Silver Basilisk - Zoe Chant Page 0,58

that he had only known she was alive, and never where, for her mate had turned heart, mind, and spirit away from him.

That was no longer true.

He held onto that fact as he flew back, and settled down as a human to get a few hours of rest. Then, as always, he rose before the sun lipped the horizon, and left his room to find Godiva just coming out of hers. Did she notice the rhythm they had fallen into? He said only, “Good morning. Sleep well?”

“Like Thor’s hammer whacked me on the skull.” Her expressive brows knit. “Wait a minute. Thor—the hammer—is he really—”

“If he is, I’ve never met him. Though I have met—”

“Wait!” Godiva held up a hand. “Don’t tell me. I read about those Norse monsters. I don’t want to know if any of them are lurking around.”

He smothered a laugh as they walked down the handsome bannister in art deco black and white.

She began to say, “So what’s today’s plan. Shall we—”

Two steps into the lobby, she stopped short. Staring.

Rigo gazed past her to . . .

“Alejo?” Godiva said in a high, breathless voice.

“Ma?” He held out his arms.

Godiva launched across the room, hugging Alejo fiercely, her eyes bright as stars, leaving Rigo to watch, his heart knifed by pride and longing.

Chapter 13

GODIVA

“Mom, you’re so . . . small!”

Godiva trembled with a storm of emotions very close to the tears she had forbidden herself to ever indulge. So she laughed heartily, stepping back. “What?”

Alejo was just as handsome as his dad, with a curling grin bracketed by long dimples that had just been shadows in his kid face. “Somehow I remembered you as being so . . . so tall.”

“You were taller than me when you took off,” Godiva said, pretending affront. “I have not shrunk! It’s just that your head is now scraping ceilings!”

Alejo chuckled, and swooped in to hug her again. “I think it’s more because you’ve always been larger than life.”

“If that means tough, I can live with that,” she said, and turned to Rigo, whose smile was there, but kind of . . . wistful? “You didn’t tell me!”

Rigo’s eyes gleamed, tender with laughter as he said, “We thought it would be more fun as a surprise.” And to Alejo, “You have to have had a rough drive, traveling all night. Are you hungry? How about breakfast?”

“Ah, it’s just over five hours if you drive in the wee hours. No traffic, and the rental van I got came with a great sound system. I told them that was my second priority behind brakes that work. But I won’t turn down breakfast, especially since this place is famous for its spread. “

Rigo fell in step on Godiva’s other side, so she walked between the two of them. “A rental?” Rigo asked. “Anything wrong with our cars?”

“Nope. It’s just that two of them are needed for jobs. I could have brought the Mustang, but I didn’t know what we’d find. I thought it best to be free to maneuver, depending. Wow, it smells like heaven in here!”

They walked into what once had been a conservatory for some grand family, and now was a breakfast room. They sat overlooking a lovely garden, and soon had an impressive array before them, right down to the silver coffee and tea service.

“Now this,” Godiva said happily, “is breakfast done right.” And after she helped herself to fluffy eggs and crisp bacon, a crispy waffle with real maple syrup, and scones with real Devonshire cream to slather on, she added, “Alejo, what brought you out?”

“You, of course.” He grinned. “And it’s always a kick to be back here again. Seeing what’s changed and what hasn’t. Throws me back to how much fun it was to be a kid here, when there were meadows and ponds within a short bike ride. And that old theater, where fifty cents got us an entire afternoon, two movies and several cartoons. That’s when we weren’t stalking each other over fences and through yards. The entire town was our playground.”

“I remember how dirty you managed to get. And how banged up,” Godiva added. “But you always said it was just a bump, or just a nick. I was always afraid that I’d get a call from the hospital, especially when you two started coming up against that disgusting brat you called Barf. I forget his actual name. The one who looked like a choirboy, but was as two-faced as Eddie Haskell in Leave it