Lupi 04 - Night Season

shoulder.
    â€œI can’t…there’s no way I can afford this.” Though part of her brain was scrambling to come up with a way…She had plenty of credit, but she hated paying interest. She had savings, too, but—
    â€œIf you’re sure…?”
    â€œI am.” No way was she compromising her security by pulling money out of savings for clothes.
    â€œThen I guess you’ll just have to accept it as a late Christmas present from me and Rule.”
    Cynna stared. “Get real. Christmas was weeks ago. Besides, this—this—no one gives Christmas presents that cost this much.”
    â€œRule does. He gave me his card today and told me to buy you something you ought to have but were too cheap to spring for. Well…he put it more tactfully, but that was the gist.” She nodded at the coat. “This would be it.”
    â€œIt’s too much. Way too much.”
    â€œRule can afford it—and trust me, he’ll be paying for the lion’s share. He gave Cullen a diamond.”
    An image flashed into her head of Cullen Seabourne with a diamond winking in his ear. She ignored the quick flutter in her belly and cocked an eyebrow at Lily. “Right ear or left?”
    Lily shook her head. “You can ask? Never mind. Your eyes are glazing over. I hate to mess with your fantasy, but the diamond is on a ring for his finger, not his ear. He has to be able to watch what he’s doing when he feeds sorcéri into it.”
    So it didn’t go bam . She knew that. Feed raw magic into a diamond too fast or slightly wrong and you’d end up with diamond chips, which was why so few practitioners tried it. Cullen could pull it off because he could see the sorcéri as he fed them in. That’s what made him a sorcerer.
    Envy bit again. Damn, she needed to go to confession. “Big bling?”
    â€œHuge. Roughly five carats, but it’s lab-grown, not natural. The outfit Rule bought it from has this new technique that makes big, clear diamonds that are atomically identical to natural diamonds. The process is so new the stones aren’t on the market yet, but Rule got a deal on one because he promised a report on its magical properties. You haven’t asked how Cullen is doing.”
    â€œHe’s got an ankle again and most of his foot.” At Lily’s raised brows she snapped, “He called, okay?”
    â€œHe said he hadn’t spoken to you.”
    â€œHe, uh, left a message.” Lots of messages. Every night. Every blasted night he called, always between eight and nine, and left a message on her voice mail. Never putting pressure on her—oh, no, he was too canny for that. Most of the messages weren’t seductive, either, though he’d left a couple that…never mind. Usually he said something funny or stupid or just hi, checking in again.
    The man had no scruples. “Maybe I should try on a skirt with this,” Cynna said brightly. “Get a new bag. You said…you said something about my bag.” Weird. Her head was floating a foot over her shoulders all of a sudden.
    â€œAre you hyperventilating?”
    Could be. Her fingers were tingling and her lips were numb. “It was purple, not teal.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou know, that greeny-blue color. Teal.” The words came out all rushed and shallow. “I was sure it would be teal, but I peed in a cup this morning and the tester came up purple.”
    Lily gave her one of those flat, appraising looks all cops master in cop school. “Okay. We’re going to walk around now.” She put an arm around Cynna’s shoulders. “Hold your breath for three steps, let it out on the fourth, then hold it again.”
    â€œI’m not—”
    â€œYou can’t talk and hold your breath at the same time.”
    True. Cynna counted steps and held her breath for half of them, her head floating along above her shoulders like a helium balloon on a short tether. They walked up to a sales clerk—short, skinny, and dressed in black.
    Everyone got to wear black except her.
    â€œWe’ll take the whole outfit,” Lily told the woman and ripped the tags from the pants, the duster, and the sweater still on Cynna’s body. She handed them to the clerk along with a charge card. “I’ll be back for the card later.”
    The woman shook her head firmly. “You cannot—”
    â€œWe’re having a