Long Night Moon (The Bradbury Institute Book 2)

by Sonya Clark

  That was hard to picture. “Does she ever let anyone see her without the glamour?”

  “I think Chet but no telling what she made him go through for that privilege. I hear she’s quite the stunner in her true visage.”

  Eve leaned closer, dropping her voice. “She’s part Unseelie, isn’t she?”

  He nodded. “Tread lightly around that one, Evie. She’s not always good to Chet but she won’t stand for anyone else to infringe on her territory, if you take my meaning.”

  “She’s got nothing to worry about from me.”

  The sly grinned returned as Niall gestured at the door. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that’s not the territory that seems to draw your eye.”

  Eve glanced over her shoulder. Pete had entered the room with Franny and Chet, all three of them carrying boxes. Eve looked back at Niall. “I think you meant to say, draws my ire.”

  “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” He stood. “I’m going to find my lady love, see if I can stir up a spot of trouble. Draw her ire.” He gave the phrase a lascivious twist. “See you later, Evie.”

  “Bye, Niall.”

  Eve watched as Franny directed the two men where to place the boxes. The women at the center table joined them, opening boxes and pulling out items. Some of it looked like holiday decorations. Judith glanced her way, smiling, and with a jerk of her head invited Eve to join them.

  Still feeling hesitant, Eve came to the edge of the fray. Sanngrid unwound a spangly red Christmas tree garland and draped it around Pete, the two of them speaking to each other in German. Annoyance pinched his face while a wide grin split hers in delight. Chet slipped up behind Pete, adding a Santa hat to the ensemble. Pete quickly ripped it from his head and smoothed his hair back into place.

  Franny was talking excitedly to Judith but Eve paid no attention to the words. She stepped back and considered leaving. Not just the room but perhaps it would have been better to leave for the holiday. Whatever work might be done over the next three weeks would be minimal. This was family time and these people were a family. A few months working alongside them didn’t make her part of that.

  Or maybe she was just letting her usual holiday blues bring her down. This was always a tough time of the year for Eve. She didn’t want to leave the institute. For one thing, three weeks was a long time and she didn’t have the funds for a hotel for that length of time. Maybe if she just stayed out of the way.

  She returned to the table and picked up the Irvine book, then slipped out the back entrance. Her heavy coat was in the Archives but it wasn’t a long walk to her apartment. Boots sliding in the fresh snow, she made her way toward the triplex where she, Franny, and Chet lived. She was almost there when something hit the middle of her back, something that felt suspiciously like a snowball.

  Eve whirled to see Pete trudging through the snow toward her, the absurd garland still draped around his neck. “Think you’re gonna skip out on your share of the work, think again, Kane.”

  “What are you talking about? That didn’t much look like work.” Shivering, she used her charm to unlock the door and entered the foyer.

  Pete followed, crowding her in the small space. Sometimes she thought he did that on purpose. “Midwinter preparations are serious business around here, Kane.” He stepped closer, forcing her against the wall. He placed his left hand on the wall and leaned down. “Serious. Bidness.”

  “Are you drunk?” The scruff had turned into a beard that shadowed his face in the low light. Faint silver glowed from his dark blue eyes, his full lips tinted red from the cold. Eve tightened her hands on the book.

  “No, I am not drunk.” He raised the index finger of his right hand. “But I did get an early start on Maura’s honey mead.” He leaned down even closer, nodding and squinting. “It is really good shit.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “And it makes you high?”

  “Among other things,” he whispered, catching a stray lock of her hair between two fingers and twisting it. “Yeah. So, go put your book up. Franny’s bringing your coat.”

  “What are we doing?” If he didn’t step back soon she was definitely going to embarrass herself. He was the one who’d kept his distance after kissing her. She wasn’t going to throw herself at him just for the feel of his mouth on hers again, his hands on her body, all that cool reserve melting-

  Damn it. This was so much easier when he was being a jerk who kept his distance.

