Skeptical, I gave him a raised eyebrow, and I didn’t believe him for a second.
“You can do illusions too? What are you, Henry?”
“I’ll explain later, but it won’t be an illusion. I can give us all new clothes, for real.”
I knew of no paranormal who could do anything like that, but even if they could, not so quickly after expediting as much energy as he had today. Illusions like that drained even the strongest Mages, but creating real clothes out of thin air? Nope. I wasn’t buying it for a second. I just shrugged and nodded, thinking he’d back down and admit he couldn’t do it.
“Sure, yeah. I don’t think so. I’ve stored up enough energy now to create an illusion, and I know someone who can hack into the system to get us a reservation. Thanks for offering, though.”
No way did I trust him on this. I was a little unsure whether I should have trusted him enough to bring him here with the princess and me, but at the time, I’d believed he was no threat to us. He was right. If he’d wanted to take the baby, he could have any day I left him alone with her. His cloaking spells must be off the charts to have kept his magic hidden from me for so long without me finding out he wasn’t human.
“I’ll prove it.”
His confident voice pulled me from my thoughts. I eyed him with suspicion, but he went on, handing the baby to me to carry.
“Think of what you want us all to wear and let me know when you’re ready.”
His persistence made him even more attractive to me for some reason. As I stared, my mind drifted from the matter at hand to how he had a sexy, firm set to his softly squared jaw that made me want to nibble there for a while and see what he’d do. How could just looking at Henry make me think things like that even now? I blinked a few times, and the feeling passed. So odd.
“Come on, Finn. We don’t have much time. Just think of something for all of us. Don’t forget me. I want to look good.” Amused now and willing to play along, I closed my eyes a moment, then nodded my head. At my signal, Henry waved a hand, and we all immediately changed. I was wearing the exact outfit I’d pictured, which was a dress kilt with a tooled leather sporran, formal shirt and jacket, and dress shoes with knee-high socks. Ameria was dressed in the beautiful frilly blue smocked dress I’d thought of with a sweet pink cardigan and frilly lace-edged socks with her white Mary Jane shoes. We looked like we were going to a fancy wedding.
I loved my selections for us. But Henry’s? I loved the ones for him even more. I had to hide my smirk the moment Henry realized what he was wearing. It was barely anything at all.
I’d had a fantasy of him like this for ages, but the reality was so much better. He was standing there in a hot pink jock; his nice-sized bulge pushed to the limits in the small pouch in front on vulgar display. If you could call it that, his top was a neon yellow crop top with the words Daddy’s Good Boy across the front in bold black letters. Any other time I would have loved seeing him like this, actually, but not in public when we were on the run. I looked up and saw Henry trying to hold back his anger, and I understood. This was inappropriate, but I couldn’t keep an edge of lust out of my eyes either.
“Seriously? This is what you pick? Asshole.”
“I’m sorry, Henry. Really. I didn’t think you could do it.”
He waved his hand and changed into a tailored black suit that fit to perfection with a pale pink shirt and paisley tie in pink and aqua, probably in homage to his plaid jacket.
“I can do lots of things you don’t know about, Finn.”
Fixing his tie and wiping some invisible dust off his sleeves, he continued. “This is better. Let’s get a room and lie low for a while.”
I handed Ameria back to him, then fixed my coat and reached out to take his free hand in mine.
“I need to understand who and what you are, Henry. We need to talk and soon. They haven’t found us yet, but they might. I want to believe you’re here to help the baby and me, but I need to be sure.”
“I’m not your run-of-the-mill paranormal, Finn. Let’s get into a room, and I can explain.”
We walked up to the lavish entrance to the Inn, hand in hand, and all of a sudden, there was a luggage cart being pushed behind us loaded down with top-of-the-line luggage. Henry went right up to the desk and took charge.
“Good afternoon, George. It’s fantastic to see you again. Is our suite ready?”
The man behind the desk looked perplexed for a moment, but then a serene look smoothed his features, and he jumped to work.
“Absolutely, Mr. Morningstar. We have the suite already prepared, and dinner ordered just as you requested. The portable crib is already in the second bedroom for you. Just call down when you’re settled and ready for dinner to be served. I understand you’ll be working in the room most of this week and don’t want to be disturbed, so please don’t hesitate to let us know if there’s anything we can do to make your stay easier.”
Henry took the keys and shook the man’s hand.
“Thank you so much, George, for all your help. I’ll be sure and let you know if we need anything.”
We left the
