Page 95 of Search for the Lost

He’d managed okay the night before, helping the others pile the dead Dukes beside a barn, making sure that Cypher and Myra were okay, and patching up Crispin’s shoulder wound, which wasn’t as bad as it had first seemed.

Actually, Leo had freaked out a little when he saw that his lover had a bloody slash in his shoulder. Green blood, no less! But Crispin had smiled and stroked Leo’s cheek and said, “’Tis but a scratch.” Which meant he’d either been paying attention when Leo went on at length about Monty Python movies or he’d been reading Romeo and Juliet. In either case, he was going to be just fine.

The Dukes had stocked the kitchen well, so Dorothy made some food for herself and Myra. Nobody else was hungry on account of their recent Nonna Strega encounter, and instead they took turns washing up before settling down to sleep in the bunkhouse. Which was, as Dorothy had claimed, very bougie for a bunkhouse.

Leo was a little disappointed that he and Crispin couldn’t have privacy, but neither was in any condition to take advantage of privacy anyway, so it was just as well. They fell asleep instantly and not long after Cypher, who needed to rest up after nearly bleeding out on the grass.

Once morning arrived, complete with roosters crowing, Leo had to face the results of the previous night’s events.

The five Red Dukes dead. Crispin injured. And Cypher, who’d gone full redemption arc and saved Crispin’s life, very nearly losing his own in the process.

“You’re a hero,” Leo said to Crispin as they walked from the bunkhouse to the main house. The sun was warm and cast a golden light over Dorothy’s field of organic corn. “A genuine hero, shining sword and everything.”

Crispin shrugged. “I’m fae, and the son of the queen. I may not be Aspin, but I was trained at fighting as soon as I was big enough to hold a sword.”

“Yeah, but you were frigging amazing, dude. Like Batman meets Lord of the Rings.”

Crispin captured Leo’s hand and squeezed it. “So were you. You helped defeat the enemy with candy! And if not for your healing magick, Cypher would never have made it.”

Leo had to think about it for a moment. “Yeah, okay. I was helpful.” That felt damned good, too. There weren’t many times in his life that he’d done anything to improve a situation. “I didn’t get to wave a sword around, though.”

“If you had, it’s likely you would have decapitated one of our friends by accident.”

“Hey!” Leo didn’t protest too hard since Crispin was absolutely right.

“But Leo, you were every bit as heroic, in your own chaotic, creative way. It’s not about trying to beat others at their games—it’s about doing your best at your own. And you did, my love.” He squeezed again. “Swordsmen are a dime a dozen, as I believe your saying goes. But how many warriors have triumphed with hard candy?”

Leo grinned. I did that. “I guess we make a pretty good team.”

“The best.”

They all squeezed into Dorothy’s farmhouse kitchen, which smelled this morning of bacon, coffee, and baking bread. Leo discovered that his appetite had returned and he ate more than his fair share. As she cooked, Dorothy kept tossing pieces of meat to the WOLFs, who lolled happily on the floor, tongues hanging out.

“You are an excellent cook,” said Aspin, who was on his third serving of French toast.

She glanced over her shoulder at him and winked. “You have to be, in my line of work. Also, nearly all the ingredients come from either my farm or one of my neighbors, and that makes a difference. When it comes to sourcing ingredients, there’s no place like home.”

Cypher chowed down on some fluffy scrambled eggs, the color coming back into his cheeks.

Leo was about to take a bite of sausage, but as a horrible thought struck him, he stopped with his fork midway to his mouth. “Um, the, uh, remains of the Dukes…. What will you do…?” He couldn’t quite complete the question.

“Recycle them. Sort of? There’s a little cemetery plot near the farm. Five generations of Gales are planted there. I’ll dig a nice big hole with my tractor and just dump the Dukes on in. They can help fertilize my farm.” She smiled broadly. “We’re big on organic fertilizer here.”

Ew, but also practical. Leo couldn’t feel too sorry for the Dukes. Not after all the harm they’d caused. And it was reassuring to know that their contribution to the food chain would be very… indirect.

Crispin, who hadn’t eaten much, seemed pensive. “I don’t understand what happened. I’ve known the Dukes since I was a young child. They were frequent, erm, playmates of Mother’s. I always found them slightly irritating, but never dangerous. I never worried that they’d try to harm us.”

“They tried to kill you,” Leo reminded him. Not that Crispin was likely to have forgotten, but it was still worth mentioning. Leo was going to have nightmares for some time in which he replayed the scene where the guy in the singlet nearly skewered his Crispy.

Crispin patted Leo’s hand. “I know. But I don’t know why. Dorothy, do you have any idea what they were up to?”

She was in the process of bringing a heaping platter of blueberry pancakes to the table, and Leo was beginning to wonder whether some of Nonna Strega’s gluttony magick had rubbed off on her. “I’m sorry, but no.” She set the platter in front of Dietrich, who dove right in. “When they first arrived, we spoke only a little, and that was about farm things. Then they kidnapped me and I was with Nonna Strega.” She returned to the sink, where she started rattling pots and pans.

“But you said you know where my mother is,” Crispin said loudly. He sounded a little annoyed, and Leo didn’t blame him. After all, they’d rescued Dorothy, and while the farm hospitality was all very nice, they were on a quest.

Dorothy stopped fussing with the dishes but didn’t turn around. “I heard Nonna Strega talking to a friend about it. For the record, she wasn’t very happy about whatever the Dukes were up to. I think she liked your mother. But she got mixed up in this somehow. I think she had an affair with one of the Dukes, or maybe⁠—”

“Where is my mother?” Crispin sounded dangerous. This was new for him. And also, Leo realized, incredibly sexy.