She chuckled. “You have been holding out on me, Reed.”
“No. If Than wanted to share his cocoa, he would do so. The only person I haven’t told on purpose is Jean, because she would be all over him for the recipe, and his ability to be a good reserve officer would be at risk.”
“Uh-huh,”
“I was being a good friend to Than.”
“Uh-huh.”
“My sister can be really persistent. Annoyingly so.”
“That’s all part of the Reed charm,” she said with a wink. “Don’t you think so, Than?”
“Such charm.”
“Hey. I can be charming. Very charming.”
He paused and gave me his full attention. It should be a heavy thing, having the deity of death staring at me. But I could see the kindling of something a lot like humor in his eyes.
“You adore me,” I insisted. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“You are not even moderately charming.”
“Sweet talker.” I took another big gulp of cocoa, then plucked a little square of cheese up by its toothpick and popped it in my mouth.
I realized I hadn’t eaten all day. I was starving.
“Where did you learn to make the cocoa?” Frigg asked.
Than looked slightly startled at how many cheese squares I was shoving in my mouth. He nudged a small empty plate my way with just the tips of his fingers as if worried I’d bite them off.
I made a happy noise and filled the plate with food.
“One cannot be an ancient god of death,” Than said to Frigg, “and not have met many people as they passed through the underworld.”
Frigg nodded. “Mayans?”
“Lovely people,” he replied. “With rather strong opinions on how the drink should be consumed.”
“I can see that. Is a second cup out of order?”
“Not at all.” Than refilled her cup.
These two weren’t in any kind of hurry, so I ate chunks of cheese and little round cuts of bread, olives, and cherry tomatoes until the hunger pangs were gone.
“Okay,” I said, dusting my fingers on the napkin on my lap. “We need to get to the power transfer. But first, you said something about a storm?”
Frigg popped a cherry tomato in her mouth and chewed. “Yeah. We’re really going to get hammered today.”
“You mean tonight?”
She frowned. “Didn’t you get the emergency weather update?”
“My phone’s broken.”
“Oh, I thought you knew. Here.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocked the screen, tapped it, and handed it to me.
I read through the National Weather Service update. We had a winter storm rolling in on us faster and harder than they’d forecasted yesterday. We’d have sustained winds at seventy miles per hour and gusts well over a hundred miles per hour.
