“You’d take that risk?”
“For her… yes.”
“Love you, too… Julien,” Noa said from the couch, her eyes peeking above the blanket she used to hide her smile. “Don’t end up with more spears stabbed in your side.”
“I’ll try not to, my lady. I’ll try not to.”
CHAPTER 21
Grayson
“Can I get you anything?” I asked Noa two hours later. She was staring through the window, watching the ghostly snow falling in the evening light.
“I’d like to see the sunset,” she said. “Someplace warm, where I can sit outside at a little café table with a red umbrella. There’d be flowers, and I’d have a glass of white wine, a view of the lake, and the light on the water. Hear music playing. The last calls of the birds before they roost for the night. Children laughing.”
A smile teased my lips. “That’s fairly specific.”
“Azul, at the height of summer.” She turned her head away, twisted the blanket covering her. I’d helped her put on a clean shirt to cover the still throbbing runes, and she’d camped out on the couch. “Will we ever have that again, Grayson?”
“I can’t guarantee the weather.”
“What about Azul?”
“Being rebuilt as we speak.”
She hiccupped with an indrawn breath. “And the rest of it? What are the guarantees?”
My throat tightened. “I’ll hire a clown to make sure the children laugh.”
“Make it a good clown, Grayson,” she said, so wistful I wanted to distract her.
“Tell me about the white wine you’re drinking.”
“The most expensive bottle in the world.” Her eyes brightened, grew secretive. “So rare, billionaires will beg me to sell it. You’ll have to fight them off for me.”
I walked from the kitchen, drying my hands on a towel that I tossed aside. I’d cooked for her. Stood at the stove dumping ingredients into a pan, enjoying the chance to do something useful, nourishing. She’d eaten most on her plate with a small smile on her lips and never once challenged the combination of canned beef hash and powdered eggs.
I asked, “Where did you get the bow and arrows?” She’d left the weapon on a table beside the door.
Her glance shifted languidly toward the bow and the glint of black arrows. “They were here when I arrived, like something Fee might have left for me.” The way the King of the Forest once left rusted traps in the long grass, and she’d thrown them at the sheriff’s feet.
“Angel put in an appearance when we attacked Ago,” I told her. “She shot him with a weapon like that. The arrows were silver tipped.”
“Maybe Fee has a poison arrow supplier he hasn’t told you about.”
I sat on the edge of the couch. She moved her hip to give me room. “Angel bothers me.”
Noa arched one eyebrow. “Should I be jealous?”
“No. Bothers me because I know nothing about her.”
“If it helps, she cautioned me about the witch.”
“Ah.” I flicked a strand of Noa’s hair, fascinated by the light catching on the silver streak. “The witch.”
“You met her?”
“Interrogated her.”
