Page 116 of Half Dead

“Ray Bauer, I’d like you to meet Prince Goran. Ray was part of the research team.”

“The Zorya weren’t my suggestion,” Ray muttered.

“Would you like to come in?” I asked the prince. “Nana Pratt has been busy in the kitchen this week. There’s plenty of food.”

“I would love to see your dwelling. It looks fit for a prince.” He expanded his chest boldly.

His remark spurred a thought as we entered the foyer. “Where will you live?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting the plan to work.” He stopped to admire the new library, followed by the parlor room. “What a glorious home this is becoming.”

“It is,” I agreed. “But it takes a lot of work.” If it had been left solely to me, I’d still be trying to fix the downstairs toilet.

“Have you had anything to eat or drink yet?”

“Only today’s flies.”

Poised on the kitchen counter, Claude lifted two fingers in greeting.

“Claude, this is Prince Goran.”

Goran shook the disfigured hand. “A pleasure. Are you cursed as well?”

Claude shifted from side to side.

“He’s a revenant,” I explained. “The rest of him is elsewhere.”

Goran scratched the scruff of his neck. “I can’t decide if that’s good or bad.”

“He’s a huge help around the house,” I said.

The revenant’s fingers straightened at the compliment.

Goran sat at the table with Claude while I warmed a plate of food in the microwave. “Tell me the details. What did you offer to the midnight Zorya to persuade her?”

Goran hesitated. “I offered to be her paladin.”

I whirled around to face him. “You what?”

He waved a hand airily. “It’s no big deal. The odds of her needing a knight to fight on her behalf are teensy tiny.” He held his index finger and thumb a fraction apart. “Nobody even knows the Zorya. Who would want to fight them?”

“Goran…”

He held up a hand. “You made your deal. I made mine. We’ll see which of us chose wisely.”

Ouch. I carried the plate to the table and set it in front of him. “Hope you like fried chicken.”

“I’ll let you know in a minute.”

I sat across from him. “Would you like to stay here, at least until you figure out next steps?”

Goran looked at me with a mixture of gratitude and disbelief. “You’re offering me a home?”

“Until you get on your feet. I have plenty of space…” I trailed off, thinking of Kane’s offer to move in together. Well, this was a temporary arrangement. There was also the small matter of tomorrow’s trial that I may or may not return from.

Goran’s face softened. “I would be honored to stay under your roof.”

“What about Raina? Any chance of a relationship now that you’re in human form?”

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