There was hardly any time for makeup, which was an-other good thing. A swish of blush, a swipe of gloss, and a few brush strokes of eye shadow, and badda-bing, badda-boom, she was ready to go by nine fifty-seven, and feeling calm and virtuous to boot.

All of that was a good thing, because the date really was the most goddamn ridiculous thing she’d ever heard of. The sooner she went on it, the sooner she could collect her present and come home and go to bed and get on with the business of living the rest of her real life.

Because she needed every scrap of her strength and attention on meeting each challenge as it arose. There wasn’t any room in her real life for dating or her growing obsession with a haughty, child-loving, mischievous, kick-in-the-head-sexy prince of the Djinn.

She told herself she was all right with that.

And listened to the silence.

Fourteen

Grace descended the stairs carefully, holding on to the banister. Her wretched knee decided it didn’t like the strain of carrying her weight while bending in the downward motion, so she had to go down lopsided, the same way she had climbed the tunnel. Khalil had turned on a few downstairs lights. Her pulse was racing too much as she opened the gate at the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner to the living room.

She told herself she was being idiotic. After all, it wasn’t as though she hadn’t seen Khalil…

Hadn’t seen Khalil a hundred times…

A tall man stood in her living room. It was Khalil; she knew it was. She could feel the familiar blaze of his Power coming from the man, although it felt peculiarly muted at the moment, as if clouds had drifted over to obscure the sun.

But this man looked completely different. Well, not completely different. He was still very tall, well over six feet, and massively built. He still had pale skin, long, raven black hair pulled back in a simple leather tie and regal, elegant features.

That was where the similarity with the old Khalil ended. This man wore a black T-shirt that strained over the wide, broad muscles of his chest and thick biceps, faded jeans and black boots. His features and his skin…His skin was human, with the kind of paleness that went with black-Irish coloring, and a slight, dark shadow of beard along his lean cheeks and jaw. She edged closer, staring. There were even slight laugh lines at the corners of his mouth and eyes.

Then he turned to look at her, and all semblance of humanity ended. For lack of a better description, she tried to call the color of his eyes gray, but that wasn’t right; for even though the strange crystalline-like quality of his gaze was muffled like the rest of his Power, they were still starred with too much radiance.

“You’re so different,” she breathed. Fascinated, she edged closer. Did he have pupils? She couldn’t tell. His eyes seemed to take in and multiply the amount of light around him.

Khalil’s lean face creased with a keen smile. “You are beautiful,” he said with evident pleasure. His pure, gorgeous voice sounded the same. “Clearly bathing suits you.”

She choked on an unexpected bubble of laughter. Khalil had quite a way to go in the learning-how-to-give-compliments department, but she wasn’t about to bring that up, when he spoke with such sincerity.

She reached out to touch his forearm then hesitated self-consciously. “Do you mind?”

“No,” he said.

She laid her fingers on him. His skin not only looked human, but it felt like human skin too and warm to the touch, not quite as hot as usual. She stroked lightly down his arm. He made a surprised sound and looked shocked. She snatched her hand away. “Did that hurt?”

“No,” Khalil breathed. He looked down at his arm, at her hand. “It felt incredible,” he said. His voice had deepened. “Do it again.”

She held her own breath and tentatively touched him again. This time she curled her hand around the back of his elbow. She drew her hand down the underside of his lean forearm until she reached his broad palm. He hissed at the contact, and a shudder went through him. That simple touch and his intense reaction were unbelievably erotic. His long fingers curled around her wrist, and he held her tight.

“You’ve never felt that before?” she asked faintly.

“Not with such intensity, no,” he said, his voice unsteady. “Creating a more humanlike form is complicated. The more complex a form is, the more energy it takes to create and maintain. I have never been interested enough to descend this deeply into flesh before.”

“How real is this?” she asked.

