Page 38 of Crown of Tides and Fury

When he bent forward, I pounded my fists on his back. He didn’t so much as grunt when he plowed his shoulder into my stomach and lifted me off the ground.

“Mind yer head,” he warned a split second before the top of the door might have knocked me unconscious. I quickly gave up fighting and let my upper body hang down his back.

“You’re not my favorite anymore,” I shouted.

“Aye, I am.”

* * *

Everyone was waitingin the study. Urban put me down at the front of the room. Wickham sat at one of the tables and held up his hand in a warning not to speak.

I flipped him off. “What did you do with him?”

He dared to grin at me. “Dropped him off in a cold loch. Hope he can swim.”

I gasped. Flann shook his head quickly. “He’s at the library, lass. No need fer swimmin’.” He gave Wickham a pointed look.

The latter laughed. “Correction. Ishouldhave dropped him off in a cold loch. Now, if ye’ll be so kind as to report.”

“On what?”

“On what was said before the pair of ye tripped and fell into each other’s arms.”

“You’re just mean,” I said, and folded my arms. “That’s my report.”

“And ye’re a petulant child when ye’re gantin’.”

This time, everyone else gasped. I realized I knew what that meant. Kitch used it all the time. It meant horny.

“Listen, bucko. Just because you can’t be with your wife right now—”

“Lennon.” Persi was suddenly standing in front of me, between me and the man I wanted to punish. “Report,” she said, then stepped to the side, like she planned to stay within reach in case I stepped out of line again.

Wickham kept on grinning, though there were wrinkles at the corners of his eyes that suggested I might have to pay for my insensitivity.

“Sorry,” I said. “Just next time, let me finish the kiss, would you?”

“That’s sweet,” Kitch said. “She thinks there will be a next time.”

I resisted his attempt to draw my anger from Wickham to him. I figured I wouldn’t be cooling off until I…cooled off. And until then, I might as well tell them what little there was to know.

“Griffon flatly refused to bring Fallon and Annag back, but when I suggested he might be punishing them because of…us…he said they’re fine.”

Wickham nodded. “Anything else?”

I wasn’t ready to tell him Griffon wondered if he might be Ambition. I would save that in my back pocket for a rainy day. “He said not to expect him to forgive any of us.”

“Fair enough.”

I narrowed my eyes and snarled. “Inever got the chanceto ask him about the DeNoy, and if locking or unlocking one made any sense.”

“Ho!” Brian called out. “No need!” He waved a paper, then set it down to read from it. “From a list in a book called The Original Breeds of Fae…The Noy, being from such an ancient age their true names have been lost. Known to be the only race who can unlock—possiblybeunlocked?—the stars and the heavens.”

His brother interrupted. “It makes sense. If the DeNoy can unlock the stars and the heavens, why not Hell also? If Moira’sMuireachis a hell of some sort, they might have the key.”

“If there are any left.” I took my usual seat and scooted my chair in, pretending I didn’t notice how Persi still watched me, prepared to shut me up. After a minute, her attention began to bug me, so I crossed my eyes at her and made fish lips. She smiled and finally relaxed.

Wickham tapped his thumb on his table for a minute, then shook his head. “We should assume the DeNoy are extinct, which means we must be prepared to deal with Orion if or when he tries to ransom the twins he’s taken.”

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