Appreciation, Kisses, and Pie
The next morning, Liliana slept until 9:42, and she had her first customer appointment, Phoebe Wurstner, at 10:00. The spider girl groaned as she rolled out of bed, still in her torn tights and bloodstained leotard. She would have loved to take a very long hot bath, but she only had a few minutes.
She showered as quickly as she could, but it still took quite a bit longer than it should have. There was no part of her body that didn't hurt. Her ankle was badly swollen and her left arm was useless. She pulled on a leotard without bothering with tights or shoes, dropped a flowy homemade scarf blouse over it and pulled on a skirt made of more colorful silk scarves.
She took another scarf and tied it around her shoulder to make a sling for her broken arm. Another scarf, a knitted one with some elasticity, made a serviceable ace bandage for her swollen ankle.
Her stomach rumbled loudly, but she ignored it. She could already hear insistent knocking at her business door.
She limped into the one room of her house that was set aside for her business, and opened the door.
Phoebe held an apple pie in one hand. The other hand went over her mouth. "Oh! Madame Anna, what happened to you?"
"I was very nearly killed by a lowan." Liliana didn't wait for Phoebe to come in. She just left the door open and limped over to her normal chair at the little round table with the crystal ball.
"How? I mean, didn't you see him coming?"
"I did, yes. Some lionesses asked me for help. They wanted the Grimm to fight for them, but I told them he was busy last night, so I would fight instead."
"Oh." Phoebe's hand went over her mouth again. "Oh."
"I had intended to cancel our appointment today, Phoebe, but I overslept and didn't get a chance to call you."
"That's okay. I just, you know, wanted to thank you. You told me the Grimm would keep Bud safe, and warned me it was a dangerous time. You were so right. But, I guess, you know that."
"Yes."
"Well, so, here. I made you an apple pie." Phoebe gave her the pie. "I know it isn't anything special, but …"
Liliana's stomach rumbled again. "I like apple pie. Thank you." Phoebe Wurstner was an excellent cook. And considering Liliana's current mobility issues, she might have to live on that pie for a few days. Standing up in her kitchen to cook was out of the question.
"A pie doesn't really seem like enough. I mean, you've done so much for us."
"Phoebe, you are one of my best customers. You always pay me well. It is enough. The Grimm did the work. I only let you know that you could trust him."
"And apparently, you fought a lowan so that the Grimm would be there to protect Bud."
"I gave you my word the Grimm would be there."
"Oh, Anna." Phoebe blinked real fast a few times then threw herself at Liliana.
Liliana almost punched her best customer out of defensive reflex, but managed to stop herself in time. She grunted in pain as Phoebe hugged her.
The beaver woman apologized so profusely that she stumbled over her words and made very little sense.
Liliana managed to give her a smile. "It's all right, Phoebe. I had my own reasons for fighting the lowan."
"Is there anything you need? Is there anything I can help you with?"
"I'm not going to be able to cook for a few days."
"Don't you worry about a thing. I'll make one of my chicken casseroles and bring it over right away."
"Thank you. That would be wonderful." Liliana stood up. "I need to call my other customers and cancel my appointments so I can go back to bed."
"Oh, of course, you poor dear. I'll get out of your way."
Phoebe left, with several more expressions of sympathy and gratitude mixed in with apologies.
One thing Liliana liked about the beavers, she never had to wonder what they meant.
Liliana ate pie for breakfast and made her phone calls.
She limped back to her bed, wondering if she could maybe get that hot bath now, or if she would rather just go back to sleep.
Someone knocked on her business door again.
Liliana sighed, and limped back to her work space.
She opened the door without bothering to look. If it was an enemy, he could just kill her. She would feel better.
It was Marilyn, the brown-haired lioness. She had her little toddler son by the hand on one side and a large duffel bag in the other hand.
Liliana tilted her head to the side. "Why are you here, Marilyn?"
"Oh!" Marilyn covered her mouth in shock, just like Phoebe did when she got her first look at Liliana. Liliana hadn't had a chance to look in a mirror, but she suspected she wasn't looking her best.
