Rosemary and Rue od-1 Page 24

  Devin reached for my hands again. This time I let him take them. “The Luidaeg.”

  Dare gasped.

  “What?” I stared at him. I’d been expecting him to say something I didn’t want to hear, but this went beyond my worst imaginings. “You went to her?”

  “She owed me for past favors. I collected on the debt.”

  “Devin, that’s insane! You—she’s a monster, she’s practically a demon! She’s—”

  “Not in my debt anymore,” he finished. “That was worth a lot more to her than your life. She doesn’t like debts. She was so relieved when I said we were square that I’m surprised she didn’t make you ten years younger and give you a dinette set when she finished healing you.”

  “So you ransomed my life from the Luidaeg?” I still couldn’t believe it. Maybe I didn’t want to.

  Devin looked past me, seeming to see Dare for the first time. “You’re excused. Wait in the front until I call with new orders.”

  Dare looked surprised, then nodded, replying, “Yes, sir,” before she turned and skittered out of the room. I turned to watch her go.

  “Toby.”

  Devin released my hands when I looked back toward him, taking hold of the sides of my face instead, and kissing me deeply. I caught hold of his wrists, returning the kiss for a few seconds before I pulled his hands away. Heart pounding and breath short, I managed, “You shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t have gone to her.”

  “I had to.”

  “What’s it going to cost me?”

  “It’s a gift.”

  “A gift.”

  Hearing the disbelief in my tone, Devin frowned. “Yes, a gift. Is that so hard to believe?”

  This time, when he kissed me, I resisted less, letting him pull me close before I broke away and said, “You’ve never given away anything in your life. Everything goes on someone’s bill.”

  “Things change.” He kissed the side of my jaw. “People change. I’ve changed.”

  “That much?”

  “Maybe,” he said, and pulled back enough to look at me. There was something in his eyes I couldn’t identify, some weird blend of love and fear and gnawing need. “I thought you were dead, Toby. Do you understand that? Have you fully grasped how close you came? I don’t think you have.”

  “Devin . . .”

  “You’d almost stopped bleeding by the time they brought you here, because you had no blood left to lose. You were leaving me. You were leaving me again, and this time, you weren’t coming back. There was no way I was letting that happen, Toby. Not if there was something I could do to stop it.” He almost smiled, stroking his fingers down the sides of my face. “I couldn’t let you leave me yet. You just came Home.”

  If I’d actually lost that much blood, he was probably right. Nothing short of divine intervention could have saved me. “So you went to the Luidaeg,” I said, again. If I said it enough times, maybe his reply would change.

  “I did. And I’d do it again.”

  “Devin, I . . .”

  “Don’t.” We’d been careful before, both of us aware of my injuries and how poor my condition really was. There was no caution now, as he abandoned all efforts at gentleness, pulled me close, and kissed me hard. When he broke away, he whispered, “Just don’t. You can’t thank me and I wouldn’t let you if you tried, so let’s leave it at this: I won’t let you die. I’m not finished with you. You have something I need too much for that.”

  His hands were sliding lower and lower on my sides, now cupping the curve of my hips. I put my own hands over them, and shook my head. “There isn’t time for this, Devin,” I said, regret coloring my voice. “I have to call Sylvester and let him know that I’m all right, and then I need to go. It’s not finished.”

  “You don’t need to call Sylvester,” said Devin, with a little smile. “I’m not entirely thoughtless. I called him while you were still recovering.”

  I blinked. “You did?”

  “Yes. Which he promptly rewarded by accusing me of being the one who got you injured in the first place.” Devin’s smile turned wry. “He doesn’t care for me much, does he?”

  That sounded like Sylvester. I relaxed, shrugging. “He thinks you’ll lure me away from him.”

  Devin raised an eyebrow. “And will I?”

  “The possibility exists. For now . . . where, exactly, are my clothes?”

  “Your closet? That seems like a reasonable location.”

  “You brought me here without bringing anything for me to wear?”

