Part 8 (1/2)
”No,” she waved me off, trying to get her breath. ”Oh, you're funny.”
I moved my hand in a forward-rolling gesture. ”Elaborate. How am I funny?”
”Suggesting Beau is not on our side.”
”Okay, Miss Know-It-All, tell me who he is then, if you're so smart.”
”You seriously don't know?” she asked, the humor fading from her face.
”No, I seriously don't. I've been kind of busy fighting off dragons and demons. It tends to take up a lot of my attention.”
”Oh, dragons? Really? What are they like? Are they nice? Did you ride one? When did you do that? Where was it? Can I go?”
”Becky! Focus! We're talking about Beau right now, remember?”
”Oh, yeah. Okay, so Beau is like the head of some angel army or something. I mean, he's like certified angel bad-b.u.t.t or whatever. He says fly, and his buddies all ask how high.”
”But he looks so young,” I said, not able to see this guy doing anything like that. I pictured him wearing Abercrombie gear and rowing a crew boat for an Ivy League college somewhere. Except for the wings part. Those would probably get in the way.
”Yeah, go figure.” Becky shrugged. ”Age doesn't seem to mean much around here.”
I rolled my eyes. ”Tell me about it.” I should know better than anyone that the fae could give a s.h.i.+t about numbers. I was not quite eighteen and still considered some sort of seriously important fae who was supposed to do impressive things maybe one day ... if I ever could figure out the difference between my a.s.shole and a hole in the ground.
”How old are you, anyway?” asked Becky.
”Seventeen.”
”Wow. Seventeen and already riding dragons. When's your birthday?”
”I didn't ride any dragons, first of all, and my birthday is in December.”
”It's coming up.”
I nodded.
”Cool. Party time. So what did you do with the dragons, anyway?”
”I don't want to talk about it right now.” I left the bathroom in my fresh clothes and grabbed my council tunic off the hook on the back of my door.
”How come?” Becky asked, following me through the sitting room.
I walked through the foyer and out into the hallway. ”Because, I just don't. I have other things on my mind that I need to figure out.”
Tim came flying out the door and went down the hallway ahead of me. ”She put the dragon in the gas chamber. It was righteous!”
Thank the Overworld Becky can't hear him. I made a mental note to eat extra garlicky stuff at dinner so I could torture Tim with my breath later.
”Okay, well, I'm just going to pop in on Finn and see what he's up to,” said Becky.
”Aren't you worried about catching him naked or on the toilet or something like that?”
”Nah. I've already seen him naked.”
Before I could demand more information, she disappeared again, a giggle the last thing I heard from her.
”f.u.c.king water sprites,” I mumbled.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
I ARRIVED AT THE COUNCIL meeting early, stopping in front of the door.
”Tim, you need to wait outside until I get permission to have you in there.”
”Why don't I wait inside with you instead?”
”Because there might be a spell in there that'll fry your b.u.t.t like a moth in a bug zapper.”
”Oh. Yeah. Why don't I just wait outside here, then?”
”What a great plan. Why didn't I think of that? Oh ... and don't do anything I wouldn't do while you're waiting,” I said, opening the door.
”Excellent. So what you're saying is, the sky's the limit? No holds barred? Zap 'em and ask questions later?”
I grinned. ”Pretty much.” I went inside, and the door shut behind me.
The only other fae in the room was Aidan. He was sitting in his regular spot, a scowl on his face. He was staring so hard at the table, he didn't even notice me enter.
I went and sat down next to him, nudging him on the arm as my b.u.t.t reached the seat. ”Hey, wolfman. What's up?”
He growled and looked up at me like he wanted to bite my head off, but then his expression quickly went from beast-mode, to confused guy, and then to happy Aidan - the face I was used to seeing finally settling in.
”Jayne! You're here!”
I half-smiled. ”Yeah, I guess I am.”
He leaned over quickly and enveloped me in a huge bear hug or possibly a werewolf hug. All I knew was that it was warm and slightly furry because my nose was pushed into the hair down near his neck. His hair was always long and slightly scruffy. It smelled like the forest.
I lifted my chin so it was resting on his shoulder. ”Wow, thanks. Did you miss me, or what?”
”h.e.l.l yeah, I did. Everyone did.” He pulled back and stared at me, his hands still resting lightly on my upper arms. ”Where were you? We searched everywhere, but your scent just dried up out there.”
My nose tingled with the idea of people sniffing around for me, especially considering the means I'd used to get rid of that suspension spell. ”Sorry about that. Got a little lost out there, but Tony helped us get back.”
”Excellent news.” His grin was so huge and blindingly white, it was freaking me out a little. I saw a few too many teeth and wondered if this was how Little Red Riding Hood had felt.
”Sooooo ... what'd I miss?” I asked, sitting back in my chair, casually disengaging myself from his friendly grip.