CHAPTER 40
Five minutes later, we had secured Jode onto Shadow with some rope I had in my backpack. As I tethered Jode down, I took a look at Bas’s armor and Shadow’s saddle. They were made of material that felt like leather in places, and of the same substance as Bas’s cuff in others. Like his cuff, his armor and saddle had intricate, webbed styling. I’d never seen anything like it.
I also got closer to Shadow than I’d ever been. She was incredible. All raw power beneath a coat as cool and soft as night. I tried not to think of my burning, mean-ass horse as we set off again.
We came across a few people on the streets, but no one paid us much attention. Horses had been clopping through Rome for a long time, and with the darkness, no one seemed to notice that Shadow was a little unusual.
Our luck changed when we reached Jode’s hotel. The entrance was promenade-style, so the four valets manning the front doors got a good long eyeful of the five-plus-horse of us as we walked up. When we finally reached them, they looked completely at a loss for words.
“Ciao, signores,” I said, in a fine Italian-Californian accent. “We’re bringing our buddy James Oliver Drummond Ellis back after a big night out for his birthday. Jode here went a little crazy with the celebrating, as you can see. Too much vino. But he gave me his key card before he passed out.” I pulled it out of my pocket and held it up. “And what kinds of friends would we be if we didn’t make sure he was tucked in safely?”
They looked at each other. Then the oldest one said, “Perché hai un cavallo? Why horse?”
“She’s a birthday gift from his father,” Daryn said. “Polo pony.”
“Champion lines,” I added, patting Shadow. “We’re expecting a lot out of this girl.”
Daryn smiled at me. “She’ll deliver. She is a beauty, isn’t she?”
Definitely. She definitely was.
“Che meraviglia! Un regalo per el compleanno,” the valet rushed to explain to the others. He looked back at me, pointing at his face. “Signore, your nose?”
“Oh, I did that,” Daryn said. “He was hitting on me.”
“Yep. So she hit back. Wicked right hook. Does that … does that translate?”
Sebastian muffled a laugh. He stood behind us with Shadow and passed-out Jode. Marcus was there, too, watching everything in silence. He looked like he was ready to spring into action at the first sign of any problem.
“We’re fine now, though,” I said to Daryn. “Aren’t we fine?”
She shrugged. “I’m fine. I think your nose is broken.”
These ludicrous fabrications seemed acceptable to the doormen because they were suddenly all goofy about Daryn and the pretty black horse and how funny my nose looked ha ha ha. From there, it was nothing to get their help tracking down Jode’s room number. They wanted to help carry him up, but Daryn and I said we’d manage. We lifted him by the arms and carried him through the swankiest lobby I’d ever seen in my life.
Once we got to the room, I set Jode on the bed. “Don’t get too comfortable,” I told Daryn. Then I got on the hotel phone and requested a bigger room. I expected some kickback, since it was two a.m. by then, but my request was accepted right away. Apparently if money talked, nothing was chattier than Jode’s bank account.
Fifteen minutes later, Marcus and Bastian were with us as we walked into the penthouse suite. They’d taken Shadow out to the hotel’s garden, where Bas had discreetly unsummoned her.
In the suite, I dumped Jode in the first bedroom I saw, then took a look around. The suite’s first floor had two bedrooms and a huge living room with a bar. Upstairs, there was a rooftop patio with a hot tub and a small garden. I had a pretty good eye for spotting quality in art, from listening to Anna my whole life. Everything in the suite was top-notch.
“This place has to be worth a fortune,” Bastian said.
I looked at him and found myself smiling. He was my favorite fellow horseman, and I was glad to have him back. “We need the space and we couldn’t stay in the other room. Find somewhere to crash.”
He and Marcus collapsed on the couches before I’d finished speaking. After the cross-country flight, the fight at the airport, and then the fight at the Vatican, we were all smoked.
I looked at Daryn. “Hey, Martin.” I tipped my head to the stairs. “You and me. Hot-tub time.”
She rolled her eyes. “Keep dreaming.” She set her backpack down on a chair. “Will you let me take a look at your nose?”
“Sure,” I said. The way she was looking at me, I’d have said yes to anything.