Page 101 of Cathmoir's Sons

“I’m honorary fae,” Gabe objects.

“Me, too,” Rhodes says.

“No,” Darwin and I chorus.

“If the Holly King passes muster, we’ll have an after-party,” I offer, to soothe the humans.

“If he doesn’t, we’ll have an after-party and he’ll be the entree,” Law adds.

I elbow him. He gives me a gleeful grin.

Chapter 28

Waxing and Waning

RHODES

Scilla is nothing like I expected. I haven’t been to Italy before; I guess I pictured Rome or the Italian Riviera when Luca and Caileán told me about it.

Scilla is quiet, provincial, and smells of the sea. The villa that the twins bought is ridiculously cozy: smooth, worn stone, polished wood, herbal scents, knitted throws over every chair. Caileán slips off her boots and pulls a heathered purple stole around her shoulders within minutes of us stepping out of the Fae Ways. Mugs of steaming, lemon tea sweetened with honey appear on the side tables without any of us venturing into the kitchen.

“Have your bwg followed you from Ceòfuar already?” I ask Caileán as I sit next to her on a sofa and join her in looking out of the huge picture window over the tops of the pines rolling down to the night-dark sea.

“Mmm-hmm, but they’re shyer here, away from my court,” Caileán responds, tucking herself under my arm. “Are we swimming the Straits tomorrow?”

“Sure,” I agree. The sea’s as flat as a pond from this distance, but I’ll bet there are some evil fucking currents. It’ll be good to swim without the weight of expectation dragging me under. I’ve done a dozen practices solo and with the team since dying. As much as everyone wanted me back on my block, it was obvious that I’m not up to competition. I’m not sure who felt more let down by my performance: me, Coach, or my team.

Maybe that will take some of the sting out of me leaving the team when I withdraw from Bevington after Winter Study.

Luca drops to the floor by my feet and leans back against my shins. He balances a platter piled with food across his knees.

I nudge him. “We just ate.”

“Uh-huh but this isItalianfood. Only the deeply crazy pass up Italian food,” Luca responds before popping an herb-crusted shrimp into his mouth and chewing. He tips his head back onto my knees and grins up at me. “Sooo good.”

I hold my free hand out. He hands me a single shrimp.

“Half, kit,” I grumble.

He scoots the food around on the platter with his finger, tucking shrimp under greens, crab claws, and mussels.

“I see what you’re doing,” I grumble.

“Do you?” Luca asks innocently as he finishes hiding all but four shrimp. He offers me two of them with the tips of his fingers.

“You’ll regret this later,” I promise him.

Law drops into an armchair beside Caileán with a chortle. He has his own platter of seafood. Caileán accepts a crab claw when he offers it to her, cracks it between her back teeth, and sucks out the meat with a contented smile.

“Part of my team arrives tomorrow,” she tells us. “We should make the most of tonight.”

“Oh, we will,” I say, since I now have a kit to punish. “That’s a ruined orgasm for every shrimp you hid.”

Luca gulps and offers me three more shrimp.

“Too late,” I tell him.

Luca shifts and rubs his cheek on Caileán’s knee. “You’ll take half of them for me, won’t you?”

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