“Your dad.”
I looked at Connor and was shocked to see uncertainty on his face. Shifters were rarely uncertain, and that was especially true for the prince. I narrowed my gaze at him. “Tell me what you talked about when you two had that little chat a few weeks ago.”
“No,” he said with a crooked smile. “That was none of your business.”
“Then what you call him is none of mine,” I said with a grin. “What did you call him when you were a teenage punk? Ice Man, right?”
“Not to his face.”
“Good decision,” I said as we climbed into the vehicle. “Follow that instinct.”
***
We drove to Schaumburg, a suburb on the city’s West Side, where Ariel’s apartment complex was located. It was along the expressway in an area mostly populated by hotels, business parks, and restaurants for the lunching and traveling business crowd. Along the way, I sent a quick summary to the team of what we’d learned at Cadogan House.
We met Theo and Petra in the parking lot. They’d driven the Ombuds’ van, the office name stenciled in tall black letters along the side. Someone had stuck a bumper sticker of the same design along the length of Theo’s cast.
“Are we paying for that advertising?” I asked with a smile.
“Hereallyenjoyed the drugs,” Petra said.
“And now it won’t come off,” Theo grumbled, before sticking a finger inside the edge of his cast.
“Quit messing with it,” I said.
“It itches.”
“It can’t possibly itch yet. You’ve had the cast on for one day.”
“So it’s psychosomatic,” he said. “That doesn’t make it itch less.”
I gave him the haggard sigh of the long-suffering work spouse. “Were you able to get some sleep?”
“Yes. Petra was right about the drugs,” he said with a smile. “So no sorcerers in Chicago in 1872? That’s the Cadogan House conclusion?”
“At least not that were known to the Order,” I said. “They’ve got Paige and the Librarian looking into it. You’ll know what I know as soon as I know it.”
We headed for the stand-alone brick building with fluted columns and a gym and a party room sign on glass-fronted double doors.
Petra went in first, and I noticed Theo waited until she and Connor were inside before pausing at the threshold. It occurred to me that I hadn’t been a very good work spouse, which needed rectifying.
“Are you up for this?” I shifted my gaze to his arm and then back again. “And I’m sorry I didn’t ask before now. Petra and I can handle if you aren’t.”
“I’m a little freaked out,” he said quietly, something he’d admit to a partner, but not in front of the rest of them. He lifted his casted arm. “It’s not this. It’s the ghosts and the damn howling and that breeze. Every time something touches me, I think I’m being haunted.”
“I know the feeling. Ariel will be in control during the séance, at least.” I frowned. “Although maybe that doesn’t help much.”
“I’ll step out if I need to,” he assured me, and I was pretty sure he was trying to make me feel better.
“I appreciate a man who can set boundaries,” I said, and opened the door.
***
“Is he okay?” Connor whispered when we joined him inside the party room, which had been decorated to look like someone’s den: fireplace, couches, side tables. Counters lined one side, and a swinging door led to a small kitchen.
“He’ll hold,” I said.
“Of course he will,” Connor said. “He’s a fighter, just like his partner.”