“I’m rooting for you guys.”
I laughed. “Okay.” My shirt had ridden up and Evie reached out and brushed her finger along the hilt of Misty. The dagger glowed blue. We both froze. I’d never seen that happen.
“Whoa. It just talked in my head.” Evie’s wide, panicked eyes met mine. I was pretty sure mine were just as wide.
“What did it say?”
“It said ‘finally, there you are.’” She shuddered. “It has a creepy voice.” She jumped. “It did it again. It said ‘that wasn’t nice.’”
“It does that sometimes. But it hasn’t talked to anyone but me so far. If… if Samael knew”– god, even saying his name hurt– “he’d probably take it back. Keep this to yourself, okay?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
I got to my feet. “Be good, cat.” I scratched her under the chin and she purred.
I was doing the right thing. I was never home. But it still hurt like a bitch.
“You can visit her every single day if you want,” Evie vowed. “Even if you don’t feel like hanging out with me, you can just let yourself in and chill with her.”
“I’ll always want to hang with you, Evie.”
She stared at me. And then her lips curled into a wide smile. “I’ll always want to hang with you too.”
“We need to talk about the way you fell asleep in fae territory.”
She winces. “Oh. That.”
“Yes, that. Vas found you curled up in the drivers’ seat. You can’t do that again, Evie. It’s too risky.”
“I won’t. I’m not an idiot. My power has been… fluctuating recently. Besides, I knew Vas was above me. He’s not exactly subtle.”
I laughed. “No he’s not. Okay, I’ve got to get going. Things to do, vengeance to plan.”
Evie laughed, and then winced as she realized I was serious. “Don’t be too hard on your demon, Dani.”
“Uh-huh. Says the woman who sent a box of bespelled dicks after the last man who got on her bad side.”
I left Evie playing with Lia and headed for the Mage Council. I’d attempted to tell Keigan that it wasn’t a good idea for me to be anywhere near the facility, but he’d told me firmly that he was a Discipulus Mage and the last time he’d checked, he was still allowed guests.
Albert had really pissed him off when he’d had me brought in.
Keigan met me downstairs, sending fierce frowns in the direction of anyone who whispered or gaped at me.
“You know, I wouldn’t put up with this shit for anyone else,” I told him, and he laughed.
“I’ve added you to my guest list. That means your ban is revoked.”
“I won’t need to come back here,” I told him gently. “I no longer work for the Mage Council.”
He shook his head at me as we signed in. The bowl of water turned green and I marveled at it as we got into the elevator.
Keigan cleared his throat. “Did you or did you not tell me that you planned to start your own business one day?”
“I mean yeah, once I found out who killed my mom and moved to California. But I was thinking I’d buy some shack on the beach somewhere and just do enough work to pay for rent and food.”
Keigan looked at me for a solid three seconds. And then he threw his head back and laughed. “Ah, the ignorance of youth. I forget how little I knew myself when I was your age.”
“And just what is that supposed to mean?” I asked pissily.
