The ice in my glass shifted, causing the straw to float up. My thoughts drifted back to the jewelry store. “I hope the next two are as easy. Bet he didn’t expect glass swans would be his damnation. That’ll be a hell of a story in the afterlife. Hey, you’re Ivar the Great. How did you die? You’re a legend.” I switched my voice to a man’s. “I was shopping for crystals.”
Christian put his arm over the back of the bench and gazed at the falling snow. “Have I ever told you the one about the man who died in an outhouse?”
“Not while my food is still digesting.”
Christian tapped his finger against the window. “The easiest ones to kill are the eejits who make poor choices. His first mistake was surrounding himself with numpties who don’t carry a sword. They were relying on their Breed gifts, and that’s always a mistake.”
“Yeah. Ivar looked like a pinball bouncing around in a machine. Not much of a fighter.”
“Powerful men have others fight their battles.”
I put my hands in my lap. “I’m not holding a grudge against you if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Christian kept his eyes trained on the parking lot. “I don’t know how to make it right. I never planned for him to escape.”
I thought about those nights when Christian sped off on his motorcycle, how eager he must have been to torture my Creator. He never left on the nights when I needed him. Now, as I looked into his onyx eyes, I realized how alike he and Crush were. At the end of the day, maybe that was why I couldn’t hate him for keeping his secret. That fierce protectiveness was the reason I loved him. Not the only reason. Christian also had a great ass and made me laugh more than anyone.
He reached across the table and held my hand. We laced our fingers together and stared at the union.
“You should think about how you’re gonna win my father over.”
Christian heaved a sigh. “He wants me to clear out more trees in the back. I told him I can’t pull them out by the roots, but the old bag of bones won’t listen to reason. I can’t grind down the stumps with snow on the ground. It’ll have to wait until spring.”
I let go of his hand. “Why does he want you to tear down trees?”
“He’s got ideas about a fence around the yard.”
“A fence?” That seemed odd. My father liked his property being wide open. It allowed his buddies to shift and run around.
“I think he wants a place for his mutt to roam free without biting on the neighbors. One of them threatened to call animal control if he takes a shite in his yard one more time.”
“Never a dull moment in the Graves house. Maybe you should charm the neighbor instead of cutting down all the trees.”
“Don’t be daft. I can’t erase thirty years of animosity.”
“It’s gonna take more than chopping down a few trees to win over my dad. He’s stalling.”
“Aye. But it’s less ammunition for him if I agree.”
I grinned, sensing his ambition warring with his tolerance level for someone ordering him around. “How about a plate of onion rings to cheer you up?”
“With your feral appetite?” He tucked his chin against his fist. “I wouldn’t stand a chance of enjoying a single bite.”
“I’ll give you a bite of something else.”
Darkness twirled in his eyes. “Promises, promises.”
My blood ran cold. Lenore sauntered through the diner, a white scarf covering her blond hair. I glanced at the dirty stains on the feet of her knee-high white boots and wondered why she would go out in winter wearing a beige dress. The long white coat covered her, but it wasn’t a warm winter coat. She looked more like a woman of society on her way to a dinner party.
Christian noticed the direction of my gaze and twisted around. Before I knew it, he was on his feet. “You have some nerve showing up here.”
Lenore removed her white gloves and tucked them inside her pockets. “I forgot how dreary winter is. The snow and salt are an absolute nightmare on my good shoes.”
Lenore knew this diner from when we’d brought her here after fleeing her mansion during a winter ball gone awry.
“Are you following us?” he demanded to know.
Lenore slowly untied her scarf. “Darling, you should know by now that you’re easy to follow.”