Liliana waited with something she wasn't used to, impatience. Her ankle hurt. She needed to sit down and put it up, preferably with ice. "Why are you here, Marilyn?" she asked again.
"I just wanted to … thank you. And introduce you to my son, Simon."
Liliana blinked. "Your son's name is Simon?" Liliana looked at the tiny lowan. The brown-haired boy glared back at her over his thumb stuck in his mouth.
"Yeah, I thought maybe you would want to meet him. He's named after my great-grandfather. My grandfather used to tell me stories about him that I thought were just made up. But after what you told me the other day, …" She smiled. "Well, it's possible that we're related."
Liliana extended a hand formally. "I am honored to meet you, little lion prince. You have my father's name. I hope you live up to it."
The boy looked at her hand for a moment, then up at his mother who nodded encouragingly.
The boy pulled his thumb out of his mouth long enough to squeeze Liliana's hand.
The little boy's hand was slick with saliva and possibly some snot.
Liliana wiped her hand on her skirt. "Was there anything else?" she asked Marilyn. "I am in pain and would like to lie down."
"Of course. I'm sorry. It's just that me and Simon have our lives back because of you and well, we didn't even pay you."
Liliana shrugged. "I did not want another unworthy lion king in Portland. I am pleased that Daniel is king. I am pleased that I was able to help. I would really like to lie down now."
"Right. Of course, but here."
Marily set the duffel bag inside Liliana's door.
Liliana looked inside the bag with her fourth eyes. Money. The bag was full of cash. A lot of cash. In mostly fifties and hundreds with some twenties. "Why are you giving me a bag full of money?"
"Leo gave Tray bribes and his share of the take from the games in cash. Tray never spent any of it. Called it our savings account. I don't want any of that money. I thought you should have it."
"Why?"
"Well, you said that we should pay you whatever we thought was fair. For what you did, I think this isn't really enough. Simon and I owe you the rest of our lives, but … " She shrugged. "I want you to have it."
"Okay. Thank you. I'm going to go lie down now."
Marilyn smiled. "Thank you again."
"You're welcome."
Liliana closed the door and looked at the bag full of money. It was a really big bag. There was no way she wanted to pick it up right now. It didn't seem like the best place to leave a bag full of money, right in the middle of her shop by the door.
She decided she would move it later.
She limped back into her living space.
Someone knocked on her door just as she closed the door between the business room and the rest of her house.
Liliana sighed. The knock was on her home door this time.
She limped over and opened the door. "What?"
It was Nick.
Nick looked puzzled. "That's usually the kind of greeting I get from Monroe." Then he really looked at her. "What happened to you?"
"I am sorry, Nick. I really need to lie down." Liliana left the door open and limped over to the couch. She clearly wasn't going to get that hot bath. "I killed a lowan last night."
Nick followed her in.
Liliana put her sprained ankle up on the arm of her couch and leaned back facing the big overstuffed armchair that Nick sat in the last time he came to visit her. "There is beer in the refrigerator," she told him.
"I'm good, but you're clearly not." He hovered over her a little. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"You could get me some ice in a towel for my sprained ankle, and maybe another one for my broken arm."
"Sure." He went into the kitchen and puttered for a minute. "Is that apple pie?"
"Yes. Phoebe Wurstner made it. It's very good. You can have a piece."
"No thanks. I've got enough pie at home to gain twenty pounds." He came back into her, holding two tied dishtowels full of all the ice in her house in ziploc bags. "Bud's wife made the pie?"
"She was grateful to me for telling her that the Grimm would protect her husband, not kill him."
Nick grinned. "I appreciate that."
Liliana hissed a breath in through her teeth as Nick placed the ice packs. The ice was very uncomfortable, but it would bring the swelling down on her ankle, and numb the pain in her arm. There were times when she wished she could use over-the-counter medicines like normal humans. "Can you do something else for me?"
"Sure, Lilly, whatever you need."
