“I thought things would be worse,” I commented as I used one of the afghan blankets to cover the couch so that Daphne could sit down.
“They were, but I came out of my last bout of barminess a couple of days ago and cleaned up. But I will say, it took ye long enough to come and check on me. I sent you a letter on that stupid thing last month,” Ronan said as he poured clear liquid from the kettle into mismatched tea cups.
“Sorry, some things came up,” I apologized, the same guilt I’d been feeling about putting off my trip cropping up again. It also seemed like he couldn’t remember the entire email exchange we’d had last week, telling me just how bad things had gotten.
“I can see that, laddie,” Ronan said, nodding his head at Daphne as he handed her one of the tea cups.
She started to lift it to her lips but I quickly snatched it out of her hands. “Don’t drink that,” I told her, putting it back on the tray.
“Why?” Daphne asked with a frown.
“Because all this crazy asshole drinks is butane, which his system can handle but yours can’t,” I said, eyeballing the gargoyle in front of us. He knew better.
But Ronan just cackled before pouring what was in her teacup into his and took a healthy swig.
“He’s drinkinglighter fluid?” Daphne’s dark brows rose with surprise.
“Yep, keeps the demons at bay,” Ronan quipped gesturing at his head. “Though that’s just an expression. I wouldn’t mind if an actual demon popped by for a cuppa, they make great company.”
Ronan hadn’t seen a demon since the dark ages. Demons in the modern day were all capitalist heathens at the top of some of the country’s richest companies. If he met one today, I doubted he would like them very much.
“But you’re all right? Is the Vegas clan still bothering you?” I asked, pushing him for information. Last time I’d heard from him, he’d written that they kept vandalizing his trailer in a bid to get him to move on.
“Nah, that witch of yers sent me something to keep them at bay,” Ronan said, pointing to the sunlight catcher hanging in the window. “They haven’t been able to come close to the trailer since.”
I hadn’t known Effie had done that. Everyone at Monstrous Ink knew about Ronan at least a little bit. I’d confided in Effie a couple of months ago that I was worried that we were going to have to move him again and that I didn’t know where we could take him where he would be safe. She must have concocted the charmed item to help.
Effie, for all of her sass and teasing was one giant bleeding heart.
“Now that ye’ve seen that I’m fine, why don’t you ask the question you actually came here to ask,” Ronan said, folding his hands over his stomach and leaning back in his recliner.
“What question?” I asked.
Ronan’s wrinkled face pulled up into a grin. “The one I’ve seen in my dreams,” he said, pointing a finger at his head again. “Your question about how this little human here is your heart song.”
I’d been meaning to ask about it when it was just the two of us in the trailer so that I could tell Daphne myself later when I had more information.
But apparently, Ronan had other ideas.
“Sorry, what’s a heart song?” Daphne asked, frowning with confusion.
I opened my mouth to cut him off before he could spill the secret I’d been keeping for nearly a month, but Ronan was already answering her question.
“A heart song is a gargoyle’s true mate, lass,” Ronan said fondly, glancing between the two of us. “And for Cashiel here, that’s you.”
Seventeen
“That’s you,” Ronan said, pointing at me.
I couldn’t help but mimic the gesture, pointing at myself.
“Me?” I asked stupidly as my brain struggled to catch up with the implications of what he was telling me.
“Yes, lass, you,” Ronan reiterated as he glanced over at Cash. “Ye haven’t told her yet?”
Cash’s jaw tightened as he looked between Ronan and me, clearly uncomfortable. “I hadn’t gotten that far yet, Ro,” he said through clenched teeth.
I frowned.
