Unwrapping Mr. Roth (8 page)

“How are you, Kori, dear?” Holly, in the middle of the cluster of bitchy blondes, asked.

“I’m fine, Aunt Holly,” Kori answered in a near-squeak.

Gillian pulled her glare away from Nick and fixed it on his sister, who tossed one right back at her.

This should be interesting.

“It’s wonderful to see you out and about, Kori, darling,” Hortense said. “Will you be letting the other girls out, too, Nicholas, or is Kori an exception? A
favorite?”

“Kori is Gillian’s aide. I don’t imagine she’ll come to any harm in Gillian’s service. Isn’t that why women always travel everywhere in clusters, Hortense? Personal safety? And of course she’s a favorite. She’s my niece. And
yours
, lest you’ve forgotten.”

“Are you saying the young woman is
available
?” an especially short elf asked from atop his barstool. His legs weren’t much longer than that hyperactive canine Agnes had appropriated from her queen.

“We can arrange something,” Honoria said to the elf.

Kori whimpered quietly.

Nick tightened his hand around Gillian’s.
Your cue, pet.

She let out a choked laugh, ostensibly from the tension, and when every eye in the room was on her, she smiled brightly and said, “Sorry, I don’t think so. I’m not willing to give Kori up so soon. She really is quite indispensable. However, if at some point she expresses interest in courting a suitor, I’ll make sure it occurs in an appropriate setting.”

Mother gave a tiny exhalation that dripped with relief.

Perhaps Gillian wasn’t trained in diplomacy, but her response had been as good as any Mother would have come up with.

But of course his mate would catch on fast. Certainly, after all that time he’d spent waiting for her, the Fates weren’t going to send him an imbecile.

The board members went back to chatting amongst themselves at the bar and the Ho’s went back to glaring at Nick and company.

“Let’s step outside where it’s more quiet, sweetheart, and discuss our dinner plans.” Nick pulled Kori along on the way out the door.

Mother followed them out.

“You had no right!” Gillian spat at Nick as soon as the heavy door closed behind them.

“I had
every
right. Do you see what I’m dealing with here, Gillian? Even knowing you’re my wife they were all staring at you like they wanted to tie you to their horses and steal you away the next time I turn my back.”

“I can take care of myself, Nick.”

“No, you can’t,” Mother said with a grimace. “If you go back out into your world unaccompanied, they might try to take you for ransom. It’ll be like Carmit all over again. Kori doesn’t have much magic, but she could at least create a diversion. That’s why I agreed with Nicholas that he should take her to you.”

“Who’s Carmit?”

“My mother,” Kori said. “People were always trying to kidnap her. They stopped after she had me because then I became the more valuable one. Youth and such.”

Gillian scoffed and took another step back. “This is really sick. And you’re doing
business
with these people, Nick?”

“Sweetheart, if I wasn’t doing business with them, their races would have probably tried to conquer my father’s kingdom a long time ago. I keep them close and aware of my business so if anything goes wrong, I know who to blame.”

“And your own sisters are openly plotting against you. It’s really hard to feel comfortable with this situation, and it’s one I don’t even want to be in in the first place. You said I would be able to back out of this and now you’ve reneged on that. How am I supposed to feel? Because honestly, I’m feeling pretty duped.”

Mother sighed and grasped Gillian’s shoulder. “Nicholas merely needs to show he means business, even make an example of a few people if necessary. They’ll back off, I promise. They’re like piranhas circling, waiting for a chance to nip at bloody flesh. They did the same thing when my husband became king. Things’ll settle down, Gillian, I promise. Can you give us through Christmas at least? Things will be better by then. I’m doing my best to get Holly, Hortense, and Honoria at bay. If I have to grovel to the Sídhe again, so be it. Princess Siobhan may have some ideas. She was the one who arranged for the girls’ glamour.”

Gillian looked at Nick, and try as he might to keep his expression neutral, doing such was becoming increasingly difficult where she was concerned. He was out of sorts.

She looked next to Kori who was starting to sweat, although it was quite chilly in the hallway. Kori was wringing her hands and looking from Gillian, to Nick, to Mother for resolution. Kori wasn’t a pivotal player and she had to know it. Everything that happened to her would be by the grace of one of the adults around her…or by one of their failures.

“Dammit,” Gillian whispered, pounding her fist against her thigh. She met Nick’s gaze and sighed. “You owe me big-time.”

“No chance of you doing it at of sheer affection, I imagine.”

