“Yes, I know,” Xanthe told it. “But you must wait a moment or two longer.”
She had fallen into the habit of talking to the kitten on the trip from the crossover passage to Adriyel. They had developed a habit of sorts in the evenings on the short three day journey— the kitten would fall asleep, purring, either on her lap or beside the campfire while Xanthe studied the lovely hand painted cards of the Tarot deck she had been given by a Vampyre and two medusae on her trip to Chicago, to the crossover passageway that led back home.
People in America had such an odd term for places like Adriyel. They called them Other lands, but to Xanthe, America was the Other land.
Most of the time the kitten seemed to enjoy the sound of her voice, but it wasn’t interested in conversation at the moment. It swatted at the pie and meowed again, showing slender sharp white teeth and a tiny pink tongue.
Xanthe checked the cupboard that held the crockery. Along with all the other furniture in the cottage, her father had built the cupboard well out of hard seasoned wood. No small creatures had taken up residence in it, so she wiped out a bowl with the bottom of her sleeve, poured some milk into it and set it on the floor.
As the purring kitten leaped down and began to lap at the creamy liquid, she unwrapped and broke open the meat pie. It was still hot. Fragrant steam rose from the middle. She scraped meat and gravy onto a dish, blew on it until it had cooled slightly and set it on the floor by the bowl of milk.
While the kitten gorged itself on supper, Xanthe set to work. She dusted and swept out spiders and a few mice nests. With the kitten as a mouser, they wouldn’t be back. Then she brought in half rotted wood from the small pile left under the lean-to, started a fire, uncovered the well and drew water, diced the raw meat and vegetables into a pot and set it over the fire to cook, washed the table and chairs, dragged the mattress out of the simple bedroom and beat it until the clouds of dust stopped rising, dragged it back inside and unpacked the linens and blankets that had been stored with fragrant cedar chips in a chest.
Her earlier tiredness was rapidly turning to exhaustion. She could have stayed in the city overnight and faced the long neglected cottage in the morning, but she had been too anxious to return to wait. After making the bed, she checked the bubbling pot that hung over the fire. Her mind was filled with visions of how pleasurable it would be to eat a hot bowl of stew and fall into the bed, when a gigantic shadow darkened her doorway.
The kitten shot past her feet, looking panicked, all its fur standing straight up. Xanthe raised her eyebrows as she turned to watch it race into the bedroom. It disappeared under the bed.
Then she turned to the doorway where a massive dark man stood, dressed in severe black. It was the Dark Fae Queen’s chief of security, Lord Tiago Black Eagle, thunderbird Wyr and forever alien in the heartland of the Dark Fae.
Surprised, she bowed to her employer. “Welcome, my lord. Please do come in.”
His features were as severe as his clothing. He looked foreign to eyes that were used to the slim build, large gray eyes and pale skin of the Dark Fae, but Xanthe had since gotten used to his harsh face and imposing demeanor.
Obsidian eyes narrowed as he stared in the direction of the kitten also. “Tenanye,” he said, greeting her in that abrupt way of his that no longer seemed quite so odd after her sojourn in America. “I believe I told you to stop calling me that. Tiago will do just fine. What the hell is that doing here?”
She raised her eyebrows again as he gestured to the bedroom. “The kitten?” she asked. “I found it wandering the grounds on the other side of the crossover passageway in Chicago, so I brought it with me.”
The crossover passageway from Adriyel to Chicago was located on an eighty-acre tract of land just northwest of the Chicago’s downtown Loop area. The grounds held a large Georgian style mansion and were bordered by a tall stone wall that was topped with rolls of barbed wire, but the front gates were made of wrought iron and since Adriyel had opened its borders, more often than not, now those gates stood open.
None of the Dark Fae staff at the mansion would adopt a companion animal, but along with giving open access to other creatures, there was more than enough opportunity for urban wildlife to take advantage of the open gates and slip into the large, wooded area.
Tiago gave her a strange look then brushed past her to stride into the bedroom. “Come out from under there,” he said firmly.
Xanthe stared at him, her tired mind blank with astonishment.
The kitten slunk out from underneath the bed. It seemed even tinier and more delicate as it hunched at the Wyr lord’s feet.
A wave of heat prickled Xanthe’s skin as horrified comprehension began to dawn.
Tiago looked down at the small creature, hands on his hips. It stared up at him, still looking panicked, eyes completely round and fur bristling.