Me and My Shadow
Page 12

“I did not know you were here,” she continued, her voice a blatant invitation.
I don’t remember moving, but somehow, I found myself standing in front of Gabriel, my hands clenched as I thought for a few seconds of how nice she would look unconscious on the entryway floor. “Hello. I’m May.”
“This is my mate, Catalina,” Gabriel said, laughter obvious in his voice as he snaked his hand around my waist, gently pulling me over to his side. “Mayling, you have heard me mention Drake’s mother, yes? This is doña Catalina de Elférez.”
“Mate.” She said the word as if it were rancid, her dark eyes scrutinizing me for a moment.
I am no stranger to piercing looks, or the importance of presenting a placid expression even when my brain is screaming to run away, so it was not much of an effort to smile at her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Her expression changed from hostility to wariness. “You have a mate. Is she . . . ?” She hesitated for a moment, then gestured vaguely toward me. “Is she mentally damaged?”
I gaped at her in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”
She leaned close toward Gabriel, her gaze resting on me with obvious curiosity, as if I was some sort of a bizarre sight she’d never come across. “Resurrection, if not done properly, can often lead to damage of the brain.”
“Resurrection?” I gaped a little more before turning to look at Gabriel.
His dimples were fighting to show, but he merely tightened his arm around me, and reassured Catalina that I was not the equivalent of a mental squash. “I did not resurrect her in order to bypass the curse.”
“No, no, I would never suggest that you did such a thing, since we both know that resurrection without sanction is very much disallowed in the weyr.” Her gaze was still wary on me as I mustered up once again the same smile that had soothed many of Magoth’s temper tantrums. “But, my darling Gabriel, you must take some steps to cover up this horrible tragedy. Just look at her. Look at that grimace. That is not a grimace of a sane person.”
“It’s a smile,” I said through my teeth, holding on to the blasted thing for all I was worth. “I’m smiling, not grimacing.”
“Yes, of course you are smiling,” she said loudly, patting my arm as she gave Gabriel a sympathetic look. “You are very good to stand by her despite the failure of your experiment. I will, naturally, not breathe a word to anyone what I have noticed about her. Your secret is very safe with me.”
“I have not been resurrected!” I said rather louder than was probably necessary.
She waved a hand toward a mountain of black leather luggage that a driver was still bringing in. “I have some pretty toys I brought for my grandchild, but your poor, sweet mate shall have her pick of them. They will no doubt amuse her, and keep her happy for many days. Now, my darling Gabriel, you must promise me you will do everything in your power to rescue my innocent grandchild from that she-devil’s clutches. Do you know that my Drake refused to allow me to be here when the child was being born? It was her doing, naturally, but I am nothing if not an excellent mother, and I did as he bade me, no matter how cruel it was.”
She snaked her hand through Gabriel’s other arm and tugged him away from me, toward the room we’d just left.
I looked at René. He grinned at me.
“The baby is not yet born,” Gabriel said, casting me a look over his shoulder, part embarrassment, part reluctance, as she dragged him toward the sitting room.
“No? Well, there is time for us to save the poor little one before it is tainted by that demon lord my darling Drake insists on calling mate. Come, now, tell me all that has happened since I have last seen you, although naturally we will not discuss the tragic result of your attempt to find a mate.” She paused and glanced toward us, then inclined her head to him. “Will your mate be all right if she is left alone? She does not have suicidal tendencies? I knew a resurrected mage who seemed perfectly normal, but any sound of a bell would set him to rending his clothing and pulling out his hair. It was very tragic. Your mate will be fine left alone? Yes? Excellent. You must tell me everything while my rooms are being made ready.”
The door shut behind them, leaving René, István, and myself alone in the hallway, Catalina’s taxi driver having deposited the last few cases before he hurried out.
“Drake’s mother,” I said to them.
István made a face. “She was not supposed to come. Drake told her not to come. Aisling will not be happy.”
René gave another of those loose shrugs and said, “There is no use in trying to tell Catalina anything. She does as she pleases.”
“I don’t look deranged, do I?” I asked, touching my face and wishing for the millionth time I could see my reflection.
“You look worried, but not deranged,” René told me kindly.
“Thank you,” I said, not much buoyed, but willing to take what I could get. I cast a glance toward the closed door to the sitting room. “I think I’ll go fetch Jim from Aisling. I’m sure Drake has calmed her down by now, and Jim is probably making a pest of itself.”
The demon wasn’t, in fact, in the way, but only because it had evidently been kicked out of Aisling’s bedroom. I found it lying on the floor on its back.
“You can talk now,” I told it, averting my sight from its nether regions.
“Geez, hanging around Magoth really taught you how to torment demons, didn’t it? I thought you’d never come up here to get me!” Jim rolled over and got to its feet, shaking itself in a way that left a corona of black hair on the floor around it. “Gotta be dinnertime. Let’s go eat.”
“Is everything OK in there?” I asked, nodding toward the door.
“Yeah, yeah, Drake started in with Ash about how he can’t survive the ages without her, and all that crap, and she fell for it just like she always does.” The demon shook its head disgustedly as it marched past me toward the stairs. “Women. Can’t live with ’em, can’t live with ’em.”
“I’m sure I can see to it that you don’t live at all,” I said sweetly, which merited an annoyed look from Jim as it went down the stairs. “By the way, Drake’s mother has arrived.”
Jim did an about-face. “Fires of Abaddon! You almost let me get within blasting range! And me just getting my coat to maximum fabulousness. Sheesh, May. I expected better of you.”