by Eileen Wilks
"You can pick up a twenty-year-old pattern from an object that didn't even belong to her?"
"Wedding rings are different. They carry a charge from—"
Gan's piping voice interrupted her. "What's this?" She'd emerged from the pantry with a bag of Goldfish. "It has fishies on it."
"Those are crackers," Lily said. "Cynna, if these people are truly sophisticated spellcasters, is it possible—"
Gan stuffed a handful of the little crackers in her mouth. And immediately spat them out. "Yuck, yuck, yuck! That's not food!"
"Some nutritionists would agree with you," Lily said dryly. "That doesn't make it okay to spit it out on the floor. Get some paper towels and clean it up."
"Don't want to." Gan turned to go back into the pantry.
Rule ripped off a handful of paper towels and walked over to the little not-quite-demon. He grabbed Gan's shoulder. "You made a mess. Clean it up."
Gan glared up at him. "Ow! That hurts!"
"It can hurt more."
"I liked you better when you were a wolf. And I didn't like you at all then." But she took the paper towels.
Lily watched, frowning. "She doesn't challenge you as much as she used to."
"She probably doesn't heal as fast as she used to," Cynna said dryly. Then she noticed the way Rule had stopped moving to look at Lily with a sort of tender surprise. "Hey—you remembered something from your lost time, didn't you?"
"Snatches." Lily tilted her head to smile at Rule, who came up behind her. They clasped hands. "They've been drifting in more often lately."
Like Cullen said, the mate-bound were touchy-feely. The wires thrumming along Cynna's veins tightened. Cullen, He was still at Headquarters talking spellwork and theory with the gnome, all frothy with excitement. With all the to-do, he hadn't had a chance to talk to her.
Or else he'd forgotten they had something to talk about. He was like that. She'd been amazed, really, at how regular he'd been about calling. She'd expected him to give up after a few calls—either that or come pounding on her door. He wasn't a patient man.
Maybe his wolf was patient, though. She didn't know that part of him at all.
After a moment, Rule released Lily's hand and moved to the coffeepot to refill his mug. Rule loved coffee. Cynna wasn't sure why. He couldn't get a caffeine buzz—his system threw off the effects of drugs too fast for them to have much effect. So it must be the taste he liked, which just proved that demons weren't the only ones with weird taste buds.
He leaned against the counter, sipped, and looked at Cynna. His eyes, dark and steady, had been the second thing she'd noticed about him when they met all those years ago. "These people are way ahead of us with spell-work. Is there any way the gnome could have fooled you about the pattern?"
"Theoretically, sure, anything is possible. But some things are so unlikely we can cross them off. You aren't likely to wake up as a cat. I'm not likely to make a mistake about patterns, especially one I know so well. If they're good enough to fool me about that, they don't need a Finder."
"If that's really what they want from you."
Unease prickled down Cynna's spine as she considered the possibility, "Gan said they need me to Find something."
"They also want Lily for something, and she's not a Finder. And Gan isn't exactly reliable."
"She can't lie. At least, demons can't… hey, Gan. Can you lie yet?"
Gan's voice came, muffled, from the pantry. "Who wants to know?"
"The woman who stopped on the way here and bought a couple more candy bars."
Gan popped out of the pantry, chewing something. "Chocolate candy bars?"
"Yes."
"I can almost lie." She padded up to Cynna. "Ask me something."
"How old are you?"
"Three." Her round face split wide in a grin, showing all those pointy teeth. "Gimme my chocolate."
"Not yet. Three what?"
"That's why it's almost lying. I'm bound to be three somethings, depending on how you're counting and what time's doing in some realm or other. So I can say three and I'm not quite lying, but close. Give me my candy."
Cynna leaned down to get her purse. "Do the Edge people really want me to Find something?" She retrieved a Hershey bar, unwrapped it, and broke it in half. "Answer first. Then chocolate."
"I already said they did."
Cynna hadn't had much experience with former demons, but she'd dealt with the regular sort in her previous life as a Dizzy. She knew better than to let one get by with an answer like that. "Answer plainly."
