Chapter Thirty-eight
Once I threw up I was fine. I was apologetic about throwing up in the lab, but luckily the floor wasn't actual evidence. Carmichael gave me a breath mint and we left. Rhys drove us home, and made arrangements to pick up the other car tomorrow. I was the only other person who could drive, and none of the men seemed to want me to do that. I guess I couldn't blame them.
I leaned back in the passenger seat and said, "I thought I was supposed to get morning sickness, not evening sickness."
"It differs from woman to woman," Doyle said from the backseat.
"You knew someone who got evening sickness?" I asked.
"Yes" was all he said.
I turned in the seat and he was Darkness in the dark car, but the streetlights shone as Rhys drove. Frost was beside him, helping make the contrast even greater. Barinthus was on the far side and managed to make it clear that he didn't want to be that near Frost.
"Who was she?" I asked.
"My wife," he said, and looked out the window, not at me.
"You were married?"
"Yes."
"And you had a child?"
"Yes."
"What happened to them?"
"They died."
I didn't know what to say to that. I had learned that Doyle had been married, had had a child, and had lost them both, and I hadn't known any of that minutes before. I turned around in the seat and let the silence fill the car.
"Does it bother you?" Doyle asked quietly.
"I think so, but ... How many of you have had wives and children before this?"
"All of us except for Frost, I think," Rhys said.
"I had both," Frost said.
"Rose," I said.
He nodded. "Yes."
"I didn't know you had a child with her, though. What happened?"
"She died."
"They all died," Doyle said.
Barinthus spoke from the dimness of the backseat. "There are moments, Meredith, when being immortal and ageless is not a blessing."
I thought about that. "As far as we know, I'm aging just a little less than humanly normal. I'm not immortal or ageless."
"You were not immortal as a child," Barinthus said, "but then you didn't have hands of power as a child."
"Are you all going to be sitting in some rocket-powered car a century from now telling our children about me?"
No one said anything, but Rhys took one hand off the wheel and laid it over mine. I guess there really wasn't anything to say, or nothing comforting. I clung to Rhys's hand, and he held it all the way home. Sometimes comfort isn't about words.
Chapter Thirty-nine
I took off the high heels as soon as we were through the door. Then it was like a comedy routine, with all the men trying to help me up the stairs. Julian and Galen stepped out of the living room into the foyer. Galen was all concern when he heard that I'd been sick, but both he and Julian had trouble not laughing when they heard that I'd thrown up in the forensics lab.
I frowned at them both but I hugged Julian, because I knew that him being here meant that his dinner with Adam hadn't gone well. "Sorry I wasn't here to cuddle during movies tonight."
Julian laid a brotherly kiss on my cheek. "You were off crime-fighting. I forgive you." He made a joke of it and his smile was genuine, but his brown eyes held a sad shadow.
I stepped back from him and Galen picked me up.
"I can walk," I said.
"Yes, but now they'll stop arguing and follow us while you get ready for bed. I have more news. And so does Julian."
Galen had already started for the stairs, and with a call to Julian he used the speed his long legs could give him. Julian had to hurry to catch up.
Rhys actually caught up with us on the stairs before anyone else did. He explained as he ran to keep up, "Doyle and Frost are talking to Barinthus. We've never been friends, so I thought I'd come help tuck you in." He grinned and gave a lascivious eyebrow waggle.
It made me smile, which was why he'd done it. "What's happened now?" I asked.
Galen kissed my cheek as he got to the top of the stairs. "It's not bad news, Merry, but you could probably do without it."
"Just tell me," I said.
"Julian," Galen said.
"Jordan came out of the meds saying one sentence over and over again: 'Thumbelina wants to be big.' He just kept repeating it, but when he was completely out from under the meds he didn't remember saying it, or what it meant."
"Did you tell Lucy?"
He nodded. "But it could be nonsense. You know that."
"It could be, but the murderer has been copying children's books. Maybe this is the next book," I said.
Rhys opened the bedroom door and Galen carried me in. The bed was already turned down, with a silk robe laid out for me.
I leaned my head into the bend of Galen's neck, letting the warmth and scent of his skin soothe me. I whispered, "I had to stand up to Barinthus. I told him Jeremy was more useful to me than he was."
"Sorry I missed it," Galen whispered.
Rhys said, "She really let him have it."
"Did you hear what they said?" Julian asked.
Rhys nodded. He looked at the other man. "Just like Galen and I heard your conversation with Merry on the sidewalk, so I know that you being here is a bad sign for your dinner with Adam."
"Damn, how good is your hearing?" Julian asked.
Galen set me on the bed. Then he knelt in front of me. "Mistral is talking with Queen Niceven in the mirror in the main room. She's insisting that you feed Royal tonight or the alliance is over between you and her."