"That goes without saying."
"But given your somewhat reckless nature, it bears repeating."
"If I had the time, I'd be offended by that statement."
"It can hardly offend when it is the truth."
"Only as you see it. Meet you back home." I dropped a quick kiss on his lips, then slung my handbag over my shoulder and called to the Aedh. She came in a rush, and within a heartbeat I was trailing after the taxi.
We followed Hoddle Street, went under the Swan Street rail overpass, then followed Punt Road for several miles until the taxi turned left into Greville Road and stopped at a redbrick and concrete house that looked totally alien among all the more traditional terraces.
I waited until Genevieve had stepped inside and slipped in after her. A quick look around her house didn't reveal anything out of the ordinary. It was neat and obviously well lived in, with plenty of clothes in the wardrobe and little dust on the furniture. I briefly wondered how long she'd been away, because surely if it had been any length of time, there would have been dust. And if she'd had the time to dust, why wouldn't she have collected her mail?
She dumped her coat and bag on her bed, checked her answering machine, then headed into the bathroom. I waited until she'd filled her bath and climbed in before I gave up and retreated.
"Anything?" Azriel grabbed my arm as I reappeared in my bedroom, steadying me.
I shook my head, gulping down air as dizziness swept me and my stomach briefly rose. But this time, there was no my-head-is-going-to-explode pain accompanying the shift back to flesh form, and though my legs felt weak, they didn't collapse underneath me. Although no doubt Azriel's grip had something to do with that.
He guided me across to the bed and sat me down. He plucked the phone from my fingers, dropped it lightly on the bed, then squatted in front of me and clasped my hands between his. Warmth began to flow through me, gently chasing away the remaining weakness.
"What did she do?"
"Nothing. She just went home and had a bath." I grimaced. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just jumping at shadows, but she still feels wrong to me."
"Perhaps our next step should be uncovering whether there are shifters capable of full transformation."
"Yeah." I took a deep, somewhat shuddery breath, then pulled my hands from his and picked up my phone. "Uncle Rhoan," I said, and watched the psychedelic swirls run across the screen as the call was connected.