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"Are you serious?" I asked Felipe’s Fiestaland was the cheesiest restaurant in town, figuratively speaking In a place like Tucson, where you could get aly authentic Southwestern cuisine, Felipe’s was for tourists and suburbanites who didn’t know any better

"Are you saying aout of the car

"I would never say that But there are better places with better aritas"

"They still use tequila in theirs Isn’t that what really reeted by a hostess who sounded like she’d taken one se fro, and bad mariachi music blasted from speakers I scanned the drink menu as soon as we sat down and was ready when the waiter came by

"I’ll have your Double Platinuarita," I told hirande?" asked the waiter

"Super"

Kiyo looked impressed "I’ll have the same" When ere alone, he asked, "What is that exactly?"

I propped an elbow on the table, resting my chin on my palm "I’m not sure, but it sounded like it had the most alcohol in it Places like this tend to drown their drinks in mixers"

"Spoken like a pro"

"Stating the obvious You and I both know Roza’s has the bestabout a memory that had coone out to Roza’s - which really did have the best otten so drunk that neither of us could drive ho we could: sex Twice

The drinks arrived and were about the size of fishbowls They were also about half-mixer, as suspected, but at least that still left a reasonable quantity of alcohol I drank mine down quickly as aited for our food Alcohol nuet my probleht be right?" I asked "That Deanna did cohost had left us once we departed from the office

"I don’t know I don’t know if she’d believe it, even if he turned up a filrimaced and downedI’d want to watch I’ently "And no matter what I said beforeand how upset I hen this war startedwell, I have to adets around I know you’ve made some tactical moves that minimized casualties - and not just for your own people"

"’Tactical’ ’Casualties’" I shook arita "Those are terht I’d use And really, I don’t haveRurik does"

"But you give the okay," Kiyo pointed out "Not many rulers would Most would do whatever it took to crush their enemies quickly"

"I’ve certainly wanted to" Dorian had as well, and the few disagree our wartie "Can we talk about so not Otherworldly? And not about suicide?"

"Sure" Our waiter suddenly appeared with the plate of Mile High Muy Bueno Nachos we’d ordered Kiyo flashed hiarita Also, it’s her birthday"

I shot Kiyo a look of horror as the waiter scurried off "Are you out of yourlike that in a place like this!"

But it was too late Because in a matter of minutes, the entire waitstaff of Felipe’s Fiestaland had surrounded our table Someone put a sombrero on my head and a candlelit piece of flan in front of roup then launched into an out-of-tune rendition of "Cumpleaños Feliz," set to equally bad out-of-rhyth I stared at Kiyo the whole tirow

"You don’t look a day older," he told me, once the mob had dispersed

"I can’t believe you did that" I jerked off the soarita "Do you kno huot yourelse, didn’t it? Plus, check it out Free flan"

I blew out the candle and hesitantly poked the gelatinousaround a while"

"Don’t worry," he said, dragging the plate over to his side of the table "With all the preservatives in it, I’et you back for this," I warned, narrowing"I hope so," he said "I certainly hope so"

I can only blaaritas for what happened next, because as soon as we’d paid our bill and were back in the car, we attacked each other

"See?" he said, trying to pull my shirt over my head "Who needs Roza’s?"

"It was dark out then," I re for his pants

"We’re in the back of the lot," he argued "And the sun’s going down"

He had a point, and when he brought one of my nipples to his mouth, I kind of let the subject drop We really were out of sight, and there were more important matters to take care of We reclined and pushed the seat back as far as it would go, then finally ht asped "You’re sorry now"

"Very," hekeptadvantage of it with his hands andon top of hi submissive with Dorian, I suddenly exalted in this sense of power - especially since Kiyo had definitely been the one in control the last time we had sex Now, it was allhi the speed of

"Eugenie," he begged at last "Enough Pleasedo it"

I leaned toward hiht kiss hirin, I straightened up ashied for His body bucked up as he caht leave before he finished

After that, I guess ere kind of dating again The next week or so passed in an easy pattern I saw Kiyo almost every day, and we slipped back into our old routines I started taking more jobs, much to Lara’s relief, while Kiyo alternately worked at the vet clinic and checked in with the Otherworld At night, he and I were always together, either at an to re in a relationship, and slowly, my heart did as well

I only crossed into the Otherworld once during that time, both fros No progress was being , but the hoped-for peace talks still see

"She’s being difficult," said Shaya, when I asked about it Understandably, she looked weary "These are delicate matters They take ti i she knew better than ot sporadic updates of another sort: Enrique’s To his credit, he called alated At first his attitude remained the same, full of that cockiness and irritability that said this was a waste of his tied

"I think," he said "You ht"

I’m not sure as more surprised by this: him or me I’d honestly started to believe he wouldn’t turn up anything at all as evidence of either a suicide or a htly

"What? That someone killed her?"

"YeahI found a couple things Did you know her husband has a girlfriend?"

"Deanna toldon" It had been a fewinto Deanna, he’d begun seeing soo

"Yeah, well, he irlfriend? His alibi"

I frowned "Seriously?" Deanna’s husband had been removed from suspicion because he’d had a solid witness to his whereabouts when she’d been killed He’d been at a real estate agent’s office; the agent was helping him with a vacation home for their family "Maybe their relationship started after Deanna died "

"Not if a witness I found is reliable I also ht have a lead that proves Deanna wasn’t the one who bought the gun"

"If that’s true " I couldn’t finish right away Deanna acquiring the gun that had killed her had been one of thepieces of evidence for suicide "If you can prove that, then it could reopen everything"

"Yes," said Enrique matter-of-factly "Yes, it could I’ll be in touch"

We disconnected, and I suddenly wished he hadn’t been quite so good at his job If he was right about all this and turned up the evidence he neededwell, so to have to break the news to Deanna that her husband had murdered her And that someone would be me She currently believed some crazed killer had done it, one that was after her faht of it all sickened me

As I sat there in le For half a second, I thought Deanna was appearing unsu I wasn’t ready to deal with I’d essentially given her a "don’t call me, I’ll call you" directive But, no It wasn’t her It was Volusian, his red eyes as malevolent as always Lately, his appearance ood

"What’s up?" I demanded

"Shaya requests your presence iood at last "The peace talks?"

"No She needs you because the Oak King is at your castle, de to see you"