Tea. Teddy had gotten me tea for shock, maybe that was the kind of thing people did here.
“Can I get you some tea?”
Kit’s mom looked at me for a few long seconds, and then something in her face changed.
“That would be very thoughtful of you. Have someone bring it to the blue room, they’ll know which one I mean. And…” she hesitated, glancing in the direction her brother had walked off in. “Could I trouble you for your company?”
What?
Well. I supposed she was shaken, and Ihadstepped in to defend her. Maybe she needed someone to sit with her for a while.
I didn’t owe her a damned thing, but I couldn’t just leave her.
“Umm. Sure, yeah. I’ve got a few minutes.”
“Good,” Kit’s mom said. “I’ll see you in a minute.”
She hurried off in what I assumed was the direction of the blue room, leaving me to handle tea.
I got my phone out to text Kit while I headed down to the kitchens.
Andy:your mom just invited me to tea
Kit:be sure she doesn’t poison it
I snorted.
Kit:do you need me to rescue you?
Andy:it’s fine. Your uncle’s a dick, by the way
Kit:Robert? Yes. Always has been
There was no one in the kitchen when I got down, and I had no idea how to find anyone who might know how to make tea.
Andy:no need to worry about poisoning the tea, I’m apparently making it myself
Kit:do you know how?
Andy:no, but how hard can it be?
Kit:… good luck
That was encouraging.
Fifteen minutes later, I had tea in a pot, cups, saucers, milk, sugar, and even a couple of fresh shortbread cookies that’d been cooling on the counter all set up neatly on a tray. I’d been right, it wasn’tthathard. Kit was probably teasing me.
The Blue Room—which only took me four tries to find—turned out, unsurprisingly, to be blue. It was at the back of the house, with high windows letting the last of the afternoon light in so the whole room glowed.
The scent of lilies and jasmine hung in the air, warming up what might otherwise have been a cold space.
Under other circumstances, it would have been serene.
Unfortunately, underthesecircumstances, it was butt-clenchingly terrifying, with Kit’s mom perched in one of the ornate armchairs surrounding a squat little coffee table with adorable legs that I got the feeling was worth more than I made in a year.
I set the tea tray down carefully, keeping both eyes on her and my mind on the exit.
This was a spider’s lair.
