Well, that wasn’t happening.
Mina argued that she should go with the men, leaving me at home with Madame Picard.
Also not happening.
After a hell of a lot of arguing, they gave in.
“Fine,” Mina grumbled. “We’ll all go, first thing in the morning.”
Henrik stuck up his hand. “I’ll depart immediately in order to begin my inquiries.”
One less vampire in the neighborhood was the only part of the plan everyone enthusiastically agreed to, and off he went.
Mina stood, stretched, and extended a hand to Marius.
“Time to turn in. Goodnight, everyone.”
Bene executed one of those huge, lion yawns that was practically performance art, then drifted off to the west wing.
“Bonne nuit.” He waved wearily.
“Bonne nuit,” I echoed.
That left Roux, me, and the last embers of the fire.
I stood to go, then stopped. I was exhausted, but I couldn’t face going to bed. The real-life nightmares of a truly crappy day were sure to find me there. Maybe if I hid here, I could evade them.
I added two logs to the fire and settled back on the couch, watching them burn.
Roux looked up. “Not going to bed?”
The château was drafty as hell, so Mina and I had continued our grandmother’s practice of keeping shawls and knitted throws handy. I pulled one over my shoulders and another over my lap, then leaned back and closed my eyes.
“Yes. I mean, no. I guess you’d call thisgoing to couch.”
Roux didn’t say a word, and he didn’t budge from his spot in the middle of the couch. I was on the left end, with a narrow no-man’s-land separating us.
Leaning my upper body against the left armrest of the couch, I drew my legs up in the space between us and rearranged the blanket, my eyes still closed.
“Hang on.” Roux tucked the blanket around my feet. “How’s that?”
“Perfect,” I murmured. Especially with my feet now resting against his leg. It felt nice, safe, and cozy.
Reallycozy, I quickly decided. My toes hadn’t been this warm in weeks. A new central heating system was on our work list, but way, way down in thewish listsection. Roofing and wiring came first, and we barely had the funds to cover those major projects. The only good news was, the château hadn’t been upgraded enough in the past for us to have to deal with asbestos.
The fire crackled. Roux sipped the last of his rum, then downed the last of my water. I heard his swallow and the hollow tap as he placed the glass on the coffee table.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He chuckled softly. “Pretty sure you already covered that.”
I shook my head. “Second-worst day in my life, and you made it slightly more bearable.”
He didn’t ask. He just put a hand on my shoulder.
The day of my father’s car accident was number one on the list, and I hoped to hell it would never get pushed to number two. But the violent murder of a childhood friend came pretty close.
I frowned. As awful as this day was, I doubted it would make Roux’s five-worst list. He’d spent over a decade in the military, and mankind had done enough warring in that time to make even peacekeeping missions deadly.