"Can you get the big bag sitting by the business door and put it in my bedroom closet? It doesn't belong where it is, but I don't want to lift it."
Nick went and got the duffel. He hefted it curiously as he brought it back in. "What's in here?"
"A whole lot of money."
Nick hesitated for a moment, then walked into her bedroom and set the duffel bag in her closet.
Liliana watched him.
Nick gingerly picked up the blood-soaked clothes that she had discarded on the floor earlier. She hadn't had the energy to take them to the trash, and they were clearly beyond any laundering.
Nick came back into the room, looking concerned. "Lilly, why do you have a bag full of money?"
"The wife of the lowan that I killed gave it to me. She didn't want it."
Nick ran his hand through his hair and scratched the back of his neck. "Um, Lilly, did you murder a man last night, and get paid by his wife?"
Lilly grinned, amused. "Are you going to arrest me, Nick?"
"I'm wondering if I should."
"As a police detective, you should, but as a Grimm, you should not. I did what you would have done if you had been there."
Nick got an "aha" kind of look on his face. "But I wasn't there, because you promised Phoebe Wurstner that I'd protect Bud."
Liliana smiled at him. "You were magnificent. I watched you fight the reapers. I wanted to be there when you fought them, but you didn't need any help."
Nick squeezed her uninjured hand. "I had an excellent teacher."
Liliana felt warm in spite of the ice on her arm and her ankle.
"What else can I do for you?"
"Could you get me some painkillers from Rosalee? I will heal in a week or two, but …"
"No problem. Anything else?"
"I will be fine, Nick. I am just really tired and would like to sleep."
"Okay, I'll let you rest." He leaned in and kissed her forehead.
Nick left and Liliana dozed.
Another knock on her shop door woke her up. It was Phoebe with enough casserole for her to eat for days.
Liliana ate the absolutely delicious and still warm chicken casserole, then she lay back down on her couch, not really sleepy, but not interested in doing anything. She didn't even want to look with her fourth eyes. She was afraid she might see something important and feel impelled to do something about it.
She wondered if it might actually be nice to have a television. She certainly had enough money to get one now.
Monroe knocked on her home door before she got properly settled. "Come in!" she shouted. The door was not locked and she did not want to get up again.
Monroe and Rosalee brought her medicine. Monroe brewed it for her, mixed with Chai tea to hide the bitter flavor.
She drank the medicine and got very relaxed and a little happy. She suspected that this was what her venom made men feel like. The pain faded to a dull, distant ache.
She had Monroe leave the door open a crack so that whoever came next could just come in.
Liliana had never in her life had so many people in her house in one day. She felt like she sort of had a party, just not all at once. She giggled to herself and noticed that she had lost some time. Her clocks said it was past eight in the evening, and her windows were dark. Rosalee's medicine was still going strong. She felt no pain and no inclination to move.
A deep voice said her name. "Liliana?"
"Yes?" She looked up and saw Sean Renard holding a gun and looking around her place.
She sighed. "I thought we were past the gun pointing thing."
"Your door was open. I thought something was wrong."
"Nothing is wrong. So many people have been in and out of my house today, I got tired of opening the door."
"Who has been here?" he asked. He closed the door behind himself and locked it.
"Nearly everyone I know."
"You look terrible."
Liliana giggled. "I don't think you're supposed to say that even if it's true. Isn't there a rule against it?"
"Undoubtedly." He put the gun away.
"Why are you here, Sean? Even spinnesehen don't heal that fast."
He chuckled at the reference. "I wanted to make sure you were okay, and see if you needed anything. Apparently, I was last in line."
"I have pie. And tea. And a big bag of money. And really good painkillers. I am glad you came, though."
"Is there anything else you need? Anything I can do?"
"You could kiss me again. I like it when you kiss me."
The prince smiled at her, a real, small amused smile, not his broad, false politician's smile. "Those must be some great painkillers."
"I really like your smile, too, when it's real."
The prince looked around her place, probably looking for a place to settle. He looked at the chair that Nick and Monroe liked to sit in, but didn't sit there.
