mother’s side.”
“Oh! Max!”
Fie grinned. “Yes. Max.”
“I didn’t notice the resemblance.”
Keir snorted. There’s nothing better than a boyfriend who gets your jokes.
Fie was oblivious to my exchange with Keir. “Yes. He’s very good at his job, but he tells me he hasn’t needed to do his job so far because you’ve done it for him.”
I scowled. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing.” To Keir, I said, “Maybe I need to encourage arguments to play out instead of heading right for the core of a thing.”
Talking to me as if Fie was invisible, Keir said, “On the other hand, bypassing the blathering on saves a lot of time.”
I laughed. Keir laughed, continuing to pretend Fie wasn’t there. One of these days I was going to press Keir to tell me what was up with that.
“Well, anyhow…” Fie pushed back his chair. “I’ll be in court bright and early tomorrow to get a seat. Lots of interest in this one.”
By that, I presumed he meant the case next up on the docket. Lochlan had set aside an entire two days because of the gravity of the subject and the high profile of the defendant. In the world of the fae, it doesn’t get more high profile than the Irish royal family.
While we ate, people stopped by our table to say hello and congratulate me on a good beginning. It was invigorating enough to give me a second wind and make me glad Keir pushed me to show up. But it also caused something to begin niggling in the back of my mind. I didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me earlier.
I pulled my magic shawl over my boiled wool coat and cinched it around my neck and lower face as we stepped out into the crisp fall night.
“Do you have feelings about the case that starts in the morning?” I asked Keir as we began the walk home.
“Feelings?”
“Um, yeah. Since the defendant is kind of like a brother?”
Keir laughed and threw his arm around me. I was grateful for the affection and the additional warmth.
“Rita, my love, Maeve is not really my mum. That’s just a game you and I play. As they say, there’s no love lost there. I don’t have a mum. I’m a thing somebody made.”
I gasped out loud. “Keir Culain! How dare you say that! You are not a thing.” Hearing him say such a thing about himself caused tears to sting my eyes. “You’re…” I felt my throat swell when I tried to form words to tell him how I felt.
He stopped and gently turned me to face him. “I’m what?”
“The best and most magnificent being in any world.”
I could make out his crooked little grin by the gas lamplight. “You make my heart grow three sizes when you say such things to me.”
“You know the Grinch reference is totally inappropriate when I’m trying to tell you how I feel about you.”
He pulled the shawl down away from my lower face, which exposed my mouth to view. And the cold. “Tell me again.”
“I think you’re…”
I got no further into that thought before he stopped me with a kiss so sweet and tender I could almost hear music from a band called Bread. When he’d convinced me that, in addition to all his other marvelous qualities, he was the best kisser alive, he stepped back and replaced the shawl over my mouth.
“Let’s go home,” he said. “There’s a list with your name on it.”
“What’s on the list?”
“Let’s see. If I remember correctly, it was a hot bath, a stem of blend, silky pajamas, and a long fall nap while spooning with the sephalian.”
As we began to walk, I said, “The circumstance of my existence is just as mysterious as yours. The biggest difference is that you were formed fully developed, while I underwent a lengthy and largely unpleasant developmental process. You should be glad you got to skip it.”
He chuckled. “I hope my real brothers find somebody who makes them glad to be them.”
“Yeah. Well. The one who’s the sourpuss? That could be a tall order.”
“Don’t be mean.”
“I’m not! I kissed him and he shoved me away like he’d been stung.”
“That could be because he knows you’re mine.”
“I’m yours?”
“This comes as news to you?”
“Well, nothing formal has been spelled out.”
He slanted his eyes my direction. “Seems like just yesterday that I was begging for an audition. Males have to be told when relationships reach the formal-spelling-out stage.”
“Do not.”
“Do. Are you saying we’re there?”
“I’m holding out for spontaneity.”
“Okay.”
“You