He chuckled. “Liar.”
I’d forgotten what a crafty old bastard he was. “You got me,” I laughed with him. “It’s already gone well above my price range. I would like to see it, though, sir, if I could. Before you sell it to the highest bidder.”
“That can be arranged. Come to dinner tomorrow night, my dear. I’m having my usual Thursday night shindig. Gladioli is making her famous roasted cherry tomato and wagyu beef lasagna. And her peach and brown butter cobbler. Actually, maybe I can talk her into doing a tiramisu. I think we’ll need it.”
I hesitated. Dean Owen was a very rich old guy, and he moved in some of the same social circles as some of my former friends. Dinner at his manor house meant therewould be a lot of other guests—some that I might recognize, maybe even some of those former friends who now hated me. The last thing I wanted to do was spend an evening listening to people whisper mean things about me behind their hands.
Professor Owen would have heard about what I’d done. In fact, I half-expected him to laugh and hang up on me when I called him. He was an academic, though, an odd character who didn’t give a damn what anyone thought of him. He invited interesting people to dinner, regardless of social status.
Maybe this was the whole point of my psychotic break. I’d chosen to seek out the one man who didn’t care about my downfall, knowing he would probably invite me for dinner. I was forcing myself to face my fears.
“I’d love to,” I managed.
“Fabulous! Black tie dress code as usual, my dear. Eight on the dot.” He hung up.
I stared down at the blank screen and checked my call log. Yep, I’d actually had a conversation with Professor Dean Owens. He’d really invited me for dinner.
“Okay, it’s done,” I said out loud. “I’ll go to his house tomorrow night and get the stone.”
“We must go to him now,” Cress urged, her eyes very bright.
I shook my head curtly. “Nope. I mean, we could, but Professor Owen’s house is wired up to the hilt with security, and he never answers his own door. If you ring his doorbell, he won’t answer, and if you try to break in, Bonbon will eat you.”
“What manner of beast is this… Bonbon?”
“She’s the professor’s rottweiler. A dog,” I clarified when they all looked confused. “She’s a monster. She never leaves his side.”
“Thatconfirms it.” Donovan looked away and frowned. “This Bonbon is not a rotten wheel. Elonn fae have hellhound familiars. Elonn fae are cerebral creatures. They do not involve themselves in combat at all, so they evolved to bond with dangerous creatures who would protect them.”
I nodded and stifled another yawn. “Cool.” I clapped my hands cheerfully. “Okay, team, let’s wrap this up. We’ve made some great progress today, so you can go home now.”
All four gorgeous hallucinations stared at me.
I made a shoo motion. “Off you go. Go away, leave me alone so I can go to sleep.”
Cress shook her head. “We are not leaving. We must stay in this realm until the scribe stone is secured.”
Good grief. My subconscious obviously had a bit more to work through. “Listen, we can’t do anything until dinner tomorrow night. You guys might as well disappear until then. Go on.”
“We cannot leave now. There are other factors we must take into consideration.” Donovan took a step towards me and crossed his arms across his huge chest, glaring down at me. “The most important one is that Connor may seek out other Middle World creatures and pursue their spark stones while he is here.”
“Ugh, you gotta be kidding me,” I muttered under my breath.
“And,” Donovan said, his glare deepening, “less importantly, you may be in danger. You are the One of Every Blood. My brother is both ruthless and powerful, and he is more than aware of the prophecy. He may find cause to seek you out. We do not need you to save the realms from Connor, but it is in your best interests to accept our protection.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “Be my guest. I’m sure I’ll be better at ignoring you in the morning. If I can get an urgent appointmentwith Bronwyn, she’ll help me get rid of you. Move out of the way.” I reached up and pulled my bed back down; all four jumped out of the way and sandwiched themselves against the wall. Even extended, there was barely any room. I turned off the lights, and got into bed, while the beautiful fae creatures posed against my wall, unable to move.
Now that the lights were off, I hoped they’d keep quiet and let me sleep. That hope was quickly dashed, though.
“Nate,” Donovan said, his voice rumbling. “Go and get Cecil.”
Nate gasped. “Cecil? You want me to getCecil?”
Nope, I wasn’t going to bite. I didn’t care who the hell Cecil was.
“Yes. Bring him here.”
“But… but the Queen...”
