“Whoa,” Tami said, grabbing my arm, and looking a little woozy. “You do this all the time?”
“Feels like it,” I told her, glancing around Agnes’ living room.
It was dark and quiet and empty, just like last time. Which wasn’t surprising since this was last time, or at least the same night Rhea and I had visited before. I’d just brought us back to several hours earlier. The acolytes were probably still off at my inauguration, and with Rhea along, the wards were ignoring us.
Or maybe there was another reason for that.
Because Tami wasn’t just awesome with kids and a great cook. She was also a magical null. One of the rare witches who couldn’t do magic herself, but who could make sure nobody else did any, either. Or anything.
At least, I really hoped so, because safecracking was not in my skill set.
“It’s behind the painting,” I told Tami, who had gotten over the disorientation of a time shift and was staring around in apparent fascination.
“This is where the Pythias lived?” she asked, taking it in.
“Until it was blown up.”
“Damn,” she told me. “Your place needs an upgrade.”
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable somewhere like this,” I said, pulling the painting open.
“You sure? ’Cause I could get used to it. I could get used to it real fast,” she said, checking out the crystal on the bar.
“You don’t like the suite?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Honey, that’s not a suite. That’s a halfway house. You know you can’t keep that up, right?”
“It’s only been a couple days—”
“A couple days too long. You got to think of your image.”
I glanced at Rhea, who hadn’t said anything, but whose silence was kind of telling. “It’s a penthouse suite,” I pointed out.
Tami laughed. “It’s a penthouse suite with bullet holes in the walls, cots all over the floor, and no privacy for those girls or for you. I don’t know why you’ve put up with it this long!”
“Other things seemed more important.”
“Yeah, but you have your court now,” she said, joining me. And putting out a hand, ten inches or so away from the surface of the safe. “You’ve gotta think of the girls. Know how long I had to wait for the bathroom this morning? I should have gone down to the lobby—it would’ve been faster!”
“Casanova should be back to work soon. I’ll ask him—”
“Why? Why ask him anything? You don’t have to stay there. You could live anywhere. You could live here.” She glanced around appreciatively.
“Did you miss the whole blowing-up thing?”
“Okay, maybe not here here, but you know what I mean. Somewhere like this.”
I frowned. “What’s wrong with Vegas?”
“It’s Vegas?”
“I thought you liked it there.”
“For a vacation, sure. But it don’t exactly say serene and otherworldly, does it?”
“I’m not serene and otherworldly—”
“And you’re not gonna be living there.”