Chapter 2

Ichecked my hair and teeth in the bathroom mirror one last time. All good. I didn't want to give Gunther any more ammunition to use against me than he already had. His words were often as lethal as his tarot cards.

An uncomfortable pain pricked the back of my neck. Even the ward seemed to recognize that the mage and I were in an uncomfortable place. I wasn't sure where I stood with Camryn because she'd missed my ghost wrangling performance at Bone Lake; it depended on whether Gun had spilled the magic beans to his cousin.

"Company," Addison sang in response to the doorbell.

"Stay in your room and don't come out." I hurried downstairs to answer the door before she decided to disobey orders.

Gun stood alone on the porch. His dark hair was neatly moussed. A gothic black feather shawl cradled his angular shoulders. The heels of his boots boosted him an extra inch.

"Good evening, Miss Clay."

"Why so formal, Mr. Saxon? It's like we've only just met."

"Seems appropriate under the circumstances, don't you think?"

So that's how it's going to be. Got it. "No Miss Sable?"

"She'll be here shortly."

I motioned to the foyer. "Do come in, sir."

He crossed the threshold, discarding his shawl in one elegant move. He arranged it daintily on the coat rack.

"New boots?" I asked.

He thrust out a slender leg. "They are. Had them customized so I could hide a few spare cards in the heel."

"Clever." In addition to being a member of the local Assassins Guild, Gunther was also a member of La Fortuna Society, an ancient group of mages who channeled their magic through tarot cards.

His gaze swept the foyer. "And will your minions be joining us this evening?"

I suppressed a sigh of irritation. "Nana Pratt and Ray are not my minions. I've asked them to give us privacy, so I assume they're roaming around outside." I omitted any mention of the fugitive upstairs.

He sniffed the air. "Something smells good. Did you cook?"

"As a matter of fact, I did."

He looked me in the eye. "Should I be concerned?"

"Poison is a coward's weapon."

"Agreed." He stopped short outside the parlor room. "Holy hooker in a hand basket. What in the maraschino cherry is that?"

"My new sofa. I saw an opportunity and seized it with both hands."

"I hope you sanitized them afterward." He rubbed his angular chin. "I wouldn't have expected to find a monstrosity like this in your house. I'm perturbed by yet another shocking discovery from Lorelei Clay."

"Which is worse—the red leather sofa or my secret identity?"

He walked forward to examine the sofa. "Neither revelation puts you in a flattering light, and with your skin tone, you really need one."

My jaw dropped. "Hey. I thought there was a guild rule about no assassinations in Fairhaven."

"No actual assassinations. The rules say nothing about character." He lowered himself to the cushion and bounced on the edge. "Not as uncomfortable as it looks."

"Would you like to sit here for our talk or venture into the kitchen?"

"That depends. Is there alcohol in the kitchen?"

"Yes."

He popped to his feet. "That'll do."

The ward activated as we entered the kitchen, sending a light tickle down my arm. "Cam's here," I announced. The sensation suggested that either Gun didn't share his experience at Bone Lake, or she didn't care.

Gun planted himself in the nearest chair. "Delightful."

My nerves tingled as I crossed the foyer. I adopted my friendliest smile and opened the door. "Hey, Cam."

"Hey, yourself." She waltzed into the house with a bright smile. Nothing about her demeanor suggested discomfort or disappointment. "I saw Gun's car outside. Is he in the kitchen?"

"Yes. I'm surprised the two of you didn't come together."

"I had to come straight from an appointment with my shamans. I'm staying in a hotel next week that I haven't visited before. We needed to prep."

Camryn's first visit to the Castle had involved shamans and more sage than a wise man convention. The petite mage had very exacting standards.

She practically screeched to a halt outside the parlor room. "Great gods above. Is that a red leather sofa?"

"It is."

She stepped fully into the room and stood in silence for a minute. "You know what? I think it works in a room as big as this one. A few well-placed accessories and you've got yourself a room with style."

"Thanks, Cam. I appreciate that."

She looked at me sideways. "Gun hated it, didn't he?"

