Underneath, in her father's writing, were the words:Full moon tonight. Has to work. Will take an offering. It won't be able to refuse.
Delphi turned the page. There was nothing after it. Pain throbbed behind her right eye. What could Narcisse offer a demon to get it to share enough power with him to curse the shifters? She swore under her breath.
"How is your research going? Everything you dreamed it would be?" Tenebrys asked from the doorway. She turned in her seat.
"My dreams don't contain such nonsense," she said primly. She looked him over. "When they aren't getting manipulated by you, that is."
Tenebrys grinned, unbothered by her jab. His golden eyes dropped to the cat in her lap. "I see Luna has introduced herself. I wondered why she hadn't come to me for her morning pats."
Delphi rubbed her under the chin. "Luna. Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl. You like your ears rubbed, don't you?"
"Who doesn't?" Tenebrys asked and then cleared his throat awkwardly. "I wouldn't trust her too much if I were you. She can tell me all your secrets."
Delphi wasn't sure if he was being serious or not. "Is it a cat thing?"
"My mother could communicate with animals. I have a little of that talent," Tenebrys admitted. He gave her a small smile. "Can I borrow you? I'd like to show you something."
There was something different about him. He didn't ask for things. He usually just growled and grumbled at her.
"Sure," Delphi said, rising to her feet slowly to give Luna time to jump off her. "It's not your dungeon or oubliette or something, is it?"
Tenebrys's eyes narrowed, and his grin widened. "Not today."
Delphi relaxed. That was more like him. She pulled on her boots and met him by the door.
"How are your wounds feeling?" she asked.When in doubt, be polite.
"Healed," he said and began to walk away. It gave her a moment to see his back. He was right. Only scars remained.
Delphi hurried after him. He wasn't wearing a cloak, only trousers with a hole cut in them for his tail. She might have looked at his perky, muscular ass, but only for a moment.
"Wait. How is that possible?" she asked, catching up to him.
"Shifters heal fast. I told you last night I would be fine, but you insisted on the yarrow."
"You could have told me you heal likethis," she said, falling into step beside him. "Wait, if you heal so quickly, then the plague you all got would have had to be fighting that ability the entire time."
"Yes," Tenebrys answered and slowed his pace to match hers. "Does that matter?"
"It wasn't in the notes I read this morning, that's all. I don't know why my parents would think such a detail wasn't important enough to write down."
Tenebrys made a rumbling sound. "Could be that they didn't need to because shifters' rapid healing abilities are well known. It's why the humans wanted us to fight their war for them. We are much harder to kill."
Delphi stayed silent, her mind ticking over the plague symptoms and adding the healing into the mix. The plague had been made with some kind of fae magic, but it would have had to be something special to fight off the shifter's innate healing magic at the same time as infecting them.
They fell into silence as they moved through the halls. Delphi couldn't help noticing they were looking tidier than when she had first arrived. Had Felix or the others she hadn't met been cleaning? She tried and failed to imagine Tenebrys with a mop and bucket.
Tenebrys opened a set of double doors that led to a luxurious apartment. The furniture was covered in white cloths, but by the paintings on the walls and ceiling, she knew she was in a royal room.
"Is this your bedroom?" she asked, suddenly nervous.
"No. It belonged to my parents."
"Ah. That makes more sense."
"Why?"
She pointed to the picture on the wall. "You don't strike me as the type to have paintings of pretty garden parties on the walls, that's all," she said, unable to stop herself from teasing him.
