“Investments?” Vinni asked.
She sniffed and didn’t look at him. What investments? He got the distinct idea that she hadn’t listened to her mother or her sister, who handled the Hazel Family investments. Had she gone to Laev T’Hawthorn, the financial wizard? Vinni knew she hadn’t consulted him. He found his shoulders stiffening and relaxed them.
The priestess waved a hand. “You decide that between you.”
“But that you show your work to the Chief Ministers and let them vet it is a great boon for us,” Avellana said.
“Yes, the base figure I had in mind should be significantly higher than I originally planned.” He named a figure. “Or we can do a monthly stipend.”
“I like the monthly income.” And Tiana quoted a different amount of gilt.
He eyed her, wondering if he should haggle.
We can afford to be generous, Avellana sent him.
Vinni thought that whatever gilt problems Tiana Mugwort Blackthorn-Moss might have had before, her best friend was HeartMate to Laev T’Hawthorn and he’d have helped Tiana and her husband, Antenn Blackthorn-Moss, with investment advice.
Avellana’s comment continued to niggle at him.
And, no, Vinni would not negotiate with Tiana. Chuckling in response, he said, “Then we’re agreed.”
“When would be good for us to meet privately, Priestess?” Avellana asked.
The priestess handed Avellana a small crate of vizes. “Why don’t you review these and tell me which rituals you like the best, and which part of each ceremony you prefer.”
An analytical task for Avellana, one she’d focus on, excel at, and that would smooth her ruffled feelings about bending her will to his Family’s desires. She nodded, glanced at Vinni, and handed the viz crate to him, picking up a still-pretty-limp Rhyz. “Thank you, Priestess Mugwort Blackthorn-Moss.”
And Vinni hadn’t heard Tiana called by all her surnames in . . . ever, not since the formal announcement in their wedding ceremony.
Tiana stood and inclined her head. “You’re very welcome, GreatMistrys Hazel, and please call me Tiana. I hope we can be friends.” She smiled warmly at Avellana.
Avellana considered that, then nodded. “I would like to have you as a friend, Tiana. Please call me Avellana. I do not have many friends. I only had a few before I began spending so much time outside Druida City, and now I am unsure how many yet remain my friends.”
The atmosphere around him wavered and Vinni got a little jolt as he understood that Avellana spoke to Tiana mentally. His curiosity itched, but he couldn’t press right now; neither of the women would tell him what they spoke about. Something female and friendly.
It was rude to speak telepathically to another in a group, but he and Avellana had just done so, too. Ha. He’d led Avellana astray into bad habits.
When she went away, she tended to be more formal. Now he had her back, he could loosen her up more. Maybe.
“And now, ice cream,” he said lightly, offering his elbow to Avellana.
Ice cream, murmured Rhyz, opening one eye. I will sleep until we reach the treat place. Ice cream is good, but catnip is BETTER, and I had very good catnip.
Avellana whispered a short anti-grav spell on her Fam. He lay easily in the circle of her left arm, and she linked her right arm with Vinni.
Good.
“Thank you for your welcome, Tiana. Thank you for your accommodation, Mugwort-Moss Residence.”
“I am pleased to have hosted you,” the Residence said.
At that moment Felonerb swaggered in, a very scruffy and scarred gray and brown brindled cat. Ice cream for US, too!
Tiana laughed. “Vinni, please show yourself and Avellana out. Merry meet.” She gave Vinni the beginning words of Noble farewell.
“And merry part,” Vinni and Avellana said together.
“And merry meet again,” Tiana ended, then turned to a no-time that must contain ice cream.
Vinni led Avellana out of TQ and back to his glider. “I have a little no-time in this vehicle; perhaps I should stock it with ice cream.”
Avellana gasped as she lifted the door. “Truly, a no-time?”
“Yes.”
“How wonderful!” Her pretty smile and warm gaze made him feel like the best man in the world. She tucked a sleeping Rhyz onto the Fam shelf, pulled the safety webbing he’d earlier disdained over him, and took her own seat. Staring out the front window and not at Vinni, she said, “You do not have to treat me to an ice cream.”