"Very much. I expected you would, too." Camryn's house looked like the heart of a blizzard. Anything that wasn't white was a shade of off-white or gleamed like icicles.

"I wouldn't like it for my house, but for the Castle… Yes, it absolutely works. Your artwork looks good too. The red in that Klimt print ties everything together."

My spirits lifted. We were off to a promising start.

By the time we entered the kitchen, Gunther had uncorked a bottle of wine and set three full glasses on the table.

"Thanks," I said. "Dinner will be ready in about fifteen or twenty minutes. Why don't we sit and talk?"

"Yes, why don't we?" Gun offered a Cheshire cat smile as he descended into a chair.

"I'm sorry I've been MIA," Camryn said. "I had a couple out-of-state jobs in a row, and they totally threw off my schedule."

"My schedule's been a little thrown off, too," I admitted.

"Ooh, but I heard you killed the big beast of Bone Lake," Camryn commented. "Go, you."

I flinched. "I didn't kill the kulshedra. The werewolves from West's old pack were responsible for that."

Cam sipped her wine. "Oh, well. The outcome is what matters. One less monster in Fairhaven to worry about."

"You speaketh too soon, cousin," Gun said, pinning me with his dark eyes.

"Wow," I breathed. "Monster? Really?"

Camryn's gaze slid from Gun to me. "What's going on? I'm getting weird vibes from you two."

Gunther tapped his cousin's purse. "You're going to need to break out the Nerds for this, hon. Wine won't be enough."

Cam popped open her purse and produced a small box of candy. "That bad, huh?"

"Not too many Nerds," I warned. "You don't want to ruin your dinner."

Camryn scented the air. "I can smell the fish. What else is there?"

"Rosemary potatoes and broccolini."

"Oh, I love broccolini," she declared. "Much more delicate than broccoli."

I mentally noted the minutes left on the timer. "I'd like to get this part out of the way first, if you don't mind, so we can enjoy our meal in peace and harmony."

"Peace and harmony?" Eyes widening, she dumped a handful of candy into her mouth and chewed.

Gun inched his chair closer to hers so that they were both facing me—like a firing squad or an audience, I'd yet to decide; they were a lethal combo either way.

"There's something I've been wanting to tell you," I began.

"Wanting?" Gun challenged.

I swilled my wine. "There's something I've not been wanting to tell you, but circumstances have forced my hand."

"Better," Gun murmured.

Cam's breathing hitched. "You had sex with Kane!"

I licked my lips. "No, I haven't, nor would I tell you if I had."

Her gaze flicked to Gun. "She wouldn't tell us. Can you believe that?"

"Oh, I can, and you will, too, once you find out what else she hasn't told us." Gun's face remained stony as he tipped back his glass and drank.

I lowered my voice in case Addison decided to eavesdrop. "I'm a goddess. I was originally called Melinoe. Then I was reborn into this human body to a human family."

Camryn stared at me for a long beat before bursting into laughter.

Gun narrowed his eyes at her. "She isn't joking, Cam. If you'd seen what she did at Bone Lake, you'd know."

Cam's laughter withered and died. "What did you do?"

"I made a mess of an already messy situation."

"That's not very specific," Cam said.

"Do you know what kind of goddess Melinoe is?" Gun asked.

Camryn shook her head. "Deities have never been my strong suit."

"Daughter of the underworld," Gun told her. "Goddess of ghosts and nightmares."

Camryn smiled. "That sounds badass."

"There were dozens of spirits trapped in Bone Lake," Gun continued. "She controlled them."

"Controlled them," Cam repeated slowly. "Like with a remote?"

"She's a ghost puppeteer," Gun said. "She can bend them to her will, like spectral minions."

Cam gave me an appraising look. "Cool. What else can you do?"

Gun swatted her arm. "Cool? That's your response to this startling revelation?"

"Why not? It is cool." She offered me an encouraging smile. "I want to know what else you can do, you badass bitch."

Gunther groaned. "You should at least be a little bit upset, cousin."

