She nodded, then swigged the last of her beer and rose. “I left everything at Mirri’s, but it won’t take me long to get there and back.”
My gaze flicked to Tao, and he said instantly, “Feel like some company? I might be tempted to help out in the kitchen if I hang about here too long, and that would annoy Jacques.”
Jacques was the sous-chef we’d recently employed, and while he was a damn fine chef, to say he was somewhat temperamental would be an understatement. He respected Tao as the boss and co-owner, but when it came to his shift, he was in charge and interference was not appreciated.
Ilianna smiled and patted his cheek. “You lie so prettily. No wonder the girls all love you.”
“The Raziq have already had one go at snatching you,” he said evenly. “I might not have a magic sword, but I can arrange a good old-fashioned barbecue if any of them turns up.”
“Given how they’ve turned our lives upside down, I might enjoy seeing that.” She gathered her jacket from a nearby chair, then looked at me. “Play nicely until we get back, children.”
I snorted softly. I had no intention of playing with anyone right now, let alone a reaper who seemed to be gathering too many human traits.
As Tao and Ilianna trooped down the stairs, I rose and walked across to the fridge, getting myself another bottle of beer before walking across to the windows. Outside, Lygon Street was alive with laughter, life, and music. I closed my eyes for a moment, losing myself in the sound and briefly imagining that everything was normal, that this was all some crazy dream.
But it wasn’t, and no amount of wishing was going to make it so. Part of me wondered if things would ever be normal again, even after this whole mess was resolved.
I opened the beer, took a drink, then said, “Lucian tells me that the Raziq will know our location the minute I touch the keys.”
“That is more than possible,” Azriel agreed.
“So why did he have to tell me that? Why couldn’t you?”
“Would it have made the situation any easier?”
No, but that wasn’t the point. “He also suggested that you’re unlikely to get help from other Mijai. He said you guys are rather thin on the ground at the moment.”
“That is also true.”
I turned around and faced him. He was still standing on the far side of the room, his stance casual and his hands clasped behind his back. But there was nothing casual about the feel of the air that boiled around him, or the fierce light that burned in his different-colored blue eyes.
“So just how did you intend to protect me when I retrieved the keys?”
“With all that I have. With my life, if need be.”
“And a fat lot of good that’ll do,” I retorted, “if you die and I’m stuck trying to undo this mess by myself.”
He raised an eyebrow and said, rather cuttingly, “There is still the Aedh.”
“He’s not you. He could never be you.” The words were out before I could even think about them, and sort of hung in the air between us.
And it hit me then that, as frustrating as this reaper could be—and as much as I wanted the whole situation to be finished and my life back to normal—I’d actually miss him when it happened.
I liked Azriel. More than I should. Certainly more than was sensible.
I swung away from him and took a long drink of beer. I was insane. This whole mess had driven me insane.
Azriel was undoubtedly following my thoughts, but for once he didn’t comment. Maybe he thought silence was the better part of valor.
“Lucian’s offered to help us when we go find the keys,” I said eventually. “I’ve accepted.”
“I do not think that is wise—”
“We don’t have much choice,” I cut in. “I don’t want you to die, and there are few others we can call on for help. Lucian is an Aedh, even if he has been damaged. He knows how to fight them, and he’s eager for revenge as well.”
“Do you trust him? Do you honestly think he is telling the truth about what he’s truly after?”
“He is after revenge. I’m certain of that, if nothing else.”