Wisteria carefully set her glass down on the table and then folded her hands. She was quiet for a moment before she met her daughter’s gaze.
“When you raised him from the sea, did you already know he was there? Did you know you were doing it?”
“No.” Aurora’s stomach tightened.
“So, you’re saying it was a byproduct of some other energy. Like the bungee jump?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“Oh, Rory,” Wisteria patted the table and stood up. “As much as it pains me to say it, it sounds like raising Mr. Abernathy was an accident, and I’m afraid accidents don’t count.” She collected the bottle and toddled back down the hall.
As fine as the liquor in her glass tasted, Aurora fired it back in one strong belt. It burned down into her stomach and she imagined she could already feel it washing away some of the day’s indignities.
Maybe it wouldn’t be her only drink after all.
Fourteen
“Come on, one more!” Kelly’s eyes shone in the dim light of Talbot’s Tavern. She’d been putting back two drinks for every one Aurora could manage, so she was ready for someone to join her in the land beyond the gentle buzz.
“I don’t think I should.” She looked down at the ice melting in her sangria.
“Are you for real?” Tiffany tugged at her arm, just a wee bit more sober than Kelly. “The whole idea of coming out tonight was to get you drunk to forget your troubles!”
“That was your idea. I was ready to stay home.”
“I declare it a triumph, no matter who had it.” Kelly looked dangerously close to getting on a chair to make it all official. “Furthermore, I proclaim that we should adjourn ourselves to Talbot’s after every family dinner you attend!” The grandeur melted out of her voice. “Because you always look like you could use it.”
“That’s the truth,” Aurora admitted, treating herself to another hearty mouthful of sangria. The rich sweetness reminded her of Dane’s lips. Though, to be fair, pretty much everything reminded her of them. They were only ever a flash away from her mind.
The memory of how that kiss had shaken her only made the current situation sit colder in her stomach. With the key witness out of the picture, the trial was on uncertain footing, which was bad for her career prospects, and Dane sticking around. She drained her glass to the ice in hopes of dispelling some of the worry.
“That’s the spirit, girl! Yaaaaaas!”
Ryan flitted up beside her, and Aurora nearly spit out her drink, laughing. She stood with her cheeks puffed out, and a hand under her chin.
“Oh, no, babe! Don’t go wasting that! Here.” He gallantly scooped the glass out of her hands and sniffed it. “Sangria, huh? The next one’s on me.”
Nathan drifted up beside the fabulous fae, stopping just shy of putting a hand on his shoulder. They were in public after all. Not that he’d put a shirt on for the occasion. Luckily, Talbot’s didn’t adhere to a “No Shirts, No Service” policy.
“What are you two doing here?” Aurora asked, delighted at their arrival.
Nathan smirked at her question and nodded his head toward Kelly. “We got a text. Kelly’s not letting any of us miss out on a chance to get you drunk.”
Enough affection lingered in his voice to make Aurora blush a bit. After being at odds with her roommate for so long, it was beginning to feel like they might find some common ground after all. So at least something in her life was looking pleasant.
Ryan trotted off toward the bar, and Kelly started to flit after him. She hadn’t made it three steps before Ronun caught her by the arm.
“Slow down there, tiger.”
“But I thought we were getting another round?” She blinked innocently at him, clearly eager to turn this thing into a full-blown party.
“Tell you what,” he said with an indulgent smile. “Grab me a beer and we can share it.” She narrowed her eyes at him and pursed her lips, feigning a look of deep deliberation. Aurora couldn’t help giggling at their exchange.
“Okay,” Kelly said at last. “But I get to pick the beer.”
“Deal.”
He let go of her arm, and his eyes trailed after her with pure adoration. The clear love between them made Aurora ache to her core. But more than that, she was quietly warmed to witness the good effect he was having on her roommate. Kelly still lived to party, but Aurora doubted the girl had blacked out once since he’d come into her life.
Again, she found herself face to face with the cavity in her own life. She’d only allowed herself to be faintly aware of it until recently, but the handsome werewolf courting her had shone a hard light on it. When Ryan appeared beside her with a brimming glass, she was very ready to help herself to another gulp.
“Easy there, sis.” Aurora jumped at the sound of her brother’s voice, again nearly dribbling sangria down the front of her outfit. “Do I have to tell you that drinking won’t solve all your problems?”
She turned to see Rhys grinning down at her from his great height.
“Lord,” she sputtered. “Did Kelly text you too?”
His eyes flickered just a bit wider at this.
“Nope. Pure happenstance.” He leaned in a bit closer, a mischievous glint in his dark brown eyes. “I usually need a drink after those dinners.”
He stretched back up to his full height, and Aurora felt a goofy grin cut across her face. The booze had already loosened her up enough that she didn’t even try to hide her lopsided dimples.
“Ohmigod, hey, Rhys!”
Tiffany had abandoned the dance floor and materialized inches away from Rhys’s hip. The ink of their clothes nearly blended into one dark mass in the dim bar. Looking slightly stunned, Rhys rocked back a step to give himself a little breathing room.
“Oh, hey. Tiffany, right?”
“Yes! Tiffany, that’s right. Tiffany, that’s me.” The words tumbled out of her in a delighted garble, and Aurora had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Not that her roommate would have noticed. She was clearly far too enraptured that the lean, mean necromancer remembered her name.
Kelly’s voice rang from the bar. “You’ve gotta be shitting me! Tiffany! What did you do?”
Looking over, all the paintings behind the bar had abandoned their usual brooding landscapes and were awash with bright cascades of flowers and romping puppies. The bartender looked bewildered, and Rhys even more so.
“Nothing! Shut up!” Tiffany might have fallen into a full sulk if she wasn’t so visibly overwhelmed with glee. Well, glee and liquor. She turned her face up toward Rhys, all smiles. “So... were you going to get a drink or something?”
“Ummm…” He looked at his sister, who merely raised her eyebrows as if to ask, Well, are you?
“This is a bar,” he said at last before sauntering off.
Practically turning into a puppy herself, Tiffany pranced after him. From where she stood, Aurora could see that the poor besotted witch had actual, literal, honest-to-goodness stars in her eyes.
Almost as if to make sure she was following, Rhys glanced back, his eye lingering just long enough to appraise the girl in his wake. It was just like him, Aurora thought. Whether or not he had any interest in Tiffany—and she was reasonably sure he didn’t—he was quietly reveling in the attention.