Lover Beware 04 - Only Human

"You have style, I'll give you that.
    Much more durable than mere prettiness. More entertaining, too. That doesn't mean I approve of my granddaughter allying herself with you."
    "Respectfully, Zhu Mu ," Lily said, "one date is a very temporary alliance. And entirely my own choice."
    "I wasn't speaking to you." The old woman glanced back at Rule. "I don't like the way you treat your women."
    "You know nothing about how I treat my women." He couldn't smell a damned thing. Anger curled in him, stretching, trying to reach past his control.
    "You are lupus. This means you treat them in the plural, I 290
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    know that much. You wish to keep them ... what is the saying? Barefoot and pregnant." Her thin lips curved in a feline smile. "I hope the smoke from the incense isn't bothering you.
    Some people don't care for the scent."
    "I can't say I notice the smell." Not anymore.
    Lily glanced from the brazier to her grandmother. Her eyebrows lifted as if she'd figured out what was happening.
    "Ah, do you not? I find it a trifle strong. Hong," Tiger Lady said, turning her head toward the fiftyish man to her left. "Take the brazier away. I am tired of it." Then, without another word to Rule, she began conversing with the woman on her right in Chinese.
    He was dismissed. Rule wondered if he was supposed to salute or retreat backward so as not to turn his back on Her Highness. He ought to be amused, but felt more like snarling than laughing.
    Lily spoke quietly. “The incense had some effect on you, didn't it?"
    "Nothing permanent." He sounded more grim than he wanted to. "I won't smell anything for a few hours."
    "I am sorry. Grandmother... well, she is a law unto herself. I suppose losing your sense of smell is as disturbing as it would be if I were suddenly deafened or blinded."
    "It doesn't truly incapacitate me." It just made him feel vulnerable. Bereft. And angry with himself for not having obeyed his instinct to retreat to the beach. "And it is only temporary."
    "Can you stand meeting one more of my relatives? My father's here. He's much nicer than Grandmother, I promise."
    Of course he had to meet her father. Walter Yu turned out to be a pleasant man not much taller than his daughter, with clever eyes, a wispy mustache, and gold-framed glasses. He was a stockbroker, and soon engaged Rule in talk of the market, which had yet to recover from its recent tumble. Rule had no trouble responding appropriately, but a good portion of his attention was elsewhere.
    Why hadn't Lily warned him that her esteemed grandmother was a witch?
    That was an assumption, of course, but the old woman had power. That much was certain. And the use of frankincense to baffle a were's senses was common lore in several branches Only Human
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    of magic, as he knew from a delightful association a few years back with a green witch. Obviously Lily's grandmother had been afraid a lupus would be able to sniff out which brand of magic she practiced, which raised some interesting questions.
    Many spells and some branches of magic were illegal.
    Did that explain the attitude of Lily's family about her being a police detective? It might be another reason Lily had chosen homicide—so she wouldn't risk being faced with investigating the old woman someday.
    But dammit, she needn't have tricked his sense of smell away from him. Rule couldn't have sniffed out what type of magic the old woman practiced. That was a myth. Unless she were actually casting a spell, all he would be able to sense was her power, and he didn't need his nose for that.
    Very few people realized that, though, he admitted grudg-ingly. It suited his people to keep their secrets.
    No doubt it was unreasonable to complain if others preferred to keep secrets, too. And in truth, although the Gifted hadn't been persecuted as severely as his people, the old woman would have grown up hearing tales of burnings, brand-ings, purges. To be Gifted remained a stigma.
    But it was difficult to be reasonable when he couldn't smell.
    The buffet was lavish, but the plate he filled held no appeal.
    He pushed a bite of swordfish around on his plate and pretended to listen to Walter Yu discussing the euro.
    Lily leaned closer and said quietly, "So, how long are you going to pout?"
    "Pout?" Rule lifted his brows slightly. "If I'm not eating, it's because food lacks flavor when I can't smell it." Even humans knew that to be true.
    A smile tugged at her lips. "Not eating, not. speaking—
    sounds like pouting