"You know, teenage Peter," I continued. "I brought him to the library when you were still human."
Dismay warred with a growing recognition.
Peter lifted his glass in a sarcastic toast. "Regrettably, true."
"He also helped save you from the demon," I admitted reluctantly.
Of course, he'd also used the incident as an opportunity to force me to pull out my own eye so he could use it in a spell. When it had grown back, I could see magic.
"How?" Caroline asked through gritted teeth.
She knew some of the details about that incident, but not all of them. Judging from her glare, she'd put together enough pieces to guess at how exactly he'd helped and what it had cost me.
I pretended to misunderstand. "You see, he put a mark on me."
"She's not asking about that." Peter shot Caroline a charming smile, for a moment appearing almost handsome.
I waved a hand in the air dispelling that image. No way would I ever think that about Peter.
His features might be visually appealing, but he was also an ass. A powerful one. Who held a nasty grudge.
"I used magic to help Aileen find you," he said with a flourish.
I rolled my eyes and glanced at Caroline.
She looked awestruck. If someone could get stars in her eyes, she'd have them. All that was missing were the clasped hands at her heart.
Seconds later, Caroline lifted her hands and clasped them.
Uh oh.
Danger. Danger. Danger.
It was never good when Caroline did that.
Peter, unaware of the peril he was in, lifted a hand, a delicate glass figurine of a wolf appearing.
Caroline made suitably impressed sounds as she took it.
I shook my head. Poor bastard. He had no idea what awaited him.
People tended to underestimate Caroline because she was pretty. Why they equated that with being dumb was beyond me.
I lifted the glass to my lips, taking the smallest of sips as I settled into watching what was to come. This should be good.
Warmth from the wine spread through my chest, a single sip having the effect of two shots of tequila when I'd been human.
Damn, that was potent stuff. Way more so than the last time I'd tangoed with fairy wine.
Caroline held the wolf up to the light, admiring the small rainbow refracted in the glass's depth.
Genuine pleasure lit her face. "Nice."
Between one second and the next, the wonder dropped from her features as if had never been. She tossed the figurine back to Peter.
It hit his chest and burst into a thousand microscopic pieces, the shards catching the light until it seemed like stars were falling to the ground.
"I can do magic too," she told his disbelieving face. "Side effect of being the librarian's assistant."
