Kristoff pried Mattias’s fingers off my hand, taking it himself. “She was married to me first.”
“It’s a bit complicated,” I said, wondering how on earth I could explain Kristoff.
“Kristoff is my friend, too,” Mattias added, beaming at him and trying to take his hand.
Kristoff growled, I am not used to having to be explained.
Yeah, well, people who charge in on meetings with their mortal enemies just have to tough out what they find.
“You have two husbands?” Rick asked a bit hesitantly. “Is that legal?”
“Well . . . technically-”
“Yes,” Kristoff said quickly.
They don’t seem to realize you’re a vampire. I’m glad, but I have to say that it surprises me a bit.
It’s not like we walk around with a big sign pointing to us proclaiming, “Dark One,” you know.
Yes, but you’re their area of specialty. Shouldn’t they at least sense something different about you?
Experienced reapers might. These two appear innocuous.
“I like licking,” Mattias said, apropos of nothing.
“You try and you’ll find yourself without a tongue,” Kristoff threatened as Mattias grinned at him.
“Mattias! Sit!” I ordered, pointing to the chair. “No licking! No kissing! And stop trying to hold Kristoff’s hand.”
“Pia, Pia, Pia,” was his sad little refrain as he obeyed my command and sat in a chair next to me, pouting slightly as he clutched the hem of my gauze skirt.
“What you have done to that poor man-to both of them . . .” Janice said, her face dark with malevolence. “You will answer to the governors for these crimes; oh, yes, you will!”
Rick had been giving Kristoff a thorough visual examination, and said finally, a puzzled frown between his brows, “You are not a member of the Brotherhood?”
“No,” he said, tensing.
“Kristoff is helping me with . . . er . . . finding Ulfur,” I improvised, hoping the mostly true statement would pass muster. “Which isn’t going to be easy at all. An Ilargi has taken his soul.”
“Ilargi!” Janice gasped. “Here? You must stop him!”
“Easier said than done. Kristoff is here to help me find Ulfur’s remains, his essence, so we can raise him as a lich and get him away from the Ilargi.”
“You are a vespillo,” Rick said to Kristoff, nodding at my deception. “You have a necromancer already?”
I am not a vespillo!
No, but it won’t hurt if they think you are. I’d rather not have them poking around and figuring out you’re a vampire.
Bah!
“Yes, her name is Eve.” I glanced at my watch. “In fact, we have an appointment to meet with her and her . . . er . . . assistant in half an hour, so we really should get down to business.”
“What business would that be?” Rick asked politely as Janice gently shook Kristjana.
“She’s asleep,” Mattias said helpfully. “She was not nice to Pia, so we put her to sleep. She threatened to rip my lips off, too.”
“You have fulfilled only part of your bargain,” Janice said, giving up on Kristjana. “You must also retrieve the spirit left behind and escort him to Ostri. Which”-a slow, evil smile crept over her face-“considering he is now a phantasm, is going to be very difficult.”
“But not impossible once he’s a lich,” I said, hoping that was true.
Evidently it was, because her face darkened again, and she turned away with a muttered word.
“I’m afraid we cannot help with your spirit, if that’s what you are asking,” Rick said. “It would violate the terms of the agreement, you see. I wish we could help, but our hands are tied.”
“My hands were tied earlier,” Mattias piped up. He sent me a loving look. “Pia tied my hands to my feet and made me lie on the floor while she took a bath. I pretended I was her bath mat.”
“We weren’t going to tell people about that,” I reminded Mattias with a weak smile at the others. “It wasn’t like it sounds. . . .” Kristoff’s look had me stammering to a halt. “But enough about that. The business I referred to actually concerns the board of governors. You see, there’s a vampire I want to find, and I think they can help me.”
Janice bristled. “You dare to use us in that way?”
“You know, you keep asking me if I dare to do things, and I think by now we can take it as read that yes, I dare. I dare a lot, actually. Why? Because I have to. So if we could move past the dramatic gasps of horror and bugging-out eyes and pointing fingers and whatnot, and stick to the facts, I’d be really grateful.”