  “Can’t celebrate Midwinter without a Yule tree.” He grabbed her shoulders, twirled her around, and pushed her down the hall toward her apartment. “Go on, get a move on.” Then he slapped her rear, hard enough to make her cry out. “Oops! Did I really do that?”

  “Yes.” She glared over her shoulder as she hurried to her door. “You certainly did.” And she would take it to her grave that she’d liked it. A lot.

  “Are you mad?”

  “Yes!”

  “That’s just because you haven’t had any honey mead yet.”

  Eve gave him another acid glare as she unlocked her door. He covered the distance between them quickly, a sheepish look taking years off his face. “Come on, don’t be angry. I didn’t mean anything. Let’s just enjoy tonight, okay?” He covered one side of her neck with his big hand, running his thumb over her pulse. “Come into the forest with me.”

  A desperate melancholy filled his voice, his eyes, body language, everything about him. It called to the loneliness she did her best to hide, the attraction she couldn’t make up her mind about. It made her want to be reckless and drag him inside her apartment. Mostly, it made her want to give him whatever he asked for. “Let me get my toboggan and gloves. I forgot them this morning.”

  Pete smiled. “I’ll wait right here.”

  Chapter 4

  Laughter echoed through the forest, amplified by the snow and curling through the trees like a live thing. Pete led Eve to a small clearing near a large twisted oak. The others were already there, gathered in front of a pine tree that must have been about seven feet tall judging from how far it towered over Rami, the person closest to it. The wizard held an axe in one hand.

  Franny met Eve with her coat. Shrugging into it, Eve said, “If we’re having a big long ritual can there be a bonfire?”

  Franny laughed. Judith answered, “We won’t stay out here long. It does seem colder this year.”

  “Midnight must be closer to the gate this year than it was last,” Pete said.

  Eve’s confusion must have shown on her face. Franny explained, “The Court of Earth and Winter, Midnight and North. The Courts can be called by any of their names so we have to learn them all. Sometimes things can kind of bleed over, so if Midnight is close to the gate we’re going to feel it. Especially out here in the forest.”

  “Is there a book on the temporal physics of Faery I can read?” Eve pulled her toboggan down tighter over her ears.

  “Yeah but why would you want to?” Chet sipped from a travel mug that Eve suspected did not contain coffee. “You just have to go with it, Evie.”

  Bettine laughed, the sound sharp and almost as cold as the air. “Such a book wouldn’t be accurate anyway. Sideways and the laws of physics don’t have much use for each other.”

  Rami leaned the axe against his leg and clapped his hands together. “Come on, let’s do this!”

  For a long moment the forest filled with loud whooping and hollering as everyone vented their excitement. Eve was delighted to discover this whole different side to her Bradbury colleagues.

  Judith raised her arms and shushed the group. “Okay, okay. We have a newcomer this year and we need to explain to Eve how we do this.” She shifted to better face Eve. “In exchange for the tree we do two things. We leave fresh baked bread and a bowl of honey mead.”

  Chet interrupted. “And we stay the hell inside while the pixies are drunk off their asses.”

  Judith talked over the round of laughter that rippled through the group. “And we do something that Pete thinks is far too to
uchy-feely for his dignity but I make him do it anyway because I am the boss.” She grinned as he nodded. “It’s a little tradition that started many years ago. After the tree is cut down everyone hugs each other. It’s a nice way to leave a little love in the forest.”

  “It’s too damn cold for anything else this time of year,” Chet said.

  Another burst of giggles from the group made Eve wonder if she was the only one who wasn’t half drunk on honey mead.

  “So without further ado.” Judith had to pause to stifle her own laughter. “Rami, if you please.”

  Rami rubbed his hands together, grinning madly. “Stand back, I’ve got an axe!”

  It didn’t take long for him to have the tree cut down and on its side in the snow. Eve leaned toward Franny and whispered, “Did he use magic to make that easier?”

  Franny grinned. “Totally.”

  Before Eve could reply Franny dragged her into a hug. “Happy Yule, Evie!”

  Eve returned the good wishes and found herself hugging her way through the group in a clockwise circle.

