Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,102
breathing coming in short, violent pants. I looked down to find her watching me with a lopsided smile on her lips.
“I don’t know which one of us needed that more,” she announced.
A laugh jumped from me, knocking my head back as my eyes closed. I was alive and happy. I didn’t deserve to be after all those people had died, but alive meant that I could keep others from dying at the end of a wand.
Leaning down, I kissed her lips, giving her the gentleness that I couldn’t earlier. I pushed off the chair and straightened, pulling from her body with some regret. I noticed her wince as she pulled her legs back together and readjusted her skirt. A sharp flash of guilt tore through me. “Did I hurt you?” I asked while tucking myself back into my jeans before refastening them.
Trixie gave me a wry little grin while fixing her bra and shirt. “I’m a little stiff and sore,” she admitted.
“I’m sorry.” Coming to stand beside the chair, I gently scooped her up before I sat down where she had been. I settled her in my lap, wrapping my arms around her. “I wasn’t thinking too clearly. I—”
Trixie placed a finger over my mouth, stopping my apology. “I’m stiff and sore, but I loved every second of it and wouldn’t change a thing.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, tightening my hold on her. She laid her head on my shoulder while wrapping her arms around my body. We sat in silence for several minutes. I closed my eyes, listening to her breathing slow and even out as I did everything within my power to keep from thinking, halting the inevitable review of the events of the day.
“Feeling any better?” she asked.
I smiled, but it felt uneven, as if the muscles in my face were suddenly too tired to obey my commands. “Yes, but I think I should be in mourning. Many brain cells were lost in the creation of that orgasm.”
Trixie chuckled. “I appreciate their sacrifice.”
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Anything for you.” And I meant it. I would do anything for Trixie to keep her safe, to make her happy.
She leaned back to look up at me, her expression turning serious. “Considering the mood that you arrived in, I’m guessing that your errand didn’t go well.”
The last of the happiness that was bubbling throughout my body evaporated and I could feel the tension creeping back into my muscles. It was time to return to reality. This little break had helped keep the horrors at bay, but I couldn’t put the world on hold forever.
“Yes and no,” I said. Reave was on the run and the Towers were determined to set the world on fire while they searched for him. On the other hand, I had a possible way of contacting a somewhat mythical being who might be able to help the elves. Chang was pretty damn reliable, but this one felt like a stretch. “How was your day?” I quickly demanded, trying to evade any questions that might lead to a conversation about Reave.
Bracing her arm on the back of the chair past my shoulder, Trixie twisted around and grabbed a piece of paper off the counter. She handed it to me with a look of disgust. There were three things written on it:
Lower average birth weight
Shorter average gestation
Mushroom decrease Black Forest
“I’ve read almost the entire book Arianna gave me and these are the only anomalies that were noted during the few times that our women gave birth,” she said, sounding more than a little frustrated.
“The lower birth weight makes sense if babies are being born earlier,” I murmured, handing back the paper, which she dropped onto the counter before settling against me. It didn’t feel as if there was anything to go on with that, but I could at least mention it to Gaia when I saw her. “We need to know why the women were having trouble conceiving. Any note of an increase in miscarriage?”
“Nope. If we can get pregnant, then we keep the baby.”
“What about that mushroom line?”
“Oh, that,” she said with a blush. “That was a note mostly for myself. The last time the Summer Court passed through the Black Forest a few decades back, there was a note that there was a significant decrease in the mushrooms found. The ones that grow in the Black Forest are something of a delicacy and everyone was disappointed.”