to look it up. He quickly dialed it, hitting the speaker button for me to hear the conversation, too.
“Le Loup Solitaire. Bonjour,” a pleasant female voice sounded on the other end of the line.
“May I speak to Lero?” Zeph asked, and I noted he didn’t introduce himself, probably being cautious.
“Lero is no longer here. We are operating under a new ownership.”
“New ownership?” Zeph’s eyebrows shot up from his surprise. “Has the venue been sold then?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“About a year ago.”
“Where can I find him? Do you know?” Zeph’s expression darkened. “He doesn’t answer his phone.”
“Would you hold? For just a moment?”
Silence replaced the woman’s voice on the other end of the line.
Zeph glanced at me, with a puzzled expression on his face. “He sold it. Why?”
“I have no idea.” The place seemed to be doing well when I visited. But maybe without Zeph—the main star and attraction—things didn’t go that well?
“Allô,” a male voice came on the line this time. “May I ask who is looking for Lero?”
I saw Zeph hesitate but only for a moment.
“My name is Zeph. I’m a long-time friend of—”
“Zeph? You’re back?” The voice rose, lifting with excitement. “Where the hell have you been? Lero was losing his mind here. He left a message for you.”
I recognized the man’s voice, now. He spoke fluent French but with a slight Eastern European accent.
Ivan, the bar manager.
Unfortunately, Zeph didn’t remember him. “What message? Um, whom am I talking to?”
“My name is Ivan.” The warm excitement in the man’s voice disappeared, giving place to suspicion.
“What was the message, Ivan?”
“I’m afraid the instructions were to give it to Zeph.” He spoke in a polite, business-like manner once again, his tone guarded.
“But, I am—”
“In person.”
The line went dead.
“Ivan is a bar manager at Le Loup Solitaire,” I offered softly. “Or at least he was, back when I visited. I should have told you that before you called. He obviously expected you to remember him.”
Zeph lowered the hand with the phone to his knee.
“It wouldn’t have made a difference.” He shook his head. “If Lero wanted the message to be given to me in person, I have to go to Paris to pick it up.”
Dread chilled me from the inside. “What if it’s a trap?”
He glanced my way, a slight grin playing on his lips. “Then I’ll have to be careful.”
“It’s not a game, Zeph. I’m worried for you.” The memory of the dead bodies on the basement floor flashed through my mind, once again. Sure, he could take care of himself, but what if he were attacked by more bracks? “How easy is it to kill a Fae?”
“We can only be killed by means from Nerifir. Human weapons are ineffective against us.” He handed me the phone, then covered my hand with his. A grim shadow fell over his features, chasing the smile away. “I have no intention of dying, Ivy. And you’ve seen for yourself, I am good at killing.”
“Did the guns the bracks used to shoot at us come from Nerifir?”
“No, I don’t think so. Ghata would want to keep me alive for her show. Regular guns and bullets wouldn’t kill me, but they would slow me down.”
Fear for him ran down my spine in a shudder.
He leaned in, placing his hands on my shoulders. “It’s not easy to kill a Fae, Ivy. It certainly wouldn’t be easy for anyone to kill me now that I’m ready for them. And it’s nearly impossible to harm me at all when I’m in the water.”
“Are you going back in the water, then?”
“I’ll need to go to Paris to get Lero’s message and to find out what happened to him. I’ll have to find him.”
“To Paris?” I gripped his forearms. “We’ll need to find a way to get your passport first.”
He shook his head.
“I won’t need a passport if I swim.”
“You going to swim?” I stared at him. “Across the Atlantic?”
Was he insane?
But then again, wasn’t he the same man who brought the mighty Niagara Falls under his control just last night.
Zeph was so much more than a human. I had to remember that.
“Is it safe to swim that far?” I muttered. “How long does it take to cross the Atlantic? Weeks? Months?”
“It won’t take me that long, actually. Just a few days.”
“Have you ever done it before?”
“No.”
Well, that was not reassuring. Not at all.
“How about the sharks, whales, and giant squid?” And a whole lot of other dangers I couldn’t even think of right now.
A lop-sided grin lit up his face.
“I’ll swim around