The Twiceborn Queen (The Proving Book 2) (7 page)

He laid the key on the doormat and pulled a tiny knife from his pocket.

Steve’s eyebrows shot up and he looked at Garth in surprise. “Didn’t you check him for weapons?”

“It’s just ceremonial,” Garth muttered, but he looked surprised too. The goblin must have managed to hide it from him.

Blue used the tip of the knife to pierce his finger. He squeezed a drop of blood out and let it drip onto the key, droning something dirge-like in the goblin tongue. I looked uneasily over my shoulder, hoping no one could see this peculiar performance. The dirge seemed to go on forever, until abruptly he stopped and inserted the bloody key in the lock.

He unlocked the door and pushed it open. “All done.”

“That’s it?” said Garth. “The tell-me’s gone?”

Blue clumped back down the stairs and stopped in front of him. “Just said so, didn’t I?” He held out the bloodstained key, but when Garth would have taken it he didn’t let go, sticking his long nose right up into the werewolf’s face instead. “So we’re even now. No more night-time visits?”

“Fine. Whatever.”

“Good.” He released the key and headed down the driveway. “And don’t tell my family you saw me.”

“What about the money?” I asked. Was he just going to leave?

“Keep your blood money,” he snapped over his shoulder. “And leave me out of your dragon squabbles.”

He staggered down the street like a scarecrow that had escaped its field.

“Strange guy,” said Steve. “Friend of yours?”

“Kind of.” Garth watched him go with a troubled frown.

I was glad to see the back of him. Quite apart from a strong desire to beat the living crap out of him for his part in convincing me my son was dead, something about him set my teeth on edge.

“Let’s go.”

I bounded up the steps, eager to be done with the house and its bittersweet memories so I could get back to my miraculously alive child. Lego in hand, of course. I entered the dim hallway; all the blinds were drawn to keep out the heat. The sharp eucalyptus smell of disinfectant lingered in the air, probably from when I’d thrown up the channel stone on this very spot last week. Garth was right behind me. “Can you believe it’s only a week since we met?”

That had been my first inkling of how my life was about to change—coming home and being attacked by an intruder in my kitchen. An intruder who had turned into a wolf and tried to tear my heart out. Happy times.

“Should have killed you then and saved myself a lot of trouble.” He prowled around the tiny house, checking every room, assuring himself it was safe. If he’d been in wolf form his hackles probably would have been standing up. Not a happy camper, our Garth.

“I love you too.”

His mouth quirked in spite of himself. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

I stared at his muscled back as he disappeared into the kitchen. Hadn’t been expecting
that
answer. Smart arse. At least he hadn’t completely lost his sense of humour. He hadn’t quoted
Star Wars
in days, which was a bad sign. Something was definitely eating at him.

I’d hoped reuniting him with some of Leandra’s team would help him, but he still seemed to be struggling. Wolves were pack animals. They liked togetherness, but they
loved
order. A pack was a hierarchy where every member knew their place, and how they related to every other member. Simple. Clear and certain.

First he’d lost his mistress, and the thralls had scattered. Then he’d lost Luce, the person he relied on to tell him what to do. Now life was full of new faces and uncertainties, and a lot of responsibility for making sure those uncertainties didn’t prove fatal had fallen on his broad shoulders.

I knew how he felt. All our lives had been turned upside down in the last week, but Garth’s way of coping seemed to be digging his heels in and trying to control every last little detail, like his insistence on finding the goblin. Although, as it turned out, that hadn’t been such a bad idea. Whoever the tell-me had summoned would have been bad news.

I stopped in the doorway of Lachie’s room. Funny how, even knowing he was still alive, the weight of all that remembered sorrow pressed down on me, gathered in this room. I hadn’t moved a thing; it was still exactly as it had been the day our lives unravelled, his school bag dropped on the floor by his chair, books spilling out onto the carpet next to pieces of Lego and a lone sock. The other one had probably been kicked under the bed, but I’d never looked. The room was like a shrine to my lost son, both a solace and an unbearable reminder of the bright little spark of life I’d thought forever extinguished.

I drew in a shuddering breath. Garth’s keen eyes missed nothing. He laid a big hand on my bare shoulder, but all he said was: “Guess the kid really likes Lego.”