  Sanngrid offered her a nip from a flask. Eve demurred. “I’m not sure I want any honey mead.”

  “Maura’s special recipe does seem to bring out a certain aspect in people. You think this is bad, wait for Midsummer.” She raised her eyebrows twice in rapid succession. “That’s when it really lives up to its nickname.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Horny mead.”

  “Oh my god.” A burst of embarrassed laughter escaped Eve. No wonder Pete had been so different with her earlier. Her amusement was cut short as she realized what that meant. He may have given the impression of being attracted to her back in the hallway of her building, but it was nothing more than the mead. Disappointment sank her mood.

  “Strawberry schnapps, I promise.” Sanngrid held out the flask.

  Eve took it. “Happy Yule.” As she drank Pete approached, tossing a handful of snow on Sanngrid before embracing her. They exchanged their good wishes in German. Eve tried to slip away but Sanngrid caught her arm.

  Taking her flask, Sanngrid said, “There’s plenty of mead back in the Oracle if you decide you want to try it.” She winked at Eve as she stepped away.

  Eve steeled herself and met the twilight of Pete’s gaze. Normally she could read nothing there but tonight his eyes burned with an intensity that sent heat curling through every part of her.

  “Good Yule to you, Miss Kane.” He pulled her into his arms in a rough motion, holding her tight for a long moment. She stood on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around him, the holiday salutation stuck in her throat. He released her abruptly and walked away, leaving her standing alone and a bit shell-shocked. It was just the honey mead making him act this way, she told herself over and over. It meant nothing.

  Chet, Rami, Pete, Sanngrid, and Niall hefted the tree to carry it to the institute. Judith led the way with Franny, Bettine, and Maura arrayed around them. Eve watched them maneuver through the forest, knowing she should follow too but lingering for some reason. Maybe it was the peace of the snow-filled woods that soothed her troubled mind. Maybe she wanted to watch the pixies as they began to drink from the bowl of mead left on the tree stump. Or maybe she just wanted to hide her embarrassment as long as possible.

  Pete might be attracted to her, but he had to be drunk to show it. That didn’t say much for either of them, but especially him. She’d seen flashes of what he could be like when he dropped the attitude. She liked that version of Pete very much, but had no idea how to get him to open up and show it more often.

  Eve blinked, not sure how long she’d been standing there. The talk and laughter from the group was gone, leaving nothing but an eerie silence in its wake. She glanced around the small clearing, surprised to find it bathed in light.

  The strange, large tree with twisted limbs and a hollow in the bottom was nowhere to be seen. An old fashioned Victorian-era street lamp had replaced it, throwing a warm glow over that patch of woods.

  “The temporal physics of Faery,” she said. Her voice rippled through the air and the heavy layer of magic that had fallen over the area. “If I start walking back to the compound will I get there or will I wind up somewhere else? Oh god.”

  “But stepping off the map can be so exhilarating!”

  Eve spun to find the source of the voice. Perhaps twenty feet away, still in shadow the lamp couldn’t reach, was a man coming toward her. “Uh.”

  The stranger raised a hand. “If you’ll wait for me to finish crossing we can walk together.” He made quick time across the snow.

  Excitement replaced fear and she dared to take one step closer. “And who might you be?” She kept her tone light, friendly, as non-threatening as possible in case she was wrong.

  He stepped into the light. Six feet tall with broad shoulders filling out a strange black overcoat of some odd kind of leather, he had glossy black hair cut short with one heavy lock falling across his forehead. Arresting blue eyes full of mischief and a generous mouth curved into a smile dominated a classically handsome face. “Who might I be? I suppose I could have been any number of people, had I stepped right instead of left.”

  “Zigged instead of zagged?”

  He reached the lamp, running a hand down its surface. “Indeed.”

  It’s him, ohmygod it’s really him. “Welcome to the Gateway Forest.”

  Cocking his head he said, “Why, thank you! You’re new.”

  “Yes.”

  He leaned down to mock-whisper. “You really shouldn’t issue a welcome like that until I identify myself. Protocol, temporal physics, all that.” As well as mischief there was an intoxicating heat in his eyes.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize.”

