Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,65
me. Nothing more. But it will help with her. Don’t tarry too long. The sooner you’re back, the better it will be for everyone.” I opened my mouth to ask about Demoiselle Noire de Gruchy but Lori held up a hand, stopping me. “I can say no more. I’ve already helped more than I should.”
That’s what I was afraid of. I was lucky that he’d helped me this much. His fondness for Trixie was forcing him to give me what little assistance he could, and I appreciated it. With a brittle smile, I turned down the walk and approached the house. The magpies watching me erupted into loud chatter, as if excited that a new fly had fallen into this mystery woman’s web.
The lawn was neatly trimmed without a single stray branch or fallen leaf in sight despite the trees being full of birds. Mums bloomed in the beds along the house and the walk was edged with chest-high hedges. I paused before the front stairs, my right hand hovering over the hedge nearest me. There was a tingle against the palm of my hand and I almost laughed. Noire de Gruchy had hawthorn hedges. How convenient. My wand was made of hawthorn.
Kneeling down, I carefully reached in past the long thorns and broke off a branch. I quickly pulled off the excess shoots and thorns, before shoving the stick in my pocket. It wouldn’t be half as strong as my own wand, but it would give me a little bit of a boost and more control, which I was sure would be helpful against whoever this bitch was.
Armed with a pseudowand and dandelion water, I mounted the stairs and knocked on the front door. A gust of frigid air swept out of the house and bit into my bare arms as the door swung open. I flinched, falling back a step. The day was warm for early September, but not warm enough to have the air conditioner cranked to late-July levels.
“Please, come in,” said a woman’s soft voice. She had stepped back and was hidden within the interior darkness and behind the door.
Wishing I had brought a winter coat along, I stepped into the cold foyer and turned back to face my host as the door closed. Blinking against the darkness, my eyes took a moment to adjust after my walk in the bright afternoon sun.
When my eyes focused, I felt like I had been hit in the gut. The woman standing in the golden sunlight pouring through the slender window beside the door was stunning. Her skin was pale but perfectly flawless as it stretched over high cheekbones on a lovely oval face. She had dark eyes that could have been either dark brown or dark blue, but I couldn’t tell in the shadows. Her exquisite mouth spread into a warm smile when I realized that I had been staring, but even with that knowledge I couldn’t stop myself.
A black silk tank top clung to her breasts and revealed long, white arms. Her black pants hugged her long legs and were molded to her shapely hips. Demoiselle Noire de Gruchy was not a thin, waiflike creature like so many that filled fashion magazines and action movies. She was lush and curvy, leaving me aching to fill my hands with her.
I cleared my throat loudly and jerked my eyes from her, if only so I could get the blood to flow back from my pants to my brain. “Are you Demoiselle Noire de Gruchy?” I asked.
“Yes, I am.” Her voice was silky smooth and left a slow burn in my chest like good Kentucky bourbon. A part of me wanted her to go on talking, but the little sane part that wasn’t my libido was screaming to never let her open her mouth again.
“I’m Gage. The queen . . . the queen of the Summer Court sent me.”
“Oh, yes. She’s in town, isn’t she? Is she well?”
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. There was a hint of something in the air. Almost like flowers. Soft and cloying. I couldn’t identify it without getting a stronger whiff, but I didn’t want to draw more of it into my lungs. Something was off in this house.
With my eyes closed, some of the fog was clearing from my mind and I could think a little better. I was becoming more aware of the slight tingle of magic in the air. It was nothing aggressive and may have been