, Em, I’m surprised I didn’t have to do this sooner.”
“Somehow, I’m having a hard time imagining your mom this wasted.”
“Me too.”
Ember floated behind the half-drow as Cheyenne trudged up the stairs, with Eleanor snoring loudly in her arms. She had to stop and wait for Ember to open the door to Eleanor’s room, then they worked together to get the housekeeper under the blankets with her shoes off for the night. Then they left the woman’s room, and Cheyenne closed the door behind her with a soft click.
“Whew.” Ember raised her eyebrows. “Crisis averted there, I guess. Right?”
“Yeah, she’ll be fine. Crisis averted out there too.” Cheyenne nodded at the open doors of the breakfast room at the top of the stairs.
Ember glanced into the room, which flashed with soft, colorful bursts of light now and then. “What’s going on out there?”
“FRoE agents and O’gúleesh rebels settling down for a magical picnic.”
“A what?”
“I shit you not, Em. Go check it out.”
Frowning, Ember floated into the breakfast room and up to the curving wall of windows above the jutting veranda below. From here, the view was even better, and they both took a moment to watch the gathered magicals out by the portal ridge. “Did they set up a picnic?”
Cheyenne snorted. “I have no idea what they’re doing down there. As long as they’re not trying to kill each other and nobody’s aiming guns at anyone else’s face, I’m calling it a win.”
Ember chuckled. “Your mom really would freak out if she saw this.”
“That’s a serious understatement, Em. But we’re doing this for her. No one’s going anywhere until L’zar figures out how the hell to get her away from that portal. And wake her up.”
“You think he will?”
“I have to, right? Doesn’t change how I feel about him in general, but if he can pull her out of that curse, I guess he gets points for it.”
“When.”
“What?”
“When he pulls her out.” Ember nodded at her friend. “He will.”
“Glad one of us has confidence in the Weaver.”
“I wouldn’t call it confidence in him, necessarily.” Ember shrugged. “Just that everything will work out. It has to.”
“Right.” Cheyenne shook her head at the sight of Lumil raising a tin cup in the center of the magicals while the others stuffed their faces with O’gúleesh food. Like they went for a quick shopping trip in Peridosh before coming up here. Yeah, right. “This might be the weirdest thing I’ve seen in my life.”
“Yeah, I gotta stop watching them.” Ember yawned, blinked through the ensuing tears, and smacked her lips. “And go to bed.”
“The guest room’s still usable. Come on.” Cheyenne turned away from the windows and headed toward the right curve of the second-floor hallway. She opened the guest room door and stood aside for Ember to enter. “Looks like everything’s good to go.”
“Thanks.” Ember floated inside and grinned. “Gotta say, this is much better than trying to navigate your mom’s mansion in a wheelchair.”
“And no one had to carry you up the stairs.” They shared a quiet laugh. “If you need anything, just—”
“Find it myself and let you sleep? Yeah, no problem.” Ember nodded. “Go get some sleep, Cheyenne. We can focus on saving your mom and two whole worlds in the morning.”
Cheyenne laughed. “Glad you’re here, Em.”
“Yeah, you better be. G’night.”
“Night.” The halfling turned away from the guest room before Ember softly closed the door. And now I’m supposed to crawl into one of these beds and sleep like a baby, huh? She looked over her shoulder at the closed door to her old bedroom and snorted. Fat chance. I hate that room.
She wandered slowly down the hall of the second floor, stopped by Eleanor’s room one more time, and cracked the door open to check on her, despite the housekeeper’s growling snores rising from inside. Only took four drinks to get her to sleep. Not a road I wanna go down tonight.
Feeling exhausted and restless at the same time, Cheyenne walked back down the hall and paused outside the open double doors to Bianca’s bedroom. The king-sized bed was meticulously made, covered in soft, intricately decorated pillows in cream and beige and a shimmery golden-brown. The halfling stared at the bed, then peeked through the doorway out of habit. Nope. Mom’s standing outside by a damn portal. She’s not in here.
Her gaze fell on the bed again.