“Yes, I do. You’ve been very nice to me today.”
“I have.”
And to torture himself, he wanted to see Avellana lick an ice cream cone.
Ten
Vinni parked the glider a few spaces down from the cheerfully colorful front of The Merry Treat, Merry Tart shop.
Avellana loosened her webbing and turned to wiggle her fingers at Rhyz. He floated toward her as Vinni left the glider, circled around, and lifted her door open.
She sent her Fam out first on an invisible shelf of an anti-grav spell. Then she exited, looked furtively at the mostly empty sidewalk, and adjusted her clothing so each seam lay straight and her clothes looked perfect.
After that, she took Rhyz in her arms.
Both arms, which meant Vinni didn’t get to hold her hand.
The café greeter, a plump woman with curly brown hair, looked askance at Avellana holding Rhyz. “I’m sorry,” she said stiffly. “We do not allow Fams here.”
“Oh,” Avellana said blankly. She stepped aside and, as soon as Vinni was in, headed back out to the sidewalk and to his glider.
Meanwhile the woman bowed deeply to Vinni. “GreatLord T’Vine, it is very good to see you again!”
He nodded to her, then turned. “Thank you, but I can’t stay; my HeartMate, GreatMistrys Hazel, and her Fam—”
The woman winced. “My deepest apologies, but we do not have anti-hair, anti-bacteria, and anti-allergy spells on our shop, so we cannot legally accept unbespelled Fams.”
“Ah, of course.” An idea had come to him and he wanted Avellana and Rhyz in here more than ever. So he said, “I assure you that both Avellana and I can spell such shields on the FamCat so no ill can come from him.”
The woman flushed. “We have a . . . device given to us by the authorities to test such spells.”
“That will be fine.” He smiled; he’d come to crave the café’s salty caramel ice cream. He’d heard this place served the best mint cocoa chip that Avellana loved. “We’ll be right back.”
“Thank you.” The hostess-server sighed in relief.
Vinni strode back to his glider, where Rhyz now stood and shook himself out muttering about missing his ice cream treat.
“Merry Treat, Merry Tart doesn’t have a spell to keep Fam-stuff to themselves, and allowing an unshieldspelled Fam in an eating establishment is against the law,” he told a frowning Avellana.
“Oh. That is a concern.” Her forehead wrinkled a little more. “It is not good if people become uncomfortable because of Rhyz. And not acceptable to break the law.” She looked down the street with yearning, wet her lips. “You said they have the best mint with cocoa chips ice cream.”
“I don’t recall that.”
“It was a year ago when you visited me in Toono Town.” Glancing down at Rhyz, she said, “We can bring out some salty caramel ice cream for you.”
Vinni stared at the cat. He’d had no idea Rhyz liked the same kind of ice cream as he did. Didn’t want much of any similarity with the Fam.
Rhyz plopped down on his ass, lifted his nose, and twitched his whiskers. I want to go into the pretty store. He looked sly. It is a more modern ice cream store and shop than we have been in since the last time we came to Druida City.
“I know,” Avellana said wistfully. “All right. I will put a shieldspell on you.�
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“And I,” Vinni said.
Avellana pokered up. “I am capable.”
Rhyz licked his paw. She IS. She spells Me so all the time. He paused. Has Flora been in that fun place?
“Flora doesn’t like ice cream.”
At this point a couple of lower Nobles advanced, appearing amused at the trio of them, until they recognized Vinni, then they scuttled by, heads down. They didn’t want to meet his eyes, see if he saw any flash of their futures.
When he turned his attention back to Rhyz, every hair of the cat sparkled, coated with anti-everything. But the Fam had obstructed Vinni, so it was his turn to torment the cat. With a negligent wave of his hand, he sent a full-covering shieldspell over the Fam, suppressing a smile at Rhyz’s squeak as the Flair lifted him from his paws and coated them, too.
