Phasmoria glanced over at Kipa, who took the chair on my other side. “I don’t know, child. But I plan on finding out. I intend on having a long talk with Dougal and Curikan, trust me.”
Frustrated, I said, “I want to know why the Banra-Sheagh picked on me. Surely other Ante-Fae have been friends with someone who killed one of our people. And surely some Ante-Fae somewhere has killed another? I mean, our hands can’t all be clean of blood against our own kind.”
“Oh, they aren’t. Trust me. Why she’s targeting you is also a good question.” Phasmoria stared off into space for a moment, then told Kipa, “Take care of her. I’ll be back, hopefully by tonight, but if not tonight, then tomorrow.” She stood, kissed me on the forehead and said, “Enjoy your pie,” and then headed for the door.
I thought about stopping her but once Phasmoria made up her mind, it was set and there was no calling her back. As the door closed behind her, I picked up my fork and began to eat directly out of the tin. I looked over at Kipa.
“Want some? Grab a fork.”
Kipa stood. “I’ll leave this one to you. I’m going to take Raj for a walk. When we get back, you can tell me what happened to Vixen’s friend.” He left me alone with the pie, calling to Raj, who bounced over to his side so Kipa could put on the leash. We had to harness Raj because he had a tendency to wander off if he saw something interesting, and that wasn’t good for anybody.
After they left, I locked the door and made sure the wards were working. Then I carried the pie into the living room and curled up on the sofa and ate my way through an episode of Finland’s Best Wild Spots—a show that Kipa had downloaded from Zort, a streaming service. He wanted to take me to Finland, but I wanted to bone up first, so I would know what to look for.
The northern lights were incredible, scintillating across the sky. As I watched the show, my tension began to unravel. Maybe I needed some “me” time, or maybe time to give my brain a rest, but the more of the pie I ate, and the more I watched the gorgeous countryside, the more I relaxed.
I had finished two-thirds of the pie before my stomach warned me that maybe I had eaten enough, so I set the tin on the coffee table and stretched out so that I could see the TV. Before I knew it, the voice on the TV grew fainter, and I fell asleep to the soft fall of snowflakes.
“Raven? Raven? Honey, wake up.” I pried my eyes open to see Kipa staring at me. He swept my hair back and then pressed his lips to my forehead and kissed me.
“Hey love, how are you?” I murmured, shifting as I sat up. I yawned and blinked against the light. Raj was curled up at the bottom of the sofa, right below my feet. He was already snoring.
“Fine. Raj needed a chance to run and work those muscles so I took him to the Field.”
There was an empty lot nearby that we called the Field and we took Raj there to let him run off leash. It wasn’t easy for him to dash out of eyesight there, since the lot was so open, so the entire neighborhood used it as an impromptu dog park. Luckily, people picked up after their pets and we picked up after Raj, and nobody complained.
“How long was I asleep? What time is it?”
“It’s almost nine-thirty. When did you go to sleep?”
“Shortly after you left. I must have needed the rest.” I had been out for close to three hours. My stomach rumbled. “I’m hungry. Apparently the pie didn’t give me much to work on.”
“Emotional shock can wreak havoc on the body—it can use up so much energy.” Kipa slid in beside me and draped his arm around my shoulders. I leaned against him. “Truthfully, how are you? I know you’re not all right, even if you try to put on a brave face.”
I stared at the TV, which was showing reruns of Golden Girls. Raj had discovered the show recently and he was in love with it, always begging for cheesecake so he could eat “with the girls.” I was grateful he hadn’t discovered that more than one channel ran reruns of it.
One thing I had discovered about being with Kipa—I couldn’t lie to him. He saw through my attempts to keep him from worrying, saw through my “I’m okays” when I wasn’t. Licking my lips, I assessed how okay I actually was. I hadn’t wanted to face the feelings, but my Elven therapist would trip me up on that next time I saw him. I had gone down to one session a month, but that session was like gold for me.
“How am I? I’m hurt, and I’m angry. And weirdly, embarrassed. My father, who was my rock all through the years, up and disowned me. If he hadn’t gone back to Scotland to live with his father, he wouldn’t have done that. I know Curikan, he loves humans. He loves people, and now he’s siding with the Ante-Fae? Against someone who would have most likely killed my friend. He met Ember and he really liked her. Now…”
“Now, he’s suddenly done a 180?”
“Yeah. He’s a hypocrite. Why would he do this to me? Curikan always talked about how rigid his father was, and how he left Scotland when he was very young because he couldn’t stand how oppressive his life was. And yet, he goes back there—”
“I’m not making any excuses for him,” Kipa said, “but you and your mother engineered his move.”
I glared at him. “I know. We did what we thought would be the best chance to save his life. You know as well as I do that moving to Annwn alone would have been the death of him. My father’s not prepared to survive in a forest like Y’Bain. He would have been killed.”
“I understand. I do. But did you ever think he may be playing along with his father to avoid something worse?” Kipa pulled me so that I was sitting across his lap.
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I’m not certain, but it keeps needling the back of my brain that maybe there’s more going on than you know.”
I ran my fingers through Kipa’s hair. He was so incredibly handsome that he took my breath away. His hair was long, trailing down his back, and it was a deep brown. His eyes matched his hair and neatly trimmed beard. He had a dolphin-bite piercing on his lower lip, and his skin was a rich, warm golden color. He was swarthy and sexy. Even in his wolf form, he was gorgeous.
“You’re trying my patience,” I whispered. “But I forgive you. You asked how I was—I’m hurt by my father’s actions, pissed at the Banra-Sheagh’s decree, and embarrassed that I was dragged before her for such a petty charge.”
“You should contact Sejun and ask for an appointment,” Kipa said, tracing my cheek with his finger. Sejun was my Elven therapist.
“You may be right,” I answered. My body was tired, but his touch set me on fire. I shifted so I was sitting right over his cock, which was growing harder with every moment we sat there. I could feel his arousal through his jeans and my skirts, which meant he was really turned on. And without my mother there, I thought that maybe the best remedy to my angst would be sex. It was a good way to get emotions out. “Listen, my mother’s gone…”
“You sure?” Kipa said, immediately picking up on what I was asking.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” I wrapped my arms around his neck as he stood, picking me up. “Raj needs to watch TV and eat his snacks while Raven and Kipa go play games in the bedroom.”