"Why? This is women supporting women." She turned back to me with an eager smile. "What else? I want to know everything."

Relief chugged through my veins. "Whatever Melinoe can do. Talk to ghosts. See nightmares. Cause nightmares. Drag a nightmare into reality. Inflict insanity."

Camryn reeled back, placing both hands on the table to steady herself. "Whoa. I'm going to need a minute to process this."

"Insanity," Gun murmured. "That's a heavy weight to bear."

"Not much different from your cards," I told him.

"I beg to differ," Gun replied. "Our abilities are nothing alike."

I eyed him closely. "Are you sure about that? I bet you have a card in that pack of yours that can inflict temporary insanity."

His gaze dropped to the table. "Maybe," he mumbled.

"And I'd wager one of you has a card that can invoke someone's worst nightmare." La Fortuna mages spent years trying to master the cards, but the process was arduous and dangerous and not all succeeded. Some only managed to master a handful of Minor Arcana cards. The more powerful mages like Gun and Cam, however, had multiple Major Arcana cards under their belts.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Camryn asked. She sounded more curious than angry or disappointed.

"It's a secret I've had to keep hidden my whole life. Even telling you now is incredibly stressful."

"Then why tell us?"

"Because the secret is out, at least among certain locals."

"And because I caught you in the act," Gun said. "Would you be telling us now if I hadn't?"

"I was conditioned my entire life not to tell anyone for any reason, that the knowledge endangered both me and anyone who knew."

Cam bumped his arm. "See? She was protecting us."

"I was, because you two are my friends." The word ‘friends' sounded strange to my ears; it wasn't one I said very often. I'd probably said it more in Fairhaven than I had in my entire thirty-five years combined.

Gun arched an eyebrow. "Are we?"

I looked him dead in the eye. "Yes, we are."

Cam gaped at her cousin. "How can you even ask that? Being your friend doesn't make you entitled to every aspect of her interior world."

"Trust is the cornerstone of every relationship," Gun countered, "especially for mages like us. We can't afford to keep people close if we question their loyalty."

Cam rolled her eyes. "She wasn't withholding her identity because she planned to use it against you, you nitwit. You've got to look at the whole picture."

The oven timer dinged.

I observed Gunther closely. "Are we good?"

He nodded. "How can I say no? As soon as the weather turns warm, I want to be in your moat with an inflatable unicorn."

"You'll be more than welcome."

"I'm glad that's out of the way," Cam announced. "Let's eat. I'm starving."

I heaped the potatoes and broccolini into serving dishes and set them on the table, quickly followed by the main course. "Baked salmon with lemon zest for my special guests."

Cam gazed at the dishes. "What's for dessert?"

"She's calculating how many potatoes to eat," Gun explained.

"White chocolate mousse."

"Four potatoes it is." Cam reached for the serving spoon.

I was secretly pleased with the meal. I had a habit of drying out salmon, but I managed to bake this one to Goldilocks perfection.

Cam sliced her potatoes into smaller pieces with delicate precision. "If you were reborn, that means you're not an avatar, right?"

"Correct."

"I don't get the whole avatar thing. Why do gods even bother to show up here anymore? I thought they preferred to use intermediaries."

"They did for a time, but then they discovered they could return in other forms and have all kinds of fun. No need for a middleman." I exhaled. "What can I say? Gods are assholes."

"Melinoe is Greek, right?"

I nodded. "Daughter of Hades and Persephone."

Camryn swooned. "Hades? Ooh, the ultimate bad boy. I'd hit that."

Gun shushed her. "Don't talk about her dad like that. It's gross."

"It's not like I remember him," I said. "As far as I'm concerned, he's Melinoe's father, not mine. Being reborn means I have her powers but not her memories."

"But her essence is part of you," Cam pointed out. "Somewhere deep in your psyche, you must know all sorts of things." Eyes sparkling, she leaned forward. "Have you ever tried to glimpse your past life through a medium or magic?"

"No, my grandfather warned me against that. He thought the more I reconnected to her, the more I'd become her." It was one of the many reasons he'd insisted that I hide my abilities.