“There, that’s done.” He held out his hand to Avellana and she put her fingers in it.
Too many spells itch! Rhyz grouched.
Vinni smiled, knowing what Avellana would say next.
“Better too many than not enough.” She walked with him toward the ice cream shop, leaving Rhyz behind.
The cat sped through Vinni’s legs, trying to trip him, but he merely hesitated one step.
After they entered the shop and the hostess had checked Rhyz’s shieldspell, Vinni led Avellana to a table in the far corner, slightly away from others and only able to seat two. Rhyz tucked himself under the table, still grumbling at the itchiness of the spell.
While Vinni and Rhyz waited for their dishes, and Avellana her cone, Vinni said, “You protect Rhyz.”
“Yes, of course.”
“You wouldn’t come into here where you thought they discriminated against him and might hurt his feelings.”
“That is right. He is my companion and is with me. I do not leave him behind.”
Not quite the point Vinni wanted to make.
“But if the woman had been mean to Rhyz, you would have defended him.”
“Yes.”
“And if she tried to hurt him, perhaps poison him with a sweet like the criminal did with Marin Holly, you’d have protected him.”
Avellana’s eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
I can defend and protect myself! Rhyz growled.
“As can I.” Vinni took Avellana’s hands across the table, cradling them in his fingers. “But it is good to know I can count on you to protect and defend.”
Her brows rose and she tilted her head. “You would let me fight for you.”
Again, not the concept he wanted, but he’d work with it. “Yes. You love me.”
“I do.”
“And you’d fight for me, defend and protect me.”
Her chin set, and then she said, “No, Muin, I am never going away again. Give up on that concept.”
At that moment the server delivered the ice cream, bending down to slide a fancy scalloped pink bowl under the table to Rhyz.
Avellana sent her a brilliant smile as she accepted a large cone of thin, crispy sweet crepe wrapped around mint cocoa chip ice cream. “Thank you! Everyone says your ice cream is the best.” She glanced around. “And your shop and café are so pretty.”
“Thank you.”
The women beamed at each other, and then the server left. Avellana murmured a spell to keep her ice cream from dripping on hands and clothes, then dove in. She concentrated on her ice cream, and Vinni concentrated on Avellana—and ignored the slurping and grunting noises coming from under the table.
Yes, he enjoyed watching Avellana swirl her tongue around an ice cream cone. Naturally his mind had gone to sex, and when they could have it again.
Through their bond, he felt a persistent underlying annoyance at him. Despite the morning they’d spent together, she would not welcome him in sex dreams this night.
So, maybe, he’d have to plan another in-person loving. Perhaps better now when her annoyance at him continued to seethe like a bottom layer of lava; she wouldn’t be tempted to HeartBond with him. He could trust her to not do that. Despite the fact that she loved him and wanted to wed with him.
Yes, he needed to make love with her, telepathically or physically. And he yet hoped that their bond was such that she’d survive if he died—and that was deceiving himself according to her.
He wondered if he exasperated her enough, she would leave the city.
No.
And he persisted in thinking how to manipulate her, protect her from the shadowy dangers he yet sensed.
He was in a bad way.
• • •
Avellana had eaten three-quarters of her ice cream and wonderful crispy cone—and thank the four spirits she’d finally returned to the city that had treat shops and mint cocoa chip ice cream—when her perscry, personal scry pebble, squawked. She had a call. Another loud cry of a tropical bird that screeched through the shop.
Muin appeared startled.
With her free hand she reached into her sleeve pocket and touched the top of the glass teardrop to silence the squawk, staring hungrily at her cone. She would savor that minty, sweet crunch to the end.
Hurry. One nice, big bite. Perhaps unmannerly, but she did not care at this very moment. She wanted the flavors coating her tongue before she launched into more talking and talking. Another confrontation that arrived a little sooner than anticipated.
“Avellana?” her lover asked, curiosity in his eyes. Always curious, that one. A reason, she thought, his Flair suited him. He would be interested to see what came in the future, calculate how he could angle the wheel of fortune and turn the fate to the best outcome for his client.
