Boundary Born (Boundary Magic Book 3) - Melissa F. Olson Page 0,34

anything. His body temp was barely warm enough to pass for human.

Simon came out of the bedroom rubbing his wet hair with a towel, dragging a flannel comforter. “This should help,” he said, tucking it around me. The comforter smelled like Simon—a whiff of farm, a bit of lab chemicals, and Old Spice. I smiled my thank-you.

Quinn and Simon sat down, and Quinn began to explain the situation to both Pellars. He went through the whole story, from the moment Maven had called us in until the moment I’d called them for help.

The mood sobered quickly as the enormity of what was happening began to sink in. Even assuming that Maven recovered, we had no idea how long it would take. According to Simon, it could be weeks or months. And although Quinn was Maven’s right hand, we all knew he didn’t have the raw power to hold the state if anyone came after it. We needed another plan.

“Basically,” Quinn concluded, “We have two choices. We can try to cover up Maven’s current condition, or we can ask someone else to step in and take control in her absence. Like an interim cardinal.”

“Is that a thing?” Lily asked.

He shrugged. “It’s happened before, often during belladonna attacks.” Lily and Simon didn’t notice the note of negativity in his voice, but I picked up on it.

“What?” I asked.

Quinn grimaced. “I’m worried about perception. Things were just beginning to settle down after the Unktehila mess, which itself was right after Maven killed Itachi to get Colorado, at least from a lot of peoples’ perspective. Maven’s enclave is running low on faith and high on uncertainty. To come forward and say that Maven let herself get attacked—”

“But there’s no way she could have seen this coming,” I protested, but he held up a hand.

“I know that, and you know that. But most vampires won’t see things that way. If you succumb to an attack, it’s always your fault. You left an opening.”

There were a few seconds of quiet as we all digested this. “Okay, I get that,” I said finally, “but at the same time, hiding the belladonna attack doesn’t seem feasible long-term. We could make up a story for a night or two, but there’s all the practical stuff with the coffee shop—schedules, deliveries, paydays—plus, if one of the vampires from somewhere else in the state walks in with a problem and doesn’t find her here, there will be hell to pay.”

“And whoever did this may be motivated to stir up more shit,” Lily added. “They could either go public with Maven’s absence or come after her again.”

My phone buzzed on the counter. I automatically started to get up, but Quinn waved me down at the same time Simon darted for the phone. Rolling my eyes, I held out my free hand for him to pass it to me. I glanced at the caller ID—St. Julien Hotel—and hit “Ignore.” “Emil?” Simon asked. He’d taken a peek at the screen, too.

I nodded. “I’ll call him back.”

Quinn looked at me with a question on his face, but I just shook my head. I hadn’t even had a chance to tell him about my birth father yet, but obviously the attack on Maven was a hell of a lot more important than my personal identity crisis. I’d tell him later.

The boxers I was wearing didn’t have pockets, so I set the phone on the table in front of me. When I looked up, though, Simon was staring at me. “What?” I asked.

He shook himself, and then said haltingly, “No offense, Lex, but it does seem like a pretty big coincidence that your biological father arrived in town right before Maven was poisoned.”

“Wait, what?” Lily exclaimed. Quinn raised his eyebrows at me, which for him was pretty much the same as Lily’s outburst.

I gave them a brief explanation of Emil’s visit that morning. Lily was obviously bursting to discuss it further, but I turned back to Simon. “I agree that the timing seems fishy. But the poisoning started weeks ago,” I pointed out. “Emil just flew in yesterday. Besides, I can’t see any reason for him to go after Maven or the vampires.”

“Neither can I,” he conceded.

“Where were we?” I asked, glancing at Quinn. He looked thoughtful.

“The way I see it, two things need to happen.” He looked at Simon. “I need you to work on the belladonna. Figure out if there’s some shortcut to waking Maven. Failing that, see if you can predict how long it’ll