Gan rolled her eyes. "Yes, they want you to Find their thingee. I'm not supposed to say what it is because of it being secret. Not because he said so, but Jenek told me not to." She wiggled that small, imperative hand.
The second Cynna handed over the candy it vanished into Gan's mouth. The little orange whatsit closed her eyes in bliss.
Lily tipped her head. "You think chocolate's some kind of drug for her?"
"You think it isn't for the rest of us?" Cynna broke off a bite and popped it in her own mouth. "Who's Jenek?"
"Gan's been staying with his family."
"He's my minder," Gan said, and ran her tongue over her teeth to get the last of the chocolate.
A gnome, then. There was a lot Cynna didn't know about gnomes, but she'd bet she knew something the others didn't. "Is that what you are now—a gnome? Or what you will be, when you finish your transformation?"
Gan shrugged. "Can't be a demon with a soul, can I? I haven't decided which family I'll marry with yet, but…" Her features squinched up in a suspicious frown. "I think you aren't supposed to know about that."
"I used to be Msaidizi. I know a lot of things demons know, and they know where gnomes came from."
"What's a mizzay-dizzy?"
"Demon rider." Among other things, not all of them bad.
"Oh. Well, don't tell anyone. I want to watch television," Gan announced, turning to Lily. "Where's your television?"
"Upstairs. I'll show you. Do you know how to order pay-per-view?"
"No. What's that?"
"Good. Come on."
Cynna grinned as Lily and her orange sidekick left the room. "It's like raising the demon child from hell, isn't it? Literally. Bet you're glad Toby isn't here right now."
Rule's eyes widened. "God, yes. I hadn't thought of that. I may have nightmares… Cynna, how did you guess that Gan was becoming a gnome?"
"I'm not supposed to tell. Got any candy?"
"Gan cleaned me out," he said dryly.
"Your credit's good. Here's the big secret, passed on to me by a demon I knew in my bad old days: gnomes started out as demons. Not all of them—I mean, they're a separate race now and have children and all that, so most of the ones alive today were born as gnomes. But that's where gnomes come from—demons who for some reason developed souls."
Rule shook his head. "That explains why Max took Gan to his people, but I'm… amazed. Max hates demons. He says all gnomes hate demons."
"Guess humans aren't the only ones with parent issues."
His mouth twitched. "I guess not. Cynna…" The timer dinged. He turned to slip on a mitt, then opened the oven.
Harry lifted his head, sniffed, and jumped down to stalk over to the stove, where he announced his willingness to sample chicken enchiladas.
"You're right, Harry, That smells fantastic." Cynna heaved a theatrical sigh. "The man's good in bed and he cooks, too. If only Lily were a little less conventional! Threesomes aren't that unusual these days."
Rule slid the glass casserole onto a cooling rack. "I ought to take you up on that just to see how high you jump and how fast you run."
"Hey, you're supposed to pretend you don't know I don't mean it." She didn't, not anymore, which made the flirting comfortable. The mate bond really did change everything, even the vaunted lupus distaste for fidelity.
Of course, she now knew where that distaste came from, why they were taught that sexual possessiveness was wrong and ma
rriage was forbidden. Cynna's good mood evaporated. Unconsciously, she touched her stomach.
Rule studied her. "You're thinking about going to Edge, aren't you?"
She wrenched her thoughts back on topic. "Yeah. If they can get me there, I'm going. If you're worried about Lily—"
"I'm worried about you."
And that was the first thing she'd noticed about Rule, way back when. He cared. "I'm not buying into their story about Daniel Weaver all the way, but I think… well, thinking isn't good enough. I have to know. It, uh, it sounds like you don't plan to go there yourself." Which gave her a queasy feeling. She'd assumed they'd all go.
"I can't."
"But…" He voice trailed away. She'd been so busy avoiding thinking about her own stuff, she hadn't given any thought to other people's problems. Again. "The mantles."
He nodded grimly.
Rule had been tricked into assuming the heir's portion of the mantle of another clan—his clan's oldest enemies. Cynna didn't understand mantles, didn't know exactly how or why it had happened, but she knew that the leader of the other clan was hanging onto life by a thread. If he died, the full mantle would go to Rule. "I guess it would be bad if you were in another realm when the Leidolf Rho died, huh?"
