talked about her fears, he’d taken her seriously when she talked about her strengths as an investigator… he had as much to offer to her, she realized, as she had to offer to him. He fit well into her life, as far as she could tell from here… and what better way was there to confirm that that was the case than to see how the relationship went?
She sat with Kay at dinner, wanting to have the same conversation… but a little apprehensive. Kay had been so excited about the prospect of Niall and Helen getting together, she wasn’t sure if she could trust the woman to be objective about the situation. And sure enough, when she told her what had happened, the only thing that stopped her shrieking with joy was the fact that there were a dozen scholars sitting at their table having a very serious conversation in hushed voices that neither of them could quite make out.
“I can’t believe you waited nearly a whole day to tell me,” Kay hissed, the brilliant grin on her face belying the joking betrayal in her voice. “That’s so exciting. I’m so glad he likes you. I mean, I was sure he did, I just…” She took a deep breath. “I’m cool. I’m calm.”
Helen couldn’t help but laugh, buoyed by Kay’s enthusiasm. “I wanted to ask if you had any advice. I mean, you did this — came here, fell in love…”
Kay sighed. “Advice. Huh. Well, I had a massive breakdown when I got here, so a lot of my relationship with Liam had to do with dealing with that. You — you seem to have settled in a lot easier than I did.”
She nodded, surprised by Kay’s candor. The confident, easy-going woman didn’t seem the type to have struggled fitting in here.
“I guess… just make sure he can take care of you,” she shrugged. “Be honest. Tell him when you need help — even if you’re worried he’s got too much on his plate as it is. Wives aren’t emotional support robots, they’re partners. Keep that straight, and you’ll be golden.” She grinned. “And if you need bridesmaids for the wedding—”
“Kay! We’ve kissed twice!”
“It never hurts to plan ahead!” the woman protested, her eyes sparkling. “I’m happy for you, babe. Really. If you ever want to talk about it, just come find me, okay?”
“Actually, I was wondering if you got a chance to look at that Kelpie corpse. You were a vet, right?” she asked, the thought occurring to her suddenly. “There are a few villagers who refuse to acknowledge that the Kelpie’s not just a horse with its teeth filed down. I was wondering if you noticed anything.”
“Ah yes, the dead horse the castle gossips have been beating all day,” Kay quipped, her eyes gleaming. “I had a bit of a look — not as close as I’d have liked, but it was definitely weird for a horse. Its muscles were all wrong.”
“They were?” She was fascinated. “How?”
“Just — wrong sizes, wrong places. It looked like a bad clay sculpture of a horse — which makes me think that their forms are designed to be looked at, not to be functional. The strength in them comes from magic, not from their muscles. As for the teeth… well, the villagers are idiots. You could file down a horse’s teeth, sure, but that wouldn’t give it multiple rows of them. Those thing had teeth like sharks. Did you show them the rows?”
“No, and I think the thing’s been burned by now,” Helen admitted with a sigh. “But that’s good to know. I doubt reason would have worked on this man, anyway… he’s kind of beyond logic at this point.”
“Have you talked to old Maggie about the Kelpies?” Kay wanted to know. “I’d love to chat with her about their anatomy — she’s a herding Fae, she’d be great to talk shop with.”
“We were planning on paying her another visit soon, yeah. Would you want to come with us?”
“Only if I’m not crashing a date,” Kay said with a grin, waggling her eyebrows. “But definitely. I’ve got some Norse mead I’ve been saving for Maggie — I’ll bring it down to sweeten the deal.”
“I keep meaning to bring her something,” Helen sighed. “No idea what, though.”
“She loves shortbread. Blair’s shortbread, specifically. You could prevail upon her to bake a batch before tomorrow? You’ll probably owe her a favor, but…” Kay shrugged. “There are worse people to owe favors.”
“Are you sure?” She grinned,