“A…bird.” Ibin sounded like she was trying very hard not to laugh.
Ava looked up with what she was certain was an expression that was a masterpiece of pure frustration and exhaustion. “I didn’t expect it to come flying out of the goddamn wardrobe. I’m having a rough few days.”
Ibin was smiling with all the sympathy in the world, but there was amusement glittering in her green eyes. “Oh, I believe you. You poor thing. Well!” She slapped her thighs. “Come on. Nothing fixes a bad start of a day like a good cup of coffee—you Yanks still like your coffee?”
“Yanks.” Ava laughed. That was more endearing than it had any right to be. “Yeah. We still like our coffee.”
Ibin got to her feet and offered Ava a hand. Taking it, Ibin easily hoisted her to standing like she weighed nothing. “Fantastic. Well, I’ll brew a pot and get a breakfast together for you. Get dressed, and we’ll plan out our day. Nos is already upand eager to hear what you might have learned from ourfriendovernight.”
“I’m sure he is.” Well, there went Ava’s brief good mood. “I know he doesn’t like me, and I’m sorry. I don’t want to be here, either. And I certainly don’t want to be caught up in all this nonsense.”
“It’s not that he doesn’t like you. Nos is just…” Ibin paused thoughtfully as she searched for the right words. “He’s had a rough go of things, too. It’s hard for him to see the good in people. Especially strangers.”
Ava nodded. She tried to imagine what he’d been through. She figured he didn’t start life looking like aFrankensteinreject. What or who made him that way—and what pain he was still in because of it? “I’ll cut him some slack. If he tries to cut me some.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” The fae smiled and headed from the room, shutting the door behind her.
Take two on getting dressed. It went better than the first attempt, at least. Her clothes were mostly dry, except for her shirts. She found a black, long-sleeve blouse-looking thing in the wardrobe—that had no more surprises for her. It laced up the front, and while it was fairly low cut and showed off a bit more of her bra than she would like, it hid her brand new tattoo. And that was her priority.
But she was dressed. She even found a brush in the bathroom and managed to get her hair not to looktooridiculous. She looked…vaguely okay. And, heading toward the door, she opened it to head into the hallway and found herself greeted by the smell of coffee.
Wonderful, wonderful coffee.
Thank all the gods, any and all who were listening, forcoffee.Heading toward the smell, she realized all of a sudden that she was carrying Book. She hadn’t been meaning to, but there shewas. “You know, I wasn’t going to forget you,” she muttered at it. “But fine, sure, whatever, come to breakfast. I can use you as a tray. Stupid thing.”
Ava followed the coffee smell into a kitchen that looked like it had been stolen from at least three different centuries and then absolutely demolished by a supernatural interior decorator with a vendetta against linear design.
Nos sat at a table that was simultaneously Victorian, medieval, and what looked suspiciously like sculpted from a living tree. He didn’t look up when she entered, but his mismatched eyes flickered in her direction briefly.
“Morning,” she greeted him. She made a point of making it obnoxiously cheerful. She was going to keep to social decorum, but she was going to make itpainfullyclear she was going to enjoy being a pain in his ass if he was going to be a pain in hers.
Ibin was already pouring out two cups of coffee. It seemed Nos preferred tea. Neither of the mugs that Ibin had matched—both were stoneware, primordial looking things, and clearly handmade. Not like Ava cared. In fact, she rather liked them that way. It also looked like they held an obscene amount of coffee, and that was her most important priority at the moment.
“So.” Ava set the book down on the table—carefully, as if it might bite her. The bookorthe table. Either was fair game. “I’m guessing we need to talk.”
Nos grunted. It was an impressively communicative grunt. He was clearly miserable over the whole situation.
“Not a morning person either, I see.” She smirked at him.
Ibin placed the mug of coffee in front of her. “Cream? Sugar?”
“Cream, th—” Ava stopped herself short. She shot Ibin a look and sighed. “That’s so annoying.”
“Iknow,isn’t it?” Ibin laughed and fetched her the cream and a spoon. “But the sentiment is heard and recognized.”
Sitting down at the table, she mixed in the cream she wanted and sipped the coffee. It tasted normal. She wouldn’t hedge her bets, though. “So. Are you selling me?”
Nos stared at her with his mismatched eyes. “Not yet. Have you decided to kill us all?”
She met his gaze, unflinching that time. She was getting used to the sight of him. “I haven’t signed anything.” That was technically true. Technically. She didn’t sign a damn thing. That wasn’t to say Serrik hadn’t force-fed her a damn golden spider. “So, Serrik wasn’t lying.”
“He was not.” Nos sipped his tea. “The only reason you are not being auctioned off to the highest bidder to keep you andthat”—he gestured at Book with no small amount of disdain—“from being wielded as tools for our destruction, is because our dear Ibin here is holding on to the fleeting hope that there is an easier path forward for you that results in a happier ending for all of us.”
Whoops.
Too late, lady. Sorry.
Instinctually, she wanted to spill the beans. To tell Ibin everything. About the spider she was forced to eat. About the tattoo. About the warning that Book had given her, and the second image of her murdering Serrik. But if she did, she didn’t know what they’ddo.
