laughed when she imagined his reaction.
He raised an eyebrow at her grin, but she shook her head and motioned for him to continue.
“It’s not that I want to talk about it. It’s that I
need
to talk about it. Because when they contacted me? It was about you.”
A goose walked over Rio’s grave at that precise moment.
Or—more aptly, she supposed—a swan. A black swan. The urge to smile fled.
She rubbed her arms to keep from shivering, and Kit, as if understanding the terror that had overtaken Rio at Luke’s words, turned and rested her sleek head on Rio’s knee.
“Why? I’m a bike messenger. This doesn’t make sense.” She absently stroked the soft, slightly damp fur on the fox’s back. “None of it makes sense. Merelith, the way she acted—I don’t understand any of this.”
Luke made a frustrated noise. “I don’t understand it, either. All I know is that a very high-level operative in the League stopped by to give me a message last night, and the message was a picture of you.”
“Did you ask why? Why are they coming to you, anyway? Are you in the League?” She flinched as a thought popped into her mind, and suddenly it was very hard to breathe. “Do they want you to kill me?”
“What? No! Nobody’s killing anybody,” Luke said firmly. “If that were what they wanted, they never would’ve come to me. The maestro knows better than that.”
Rio’s heart slowed down, but only a fraction. “If they wanted someone to kill me, they would have gone to someone else, is what you’re saying by implication. In other words, the League of the Black Swan has a habit of hiring assassins.”
Luke jumped up off the couch and started pacing back and forth from the fireplace to the kitchen.
“Yes. No. I don’t know,” he said, shoving a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what they’ve been up to since I quit.”
Rio stood up and moved so her back was to the wall next to the fireplace. Not that she had any idea how to defend herself against a wizard, but something about the position made the cornered animal inside her feel minutely better. That would be just her luck—the hottest man she’d ever seen in her life would be the one sent to murder her. She’d die an almost-virgin, since awkward fumblings in her younger, drunk experimentation stage surely didn’t count.
“So you were part of the League,” she said quietly. “And now?”
“I have no intention of becoming involved with the League again, but I need to know what their plans are, and why they’re interested in you. I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
He took a step toward her, and she held her hands out to block him.
“I need to go home. Back to my apartment. Dalriata said he’s not after me anymore. You just admitted you don’t know what the League of the Black Swan wants with me. So, while you figure it out, I’m going back to my real life,” she said, putting every ounce of defiance she could muster behind the statement.
Kit, still seated on the couch, yipped.
Right.
“And I’m taking my fox with me,” she blurted out.
Of course, then Rio felt like an idiot, and the grin quirking at the corners of Luke’s mouth didn’t help.
“It’s a bad idea,” he said. “The League usually gets what it wants, and it never stops when it’s after something or someone. I know how they work. Let me protect you from them.”
“What exactly is this damn League, anyway?”
“The League is supposed to function like a supernatural police force. Back in 1300, the Knights Templar joined forces with the Summer Court Fae to defeat a bunch of demons who were trying to break free from what everybody thought was the mythological underworld.”
Rio nodded. “Okay, but now we know the demons have their own realm that has nothing to do with Hades, hell, or any of our human beliefs.”
“Right. But it didn’t matter at that point. The League’s
stated
mission ever since has been to protect
He raised an eyebrow at her grin, but she shook her head and motioned for him to continue.
“It’s not that I want to talk about it. It’s that I
need
to talk about it. Because when they contacted me? It was about you.”
A goose walked over Rio’s grave at that precise moment.
Or—more aptly, she supposed—a swan. A black swan. The urge to smile fled.
She rubbed her arms to keep from shivering, and Kit, as if understanding the terror that had overtaken Rio at Luke’s words, turned and rested her sleek head on Rio’s knee.
“Why? I’m a bike messenger. This doesn’t make sense.” She absently stroked the soft, slightly damp fur on the fox’s back. “None of it makes sense. Merelith, the way she acted—I don’t understand any of this.”
Luke made a frustrated noise. “I don’t understand it, either. All I know is that a very high-level operative in the League stopped by to give me a message last night, and the message was a picture of you.”
“Did you ask why? Why are they coming to you, anyway? Are you in the League?” She flinched as a thought popped into her mind, and suddenly it was very hard to breathe. “Do they want you to kill me?”
“What? No! Nobody’s killing anybody,” Luke said firmly. “If that were what they wanted, they never would’ve come to me. The maestro knows better than that.”
Rio’s heart slowed down, but only a fraction. “If they wanted someone to kill me, they would have gone to someone else, is what you’re saying by implication. In other words, the League of the Black Swan has a habit of hiring assassins.”
Luke jumped up off the couch and started pacing back and forth from the fireplace to the kitchen.
“Yes. No. I don’t know,” he said, shoving a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what they’ve been up to since I quit.”
Rio stood up and moved so her back was to the wall next to the fireplace. Not that she had any idea how to defend herself against a wizard, but something about the position made the cornered animal inside her feel minutely better. That would be just her luck—the hottest man she’d ever seen in her life would be the one sent to murder her. She’d die an almost-virgin, since awkward fumblings in her younger, drunk experimentation stage surely didn’t count.
“So you were part of the League,” she said quietly. “And now?”
“I have no intention of becoming involved with the League again, but I need to know what their plans are, and why they’re interested in you. I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
He took a step toward her, and she held her hands out to block him.
“I need to go home. Back to my apartment. Dalriata said he’s not after me anymore. You just admitted you don’t know what the League of the Black Swan wants with me. So, while you figure it out, I’m going back to my real life,” she said, putting every ounce of defiance she could muster behind the statement.
Kit, still seated on the couch, yipped.
Right.
“And I’m taking my fox with me,” she blurted out.
Of course, then Rio felt like an idiot, and the grin quirking at the corners of Luke’s mouth didn’t help.
“It’s a bad idea,” he said. “The League usually gets what it wants, and it never stops when it’s after something or someone. I know how they work. Let me protect you from them.”
“What exactly is this damn League, anyway?”
“The League is supposed to function like a supernatural police force. Back in 1300, the Knights Templar joined forces with the Summer Court Fae to defeat a bunch of demons who were trying to break free from what everybody thought was the mythological underworld.”
Rio nodded. “Okay, but now we know the demons have their own realm that has nothing to do with Hades, hell, or any of our human beliefs.”
“Right. But it didn’t matter at that point. The League’s
stated
mission ever since has been to protect
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