Page 57 of Ulune's Daughter

“I don’t know. Are we?”

“She’ll find out sooner or later. She’ll be less pissed off at you if it’s sooner.”

“I just think it opens doors to questions I can’t answer.”

“Why? Lots of reasons we might know each other. Even be involved with each other. You haven’t talked about exclusivity yet, have you?”

“No,” he admits.

“Then what’s the issue? Even with this lie you’ve got going about being an assistant coach, there’s no reason you can’t see me. Assistant coaches aren’t handing out grades.”

Rhodes clears his throat. “I just don’t want to expand the lie. It’s bad enough she thinks I’m staff. I don’t want to lie to her about anything else. Particularly not about seeing other people. She’s told me some things about her ex. He did her really dirty. When she agreed they could see other people, he started dating her sister. They’re married now. Kellan made jokes about it, the way she does, but it clearly wounded her. She’s essentially estranged from her family. I just ... I don’t want to hurt her, Lu. I really like her.”

Boy scout. I knew he wouldn’t be able to carry a lie for long.

“All the more reason to stick to the truth,” I tell him. “You don’t need my permission, but I’d say tell her. You don’t have to go into detail. You don’t owe her a big explanation. But better she finds out we’re involved now than six months from now.”

He sighs and rests his forehead against the back of my head. The nape of the neck is a sensitive spot for cats, loaded with positive associations from kittenhood. I don’t know if he intuited that long ago or just scoped my reactions, but he’s always given me lots of touch there. It makes me want to drag him into my bed and keep him there forever.

“I’ll think about it,” he says at last.

“Good. Now think about paying more attention to my backside.”

He nips the nape of my neck. “I know what you’re angling for, kit.”

“Then give it to me, you slow-ass fucker.”

He chuckles. “I’m going to beat your ass before I chain you to the bed and fuck you raw.”

“Promises, promises,” I say.

Chapter20

The Cold Breath of Faery

RHODES

Ihate lying.

I hate lying almost as much as I hate traveling the Fae Ways.

Why am I doing so much of both?

Lying to Kellan makes me feel the same way lying to Luca feels. My gut curdles. My chest goes tight. I push down those feelings to focus on the rush that fills me when she sees me walking up her back steps and smiles.

Fuck, she has a beautiful smile. It sparkles through her pale blue eyes like sunlight over water.

She’s wearing what she told me to wear: plain, dark clothes. Although it’s a warm day and she’s told me we’re going somewhere warm, she has a black scarf wound loosely around her throat. I have my own draped around my shoulders. She’s wearing tall leather boots over her black leggings. I borrowed a pair of Luca’s black Doc Martins. Coordinated treasure hunters.

“There’s my partner in crime-fighting,” she says as I walk up the stairs.

“Hey—”

My greeting is cut short by twin hisses. One is from a huge, white bird sitting on a pillow tucked between two couches on her porch. The other is from Law, in his cat form, curled up on a chair beside Kellan. He’s got his paws tucked under his chest and his green eyes slitted: a tiny, fluffy murder loaf.

He can’t know what we’re planning, can he?

“Whitey, Blackey, be nice,” Kellan admonishes as she zips up a backpack, shaking her head. “Two minutes ago, they were hissing at each other. Now they have a common foe.”

---