Ever After (Rachel Morgan)

nothing. “Saving the elves and seeing you safe from the threat of extinction. But did it ever occur to you that he wants to be something else? Don’t crush what he can keep for himself. That’s all I’m asking. Let him have what he can.”
    Ellasbeth was white in anger. Lucy jumped in her lap blurting nonsense sounds, but Ray stared up at Ellasbeth and patted her trembling chin.
    “Never mind,” I said, dropping my head and sighing. “Go get married. Have more babies. Rule the world. You’ll both be great at it.”
    “How dare you!”
    I calmly watched her stagger to stand, and knowing it would infuriate her, I turned my back on her to get a glass of water. If she tried anything, I’d throw it on her.
    “Quen! Take these children. Let me go!” she exclaimed from behind me, and I heard a scuffle. “Take your hands off me!”
    The pixies at the window were watching with rapt attention, and I stifled a smirk.
    “Don’t do this,” Quen said to her, his low voice gravelly.
    “You will take your hands off me!” she insisted, and I let the water run until it got cold.
    “Go wait in the car,” Quen said. Then louder, “Go take the girls and wait in the car.” Finally he shouted, “ Go wait in the car, or I will stand by and let her say what she really thinks of you!”
    I turned around with my glass of water. Jenks was watching from within a copper bowl hanging from the rack, a weird silty dust falling from it. Tense, Quen stood beside and a little in front of Ellasbeth. She was chalk white, her painted lips a bright contrast. I didn’t care if she was insulted. It had needed to be said. I owed Trent that.
    “I understand the strain you’re under,” she said, chin high as Lucy’s hand patted her face. “So the door of friendship is still open between us. You mean a lot to Trent. He explained to me what happened at camp, and I understand your feelings for him.”
    My feelings for him? What happened at camp? What was she talking about?
    Seemingly satisfied at my cautiously puzzled expression, she pulled herself straighter. “Please bring my fiancé home to us.”
    “That’s my intent,” I said dryly, and Quen tugged at her elbow. “But when I do, don’t kill him slowly. Let the man breathe.”
    Eyes narrowed, she turned slowly under the weight of the girls and stalked to the hall. “Quen?” she said imperiously. “I will be waiting in the car. Call ahead and see that a bath is drawn for both girls by the time we get to Trenton’s holdings. I want to stop on the way for an entirely new set of clothes for Lucy.”
    “It’s only the clothes she has on that are tainted,” Quen said, and the woman glared from the hallway.
    “This entire church smells! She will have a new wardrobe!” she exclaimed, then click-clacked her slow, ponderous way to the door, the two girls calling in delight at the pixies waiting for them in the sanctuary.
    Okay, that was probably going to come back and bite me on the ass, but I didn’t care. Trent would thank me for it someday. Setting the water aside, I scooped up the blanket Ellasbeth had let fall and brought it to my nose. After three wash cycles, I couldn’t smell anything, but I wasn’t an elf.
    Jenks whistled long and loud. “Damn, Rache, you sure know how to make friends.”
    Quen took the blanket from me, giving it a sniff as well. “Thank you for making the next forty minutes of my life hell,” he muttered, clearly not smelling anything, either.
    A tiny smile quirked the corner of my mouth up. “I’m sorry.”
    “No, you aren’t,” he said darkly. “You enjoyed it.”
    “Oh, you’re just mad that I could say it and you couldn’t.” Taking the blanket back, I folded it up.
    “Quen!” Ellasbeth shouted. “Come open this door! My hands are full with the children.”
    “I’ll get it,” Jenks offered, and Quen shot him a thankful glance. Immediately my mood swung back to melancholy as Jenks darted out, halfheartedly telling his kids to leave Lucy and Ray alone.
    Still holding the faint remnants of a smile, I pushed away from the counter to give Quen a hug. Ceri was gone, and it hurt. My eyes closed as his arm went around me and the scent of burnt amber mixed with the smell of wine and cinnamon. “I’m sorry,” I said as I stepped back, and his eyes took on a deeper shine.
    “Thank you for bringing Lucy back to us,” he said, and I shrugged with one shoulder.
    “I wish I could have—” My throat closed. Damn it, how could Ceri