Page 32 of Of Flames and Crows

“Yeah, I’ll bring souvenirs,”Mae said morosely into her cell phone.

“Tell her to buy us some Stoodle!” Ye-Seul shouted in the background.

Mae grimaced. “Does she mean Strudel?”

“I think so,” Yoo-Mi said acerbically. “You never know with your grandmother.”

Mae sighed.

“Like I said, I’m sorry,” she repeated for the tenth time. “I totally forgot.”

“I get that!” Yoo-Mi snapped. There was a short silence. “I just—I’m worried about you.”

Guilt pricked Mae’s conscience at the way her mother’s voice trembled. “I’ll be alright, Mom. Besides, Violet and Miles are with me. And Vlad is here too.”

“Oh.” Yoo-Mi’s voice brightened. “Vlad’s with you? Put him on.”

“He’s not with me right now.” Mae narrowed her eyes. “It irks me that you sound more pleased about the fact that the incubus is around than your own daughter telling you she’s gonna be okay.”

Yoo-Mi tsk-tsked. “At least he’s a responsible young man. I bethewouldn’t forget to tell his mom—”

“Bless her soul,” they both mumbled.

“—before he left town,” Yoo-Mi finished stridently.

Mae looked at Brimstone where he rode beside her on the backseat of the limo. “I’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I?”

Brimstone huffed commiseratively.

“Put Noah on, will you?” Mae told her mother.

Noah Tegner, Bryony’s nephew and the sorcerer in charge of the team tasked with keeping the Jins safe, came on the line.

“Hey, Mae. How’s Prague?”

“Drizzly,” Mae said sourly. “You better be careful. Mom’s on a rampage. She might not be so forgiving if she catches you two in the act.”

There was a short lull.

“I’m not quite sure what you mean,” Noah said carefully.

Mae sighed. “I know you and Ryu are playing hide the salami. You guys need to pipe down. I barely got any sleep the last time I stayed over, what with all the grunting and moaning.” She paused, her brow furrowing. “Appearances really are deceptive. I would never have put you down as a depraved beast in the bedroom.”

Noah sucked in air.

Mae ended the call and faced Miles and Violet’s grins.

“Noah and Ryu finally did the dirty?” Miles said.

“That guy’s a demon,” Mae grumbled. “My sister is gonna need stamina pills.”

The stone towers of a granite bridge appeared at the end of the avenue. The limo Marlena had sent to collect them from the airport took the exit on the left before they reached it. A dark, wooded island loomed out of the river ahead of them. It was connected to the city by a barrier-controlled overpass.

They crossed over and headed for a track that carved between the towering evergreens. It soon became a graveled driveway. Victorian lampposts appeared, the bulbs casting a soft, golden glow onto the pale stones. The aspect opened up after some three hundred feet.

Mae’s pulse quickened as she stared at the imposing, double-winged, Neo-Gothic mansion looming out of the center of an expansive, manicured garden. They pulled into the front courtyard of the building a moment later.

Light rain peppered Mae’s face as she stepped out of the vehicle with Brimstone. She looked up at a complex facade brimming with gargoyles rising under an overcast night sky.

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