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“Give her the cookie.”
“I don’t want that one now,” Addison interjected. “She touched it.” As she reached for the plate, Matilda smacked her hand.
“Not yet,” she barked.
Addison withdrew her hand and sulked. “I don’t see why you care if Lorelei is cool with it.”
“Just for the record,” I said, “I am not cool with anything. I am choosing to be the bigger person.”
“You’ll get yourself killed in the process,” Matilda shot back.
“Yeah, you should always be the smaller person,” Addison chimed in. “Survival Hacks 101.”
“The Corporation is the problem, not Addison.”
The Night Mallt scrutinized Addison. “Which deity are you?”
“Aite,” she replied.
Matilda snorted. “That makes sense. You’ve brought chaos to my friend’s life. There’s a part of you that enjoys this.”
Addison stared thoughtfully at the cookies. “I guess that’s true.”
Matilda’s sharp gaze pierced my thick skin. “You cannot shelter her. She will bring The Corporation straight to your door.”
“They know nothing about me because she knows nothing.” Okay, that wasn’t strictly true, but I had to tread carefully. Matilda had killed to protect my secret, and she’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Addison poured herself a cup of tea and took a sip. “I know you’re not actually a run-of-the-mill human, and that you have a connection to nightmares. I wouldn’t categorize that as nothing. It’s a solid lead.”
“Then why haven’t you managed to identify me?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Because she’s intellectually lazy,” Matilda interrupted. “More interested in playing games than acquiring knowledge.”
Addison wiped away a dribble of tea. “She’s not wrong. In your case, I figured I’d use those few details as leverage to get my old job back at The Corporation and let them deal with you. As you can see, it kinda backfired.”
Matilda’s eerie calm unsettled me. I would’ve preferred steam pouring out of her ears. “You endangered my friend’s life and then had the gall to seek her protection when your plan went awry?”
Addison reached for another cookie. “That about sums it up.”
Matilda turned her furrowed brow to me. “Are you under her influence? Blink once for yes.”
“I accept full responsibility for the consequences of my decision,” I said.
“This is very bad.” Matilda looked ready to send me to my room without supper.
“I’ll handle it,” I insisted.
“I don’t simply mean The Corporation. I mean the timing with the Wild Hunt.”
“Wild Hunt?” Addison sat up straighter. “That sounds like fun.”
“Depends on whether you’re the hunter or the game,” Matilda said.
“See? Game. Fun is right there in the name.”
Matilda snapped her fingers. “We need privacy, girl.”
“We need privacy, goddess.” Despite the correction, Addison peeled herself off the chair and exited the room using deliberately slow steps.
