The giant bird’s feathers ruffled, and there was movement in the nest-like hollow. Kol appeared, peeking over the edge of the gnarled branches. He wasn’t being ripped to shreds, wasn’t fighting off talons or a beak, yet his face was still twisted up as if he were in excruciating pain. “You called mymother?”
Ah, so excruciating pain it was.
Piper looked to the elven woman for help, but she only wore that placid grin of hers. Cupping hands to her mouth, she called back, “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Literallyanythingelse!”
“What, like let you die?”
“Yes!” He pushed off the edge of the nest and disappeared back into the darkness of the hollow.
The elf didn’t appear to be offended in the least. She simply folded her hands over one another and watched, sounds emanating from on high, but none of them particularly discernible.
“It is not going well,” she finally said.
“How can you tell?” Piper tipped her head to the side.
“You cannot?”
Piper shrugged.
The woman made a sound with a meaning Piper couldn’t place. “Well, that is also very human, I suppose.”
Before Piper could too heavily feel the weight of offense, there was a screeching sound from above that made her heart leap into her throat.
“No, not good at all.” The elf called again in her not-shouting-yet-carried voice, “Kolariel, perhaps a favor from the Ill’lor’a’syndai would please our cailleach friend?” It was quiet for a long moment, during which Kol’s mother leaned slightly toward Piper and whispered, “He will offer this, and we will be done.”
Another forever-long moment passed before the bird shifted to the side, wingspan unfurling like sails, then finally took off. A moment later, Kol appeared at the edge again, standing this time. Hands on his hips, he peered down at the two and sighed. “Can somebody please get me down?”
19
Not So Immaculate Conception
Piper sat with hands clasped tight in her lap, eyes pinging around the diner until they landed on the elven woman sitting across the booth. She couldn’t possibly take Kol’s mother to Sonny’s because, well,it was Sonny’s, but now she was second-guessing the Hiberhaven Diner’s neon glowing signs, its sticky linoleum floors, and the sugar-packet-leveled tables. It was supposed to be charming in a rustic sort of way, but now she could see every bit of peeling pleather and was inundated with the smell of burnt coffee and bacon grease.
But the woman, who she was instructed to call Eyv because her name was much too long and fancy-sounding for Piper to pronounce, simply stared back with a placid grin, long-fingered hands folded atop her laminated menu and tapered, pointed ears sticking out, somehow just as stunningly beautiful as the rest of her despite beingsoweird.
“Mother,” hissed Kol from Piper’s side, gesturing to his own head, apparently having close to the same thought.
Eyv’s perfectly arched, black brows raised slightly in acknowledgment, and she brought a hand to the wavy fall of her silky hair, tucking both ears away.
“I can’t believe it,” Piper blurted then, looking quickly from one face—serene yet unreadable—to the other—utterly indignant. “You two could be siblings.”
They made simultaneous noises, though starkly different in nature.
“Are you all like this? Is every elf as smoking hot as your mom?”
Kol groaned, eyes closing. “I don’t know how to answer that.”
“Well, she’s definitely the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”
Eyv’s placid smile quirked up. “Thank you. And you are an adequate-looking human.”
Piper swallowed back her excitability. “Oh, uh, thanks?”
“Thatisa compliment, believe it or not,” Kol muttered. “And yes, full-blooded elves are almost all like this, and they stay this way for almost a thousand years, but you know, you also walked through trees today and saw the guardian of the heartwood—aren’t those things a little more impressive?”
Piper pressed a hand to her still-queasy stomach. “Oh, don’t remind me.” Maybe she would be impressed tomorrow, but for today, she was just overwhelmed by the fact an owl the size of an elephant, the forest’s so-called guardian, had intended to punish Kol for her crimes. She bit her lip and squinted at him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
