Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

what her tiny, indomitable grandmother had shared with the enormous black dragon back in China so long ago. But Grandmother was impervious to questions - a trait she might have learned from Sam more than three centuries before Lily was born. Until this year, Lily had known Grandmother was older than she appeared; she hadn't known how much older. She assumed Grandmother's longevity had something to do with her interlude with Sam, but she didn't know what.
    Lily supposed to she had no real right to ask for details. but dammit, she wasn't good at not asking questions.
    Is there a verb for that? she wondered as she closed her laptop. They'd left the highway for Reservoir Road, and she knew from experience coverage was spotty here. Maybe she should call it minding her own...
    Her phone sang out the first bar of "The Star Spangled Banner." She answered. The caller turned out to be Ida, Ruben's secretary, rather than Ruben himself. Her news was not welcome.
    "She's going to what?" she exclaimed. "That's crazy. I can't be sued for performing my duty." She listened a moment. "That's crazy, too. Jesus. Okay, sure, thanks for letting me know."
    "You're being sued?" Rule said.
    "It's that Blanco case." Lily dragged a hand over her hair. Earlier this year, she'd stopped a killer with a strong Earth Gift. When Lily tackled the woman, Adele Blanco had used her Gift to try to bring down the mountain on both of them. "She still blames me for the way she burned out her Gift. Claims I sucked it out of her." Which wasn't possible, of course, but making the earth shake so you could kill your enemy along with yourself was not the act of a sane and balanced person.
    "She's suing from her jail cell, and get this - Humans First is financing the lawsuit."
    "That's peculiar of them, considering their views on the Gifted."
    "It's a win-win for them," Lily said bitterly. "The lawsuit will probably be thrown out, but in the meantime they can milk it for publicity. We'd managed to keep the earthquake thing quiet, but it will come out now."
    "The experts were unable to say for certain that Adele caused the quake."
    "People don't need proof to be afraid."
    "True." He paused a moment. "I'm going to be seeing your mother tomorrow."
    The change of subject gave her mental whiplash. "My mother? Why?"
    "She asked me to go over a list of possible sites for the wedding. Apparently she's asked you already, with what she considered insufficient results."
    "I don't have time for this. You don't have time for this." Lily wanted to grab her hair and yank. "I've got a case. It's a little more important to find this weird-ass killer than it is to chat about... You want me to call her and explain why we can't do this right now?"
    "We aren't doing it. I am."
    They weren't holding the wedding at Clanhome. That would have been easier - no reservation required - but Rule felt it would rub the clan's nose in his decision. He wanted his wedding free of that sort of tension.
    Was that even possible? His business, Lily reminded herself. Hers was... Well, surely the bride was supposed to consult with her own mother, not the groom. "I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to do the sit-down with my mother about these details."
    "Do you want to?"
    "No, but - "
    "Many places are booked a year in advance. We need to make this decision. I have some time; you don't. So I'll take care of it."
    "You're already overloaded."
    "Amazingly enough, I can tell when I've taken on too much."
    She snorted. "You're an overachiever, just like me. You think you can do everything and still add one more chore to the list."
    In the silence that followed Lily realized what she'd just said. And winced. "Ah... "
    "I won't mention the possibility that you're projecting. I'll just ask which of us you think is more likely to get what we want from your mother."
    Lily sighed and caved. "You're in charge of venue, then."
    "Any preferences? Anything you absolutely don't want?"
    "I don't want a big church wedding. Maybe someplace outside. I liked that about Cynna and Cullen's wedding, that they held it out of doors."
    "You realize this means we have to set a date."
    "I'm okay with whatever you pick. Though I guess it had better not be in the summer, not if we do it outside. Uh - do you want to do it outside?"
    "Frequently. Oh, you meant the wedding. That, too."
    She grinned. As some of the tension eased from her neck and shoulders, she realized she'd been wound way too tight. With reason, maybe, but it wasn't helpful.