100% That Witch - Celia Kyle Page 0,51

lady taste it,” Nero said in his signature, easy manner.

“Sir.” With understated grace, the long-haired man uncorked the bottle and poured a splash into a fine-stemmed crystal goblet. Then, while both men watched, Tiffany lifted it to her lips.

Holy shit!

Maybe it was because she’d spent most of her time with whatever dirt-cheap rotgut Kelly brought home, but Tiffany was certain she’d never tasted anything like it. Rich and fruity without a hint of the sugary bite, it mellowed into something almost like what she thought granite must taste like and left her mouth thirstier than it had been before her first sip.

“Mmm,” she said quietly. “That’s good.”

Placing her glass back on the table, they were both treated to hearty gluts of the stuff in their glasses before the studious warlock settled the wine on the table, departing with a slight bow of his head.

“Thank you, Alaric,” Nero said casually.

Tiffany gaped at him. “You mean, that’s…”

“Alaric De Marnac. It’s his place. Here...” he raised his glass for a toast. “To whatever is yet to come.” A look in his eye sent her stomach shuddering.

How does he keep doing that?

She was just as dazzled by the second sip as the first, but Nero looked perfectly at home—even in his decidedly un-fancy attire. Maybe he had cash in reserves or something. After all, they were being attended to by the owner himself.

“So what’s the deal with your dad?”

The effortless bluntness of his question caught her completely by surprise and she almost choked on her wine. “Huh?”

“What bothers him so much that he’d just pull the rug out from under you? Especially when your situation argues you’d need more support, not less?”

Heat rose in her cheeks over the embarrassing situation. “He has, um, high standards.”

Tiffany had always found it hard to explain her father, especially as she had ventured more and more into the goth look. His rise in impatience with her seemed directly related to how goth she became, which had only spurred her to embrace the look even harder.

“What about yours?” she asked, to change the subject as much as anything.

“My father? Oh, man.” He settled forward in his chair and helped himself to a healthy mouthful of wine. “He was actually pretty great. I miss him. Mother, too.”

“So they’ve passed then?”

“Mortals,” he said with just a trace of a smile. “Not all of us are born into this, you know.”

Tiffany wanted to slap a hand to her head, and not even for comic effect. Of course his parents were long dead. Nero was hundreds of years old, so it only made sense. On top of the “duh” factor of her question, it brought her perilously close to revealing what Nathan had told her about Nero’s turning.

“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling suddenly cornered. “I didn’t think…”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s one of the things I’ve come to grips with. There was some pretty intense meditation early on over the whole thing, but I’ve learned something from stepping through the curtain. The things you can’t change are things you have to live with.”

“I suppose so.” What he said bordered dangerously on platitude, but he said it with such definitive ownership, it felt like sage truth.

“If live is the right word.”

Her eyes snapped to meet his, and she saw a sardonic glee behind his dark pupils. When she laughed, she didn’t try to stifle it.

Let them look!

While Potions was the professed object of their study, she couldn’t help thinking she was learning all manner of things from him. The fact that he had been a mortal who slipped into this realm spoke volumes about his character. Neither bitterness nor abandon were in him. Nero seemed to live in a state of perpetual balance.

She envied that more than anything she could think of, with the possible exception of this incredible man’s Beloved.

“May I interest you in our menu?” Alaric was back, and now that Tiffany knew who he was, she couldn’t help feeling slightly intimidated by him. He may have only been a restaurateur, but he had a stoic grandeur about him that was majestic.

“You know what? Why not.”

“Really?” Tiffany couldn’t help but balk at Nero’s devil-may-care decision. He acted as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. Maybe if this were a cheap chain restaurant, but not such a pricey place.

“Sure. We’re already here. Besides, we’ve still got most of this bottle in front of us. I don’t suppose you have another one in reserve?” He raised a cheeky