He stared at his own arm curiously, as if he wasn’t quite sure of the answer himself. “Real enough to feel how pleasurable your touch was,” he said. “Real enough to sustain damage. Cuts and bruises would hurt.” He frowned. “And I do not think I can transport us anywhere while I am bound this deeply in flesh.”

He spoke of his body as if it were a cage. The concept was oddly disturbing, although she could see how flesh would be a cage for him, although he could still discard it anytime he chose.

The whole conversation had created far more intimacy between them than she had expected or welcomed. It had also raised more questions in her mind. She pulled away.

“We’ll have to see that you don’t get damaged tonight,” she said lightly. “And I can drive.”

“In a car,” he said, his frown deepening.

He did not look entirely enthused at the prospect. Suddenly amused, she grinned. “Yes, Khalil. In my car.”

“Very well,” he said. “But I am paying for everything and opening all the doors.”

She rolled her eyes as she went to the bookshelf to grab up her purse. “It sounds like you have quite a well thought-out agenda,” she said. “I would love to know who or what your dating resource was.”

“I went to Florida today,” Khalil said. “Carling and Rune are being held in quarantine in Key Largo.”

She glanced at him. “How are they doing?”

“They’re fine. Rune told me a few things about dating. I must say, I didn’t quite trust all that he said, but his suggestion for a casual outfit seems all right.”

“It’s great,” she said, rather more huskily than she had intended. But then anything he would have worn would have been kick-in-the-head good. She decided it was past time to get out of the house, and she headed for the door.

He might not be able to dematerialize and reform as instantly as he had before, but this new, more humanized Khalil could still move with lethal speed. Suddenly he was in front of her, unlatching the screen door and holding it open. She flipped on the porch light and turned and locked the front door after he stepped out after her. He watched everything she did with an extra-close attention she found unsettling.

She smoothed her hands down the sides of her skirt self-consciously and muttered, “I feel like you’re studying me to take notes.”

“Things acquire more significance in this form,” he said. “You must pay more attention to your physical surroundings when you’re bound in flesh.” He followed her to her car. He opened the driver’s door and closed it after she slid in. She strapped herself in.

When he had climbed in the passenger seat, she waited. He waited too. She told him, “I never drive anywhere unless everybody in the car is wearing their seat belt. It’s a thing of mine.”

He shook his head and looked mystified. She sighed and leaned over him to fumble for his seat belt strap. It brought her br**sts against his arm and the left side of his chest, and she caught his scent. He smelled like clean, healthy male. She caught her breath and tilted her head back to look up at his face. He was watching her intently, eyes blazing.

“Sorry,” she croaked, pulling back.

He gave her a keen, bright smile that had every bit as much mischief as it did in his old form. “Don’t apologize. Really.”

“Just pull that strap around and buckle the two parts together, like mine.” She gestured, and when he had done so, she started the car and backed out of the driveway.

Almost every metropolitan area in the States had at least one bar or pub that catered to a mix of Elder Races clientele. Louisville had two, both under the same ownership, although they were located in very different parts of town. Grace drove to the nearest one, Strange Brew, a pub that was located about fifteen minutes’ drive away on the edge of the historic district of Old Louisville.

Old Louisville was located north of the university and south of downtown. While it was not actually the oldest part of the city, the area had a large collection of pedestrian-only streets and almost all of the architecture was Victorian. Historically, it had housed some of the area’s wealthiest residents but had suffered several declines over the last hundred years. Now it held a diverse mix, including large professional and student populations, and some areas were more fashionable than others.

Strange Brew was the area’s original Elder Races bar, and it was not located in one of the more recently fashionable areas of the neighborhood. An immigrant Light Fae from the Seelie Court in Ireland had opened the pub in 1878. The second bar, Deep Waters, was located on the riverfront, near the Waterfront Park and the river cruises. That one tended to attract the out-of-town tourists.

