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“Can we wait until I’ve had my bath to discuss this?” He swiped his room key and the green light flickered on.

“Holy cow!” Ella dropped to a crouch and brought out her weapon. “What happened in here?”

His room was in chaos, drawers open, pillows ripped and his clothes strewn all over the floor… That wasn’t even the worst of it. Sitting on top of his clothes was Rossa, wings neatly folded behind his head like some heavenly angel. He was naked, apart from a few strategically placed white feathers, and as beautiful as ever.

“Rossa! What the fuck?” Ella barged ahead of him and got straight in his cousin’s face. “Why did you do this?”

Vadim shut the door. “Yes, why?”

“I didn’t.” Rossa glanced around the disordered space as if he’d just noticed it. “Do you want me to make it all better?”

“No, thanks.” Vadim came to stand beside Ella. “I’d rather do it myself when you’re gone.” He wanted to taste the magic, to see if it was the same. “What do you want?”

“Just to tell you that there is a lot of interest in what you’ve been up to. Our grandmother wants you back, and your mother and father are arguing about it again.”

“What’s new?”

“It’s more intense than it’s been since you first left. I really think you’ll be forced back fairly soon.”

“And how are they are going to manage that, when I’m mated and entitled to stay here?”

“That’s right. You’re fucking her now, aren’t you?” Rossa grinned at Ella and smoothed down the feathers on his chest. “Remember, they’ll use whatever means possible.”

Anger flooded Vadim’s veins, and black feathers swirled around and over Rossa’s head. He switched to Fae. “You can give them a message from me. If they lay one hand on my mate, I’ll make them pay for it in blood.”

Rossa stopped smiling and waved at Ella. “’Bye, gorgeous. Take care now.”

Vadim took a deep, steadying breath and eyed the pile of clothes Rossa had been sitting on. Maybe he should get everything dry-cleaned or—better still—just destroyed. He’d like to destroy something. Preferably his cousin.

“Rossa is infuriating. And why did you start speaking in tongues for the last bit? You sounded quite menacing.”

“Threats always sound better in Fae.” Vadim picked up one of his shirts and shook it out. The scent of Otherworld magic entered his senses, and he knew exactly who’d been in his room. The question was why. With a flick of his hand, he restored the room to its usual clean state and went into the bathroom. Ella, of course, followed him.

“Are you going to tell me what you said?”

“I told him to fuck off.”

“You always tell him to do that. So why did you speak in a language you knew I didn’t understand?”

He loosened his tie and dropped it to the floor. “As I said, can I have my bath before the interrogation?”

“It’s weird how you clam up whenever I ask you any questions, when you expect me to answer all yours immediately. I thought we were supposed to be in this together.” She pulled a towel off the rail and threw it hard at his chest. “Enjoy your stupid bath.”

For once he didn’t have time to appreciate getting the upper hand. He was too bone weary to care. She didn’t want him protecting her, and she was already suspicious. And she was right to be so. Adam’s threat in the hospital had been far more specific than he’d let on to Ella. Because he was now mated, he was vulnerable. Every Fae knew that and wouldn’t hesitate to strike. He growled low in his throat and his fangs pierced his lower lip.

But was Adam’s attempt to involve Vadim personally in his crimes due to ancient grudges or to something more recent? Blood ties were a tortuous and complex thing, especially for the long-lived Fae. He needed to think up a reasonable explanation before Ella got fed up waiting and either told Feehan the parts Vadim had left out, or worse, decided to tackle Adam and Otherworld herself.

Eventually, he had to get out of the bath. He dried himself off, wrapped a towel around his hips and went back into the bedroom. Ella sat in a chair by the faux fireplace, boots kicked off and her feet curled up under her. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was now wearing one of his T-shirts. She looked tired, and her hair was coming out of its braid. He thought about fixing it for her, but instead took the chair opposite. She’d closed the drapes, and the nighttime roar of the city traffic was slightly muted.

“Do you want me to show you that Fae trick for cleaning yourself up?”

She blinked at him. “Are you suggesting I need to take another shower?”

“If I teach you this spell, you won’t need to.”

“Ever?”

He leaned his head back against the chair and studied her. “That might be a stretch. Luckily, most Fae have an affinity for water.”