“Yep.”

Apart from the pieces in various stages of construction all over the carpet, there were models on his bedhead, on top of his chest of drawers, and lined up along the shelves of a bookcase that had room for only a handful of books crammed into one corner. Still more lurked unseen behind the doors of his wardrobe.

“I’ll bring in the boxes then.”

The doorbell rang while we worked and Garth leapt up as though stung. He and Steve exchanged a look, and Steve’s hand slipped under the jacket he wore despite the heat.

“Oh, come on, guys. It’s probably just Tanya.”

“Stay there,” said Steve. “I’ll check.”

I followed him down the hall, ignoring his warning glare. Steve’s muscled bulk was intimidating, but I’d been glared at by experts. And I wasn’t having Tanya dropping dead of a heart attack because a giant with a gun opened the door to her. “No assassin is going to ring the door bell.”

Sure enough, my neighbour stood on the door step, looking like she’d come from the gym, her breasts jammed into a skimpy Lycra top and her dark hair tied back in a jaunty ponytail. Her suspicious frown at being greeted by a hulking stranger cleared when I pushed past him, and she grabbed me with a cry of delight.

“You’re back! How are you, hon? How’s your mum?”

She caught me in a crushing bear hug, despite her tiny size, and enveloped me in a cloud of her signature perfume, sweet and floral.

“I’m good—Mum’s good—we’re all good,” I laughed. “Tanya! I can’t breathe!”

“Sorry!” She eased off the pressure a bit. “It’s so good to see you.”

When she finally let go I smelled like the Estée Lauder counter at David Jones and I had a crick in my neck.

“It’s good to see you too. Thanks for looking after the place for me.”

“No problem, honey. Any time.” Steve had faded back into the bedroom, but Garth lurked in the background, and she looked him up and down in blatant assessment, a predatory gleam in her eye. It was her dearest wish to see me hook up with someone—anyone, she didn’t care—and she’d taken my prolonged singleness as a personal challenge. “Who’s your friend?”

I hurried to make introductions. Garth nodded hello then disappeared to join Steve, leaving us to chat. We went into the kitchen, where I discovered she had, in fact, cleaned out my fridge, and emptied the rubbish bin too—on top of cleaning up the shattered mess Garth and I had left after our fight.

“He seems nice.” Never one to waste an opportunity, she moved straight to digging-for-goss mode. “Nice” wouldn’t have been my choice of adjective, though if muscled-up guys were your thing, he was certainly easy on the eye. “Surly” probably came closer, but Tanya was an incurable glass-half-full kind of person. “Where did you meet him?”

I smothered a laugh. She’d never believe me if I told her the truth.

Or maybe she would. After New Year’s Eve, a lot of people were finding it easier to believe in things they never had before.

Our meeting in this very room had left more than a few gaps in the china collection displayed in the old-fashioned dresser. I moved in for a closer look. As I’d feared, Grandma’s willow-pattern plate hadn’t survived the experience. I ran my hand lightly over the pepper grinder, back on its familiar shelf, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. Never underestimate a pepper grinder in a fight.

“Garth? Feels like I’ve known him for ages.”

I picked up a mug that sported a big new chip, rubbing my thumb over the rough spot.

“Now you’re back you can check if anything’s been taken,” Tanya said. “The police will want to know.”

“Sure.” I turned the mug over in my hands, wondering which was the lesser of the two evils: ignore the police and risk them chasing me up over the supposed burglary, or file a report and draw Detective Hartley’s attention to a burglary complete with random blood stains connected to my already-sullied name.

“I had to come in when I saw a strange car in the driveway,” Tanya said. “I wasn’t sure it was you. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back? I could have picked you up at the airport.”

“No, no, it was fine. I had Garth.”

“Have you?”

“What?”

“Had Garth.”

I choked. I hoped he hadn’t heard that. Werewolf ears were pretty sharp. “God, Tanya, don’t you ever stop? He’s just a friend.”
And thanks very much for putting
that
idea in my head
. As if my dragon libido needed any encouragement to start thinking inappropriate thoughts about my employees.

She pouted. “You always say that. What about that gorgeous hunk of man flesh you work with? What’s he going to think when he sees you running around with this Garth guy?”

