Talia caught my gaze. “Anything going on that I should know about?”
I shook my head. “I was just wondering—if the gods are immortal—then what if somebody cut off their heads? Oh, never mind. I’ll ask Herne,” I grumbled, now feeling ridiculous.
But Talia paused, cocking her head. “That’s actually an interesting question. I’m not sure it’s one I’d pose to Herne, but hey, he would be the one to give you a definitive answer.” She stared at the stacks of papers on the floor. “I take it you were either cheering and ran out of confetti or the same thing that happened to our desks happened to yours?”
“I swear, I want to grab up every paper on the floor and dump it on Herne’s desk.” I sat down on the floor again, handing Yutani a bag of rubber bands. “Here, make yourself useful. As I hand you a stack of papers, band them, please.”
He grudgingly began banding the stacks of papers as I handed them to him. Talia went back to the office they shared.
When all the papers were neatly sorted and the stacks bound together, I sat them on the small filing cabinet to the side of my desk, pushed back so they wouldn’t be easily knocked over. “I think Herne should just hire someone to go through this mess and make sense of it all.”
“Why don’t you tell him that? He might listen to you,” Yutani said. “I think he’s worried that someone from the outside might let it leak that our accounting wasn’t up to par. That’s bad for business.”
“Our business is to primarily keep Saílle and Névé from killing one another, and everybody around them in the process,” I muttered. “I didn’t sign on to take care of dragons and deal with crazed serial killers.” I paused, realizing how surly I sounded. “I’m just tired. The whole mess is wearing on me. We no sooner had dealt with the Tuathan Brotherhood when the activity with Typhon arose.”
“I know battle fatigue is a real thing,” Yutani said. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, and be careful about taking it out on others. If you need to, why don’t you talk to that shrink that Raven went to? He seemed to have helped her a great deal. And Rafé, too.”
The “shrink” happened to be an Elven healer, and he had been instrumental in helping Raven overcome her PTSD. Rafé, too, for that matter. In fact, Angel and Rafé would have split up if it wasn’t for the work the healer had done.
“I’ll think about it,” I said, staring at the floor, which was now neat as a pin. Or at least, it was no longer littered with the scattered contents of multiple file folders. I glanced over at Yutani, wanting to ask him something that had been on my mind for a long while. “Yutani…you mentioned your aunt took you with her when the village forced you out. What about your mother?”
He froze, his gaze never flickering. “That’s a sore spot,” he answered. “My mother ceased to be my mother the day I walked away from that village and she, like the others, turned her back on me. She knew it wasn’t my fault that the village had burned to the ground. I haven’t heard from her since that day. She knows that Celia is in contact with me, but she’s never once asked about how I am. And if you don’t mind, I’d rather you didn’t bring her up again.”
I bit my lip. His mother had obviously hurt him deeply and for that he couldn’t forgive her. But I also knew what it was like to lose my parents—and I didn’t have a chance for a do-over. I paused, then said, “I’ll respect your wishes. But before I do, I’m going to say one thing, and I’ll leave it at that. If you think there’s a chance that you can reconcile, don’t wait too long. Life happens, people die.”
Yutani stretched, yawning before he turned to me. “What about your grandfather? Would you give him another chance, if he was still alive?” That felt like a low blow—which Yutani was quite capable of—but the message was loud and clear.
“I get the message. I won’t bring her up again. To answer your question, no, I wouldn’t give him another chance. I’d kill him again, if the situation played out the same.”
“Then you’ve answered your question to me, as well. All right, back to work. Rhiannon is supposed to be here in about twenty minutes, Angel told me.” He headed back to his office.
I stared at his retreating back. If what his mother did was even remotely as bad as what my grandfather had done, then Yutani had a very good reason for cutting her out of his life. But a tiny voice in the back of my brain kept telling me that he didn’t know the whole story, that there was more there than he knew about. Trouble was, it wasn’t my place to get involved, and I really didn’t want to lose his friendship.
As Angel ushered her into Herne’s office, Rhiannon looked just as majestic as she had the year before when she first visited our offices. The past sixteen months had worn on her, however—that much was evident in her eyes. She was a tall woman, with pale skin that bordered on cerulean, and her long white-as-snow hair flowed down to her thighs, straight as spun platinum. At first glance, she looked like she should have blue eyes, but they were a rich coffee brown instead. She was wearing a lavender pantsuit, with a pale blush blouse. Silver earrings and a Chanel handbag gave her an old-money feel, and she was unmistakably an aristocrat. But when she smiled, it was genuine, and washed away any sense of elitism that might linger on someone else.
“Herne, Ember,” she said, holding out her arms. I gave her a hug, and she shook Herne’s hand. But as I turned back to my chair, she caught my left hand up, holding it up to the light. “What’s this?” She looked up at me, then at Herne. “Is this an engagement ring?”
Herne had given me a sapphire, set into platinum. On either side of the square-cut solitaire were diamond and amethyst baguettes. I had gotten used to wearing it over the past months, and while I took it off before we went out in the field, exchanging it for a plain silver band, I treasured the ring and my hand felt naked without it.
“Yes,” I said, grinning. “You’ll be getting a save-the-date card as soon as we decide on an actual day, but it will be next autumn.”
“Congratulations to both of you. You’ll make a spectacular couple.” She paused, then glanced at Herne. “Does this mean she’ll be going through the Gadawnoin? The ritual to elevate her to deityhood?”
“Yes. My mother will prepare her.” Herne stood behind his desk, motioning for Rhiannon to take a seat in one of the wing chairs opposite his desk. “Ember will be joining the goddesses who rule over the Faerie Realm.”
Rhiannon blinked, a look of surprise crossing her face. “That should be…”
I tried not to laugh. She knew all about Saílle and Névé. “Interesting?” I asked.
“Well, I suppose that’s the best way to put it,” Rhiannon said. Then, after a moment, she leaned toward me and said, “How do you think they’re going to take the news?”
“Oh, they’ve already heard the news and…shall we just say the response was immediate. The intrigue started within the first few moments. I’ll tell you all about it later.”
Rhiannon snorted, leaning back in her chair as she gracefully crossed one leg over the other. “Oh, that must have been a delight to watch.”