“I can’t give you what you haven’t earned.” She left.

Kori followed.

Nick turned to Mother.

Mother shrugged. “Pick your battles, dear, and that
doesn’t
mean starting them. You can’t bully her into staying.”

“Is that what I’m doing?”

“Perhaps you don’t see it that way, but yes.”

“She doesn’t know what’s best for her.”

“But Nicholas, neither do you.”

It was a bitter pill to swallow, and he wasn’t sure he believed it. Of course he knew what his queen needed. He was Santa. He knew what people needed and wanted, and he knew she wanted him.

Mother drummed her fingers against the sides of her arms and blinked at him.

“She wants me.”

“Perhaps she does, but on what terms? Certainly not yours.”

“But—”

“Nicholas,” Mother said gently, but the warning in her tone was unmistakable. “You’re better than this. Be
reasonable
.”

“How? Is there some switch I should throw? Or a spell to cast to activate the skill?”

“You have the ability. You choose not to exercise it when it doesn’t suit you.”

“Perhaps so. And perhaps that’s my prerogative.”

He returned his meeting, avoiding the stares of his sisters as he approached his desk.

“Kori, are you not able to jump through space and time like Nick?”

It was the following Monday, four days before Christmas, and the last day of preschool for the term. Gillian was opening up the building and Kori stood behind her, holding the bag of gifts she’d specially chosen for the kids. She may not have been on speaking terms with Santa and they’d been carefully avoiding each other for a week—except in her traitorous dreams—but there were some benefits to being married to him. Waking up to find all her credit cards paid off and a student loan balance of zero had been nice, but having unlimited access to the contents of Santa, Inc.’s corporate catalogue was, well, like
Christmas
.

“Why the hell isn’t my key working?” Gillian mumbled, continuing to stab the offending thing into the lock.

“No. I suck,” Kori said in response to the first question.

“Oh, that’s not true. You’re one of my favorite people.” Gillian turned around and put her hands on her hips, looking at Kori with what she hoped was her encouraging teacher gaze.

“It’s true, Aunt Gillian. As far as my abilities go, I’m limited to reviving houseplants.”

“Huh. No wonder Granny Sue’s philodendron looked so damned glossy. I’m sure you’re exaggerating, though.”

Kori shook her head and shifted her bag to her other shoulder. “Not by much. My mom is pretty powerless, and from what everyone else says my dad wasn’t exactly top of the food chain, either. That’s why he was so easy to pluck off. He had a charm backfire on him…with a little help.”

“From who?”

Kori shrugged. “Never did figure that out, but there was definitely foul play involved. Happens a lot in the preternatural courts. Fairies and goblins are always antagonizing each other. Even within the same courts, you can’t trust anyone. It’s all about self-preservation and what you can get from other people.” Her voice was so calm that the conversation had taken a downright morbid turn.

“You don’t sound bothered enough about that, Princess.”

Kori shrugged yet again. “I try to only worry about the things I can fix.”

“That’s really mature.”

“You get a lot of time to think when you’re locked up in a five-room suite for most of your childhood. I’d make an awesome nun, since apparently I’m heading down the path of lifelong chastity and cloistering as it is.”

“Oh, stop it. I’m trying to help you girls.”

“I know. We believe you can.”

“Why do you think that?”
Gillian
didn’t even believe that. Wanting to help and trying to help didn’t necessarily mean she was destined for success. It just meant she cared.

“Because you’re the queen.”

“Yeah, about that…” Gillian returned her attention to the door just as a deep voice called out across the gravel lot. “Ain’t gonna work. Changed the lock, honey.”

Gillian turned in the direction of the familiar tone.

Kurt Dill picked his way across the lot in his usual attire of pleated khakis and plaid shirt. He owned most of the commercial property in the area and rented the preschool’s building to Hal and his wife. He had a son in Gillian’s class.

“Why’d you change the lock?” she asked.

“I ain’t been paid rent in about four months. I told ’em I was fixin’ to evict and they shut the school down last Friday. You didn’t know? Shoulda got a letter.”

Gillian cut her gaze toward Kori and Kori shrugged.

Gillian hadn’t been at work the previous Friday
or
Thursday because on Thursday morning she’d gotten into a knockdown, drag-out catfight with Hortense that had spanned ten minutes and two dimensions.

Hortense had shown up at Gillian’s Zumba class clad in teeny tiny shorts and a tank top that was damned near see-through. The Ho had held her tongue until water break, and then she’d walked up to the front of the room and thrust a ring box at Gillian.

