“Nothing we say here will go beyond the people in this room.” Morgana met each of our gazes. “Am I understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.” We each said it almost at the same time.
She met my gaze. “To answer your question, yes, the beloveds threaten the Bureau’s existence. That’s because all beloveds can walk between realms, including the afterlife.”
I cursed. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear. If the lore weren’t true, Morgana would have said so. It meant Elliot could be the beginning of the curse, now a prophecy.
“Like gods?” Ossy asked.
“Just like a god. Yes. They’ll even have immortality, though Donn’s demons can still kill them. The gods know he’s not getting his hands dirty.” She met my gaze. “Completing the bond will begin the prophecy.”
“The Bureau will try to stop it,” Cael said.
She met each of our gazes. “They’ll try to kill your beloveds. Even before you meet them. Elliot Coyne is in danger. You all will have a decision to make.” She met my gaze again. “Starting with you, Grym.”
I left the room.
Cael fell in step beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “There is a lot more you need to know, Grym.”
“What I need is to think.” The urge to protect Elliot was overwhelming, but was it the right thing to do? Perhaps I should just ferry him when his contract finally landed on my desk.
“Where are you going?” Morgana asked.
“To take a shower.” They would wait until I finished. A long shower would do me good.
“Make it quick, Grym,” Morgana said.
“I’ll take as long as I want, and you’ll not say a single thing about it for two reasons. First, it’s seven in the morning, which is too early to deal with all of you. Second, I’ve been up for twenty minutes, and I still haven’t had a fucking cup of coffee.” What did I have to do to get one?
Morgana sighed and waved her hand toward the staircase, as if dismissing me.
Despite my little rant, I didn’t linger. The longer I stood under the spray, the more my gut twisted, and a sense of urgency overtook me.
Chapter Six
Elliot
My head still hurt, but I couldn’t miss work. I needed the money.
I would have liked to say my carpentry business was taking off, and I was selling larger-ticket items and getting custom orders, but I only had one client who wanted a dining room table. I couldn’t finish it until next month. I wouldn’t get paid until after I finished and delivered it. The revenue from the table would put me in a better financial position. Until then, I was delivering pizzas and working two other part-time jobs.
My vision was still blurry when I got into my car. I wasn’t sure how I’d deliver pizzas.
I somehow, by some miracle, ended up at the restaurant in one piece, but the drive over was a lesson in not crashing. The only reason I made it without killing myself or, gods forbid, anyone else was that I was familiar with the route, having driven it every day.
As soon as I walked into the restaurant and saw Joel, I knew he’d somehow interfered with my workday. His expression saidguiltyandfuck you. I did the right thing.
Mandy, my boss and the manager, took one look at me and pointed to the prep station. I hated being the cook. That was the job I had when I first started. After a couple of years, I’d moved over to deliveries, which suited me much better.
“I’m fine.” I felt like shit, but she didn’t have to know that. I glared at Joel, who had apparently killed all his brain cells with each puff he’d taken, because he met my gaze with defiance he shouldn’t have shown if he had any sense at all.
“You might not be aware, but you’re pale, and the cut on your head is very...” She swirled her finger around her own head, at the spot where the wound was on mine. “Nasty looking.”
I sighed. “I need the tip money.”
I would have a hard time driving after dark, especially on roads I wasn’t as familiar with, but I’d figure it out. Somehow.
“I can’t allow you to drive today. I have it on good authority that you’re not supposed to operate a vehicle per the doctor’s orders.”
