Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell #3)(44)

After a long pause, he continued murmuring in my ear. “I got an offer for a photo shoot in the Alps. Thought maybe you’d like to come along and we could make a vacation out of it.”

“As in Europe?”

“I could choose Switzerland or France. I thought maybe you’d like to go to France.”

Hmm. My parents’ families were both originally from France (my mother grew up in Paris, and my father’s parents were from Marseille) and they used to speak French when they were alone. My mother had a heavy French accent up to the last day I’d seen her alive. I’d always been curious about France. I still had family there—distant cousins and whatnot—and I often wondered what they were like. But I’d never been out of the states.

Lon raised a finger and shifted a lock of hair away from my ear, then continued to speak in a low, quiet voice. “A small village in the Alps. Just the two of us. I was thinking we could rent a villa. A nice one. Indoor pool. Big fireplace. Drink wine. Go skiing.”

“Skiing?” I said incredulously. I doubted I could roller skate, much less ski.

Then he admitted, “Mostly I was just thinking about getting naked.”

My throat made a strangled sound, something between a laugh and a gasp. A little thrill zinged through me. “A sex vacation?” I whispered.

He chuckled. “No Jupe, no Tambuku. Just you and me.”

“I’ve never been on a vacation before.”

“Ever?”

“Never.” My parents had always left me at home with someone from our esoteric order when they went on vacations, and then, of course, I separated from them when I turned seventeen. Being on the run and living under an alias doesn’t exactly lend itself to relaxing vacation time.

“Another first,” Lon whispered in a sultry voice. It was one of his favorite pastimes, cataloging any “first” experiences I shared with him. He kept a mental list. I think it was some kind of male pride thing. Kind of endearing.

“France at the end of January,” he said. “It’s settled.”

It was a glorious thought, this little vacation fantasy of his. “Sure,” I said. “I’ll talk to Kar Yee.”

“I already asked her. She said it was fine.”

I cocked my head, confused for a moment until I remembered Kar Yee’s words last week before the robbery: I know a secret you don’t know. “Well, damn,” I muttered, a nervous happiness spreading through my chest.

“Eight nights, and I only have to work two of those. I’ve got everything booked already. Just wanted to make sure you’d be okay with it.”

My heart squeezed. I turned my face up to his and kissed him on the bottom of his chin, right below one point of his pirate mustache. “Nicest surprise ever.”

He hugged me closer as a familiar face bobbed into view. Lon’s head snapped back from mine as he looked where I was gazing, toward a smiling man strolling down the side aisle, waving in our direction.

“Father Carrow!”

It took the good Father a few seconds to pick his way over to us, wending his way around the crowd gathering behind the pews. The sight of his silver hair and cornflower-blue halo made me happy. Yes, he was an Earthbound and a former priest. The first one I’d ever met, but there were others, like the current priest of this church. Being retired, Father Carrow was dressed in a suit today instead of robes. He waved a fedora he held in hand as he greeted us. “Cady and Lon, two of my favorite people.”

I hugged Father Carrow’s neck. “It’s good to see you,” I said, and meant it. He lived a couple blocks from me back in Morella, and we used to talk frequently. But since I’d unofficially moved in with Lon and Jupe, I saw less and less of him.

He gave Lon’s hand a hearty shake. “How’s life been treating you?”

“Can’t complain,” Lon answered, running a hand down my back.

“And I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to know I’ve played cupid so successfully.” Father Carrow had introduced us several months ago.

One side of Lon’s mouth tilted up briefly. “We agree.”

Father Carrow grinned in reply.

“Are you, uh, working here today?” I asked.

“They often ask me to lend a hand for big events. I’m helping out at the gravesite. Did you know Mr. Merrimoth personally?”

“I did,” Lon answered.

“I’m so sorry,” Father Carrow said, his brow furrowing.

Lon shook his head. “We weren’t close. I’d go so far to say that we almost enemies, unfortunately.”

Father Carrow leaned in closer. “Then you won’t mind me saying that there were some nasty rumors going around about his knack before he died. Folks say he set fire to his own house.”

I’m not sure why that surprised me. I wondered if it was Dare who yapped, or one of his henchmen. Word spread fast in a small community like this. I hoped there weren’t accompanying rumors about some silver-haloed witch helping him jump to his death.

Lon grunted. “You hear similar rumors about anyone else around town?”

Father Carrow squinted. “Setting fire to things? Or . . .”

“Knacks being stronger than they should,” I clarified. “Way stronger.” I quickly filled him in about Tambuku being robbed, touching on Noel Saint-Hill’s grim death. I didn’t think it was a good idea to volunteer the bionic drug information, so I skipped over that detail.