“Agreed,” she conceded.
“Why do I have the feeling I’m going to regret this?” he muttered as he blinked them out of the station.
They touched down in a bright, enclosed space between two doors. Scarlett’s brow knitted in confusion as she took in the tiny, cheerful room. Oddly, the paintings, candles and welcome mat all depicted frogs.
Laughter spilled from beyond one of the doors, and on closer inspection, Scarlett realized that the second door led to a human contraption called an ‘elevator’.
Pat knocked and there was a shushing sound, followed by a few beats of silence. Then a renewed bout of giggles grew louder as someone neared the door. Pat’s human, Sydney, threw it open and rushed into his arms.
“Sparrow, I didn’t expect you until later!”
He pulled her into his chest and held her for a moment, then bent his head to claim her lips in a slow, heated kiss.
Scarlett averted her eyes, wondering why Pat’s soul mate insisted on calling him by his last name, as she waited for their kiss to end.
“Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?” Sydney murmured finally.
“I’m just very happy to see you.” He reached up to brush a strand of hair from her face. “And I wanted to make sure you were alright. Scarlett gave me some disturbing news today about the possibility of an immortal preying on human women.”
“Another death djinn?” Sydney asked in disgust.
“We’re not sure,” he replied. “But there was a murder not far from here and I need to take a look at the crime scene. I brought Scarlett along.”
He stepped to the side so that the women could see each other. “I believe you two met at Doyle and Violet’s wedding.”
Sydney’s cheeks colored as she smoothed the hair that he had rumpled during their kiss. She managed to look charming even in an old t-shirt, shorts and bare feet. “Oh, hi...come on in!”
Scarlett started past the woman, but Pat nudged her with his elbow. She realized she was being rude and muttered, “Sorry.” She was so used to avoiding contact with humans that being silent around them was a default behavior for her.
She cleared her throat. “Thank you for inviting me into your home, Sydney,” she said in a stilted voice. She glanced at Pat for approval and his lips twitched as if he was trying to hide a smile. She glared at him and strode into Sydney’s dwelling.
A wooden table lay to the right, its surface littered with papers, files and small machinery.
“I use the dining room as my office, so it’s kind of a mess,” Sydney apologized as she followed Scarlett’s gaze. “Why don’t we sit in the living room?” She pointed toward the area beyond.
“Where are we?” Scarlett murmured as her eyes widened to take in a wall of glass that looked out on the ocean, glistening far below them in the fading afternoon light.
Sydney gave her a confused look.
“Your home is as high as a pegasus’ aerie!” she exclaimed.
Sydney grinned. “Oh, that! We’re in the tenth storey penthouse of a hotel. I guess it would be disconcerting, blinking up here for the first time and not knowing that.”
“You live in a hotel?” Scarlett asked in surprise.
“I know it’s a little strange, but this penthouse is one of my ill gotten gains from my death djinn contract,” Sydney replied with a laugh as she padded over to a corner bar and grabbed a couple of tall, stemmed glasses. “Would you like some champagne?”
“Death djinn contract?” Scarlett echoed, glancing at Pat in alarm. He’d lost his mother to a death djinn when he was only a child. She couldn’t believe he would be so relaxed about them having a contract out for his soul mate.
“She got hers voided,” piped a smug voice.
Scarlett followed the sound until her gaze rested on one of the strangest sights she’d ever seen. A sprite sat on a glass tabletop in front of the sofa, her bare feet swinging over the edge. She was dwarfed by the bottle of wine she leaned against, and as she took a dainty sip from a tiny earthenware jug, she erupted into a fit of hiccups.
A stream of miniscule bubbles floated from her mouth, drifting down toward a black cat that lay on the carpet below her. It rolled playfully on its back, batting at the bubbles with a fluffy paw.
The sprite giggled and then shot up into the air, jarring the bottle so that it teetered on the edge of the table. Sydney grabbed it before it could tip over, curling her lip at the faerie as she poured two more glasses and set the wine safely out of the way.
The sprite flew toward Scarlett, green dust sprinkling in an unsteady path behind her. “Hi, I’m Lorien. I’m Sydney’s faerie guardian.” She lifted a hand to cover another hiccup and grinned, her silvery skin glowing with mirth.
“Good day, little sister, I’m Scarlett.” Her lips twitched in humor. “I see it’s happy hour here in the human realm.”
“I’m afraid I have a bit of a weakness for champagne,” Lorien admitted on a loud whisper. “But the effects don’t last long—quick metabolism. Come have a drink with us. I hear you’re something of a legend with a sword.”
Scarlett gave the faerie a wary look as she followed her to the sitting area. She lowered herself onto the smaller sofa, while Pat and Sydney shared the larger one.
“Who told you that?” she asked, wondering, not for the first time, what Pat might have told his human about her.
Sydney handed her a glass and she murmured her thanks as she stared curiously at Lorien.
“I was at your brother and Violet’s bonding ceremony in our realm,” Lorien explained. “My sister is Violet’s faerie guardian.”
Scarlett had avoided Sydney during that event, so it wasn’t surprising that she hadn’t met the cheeky sprite who watched over her.
Lorien grinned. “Your kin were bragging about you.”
“She can kick my ass with a sword, that’s for sure,” Pat said drily.
“I can kick your ass without one,” Scarlett retorted.
Lorien snickered and Sydney let out a bark of laughter.
Scarlett’s cheeks heated and she added, “I teach sword technique to our young warriors, so I have to keep my skills sharp.”
“Really?” Sydney asked. “My best friend Sunny teaches college, so her students are probably about the same age group as yours. Is that your full time job?”
“Yes,” Scarlett replied in a guarded tone. She was surprised at the genuine interest in Sydney’s expression.
Pat made a face at her behind Sydney’s back and motioned with his hand for her to keep talking.
Scarlett cleared her throat, unused to conversing with humans, but aware of the promise she’d made to be nice to Sydney.
“I teach five days a week, primarily the young warriors from our village, but sometimes trainees come in from the surrounding villages as well.”
“Cool. Sunny specializes in medieval literature. So I guess you teach your students how to use swords, and she teaches hers about people who fought with them long ago,” Sydney said with a smile.
“Your histories are littered with tales of humans who unknowingly fought alongside the sidhe,” Scarlett replied stiffly. “Many of the sword techniques your people used were learned from us.”
“Really? You’ll have to sit down with Sunny