  “The kids were a little too busy keeping you alive to stop for dainties, Toby. Besides, that nightgown looks good on you.”

  “It makes me look like an underpaid hooker.”

  Smirking, Devin said, “Well, as I was saying . . .”

  “Devin!” I stepped backward, out of his hands, and shook my head. “Is there anything else I can wear? I’m not going out dressed like this.”

  “As I’ve failed to convince you not to go out at all, I suppose I’ll have to provide assistance.” Devin walked over to his desk, pressing the button for the intercom. “Dare, get Ms. Daye’s things and bring them to my office.” He looked back to me as he released the button. “I’m afraid that puts an end to our privacy. She’ll be here quickly. Kids are always in such a hurry.”

  “Well, you do teach us that we should never slow down if we can help it.”

  “Can you blame me? Changeling years are short ones.” He spread his hands. “We have to use them wisely, while we still can.”

  “I guess.” I paused, looking at him. “I always thought it was a lot of time. I mean, we can live for centuries. If we don’t go around getting shot at, anyway.”

  “It may be a lot of time, but it’s short time.” He leaned back against his desk, offering me his arm. I walked over, leaning up against him, letting him wrap that arm around my waist. “It’s very short time. It runs out.”

  I tilted my head back, still watching him. “So you teach us how to use it up?”

  “Better than watching it dwindle. We have to burn brightly. We can’t burn forever.”

  I frowned. “Now you’re starting to worry me.”

  “Don’t be worried; there’s nothing to worry about.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “You have a job to do, don’t you? Have you found any leads?”

  “Rayseline Torquill. She laughed.”

  “What?”

  “It’s not important.” I shook my head. “It wasn’t Simon, or Oleander, convenient as that would be; I’d know their work anywhere, and this wasn’t it. The Queen didn’t react rationally to the news, so it could have been someone at her Court.” I paused. “And it wasn’t Blind Michael.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “There was a body.”

  Devin grimaced. “Where are you going to go next?”

  The taste of roses clung to my tongue like sugar, giving me all the direction I needed. “Goldengreen.”

  He blinked. “Evening’s knowe?”

  “There may be answers there.”

  “Isn’t that dangerous?”

  “At this point anything I do is going to be dangerous. Whoever started this has already tried to kill me twice. I can’t exactly stop now.” I paused. “They killed a man. One of Lily’s. He was just a kid, and now he’s dead, and I couldn’t save him.”

  “I know about Ross,” he said. There was an odd blankness in his eyes. Before I could really consider what it meant, he continued, “You’re taking Manuel and Dare.”

  That was enough to shock me into protest, forgetting about the look on his face. “What? No way! They’d just be in the way. No.”

  “You came to me for help, and that’s what I’m giving you. They’re going with you.”

  “Devin, this is—”

  “You’re paying me to help you, remember?” There was a sudden, brittle edge to his voice. I froze, eyes going wide.

  “Devin . . .”

  “Answer the question.”
>
  “You know I am.”

  “Then let me do my job. They’re going with you.” He pulled his arm away from my waist. “I’m not letting you out of here alone. Not after what’s happened already.”

  “I’m not responsible if they get hurt.”

  “Of course not.”

  “I don’t like this.”

  “I didn’t expect you to.”

  “You’re being an idiot,” I said flatly.

  “Maybe so, but it stands a chance of keeping you alive.” He flashed a grin, which faded as quickly as it came. “This isn’t for everyone, Toby. This world . . . maybe you shouldn’t have come back. I’m glad you did. But maybe it was wrong.”

  This time, I was the one to lean in, kissing him as gently as I could. When I pulled away he was staring at me, surprised. “I chose this. Maybe I shouldn’t have come. But I did.”

  “Once one of my . . .” He chuckled. “You never really left me, did you?”

  The door creaked open before I could think of an answer, admitting an anxious Dare. She was clutching a plastic bag to her chest like a shield. “Sir?”

