have her mobile on her that often for reasons of paws and/or nudity but hopefully she’d just have been getting up and having her customary continental breakfast with side of dead cow.
She picked up after three rings.
“Good morning, Kate Kane.” She shouldn’t have been sounding that sexy that early in the morning. “Whose bed are you crawling out of today?”
“Um—a twenty-year-old maths student’s, if you must know.”
I heard her laugh. There was something weirdly stirring about Tara’s laugh, at once posh and passionate. “My my, you have done well for yourself.”
“Actually it was strangely platonic.”
“You’re not learning loyalty in your old age are you?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. If she’d been about five years older I’d have—”
“—still been her senior by a clear decade?”
Thanks, Tara. Always knew how to make me feel good about myself. “Thanks. But in a way she is kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Why, Kate Kane,” there was a low chuckle from the end of the line. “Are you suggesting we share the girl?”
“What? Fuck. No. Yelena came to Sofia’s halls last night and killed a bunch of guys. She’s going to keep doing it until she’s destroyed everything that she, or I, or Patrick, or the new girlfriend that Patrick has, or anybody who pissed off the Prince of Wands”—I took a deep breath, that had been a much longer list than I’d expected going on—“cares about.”
“And your failed conquest?”
“Is, like, Sofia’s best friend or something. She’s in proper real mortal danger, Sofia probably is too. They need protection, protecting people is your whole thing. I’d be grateful if you helped them out and I’d be even more grateful if you did it without fucking either of them.”
“Worried I’ll beat your high score?”
I felt an unexpected flash of insecurity. “Are you screwing around on me?”
“You’re screwing around on me. And I’m the Marchioness of Safernoc.”
“Yeah, but I’m a monumental trainwreck, you shouldn’t expect better.”
There was a slightly odd silence down the phone line. I know it was technically impossible to hear a smirk, but I swear I could hear her smirking. “You’re not telling me you want to be exclusive are you?”
Given how close I’d come to banging a girl who was only not-a-teenager in the most technical sense, that sounded mega hypocritical. Then again, I wasn’t totally sure I was happy with the idea of Tara sleeping with other women. Or men, come to think of it. If I’m honest, I wasn’t totally sure what she was into and I’d been slightly too self-obsessed to ask. “Well, no, because that would make us sound like we were in high school in the fifties.”
Tara made an unreadable noise that I thought was probably indifference but wanted to believe was disappointment. Then she smoothly changed the subject. “I’ll take them in. Grandmama will hate it, but there’s nothing she can do, and if this Yelena is after them, they might make good bait.”
I sat up and began pulling my socks on. “Sorry, perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. As a personal favour to me, could you please not have sex with either of them or get them killed.”
“They’ll be safe in my”—she paused suggestively—“hands.”
“Thanks. While they’re with you, I’m going to have a serious go at hunting Yelena and her handler down by daylight.”
“We’ve tried that, but it’s been difficult. I suspect that the King of Shadows, the Queen of Winter is hiding them.”
“I figured as much. There’s still some angles I can run.”
“Do what you feel you have to,” she said. “But watch your back.”
“I will.” I’d been about to say I always do but that was a gigantic lie and we both knew it. “And—y’know,” I tried instead. “Don’t you get killed either.”
“I’ve avoided it so far.”
We outlined the last few details for Operation Hide Flick and Sofia—I’d pass on her contact information in case they needed to change plans, we’d use a codeword in case the Prince of Wands got up to any sustained fuckery (I suggested wheelbarrow), and she’d send a car for the girls some time that afternoon so they could be at Safernoc before the sun went down. I was about 98% certain they’d be okay during daylight, especially since as far as I could tell they also had the direct protection of Apollo, but at night bets went off fast.
That done, I texted Dr Bright with a Really sorry, something urgent has come up last minute, tomorrow? And Patrick with a I know you’ve got a new