“Ah . . . ,” I hedged, warming as Jenks laughed at me. Ellasbeth, Quen, and the girls were pulling out into traffic, and the wind was chill in the late sun.
Trent’s hand on me slipped away. Head cocked, he eyed Al. “Don’t you have work today?” he asked, clearly trying to get the demon to leave.
Al scuffed to a halt, his eyes on the blue sky. “I do not,” he said, his light voice and the direction of his gaze reminding me how pleasant it was to exist outside the hell the elves and demons had made of the original ever-after in their war.
“He’s babysitting Rachel,” Jenks said, pressed close to my neck for warmth.
Trent, who had been looking up and down the street for my car, brought his wandering attention back. “He’s not doing a good job. Your aura is patchy.”
“She’s alive,” Jenks said, not helping.
Trent tugged me sideways into him, and I whispered, “Thanks,” when my headache eased.
Al put a hand formally before his middle, the other behind. “It was Rachel’s choice to jump to the radio studio with a compromised aura.”
Trent’s brow furrowed, and my headache returned when our bodies parted and he reached to his back pocket for his phone. “No car? I’ll call one.”
“Hers is two miles back,” Jenks said, and Trent nodded, his head down over his phone.
“Rachel twisted a common but aura-debilitating curse this morning,” Al said stiffly, hearing blame in Trent’s words when there really wasn’t any. “For the next sun cycle, I’m her sword, mirror, and shield.”
I winced as Trent looked up from his phone, the wind shifting the hair from his eyes as I saw our weekend plans ruined. “Seriously?” he asked, and Al put a hand on my shoulder as if claiming me—until I glanced at it and he hid it behind his back instead.
“Unless you agree to watch her. And she doesn’t leave your compound.” Al made a show of looking at his watch. “A sidhe of fairies and a pixy clan should be able to keep you alive for a few hours,” he said as if not caring, but I knew better.
“I don’t need babysitting,” I complained.
“Agreed,” Al said. “But Dali thinks I’m careless with you. I’m not leaving unless there’s someone with you who can call me if there’s trouble.”
“I can do that.” Trent closed his phone with a snap and tucked it away.
“Wi-i-i-i-ill you, though?” Al intoned, already knowing the answer.
“If I need to,” Trent said, smiling to make Al draw back in consternation.
“Good.” Al glanced at his watch again. “I have something I need to check on. If any harm comes to her, I will rip your head off, as well.” He hesitated, looking at our fingers, which were so close they almost touched. “Which would make Rachel’s life far easier, now that I think about it.”
He vanished with a slight pop, and I sighed, glad that he was gone, and that it was Friday, and once I got Jenks with his kids, it would just be Trent and me for two glorious days. “Good thing you like me then, huh? Huh?” I said, elbowing him, and Trent tugged me close, smelling like leather and horse under the cinnamon scent of elf.
“Yes, I like you. Stop poking me. And why is Al so concerned?” he asked as Jenks went to check the dying annuals beside the door while we waited for the car. “Your aura has been worse.”
“Dali reamed Al out for leaving me alone without being able to do ley line magic.” I turned and wrapped my arm around Trent’s neck so I could play with his ears. They were pointy, like the girls’, their cropped state having unexpectedly reverted when I twisted a curse to replace the fingers Al had torn off. Cars were going by, but it was unlikely anyone could see us tucked in by the station’s door, and a delicious feeling of daring filled me. “Keeping me alive is his job, you know,” I said, pulling him deeper into the shadow. “We make a good team. When I was in the ever-after, I made tulpas, and he lifted my mind out of them and kept me alive until I recovered. I kept us both in cheese sandwiches for a couple of weeks.”
“Mmmm.” Trent’s attention came back to me as he smiled. His hand at my waist felt right, and his aura, so close to mine, was soothing my headache.
“He must think your magic is improving if he’ll let