"Bad is one way to put it. I don't know if the mantle would cross to another realm to reach me. If it didn't… some lupi who suddenly lose their connection to their clan simply die. Most survive the death shock, however, becoming lone wolves."
Cullen had been a lone wolf for years before Rule's clan, Nokolai, formally adopted him. "Lupi don't do well as lone wolves."
"Usually they go insane. Cullen is very much the exception. Most sundered lupi don't stay lone wolves long, though. They gather in packs. Packs are dangerous to the humans around them—worse in that respect than lone wolves."
Worse? Cynna swallowed. "Are you sure you should tell me all this?"
Rule smiled gently. "Yes."
Because she was supposed to become the Rhej of his clan. Cynna had told him—told everyone—that wasn't going to happen. A Rhej was, among other things, the clan's priestess. Cynna was Catholic. She didn't worship the lupi's Lady. And even if she could get past that, who in their right mind would pick her for some kind of holy woman?
"Look, Rule—"
"I'm not saying you'll accept the Lady's offer. Just that it's okay for me to speak of these things to you. The Rhej has given permission."
That was okay, she supposed, as long as he wasn't expecting too much. She wouldn't spill his secrets. "I see that you can't go, but… it's probably none of my business, but, ah… does that necessarily mean Lily can't go? I mean, when you were in Dis and she—or part of her—was here, the mate bond worked as if you were still physically close."
Rule turned to look at the doorway a second before Lily appeared there. "Neither of us passed out then," Lily said, "because Earth and Dis are physically analogous. Edge isn't. I asked Gan about that earlier." She looked straight at Rule. "I've already told Ruben I won't be able to go."
Rule moved the way only a lupus can, all grace and speed. One second he was standing still. The next he was holding on to Lily and murmuring things Cynna couldn't quite catch.
She gave them a moment, then drummed her fingers on the table. "I could go watch TV with Gan, I guess."
Rule turned a smile on her. "Sorry. I'm feeling emotional. Lily thought of the clan. She understood what my duty must be without my telling her, and chose to put her own duty second." He bent his head and whispered something in Lily's ear.
Lily laughed and pushed out of his arms. "Later. Maybe. We'll see." Her smile faded into a sigh. "I couldn't tell Ruben why I can't go. He doesn't know about the mantles."
"Will this cause problems for you, nadia?"
She shrugged. "Not with Ruben. I told him it was clan business, nothing I could explain, and he was okay with that. But he's getting pressure from higher up to give the Edge delegation what they want."
"Including people?" Rule snapped. "Will Cynna be ordered to—"
Cynna broke in. "Rule, I'm going. Orders or not, I'm going."
Rule and Lily exchanged one of those couple's glances that say all kinds of things without using a word. Cynna could read some of it, though They weren't happy with her decision.
Well, she wasn't exactly thrilled herself. She'd thought she would have friends at her back. Now…
The sound of gunfire came from the TV upstairs. Cynna's eyes widened as a thought struck. "What about Gan?"
"If I understood her correctly," Lily said, "she has to go to Edge to fulfill her… she called it a testing."
"She doesn't know you aren't going."
Lily shook her head.
So instead of Lily and Rule, Cynna would have a pissed-off former demon for backup. "Well, shit."
* * *
CHAPTER SIX
The enchiladas were great. The company was strained due to the elephants at the table.
One elephant was the allusion ban, which Lily and Rule both honored. Cynna didn't know why they showed such restraint, but she was damned glad of it. The other subject they avoided—or tried to—was their opinion of her decision to go to Edge.
Hard to ignore, those elephants. Fortunately, there were other subjects to discuss. Like gnomes.
Rule knew one gnome pretty well. Max was crude, ill-tempered, oversized for his species, and unforgettably ugly. He was also very much Rule's friend. He'd gone to hell with them to rescue Rule—bitching about it all the way, but he'd gone.