“Mother ordered me to give that to you.”

Gillian had opened the box to find a large oval-cut ruby flanked by emeralds all mounted in an antique-looking gold band.

“Why?” she’d asked. Gillian had never been the kind of girl who’d say no to beautiful jewelry, but she couldn’t help but to be suspicious, given the bearer of the gift.

Hortense hadn’t answered. She’d been too busy scrolling through the contents of Gillian’s Zumba playlist and sucking her teeth at Gillian’s apparent lack of taste.

Kori had walked over, looked inside the box, and squealed with glee. “I can’t believe Grandmother made her give it up. There are only two of them. Now Aunt Horty’s going to have to use the portals like the rest of us.”

“What is it?”

“Spoil of war. I don’t remember which war. Say, you should probably read up on elf history. Anyway, there are two rings. Grandmother has the other, but she doesn’t use it much. She doesn’t like leaving the palace. Basically, it’ll let you do what Uncle Nick can do naturally—go from one place to another without having to use a portal.”

“Cool.” Gillian had taken it out of the box and tried it on for size on her right ring finger. “It looks valuable.”

“Of course it is, you gold-digging slut!” Hortense had said.

Gillian had gone into a red, violent rage and her body moved on its own accord. Horty had been crouched there in front of the speakers, and Gillian had grabbed the base of her ponytail and yanked her backward so her head slammed against the hard floor. From there, there’d been a lot of scratching and swatting from both parties. When the Zumba ladies had started filing back into the studio from the hallway, Hortense and Gillian were throwing blows in earnest.

Gillian’s adrenaline had been so hopped up that it took her a while to realize that she was blowing blood out of her nose with every exhalation.

“Uh, ladies?” Kori had tried to intercede. She didn’t want to get too close, though, not that Gillian blamed her. Kori couldn’t exactly take sides in a battle between her blood aunt and her queen.

Gillian had managed to get an arm around Hortense’s neck and to drag her out into the hallway. No one had followed. The next thing Gillian knew, they were crashing through the glass coffee table in the bedroom of Nick’s winter lodging at the North Pole.

Nick had gotten groggily out of the bed wearing nothing but a pair of silk pajama bottoms, trudged across the room, and picked up his stunned sister. He’d vanished with her, only to reappear about two minutes later, staring at Gillian as she picked glass out of her fancy Zumba cargo pants.

“Don’t say a damned word,” she’d warned, as if that would stop the king of elves from doing whatever the hell he wanted.

He’d used his thumb to wipe some blood off her chin, and she seethed.

“Say something, asshole.”

“Gillian, you just told me not to speak.”

“And you’re being silent just to spite me.”

“No, I’m being silent because you’re ruthless and I’m standing here in awe of you.”

“I married you and now I have a target on my ass. You didn’t tell me that was part of the deal.”

“If you’d just relent and live at the palace, people wouldn’t harass you.”

“Or you could go ahead and give me the divorce you promised.”

Nick had studied her with a quiet consideration for a few moments then said, “Consider yourself kidnapped, Gilly. Come and go as you please, but you’ll be my queen until you die. That’ll be a very long time from now.” He had glided back to his unmade bed and sat at the foot, patting the space beside him. “Come to bed and we’ll play doctor.”

Gillian was embarrassed to admit that even with Kori left all alone at the rec center enduring the wrath of the director, she’d been tempted. Nick had no magic over her, but there in that dim light, leaned back onto his elbows with his pants riding low on his hips, she wanted nothing more but to glide her hands over that smooth pale chest and put her mouth on him.

They were married, and for as much as he thought she was a possession of his, he was one of
hers
. She had taken one small step toward the waiting king, but when her nose dripped blood down onto her torn shirt, she broke free of the trance.

“Stay away from me, Nick,” she’d said, and then she thought about Kori and teleported back to North Carolina. “Just stay away from me.”

So, she’d gotten fired from teaching Zumba,
obviously
, and it seemed Kurt was now telling her she was out of yet another job.

She let out a shuddering breath. “I haven’t been home to check my mail in a while, Kurt.”

“Well, your letter is probably in there. Hal pretty much cut and run. Hope you ain’t waitin’ on no paychecks.”

“Shit.”

He grunted. “Yep. Figured you were. Look, we’re all mad about the childcare situation, but some of the teachers said they’d watch the kids off the books till we find somethin’ else. Was wonderin’ why your name won’t up there. I see why, now. They’re gone, girl. Nobody knows where they are, but with all the back rent they owe and all the May deposits they were holding, they could be anywhere.”