  I pulled away from Devin, straightening. “You can toss that over here, kid.” She darted a glance to Devin, who nodded, before pulling back and tossing me the bag. She had a good arm. Of course, considering the way she’d been flinging knives at my apartment, that wasn’t really a surprise.

  Opening the bag, I found a pair of jeans, my running shoes, and a wine-red cotton blouse, which was probably a good choice, considering all the bleeding I’d been doing. A smaller bag held underclothes, athletic bandages, and another cell phone. I gave Devin a curious look.

  He shrugged. “You’re creative and accident-prone. You’ll find a use for them.”

  “I didn’t mean the bandages.”

  “That’s the trouble with miniaturizing technology. It gets easier and easier to lose. Of course, losing it gets easier when you lose the entire car.”

  “Where did all this come from, Devin?”

  A pained expression crossed his face. “You were out for quite a while. I had plenty of time to send a few of the kids to your apartment for supplies. And no, they didn’t break anything the Doppelganger hadn’t already destroyed, although they did manage to convince the police to go away.” He smirked. “It seems someone called in a noise complaint on you.”

  “Right,” I said. “I’ll go get dressed.”

  “Pity.”

  “Jerk.”

  “Accurate.”

  Grinning, feeling better than I had in months, I left the office and walked back to the bathroom.

  Changing clothes in a public restroom is an acquired skill, one that becomes an art when the bathroom floor hasn’t been washed in a decade or more. I recognized some of those stains. Still, it wasn’t hard to shimmy out of the nightgown and into my jeans, and I felt much better once I was wearing real clothes. They weren’t much as armor goes, but they were all I had.

  Shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans to tug them into place, I paused, my fingers striking metal. I grabbed hold and pulled out the key I’d taken from the rose goblin, frowning in confusion. Hadn’t it been in my other jeans? The ones I’d ruined by almost bleeding out on them?

  It glittered in my hand, briefly taking on a hint of its prior luminescence. Evening’s last memories told me it was the key to Goldengreen; it needed to be kept safe. A brief flicker of blood-memory rose up, whispering that “safe” meant “secret.” I shoved the key back into my pocket, checking to be sure it was hidden before stuffing my borrowed nightgown into the plastic bag. It was a magic key. Maybe there was still something I needed to unlock.

  When I returned to the office, Manuel and Dare were there, waiting. Dare had managed to find a heavy denim jacket that clanked when she moved; considering how many knives she’d been able to conceal without the coat, I decided I didn’t want to ask. Between that, the miniskirt and high heels, and the midriff-baring shirt that read PORN STAR IN TRAINING, she wasn’t exactly in the running for Miss Subtle USA.

  Manuel was more sedately dressed. He’d tossed a windbreaker over his jersey and sweatpants, letting it hang loosely enough to imply that there might be something beneath it without shouting “Hey, I’m armed.” It wasn’t much better than his sister, but you work with what you have.

  I walked past them, dropping the bag on Devin’s desk. “Good job with the clothes.”

  “Not a problem. Here.” He tossed me a set of keys.

  I caught them automatically, and frowned. “What’s this?”

  “Were you planning to walk to Goldengreen?”

  “Oh, no,” I said, realization dawning. “My car’s back at the bridge.”

  “No, your car has been towed, stolen, or both. You’re taking one of mine.”

  “Devin, I can’t—”

  “You’re paying for it, remember?” He winked. “Don’t worry. I’m always open to a fair trade.”

  “Good.” Not caring if the kids saw, I leaned over to kiss him again before heading for the door. “Come on, guys. We’re taking the car.”

  “If you haven’t called by nightfall, I’ll send help,” Devin said, behind me now.

  “Good idea,” I said, and left the office. The kids followed.

  I paused at the front door, saying, “Disguises up.” The air filled with our magic, the sharpness of my copper blurring into Dare’s apples and Manuel’s cinnamon. Soon enough, the spells were cast, and three normal-looking people stepped out into the late December afternoon.

  Manuel was silent until we were outside. Then he asked quietly, “Where are we going?”

