The Necromancer ✓

Chapter Twenty-Two

       

Six Months Later

Jack was sitting on my doorstep, ostensibly waiting for me to get home.

"I suppose this is an improvement," I said.

"Sorry it's been so long," he said, standing up. "I had some things to organize."

"I wasn't expecting you."

"And yet you brought supplies." He nodded to the open box I was carrying. It held three bottles of Riccadonna Asti, a box of crackers, and a jar of coffee. I'd tried the coffee Catriona bought a couple of weeks ago and the habit had stuck. I genuinely wasn't expecting Jack to turn up. I wonder, if I had been expecting him, would I have bought the coffee?

"We're having a new year's party," I said. "Did you want to come in?"

"I shouldn't," he said, but I could read something else in his eyes. They pleaded with me to repeat the invitation.

"Come on," I said, pushing the door open.

"Guess I missed your birthday," Jack said, nodding toward the bottles of wine as I unpacked them into the fridge.

"Oren made cake."

"Oren?" Jack froze, all the muscles in his body becoming filled with tension in a heartbeat. "Zephan's Oren?"

I stared him down. "He was never Zephan's," I said. "You don't own people."

I didn't mention that Oren would have been the first person to argue with that. Not because he thought he belonged to Zephan or anything, because of me. If he had a say in the matter, he'd say that he was mine.

It was ironic, really.

The one thing I wasn't prepared to give Oren a say in was his freedom. He had no choice there, he was free whether he liked it or not. The problem was, he didn't seem to like it. I hoped he was the only person I'd ever meet who could turn freedom into a kind of slavery.

"Anyway," Jack said, awkwardly changing the subject. "I've brought you some things." He put a cloth bag and a box on the bench. They were both plain white and unadorned. I didn't know who was in charge of gift wrapping in Faerie Land but they were seriously lacking in imagination. At the very least, a ribbon would have made the whole thing a lot nicer. I reached for the bag first.

"What's this?" I asked, peering into the bag. Tiny chunks of metal gleamed up at me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Jack had just given me a sack full of gold nuggets.

"Gold," Jack said.

Right, I thought, good thing I know better. It's probably a bad sign when your subconscious starts giving you sarcasm.

"Why?" I asked.

"Payment," Jack said. He shrugged awkwardly. "From the king."

"Oh." I pushed the bag away. "You couldn't have brought cash?"

"Guess I missed the Human Fae exchange bank."

"Easy enough to miss it," I said, "Terrible location."

"Shocking hours."

"Understaffed."

"I've missed you," Jack said.

"Me too." I smiled. I was glad that what happened hadn't come between us.

"Open the other one." He pushed the box towards me.

"Who's this from?" I asked, lifting the lid. The contents were swaddled in tissue paper so that, when I opened the box, all I could see were layers of white.