Cam attacked her broccolini with vigor. "What's wrong with being who you truly are?"

Gun observed me closely. "Because if she becomes Melinoe again, she loses herself. We'd lose Lorelei."

The kitchen grew quiet.

Cam was first to break the silence. "Does she talk to you like she's a separate consciousness?"

"No, that's more of an avatar thing. Melinoe and I are one and the same."

"Think of avatars as conjoined twins and a reborn goddess as the baby that absorbed its twin in the womb," Gun offered.

Cam looked at him with disgust. "Why do you always have to take it to a weird place?"

"Because weird is my natural habitat." He popped a piece of potato into his mouth.

As disturbing as it was, it wasn't the worst analogy in the world.

Camryn downed her wine. "Can we move on?"

I was more than happy to oblige. "I saw a white stag today. How's that for moving on?"

"Another one of your gods trapped in animal form?" Gun asked.

Thanks to Addison's mischief, Fairhaven had been invaded by a small horde of wild animals whose enchanted collars kept deities trapped inside them. We managed to release the gods and helped them escape through the crossroads before The Corporation could reclaim them.

"I don't think so. I assume it came through the crossroads."

"White stags are mystical, aren't they?" Cam asked.

"Yes. The Celts viewed them as harbingers from Otherworld."

Gun glanced at me. "Do you think the stag is delivering a message to someone in Fairhaven?"

"I think it's more likely he was drawn here by the otherworldly energy," I said. Between the crossroads and the Falls, there was no shortage of magical power.

"Someone should guide him back through the crossroads before a random hunter shoots him." Camryn stood and began to clear the empty plates from the table.

Gun ran his napkin across his mouth. "Gee, thanks for that lovely image."

Camryn's scream split the air.

Gunther nearly knocked over his chair in his effort to escape the visitor. "Dear gods, what is that thing?"

I jumped to my feet and immediately spotted the five-fingered problem. The greenish hue and decomposition marks didn't help the fact that the hand was moving without a body. "Everyone, this is Claude. Claude, these are my friends, Gun and Cam."

Gun's upper lip curled. "I know you're fond of naming objects, but this might be a bridge too far."

"Claude isn't an object. He's a revenant."

The hand scurried up the spindled leg and came to rest on the table.

"Hey, buddy," I greeted him. "What's the matter? Did Timmy fall down the well again?"

Camryn glanced at the mousse on the counter. "I've lost my appetite."

I patted the hand. "Claude saved my life." The revenant appeared at Bone Lake during the kulshedra battle, dragged me out of harm's way, and then disappeared into the woods.

"I thought revenants were extinct," Gunther said.

"Not this one. He showed up out of the blue."

"Where's the rest of him?" Cam asked.

"Good question." I looked at Claude. "Where's the rest of you?"

He pointed east.

Gun reluctantly returned to his seat. "That hand has seen better days. It looks like the castoff of a dismembered ghoul."

Claude responded by raising his middle finger.

"Why are you such a misfit magnet?" Cam asked.

The term had upset me as a child—along with weirdo, different, freak—but the truth was that I would never be like everybody else, no matter how hard I tried. Such was the life of a goddess reborn.

Claude whipped toward Camryn and crouched in a menacing position.

Gun laughed. "I think he's defending your honor, Lorelei."

"Why are you here?" I asked the hand.

Claude swiveled to face me.

"I don't think he's willing to tell me in mixed company," I said.

Camryn lingered by the sink. "Then he should've waited for your guests to leave instead of barging in here."

"He's a revenant. Manners fell by the wayside a long time ago. Claude, would you mind waiting for me in the parlor room?" As the revenant scrambled across the floor, I spotted a black item he'd left behind. Unfortunately, Gunther saw it first and pounced.

He used the prong of his fork to hold up the lacy thong underpants. "Look what the hand dragged in. Somehow, I doubt this belongs to him." His brow furrowed. "Hmm. They don't belong to you either."

I straightened in my chair. "What makes you so sure?"