He took his coat and suit jacket off, and loosened his tie. He bent down, picked Liliana up off her couch into his arms, turned around and sat down with her in his lap. He settled her comfortably against his chest, in the crook of his arm.
Liliana giggled again. "I like this, too." She snuggled into his broad chest. Her left arm was safe in her lap. Her right hand rested on his chest. She placed it over his heart where it seemed to belong.
"I'm glad to hear that." His hand stroked her hair back from her face, very gentle on the swollen bruises on one side of her face.
"Are you going to kiss me now?" She looked up at him with just her human eyes.
"Definitely."
She looked into him as he kissed her gently, careful not to hurt her.
He worried about her. He had been thinking about her all day, both how beautiful and tiny she was and how badly she had been hurt. He worried that he had left her here alone, that if she needed help, no one would know. He was a little angry with himself for not insisting that she go to a hospital. He was both relieved and disconcerted to find her so well taken care of.
His concern made her heart soar. Her dark prince definitely had a heart, and she had begun to win it.
"My friends have taken good care of me. You don't need to worry."
"You must have some very good friends."
"I do." Liliana thought about that. "I didn't have any friends at all until I met Nick. I also didn't have to fight really big lions and get half squashed, but I like my life better now."
"Was Nick here?" His body tensed a little, and his face and voice became very bland.
"Yes. He moved the bag of money for me, called my friends at the spice shop for medicine, put ice packs on me, and kissed me before he left."
"Nick kissed you? Does Nick kiss you a lot?" His voice was still very bland, but Liliana wasn't fooled.
She giggled. "You're jealous of Nick."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "You told me you wouldn't look in my head unless we were kissing."
"I didn't need to look."
"You didn't answer my question." He didn't bother to hide his emotions from her. His jaw clenched, and his face was a storm cloud, waiting to burst with anger.
"Nick does not kiss me like you do." She knew the prince could be a very dangerous man, and didn't want him angry with Nick.
"What do you mean?"
Liliana leaned up and gave her prince a sisterly peck on the cheek. "Nick kisses me like that."
"Ah, I see." His body relaxed against her, and his face lost its hardness. He actually smiled just a little, pleased to know that he was the only one who kissed her like a lover.
Liliana smiled wide. "I think I like that you were jealous."
"Why would you like that?"
"You wouldn't be jealous if I wasn't important to you."
His face showed a moment of something like surprise. He pulled her closer with his arms around her shoulder and over her hip. "That's true."
"You like me because I always tell you the truth." Liliana's right hand wandered over the planes of Sean's chest that she could feel through his smooth button-down shirt. He must have come straight from work. Liliana loosened his tie until the short end of the tie came out of the knot. She tossed the useless piece of silk on the floor and started unbuttoning his buttons one handed.
"That's not the only reason I like you," he said, voice so soft it was almost a whisper. He kissed her forehead, but it didn't feel the least bit brotherly. His lips trailed to her cheek on the side that wasn't bruised, then her ear.
Liliana wondered if kissing that was not on the lips qualified as kissing that would let her look into him. "I would really like to know what other reasons you like me. Can I look?"
He chuckled low, tickling her ear. "You could just ask."
"I don't always understand what they mean when people answer in words. When I look inside, I understand."
He stopped kissing her and looked down at her face. "You've already seen inside my head."
"I have seen who you are." She had loosened enough buttons to slip her hand in his shirt and feel the heat of his skin over his pounding heart. "I have seen the soul of you." She ran her hand up his neck to his face and cupped his cheek. "But I only see what you think and feel in the moment when I look."
He swallowed. He pressed his face against her hand and closed his eyes for a moment. "What is inside my head isn't always pretty, and some of it is dangerous for you to know."
"I know a great many dangerous secrets, my dark prince, including some of yours. I have never betrayed your secrets, and I never will."
He opened his eyes, and they were filled with some intense emotion, some longing she couldn't identify.
"Let me in," she asked.
He nodded, minimally, and she saw fear flash in his eyes.
