The Cursed (League of the Black Swan) (17 page)

He shoved up off the couch and walked away from her, before he could do something that they would both regret.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’m heading out to grab some Chinese food for us, and then we’re going to eat, and I’m going to tell you all about how to become a private investigator.”

For once, she was speechless, and he managed to make his escape. It was going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

The door next to the kitchen slammed open, and Charlize Theron walked in, dressed in black leather and carrying a black duffel bag and three cloth tote bags from Dragon’s Eye Market.

Rio had been sitting on the couch dividing her time between wistful thoughts of how unbelievably sexy Luke was, even when he was ticked off, and anxious thoughts of what to do about the grenade the League had tossed into the middle of her life. An Academy Award–winning movie star showing up with groceries was just the slightest bit unexpected.

“Who the hell are you?” Charlize barked out, and Rio flinched. Kit jumped up on the back of the couch and stared at the newcomer, growling.

“I’m Rio. This is Kit. We’re friends of Luke’s, and you—you—”

“Well, are you going to help me with these groceries or just sit there with your thumb up your ass?” With that, Charlize slung her duffel across two bar stools, put the grocery bags on the kitchen counter, and headed back out the door. “I’ll get the rest. You unpack.”

Rio’s mouth fell open as she watched the woman stalk back out the door. “Kit, I think I’ve just hit my quota of weird for, maybe, the rest of my lifetime. The giant duck was more normal than this.”

Kit yipped, as if agreeing, but didn’t seem overly concerned. Rio jumped up and headed for the kitchen before she could get yelled at again. The actress returned, carrying three more bags, dropped them on the counter, slammed the door shut, and headed down the hall. “I’m going for a shower. Tell Luke not to touch those filets or I’ll kick his ass.”

Rio, in the process of studying an odd-looking green leafy vegetable and wondering what in the heck it might be, felt like saluting.

“She seems much nicer in interviews,” she confided to Kit.

It occurred to her that she didn’t have to do anything simply because the woman had ordered her to, but putting away groceries was sane and normal, and Rio figured she could use a little bit of that.

Luke walked in with the promised bags of Chinese food just as she was putting away the final tin of olive-oil-packed sardines.

“Charlize Theron brought us groceries and is taking a shower,” Rio blurted out. “She told me to warn you not to touch the filets.”

Luke started laughing, which was not at all the response she’d expected.

“Alice is back early,” he said.

“Who’s Alice?”

“I’m Alice.” The woman who walked back into the living room, wearing comfortably faded jeans and an old Ohio State sweatshirt while toweling her hair dry, was attractive in a strangely generic way. Her wet hair was a dull brown that would probably be lighter when dry, and her eyes were hazel. She was blandly pretty; medium height, medium build, and medium skin tone. Someone you might forget as soon as you met her.

“Um, hi, Alice, but what did you do with Charlize?”

Alice grinned and rubbed the towel over her face. When she removed it, the face looking back at Rio was Jennifer Lawrence. While Rio stared, Jennifer shook her head and became Alice again.

“Did you get enough for me?” Alice indicated the bags of Chinese food.

“I got enough for an army,” Luke said. “I wasn’t sure what Rio liked, so I bought a little of everything.”

Kit’s ears twitched wildly.

“I don’t know if Chinese food is good for you, Kit,” Rio said, worrying she was feeding a wild creature horrible food that would harm the little fox.

“She’ll be fine so long as it’s nothing spicy. Foxes live on berries, grasses, and other veggies in the wild, in addition to their carnivorous main courses, don’t you, gorgeous?” Alice said, sitting down on the couch next to Kit.

Kit took one look at her and promptly flopped over to give Alice access to rub her silky white belly. If foxes purred, she’d be doing it.

“I bet that feels good, doesn’t it, love?”

Rio heard the hint of a British accent in the woman’s voice. “So, where are you from?”

Alice laughed, shooting a sly look at Luke. “Worried that I’m moving in on your man? Luke and I aren’t like that. I just borrow a spare room when I’m in town. I don’t do wizards. Or men.”

Rio’s face flamed hot. “No, I didn’t—he’s not—we don’t—”

Luke looked up from where he was arranging cartons of food and plates on the small dining table and scowled at Alice. “I’m helping Rio out with a little pest problem.”

“Ahhh.” Alice nodded. “Rats? Bedbugs? Shape-shifting horseflies?”

“Black swans,” Luke said.

Alice froze, one hand still resting on Kit’s fur, and her eyes narrowed. Her face transformed from blandly pretty to sharp and dangerous in a heartbeat.

“If you need help with that problem, I’m carrying a Glock equipped with a little something special,” she said. “I owe the maestro one, and I warned him he’d never see it coming.”

Rio shivered at the obvious menace in the woman’s voice and decided to help Luke with the food. Unfortunately, he turned toward her just as she started toward him, and they bumped into each other at the end of the kitchen counter.

Something dangerous and hot flashed in his eyes and, instead of stepping away, he pushed forward, gently nudging her back, and caged her in by leaning forward and putting his hands on the counter on either side of her body. Not even an inch separated them, and she could feel the heat of his hard body all the way up the length of her own.

“Am I in your way?” She meant it to be sarcastic, but it came out breathless.

“You’re exactly where I want you to be,” he said, so quietly she almost didn’t hear it, and then he leaned forward even farther and bent his head to whisper in her ear. “This is a conversation we’re definitely going to have later.”

