Kissed by Ice(38)

"We consulted Eddie's sentient book," she said before I could so much as say hello.

"And?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"That's what I said," she snapped. "Just gave us a big blank page. Hang on, I'm putting you on speaker. Eddie wants to talk to you."

"Morgan, you must get that book back as soon as possible," Eddie shouted. I winced, pulling the phone away from my ear.

"Eddie, you don't need to yell," Kabita's voice was slightly muffled, as if she'd put her hand over the mic.

"Sorry." Eddie's voice dipped to a more reasonable decibel.

"Why do I need to rush home if the book didn't show anything?" I asked.

"Because I'm hoping it will show you something. After all, you're the Key and it's the key to the Key."

"Don't remind me." I'd about had it with this whole Key business. It was seriously messing with my life. "Fine, I'll be home soon. In the meantime, Jack's working on some leads, so maybe he'll come up with something."

"Hang on," Kabita said. I heard a beep, and then she came back, this time with the speaker phone off. "What are your plans?"

I knew she wasn't talking about Alister or the key problem. "I-I don't know yet. I'm about to go see him." I also knew she'd realize I wasn't talking about Jack.

There was a slight pause. "Good luck." She hung up.

I had a feeling I was going to need all the luck I could get.





The door to Inigo's room was partially open, and I heard the murmur of voices from inside. Peering around the door frame, I saw a woman sitting on a chair next to the bed talking to Inigo. It was Tanith, my friend Cordelia's sister, and the one they called the Dragon Child. She actually had Inigo smiling. Relief flooded me. It was going to be okay.

I rapped softly on the door before stepping into the room. I grinned widely. "You're looking better."

His smile disappeared so fast that for a moment, I thought I'd imagined it. But I hadn't. He could smile for Tanith, but for me he was nothing but a cold, hard shell. My heart sank. Things weren't going to be okay after all.

"Morgan!" Tanith jumped up from her chair and flew around the bed in a swirl of bright yellow and lime green to wrap me in a hug. I had no idea what the hell she was wearing, but it was eye searing bright. "It is so good to see you again. How are you? You've got extra freckles. Have you been in the sun?" Her words spilled over in a bright jumble. That was Tanith for you. Where Cordelia was calm—well, calmer—Tanith was like a brightly colored super ball bouncing around like crazy, never staying still.

I touched my nose where the freckles in question had broken out. "I'm fine and yes, I have." My words were muffled seeing as how my face was half squashed against her shoulder. She smelled of lilac and lilies of the valley. It was a nice scent, but it made my nose twitch. Damn allergies. "Maybe you could let me breathe?"

She laughed as she let me go. "Oh, you have been missed."

I wasn't sure who besides her had missed me. Clearly Inigo hadn't. I cleared my throat. "How's the patient?"

Tanith started to open her mouth, but before she could say anything, Inigo snarled, "The patient is lying right here."

"Fine," I said, forcing a smile. "How are you?"

"None of your business."

"Excuse me?" I'd never wanted to slap someone so much in my life. How dare he? After all we'd been through. He was behaving worse than Jack ever had. At least Jack had been an ass because he'd been attempting to put his so-called duty first. Inigo was just plain… being an ass.

"You heard me," he growled. Then he rolled over, turning his back to me.

Before I could say something I probably would have regretted later, Tanith pulled me from the room and shut the door behind us. She sighed deeply as she led me down the hall toward the staircase. "I am so sorry," she said, keeping her voice low. Dragons had very keen hearing. "He doesn't mean it."

"Sure sounds like he does."

She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them and giving me a weak smile. "All right. He does. But not the way you think. He isn't quite himself these days."

"I thought his recovery was going well."

"It is. He's doing very well with physical therapy, but that isn't the problem."

"What is?"

She paused for a moment before slowly descending the stairs. "His mental state."

"His mental state seemed just fine a minute ago," I snapped, keeping pace beside her. "The two of you were practically having a party in there." It wasn't fair, but I couldn't help myself. Part of me was jealous. Not in a sexual sort of way—I knew Tanith and Inigo didn't have that kind of relationship—but in that sort of intimate way partners should have. Where they share themselves. Their thoughts. Their feelings. Inigo was sharing nothing with me. He was giving to Tanith what he should have been giving to me.