Page 35 of A Vampire in a Pear Tree
He was silent for almost a minute before heaving a heartfelt sigh.“I will treat with them.”
“Huh?”
He frowned.“How old are you?”
“Eighty-two.You’re going to treat them how?”
“I’m going to treat with them—negotiate.Yrian seems not unreasonable, even if the other dragons are less inclined to be so.I don’t know how joint custody of the blood moon would work, but I am willing to discuss the matter with him.”
Relief filled me at yet another sign that he wasn’t the deranged, homicidal madman that everyone thought him.“OK, but I reserve the right to sic Orla on them if they don’t play ball with you.”
“Hey!”Orla shook her feathers until she was puffed up like a black hedgehog.“You don’t get to tell me what to do!No one gets to do that, not even lover boy, there.I’m my own person, a powerful hedge witch, and I am not going to let you two sideline me so you can make lovey eyes at each other, and probably go shag for hours and hours and hours, leaving me all alone with no one.No, sir, Owain cursed me, so I’m going to stick with him every second of every day, if only to show you two who’s really in char—”
“I really want to learn how to do that,” I said after Owain, with a glance toward the fractious bird and a quick flick of his fingers, put an arm around me and escorted me into the house.
“I’ll teach you,” he promised, the sound of Orla’s squawk as she was sent once again to the Beyond music to my ears.
EPILOGUE
EFFRIJIM
Heya, Desi, hope youdon’t mind a voice note.It was fun seeing you guys last night at our Boxing Day dinner, and since Aisling told me that it might help Parisi if I send her video updates on what’s going on in my life, I thought I’d do that.
Today is a big day in the World of Jim, so I figured I’d share it with you both.I was going to video what I did during the whole day, but Aisling thought that might be a bit much, and since there are others here, she said it might be best to do a voice chat.So here I am, chatting.
This afternoon, Amelie rolled into the backyard of Drake’s Paris house.She had Cecile’s pram with her, with my delicious fuzzybutt riding in it like the queen she is, swaddled in several blankets to keep her comfy.Yrian was going to swing by and make Cecile immortal, so I asked Amelie if she was excited.
“Of course,” she answered, but I noticed a bit of strain alongside her mouth.
Since Amelie is not my bestiest bestie (that would be Aisling, since Cecile is the love of my life, and that tops even Ash) but is still right up there in the heights of bestie-land, I gave her a comforting rub on the leg, until I realized I’d slimed her nice wool black skirt.
“It’ll be OK,” I told her, hoping she didn’t notice the drool.“Yrian swore that nothing bad can happen, and there’s no way Cecile will be harmed.Now that her teeth are all good, this is the best time to make sure she’s with me until the stars fade from the sky.”
Aisling, who somehow saw the slobber mishap, sighed and grabbed a fresh hand towel from where we had a box of them on the patio table, and scooted me aside to wipe off Amelie’s skirt.“Of course nothing untoward is going to happen to Cecile.Yrian is a big animal lover, even if he does favor cats.They have llamas and goats now, as well as their three cats and Becket’s pug.Jim, please mind where you place your flews.”
“I’m not worried about anything bad befalling Cecile,” Amelie said in her soft French accent.Did I tell you guys she was French?She is.“I regret that the day will come when we are parted, but I know that she will live on in happiness with you when that time comes.”