  “It’s perfectly fine.” He waved a hand, then stood at attention. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain George Francis Irvine, late of the East India Company, Knight Errant to the Queen of Twilight, Sworn Enemy of the Prince of Sorrows, Ambassador at Large to the Courts of the Good Folk.” He looked at her expectantly.

  That was such an impressive list of titles, Eve felt mildly embarrassed she had none of her own. “I’m Eve Kane, Assistant to the Archivist. You can call me Evie.”

  “I am delighted to meet you, Evie.” He took her hand, pressing his lips against her skin. A pleasant shock ran through her flesh. “Absolutely delighted.”

  Chapter 5

  Decorating the Oracle for the holiday lasted well past midnight. Laughter and music filled the room, adding to the party atmosphere. Judith, Chet, and Pete spent time huddled in a corner with Captain Irvine before joining the festivities.

  Except for Pete, of course, who could not be bothered to be festive, or even polite, and instead glowered at Eve from a spot against the wall. She turned her back to him and made her way to the punch bowl. She’d had about enough of Pete running hot and cold. He needed to pick a temperature, make up his mind, something.

  In the meantime Eve would enjoy herself. She poured a glass of punch and watched Captain Irvine twirl Judith around in a fast jitterbug. An hour ago the space had been taken up by several tables and chairs, now pushed out of the way. A dance floor was a much better use of space, Eve thought. Chet drew Bettine on to the floor, then Maura and Niall joined in. Rami danced with both Franny and Sanngrid.

  The music segued to a slower number. Captain Irvine kissed Judith on the cheek and swept off the dance floor, heading straight for the refreshment table. Eve handed him a glass of punch. “I’ve read your first book,” she said. “I enjoyed it very much.”

  “Thank you.” The dancing and the booze left his cheeks red and his eyes bright and glittering. “Sideways is the most extraordinary place.”

  “Is that why you stay there, or is it so you don’t grow old?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth Eve realized it was probably not the most polite question to ask.

  Irvine grinned, downing his punch before answering. “I like you, you’re direct.” He set the empty glass on the table. “Tha
t’s part of it, yes. I’m not through living yet.”

  “And what a life. So much adventure and intrigue.”

  “And that’s just what made the books.” He leaned over the punch bowl, lips curved in a tempting smile. “Imagine all the things I left out.”

  Pete approached the table, eyes narrowed and face puckered in his usual pissed off expression. “Go perv on somebody else, George.”

  “Pete, you’re as charming as ever, old boy.” Irvine clapped Pete on the shoulder and nodded at Evie before finding his way back to the dance floor.

  “That was rude,” Eve said. “Not that I expect anything else from you.”

  “Don’t think you’re special just because he flirted with you. He flirts with everyone.” Pete grabbed the punch ladle and slopped liquid into a glass.

  “Two hours ago you were flirting with me. You really need to make up your mind.” Eve stalked around the table, intent on the dance floor.

  Not caring if Bettine threatened her with evisceration, Eve grabbed Chet as Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree started up from the sound system.

  Chet said, “I’m really not that much of a dancer, you might have noticed earlier.”

  “I don’t care,” Eve snapped.

  Chet didn’t say another word.

  ***

  Winter cold wrapped around Pete like a comforting blanket. He stood on the small balcony of his third floor office, a glass of scotch in one hand and the bottle resting on the railing. The Gateway Forest hummed with energy. It called to him, and for a long moment he listened.

  Drunk pixies danced and fought in the trees. Soon they’d be saturating the air with a more sensual energy as the honey mead worked its magic.

  He should have stayed away from the honey mead. Drinking it had been stupid, knowing what it did to him. But it had been nice, letting it strip away the barriers he’d built around himself. Those barriers might keep him safe, but they also kept him alone. He’d been fine with that until Eve.

  Kissing her in the forest that night months ago had been a mistake. Also glorious, and fantastic, and something he very much wanted to do again. He just couldn’t seem to get out of his own way.