He placed the object on my waiting palms and tucked his hands under his armpits. “I don’t know how you’re going to feel about this gift, Calli, but—”
“May I see it, then decide?” I asked. The shape and weight had me guessing Tanner had given me a knife. A real knife. Unrolling the cloth, I saw I was right.
“There’s a sheath for it in my bag.”
I curled my fingers around the handle and lifted the blade to the light. “It’s a dagger,” I said, marveling at the whorls of Damascus steel.
“Mm-hmm. Is it your first?”
“Yes. I love it,” I whispered, tracing my lifeline with the tip of the blade, “and I hope I never have to use it.”
The beauty and meaning of the gift required a long kiss of thanks that led to a round of fast, silent sex—after Tanner rerolled the blade in the cloth and leather and set the dagger on my desk.
“There’s one more thing.” Tanner withdrew a somewhat crushed pale blue bag with a black-ribbon handle, then leaned in and brushed his lips across mine. “Close your eyes,” he whispered. His words were followed by little bites where my lips were plumpest. I bit him back.
He took my hand and guided it to the bag’s opening. “Think you can guess what’s in here?”
I rifled through tissue paper. One fingertip found something silky. Another fingertip slid over a bit of lace. I pinched the fabric and lifted. There wasn’t much there to explore.
“Can I open my eyes?” When Tanner answered with a throaty purr, I peeked.
Black. Silk and lace and ribbons. This was lingerie. Everything in my drawer was underwear. Cotton, plain, and simple.
“Do you like this?” I asked, rubbing the silk between my thumb and forefinger.
“I like you,” Tanner answered, “and when I saw this in a shop window on my way to the portal, I realized I wanted to see you in it.”
I rubbed the silk against my cheek, then held the delicate garment at eye level. Something about the way it laced up the back had me wishing Tanner and I could spend the entire day ensconced in the sanctuary of my bedroom with the noise-dampening wards doubly reinforced. “Well,” I said, not sure what to say beyond thank you and ask how soon we could have sex again.
“Do you like it?” Tanner’s hand went from my knee to the inside of the other thigh until he found how ready I was to have him inside of me. Again. All I could manage was a nod, which encouraged his next question, “Would you like another gift?”
“Yes,” I whispered, slowly curling onto my back. Tanner cupped my knees, unfolded my legs, and draped them across his shoulders. Sliding one palm up my belly, he exposed my sex and nipped down the inside of one thigh until his tongue found me. He stayed right there, licking and sucking, until I came, silk panties in one fist, top sheet in the other, walls glimmering gold.
Chapter 4
I managed to grab a one-minute shower before Tanner knocked at the front door as planned and hollered hello. I waited until I heard feet thundering down the stairs and voices raised in greeting before I ducked out of my bedroom, hair damp at the ends, and headed for the kitchen. The blushing druid and I pretended to be delighted at seeing each other for the first time in weeks.
“Who’s here?” he asked, extricating himself from my embrace and kissing my forehead.
“Harper’s in the backyard, training with Christoph,” Thatcher piped in. “Sallie and her girlfriend, Azura, are still in the bunkhouse. I think.” Jasper positioned himself between Thatch’s legs and mrowwled to be picked up. “You hungry, big guy?”
My belly gurgled in response to his question and Thatcher laughed. “I gotta make breakfast and get to school, Mom. Harp said he’d drive. He wants to use the Jeep today.”
“I’ll cook,” I said. “Feed the cat, then finish getting ready.”
“Can you make me one of those breakfast sandwich things?”
I looked to Tanner. After last night, and this morning, he had to be hungry. “Would you like one, too?”
“I’m starved. Need help?”
“Go see if Christoph and Harper want anything to eat.”
The boys left for town in a spray of gravel, music blasting out the open windows of the Jeep. Thatcher had missed Harper. The mentoring weekend, with its promise of brotherly bonding, was coming at the perfect time. Thatch would turn seventeen in January and his insecurity about his magic being slow to manifest gnawed at me. I was still too new at all of this to make any predictions, other than suspecting whatever hidden skills my younger son possessed, his empathy toward humans and animals would play a part.
“Did you ever figure out who killed the two hidden folk you found on the mainland?” I asked Tanner. He was at the table slathering crabapple jelly from last year’s crop across another piece of toast and didn’t appear at all startled by my out-of-the-blue question.
“Sallie’s parents, Josiah and Garnet. They admitted to chafing at Meribah’s authority and the perceived perks she enjoyed as a friend to both the scion of Clan Vigne and his father. Josiah and Garnet decided they would try to curry the scion’s favor—and attention—using aggressive tactics.”
The more I learned about Odilon Vigne, the more I wanted to dig into his background and see what I could uncover about his local associates. My gut said Malvyn was right, that the man was not interested in yacht rides or the annual apple festival. “Odilon’s here, you know. On the island.”
Tanner’s next bite stopped halfway to his mouth. He returned the toast back to his plate and flicked crumbs from his fingertips. “I did not know that, Calliope. When did you meet him?”
“I didn’t meet him. I only first heard of him on Wednesday, after I got the tattoo, when I saw him walking downtown with his retinue. Sallie was with me.” I crossed my arms and shuddered at the
