“So then, you want to find its true location before Mab can?” Michaels shook his head. “You know finding lost items is beyond my talents.”
Adam regarded him for a quiet moment, then spoke, his voice low and serious. “Sean, I am asking this as a friend.”
Michaels’s ruddy skin flushed. He glanced at Eliza. “He saved my life once, you know.”
“Are you GIM?”
“Never got that far. He stopped a killer’s knife before it slid into my gut.”
Adam shrugged. “There are times when I liked to roam as a normal man. And murder has never set well with me.”
Michaels laughed. “Right then. I’m still beholden to you, and I’ll do what I can. Finish your tea, the both of you, and we’ll see what we can see.”
They did as told, and Michaels collected their cups. Peering into Adam’s cup, he studied the dregs. “You’ll not be liking this, old man.”
“That surprises me very little.” Adam leaned forward. “Out with it.”
“You’ve no future.”
“What?” Eliza burst out.
“His future is naught but a muddle. I cannot see anything more than a vague sense of him possessing the horn. But… even that appears wrong and off.” Michaels took Eliza’s cup. “Let’s see yours.”
Instantly, his pleasant face smoothed out. He glanced between Adam and Eliza, his expression wary. “I’ll need to be speaking to Miss May alone.”
“Absolutely not,” Adam spit out, his chains rattling as his hands clenched.
“Why?” Eliza asked just as quickly.
Adam growled at her, but she gave him a quelling look.
Michaels ran a hand through his ruddy hair. “If I tell you both, it might alter the course, and believe me, friend,” he said to Adam, “you do not want that to happen.”
Abruptly, Adam stood, his jaw bunched, his teeth bared. “If you seek to play me false —”
“It’s no trick, Adam.” Michaels appeared tired just then. “I swear it on my mam’s grave.”
They stared at each other for an endless moment, and then Adam nodded abruptly. He turned and pinned Eliza with a look. “That goes for you as well, Miss May. Try to cross me and —”
“It would behoove you not to threaten me, dearest. Such behavior does not prompt accord.”
Oh, but she could see him swallowing down a snide retort. “How kind of you to remind me, sweets,” he ground out. With a last warning look all around, Adam moved to go, but then stopped and bent close to her. His hot breath fanned her skin, drawing up little prickles of sensation. She thought he might threaten her, or complain further, but he did nothing of the sort. His soft lips pressed gently to the hollow below her ear.
With that, he was gone in an irate clatter of chains and general male huffing.
Eliza found Michaels grinning.
“Oh, do have a laugh at my expense, Mr. Michaels. When I’ll be the one forced to live with his temper.”
At that, Michaels cleared his throat. “Right.” He scootched closer, holding her teacup. “Here’s the thing. I see Adam in possession of the horn, but only you, Miss May, appear to be able to use it.”
“Odd.” She peered into the cup, seeing nothing more than a jumbled mess of wet tea leaves.
“Yes,” Michaels agreed. “Odder still, you’ll only know how to use the horn when you let Adam into your heart.”
Eliza reared back at this. “Is this some trick?” Her heart pounded. Eliza didn’t hold it past Adam to use this oracle for something so low. She knew how ruthless he could be, damn his golden eyes.
“A trick,” Michaels parroted.
“Yes, a way to get me to… accept him,” she hissed.
Michaels laughed shortly. “I do not know what goes on between you two, but I assure you that it is no trick on my part.”
“But why do I need him to use the horn?”
“I do not know. An oracle can state what might occur if one follows a certain path, but not why one must behave as one ought.”
“Rather irritating that,” Eliza groused.
His blue eyes took on a soft light. “I’ve heard as much. And you’re wise to keep your trust close at heart, Miss May. Lies make our world go round.”
“Then why,” she said, “should I trust you?”
“So don’t, then.” Michaels set the cup onto his desk and slouched back in his chair as though he hadn’t a care. “But I’d advise that you not tell Adam of my reading. Because there is one truth on which I think we can agree. If that demon wants to claim you, he’ll do anything in his power to achieve it.”
Sin had turned hiding into an art form. Which saved his sorry hide more than once. Of course, all the household had taken to hiding when Eliza had flown the coop with Adam. Mab’s once-fine house now lay in chaotic shambles, torn apart by the mistress’s own hands. With the temper of a recalcitrant child, she’d lashed out, screaming her displeasure.
Now, as Mab met with Mellan in the parlor, Sin hid behind the plethora of enormous potted palms and ferns that turned the room into a veritable greenhouse, and listened in.
“How difficult is it to find two weak and powerless humans who have run away from me?” Her screech had the delicate teardrop crystals in the wall sconces tinkling.
From his lazy sprawl upon a green velvet chair, Mellan gave her an annoyed look. “Weakened Aodh might be, but he is hardly powerless. Nor are they mere humans. You keep forgetting this.”