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“Dante Valentine to see you, my lady,” Grace said with a deep curtsey, and Polyamour froze.
Of all the news she had been expecting, this was not it. The world around her had gone insane—demons were everywhere, Saint City PD seemed to be completely useless, and no one knew what was happening at the Hegemony headquarters. Even her own contacts in Manhattan were silent, and the sexwitch network was exceptionally adept at finding information. Bed made lips loose, made things fall out that shouldn’t, and word got around.
She took one glance down at the child playing in front of her. While a sexwitch house of pleasures was not what most people thought of as a good place for a toddler, there was nowhere better for Gabriele Spocarelli to hide her baby. Poly had better shields than anyone in Saint City.
Liana was nearing three, now, and she had Eddie Thornton’s golden curls and Gabe’s bright blue eyes. She was a psion, of course—not a sexwitch, but Poly couldn’t tell where her Talents were.
Grace was still waiting, frozen in position, her skirt a bright, silken blue panel in a room done otherwise in soft pinks and creams.
“Send them in,” Polyamour replied with a sigh. Gabe’s will had been clear and unequivocal. Dante Valentine, her best friend, was named as Liana’s guardian and trustee. Poly wasn’t going to stand in the way of that.
Poly didn’t even dislike Dante—not the way that many psions now did. She had never believed that Dante had killed Gabe, no matter what Saint City PD had said. Dante wouldn’t.
Poly had been at Rigger Hall, and she had a long memory. For what she and the Black Room had done, as much as it needed doing, Dante had been the one to finish it. She hadn’t forgotten.
Dante had a haunted look in her eyes as she came in, but it wasn’t her that made Poly still. It was the demon following her, flickering black-diamond flames lighting his aura. The Power reeling off him, and off Dante herself, made her feel drunk for a moment, intoxicated with desire, a heady feeling that she shook off with the ease of long practice.
“This is…?” She asked, eyeing the demon uncertainly. He was green-eyed and golden-skinned, stiff and formal in a long, dark coat with a high collar, clearly non-human even without being able to see his aura. Gabe’s will had said nothing about a demon.
“Japhrimel,” Dante said, and she sounded exhausted. “My… A’nankimel, I guess.”
Poly didn’t recognize the word, but she stopped short, taking a second look at Dante. The woman wasn’t a friend—indeed, Poly had only met her once. But even Poly could tell that she had been through a lot. Her golden skin, though flawless, had a tired sort of quality to it, and her liquid-dark eyes were haunted. Her clothes were battered, though clean and well-made, and Dante… well, she carried herself as though she had been through much.
The world had gone crazy, but Poly could tell that as bad as it had been in Saint City, Dante had had it worse.
“Are you all right?” she asked quietly, resisting the urge to reach out and touch her. On one hand, as a sexwitch, touch was natural for her—on the other, Dante seemed to be on a hair trigger, and Poly didn’t want to set her off, however accidental or well-intentioned it might be. “Please, sit down. I’ll call for some tea. Will your… friend be having any?”
Dante’s muscles seemed to be stiff, then she jerked into motion and sat down on a soft, cream-coloured sofa. “Japh?”
“Tea would be fine,” the demon said coolly, and Poly took the moment to wonder at the fact that demons even drank tea. She didn’t have much call to be around them—her wards, laid by the best, kept them out of her pleasure house, and that was all that was important.
She raised a hand and signaled Grace, hovering in the background, to fetch a platter. “How have you been, Dante?”
“Been better.” Dante cracked a smile, her eyes roving around the room and fixing on Liana. The toddler was still fixated on her coloured blocks. She was used to Poly meeting guests, or being left with new and strange people for a few hours while Poly saw clients, and Dante wouldn’t stand out to her. “Is this Liana?”
“The one and same.” Poly smiled back at her, as Grace returned and set a silver teapot and platter with biscuits in front of them. “Will you be taking her home with you today? She’s settled in very well here—it might be good to give her a little time…”
Dante hesitated, her eyes flicking once to the demon. “We should, but … we don’t have anywhere to stay just yet. We only just got back into Saint City—”
“I can have a house ready for us two days,” Japhrimel said firmly, directing his words as a reply to Dante’s unspoken query. “Two days only, including a bedroom for the child.”
Dante looked back over at her, uncertainty in her eyes. Poly smiled, motioning to Liana. “That’s no problem. We’d be happy to have Liana stay with us for another two days, wouldn’t we, sweetheart? Come meet your Auntie Dante, Liana—she’s going to be taking care of you in a few days.”
The toddler looked up, but she didn’t come over. Instead, she bit her lip, and looked back down at her toys.
“She’s not even three,” Poly said, a little apologetic. “And with her mama gone…”
Dante waved a hand, dismissing it. “Don’t worry about it, Poly. Thank you for all you’ve done—Gabe knew who to trust. How—how have you been?”
Poly shrugged gracefully, as only a sexwitch could. “Good. Been better, but it could be a lot worse. The world is mayhem right now, but we’ll weather it. The best wards that money can buy to defend this place, and there isn’t much more we can do. What will be, will be. Have some tea, Dante.”
Dante reached for a cup, and Poly could see her hands were shaky. “We can reinforce the wards, if you like. It would be good—for you, for Liana… It’s my fault. Our fault.”
“Not entirely,” Japhrimel objected.
“Some of our fault,” Dante corrected with a sigh, taking a sip of her tea. “But it should get better soon, Poly, I promise. We have a lot to do—finding a house, getting things ready to take Liana home…”
“I will find us a house,” Japhrimel said, setting down his own teacup. “If you wish it, I will go now.”
“Yes—“ Dante started, but Poly shook her head.
“Finish your tea,” she said sternly. “It’s clear you’ve both been through a lot. You can sit and take the time to breathe, and Liana can stay here as long as you need to prepare.”
“Time to breathe,” Dante repeated, with a wan sort of smile. “Haven’t had that in too long. If ever—maybe never.”
“Then it’s time to start,” Poly replied tartly. “It's never too late to start taking the time to breathe.”