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“No.”

And that suddenly struck me as odd. If she’d been able to sense its presence in the loft, she should have been able to pin its location.

So why hadn’t she?

Had she realized the danger she was in? Had she finally seen past the urbane veil most elves wore and realized that no matter how useful she was to her employers, she would in the end be rewarded with nothing but death?

Possibly. Vincentia had been many things, but she certainly had never been dumb.

“It does mean you’re probably not safe to remain alone at the tavern,” he said. “If they’re getting desperate, they’ll keep hitting it until they get what they want.”

“I don’t getwhythey’re desperate, though. Winter is drawing to a close and Annwfyn crossovers usually decrease over the spring and summer months.” I threw off the bedcovers and padded over to the door to unmesh the wood. “Besides, wouldn’t it make more sense to simply lay low until some of the investigative heat dies down?”

“Grief makes people behave in strange and sometimes incomprehensible ways,” he said.

I guess it did. I mean, here I was, absolutely refusing to grieve for my mom until her killers were caught.

“In the meantime,” Lugh continued, “maybe you should move in here for a few weeks. It’ll be safer.”

“Not if they hire more dwarves to tunnel in.”

He laughed. “I got Morris to ramp up the protection spells. Neither a dwarf nor indeed a dark elf will break into this place now.”

Morris was a local witch locksmith who ran a profitable sideline on protection spells. He was responsible for the spells that currently protected the tavern, including a recent addition that rejected any attempt at fire-bombing. Which wouldn’t stop someone setting the place alight from the inside, of course, but they did first have to get in.

“Won’t me moving in cramp your style?”

“I have no style to cramp.”

I snorted. “Yeah, I know, but not through lack of trying on Darby’s part. Did you see her last night?”

“I did, and things are progressing nicely.”

My eyebrows rose. “Is that a polite way of saying you finally had sex with the woman?”

I could almost see him rolling his eyes. “Normal sisters would not ask such a question of their brother.”

“I’m not a normal sister, and Darby will tell me if you don’t.”

He sighed. It was a very put-upon sound. “Fine, yes. And yes, it was bloody fantastic, and yes, I should have acted on her advances far earlier.”

I whooped. He gave another one of those sighs. “Can we just drop the whole matter now and let me enjoy my fledging relationship with her without getting the third degree from you every other second?”

“Sure. But you didn’t answer my original question.”

“No, it will not cramp my style, because the walls are soundproofed. It might cramp Darby’s style, though.”

I laughed. “Darby’s a light elf. They don’t have any hang-ups when it comes to sex.”

I knewthatfor a fact, having spent ten years with Mathi.

She was also from the forester class of elves—which was basically the middle class in the three tiers of elven society and included professions such as medics and arborists—rather than highborn. From what I’d seen over the years, they tended to marry for love far more. Their reputation for straying once married wasn’t as fierce, either.

Which was a relief, even though I was well aware she would never do anything to emotionally hurt him or me. It just wasn’t in her nature.

“It’s sorted then,” he was saying. “Do you want us to come and pick you up?”

Meaning she was still there. I couldn’t help my delighted grin. “No. If I don’t do the accounts today, the staff and suppliers won’t get paid, but I’ll give you a head’s up when I’m on my way.”