She opened her third eyes and looked. The fear was that she would see more deeply into him and not like what she found. But it was balanced by a longing, a hope that someone could know him, all the layers and secrets hidden in the dark corners of his soul, and still want him. No, not just someone. Her.
Liliana looked inside Sean Renard's mind and saw herself looking back, with exotic eyes like wise jewels, and fierce battle joy on her face as she danced a lion to death. She saw herself, head cocked sideways and eyes on the floor, thick wavy dark hair framing an elfin face as she asked him if he had sent reapers to kill the Grimm. She felt herself tremble and go soft in Sean's arms as he kissed her. She saw herself tell him that she desired all that he was and would fight for him.
He wanted to possess all that power and beauty, unselfconscious grace and honest desire. He wanted her so badly he could hardly think of anything else.
Liliana pulled her prince into her first kiss. It was the first time that she kissed him, not the other way around.
Liliana pulled him hard enough against her lips to hurt and didn't care. She kissed him like she would die if she couldn't kiss him.
He groaned into her mouth and kissed her back with the same desperate desire.
His hand moved up her bare thigh under her skirt.
Her hand ripped the rest of the buttons off his shirt and explored his chest.
He crushed her tight enough against his hard body to make her cry out involuntarily from the pain.
He froze, pulled away from the kiss, breath coming hard.
"It's all right," Liliana said. He had hurt her, but between the painkillers and the hormones, she was so drunk, she didn't care.
"No, it isn't." He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and let it out, regaining control of himself. "I'd better go."
"I really want to bite you," Liliana said, disappointed. She knew she wasn't thinking clearly with the drugs in her system, but she wasn't sure she had ever wanted anyone or anything so badly. Waiting until her body healed seemed like torture.
He raised an eyebrow at that. "Did you just say you want to bite me?"
"I want to share venom with you very much." She nibbled on the strong column of his throat and down to the collarbone that his open shirt revealed. He had so much muscle, she could bite him almost anywhere.
"That's not what I had in mind," he said, carefully. His body tensed against her. He probably would have pulled away, if he could have done it without dumping her injured body on the floor. As it was, he pulled her head away from his skin with a firm grip on the hair at the back of her neck.
Liliana giggled. "I know what you had in mind and I want that, too. But it would hurt right now. Can I just bite you?" Liliana ran her hand through the short dark hair on his temples, dusted with a few scattered gray hairs, the first sign that he was no longer young. If he would let her bite him, those gray hairs would soon fade away. If she had her way, his hair would stay dark forever.
"What would that do to me?" His voice and face were both blank, hiding what he felt.
She looked, since she had permission. He was afraid. He thought she wanted to eat him or poison him, or alter his mind with a potion like a hexenbiest's. "My venom would make you feel a little like I feel from the painkillers for a while, and then it would heal any old injuries you have and make you feel like you did when you were younger."
He relaxed a little. "Is that how men who have spinnesehen lovers live so long?"
Liliana nodded. "My father lived to be nearly six hundred years old."
"Will it affect my mind?"
She nodded again. "For a few minutes, yes. You would tell me the truth, no matter what I asked, and you would be very suggestible. I could tell you to do almost anything and you would."
"What were you planning on telling me to do?"
Liliana smiled. "Probably to kiss me again. I don't really want to stop."
His lips twisted in amusement. "I think you need to rest."
Liliana sighed. "I guess you're right. I just don't want to. I want to bite you and drag you into my bed."
Sean stood, and lifted her with him. "I'm not sure I'll ever let you do that."
"You don't want me to tell you what to do?"
"I don't want anyone to tell me what to do."
Liliana smiled to herself as he placed her gently into her bed and tucked her in. She could get used to that. "You let me look inside your head."
"That's not the same as letting you mess with it."
"No, but not long ago, you threatened to shoot me if I did that."
He quirked his lips as he picked up her bloody clothes from the night before to put them in the trash. "You have me doing a lot of things I never thought I would."
Liliana smiled and fell asleep.