  Trust Devin’s kids not to ask until there was no turning back. He really did teach them—teach us—not to worry about consequences. “Goldengreen.”

  “The knowe of the Winterrose?” asked Manuel, looking faintly horrified.

  Dare, in contrast, just frowned. “Why are we going there?”

  “Because if I knew her as well as I thought I did, there’ll be answers there.”

  “And if there aren’t?”

  I paused. “If there aren’t, we’ll find another way.” If they weren’t there, I was screwed, but there was no reason to tell them that. Devin was right: I was running on changeling time, and the progression of Evening’s curse meant that time was running out. Dead people don’t solve mysteries or pay their dues. If Goldengreen didn’t have what I needed, it was about to get a lot harder for me to pay my debts.

  TWENTY-ONE

  THE MORTAL-SIDE ENTRANCE TO Goldengreen is tucked behind the San Francisco Art Museum, right at the edge of the cliff that overlooks the sea. That always struck me as an ideal place for Evening’s knowe: isolated and urban at the same time, a thing of borders, like the city itself. It’s beautiful there. I’d wondered whether Evening personally oversaw the construction of the museum—after all, the doors connecting Goldengreen to the mortal world were probably older than the city. If she didn’t plan the construction, she at least influenced it. That woman had strings all over the city, tied in places so old that no one realized they were there. The mortal world was going to miss her. But not as much as I was.

  Devin’s car was a battered Ford Taurus that handled better than my poor VW ever had. We pulled down the winding driveway to the employee parking lot, stopping behind a clump of eucalyptus trees. The museum was closed for the holidays, and there were no other cars.

  I glanced in the rearview mirror. Manuel was looking out the window, hands folded in his lap, while Dare was filing her nails. They were ready and eager to help—after all, being ready and eager was better than facing Devin’s temper. With Evening’s curse pressing down more and more heavily, I was slowing down. They were probably exactly what I needed. And I really didn’t want to deal with them.

  I cleared my throat. They looked up, fixing me with twin sets of apple-green eyes. The longer I spent around them, the more I understood why people complain about fae giving them the evil eye. I kept wanting to buy them each a
pair of sunglasses.

  “We’re here.” Dare started to unbuckle her belt, and I raised my hand to stop her. “No. You’re staying with the car.”

  “What?” she demanded. Manuel stared. “The boss said we’re supposed to keep you safe while you do stuff. How’re we supposed to do that from the car?”

  “I don’t know how you’re going to keep me safe from the car, and I don’t care. I’m not taking you inside with me.”

  Manuel frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because Goldengreen isn’t just a place; it’s a knowe. That means it’s a little bit alive. With Evening gone, it’s going to be pissed. I don’t know what it’ll be like inside, but I’m hoping it’ll remember me well enough not to eat me.”

  Manuel nodded slowly, saying, “That’s bad.”

  I sighed. “Yeah. Right now, I don’t need any distractions. I need you to stay here, or I’ll wind up so busy trying to protect you that I’ll miss something.”

  “But, Ms. Daye—”

  “I mean it, Dare. I need you to stay here. Both of you.” I glared at them. Dare made a show of glaring back, but finally they both looked away, giving in.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said lamely, taking the keys from the ignition and climbing out of the car. “You guys keep yourself amused. I don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t get arrested or hurt the car. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  As I closed the door, Manuel said, “Ma’am?”

  “Yeah?”

  “How will we know if you need us?” He looked at me seriously. “The boss is gonna be really, really mad if you get hurt again.”

  That was true. I didn’t want to get the kids in trouble. I just wanted them out of my way while I went in and used a key they didn’t know I had to unlock a door I wasn’t sure existed. “If I get in trouble, I’ll scream,” I said. “You can come running.”

  “Will we hear you?”

  “The way I scream, people in China will hear me. Just stay here, okay?”

  “Ms. Daye?”

  “Yes, Dare?” It was like trying to leave kindergart ners with a babysitter. If I was lucky, they’d run out of questions before the sun went down. Maybe.