"Max won the down payment for his club playing liar's poker," Rule said as he dished himself a second helping. "He's been banned from Vegas because he bluffs so well. To a gnome, lying is an art. I have the idea there are rules, ethical considerations, among his people about lies, but I've never figured them out."
"So we shouldn't take what the Councilor says at face value," Lily said.
"If the gnomes in Edge are anything like the ones here, then no. They'll expect us to lie, too."
Cynna snorted. "No problem. I'm guessing Underass from Commerce sees lying as an art form, too."
Lily grinned. "Underass. You're talking about McClosky, I take it."
"Got it in one."
"The government can and will look out for itself," Rule said. "You have to do the same. Just because the gnome says your father's in Edge doesn't make it so. He knew the man's name, yes. But he also knew Lily's name, and he didn't learn that from Daniel Weaver."
"He has a wedding ring with my mother's pattern on it."
"Cynna." Lily touched her hand. "That suggests Daniel Weaver—or his ring—was once in Edge. It doesn't prove he's there now."
All in all, it was a relief to close their front door behind her.
The air was cold and still. Cynna grabbed a lungful and held it in, hoping to quiet the jitters. Somewhere nearby a dog was barking. Somewhere even closer a lupus was watching her, though she couldn't see him. Rule's father had decreed that he'd be guarded from now on, and he'd spoken as Rho. Cynna didn't have to see the guard to know he was around.
She stuffed her hands in her pockets and grimaced. Dammit. She'd forgotten all about the coat. She hadn't thanked Rule, who didn't even know he'd bought it for her. Lily had left that out of her briefing.
Shit, she still owed Lily for the slacks and sweater she was wearing. She'd forgotten to ask how much they'd cost.
She wasn't going back inside to find out. Not tonight.
Her government-issue Ford was parked at the curb. She didn't go there. "Tell them I went for a walk," she told the unseen guard. She dropped her keys in her bag, slung the strap over her head so that it crossed her chest bandolier-style, and started moving.
The new coat was lined and supple and surprisingly warm. The swing of her arms made the leather whisper to her: shh, shh, shh. The sound reminded her of tires on pavement or an eraser wiping a blackboard. Motion.
Walking was Cynna's healthiest coping mechanism. She might prefer fighting, but
she'd stopped acting on that impulse. Mostly. Anyway, there was no one around to punch tonight unless she headed back and socked Lily, who'd probably put her on her ass pretty fast. A second-degree black belt didn't take shit from a measly brown. And Rule might let her hit him, but that wasn't a fight.
And why was she even thinking these things? She wasn't mad at Lily or Rule… who had not abandoned her. It was stupid, irrational, to feel as if they had.
Dammit. She scowled at the dark street ahead as she stepped off the curb.
There was only the slightest sound behind her for warning. She spun.
Just under six feet of lean, angry man stood an arm's length away, crutches propped under his arms. Messy hair the color of cinnamon without the sugar framed a face sculptors would kill to commit to stone. He wore the same torn jeans and dirty denim jacket he'd had on earlier. The scowl was fresh.
"For God's sake," Cullen snapped, "didn't your mother teach you to look both ways before crossing the street?"
Her heart was pounding like mad. That pissed her off. "I don't remember. She may have, before she finished drinking herself to death."
"Poor little Cynna."
The mockery cut. Guilt rubbed salt in the wound, because Mama hadn't always been a drunk—not the helpless, hopeless kind, anyway. When Cynna was small, there had been vegetables with the boxed mac and cheese. Tucking in at night, sometimes a story. Walks to the park and pushing in the swing.
She turned abruptly and started across the street.
"Oh, stay and fight." He swung along beside her. "You're longing to belt me one. I might even let you."
"Why are you here? Why aren't you at Headquarters drooling over your new spell?"
"I'm stalking you."
That stopped her.
"Isn't that what they call it when a man follows a woman who wants him to get lost?" He freed one hand by tucking the crutch against his side and pushed at the small of her back. "Move it. There's a car coming."
The car was three blocks away and cruising sedately, but the street probably wasn't the best place for this discussion. Cynna started walking again. "Maybe I will belt you one."