Page 52 of Blood on the Ice

“Of course, young shifter!” Liam replies with a wink. “Kaspar has been my guard since we were both children. He’s just part of the very formal, very tight-assed royal family guards. They’ve been trained to act like they have a stick up their ass by my father’s commander. On this side of Faerie, he can easily slip into our old ways. At least, when we’re not in public.”

“Is him calling you Liam in front of us a good thing?” I ask.

Kaspar frowns and stalks out of the kitchen, heading for the living room with his brew. The Prince chuckles and nods. “Indeed. He does not trust easily; it is his job to keep me unharmed and out of trouble. I don’t make it easy on him, I fear. But if he lets his guard down, I think, perhaps, you won’t dislike him so much.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck if she?—”

“Kaspar!”

I snort at the Prince’s stern admonishment. It’s much more obvious how close they are now. “It’s okay, Liam. Let’s gather in the living room and wait for everyone else. I’m very curious what information Jackson has about Lucas’s case and even more curious about this whole ‘team’ he’s bringing.”

“I wonder about that, too. I have met many lawyers, but few who travel with a group. It intrigues me.”

Lucas takes my cup and his, refilling them before he returns. “Agreed. There were no shortage of lawyers around our family, but usually some lower minion came to deliver shit or the big gun visited. I don’t recall a whole gaggle of folks descending on my parents or Nana.”

Great. Is this more serious than we thought?

Slade and Iggyreturn within the half hour, looking tired but clean. I notice they’re dressed more casually than last time, and it makes me smile to myself. For some reason, I’m pleased that everyone but dickhead Kaspar is comfortable in my house. It makes the creatures inside me hum a bit, even the gorgon. Des isn’t poking her head out—I call that a win. They join Lucas, Liam, and me on the couches, waiting to hear what the plan is.

“Okay, now that we’re all here… Have you heard from Channing yet?” Iggy asks as he settles in.

“No. She promised she’d text when she arrived at the airport,” I reply as I check my phone. “The planes are due any minute, so I’m sure we’ll hear soon.”

“That gives us an hour of mid-day airport traffic for them to fight once they’re deplaned. I think we should go upstairs and start boxing shit in that bedroom. I want to get the fuckwit’s crap out of this house as soon as possible.”

I blink at Lucas, my face turning red. “You guys don’t have to?—”

“Nonsense, Morgana. What the university board did to punish you by leaving all this shit here is disgraceful,” Iggy cuts in. “Magnus’ hidden secrets in this unfamiliar place make it dangerous. He was not a good man, and I wouldn’t put it past him to store magical items that shouldn’t be accessible to most users here in a hoard. Dragons love that shit.”

“True.” Slade slaps his thighs and nods as he stands. “We have at least three magic users here to help identify things that need special handling. We’ll work our way through this museum to his ego room by room until you have a suitable place to live.”

Everyone gets up, and I follow them to the stairs. Kaspar hangs back, coming in last with a dark expression on his face. When I know no one else can see, I lift my hand and flip him off over my shoulder as we climb up to the second floor. The only response I get sounds like a cross between a huff and a chuckle, so I’ll consider that a win. I don’t know what I did to piss this asshole off, but I wish he’d get the hell over it.

Lucas opens the door to my spacious bedroom and every single guy flinches. I frown, looking at them curiously. “What?”

“You don’t smell that?” Slade groans.

I shake my head. “Gargoyles have better hearing and vision. The snake smells exceptionally well, but only when I’m… you know. Because they do it with their tongues.”

They’re all silent for a moment and I think I lost them at ‘tongues,’ but finally Iggy sighs. “For me, I smell the magic Magnus and many, many others used in this room for fuck knows what. It’s… smoky, with hints of various flowers or spice scents. I could work out what kinds of… well, I could figure out his roster if I focused.”

My eyes widen in horror, and I look at the others. “And you guys can, too?”

Liam grimaces. “I can, yes.”

Slade and Lucas both dip their heads, but finally, Lucas grumbles, “I can smell sex, magic, shifters, animals, and various other shit. Probably more than those two. I assume Slade and the cockwaffle can, too.”

“Oh my fucking Goddess, this is humiliating.” I put my face in my hands, knowing I’m scarlet with both embarrassment and fury. The telltale hiss of Des breaking free to make her anger known distracts me for a moment and I close my eyes inside the protective cover of my palms. “I’m not stupid; I know you’re all being kind by not identifying all of it clearly. He had droves of people in here while I was waiting like a damn fool in Europe.”

“Yes.” Kaspar replies simply. “Despite having the keenest senses, I won’t divulge what I know. You’re trouble, but I do not need to be cruel.”

Not exactly kind, either, buddy.

“That’s enough making her feel like shit,” Lucas growls. “Slade, go open all the windows. Iggy, go help pick up the boxes I had sent with Liam and Kaspar. Let’s air out this disgusting funk and swap everything before one of us catches something.”

“Lucas!” I groan, rubbing my face again. “Don’t evenjokeabout that. Dragon Scabies is awful; my friend Luella got it once, and I told Magnus that—oh, fuck.”

“Today is the gift that keeps on giving,” Kaspar mutters as he swoops down to pick up a large stack of boxes like it’s nothing. “I have a feeling this won’t be the last batch of unpleasant realizations. Did you buy tissues, bear?”

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