This time my snort was much louder. You only had to meet Winter for a minute or two to know that was about as likely as a snowman enjoying a sauna. Alice Fairclough’s reluctant tone suggested that she knew it was bullshit as well.
Winter leant back on his heels and rubbed his forehead. He was probably as dog-tired as I was. We’d both been to hell and back only a few hours ago and now I was bringing him conspiracy theorists and kidnap. Yep. He was definitely ruing the day he met me – and that had only been Thursday.
‘When is Ms Harrington due back?’ he asked me.
‘Monday.’
He absorbed this and stood up.
‘Can I ask a question?’ Alice said. We both looked at her. ‘Why do you smell like a toilet?’
I rolled my eyes but Winter didn’t react. He replaced her gag and nodded in the direction of the kitchen. I did as he requested and walked in with him. Harold emerged from underneath the sofa and joined us then Winter shut the door.
‘The legal thing to do is to inform the Order and the police immediately. You could get into a lot of trouble for holding these two here, Ivy. You’ve also made me a co-conspirator by default.’
I folded my arms. ‘They’re dangerous,’ I protested. ‘As soon as I let them go, whether it’s to the police or the Order or the damn Knights of the Round Table, Eve will be at risk. So will I. And so will you. She says it was Diall who put them up to this and maybe it was but we don’t know if he was working alone. There might be others who want to silence us. The entire Order might be compromised. Not to mention that it’s highly suspicious that all this stuff with the sceptre and the attempt on our lives just happened too. They might not be related, there’s no proof, but it’s a hell of a coincidence. In fact…’
Winter put a hand on my arm. ‘I was going to let you keep going until you ran out of steam,’ he said drily. ‘But I was worried that you’d not taken a breath and you’d end up passing out.’ He sighed. ‘What I said was that telling the Order and the police would be the legal thing to do. It wouldn’t be the right thing to do.’
I blinked. ‘Are you also saying that I’m right?’
‘Don’t let it get to your head.’
I held up a hand towards Harold. ‘High five!’ Harold started washing his ears.
Winter gazed at me expressionlessly. ‘We need to keep these two here until we know what’s going on. I’ll set up a perimeter spell. If anyone comes looking for them then we’ll know who it is and we can use it as evidence against all of them.’
Huh. That was actually a good idea. ‘Brill.’ I pressed my lips together.
‘What is it?’
‘I suppose now you want to go all gung-ho and storm off after Diall.’ My muscles screamed their reluctance to do anything other than have a hot bath and go to sleep.
‘You’re right, that is what I want to do – but it’s not what we’re going to do. Both of us need to be fresh and alert for our next move.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘If we go out again now, we’ll end up making mistakes which could cost us dearly.’ He paused. ‘I’ll sleep on your sofa. That way if anything untoward happens at least there will be two of us to deal with it.’
I squashed down my sudden, inexplicable thrill of glee. ‘Brutus will want to talk to you all night.’
The corner of Winter’s mouth crooked up. ‘If I can handle you, I can handle a snarky cat.’
Famous last words. ‘I should tell you that my boiler’s broken so it’s pretty cold in my flat.’ I twiddled my thumbs. ‘And there’s no hot water.’
Something akin to despair crossed Winter’s face. ‘No wonder it was freezing when I was there before. I’ll fix it.’
‘Really?’
‘I’m a witch of many talents.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘And so, apparently, are you.’
I felt a twinge of suspicion. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Fairclough might only be Adeptus Minor,’ he said, ‘but she scores higher than almost everyone else in magical aggression. You did well to bring her down.’
I wasn’t blushing. Nope. Not even a tiny bit. I coughed. ‘Well, then. I’ll give this lot some food and we can go.’
Chapter Thirteen
For once, I woke up early without using an alarm clock. I wiggled my toes, enjoying the warmth both inside and outside my duvet, and listened. In the other room, Winter appeared to be having a fruitless argument with Brutus.
‘I’ve given you lots of attention. Now let me have some peace.’
‘Pet.’
‘The last time I did that you scratched me.’
‘Pet.’
‘Fine. But keep those damn claws to yourself.’ There was a pause followed by a hiss of pain. ‘You little bastard.’
I could almost hear Brutus sniggering. I grinned and pulled my aching body out of bed. If I thought I’d feel refreshed after a good night’s sleep, I was sorely mistaken. I hurt more today than I had yesterday. How was that even possible?
I yanked on some clothes and padded into the living room. Winter, whose hair was adorably mussed up, handed me a cup of coffee. ‘I hope you don’t mind,’ he said. ‘I made myself at home.’
‘Not as long as you bring me hot drinks,’ I said cheerfully. I was particularly enjoying the fact that he was wearing casual jogging bottoms and a tight T-shirt that he’d pulled from his gym kit in the boot of his car. It made a nice change from his immaculate suits. Not to mention that his new attire showed off a great deal more of his body than he normally displayed. ‘You can make me breakfast too, if you like.’
‘I would but all that seems to be in your fridge is a wrinkly apple and three slices of rather unappetising looking pizza.’
I immediately brightened. I’d forgotten about the leftover pizza. Yum. I took a gulp of coffee and headed into the kitchen to heat it up. Brutus followed me, giving me a baleful glare.
‘My sofa,’ he hissed. He was obviously annoyed that Winter had dared to stretch out and sleep on his territory.
‘It’s not your sofa. I paid for it.’
‘My sofa.’
‘You really don’t need to repeat every single thing several times over, you know. I’m perfectly capable of hearing you the first time.’
He jumped onto the counter and, with his eyes fixed on me, pawed at the cup of coffee I’d just put down. Before I could stop it, it slid onto the floor. The cup smashed and I yelped as hot coffee splashed over everything, including me. Brutus twitched his whiskers and sauntered away while Winter, alarmed, ducked his head in. ‘What happened? Is everything alright?’
‘It’s fine.’ I grabbed a cloth and began dabbing ineffectually at the mess. In the end, I gave up. There were more important things to worry about. ‘Look, I keep thinking about sceptre. It doesn’t make sense that Diall or anyone else would go to this much trouble for it. Unless the ulterior motive was to kill you, stealing it was pointless. And frankly, there would have been easier and more reliable ways to put us both down than a sewage tsunami.’
Winter gave me a grim look. ‘I’ve been thinking the same thing.’
‘Do you think—’ I began, before hesitating and cocking my head. ‘Hang on. Can you hear that?’
Brutus, from the corner, arched his back. With dilated pupils, he leapt onto the floor and darted for the front door.