He shrugged. “There’s no proof it was us—we weren’t seen—and there will be no prints to find aside from those left on thefalse back wall and the iron box’s door. It’s unlikely the cops or my father know about either of those.”
“I hope you’re right.” I paused and scooted through the gate ahead of Mathi. The Uber was waiting a little farther up the road. “I’ve dinner with Lugh and Darby tonight—why don’t you come along? He might have more luck deciphering that book than either of us, given his familiarity with hieroglyphics and whatnot.”
“I’m not sure either of us are in a fit state to attend a dinner—the scent of the sewer lingers, despite the coveralls.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve showered and changed there—and no, there will be no joint shower.”
He laughed. “I’m getting predictable, and that is truly sad. You’d better call him, just to be sure it’s okay.”
“It will be—Darby always over caters.”
I did nevertheless send a text warning her she had an extra guest for dinner, then climbed into the Uber and gave the driver Lugh’s address. Night had well and truly fallen by the time we arrived at his place—a decommissioned power substation that was a bit of an eyesore compared to the rest of the lovely old Victorian houses in the street. Decades of grime had darkened the brown brick to black, and the wooden door—situated in the middle of the long, single-story building—still had the rusty old electrical warning signs screwed into it. It did, however, have the one thing vital to a man of Lugh’s size that none of the lovely old Victorians did—tons of head height and, more importantly, tons of storage space.
I punched in the code, then opened the door and yelled, “We’re here.”
“Feel free to come in,” came the amused response.
We stepped inside the building’s large, airy foyer and hung up our coats on the spare hooks on the wall behind the front door. There were two other doors here—the one on the left wentinto the main living area and the two bedrooms, the one on the right into his office and the storage area.
Darby was in the process of pulling a roast out of the oven—which was new, I noted, meaning she’d finally done something about the decades-old stove that had been secondhand when Lugh had installed it, and which had never worked reliably—but glanced around as we entered, her grin wide. She was a typical light elf in looks—tall and slender, with long pale gold hair plaited into a thick rope that ran down her spine, eyes the color of summer skies, and features sharp but ethereally beautiful.
“Now that is what I call perfect timing.”
“Not really,” I said. “We’ve been doing a sewer run and are little odious right now.”
“I did wonder what that smell was,” Lugh said as he came into the room behind us. At six foot five inches—a good nine inches taller than me—he broke every expectation when it came to pixies, even amongst those familiar with the fact that both the Talien and Aodhán pixies were human sized. “I hope you’re planning to shower before we eat, because it really is enough to put us off dinner.”
“The most odious smell on this Earth would never putyouoff your food,” I noted dryly. “Not ever.”
“True, but I was more worried about Darby’s sensibilities, not mine.”
“I’m a healeranda Ljósálfar elf. My sensibilities are capable of handling just about anything.” Her gaze came back to mine. “What happened to your face, and why didn’t you get it fixed?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Collided with a rock wall and didn’t have time.”
She tsked. “Get thee to a shower, and I’ll come in and fix it before we eat.”
“We’ll need to borrow some clothes,” Mathi said. “It is pointless cleaning up if we just put the same clothes back on.”
“Beth has her emergency clothing here, but I’ll grab you some sweats,” Lugh said.
Darby laughed. “He’ll swim in yours. Mine would be a better fit.”
“As long as they’re not pink, fine.” There was just a hint of resignation in Mathi’s voice. He knew, like I knew, the sweats were never going to be a “normal” color, given Darby did like pastels.
“Baby blue it is then,” she replied with a laugh. “At least it’ll match your lovely eyes.”
He rolled said eyes and headed into the guest room to use the shower there. I grabbed jeans, a sweater, and fresh knickers out of my spares drawer, caught the sweats Darby tossed me and left them on the bed for Mathi, then closed the door and headed for the shower in Lugh’s bedroom.
I was in the process of toweling off when there was a knock at the door. “Okay to come in?”
“Yep.”
Darby slipped inside and closed the door again. “Okay, I’ll—” She stopped abruptly, her gaze dropping to my wrist. “You’re wearing the bracelet.”
“I am.”
Her gaze widened. “Does that mean...?”
