“Cinnabar magic,” he confirmed, deftly spinning the blade to offer her the hilt.“A bit of assistance for you, just in case.Since you seem to be in dire need of assistance in keepingyourskin intact.”
She eyed him.“That sounds quite a bit above my pay grade.Just a plain mortal, remember?”
“I wouldn’t give you something that could cause you harm,” he replied with strained patience.
Apparently trusting him at least that much, she wrapped her hand around the hilt.It felt good, solid, exquisitely balanced, and maybe a little weirdly alive, but she could live with that.Most important, it didn’t immediately fry her nervous system and send her into paroxysms of death.She didn’t really think Azul would do that to her, especially having gone to so much trouble to heal her, but old cynicisms die hard.“Cinnabar magic just in case I need to level up over someone from, say, Amethyst?”
He regarded her gravely.“We’re not out of Moonstone yet.And who knows when you might decide to hare off in Obsidian and save some child with foolish parents from an Eloko.”
“Some child…Hey, how do you know about the Eloko?”
Feathering fingers over her cheek, he smiled.“I kept track of you.You big softie.”
“Watch it with the insults, Your Highness.”She danced back, pointing the tip of the sword at him.It was an outrageously good weapon, like holding sunlight—fast, bright, weightless, and powerful.“Besides, I’m a big sharpie now.”
“And may you save many mortals with it,” he replied solemnly.“But do be careful.That is a powerful weapon you have currently pointed at my heart.”
She rather thought he didn’t mean only the sword, but she couldn’t allow herself to fall into the implications of what he might mean.Carefully, she sheathed it, feeling as if she also put her heart away.“We should go.”
With a courtly gesture, he waved for her to proceed.“After you, thorny one.”
*
Katu was beyonddelighted to see her, the jaguar in animal form came galloping over the grass and leapt fully onto her, knocking Cha onto her back with big soft paws on her shoulders, pinning her down while he licked her face with his raspy tongue.“Aw, baby cat, sweet kitten,” she said to him, scratching his whiskery muzzle and chin.“I missed you, too.Now stop, stop…” she began laughing helplessly as he continued to lick her.
Finally she levered the happy cat off of her, struggling to her feet to find an amused Azul watching her.“I would never have predicted you’re a giggler,” he remarked.
“I do not giggle,” she replied with dignity.
“You giggled just now.”
“That was laughter.”
“Giggling.”
“I’m happy to see my cat.Which way to the slow white?”She refused to be embarrassed, walking in the direction he indicated, a hand on Katu’s head as he sawed quietly, nudging her thigh with affection.“He looks good,” she offered, grateful that Azul had seen to the cat.
Azul dipped his head in acknowledgement, both that she couldn’t thank him and in ironic understanding that she appreciated his care, for her and her own.They reached the slow white and Cha, giving Katu a last, long chin-skritch, triggered the enchantment to send him into carriage form.The transformation went fast and slick, barely any transition, and she whistled low, impressed.“Is that the Moonstone dust or the high-quality ambrosia you clearly fed him?”
Azul set a hand on her back, kissing her cheek.“A bit of both.”
She checked out Katu’s jump seat and boot, sighing when she noted everything that hadn’t been attached was gone.Not that the cooler of food and ale mattered now, but it hurt her mercenary heart to lose all those gems of Phinny’s.“Fucking Sugarplums,” she muttered.
“Everything all right?”Azul asked.
“Just a bit of highway robbery,” she answered on a sigh.“But I have my skin intact.”Because she couldn’t thank him, she gave him a kiss, lingering as she should not.“We should go.”
“Shall we then?”
“Let us shall,” she answered in a plummy voice.
“I do not sound like that,” he told her, his wings vanishing.
“Awww… do you have to?”He looked plenty delicious without the wings, but…
“They’re awkward for sitting in a carriage and for explaining to authorities, so yes, I have to.”
“You’rethePrince of Amethyst,” she pointed out, sliding into the driver’s seat.Oh yeah.This felt good and right.The last bits of herself still out of place from her ordeal settled.The Bandit is back.“Which authorities could possibly bother you?”
