Which was a yes. “You’ve seen so much.” So much beauty and wonder.
He shoved back from the table and grabbed his dishes. “Yes.”
His mood had turned on a dime, but she understood. Yes, he’d seen some amazing things, but he’d also endured living nightmares. Did one make up for the other? Did the scales even out? She doubted it.
“So, what do we do now?” As much as she loved this quiet interlude, it was time to make a plan. Hopefully, one that didn’t include her death.
It seemed odd to watch a deadly assassin put his dirty dishes in the dishwasher. But a cleaning service? That wasn’t happening. That level of trust simply wasn’t in him.
Used to his silences, she helped him finish clearing away. He wasn’t intentionally ignoring her as much as he was thinking, plotting his next move.
“I need to check my email.”
The normalcy of such mundane tasks made her heart swell and her lips twitch. Their situation was so far outside the norm. Heck, they weren’t even in the same universe. “You expecting word from Asher or any of the others?” She had no idea who he’d contacted or how many members there were in the Forgotten Brotherhood.
“Maybe. I have other business interests.”
Of course he did. He’d been alive forever, and living on the earth for— Well, she had no idea how long, but centuries at least. Maybe millennia.
She, on the other hand, had nothing to check. There were no numbers in her phone, except for Emmett, and she only contacted him when she had a bounty to be picked up. Otherwise, she was alone in the world, with not even a number for a local pizza joint on speed dial. Where she moved around so much, it didn’t make sense to bother.
“You all right?” He plucked the dishcloth from her clenched hand, folded it precisely, and hung it over the faucet.
“Fine.” What else could she say? That he was the closest friend she’d had her entire life. That was beyond sad and skyrocketing into pathetic.
Her throat closed and her chest got tight, as though it was being squeezed by an emotion too big to express. She was so tired of it all—the fighting, the mistrust, the just getting through each day to wake up and do the same thing over and over.
What was the point?
“Morrigan?” He ran his fingers along the curve of her jaw, and she shook off her melancholy.
“What’s the plan?” There was no time for wallowing in self-pity. She needed to get back to the task at hand.
He turned and walked away. Yup, things were back to normal again. And just like before, she followed him into his office. He took his seat at his desk and opened his laptop.
Ignoring all the treasures surrounding her, she went to stand beside him, not even trying to hide the fact she was looking over his shoulder.
There were several dozen emails in his inbox, and he went through them at lightning speed. The sheer number and variety were a surprise. “Real estate?” It made sense since he was older than dirt.
“Land always has value.” Fingers flying over the keyboard, he made an offer on a property with so many zeros on the end of the number that she got a little queasy. There was an email about shares for a pharmaceutical company. Another from the board of directors for an investor group.
And what had she done with her life? She’d waitressed and scrubbed floors. Oh, and she’d hunted demons while living in crap motels. Maybe she had a couple hundred bucks in the bank and less in her wallet. If and when she needed more, Emmett would deposit it. Not like she actually pulled in a paycheck for her job.
Feelings of inadequacy filled her. She started to walk away, but Maccus’s hand snapped out and caught hers before she got more than a step from him. His gaze remained on the screen. He was on the Forgotten Brotherhood website now.