Read Online Me and My Shadow by Katie MacAlister - Free Book Online

mother,” I said to them.
    István made a face. “She was not supposed to come. Drake told her not to come. Aisling will not be happy.”
    René gave another of those loose shrugs and said, “There is no use in trying to tell Catalina anything. She does as she pleases.”
    â€œI don’t look deranged, do I?” I asked, touching my face and wishing for the millionth time I could see my reflection.
    â€œYou look worried, but not deranged,” René told me kindly.
    â€œThank you,” I said, not much buoyed, but willing to take what I could get. I cast a glance toward the closed door to the sitting room. “I think I’ll go fetch Jim from Aisling. I’m sure Drake has calmed her down by now, and Jim is probably making a pest of itself.”
    The demon wasn’t, in fact, in the way, but only because it had evidently been kicked out of Aisling’s bedroom. I found it lying on the floor on its back.
    â€œYou can talk now,” I told it, averting my sight from its nether regions.
    â€œGeez, hanging around Magoth really taught you how to torment demons, didn’t it? I thought you’d never come up here to get me!” Jim rolled over and got to its feet, shaking itself in a way that left a corona of black hair on the floor around it. “Gotta be dinnertime. Let’s go eat.”
    â€œIs everything OK in there?” I asked, nodding toward the door.
    â€œYeah, yeah, Drake started in with Ash about how he can’t survive the ages without her, and all that crap, and she fell for it just like she always does.” The demon shook its head disgustedly as it marched past me toward the stairs. “Women. Can’t live with ’em, can’t live with ’em.”
    â€œI’m sure I can see to it that you don’t live at all,” I said sweetly, which merited an annoyed look from Jim as it went down the stairs. “By the way, Drake’s mother has arrived.”
    Jim did an about-face. “Fires of Abaddon! You almost let me get within blasting range! And me just getting my coat to maximum fabulousness. Sheesh, May. I expected better of you.”
    â€œWhere do you think you’re going?” I asked as it headed back toward Aisling’s room.
    â€œGonna go warn Ash. She’s going to hit the roof, and I want to be there to see the fireworks.”
    â€œEffrijim—” I started to say.
    â€œOh, man!” it whined, slumping to a halt. “Not you, too?”
    â€œBy the powers vested in me by your true overlord, I hereby charge, demand, and otherwise order you to leave Aisling alone unless she expressly desires your company, or if her life is in danger.”
    Jim hesitated at the door.
    â€œA visit from her mother-in-law does not constitute a threat to her life,” I warned, knowing exactly what it was thinking.
    It raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know Catalina very well, do you?”
    â€œCome on,” I said, gesturing toward the stairs. “Let’s go wait for Kostya to arrive. I’m sure, given his temper, there will be fireworks aplenty when he sees Gabriel and me.”
    â€œThere’d better be! That’s all I’m sayin’!”
    In that belief, I was wrong, and evidently I had my twin to thank.
    â€œMayling!” Cyrene squealed when Jim and I arrived in the hall after spending an hour paddling around Drake’s basement pool. Since the silver dragons weren’t overly fond of water, it not being their element, they tended to view things such as showers as merely unpleasant experiences to be endured as quickly as possible. Although Gabriel’s house in Manukua had a pool, it was more or less for visitors, which made it difficult to find time for a pleasure swim. As Jim and I padded up the stairs from the pool, Cyrene spotted us and rushed across the hall, where Kostya was being greeted by his mother, with Gabriel and Drake in a wing formation behind