Page 24 of The Prince of New York

If Melody wanted a talk, she’d get her way eventually. I braced for the misery and lurched upright, grimacing as the entirety of my head informed me nothing was all right. “What sort of information?”

“It’s about your princess.”

If Melody was talking to me about Madelyn, something was wrong, something I needed to know about but from someone who could handle me at my worst.

Melody could protect herself, and no matter what she told me, I’d hold my temper with her.

We’d been friends for too long for me to be at all willing to push her, not even when bearing bad news. “Spill it, Melody.”

“Terry did some digging, and she’s in an abusive relationship with someone who is soon to be her ex. The palace opening a suite for her is giving her an out, an out she’s using tomorrow and the next day to implement. She wasn’t earning enough to get out before her unexpected promotion to the palace. Terry, upon finding out the circumstances, decided to handle the matter personally. He informed Rachel about the situation. He knows you’re invested, and it’s for her sake as much as yours. I found out because Dr. Stanton is worried you’ll pick up on Madelyn’s stress, and the woman is a bomb about to blow. She’s bad enough off your sister picked up on it, cornered her, and questioned her until she broke. And yes, Rachel found out before Terry had gone to her about it.”

What had been going on while I’d been trying to burrow under my sister’s tigers? I was aware Madelyn had left during the night and for part of the morning, being replaced by some RPS agents until her return.

“Some fuckwit is abusing Madelyn?” Anger, the kind I hadn’t allowed myself to experience in years, stirred.

Melody reached into her pocket, pulled out a set of suppressors, and offered them to me. “I am not doubting your control, but when I’m thinking about hitting something, it’s best that the cranky flameweaver puts his suppressor on. These ones are generic but have a good empathy leak in them. Not even the North Dakotans mind wearing them.”

If Adam and Veronica could handle the suppressors, so could I, so I took them and snapped them on around my wrist. “What’s the rating for these?”

“That’s going to shut down most of your talents completely, but I suspect you could bust them with your flameweaving if you really wanted. I’d rather if you didn’t break them. I want to get a new set made tuned specifically for your talent, but our evals for you are wrong.”

“Tell me more about Madelyn’s situation, please.”

“Let me give you the first round of painkillers first. They’ll kick in quickly, and they won’t impair you much. Dr. Stanton told me she has you booked in for a long talk, but she wanted me to do the first wave. She figures if I tenderize you first, you won’t put up as much of a fight.” Without missing a beat, she pulled out a small bottle of water from her purse along with a pill bottle. She fished out two tiny pills and handed them over. “These are anti-inflammatories, the kind that make ibuprofen look like child’s play. That’ll knock out most of the swelling in ten minutes flat; it’s part magic and part medicine. After those are working, I’ll go in with my talent and resolve the source issue. After I have the kitchen bring you a meal and you take a shower, you’ll be given a sedative to sleep it off.”

I knocked the pills back and followed up with the entire bottle of water. “I appreciate you coming all this way.”

“It’s no problem. I needed to check on Olivia, too. As word will surely spread faster than any fire you might conjure, there are two, and thus far, both are healthy. I’m nominating you to keep an eye on Olivia when Terry is working and she’s underfoot. I’m sure she’s going to be underfoot keeping an eye on you, so it works well.”

“You told her to keep an eye on me.”

“I absolutely did.”

“All right. I’ll cooperate, and I’ll keep an eye and help her out when she gets to the stage she can’t see her feet anymore.”

Melody laughed. “Thank you. Anyway, back to Madelyn. Terry is on the job, and the RPS will make certain she gets out of her current home, which is her soon-to-be ex’s place. I can’t guarantee that she’ll be able to get all her stuff out, but the priority is to rescue her cats and get as much of her basics as possible. Once Rachel got the truth out of her, she made the arrangements. It’s worked as a good distraction from the fact you had your brain rattled in your skull.”

“What is this man’s risk level?”

“It’s unfortunately high. You will be given a robust RPS detail, and some of the agents will be assigned to watch over Madelyn. There is concern your trip to the courthouse might provide him with an opportunity to get back at her.”

“His talent?”

“He’s a low-grade waterweaver with minimal offensive capability. He couldn’t deal with your talent even if he wanted to.”

Great. “How low-grade are we talking about? And how many people has this fucker abused?”

“That is being investigated,” Melody admitted. “Terry wants your involvement to be minimal. Unless he comes near Madelyn, you’re to leave this alone. However, Terry understands if he comes near her, you will likely pick up on her fear, which will trip your trigger. If your trigger gets tripped because an abuser came within your reach, well, we have the registered accusation with confirmation of the victim speaking the truth, so you’ll get off with a slap to the wrist.”

“And Rachel confirmed that Madelyn wants out of this relationship?”

“She’s been looking for an out for at least a year. That’s part of what brought her back in range of working at the palace. She feels safe on palace grounds, and she has been working to win another assignment here.”

I stared at Melody with wide eyes. “She feels safe here?”

While I wanted to be a safe harbor for the reclusive woman, who brought peace with her wherever she went, I hadn’t thought there was any chance of that being a two-way street.

“According to Rachel, your parents were kind to her despite her station.”

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