Well, that and wondering if she was seeking comfort in the arms of that damned too-good-looking Kesh, who no doubt had been just waiting for Marcus to do something stupid, like walking away from the best woman on the entire planet.
He was an idiot squared. An idiot times infinity. He’d kick his own ass if the universe wasn’t already doing such a good job of it. Damn, he missed that woman.
*
DAMN, SHE MISSED that man. Beka tried to focus on Alexei’s report, but she was feeling even sicker and shakier than ever, and having a hard time focusing. That was the only reason she couldn’t seem to keep her mind on topic. It had nothing to do with Marcus.
“Beka, are you listening to me?” Alexei rumbled, his deep basso voice bouncing off the paneled walls of the bus. “I haven’t spent the last three nights crawling through every dive bar in town where paranormal creatures are known to hang out just for my health, you know.” He gave her a broad grin that was almost lost within his beard. “Of course, I did have a bit of fun breaking heads and twisting arms so people would tell me the truth.”
Gregori rolled his eyes at his larger comrade. “A bit of fun? We’re banned from half the bars down by the wharf now. And the other half are just too scared of you to try it. Why can’t you learn to ask politely?”
“Like you do?” Alexei said with a snort. “I seem to recall one poor Selkie lad you held up over your head for an hour while you drank beer with the other hand.”
“Well, I didn’t need both hands to hold him up there; why not drink beer? And he did eventually tell us what we needed to know.”
“Boys,” Beka interjected, not up to listening to any more gleeful recaps of the Riders’ unique methods of information gathering. “I assume that you actually did learn something from all this carousing and harassing of the locals, beside which tavern serves the best ale.”
“The Cranky Seagull,” they both said in unison.
Swell. The one place she could never go again, for fear of running into Marcus or his father. It figured.
“Lovely,” she said in an uncharacteristically snappy voice. “I’ll be sure to pass along your recommendation to the Queen. Now, if we had something a little more helpful to tell her at the same time, that might be good too.”
Gregori raised one feathery eyebrow, the color of ink. “Are you all right, little one? You don’t quite seem yourself.”
“Yes,” Alexei agreed, grabbing another handful of chips from the bowl on the table between them. “You are acting almost as crabby as Barbara. But on you, it is not so natural. What is the matter?”
A black mountain shifted underneath them, nudging the table an inch or two to the left. “She’s pining for her fisherman,” Chewie said morosely. “And so am I. I liked him, even if he was Human. Also, I think she’s sick. Pass me the chips, will you?”
Alexei put the bowl on the floor. “Sick? Baba Yagas don’t get sick.”
“I’m fine,” Beka said, propping her aching head on one hand and trying to look perkier than she felt. “I’m just tired.”
“This is more than just tired,” Gregori said, peering at her more closely. “I have been watching you, and you move like your whole body hurts. There are dark circles under your eyes, and you hardly eat anything at all. Surely this is not all because of some man.”
Beka nudged Chewie with one bare foot and muttered, “Thanks so much for sharing, buddy.”
“You’re welcome,” he muttered around a mouthful of chips. “But she doesn’t smell right either. She’s sick.”
Gregori and Alexei both sniffed at her. Beka couldn’t figure out whether to laugh or cry, burying her face in her palms for a moment before pushing her chair back from the table.
“Guys, I’m fine. Can we just focus on the matter at hand?”
Alexei settled back with a grunt, grabbing another bag of tortillas off the counter behind him without bothering to turn around. It helped to have the longest arms in the room. But Gregori still gazed at her, his dark eyes calm but concerned.
“When is the last time you had some of the Water of Life and Death?” he asked. “That should cure whatever is wrong with you.”
Beka couldn’t remember off the top of her head. Things had been a little crazy, and her brain felt like mush. Babas usually drank a small amount of the magical elixir once or twice a month, so it couldn’t have been that long ago.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Last week? The week before? I’ll have some later, okay? Right now, I’d really like to know what you’ve come up with, so we can deal with this problem once and for all. Do you have any idea yet who this mysterious renegade is?”
Surreptitiously, she crossed her fingers.
“We do have an idea, yes,” Alexei said with a smirk, his enthusiasm making his accent even thicker than usual. Bits of tortilla scattered as he spoke, and Gregori sighed, cleaning a speck of food off his immaculate red pants.