She blinked and looked past him, not sure what to say to that.
“Tomorrow it is,” he said, his smile widening. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”
She nodded, not at all happy with the way she was feeling just now. Like a hormonal teenager with a new boyfriend.
“And that coffee as soon as the press conference is over. I’ll wait.” Benjamin wandered off.
Dani
Once Tridevi was released from official custody, they gave a press conference and she, Mable, and Marvin, answered a lengthy Q and A by avid reporters and media people. Sandra had begged off, though the agency gave her the credit for all the lifesaving magic of returning emus and all the other animals back into people.
Sandra was a media hero. Sandra would be rich, if she decided to capitalize on her gift, because the ability to reverse another person’s transmutation curse was rare to the point of being nonexistent. But for now, Sandra and Harold were having a second honeymoon in a local five-star hotel, on a company credit card, with room service as a bonus. She deserved it. Without her brave use of her power, they would likely all be dead. And Sandra was getting a raise, fueled by the numbers of consultation appointments the agency intern was taking in their absence.
Once night fell, and the excitement finally died down, Mable and Marvin took off to have wild sex somewhere, and Dani watched as the inmates at The Sevens were greetingfamilies and heading home. In another parking lot, the patients in Building Z were being carted off by ambulances to real hospitals for real treatment under the care of doctors and nurses certified by FeBMA.
TriDevi had broken a major case.
The Sevens’ warden had been fingered by the nurse anesthetist as the person running the harvesting operation, and Margorie Devoe had been placed under arrest, along with two neurosurgeons, four nurses, the head anesthesiologist, and the entire magic-wielding security crew, especially the ones who had spent time as flightless birds.
Life was good.
Benjamin wandered up, his hands in his pockets. He had nice eyes. Kind eyes. And they were on her.
“My husband was a lawyer,” she said when he got close. “And not the good kind.”
“You don’t like lawyers?”
“Not usually. And it’s too late for coffee.”
He nodded as if she had said something weighty and significant. “I don’t practice these days. I mostly offer opinions to other lawyers and parse legalese.”
“And?”
“And there’s a little bistro, about twenty miles from The Sevens. I know for a fact that they have on hand a lovely bottle of Stag’s Leap Cask 23, the 2017 vintage. Their cheese is handmade from milk produced by a local goat farm, and their bread is homemade at a local bakery to cleanse our palettes.”
The way he said Stag’s Leap sounded like a wine lover’s caress. A bottle usually went for six hundred dollars on a dinner menu. “You like wine?” Dani asked.
“I do, my lady. I do indeed. Are you interested in the Stag? Or perhaps I could lure you to my place and introduce you to my wine cellar.”
And that line had just enough heat to it to convince her he was interested in her.
Clearly, since he wandered off earlier, Ben had researched her, probably talking to Mable. Now he was trying to impress her. It was working. And since she had talked to Mable about the judge, she couldn’t fault his tactics.
“Let’s take in the bistro tonight and see what happens about that wine cellar after dinner tomorrow night.”
The judge removed a hand from his pocket and used a small key fob to unlock a tiny red sports car in the parking lot. “Try not to explode my new toy.”
Dani laughed. “I’ll try, Benjamin. But I’m not promising anything.”
THE END
People of the Trees
From Three Raven’s Press:
When putting together the “A Touch of Aether” anthology, we needed an anchor story. So, I reached out to Faith and asked if she had something we could include. After readingPeople of the Trees, we were blown away and knew we had to create a new anthology based around Faith’s submission, and “Wyld Magick: Fantasy Short Stories of Fae, Witches, and Magical Realms,” book 8 of the William Joseph Roberts Presents series, was born. You can find this story and others in the series atwww.threeravenspublishing.com.
Faith’s Note:I wrote this story on a train from Dublin, Ireland to Galway. I never thought this story would find a home, because it isn’t modern day, it isn’t urban, it’s its own unique thing: the species origin story of Nell’s plant women. I hope you enjoy.
