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to put that away so we can eat?â
Dinner was pleasant enough, but I could tell Piers was pissed about me insisting he go to Nashville. It hadnât done anything to help the tension that was already between us, and I was more than a little nervous about what he would say when he pulled me aside after dinner.
Alone in Dr. Aimesâs cluttered office, Piers again went through all the reasons he shouldnât go to Nashville or leave me to myself.
âWe havenât even talked to Mama Legba like we planned,â he said. âWe need to meet up with her tomorrow, because you know that if the police came to her, they think the killing had something to do with the occult. Thisbe has to be involved.â
âSo weâll talk to her first. But you know as well as I do that if you donât go, youâre going to have to come up with a better reason. Usually, youâd jump at a chance like this. I thought we were supposed keep acting like everythingâs normal so we donât have to involve anyone else. Wasnât that the whole purpose of my story about Momma visiting a sick relative?â
âYouâre right,â Piers said, running a hand over his head. âBut I donât like the idea of leaving you alone right now. Not with bodies turning up in the Quarter.â
âItâs just for a couple of days,â I told him again. âUntil then, Iâll be staying with Lucy in a well-warded house thatâs been covered twice over by Mama Legbaâs protective charms. Iâll be fine.â
He still didnât look convinced. âI still canât help but feel like youâre trying to push me away, Chloe.â
I pretended like I didnât hear the question in his tone as I walked over to the table where Dr. Aimes had left the foam container and lifted the lid. Again, that uneasy energy whispered through the room. âThis was Thisbeâs, right?â
Piers nodded.
âDid you ever consider that it might be able to tell us something about her, or about what she might do next? If youâre in the lab, we wouldnât have to wait to find out what they learn about it.â
He frowned, and I could tell he didnât like where I was going.
âThink about it,â I pushed. âIf youâre the one who delivers the charm to Professor Lamont, and if you get to help out in the lab, youâll have first-hand knowledge about anything they learn. That would be a lot more help to figuring out what Thisbe might do than all of us sitting here waiting for something else to happen.â
The way he scowled at me told me that he knew I was right. âI still donât like it,â he said.
âMe neither. Look, like Dr. Aimes said, you donât have to decide right this second. Letâs see what Mama Legba has to say, but at least consider it?â Without thinking, I reached out and ran a single finger across the rough thread of the little doll.
A shuddering unease ran through me, and then all at once, the room around me was gone.
The smell of woodsmoke burned my nostrils and the light from the fire in the brick hearth cast a strange, pulsing glow over the meager furnishings in the room. My skin felt the fingers of the cold night beyond reaching for me through the sparse warmth of the fire, but I shrugged it off.
What did a little cold matter when I had power settled over me like a heavy cloak?
A bone-deep sense of absolute rightness and conviction flooded through me as I looked at the body of the man lying on the narrow bed. He was beautifully built, with strong features that even in sleep looked formidable and sure. Simply looking at him, knowing he was mine, had a warmth curling low in my belly. I had an overwhelming urge to press my lips against his broad and generous mouth.
But I didnât. There would be time enough for that laterâa lifetime of days. But tonight, there was work still to be done.
I pulled a low