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“It’s mostly a parlor trick now,” he said, sharing a smile between us. “Though I recently formed a wall of ice to stop someone from evading arrest. In times of great need, the skill sharpens. There’s no other way to describe it.”
“I can see where that would come in handy,” Grannie said. “How do you make ice like that?”
“I pull the coldness from deep inside me.” He glanced my way. “We have a lower body temperature. About ten degrees lower than a human’s. But . . .”
Grannie leaned toward him; her eyes wide. “But?”
“It’s said when an ice lord meets his fated mate, she thaws him.”
“Truly?” I asked.
He nodded, his gaze gliding down my frame. I shouldn’t shiver from such a simple gesture, but one look from him made everything inside me tingle.
“I hope a fated mate doesn’t take away an ice lord’s ability to make ice,” Grannie said. “Because you need that skill in your line of work.”
“That ability will never go away.”
“Well, that’s good then.” She cocked her head to look up at him. She was so tiny compared to Elrik, she looked like a doll dressed in a housecoat. “Now you’ve left that cold climate and come all the way to Cape Cod.”
“I needed a change,” he said, his eyes on me again.
“Well, Mystic Harbor is lovely.” Granny nodded pertly. “We’re busy with tourists in the summer, but it’s wonderful in the winter when it’s just us locals.” Her soft smile faded. “But you didn’t come here to share your family history, though I greatly appreciate hearing about it. You also didn’t come here to create an ice cube that’s now melting in your hand.”
He snorted and took it to the kitchen. It clinked when he tossed it into the sink. Returning, he sat beside Grannie again.
“You’re here to make sure I don’t end up in jail for hurting my friends,” Grannie said sadly.
“You’re not going to jail,” I said. “I’m not allowing it to happen.”
“I’m not either.” Elrik grabbed the pad of paper and pen he’d dropped on the coffee table and placed them on his thighs. “Let’s start in the beginning, shall we?”
6
ELRIK
Iquizzed Grannie Rose for over an hour, only stopping for a bit while Melly served tea in a real pot with delicate cups and saucers. We ate cookies she’d made from scratch and talked about the weather while we shared our snack.
“I arrived at the church early to make sure I had time to make the punch,” Grannie Rose said. “Melly drove me there and brought the supplies inside. I was the first to arrive; there wasn’t anyone else there. In fact, we had to use the key hidden in a fake rock in the garden to get inside the function room attached to the side of the church.”
“Melly said you asked her to leave you there alone,” I said.
“Only because she filled in for me already.” Rose beamed at Melly. “She’s been so much help. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her. But I’m getting stronger all the time, and I guess I’m stubborn enoughthat I wanted to do this on my own. It felt like it had been forever since I’d made my special punch.”
“I planned to pick her up in about three hours,” Melly said. “Grannie had a phone and would send a text when she was ready. Instead, I got a text telling me she was in jail and asking if I could please bail her out.” She released a low shudder.
“I was just finishing up the punch when others started to arrive,” Grannie said. “I had to go to the bathroom, and Sue was quite kind to help me.” Her spine stiffened. “I handled things in the stall myself, of course, but it’s good to have another person around when you’re using a walker. Safety has to come first. “
“Sue helped you?” She nodded as I wrote it down. “How long were you in the bathroom?”
“Ten minutes or so. These things take time.” Rose cleared her throat. “Like always, I made my special punch in the church’s big bowl. Melly took it from the closet for me, washed it, and placed it on the buffet table before she left.”
“Did you see anyone else around the building?” I asked Melly.
She shook her head. “There are no homes nearby, and it’s wooded beyond the parking lot. I suppose someone could’ve been hiding in the trees or behind the church or function room. It didn’t occur to me to look. There’s next to no crime in Mystic Harbor. It’s quite safe there.”
“What happened next?” I asked Rose.
“Since my fall, I’m not as spry as I used to be,” Grannie said. “It took me some time to get down the hallto the lady’s room, do my thing, and return to the function room. By then, everyone had arrived, and let me tell you, it was a scene straight out of a nightmare. People were vomiting or staggering against the wall. My dear friend, Sue, collapsed on the wooden floor. I called 9-1-1 immediately, of course, and they sent an ambulance.”