The warmth of his breath in her ear sent a shivering wave of sensation zinging through her body, and she was a heartbeat away from throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him when he leaned back and held up a bottle of soy sauce.

“Hungry?” he asked, smiling at her so wickedly she was surprised her skin didn’t spontaneously combust.

She decided to serve his little seduction tricks right back to him.

“Oh, you have no idea,” she said huskily, licking her lips.

Luke groaned and started to lean into her again, but Alice’s sharp voice interrupted.

“Really? If you’re going to get all kissy-face, go do it in your room. Some of us would prefer not to have our appetites ruined, if you please.”

Kit yipped, and Rio slid away from Luke, her face heating up again. She’d never been someone who was prone to blushing, until she started hanging out with Luke. Now her face felt like it was permanently red.

Red.
She worried at the thought like a dog with a bone while she set out chopsticks and forks. Red was a signal color, after all. Fire, blood, and danger were all red.

Maybe there was a warning in that.

Luke, who obviously trusted Alice completely, filled her in on what was going on while they ate, after looking to Rio for permission to tell all.

Alice listened silently, raising an eyebrow occasionally for clarification, and then finally pushed her plate away and placed her chopsticks carefully down on one side.

“Those bastards. You want my advice? Find out whatever it is they really want and do the exact opposite,” she told Rio.

Rio rolled her eyes. “That’s easy for you to say. They’re not trying to recruit
you
.”

Alice pointed at Luke. “They’re not trying to recruit Rio, either; there is something deeper and darker going on here. Or if they are trying to recruit her, it’s for some nefarious purpose. Tell her. You know these bastards from way back.”

“It’s true,” Luke said, taking another helping of shrimp and snow peas.

“Maestro has never done anything straightforward in his life. And the claim that he knows who your parents are? That’s every orphan’s secret dream, Rio,” he added, gently. “He couldn’t have picked any better way to get to you, could he?”

“But Merelith said, ‘It
is
you,’ as if she knew who I am. Does that mean she knows who my parents are, too?”

Alice whistled. “Merelith na Kythelion?”

Luke nodded.

“You
are
traveling in some interesting circles, Rio. High Court Winter Fae, Dalriata, the League—I’m not sure even I’d want to be on those radars all at once. Has anybody heard from Demon Rift yet?”

Kit, who’d been eating her way through a bowl of beef and broccoli, looked up at Alice and growled.

Alice laughed and scratched the fox behind her ear. “I’m not threatening your charge, little one. And you’ll want to pick your battles. You may be two or three times the size of a normal red fox, but you’re still quite small. Stay out of Dalriata’s way in the future, so he doesn’t regret letting you go.”

A shudder snaked its way through Rio at the thought of Dalriata chaining Kit again, and Luke reached over and took her hand. The warmth of his fingers clasping hers sent a wave of reassurance to counter the fear.

Rio stared at their joined hands, resting on the table, and wondered how long it had been since someone had held her hand. Just that simple, human bit of affection—so common and so ordinary—and she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d experienced it. She suddenly felt a little pathetic, so she pulled her hand away and put it in her lap, out of his reach.

“What do you know about Dalriata?” Luke asked Alice.

“Nothing good,” Alice said. “He’s new in town, and yet suddenly the drug trade leadership is swirling around him and fawning all over him. He’s somebody to be avoided, at least until we have a new sheriff in place who can deal with all of this.”

“Luke won’t do it. We just had this conversation,” Rio said, in response to the mocking look Alice shot across the table at Luke.

“Somebody ought to kick his ass for him and
make
him do it,” Alice told Rio. “Nobody else would do a better job, and none of the usual elements of corruption would stand a chance trying to influence him.”

“I’m right here, ladies,” Luke gritted out.

Rio and Alice both started laughing.

“Well, I’m off. I have a date with a beautiful brunette,” Alice said, standing up. “She’s been all alone and lonely while I was in France.”

“France?” Rio looked at Luke. “Another coincidence. Elisabeth said her parents were in France. Her mom was there for work.”

“The Fae Halfling? Probably no coincidence,” Alice said. “There was a major treaty convention there this past week between the different European Fae groups, and Elisabeth’s mother—who is Merelith’s sister, much as neither one of them likes to admit it—was there. I was hired as security for an Italian Summerlands princess who had an overwhelming fondness for meatballs. I may need to let my holster out a notch.”

“You’re a bodyguard?” Rio looked at the woman with a new measure of respect.

“I’m whatever I need to be. And sometimes,
whoever
I need to be. I prefer to travel as Academy Award–winning, or at least nominated, actresses, because I get everything free at the best hotels and restaurants. Also, nobody would expect Helen Mirren to be packing heat.”

“Unless they’d seen
Red
,” Rio pointed out.

Alice laughed and stood up. “I guess that’s true. She kicked ass in that movie. I was glad I’d taught her a few of my moves.”

“You taught—never mind. I don’t want to know,” Rio said, shaking her head.

Alice sauntered down the hall, presumably to get ready for her date, and Rio, suddenly nervous, jumped up to clear off the table, careful not to meet Luke’s gaze.

“I won’t bite,” he said.

“Even if I want you to?” She froze, not knowing exactly why or how
those
words had come out of
her
mouth.