he rounded on Ian. “For shame! You can’t take better care of your wife than this?”
“You could raise the dead before convincing her to let someone take care of her,” Ian said, with a knowing look at me.
Harrison cleared his throat and stepped forward. “Ma’am, if you’re in need of medical attention . . .”
I stifled a laugh. “That’s very kind, but I died over four thousand years ago, so I’m beyond any help you could give me.”
“What you need is rest,” Ian said, coming over and scooping me up. “Charles?”
“If you’re actually letting her sleep, second floor, third room on your right,” Spade replied. “If you’re feeling amorous, back into the groom’s quarters with you, where you’ve already done enough damage that more won’t be noticed.”
Ian began climbing the stairs. He was almost at the second floor when Harrison shouted, “Jesus!” with clear alarm.
Ian turned. Ashael was now in the main hall, shadows and the scent of volcanic ash still clinging to him.
“No,” Ashael said with a dark chuckle. “Though many people have indeed screamed, ‘God, yes!’ while in my arms.”
Tyler turned to Bones. “Is younger, hotter Idris with you?”
“He’s with us,” I said, squirming in Ian’s arms. “Bring me down. I’ll fill both of you in about Marie before I pass out.”
Ian shook his head but went back down the stairs.
Ashael’s grin slipped, and he gave me a concerned glance. “Veritas, you still haven’t slept or bathed?”
“You, too?” I said. “Believe me, I’d love nothing more than to fall asleep in a hot bubble bath, but new shit storms keep interrupting that. Marie is just the latest.”
“I told you I could set up an audience,” Ashael began.
“She’s refusing all audiences, and she already knows that Morana and Ruaumoko are here,” I said.
Ian’s brows rose. “She told you this?”
“Right before hanging up on me,” I confirmed.
Ian’s sigh ended in a hiss. “Bugger me bent and broken.”
Cat gave him a sympathetic look. “We’ll all be buggered bent and broken if Marie allies the ghouls with those gods.”
Ashael pulled out his mobile and walked out of view.
“Marie, ma belle,” I heard him say moments later. “Comment allez-vous?”
Ian teleported us next to him before I could blink. Ashael held up his free hand in the universal “not now” gesture.
“I apologize for the interruption, Marie,” Ashael said, still speaking French. “But I must see you as soon as possible.” A pause. “That is unfortunate, for my business is urgent.”
Another pause. I could hear Marie’s voice, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. Either my exhaustion was stymieing me, or Ashael had the volume turned way down on his mobile.
“I understand,” Ashael finally said, regret in his tone. “Alas, you leave me no choice except to call in my marker . . .”
I sucked in a breath. His marker? Had Marie made a demon deal with Ashael?
“Tomorrow night?” Ashael’s tone was bright again. “Of course that will be sufficient. Our usual place? Perfect. I’ll see you then, ma belle.”
He hung up. Cat appeared in my peripheral vision, her mouth ajar from the same disbelief I felt.
“How did you do that? Marie hung up on Veritas and me when we tried to get a meeting with her!”
Ashael gave her an arch look. “Told you to let me handle this. When a job requires a demon, accept no substitutes.”
“I’ll put that right on a tee shirt, but it still doesn’t answer my question,” Cat said, her tone turning hard.
“Ashael,” I said in a quieter tone. “What sort of debt does Marie owe you?”
“Not that kind.” His wave dismissed a demon deal as a possibility. “But if you think I wouldn’t have made it my business to know a beautiful, powerful woman whose meteoric rise up the undead ranks made her queen of the entire ghoul nation in a mere two hundred years, you underestimate my intelligence.”
“Ah,” Ian said simply. Then, “Know her well, do you?”
Ashael caught the inference and grinned. “Not as well as I’d prefer, but well nonetheless.” Then, he patted my shoulder. “May as well rest now. We don’t see Marie until tomorrow night, so there’s nothing you need to do until then.”
“We?” I said in surprise while Ian tensed.
Another grin, this one shameless. “Didn’t I mention that part? The debt Marie owes me includes my bringing a plus-one, and you, my sister, are it.”
Chapter 33
The French Quarter in New Orleans was one of the few spots in America that felt like preindustrial Europe to me. Maybe it was because the Quarter