Strange Brew was more of a hangout for locals. So far, it had successfully weathered all the many changes the area had undergone. It was located at one end of a block-long, utilitarian brick building. It had a storefront entrance on the street, an alleyway entrance that led to a pothole-filled parking lot and a long mishmash of different levels and rooms in between, including a basement bar. The pub was wildly popular on St. Patrick’s Day, although to the best of Grace’s knowledge, it had never boasted a visit from a real leprechaun.

Grace was already rethinking the whole excursion when she turned down the side street that led to the packed parking lot. Going to an Elder Races bar had sounded good in theory, but the reality was, at ten thirty on a Saturday night the pub would be crowded and noisy and probably filled with more than its fair share of students.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” she muttered. She cruised slowly, searching for a parking spot. The lot was full. She pulled out and looked along the street for a space.

“I do not see why not,” Khalil said, looking around with curiosity and interest. “You require supper and a drink. This seems popular enough. People must approve of the nourishment.”

She bit back a smile. He had his own kind of wisdom and deep knowledge, but he didn’t have a real connection to some things. Maybe the difference had to do with being embodied. It would be easy and potentially lethal, she thought, for someone to mistake that difference for naiveté.

She said, “I don’t think people really come here for the food.”

He glanced at her, amused. “Then why did you want to come?”

Good point. Khalil knew of Janice’s and Therese’s reactions to his presence, but he wasn’t aware of how the other witches had acted earlier that day.

She was tired of tensions and difficult conversations. She rubbed her face. She had told him about the one conversation that would really matter to him. The rest, she decided, was irrelevant, at least for tonight.

She settled with muttering, “You’ve never been on a date. I just wanted you to be comfortable.”

“You have succeeded,” Khalil informed her. “I am en-tirely comfortable. And now that we are here, we might as well go in.”

Up ahead, she spotted a car pulling out of a space. The timing seemed like kismet. And it was really too late to go anywhere else and still try to stick to her timetable. She pulled into the spot.

Khalil said, “Piloting a vehicle is more complicated than I would have expected. You appear to handle yours with proficiency.”

She burst out laughing. “You drive a car; you don’t pilot it. You pilot boats and planes.”

“Then I must learn to drive.” Khalil gave her a wicked smile that was highlighted in the yellow glow of nearby streetlamps. “I lied,” he said. “I do not have a present for you. I do, however, have something for you from Carling and Rune.” He dug into the back pocket of his jeans and handed her a folded envelope.

“What’s this?” she asked, unfolding it.

“I reminded them of their obligation to you as Oracle,” Khalil said. His smile had disappeared, and something edged and dangerous took its place. “And that they had been derelict in fulfilling their part of the bargain.”

“You did?” She blinked at him, astonished. “I didn’t think they were derelict. Carling healed Max’s ear infection and saved us a trip to the doctor.”

He shook his head. “No, Gracie. She did not do that as an offering to the Oracle. She did that because he was a baby and he was sick.”

She wasn’t sure what moved her more, Carling’s act of healing, or Khalil acting on her behalf. Or how he called her Gracie.

“Open it,” he said. “See what she sent for you.”

She tore the envelope open and pulled out a note and a check. She looked at the check first.

And started counting zeroes. Her hands began to shake.

No. This couldn’t be right. She started counting all over again, and then again. Her mind refused to move beyond an incoherent stutter. She said, choked, “Oh, my God. Oh. My. God.”

“Is that good?” he said, watching her sharply.

She looked at him. “This check is for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

He reached up and wiped under her eyes carefully with his thumb. That was when she realized tears were pouring down her cheeks. “She said it was all they could do for now, but you are to let them know if you need more.”

Property taxes. A roof. A better car. Her student loans and medical bills paid off. She could focus on the children, her own healing, and finishing her incompletes. If she was very careful and frugal, she wouldn’t have to worry about getting an outside job for several years. She could get the children things they needed and things she wanted them to have. Maybe she could hire a babysitter occasionally and get out of the house. Maybe she could see a movie now and then.