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“Think what you like, Violet. You might be pleased with yourself now, but you’ll feel differently about it when those two humans are rotting corpses left for me to find on the cathedral stairs.”

Violet gagged on her own spit. She whirled, but Mor strode past her, taking the lead again. “Arm them with dandelion coats and cold iron daggers, at least,” he muttered. “All they have back there are ink pens and note-taking books.”

Violet shuddered and released a sigh. “You can do a lot more damage with a pen than you’d think,” she mumbled.

Mor snorted an almost-laugh. Then he reached back and took her hand—her bare hand—and the world around Violet turned to blurs of colour.

She landed on her feet beside a front porch. Mor marched up the stairs and knocked on a yellow-painted door. Violet’s eyes widened. “This is my house!” she said.

“Yes.” Mor waited.

The door swung open, and Zorah stood there with a spoon sticking out of her mouth and a half-eaten cup of yogurt in her hands.

“Apologies, Human. Violet is not on a work trip,” Mor stated to Zorah.

Violet gasped. She shoved him, but he barely moved. “You’re such a tattletale!”

“Yes. Most of the time,” Mor agreed. “I despise being forced to keep secrets unnecessarily.”

A metallic clang brought her attention to Zorah again where the spoon seemed to have fallen out of her mouth and now rested on the floor by her feet. Zorah’s jaw hung open as she stared at Mor.

Violet jumped into the house, shoved Zorah’s mouth shut, and pushed her aunt backward into the kitchen. “Don’t make a big deal of this,please, and yes, I was lying about the business trip thing but there’s a totally reasonable expl—”

“Is he your boyfriend?!” Zorah asked. She hadn’t looked away from Mor yet. She batted her eyelashes, making the mood weird.

Violet glanced back at the fairy to find a small, egotistical smile on his face. “Don’t be so flattered, you tattletale vampire,” she muttered in a whisper, and Mor’s smile fell, confirming he’d heard her from across the room.

“Is he the reason you’ve been sneaking around?” Zorah finally turned to Violet. “You have a boyfriend?”

“I—It’s not like—We’re not…” Violet dropped her head and looked at the crumbs on the floor. “Whatever. Yes, he’s my boyfriend.” She shrugged, casting Zorah a tight-lipped smile. It was as good a story as any, and one that Zorah would actually believe—

“No, I’m not,” Mor said from the door.

Violet huffed in disbelief. “I’m hiring more interns,” she threatened.

Mor smiled. “Go ahead,” he invited. “See how it ends for them.”

“Sorry, Zorah, but we really need to go.” Violet patted her aunt on the shoulder and marched for the front door, practically shoving Mor back out of the house with her body. “I’ll call you later!” she shouted back to her aunt.

“I’m not surprised you have a boyfriend, but he’s not the guy I expected you to bring home!” Zorah called after her with a grin. “What about that other handsome, bright-eyed guy I keep seeing you with?”

Mor’s hand flashed out and grabbed Violet’s arm, stilling her in the doorway.

Violet twisted back toward Zorah with a raised eyebrow. “What guy, Zor? I’m not seeing a guy.” She was intensely aware of Mor’s existence beside her. “I’m not seeing anybody.” She was also sure she was blushing.

Mor didn’t seem to notice. He strode into the house, approaching Zorah in the kitchen, appearing tenser than a moment ago. “What did you just say?” he asked in a serious voice. “You’re certain it was Violet you saw?”

Zorah snorted a laugh. “Um, yeah. I can recognize my niece from a mile away.”

Violet rushed to Mor’s side. “She’s totally making this up.” She forced a ridiculous laugh in a terrible, tacky attempt to convince him she wasn’t seeing anyone else. But the look on Mor’s face when he turned to her made her stomach drop.

“No. She’s not,” was all he said.

Zorah’s smile fell, too. “Sorry I blabbed in front of your boyfriend, Vi, but I thought I taught you better than to see two guys at once. That’s not okay.”

“I’m not seeing any guys!” Violet said in exasperation.

Zorah’s smirk returned. “Okay.” She seemed to forget she was scolding her niece, and she winked at Violet the moment Mor turned around and headed for the door. Violet released a huff and followed him outside, taking in Zorah’s eyebrow dance a second before she shut the door behind her.