Page 74 of Night's Fall
Dang, he even made that sound friendly and not fussed.
“…mayIpresentLauraMakepeaceandGayleVinestrong.”
“I’ve had the pleasure of meetingLaura,”Alekseireplied, his deep voice sharing volumes by dipping straight to velvet as he took my hand and brushed his lips across my knuckles.Helet me go to takeGayle’s. “AndI’mhonored.”
“Me too,totally,” she whispered, her eyes—oh boy—were bright with unshed tears and a wonky, happy, tremulous smile was on her face.
I bumped her with my hip to tell her to get it together.
She cleared her throat and added a sniff.
Aleksei let her go, skated an affectionate glance across mine, and turned toTerrinton.
“And allow me to present the man of the hour.Terrinton, this is a good friend of mine,SirkParrin, and as you heard,LauraMakepeaceandGayleVinestrong.”
“Both like sisters toCatlaTruelock,”Sirkadded.
Terrinton, who was human, short of stature, had a shock of gray-white hair that had been haphazardly slicked back at the top and sides, but was dry, unruly and fluffing out around his neck and the frayed collar of a much-worn shirt.Hiseyes were faded blue.Hisskin was lined.Thetop of his head barely came toAleksei’sshoulder.Andhe appeared to be a man who enjoyed the peaceful countryside with a hobby of whittling, not one who created controversial masterpieces of color, shape and form, who’d been the darling and devil of the art world for the last five decades.
In fact, he appeared to be a man who wanted more than anything to be absolutely anywhere but here.
He dipped his chin to both of us, then his gaze skittered away, caught on something, and he shrunk into himself.
I glanced to where his eyes skittered, saw someone on the approach, no…on adeterminedapproach, andIimmediately forged toward him.
He recoiled from me as well, butIignored that, linked arms, and announced, “Ifyou’ll excuse us,I’mdying for an explanation of a certain piece.”
I caughtAleksei’sthoughtful expression aimed at me beforeIdrew the elderly man away.
I tipped my head toward his asIsemi-dragged, semi-walked him toward a piece installed on a wall oppositeAleksei. “Ithink you may know how to do this, but just in case it’s been a while.Conferencein with me, like we’re engrossed in something immensely important, and hopefully no one will be rude enough to interrupt.”
We stopped in front of what appeared to be a gazillion old-fashioned smoked cigarette butts, all of them scrunched dead at their filters.Thesewere nestled in a bed of gray ash and pressed between matte and glass.
It was ugly, horrid.
And amazing.
But my mind was mostly on howCatdidn’t realize this guy needed a minder.
“Do you have someone who?—?”
“She needed to use the toilet,” he said in a quiet, timid voice. “Catlasummoned the prince, thinking he’d keep the wolves at bay.”
“Something he did, until we showed up, opening the seal,”Ideduced.
He shrugged uncomfortably.
“Sorry about that,”Imuttered.
“You’re mates.Ifyou didn’t come to him, he would have left me whereIstood and prowled the room until he could get to you.”
I jolted beforeIturned to stare down at him.
“You know?”Iwhispered.
His faded eyes came to mine. “I’man artist,Ms.Makepeace.Ifeel everything.”
“Of course,”Imurmured.
