Page 75 of Killing Time

Theprima-in-waiting crossed her arms. “And what if we need the help of the McAllisters one day? Do you think they will be eager to lend their assistance after we turned our backs on them when they came asking for help?”

“I have not said that is definitely what will happen,” Anna said, and her gaze flickered toward Ruby for a moment before returning to her daughter. “This matter needs more discussion.” A pause, and she added, voice calm and precise, “I have no wish to give offense here, but the McAllisters are not a strong or a large clan. I do not think any of us can imagine the day when we would be in such dire need of their help.”

Although Seth might have understood those truths deep down, he didn’t much like hearing them spoken aloud by the de la Pazprima.Next to him, Ruby narrowed her eyes, although he could somehow sense she’d also realized that offering more protests wasn’t going to do any good.

“Then we’re sorry to have disturbed you,” she said. “I truly hope what you’ve said is true and that you’ll never need to look outward for any help. If that day ever arrives, I suppose I’ll have to also hope that I might show you more compassion than you’ve shown us today.”

Having delivered those words, she turned and began stalking toward the front door. Not sure what he should do, Seth followed after a brief pause, since he knew that, as theprima-in-waiting, Ruby was the one to make the decision as to whether their audience was over.

Or at least, she had more sway here than he did, since he was just a regular member of their clan and no one with any real standing.

Anna said no word to try to stop them, but just as they opened the front door and were about to step into the courtyard, Maya appeared directly behind them, her expression one of worry and dismay.

“I am so sorry about that,” she said, even as she shut the door so they could be alone in the sheltered space. “I understand why my mother doesn’t want to make trouble with the Wilcoxes, but maybe the family members she consults with will decide we do need to provide some kind of help.”

Ruby lifted one perfectly penciled brow. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

Some women might have looked away. Maya de la Paz, however, only lifted her chin and met the otherprima-in-waiting’s gaze as squarely as she could, given the difference in their heights.

“I’m afraid I don’t,” she said. “But we still don’t know for sure what the elder relatives in my clan will say.”

“It’s all right,” Seth replied, an utter lie. Like Ruby, he didn’t see the point in holding out hope that the senior members of the de la Paz clan might talk some sense into Anna.

But Maya looked so distressed that he’d thought he needed to say something to let her know they didn’t consider any of this to be her fault.

“No, it’s not all right,” she said. “Unfortunately, I can’t do very much to go behind my mother’s back.”

Ruby reached over to put a friendly hand on her fellowprima-in-waiting’s arm. “We wouldn’t expect you to do that. I suppose I just hoped that she would understand Jasper Wilcox is a danger to all of us, and not just the McAllisters.”

“She should have,” Maya agreed. “But because things have been quiet for so long, I don’t think she wants to do anything that would upset the balance.”

“Because appeasing villains always works out so well,” Ruby said with a curl of her bright red lip, and Maya appeared even more troubled.

Seth had the impression there had been more significance to his cousin’s words than he immediately recognized, but he thought it best not to dive into that subject too deeply, not when they had more pressing matters to manage. “We’ll figure this out,” he said. “It would have helped to know that the de la Pazes would be there to support us, but we’ll come up with something.”

“Yes, we will,” Ruby said. She sounded supremely confident, but he’d already come to realize that was just how she operated.

For all he knew, she’d cultivated that air of confidence, of believing there was a solution to every problem, because she’d realized early on that she would probably be fairly young when she had to take over from Abigail. No settling in comfortably asprimaas a woman in her forties or even fifties, someone who’dalready raised a family and knew something of the world and how it worked, but rather the understanding that she might have to step in as the head of the clan at any moment.

Maya now looked almost hopeful, as though some of the otherprima-in-waiting’s assurance had rubbed off on her. “You really think so?”

“We do,” Ruby said. “And there’s still a chance your clan might come to the rescue. But we’ve taken up enough of your time. Now Seth and I need to get back to Jerome so we can plan.”

“It is a long drive,” Maya agreed, and now Seth found himself smiling for the first time since they’d come to Phoenix.

“Oh, we didn’t drive,” he said.

Ruby grinned as well, and came over and slipped her arms around his waist. “It was nice seeing you, Maya,” she told the other woman. “Just remember that we McAllisters always have a few tricks up our sleeve.”

And then they blinked away.

“Well, that was a waste of time,” Ruby grumped as soon as they materialized in Seth’s living room.

He was inclined to agree. “They definitely weren’t all that helpful,” he responded. “Or at least, Anna wasn’t. I think if Maya was running the clan, things would have been a lot different.”

“I think you’re right.” Ruby put her hands on her hips and glanced around the room, although nothing had changed in the twenty minutes or so they’d been gone. The little sketch she’d made of Anna de la Paz’s gracious Spanish-style house still sat on the dining room table, and because he’d left the kitchen window open, a cool breeze caught at the blue striped curtains that hung there. “Well, we can scratch the de la Pazes off the list,because I know those ‘discussions’ with their elders aren’t going to amount to a hill of beans. What else do we have going for us?”

As far as Seth was concerned, not a whole hell of a lot. His ability to teleport wouldn’t get him very far in a place that he knew must be protected against incursions by strange warlocks.

---