Rituals (Cainsville 5)

"Do it anyway."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I was just about to start making a proper breakfast when the doorbell rang. Veronica stood on the porch, holding a paper bag from the diner.

"Perfect timing," I said.

She brought the bag into the kitchen. When I hovered, she said, "Sit. I might be a terrible cook, but I'm perfectly capable of serving food from boxes." She glanced around. "I saw Ricky's motorcycle. Are the boys around?"

"Ricky's upstairs talking to his dad. Gabriel is taking a shower and..."

Footfalls sounded on the steps.

"And he's done." I leaned out of the kitchen. "Can you call Ricky down? Veronica's here with breakfast."

Gabriel's steps reversed.

"I hate secrets," Veronica said, still emptying the bag. "Odd for fae, but my kind simply don't see the point of them."

"Your kind being coblynau."

She smiled. "Nice try, but that's one secret I'm forbidden to share."

"I think you kind of did."

"Did I mention I'm terrible at secrets?" She took plates from the cupboard. "Other fae find them delightful. To me, they're just tedious. Dangerous, too. You get knotted up in lies and misdirection until you can't find your way out. That's what's happening here. The elders spent the night in a meeting. Well, all except Patrick, who wasn't in on the original secret, and when he finds out, he'll be rightfully furious, mostly with me, as the one elder he can count on to keep him informed."

She set out a plate stacked with flapjacks. "Disagreeing with secrets in principle does not mean one is exempt from keeping them...or from suffering the consequences."

"And this secret concerns the sluagh," Gabriel said as he walked in.

She smiled at him. "Yes, Gabriel, I'll get to the point. I was waiting because it concerns you. Patrick as well, and I considered having him here, but I suspect that's a conversation best had in private, where he can properly tell me what he thinks of me for keeping it from him."

She tried for a wry smile, but the sadness behind it made me curse Ida all the more. Veronica was right. Nothing good comes of secrets. People get hurt, often those who least deserve it.

"And Ricky," she said as he walked in. "Good to see you." There was no sarcasm in her voice--unlike some elders, she treated Ricky like an actual person. "Sit. Eat. You may have little stomach for it by the time I'm through."

"That sounds ominous," I murmured.

"Anything concerning the sluagh is ominous," she said as she pulled out a chair.

"Before you begin," Gabriel said. "As much as I want the truth, I need to ask how much trouble it will cause you to tell us. If you'll suffer for it, I'd rather confront Ida. I do have leverage. I'm quite prepared to use it."

She smiled. "They know I'm here and what I'm doing. I may have lost my temper at about four a.m. Blame a low tolerance for endless meetings and endless bickering. I informed them that I was telling you the truth, and if they had an issue with that, they could banish me." Her smile grew, her sunken eyes twinkling, and I caught a hint of a much younger fae behind them. "Let's just say that's not an option."

"Ida didn't insist on coming along?" I said.

That glint in her eyes sharpened. "She insisted. I told her I'd lock her in the closet and bind her there if she kept insisting. She knows better than to test me. So it's just me, which means we'll get through this much faster." She looked at Gabriel. "Once I actually start saying something useful, right?"

"I believe I was the one who stopped you."

"Which is never wise. Derail a fae in conversation and you'll spend an hour herding her back on track. So, in the interest of staying on track, I'll get straight to the point. Thirty-five years ago, we made a bargain with the sluagh. We..." Her voice quivered, and her glamour wavered. She took a moment to pull it back. "This is difficult for me. I'm shaken by what happened yesterday morning, and angry at the role we played in it. At our lack of foresight. This will be easier if I don't need to maintain my glamour. I realize that may be disconcerting for you..."

"Whatever makes you comfortable," I said.

"Thank you."

Her body shimmered. A pop of light, like a low-voltage flashbulb. Not enough to make me blink but just to lose visual focus for a split second, and when my sight cleared, she sat in her true form.