“No, she meant . . . I’ll explain, but I’m going to need more coffee.”

• • •

The next best thing to a hot shower was a hot meal. By the time Sasha—with an assist from Annika—put the meal together, the team had gathered in the kitchen.

Riley caught the scent—bacon!—heard the mix of voices as she wound her way back down.

“I keep a car here,” Bran said. “It’ll take all of us, but not comfortably.”

“I’ve got my bike,” Doyle put in. “And I can take one pillion.”

“True enough. I can arrange for a van, a kind of backup, in the event we want or need to go any distance in one vehicle. And there she is,” Bran added when Riley stepped in. “Sasha tells us you’ve healed and rested. And you found a room that suits you?”

“Yeah, thanks. I took one with a good-sized desk, facing the woods. It’s a lot of house, Irish,” she said as she snagged more coffee.

“It is. I thought, why go small? And when I have my family here, it fills up quick enough. We should eat, then I’ll show everyone around the place.”

“I hear the eating part.” Sawyer pulled a platter of eggs and fried potatoes out of the warming oven, left someone else to grab the platter of meat and stack of toasted bread.

The table snugged in the rainy window showed Annika’s handiwork with napkins shaped into hearts, wooden skewers arranged in a tepee with tiny flowers draping down and a single white rosebud spearing out of the top. Tea lights formed another heart, its center filled with rose petals.

Bran lit them with a flick of a finger, and made her clap.

“Your gardens are so pretty in the rain,” she told Bran. “I think if I lived in this castle by the sea, I would never want to leave.”

“I like knowing I can come back to it.”

“She likes the rain, too.” Sawyer heaped food on his plate. “I’ve gotta say, I’m going to miss the island sunshine.”

“I’m ready for the rain.” Sasha passed a platter to Doyle. “It’ll give us a day to regroup.”

“It’s Ireland,” Riley reminded her. “We’re likely to get more than a day of wet. But yeah, a little regrouping’s earned, considering. Any clue where you dumped her, Sawyer?”

“Not one. But she was hurting when I did.”

As he ate, he filled her in as he had the others.

“It fits. We hit her where it hurts, she loses ground, her grip gets slippery. It should give us some time. What about Malmon? Or the thing Malmon’s become?”

“Slipped through,” Doyle said. “He’s stronger, faster than he was.”

“Can he stay that way without her?” Riley wondered. “That’s a question. I’m going to assume you’ve got this place locked down, Bran.”

“You assume correctly.”

“So the stars are here, and safe.”

“They are. I’ll show you, as you’ll want to see for yourself. I’m thinking you chose your room for the work space, and will likely use it. But there’s another area you might find useful as well.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“The north tower. We’ll have a look at it after breakfast.”

“Can you dig we’ve got a north tower?” Grinning, Sawyer ate more bacon. “A south one, too. And check it.” He jerked a thumb at the pinball machines in the lounge area.

“Caught that. I’ll kick your ass on them later.”

“You will try,” Sawyer told Riley. “You will fail. We need a new assignment chart.”

Sasha nodded. “I’ll take care of that this morning, but since Annika and I handled breakfast, I hereby assign Riley and Doyle to KP. I’ve had a look at the food and cleaning supplies, and we’re more than set there for now, so that puts off shopping for a while, on the domestic front.”

“I would like to shop in Ireland.”

Riley arched her eyebrows at Annika. “If shopping was an Olympic sport, you’d have all the medals. But at some point, she’s going to need some rain gear.”

“Some extras there in the mudroom,” Bran said, “but we’ll want to get out and about. I know the land here, and villages, but I’ve never looked at either with the quest in mind.”

“We’ll need more ammo,” Doyle pointed out.

“Something else I haven’t had in mind while here.”

“I’ve got some contacts.” Riley shrugged. “I’ll make some calls.”

“And that’s as big a surprise as Annika shopping. We lost some bolts in the last battle,” Doyle continued. “And plenty of bullets.”

“I’ll take care of it, and once I unpack my books and maps, I’ll start working on—”

“Can we take a moment?” Sasha interrupted. “I know we can’t let up. I know we need to take advantage of the time we might have before Nerezza comes at us again. But can we take a moment to just be? We’re all here, around this table, in this place, after facing what seemed like almost impossible odds against survival, much less success. But we’re here, and so are two of the stars. That’s a miracle, I think. It was hard won, but still a miracle.”

“You’re right.” Bran met her eyes, then scanned the table. “We’ll take our moment, and be stronger for it.”

“Works for me.” Doyle spoke casually, then glanced at Sasha. “When you’re doing that assignment chart, just make time and room for daily training. Including calisthenics.”