“Actually—” I could feel my cheeks warming as the image of a naked Garth persisted. “Actually, Ben and I are, um … together now.”

“Really?” She clapped her hands and jumped up and down on the spot like a little girl. An oversexed little girl. “Ooh, that’s fabulous. About time!”

“Yeah.” I grinned. It
was
pretty fabulous, despite everything. And what I felt for Ben went much deeper than any random dragon attraction to a well-built werewolf. “You won’t be seeing much of me any more. I’m moving in with him.”

“Wow! That was quick.”

“Well, we’ve been friends for such a long time—we know each other pretty well already. Now that we’ve realised how we truly feel about each other, there doesn’t seem much point waiting around.”

“True. Didn’t I tell you you’d be perfect for each other? You should have listened to Mama Tanya ages ago.”

“Yeah, yeah, you were right.” I rolled my eyes. “So how’ve you been? How are the girls?”

“They’re good. I can’t wait for school to go back, though. They’re always fighting!”

I nodded in sympathy, though I knew she didn’t mean it. She adored those kids. She liked nothing better than having them home where she could stuff them with some good Italian home cooking.

“We’ll miss you. What are you going to do with this place? Rent it out?”

“I haven’t had much chance to think about it yet.”

“Well, don’t make a decision too fast. Just in case, you know? And keep your bank accounts separate! A girl can’t be too careful these days.”

“Yes, Mum.”

“I’m serious!”

“I know, I know. Don’t worry.”

“Can’t help it, hon. I’m a mum. That’s what we do. And I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt again.”

Her usually mobile face held a rare serious expression, and I felt an unexpected wave of emotion, glad that somebody cared. But relationship problems were the last thing on my mind at the moment. Well, maybe not the last thing—but they were pretty far down the list. First I had to keep Ben alive to have a relationship
with
—and then I had my own issues to deal with. The proving didn’t end till either Alicia or I was dead. Like Highlander: there could be only one.

Garth popped his head into the kitchen. “Do you want the rest of the stuff, or just the Lego?”

“Ah …” There wasn’t much beside Lego. A couple of boxes worth of books, maybe, some board games. Would last summer’s clothes still fit Lachie? Boys grew so fast at this age.

“What are you doing?” Tanya asked.

“Packing up Lachie’s stuff. I decided you were right, it’s silly to keep hanging on to everything.” God, I felt so bad. If only I could tell her the truth—but it was too dangerous. “I’m going to donate it all to charity.”

I guess that answered Garth’s question.

“So pack it all up?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Tanya put her hand on my arm as he left the room. “Good for you, hon. I know it must be hard, but I think it’s the right thing to do.”

I gave her hand a quick squeeze. “Thanks. Well, I guess I’d better get back to it. Give Garth a hand.”

“Sure. I won’t hold you up. You’re probably in a hurry to get back to that gorgeous feller of yours. I know I would be!” She grinned suggestively, then her face fell. “Can’t believe you’re moving out, though. We’ll miss you.”

She pulled me into another fierce hug. Certainly no one could ever accuse Tanya of hiding her feelings.

“I’ll miss you too.”

She swiped at her eyes. “Oh, look at me, my mascara’s probably all over my face. I can’t believe how quickly things can change.”

“I know.” God, did I know. This time last week I’d been a grieving mother, living a lonely, broken life, with Tanya and Ben my only friends. This time last week I’d been human.

Now I had my beautiful boy back—an amazing, life-altering plus in the great scales of the universe. On the downside, I was no longer fully human, but some strange dragon-human hybrid, with my life at stake in a deadly game to see who would inherit the throne from my mother the dragon queen. Or maybe that was a plus too? It was hard to tell. I found the whole people-trying-to-kill-me thing far too distracting.

And of course there was Ben: the change in our relationship was
definitely
a plus.

“The world’s a funny old place sometimes, isn’t it? I mean, look at that business with the dragons on New Year’s Eve. What do you reckon? Think there really are supernatural creatures hidden among us?”

“Don’t know. It seems a little hard to believe, right?” My eyes flicked to the damaged cupboard door, still hanging by one hinge. The door that I’d slammed into the snarling werewolf’s face. “Like, if it
is
true, how come we’ve never had any hints till now?”