Page 18

ChapterSix

It was barely seven in the morning when I hit the dining room looking for breakfast. I thought I’d risen early enough to eat before having to deal with my demon hunter shadow, but Rasmus was sitting at a table drinking coffee when I got there.

He looked a little rough around the edges. The scruff he’d decided not to shave off that morning softened the sternness his body radiated. What was that old saying? Oh, yes. Rasmus was wound so tight he could shove a piece of coal up his arse and make a diamond.

I sighed at my ongoing bad luck when he spotted me, but I bravely headed to his table. Normally, I’d have led with sayinggood morning, but I’d discovered the hard way that being polite was wasted on him.

“Are ya feeling civil enough for me to have my meal in peace with ya? Or should I find another table and pretend ya’re not sitting here?”

Rasmus set down the mobile phone he’d been scrolling on in order to give me his full, glaring attention. “I guess you think I deserved that remark.”

I shrugged as I glared right back. “Let’s not get into what I think ya deserve. We didn’t agree to socialize during our task. If ya set a work time for an hour from now, I’ll make myself available to ya then.”

“I see you’re one of those people whoreallyneed caffeine in the morning,” Rasmus declared.

“Yes, I am. Are we going to fight about coffee and tea today? Can ya at least wait until I’ve a cup, so things are more even between us? I’d consider it a favor.”

Both of us were surprised when Rasmus chuckled at my sarcasm. My smile refused to be held back as I slid into the seat across from him.

He waved a hand at the table. “I think we can agree to be civil until you’ve had some coffee.”

“Good. My family will be stopping by to see me soon. I haven’t seen my mother in seven years. My daughter was the only personal visitor I had while I was at the cottage.”

Rasmus looked off but nodded. Any time we talked about my jail time, he got completely uncomfortable. Before we parted company, I intended to find out why.

I turned my cup up to let the waitperson fill it, then thanked him profusely. I took a couple of bracing sips before giving Rasmus my attention again.

“Instead of meeting her at the hotel, I asked my mother to come here. I’m hoping Ma can tell me where Liam is hiding out. My mum is really tight with Liam’s mum, who’s my Aunt Maura. She told Ma that Liam laughed his arse off when he found out I was being locked up. He was the career criminal of the family before then.”

Rasmus eyed me over the rim of his cup as he talked. “Right. Liam’s your cousin who saved the demon princess when he was a kid.”

He reminded me of an absent-minded professor with the beginnings of a beard. “I see ya were listening to me despite yer surliness.”

Rasmus gave a half-shrug and looked off again. He seemed to be in an oddly congenial mood. It was like he was trying to apologize without actually apologizing.

Or, in other words, he was being male.

I started to ask if he was one of those people who simply couldn’t utter “I’m sorry” without breaking out in hives, but he asked me a question before I could get it out.

“Are you still thinking your cousin is our best lead?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but then my food arrived. It was the first breakfast meal I hadn’t cooked for myself in ages. I clutched my chest in delight.

“Thank you so much. It looks so beautiful.”

After the wait person left beaming, I dug into my fluffy eggs and ate a few bites before addressing Rasmus again. “Why don’t ya bring me up to speed on what yer kind has been doing about the demons? Ya told me there were a lot of failures. I’d like to hear about those.”

Rasmus dropped his gaze to his plate. “I was one of those failures and the only member of my team who didn’t die. Talking about that failure won’t bring them back.”

I paused eating to look at him. “I’m sorry, Rasmus. Why don’t we wait until after breakfast to talk business?”

He started eating again, so I took that as a yes.

I was half-finished with my food, and sipping my second cup of coffee, when I heard Bridget O’Malley’s distinctively loud voice outside in the hall somewhere. She eventually appeared in the doorway of the dining room and I lifted my hand to wave to her. Behind her, a yet to appear Fiona called out “Gigi, wait!” over and over.

I could have told my child she would have had an easier time stopping a tsunami, but today I was too happy to see my mother to speak a word of complaint.

Ma looked around for me, and I rose to meet her.. She pulled me in close and hugged me so tightly that tears instantly sprang to my eyes. She must have felt my emotion because she pushed me away to stare into my face.