“I take it you’ve made a decision?” he said, pocketing the plastic bottle I had emptied in a few long pulls.
I nodded while I devoured the fruit and motioned for him to come closer, and closer still, until his chest was inches from mine. Dropping the banana peel onto the crushed shell beach I brushed my hands up and down the front of the water-logged dress and whispered to my beloveds,
“Ivy work and ivy play,
“Bind this man and make him stay.”
The black stitching lit up in shades of jade green, peeled away from the chest area first, and began to bind Odilon to me. A raft of bull kelp slithered up the beach, covering Odilon’s feet and legs. Gaze locked on to mine, he didn’t seem to notice what was happening around us. When I took hold of Odilon’s wrists and held them tight, the bracelets Malvyn made loosened, snaked off my wrists, and wound themselves around and around the scion’s fingers. My “decorative frippery” now prevented him from arming himself as many Fae could.
“I want my father,” I said. “Only when I know he’s alive, off your boat, in my care, and receiving medical attention will we begin the next stage of our negotiations.”
“And what makes you think I will cooperate?”
“I want to help the Melusine on my own terms, Scion.”
“You want to willingly help me?”
I shook my head, splattering his front with more droplets. “No. I want to help the Melusine because it is what I am meant to do and because I want to know what really happened to my mother. You’ve kept the ova all these years. What’s a little more time to allow me to satisfy my curiosity?”
The look in Odilon’s eyes confirmed what I suspected. He knew much more about Clan du Sang than he wanted to let on. “What if I don’t agree?” he asked. “I can easily rid myself of these encumbrances.” He tried to lift his arms and couldn’t. The vines had made efficient work of binding his limbs to his torso.
I gazed past his shoulders. “Look behind you.”
Odilon turned his head as much as he could, given he was rooted in place. Christoph stood on the bow of the Merry Widow; a limp body draped across his arms. I steeled myself to not react, especially when my grandfather stepped off the boat, extended his wings, and flew toward the heavily wooded part of the shoreline. Thanks to Airlie, a rolling bank of dense fog kept Christoph’s wings from human sight.
At the touch of my hand, the ends of the spelled threads disengaged from the front of the dress, allowing me to step away from Odilon. “I will be in touch,” I said.
My four beastie boys ran out of the woods. The basket that had carried me away from Chocolate Beach less than twelve hours ago bumped against Odilon’s skiff. My wolf leaped into the water, dragged the basket to me, and held it steady as I climbed in. I tugged the vine connecting my craft to the shore and wished Odilon well.
“You will be released once I’ve made it home.”
Tanner trotted close to Odilon, shook the water off his thick coat, and bounded back to accompany me to the far shore. For one prolonged moment, I tasted victory. I let myself savor the sensation, because Goddess only knew what awaited.
Tanner, River, Wes, and Kaz were in the process of shifting by the time my craft landed. I followed four naked backsides as we ran to where they’d parked the truck and car. Tanner unzipped my dress. I shrugged it off and peeled my underwear down my legs before climbing into the passenger side of his truck and reaching for the waiting stack of sweatpants, sweatshirt, and heavy wool socks. He climbed in, pants already on, and started the engine at once.
Tanner tapped the glove compartment. “Your cell phone’s in there and you’ve got messages,” he said, brushing a cold kiss across my colder lips. He drew on a long-sleeved shirt, caught my chin in one hand, and searched my face. “You did great. I had no idea my girlfriend had acting chops.”
“Your girlfriend?” My teeth were chattering. I tucked my frozen fingers under my armpits. “You asking me to go steady?”
“Sure am,” he said, adding a bulky knit sweater to his ensemble.
“Cool.” I found my cell phone and switched it on. “Maybe we can talk more about this when things have calmed down.”
“Do things ever calm down around here?”
“Not since the day I met you,” I reminded him with a tremulous, blue-lipped smile. Tanner laughed and wiped the condensation off the inside of the windshield.
Kerry had sent me the selfie I asked her to arrange. Opening the file, I crowed. She’d done a great job of getting a full frontal picture of my replacement’s face. I forwarded the image to both Sallie and Azura and added we needed to know whether or not the guy was Fae as soon as possible, as in before they went to work. Then I remembered we had the truck Sallie had been using to get to her job at Brooks Farm.
First things first. “Do you know where Christoph took Benôit?” I asked.
Tanner backed the truck out from where he’d parked nose-in, pulled forward onto the road, and hit the turn signal. “Belle’s house. She’s got an entire herbal apothecary set up and a couple of treatment rooms she uses for patients who need to stay overnight or longer. Rowan and Airlie are meeting us there. Everyone’s as ready as they can be to assist.”
The fog was heavy on the roads. Much as I wanted to curl against Tanner and warm my hands on his skin, I stayed to my side of the bench seat. I lifted my
