Rand stayed behind, talking to Gloria, Dutch, and Clyde, Toby glued to his side, while I grabbed a glass of iced tea and went to look in on Zara and the kits. The room was empty.
Zara?
We’re out on the back terrace.
Surprised, I headed that way. As far as I knew, this was the first time she’d taken them out of the room. Cutting through the dining room, I stepped outside and scanned the terrace. Zara lay between a grouping of potted palms, in a patch of midafternoon sun, her eyes closed as five wobbly kits explored around her. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw several pixies in the branches of the surrounding shrubs, watching in fascination. Though I was surprised to see any of them here at the house when there were thirteen pixies back at either one mound or the other probably recounting increasingly embellished tales of their battle at sea and subsequent rescue of the children. I’m pretty sure they would leave out the part about the time they’d spent locked in the cargo hold.
The chair I pulled back scraped the stone, the sound harsh. Five pairs of eyes immediately focused on me, their explorations forgotten. Zara lifted her head lazily, yawned, and laid her head back down. Two kits made their way toward me, creeping along on shaky legs. The other three became distracted by the yellow butterfly that flitted past. As soon as the little tabby and miniature panther reached my feet, they began climbing my pant leg, their tiny claws like needles. I managed to scoop them both up with one hand and deposited them on my lap. Taking a sip of my tea, I leaned back in the padded chair and closed my eyes briefly, turning my face up to the sun.
You did well last night, Roxanne.
I thought back to the night before and shuddered, stroking the tabby kit in my lap—more for my benefit than hers. The black kit chased his tail, then attacked my hand, but I barely noticed. All the blood, the death, the haunted look in Kylen’s eyes . . . It had taken the combined magick of Danai, Tess, and myself—with the added boost from my Power ring—to restore the children to a point where they could safely be returned to the water. Danai had surmised that Jada had taken so much of their blood, they hadn’t had enough magick left to change back into their natural forms. Tess had even gotten to use her healing potion made from mucum from her own snails to heal Shay’s arm. Shay had not been impressed when she found out what was in it.
Harris had nearly escaped—if it hadn’t been for Rikshi, Jeremy, and Shay, he would have. The woman, Jada, had escaped. We had no idea what she looked like or if, no, how she was affiliated with the Paragons. We still didn’t know exactly how Margo and Harris were tied to either the Paragons or the blood magick witches, but they were our only real links at this point. Jeremy’s parting words to me when we finally returned to the marina had been that he would ‘handle’ Margo and let me know what he found out. While I was confident Jeremy was probably better equipped than I was to do what needed to be done, I still worried about what he would encounter. Margo had been packing a lot of magickal Items on her person and I had no idea what they were all for.
You did everything you could. Jeremy has proven many times that he can take care of himself.
“You’re right,” I said aloud. My wrist began to tingle. I looked down and nearly jumped out of my skin. The kits hissed, their claws digging into my thighs. Zara trilled softly and they calmed, their little hackles slowly relaxing.
You left me in that wooden box!. That wasn’t the agreement. Trixie’s voice sounded sullen.
The dresser drawer. I hadn’t even thought to take her out when I came downstairs. My heart still racing over her unexpected appearance, I said, I didn’t mean to. I was . . . busy after I woke up and just forgot you were in there. I’d felt self conscious having her present with us when we’d showered. She’d agreed to go in the drawer for the night and the clasp had opened. Personally, I wasn’t surprised I’d managed to forget she was in there this morning during Rand’s ravishingly enthusiastic method of waking me up. Emphasis on the ravishing. He’d more than made up for the two weeks I’d kept him at arm’s length. I’d like to think I made up for it, too.
Humph!
I’m sorry. Just remind me next time I walk away without you, okay?
Fine. She didn’t sound very mollified. How crazy was it that I was apologizing to a sentient piece of magickal jewelry?
A sentient piece of magickal jewelry that saved your butt several times last night!
She was right—she had saved all of our butts more than once during that rescue.
Zara made a chuffing noise and sat up. She looked concerned and possibly a little guilty. You shouldn’t discount the value of wearing that thing, especially when I can’t be with you.
Thing! She did not just call me a thing! Trixie went from slightly petulant to completely indignant in a matter of seconds. I lifted a hand to my face and rubbed my eyes, feeling like I was dealing with two squabbling siblings.
Zara looked from me to my hand, her eyes narrowed in silent consideration. Finally, she said, I meant no insult, but you are a fae Object. It wasn’t exactly an