"I don't need to peek in your underwear drawer to know you own a vintage collection of granny panties."

Camryn winced. "Please never say "granny panties" again."

"I'm more offended by the word vintage." I plucked the thong from the fork and carried it to the laundry room. When I returned to the kitchen, there were three glass dishes with mousse on the table.

"I hope you don't mind that I served dessert," Cam said. "My appetite is back."

"Not at all."

"It's delicious," Gun acknowledged, "but not so delicious that I'm willing to ignore the case of the mysterious undergarments."

Cam shot him a disapproving look. "It's none of our business."

"You only say that because I saw Vaughn's car leave your house the other morning." Gun turned toward me. "Did I mention it was morning?"

"You did."

Camryn pressed her lips together. "Like I said, it's none of your business."

"Since when? I've been forced to watch your romantic saga play out for ages. I deserve a denouement."

"We've decided a situationship suits us best."

"Bullshit," Gun coughed.

Cam regarded him with surprise. "Why is it fine for you but bullshit for me?"

"Because I know you, cousin. You want more than stolen kisses and booty calls. You want flowers and dinner dates. You want diamond earrings on your anniversary."

She tossed her hair. "We both know I can afford to buy my own diamond earrings."

"Not the point. If you want Vaughn, then tell him. Be direct. Stop accepting his breadcrumbs, no matter how intoxicating you find them. If he declines the offer, then move on to someone who wants what you want."

Camryn's expression crumpled. "You make it sound so simple."

Gunther patted her back. "You're Camryn Sable. La Fortuna mage. Member of an elite assassins guild. Badass boss bitch. Refuse to settle."

With each compliment, Camryn seemed to grow taller. "I would love a winter white wedding." She paused and added wistfully, "Someday."

"I wouldn't tell him that much, sweetie," Gun advised. "Just tell him he's either all in or you're out."

She nodded. "I can do that… I think."

"I know you can."

Camryn's rare moment of vulnerability got to me. No more lies, not to my friends. "In the interest of full disclosure, there's one more thing you should know."

Gun regarded me with curiosity. "Based on the underwear, I'm guessing—bisexual?"

"What? No. I'm harboring a fugitive from The Corporation."

They stared at me with matching gobsmacked expressions.

"I can finally see the resemblance between you two," I said. "The same three lines appear between your brows when you're shocked and appalled."

Gun's gaze swung to his cousin. "I didn't misunderstand, did I? She said she's harboring someone from the very organization that would kill her or enslave her if they knew of her existence?"

Cam sprinkled a handful of Nerds on top of her mousse. "That's what she said."

"It's only a temporary arrangement, until she finalizes her plan to avoid detection for the rest of her life."

Gun stabbed the mousse with his spoon. "And how does she intend to do that?"

"Still working on that part. She already changed her name. Addison Gray is the name she used with me to hide her affiliation with The Corporation."

Gunther's eyes turned to daggers. "You mean Aite? Isn't that the goddess who tried to kill you?"

"To be fair, she only fought me as a strategy to identify me. She still doesn't know who I am, so keep your voices down."

His gaze turned to the ceiling. "She's here right now?"

I nodded. "I told her to stay upstairs during dinner."

"Well, I don't like this one bit," Camryn said. "She's going to lead them straight to your door, and then what?"

"They don't know who I am, and by the time they trace her to Fairhaven, she'll be long gone." I hoped.

"I bet she doesn't have a plan at all," Gun said. "She's probably working with them to trap you." He glanced at the ceiling again. "Want me to interrogate her? I have my cards."

"I know it sounds ridiculous, but I believe her."

"Because you want to see the good in everybody," Cam said. "That's your problem. You're too gullible."

"And it's going to get you killed or captured," Gun added. "But before that happens, I need the recipe for this mousse. It's even more divine than you are."

"High praise, indeed."

"Any more bombshells to drop this evening or should we save the next revelation for another time?" Gun asked.

"I'm done," I said.

Cam pushed away her empty dish and rested a hand on her belly. "So am I."