“I intend to from now on.”
“Good. Mo, are you still flying back tonight?”
“Yes—why?”
“Remember the shield on the arch?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it came to life tonight.”
“But it’s a fake—”
“And it has magic. It pointed toward Uhtric’s castle. I think we need to investigate it rather urgently.”
“I agree. Be there in an hour or so.”
“See you then.”
I kicked off my shoes then made myself a cup of tea. Luc came out just when I was halfway through, still toweling his hair but fully dressed and smelling delightfully fresh.
“You want me to head over to the restaurant and order us some food while you shower? The kitchen will be closing in the next twenty minutes or so.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I took a sip of tea. “It also sounds like you don’t want to be around my fabulously naked self in case temptation hits.”
“And it usually does. Quite hard.”
My gaze skimmed down his body. “Not quite there yet.”
He tossed his towel at me. “You’re incorrigible.”
I batted it away with a laugh. “No, just horny. Expect it to get worse if you refuse to help ease the problem.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’ll see you in the bar. Please appear appropriately dressed.”
I grinned. “I’ll certainly consider it.”
He rolled his eyes again and headed out. I finished my cup of tea, then made my way into the bathroom. He’d washed his shirt and pants and hung them on the railing besides my clothes. It was an oddly domestic moment in a world that had gone quite mad around me, and it had determination flaring anew that there would be plenty more such moments in my life with him.
I fashioned the shower cap into a protective wrap to cover the bandage on my arm, then took a quick but very hot shower. As I grabbed a towel to dry myself, I noticed the neat stack of clothes sitting on the closed lid of the toilet. Jeans, a warm flannelette shirt, and fresh underwear. He hadn’t only packed for himself, but also for me.
With a delighted grin, I dressed, then pulled Mo’s sweater over the top and headed out to put on my socks and shoes. After grabbing my purse and the room key, I headed out.
The dining room was narrow and stretched the full length of the street-side section of the building. The bar dominated the space and was lined with old wood and leather stools. On the street side of the room there was a run of lovely old sash windows; a foot-wide table ran under the bottom of all these, its height perfect for leaning on. Luc sat at the far end of the bar, close to the open fire. I walked over, dropped a kiss on his cheek, and perched on the stool beside him.
“That’s for the clothes.”
He smiled. “I’ve ordered our drinks and our meals. Decided on the roast beef with roast potatoes, peas, and Yorkshire pud.”
“A man who anticipates his woman’s needs is a man to treasure indeed.”
“Or a man who fears the wrath of his woman’s grandmother if he doesn’t look after her well enough.”
His voice was dry, and I laughed. “Yeah, right.”
A bartender appeared with his beer and my whiskey, cheerfully said our meals wouldn’t be long, and then disappeared again.
I picked up my glass and took a drink. The whiskey’s fiery goodness burned all the way down and chased at least some of the tiredness away. Whether it would last long enough to get me through what we still had to do tonight was another matter entirely.
“If Mo doesn’t arrive by the time we’ve eaten, can we go back to the room and properly conceal Elysian?”
He nodded. “It will take some time, though. It’s not an easy spell to cast, and I’ve never actually tried it on a weapon other than Hecate.”
“So it might not even be possible?”
“Oh, it is. We’ve had plenty of reasons over the centuries to conceal weapons other than our swords.”
“How does the spell actually work? I mean, you were wearing Hecate when you were driving here, but she didn’t seem to be restricting your movements or get in the way.”
“Because she’s not.” He picked up his pint. “It’s more than just a concealment spell. In some ways, it works along the same lines as Elysian, but instead of providing the wielder a means of stepping into the gray space, it pushes whatever weapon we want concealed into the outer edges of the gray. I can reach through the spell to grab her hilt, but for all intents and purposes, she’s not physically present.”
I frowned. “That would suggest if and when I have to step into the gray space, I’d also disappear.”
“There are whispers of the witch kings fading in and out of focus during battle,” he said. “But eyewitness accounts are understandably rare.”
“I didn’t disappear when I partially stepped into the gray space to call Nex to me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “How can you be sure, given you were fighting for your life? It’s not like you were standing outside your body observing what was going on, and Mo was busy with the dark altar.”
“The bastard had his hands around my neck. I was very definitely on this plane, not the other.”
“Meaning he might well have been anchoring at least a portion of you on this plane.” He took a sip of his beer. “The fact is, you did reach for your knives via the gray and—from the little that’s written on the king’s use of it—that means there was at least partial immersion.”
“If we survive the shit that’s coming, you and I are going to sit down and detail every goddamn thing we know about the sword and the gray so that no future witch king or queen ever has to muddle through like we are.”
He clicked his glass against mine. “Here’s to survival and future detailing.”
Our meal arrived, and our conversation moved on to less weighty subjects, like movies and books. I was pleased to discover he agreed with my declaration that The Princess Bride was one of the best fantasy movies ever, even if we did disagree on which of the Lord of the Rings movies was better.
Mo walked in just as our coffee arrived. Scratches covered her face, and she was favoring her right leg, but her grin was wide and her eyes sparkled. I wasn’t entirely sure whether that was due to the sharp flight back to Ainslyn or besting two flighted demons.
“Looks like you let the demons get a little too close this time.” Luc’s voice was dry. “Reflexes slowing in your ancientness?”
Mo claimed the vacant stool on the other side of him, then lightly slapped his arm. “I’m late middle-aged in mage terms, and that’s certainly not ancient, thank you very much. The bastard flew up from a culvert, catching me unawares.”
I raised an eyebrow. “The wind didn’t warn you?”
“It can’t when I’m in blackbird form. The use of one ability mutes the use of the other.”
Which was a useful snippet to tuck away and remember. “Is Mia as good as she sounded on the phone?”
“She is now,” Mo said. “She did have a ton of bruising—and one of her kidneys was bleeding—but I’ve healed all that. She’ll have to rest for the next twenty-four hours, but otherwise she’ll be fine.”