Wicked Edge (38 page)

At least she didn’t have long to wait and stew. She heard steps behind her and turned.

A wizard? Would the weirdness never end? He was about the same height as her, and she wasn’t tall. Thin, gray-haired with a matching long pointed beard, his narrowed gray eyes promised that she’d be sorry if she’d brought him here on a fool’s errand.

She scoped him out from head to toe and thought of the spiders to keep from chuckling. He was a walking stereotype. His gold-trimmed blue robe was decorated with glittering suns, moons, and stars. He wore a matching tall conical hat. It added almost a foot to his height. And he carried a strange-looking staff.

“Holgarth, I presume?” It had better be, since that’s who she’d demanded to see when she’d called the desk. Ivy moved aside so he could step into the room. “Unless you intend to beat them to death with your staff, I’d suggest you call in the exterminators.”

He pursed his thin lips, his cold stare saying that she wasn’t amusing him. Ivy decided that not much
would
amuse this guy.

“How unfortunate.” He sounded as though a plague of spiders were nothing more than a minor irritation. “I’ll get rid of them and then you can—”

“Uh, no, to the rest of what you were going to say. I mean, you can certainly get rid of them, but I won’t be here to see the miraculous event. I want another room and…” She thought about the man in the elevator. “And I want one on a different floor.”

Holgarth sniffed. “Hired help used to know their places.”

Ivy widened her eyes. “Oh, I absolutely know my place. It’s in a new room not infested with spiders.” Was she trying to get fired? Maybe. All the weirdness that had happened so far didn’t bode well for her new job. “
You’re
the one who hired me. I’d think you’d want me to be happy.”

“I did
not
hire you.” He seemed bitter about that. “I wanted someone more tractable, but Sparkle insisted that you were right for the job.”

“‘Tractable’? Does anyone even use that word in everyday speech? Well, if wanting a room where I won’t wake up every ten minutes imagining spiders two-stepping across my face makes me intractable, then so be it. I want out of here.”

He pressed his lips into a thin line of disapproval. “Come with me.”

She frowned as another thought surfaced. “I never spoke with Ms. Stardust, so how did she know I was right for the job?”

For the first time he looked as though he approved of something she’d said. “Exactly the point I tried to make.” He glanced at his watch. “Enough useless chatter. My time is valuable.”

“What about my things?” She moved into the hall and stopped to wait for him.

“Someone will bring them to you.” He lingered in the doorway, mumbling something to himself.

And just before he joined her, closing the door behind him, Ivy got a peek into the room. The spiders were gone. She blocked the sight from her mind. The unexplainable was piling up at an alarming rate, and her brain couldn’t handle it all at once.

Holgarth led her down the winding stone steps. “I prefer to avoid the elevator. It performs in an erratic manner when I use it.”

Hey, Ivy understood completely. She’d probably perform in an erratic manner too if she spent much time around him.

He didn’t stop when they reached the great hall but took another flight of stairs down. Pulling out a bunch of keys on a large ring, he used one to open a door. “Your new room, madam.” He didn’t try to hide his sneer.

Ivy had a few questions. “There aren’t any windows on this level. And the sign over that door across from me says dungeon. Why am I on the dungeon level?”

Holgarth raised one brow. “You’re not on the dungeon level. You’re on the vampire level. The dungeon just happens to be here. We use it in our fantasies.” He paused for effect. “Except when we’re using it to hold a recalcitrant creature.”

She glared at him. “Now you’re just being annoying. Fairy tales don’t scare me. You didn’t answer my question. Why am I here?”

His lips twitched. She had a feeling this was Holgarth’s version of a belly laugh.

“A fairy tale? Yes, the fey sometimes visit us. But we haven’t had to incarcerate one yet.” He looked thoughtful. “They would present some unique difficulties.” Then he widened his eyes. “Oh, but you asked about this room. The hotel is full right now. You could, of course, return to your old room.” He looked hopeful.

He’d like that. Ivy prided herself on being even-tempered, but Holgarth totally ticked her off. “Fine. I’ll stay here.” Not waiting for his reply, she walked into the room and shut the door in his face. Then she leaned against it and closed her eyes.

Finally, she sighed and walked over to one of the chairs in the small sitting area. The big four-poster bed called to her, but if she gave in she’d be out as soon as her head hit the pillow. She had to stay awake until someone delivered her things.

She tried not to think. Attempting to figure things out when she was so tired wouldn’t work. Tomorrow morning, when her mind wasn’t a mushy banana, would be time enough to think about the weirdness.

Instead, she studied the room—dark period furniture, a stone floor covered with what looked like Oriental rugs, and jewel-toned tapestries on the wall. Hello, Texas gothic. The only thing missing was an open window with white sheers blowing gently in the night breeze and the scent of honeysuckle. Okay, so maybe that was Southern gothic.

A knock interrupted her thoughts. She pried herself from the chair and opened the door. Holgarth stood there beside a man loaded down with her things. The wizard watched as the man dumped her clothes on the bed, her shoes on the floor, and everything else on the coffee table in the sitting area.

Love the five-star treatment here.
But Ivy didn’t voice her thoughts because she wanted Holgarth to answer a question for her. She waited until the man left.

“I was on the beach tonight and I heard music. I don’t know where it was coming from, but it seemed…” What? Tempting, arousing, compelling? “Strange. Then I met a man—tall, long blond hair—and he asked me to dance with him.” This was dumb. Holgarth would just make fun of her. “I danced.”

She watched Holgarth’s face, expecting to see his usual disdainful expression. “Do you know if he’s staying in the castle?” Not that Ivy really cared. Okay, maybe she
did
care. A little.

The wizard stared back at her from eyes that gave nothing away. “If you hear the music again, cover your ears. And
never
agree to dance with him.” He sounded completely serious.

“Why?”
There’s always a rational reason for everything.

Holgarth’s gaze speared her. “Explanations would be useless. Re-member, you don’t believe in fairy tales.” He turned and walked away.

Well, that was totally unsatisfying. She closed the door and got ready for bed. After searching under her pillow for spiders, she relaxed enough to fall asleep.

And dreamed of the man, the music, and the dance.