“Fuckers.”

“Yeah, you said it. Well. Good luck, I guess. Let me know if you wanna do some babysitting.”

“I’ll do that.”

Gillian didn’t move until the tail end of Kurt’s pickup truck rounded the corner.

“Well, I guess you can spend more time at the palace now,” Kori said. “Uncle Nick will be pleased. Maybe that’ll improve his mood.”

“I wish I could care about his mood. You know what I do care about?”

“What?”

“His neck. I’m still going to wring it.”

“Could you wait until after Christmas?”

“Oh, sure,” Gillian said flatly, starting for her car. “I forgot. I should think like an elf. Kids have to get their presents first, right?”

“Exactly.”

***

Gillian teleported Kori to the palace sunroom where most of the nymphs were trying to finish up their homeschooling packets before Christmas, and then sat in her near-empty chambers twiddling her thumbs.

Annoyed through she might have been, she couldn’t sit around being unproductive. If she had to be there for the time being, she wanted to
do
something beyond plotting the homicide of the elf king, so she set off in search of Eldora. She found the nymph way down on the bottom floor in the main kitchen.

Eldora stood at the counter with her fists buried in a monstrous mound of bread dough. The cook sat idly by reading a German newspaper.

“Hello, Gillian.” Eldora pulled her hands out of the sticky stuff and slapped the pile into a tidy round dome shape.

“Are you slumming it down here, Eldora?”

Eldora laughed. “No, I always go visit my Sídhe friends before Christmas if I can sneak into their part of the realm,” she said as she wiped her hands clean on a white dishtowel. “Depends on who’s guarding the portals, but old man Fergus usually knows to look for me and he’ll let me through. My Sídhe friends love my elf loaves. In exchange for them, they do me boons.”

“Like charming the girls, you mean.”

“Yes. I suspect if I were to ask them for favors, they’d do them without expecting anything in return. I just hate the idea of not giving anything back when they try so hard to be kind to me. They’d probably be in horrible trouble with their queen if she found out.”

“Another party for me to worry about, huh?”

Eldora nodded. “One of many. Rhiannon would certainly be a threat for you.”

“Thank you for the honesty.” Gillian leaned against the kitchen island and plucked a pear from the fruit bowl. “I don’t understand all the fighting. Groups outside of your particular brand of elf, sure—I can see there being beef. But within your own house? It doesn’t make sense for there to be so much suspicion and hostility.”

Eldora chuckled and laid a damp cloth over the yeasty pile of dough. “I heard about your little run-in with Horty. She’s actually the most belligerent of the triplets. I figured you could handle her, though.”

Gillian gaped. “You
knew
she’d pick a fight?”

“I
guessed
she would.” Eldora wrapped an arm around Gillian’s shoulders and led Gillian out of the kitchen and into the dim, drafty hallway. “Don’t take it personally, dear. The girls need to be put in line, and it’s your job to do it.”

“No. This isn’t my job. I’m just here temporarily.”

“I wish you’d rethink that.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re suited for the job.”

“Bullshit.”

Eldora sighed. “All I can do is try to change your mind.”

“You can try, but you and I both know I don’t belong here. I’ve got a life in North Carolina, and there’s nothing for me to accomplish here. Nick got what he wanted already.”

Eldora gave Gillian’s hand a gentle but scolding squeeze. “We’ll agree to disagree, shall we? And, look, my daughters couldn’t give a whit of care about etiquette. They’re opportunists. They’re like guppies who’d eat their own fry if hungry enough. Nymphs often are.”

“And you’re not?” Gillian didn’t
mean
to sound so damned suspicious, but she had to know if her mother-in-law was feeling hungry herself.

“No. Neither is Kori, nor the rest of the girls, for that matter.”

“Why? Or is this another complicated thing like elf aging?”

“No, it’s not complicated at all. It’s a plain factor of breeding. My husband was a megalomaniac, and unfortunately, my daughters inherited that trait.”

“And Nick didn’t?”

“No. Nick got the bloodlust. His brother got the recklessness.”

“Wow. Nice husband, you had.”

“Yes. Well, we hope bringing some fresh blood in will water down some of our more…hmm…
undesirable
traits. Too much inbreeding.”

Gillian stopped them in the middle of the hallway and put her hands up. “Look, Eldora, I know you mean well, but I really don’t want to be a part of the elfin revolution. I don’t belong here. This isn’t my world.”