“Won’t Gordon be pleased,” Marius muttered vindictively.
“Will Grepper exhibit it, you think?” Mina asked.
Gen grimaced. “I doubt it.”
She didn’t bring up what Grepper had insinuated about Gordon. I supposed we would find out soon enough, though I didn’t relish the encounter.
“What about the vampires we killed — the ones who murdered Claudette?” I asked. “Ernaux won’t be angry about that?”
Henrik shook his head. “He was furious that they contracted out to Celeste without his permission. He offered them a chanceto redeem themselves in Switzerland, and they botched it. Ernaux has no reason to come after you.”
“You mean, to come afterus,” Mina corrected.
He gave her a cold look. “Our association ends when my contract with Gordon ends. Which is…” He made a show of checking his watch. “Let me see… Oh yes. Next week. But, no. None of us has reason to fear retribution from Alexandre Ernaux.”
Silent prevailed as everyone processed the fact that we were finally rid of Celeste — and safe from Ernaux.
“What else did you discover?” I asked.
Henrik rolled a hard-boiled egg over the table, cracking the shell agonizingly slowly. “We were right — Celeste hired vampires to pressure Claudette for information on us. My informants also confirmed that Celeste hired the nagas who attacked Roux and Geneviève that night.”
“The night I came to the rescue.” Bene patted his own chest.
“We both did,” Henrik snipped.
“For which I’m eternally grateful,” Gen said, placating them both.But even more grateful to you,she whispered into my mind.
I flashed her a tiny smile.My pleasure.
“I guess that means everything is all right on the vampire front,” Bene concluded.
Gen grimaced, though she refrained from saying,As right as things can be when it comes to vampires.
“Which brings us to the painting,” I said, trying to move things along.
Gen stood and carefully unrolled her father’s painting, holding it up for us.
“So good to have Dad’s painting back,” Mina murmured.
“Thanks to Gen’s quick thinking,” I said.
I’d nearly flipped out when she’d marched up to Grepper’s door, but her crazy plan had worked.
“Her quick thinkingandher magic,” I added. “We wouldn’t have escaped without her shadow-weaving.”
Mina nodded proudly at her sister, and even Marius grinned.
“More magic left in this family than you thought, eh?”
Bene groaned. “Don’t encourage them. They’ll start sneaking up on us, just for the fun of it.” He faked a shiver. “Like, sneaking up on me in the shower.”
Mina groaned, and Gen shook her head. “Nothing there we need to see.”
Marius snickered, and Bene put a hand over his heart, showing how wounded he was.
Henrik shook his head, nailing theoh, how I sufferlook perfectly.
Mina laughed. “Just wait. Dora is scheduled to arrive soon. Then there will be three of us practicing magic around here.”
