TWENTY

Azeroth

She's playing hard to get. Or playing some game. Every time I take a step toward her she dances out of the way like a frightened animal.

Which is strange, because all my magical senses are telling me she wants me. She smells delicious. Like desire and sex and faintly of me, despite the fact she showered, which is disappointing.

I'm not sure why it suddenly feels so important she smell like me.

I can't think of a single time in my existence before when it mattered. I'm not sure I've ever stuck around long enough to smell a lover after a passionate night. Perhaps that's it. Some instinct I've never been subject to before.

Of course, her resistance to my advances only makes me want it more. That's an instinct I'm quite familiar with. Anything difficult or forbidden is instantly more attractive. Perhaps that's her game. If so it's fucking genius.

She cooks me breakfast, which makes me want to take her straight back to bed. Or right here on the kitchen counter or up against the fridge.

As you might imagine, I'm highly distracted.

What's even more frustrating is I completely failed to get a good read on her desires when I entered her dreams last night. I couldn't break her out of the cycle of the dream she kept having of being smothered in bed. Usually, these things have meaning. This time, though, I can't unpack what it might be. She wasn't too hot in her sleep. I checked. Maybe she's worried about work.

Elodie tidies up the plates after our breakfast. I'm already finished, so I stand and quickly move around the counter to take them from her. "I'll do that. You relax."

She moves away, going to sit on one of the tall stools. I put the dishes into the sink and run some water over them. I must have turned the faucet on quite hard because cold water splashes everywhere. The dishes still look very dirty, though. I frown. Scraps of egg and toast are stuck to the plates. Though the water removes some of it, the greasy smears are still stubbornly clinging. I look around for some kind of brush or sponge. I suppose that's what I'm supposed to do here.

Elodie laughs. "Azeroth, have you ever washed dishes before?"

I scowl. "No! Why on earth would I do that? In fact, why am I doing it now? Let's just throw them out and I'll buy more."

With an outraged expression, Elodie leaps up from the stool and comes to stand beside me. "We're not doing that. That's so wasteful!"

She reaches in front of me and switches the water to hot, then she gets a bottle of something from under the sink and squirts it over the dishes, reaching into the sink to put a plug over the drain. All of a sudden white foamy bubbles appear in the water, quickly expanding to take up half the sink.

Fascinating.

When she turns her head to look up at me, I deeply enjoy the playful smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Are you really serious that you don't know how to do this?"

I give her the most innocent look I can muster. "Deadly serious. Even if I did, I would never admit it now. This is the closest you've let me come to you all morning." To emphasize my point, I move a little closer and lift a hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Here you go." She steps away and gestures to the sink. "All ready. Use the brush to scrub them and put them here in the dish rack." She points to the metal rack I always assumed was decorative.

"That's it? I'm on my own?" I attempt a pleading look.

She ignores it. "That's right, champ. I'm sure you'll do great. I'm going to get my laptop and get started. I have a lot of work to do today. And my boss is a tyrant." She gives me a weak smile as if to make a joke of it, but what if it's no joke?

So that is it. I will make sure to tell her I'm not worried about her work. In fact, perhaps I should give her the week off.

When I finish the dishes, I sneak over to where she's sitting with her feet up on the sofa. "Your boss says you're working too hard," I tell her.

She sniffs. "I just want to make sure I'm doing a good job."

Rounding the sofa, I sit next to her and lean in to nudge her shoulder. "Are you angry with me or something?"

This makes her look up. "No. I'm not angry. Why would you think that?"

My tail flicks. There's something up here. "What is it then? What's wrong? You're different today."

She looks away, but I catch the way her cheeks darken with color. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. Are you sure the summoning isn't finished? Will you be able to tell?"

My eyes narrow. So there is something wrong. "Oh, I'll know. Trust me. Now are you going to tell me what else you want, or are you going to make me guess?"

She opens her mouth, then snaps it shut and shakes her head. "I think you must be mistaken. I've got everything I want."

Huh.

A lie, but why? What's she embarrassed of? And why can't I see what it is she wants?

I pretend to do a few hours of work, leaving me time to think. At the end of those few hours, though, I'm none the wiser about what Elodie feels she's missing, or what I can do about it. Well, I'm in no rush to end the summoning. Which is strange. I find I'd be perfectly happy to continue our arrangement indefinitely. Though it does make work difficult. I can afford a few weeks of low productivity. After all, I have staff to deal with most of the things I choose to spend my time on. It's just that I ordinarily prefer to do them myself.

Right now there are other things I'd rather be doing.

However, I don't like Elodie shutting me out. I don't like the way she has closed in on herself, just when I'd started to notice her smiling more often.

I sign off on Josh's proposal for funding a startup company making designer cupcakes without really looking at it. Who doesn't love cupcakes?

Then I get up from my desk in the study and wander out to the living room. Elodie is still focused on her laptop, chewing on the corner of her thumbnail as she reads something.

"Time for lunch break."

She looks up, surprised. "Oh, that's OK. I'm not hungry."

"Nonsense. It's not good to work such a long time with no break."

She glances back at her screen. "Azeroth, it's barely even twelve."

"Exactly, it's been hours since I ate. I am practically wasting away. I insist."

When she laughs, I know I've got her.

"Come on." I tug the laptop out of her hands and set it on the coffee table. "I'm taking you out to lunch. Let's go."

The transportation to Madrid costs far more energy than I've expended in a long time. Energy I have in abundance thanks to last night. I grin as Elodie looks around in wonder.

It's dark, since it's evening here; it's chilly enough I materialize a jacket to keep her warm.

She pulls it tighter around herself as she looks up at me. "Where are we?"

"Plaza Santa Madrid. There's a wonderful little tapas bar here and they serve the best jamon you've ever tasted. And the best wine."

She chuckles. "Are we allowed to drink wine at a work lunch?"

I shrug. "I checked with the boss. He says it's fine."

When she hooks her arm into mine, I lead her down a narrow street and around the corner to my favorite bar in the city. It's been a long time since I came here—centuries since I lived in Spain, and years since I visited. With one thing and another, things became challenging for a demon just out to make a living in Madrid in the fifteenth century. It's just as dark and welcoming as I remember, like a lover's embrace. The bar is all one small room dominated by a low wooden stage with tables clustered around the outside. A waitress with pretty red lipstick and her hair in a tight bun smiles at us as we enter and take a seat. Moments later she brings over a plate of olives. "Good evening. What can I get for you?"

I glance across the table at Elodie. "What do you like to drink? The food is complimentary, and they'll bring it when we order drinks, so that's the only decision to make."

Her eyes widen. "Really? OK, um, what's good?"

I ask the waitress to bring us two glasses of a light-bodied red wine I know will go well with the tapas. When she leaves, I lean back in my seat and study Elodie's face. I'm glad to see she's loosened up again. "So tell me, Elodie, are you feeling any better now?"