“If,” he agreed, smiling.
“Daemon sure are crafty.” I turned it over in my hand. “I had no idea.”
And I didn’t mean crafty as in wily, I meant crafty as in arts and crafts.
“This is a tool.” He was quick to dismiss his talent. “No different than a knife or a hook.”
“Agree to disagree.”
“Do you think Arden—?”
“Look.” I had to nip this in the bud fast. “Arden has been through a lot, and all of it was my fault.”
A brief rundown of what David Taylor did to the girls was enough to leave Aedan with clenched fists.
“She must be terrified of water.” He sawed his molars together. “And men.”
Her comments about Louis gleamed in my memory, cast in a whole new light.
Maybe she had told the truth, and he did get weird. Or maybe, just maybe, the opposite was true.
“I wouldn’t go that far, in either direction.” I wouldn’t lie to get my way. “But she’s still healing.”
“I can respect that.” He tensed at motion on the corner. “I ought to be going.”
Lifting the stone, I twisted it in my hand. “How do I use this thing?”
“This won’t end well,” he murmured then took three wide steps back.
“What won’t?” I craned my neck to see what set him off and found Asa. “Oh, hey.”
Gone was sexy Scrooge. He was back to Black Hat agent tonight. Dark suit, neat braids, and simple studs. The piercing in his septum was more interesting, a mandalalike fan of silver filigree that sat above his lip.
A very kissable lip.
Bad, Rue. Focus.
“Clay is waiting in the car.” Asa noted what I held, and his expression turned thoughtful. “A scairt.”
“You know how to use it?” I tightened my grip when he reached for it. “You’re not going to break it, are you?”
“Why would I do that?” He pried my fingers, one by one. “I am capable of reining in my baser impulses.”
That sounded a whole lot like Clay hadn’t told him the daemon had taken over last night.
The daemon had zero impulse control, which was the opposite of Asa’s buttoned-down vibe.
Almost like what instincts Asa refused to act on, the daemon reveled in, balancing them out as a person.
“This is a fine piece of craftsmanship.” Asa ran his thumb over the stone. “Aedan made it?”
“From a rock in the creek.” Aedan kept his hands loose by his sides. “I got bored.”
“Would you like to help us hunt the dobhar-chú pups?”
The invitation shocked Aedan and me into silence, and we exchanged a wary glance that Asa noticed.
“Did I interrupt something?” He checked with us. “I can go back to the car.”