I adjusted myself on the bed, my jeans suddenly a little too tight, and busied myself by eating the loaf off the other plate. It was okay. Sort of like having a sour fruit salad in a soggy tortilla. Not my favorite, but I knew better than to voice an opinion out loud on the topic.
“So where are we?” she finally asked, glancing out the window again.
“New York City,” I told her.
“In the Human Realm?”
While she voiced it as a rhetorical question, I responded with a nod. “Yeah. We’re lying low until we know what the Council meeting was about. And, well, also until we know if anyone noticed what happened in the village.” Because that could go bad quickly if anyone witnessed that explosion of power.
She visibly shivered but indulged in another bite.
A comfortable silence fell between us while we finished our meal, her gaze far away with thoughts I couldn’t hear. We needed to discuss what happened, but I wouldn’t push her.
Instead, I considered an alternative that might provide us both with a necessary reprieve from all the chaos surrounding our lives.
“Do you want to see Central Park? It’s only a few blocks away from here and should be pretty empty because of the late hour.” I checked my watch. “Actually, I think it closes to the public soon as well, or might already be closed. We’ll just enchant a guard or something.”
“Central Park?” she repeated, her eyes lighting up. “I’ve never been.”
I figured as much. “I’m sure it’s not the same as the Earth Fae Kingdom, but it’s probably more similar to it than our version of nature in the Midnight Fae realm.”
Her lips twitched. “Yours is about as opposite as you can get with black grass and burning trees.”
“Charcoal blades are not grass.”
“Oh, I know,” she said empathetically. “They’re closer to knives.”
I smirked. “Not like knives either.”
“Sure.” She set her empty plate to the side. “Do you want to go now?”
Given the eagerness pouring off her, I suspected a negative reply would upset her. Not that I wanted to refuse her. Actually, I rather liked the idea of making her smile again. “Sure,” I replied, placing my dish on top of hers. “We’ll need coats instead of cloaks, just to better fit in. Let me see what I can find.”
Aflora released a small chirping sound that had me glancing over my shoulder at her. She had her hands clasped in her lap like she wanted to clap them together, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
I arched a brow. “If all it takes is the mention of a park to earn your happiness, then I should do all right with this mate shit.”
She snorted. “I have a feeling there will be a lot of parks in our future, Zeph. With comments like that, you’ll be apologizing to me all the time.”
“Probably,” I admitted, but I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading over my lips. “Sometimes I’ll make it a little more interesting, though.”
“Yeah? Like how?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“Make-up sex, Aflora,” I told her. “I hear it’s fun. We’ll try it sometime.” I winked at her and left her gaping at me from the bed as I wandered into the living area to find some jackets.
This whole “normal activity” thing would be fun.
We’d have to try it more often.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Shade
Four fucking hours of interrogation later, Councilman Chern ascertained the same thing I’d done in a matter of seconds the other day. “Headmaster Irwin was acting under an enchantment. My suspicion is that a Quandary Blood is to blame.”
The Council members and Elders listened while Chern detailed his tactics for pulling that information from the Death Blood’s mind, then the Sangré Councilman continued with his suggestions for how to handle the situation. “His psyche is vulnerable, so until we apprehend the Quandary Blood who did this, we’ll need to keep Headmaster Irwin under close observation.”
Meaning he wanted to jail the poor man until the matter was resolved.