Page 21 of Necromancers Don't Raise

Bones came in with a large tray absolutely heaped with sandwiches, cookies, and a big pot of chamomile tea.

“On the side table, please.”

Bones set down the tray and then smiled at me. “Master ordered the tea from a special shop so that you will get better faster.”

I smiled back at him. “He’s a very good master.”

Bones nodded and then glanced at Mercury before he hurried out, leaving us alone.

Mercury leaned down to murmur in my ear, “I am only the master of the dead. Are you safe standing on your own or do you need me to carry you to the table?”

His breath made me shiver in the weirdest way, or maybe that was his low voice sounding so intimate. “And then what? There are no chairs over there. You’d better leave me to stand on my own, as dangerous as that is.”

“Hmph.” He set me back in his chair, which was surprisingly comfortable, and then went over to make me a plate. “No one is questioning why Philip went to the hotel to see his fiancé. She must have changed her plan during the time that you can’t remember.”

“Or he’s involved in the murder.”

He raised a brow. “I highly doubt it.”

“Why? Does he have an alibi during the fire?”

“Because he was desperately in love with his fiancé and is incredibly respectable.”

“He used to be a musician. Ran away from home to pursue his art. How respectable could he be?”

“Did he? Then he must be a brutal murderer.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You seem to want him to have killed you.”

“I don’t. It’s just that if there was a murderer, who else would have known we were there?”

“I don’t know, maybe every member ofThe Detective Warlock, as well as the thousands of people who were at the con, and then the millions who are following you on social media?”

I shook my head. “No way. I had my friend working on it. She’d be taking down posts as quickly as they went up, and we were being subtle.”

“Baseball hats and sunglasses are subtle?”

I shrugged. “And we were wearing clothing from big box stores. Jeans and t-shirts. We blended.”

He stared at me for a long time. “Of course you did.”

“We did. There were so many people on the train for the con. No one looked at us twice. It’s not like the three gems were known for their obsession with the show.”

“Obsession?”

“Obsession,” I said firmly.

“Even Clarence?”

“Especially Clarence. She didn’t want to see Philip before she got to ogle the cast. He’d be in the way.”

He blinked at me. “Philip Harrison is far more handsome than anyone else on the cast of that show.”

“Yes, but he’s not dangerous.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Don’t tell me she had a thing for Vilus.”

I shrugged. All the goblins had a thing for the dark sorcerer and Mercury. “How do you know what Philip looks like? And you think you know his character? Don’t tell me you stalk him.”

He raised a brow and looked mysterious. “We have had business in the past.”

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