Is there anything else?
Silence inside the cellar was lightened by footsteps on the floorboards overhead and muffled, masculine laughter. I labeled the last bag, added an asterisk, and set it on top of the others. I was ready to get out of there.
Chapter 18
I left my mucky boots and my kit outside the front door, washed my hands in the kitchen sink, and went to greet Alabastair and River. Clustered nearby were Harper, Thatcher, and the others.
Tanner excused himself from the group. “Calli, can we talk a sec? As soon as I’m not needed for making the pelote, I’ve got to leave,” he said, taking both my hands in his. “I’ll portal to the Pearmains’ and go to France from there. I have to see Clifford and Abigail for myself.”
“Will you meet with your teacher?”
He interlaced his fingers through mine, wrapped our arms behind my back, and brought the fronts of our bodies together. “Oui. Et quand je vais te dévourer encore une fois.”
“I have no idea what you just said, but it sounded incredibly sexy. I’m going with that.”
“My wolf thinks you taste delicious,” he said, “and both of us desire more.” He waited before letting go of my hands and pulling the double cord over his head. Holding the leather in both hands, he asked me for permission before looping the cords over my head and nestling the pouch between my breasts. “Thank you for guarding this, Calliope. You won’t have to for much longer.”
I walked backward until we were out of sight of my sons and wrapped my arms around Tanner’s neck. “I’m scared.”
“Shh,” he murmured, pressing the side of his face against mine and drawing me up and in, sealing our chests together. “Harper and Thatcher are remarkable students. They don’t fully understand the risks of what’s happening around them, but they’re right. They deserve to live their lives as close to normal as we can create for them. And you”—he tapped my breastbone—“not only are you a loving, wonderful mother, you have a team of Magicals to guide and support you.”
I withdrew my arms and held Tanner’s face. “That sounds way too close to a goodbye speech.”
He closed his eyes. “It’s not. It can’t be.”
“But?” I said, hoping to prod a few more words out of him before I went to bed.
“Every time I return to my teacher, she reminds me of all the expectations I have yet to meet,” he said. “Including the druidic equivalent of marrying Jessamyne and continuing the du Blanc lineage via our offspring.”
Fuck. I did not need to hear that. “Do you want to marry her?” I asked. “Have you ever wanted to marry her?”
“Calliope, I have never wanted to marry Jessamyne du Blanc. We weren’t a love match then, and we’re definitely not one now. Part of what I have to prepare for when I see Ni’eve is her blindness to how unbalanced her daughter has become.” He held my wrists, kissed my palms and fingertips, and pressed my hands between his. His thumbs worried at the rings Christoph had given me. “What’re these? I’ve been meaning to ask you where you got them.”
“These rings belonged to my father. Christoph gave them to me the night he arrived. Other than fitting themselves to where the bone narrows, I have no idea what purpose they serve or how they work.”
“Because there’s no way they’re simply decorative.” Tanner laughed at his comment. I did too.
“All shall be revealed in time,” I said. “Kiss me?”
Tanner kept hold of my wrists and took my mouth in a kiss filled with longing. I almost volunteered to accompany him to France.
“Be careful,” I said, murmuring against the fullness of his lips.
“You too,” he whispered, his forehead pressed to mine. “And don’t fall in love with anyone. I’ve barely begun to get to know you, Calliope Jones.”
Tanner returned to the living room. I went to bed a wreck. A complete and total fender bender. I managed to brush my teeth, wash my face and hands, and change out of my smelly clothes. Pausing at the side of my bed, I tried to think ahead to tomorrow, Monday, when the three of us—me, Harper, and Thatcher—would head to our respective jobs in the normal version of our lives. I plugged in my phone, checked my email, and straightened the mess Tanner and I had made of my sheets.
Bear. I went to the altar on my bureau and picked up my mother’s bear pin, the one I’d worn when Alabastair took me through the portal, and affixed it in the center of my T-shirt’s loose neck. Bear could help me guard Tanner’s pouch. Bear could watch over me as I slept.
“Why do I feel like I’ve been gone for weeks?”
I straggled into my office for the second time on an obnoxiously sunny Monday morning. The first time I’d walked in, I’d dropped my kit beside my desk, plugged in my laptop, and turned right back around to procure the strongest cup of coffee on the island. I had a ways to walk, but the guy who’d bought half a shipping container and installed a coffee-to-go place inside was a genius. Situated on the island’s main thoroughfare, the sky blue box served a very fine espresso. I’d ordered two. If Kerry didn’t want hers, I’d drink it.
My office assistant walked in the door, blinked at my question, and answered, “You were here Thursday until like, one or two in the afternoon. No big deal, Calli. You’re nuts to not take more Fridays off in the summer. Especially with someone as hot as Tanner on your team? Sheesh.”
She kicked the door closed, a to-go up in each hand.
“Looks like we had the same idea.” I raised the cups I’d bought.
“Manic Monday, boss. Let’s get stuff done.”
“I’m with you on that.”
