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“What did she promise you in return for teaching her about the amulet?”

“Nothing that need concern you. It has nothing to do with supplanting your position.”

“Be careful, Druid. She is treacherous.”

“She has been more straightforward with me than you have, Brighid. And she has taken an interest in my life for the vast majority of it. It is no wonder that she has beaten you to discovering this new Druidry of mine. You, on the other hand, have ignored me until just recently, now that I have something you want. So if you find yourself at a disadvantage, you have no one to blame except yourself.”

Brighid closed her eyes and took a deep breath, determined not to lose her temper again. “Yes, this has been a day for my inadequacies to be made plain. Are you finished?”

“Just about. Will you agree to leave in peace and inform me in advance of your visits in the future?”

“Yes.”

“And my promised reward for killing Aenghus Óg? Rather than becoming your consort, I would like your forgiveness for today.” I released her from Fragarach and lowered the sword to the table but kept my hand on the hilt. “I look forward to your next visit and hope it will be much more congenial than this one.”

“I shall not break hospitality again,” Brighid said as she rose to her feet. “But neither shall you hear again an offer like you heard today. All of this,” she cupped her breasts briefly, “could have been yours, Druid, but no more. Think on that the next time the Morrigan is gouging out pieces of your flesh.”

She made sure I saw plenty of what I’d be missing on her way out the door. Damn, damn, damn.

Sure, Oberon. What’s up?

He reared up and put both his paws on my shoulders and gave me a sloppy lick in the face.

Chapter 15

There were multiple missed calls on my cell phone. Some were from Granuaile, some from Malina, and a couple from Hal Hauk, my lawyer. I called my lawyer first.

“Atticus! Tell me you weren’t involved in this Satyrn Massacre business,” he said without preamble.

“Satyrn massacre?”

“That’s what the papers are calling it. Capital M.”

“Oh. Well, look, why don’t you come over,” I said, because anyone could be listening.

“Gods of light and darkness preserve us. Don’t move, I’ll be right there,” he growled, and then hung up.

Granuaile was next. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to define your terms.”

“You’re still in one piece and everything still works.”

“Then yes, I’m all right.”

“Good. Thought you’d like to know that priest and rabbi came in again.”

“They did?” I frowned. “What did they want?”

“They asked me to open the rare-book case. I told them I couldn’t.”

“Right, because you can’t.”

“Right. They looked pretty pissed. And then they asked all these questions about you. Religious stuff, like whether you were a Christian or a Jew or a pagan, and whether you practiced your religion faithfully.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I said those were questions better answered by yourself. They wanted to know when you’d be back, and I had to tell them I really didn’t know.”

“Well, hopefully I’ll be in before the day is through. Can Perry and Rebecca run things tomorrow?”

“Sure. What do you want me to do?”

“Latin, of course, and get your job back at Rúla Búla.”

“Already got it. All it took was a phone call and some groveling to Liam.”

“Excellent! I want you to come over in the morning so I can see about doing something for your personal protection. I haven’t done a divination recently, but I’m getting one of those hunches.”

“The paranoid kind?”

“What other kind is there? Hey,” I said, my voice dropping and lilting with dulcet, honey-bunny tones, “can I tell you one of the many reasons I love you?” This wasn’t an abrupt flowering of love between us. It was a code phrase, one that