But he no longer prized his Flair. She thought that dangerous. So she would help him with it.
Then a series of musical notes came from her pocket.
“My mother,” she said, as if he would not recognize the wispy chimes of the ancient tune for the Head of GreatHouse Hazel. She munched another large bite and gazed down at the portion left. Of course she would like to tilt her head and bite off the tip of the cone and slurp it, but that would be vulgar in public. Yet she wanted every droplet. Another cone, even.
Especially when her perscry lilted the waltz her father loved. She met Muin’s eyes. “My father.”
She murmured an anti-grav spell to hold the cone in the air, then tapped a finger to keep the ice cream from melting and the cone from going soggy and, worse, dripping on her favorite, royal-blue damask tunic and trous. Muin had given the garments to her, but she did not think he recalled.
Never too many protection spells.
That idea teased at her mind. She had heard that the new D’Yew specialized in protection spells. Perhaps Avellana could purchase one and ease Muin’s mind. Though currently she had allocated most of her gilt into one primary investment—thus the scrys.
And Father’s tune rippled once more.
Reaching into her pocket, she retrieved the pebble, tapping it so it showed herself and Muin and that they ate. “We will be right there,” she stated, then offered the glass drop to Muin. He and her parents usually thought the same way.
Muin put his spoon down and took the small scrystone. His smile as he watched her gobble her ice cream faded into his serious expression. He inclined his head. “We should be there within a half septhour.”
“Good!” The loud word came from Avellana’s older sister, Coll, not on the screen.
“We will await you and Avellana in the ResidenceDen,” her father said, and signed off.
“Avellana?” Muin asked, rolling her pebble between his fingers.
During the short interchange between her Family and Muin, she had finished off her ice cream, simply eating, not savoring, a shame.
“You do not have to attend the discussion, Muin,” she said, letting him drop her pebble into her hand.
His face hardened further, but when h
e spoke, it was in a mild tone. “Another altercation, Avellana?”
“Probably,” she said. The previous percentage of ninety had now reached ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent.
“So you’ve had, ah, rocky discussions with me, the Chief Ministers, and now your Family.”
She narrowed her eyes; he sounded nearly amused.
“I sense that you anticipated this meeting, too.”
She had known her Family would learn of her activities and would disapprove and there would be yet another dispute and argument in her life. “I am making my life the way I want it to be.”
A flash of sadness came into his eyes, reflected in the feelings flowing through their bond. No doubt he could also sense her lingering irritation at him and his past high-handed ways . . . just as, now that she understood his motivation better, she could sense his nightmarish fear for her and his bedrock need to protect her.
“Naturally, you can come with me to the meeting with my Family.” Her own voice sounded colorless.
He put his hand over hers. “You think I always side with your Family. And it’s true when I feel danger for you and want you out of the city.”
“Like now, but I am not leaving, Muin.”
“I can see that, since I have watched you set about making changes in areas that bother you.” He squeezed her hand and his fingers felt warm on hers. Perhaps she had made the cone too cold.
Or perhaps being nervous chilled her hands.
“But other than agreeing with your Family about protecting you from danger, I’m on your side.”
She studied him. He believed what he said. “We shall see,” she replied.
He played with her fingers. He had not often done so, but she found she liked such contact.
“So, your sister called you first?” he asked.
“Yes, Coll, HazelHeir.”
His mouth quirked. “You use squawking as her scry tone?”
Avellana dabbed her mouth with her softleaf, folded it, and placed it on the table, ignoring the two women who passed her with lovely ice cream cones. She had learned not to regret treats she couldn’t have. “Coll is an excellent nag. She sounds like that, sometimes. I think she got it from a bird in one of the Botanical Garden conservatories. She loves me, but she wants me to be . . . a normal person, I suppose. I am not a normal person.” She had never been normal, not after she had tried to fly when so young, and then when she had exercised her main Flair, which shocked everyone and made them afraid.
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