I changed into the short black dress I’d worn with the haunters, and left my hair straight. Maybe not Ross’s style, but at least he wouldn’t mistake me for one of his nymphs.

I walked to the front door, opened it, and strode inside. As I entered the living room, every nymph jumped. Ross looked over at me. Then he looked at me some more.

“Well, well,” he said. “A new student, I presume?”

I made a show of looking at each nymph, then cocked a “not likely” brow-arch at Ross.

“You can’t just walk in here—” the girl in the chair began.

Ross lifted a finger and she stopped in mid-squeak.

“It’s a business call,” I said. “I would have phoned but…”

He smiled. “Not that easy in this world, is it? So you’re looking for lessons? Maybe…private lessons?”

I turned a slow smile on him and shrugged. As I strolled closer, his eyes widened briefly, that look of surprise most men get when they realize how tall I am.

When he looked me full in the face, his lips pursed. “I know you, don’t I?”

“Do you think you’d forget if you did?”

He chuckled, and reached to touch my hair, but I swept it out of his reach. His smile only broadened. Around me, the nymphs fairly growled.

“Mind if I sit?” I asked.

“Please,” he said.

I walked to the nymph in the chair and finger-waved for her to get up. She glowered at me.

“Annette…” Ross said.

“Let her find her own chair.” She looked around the room, which had no empty seats, then smirked at me. “Whoops, guess you’ll just have to go home.”

I murmured a spell under my breath. When I finger-waved again, the motion yanked Annette out of her chair. I flicked my fingers and she tumbled to the floor. From the couch came a mixed chorus of gasps and giggles. I swept my skirt under me and sat, then looked up to see Ross grinning.

“Eve Levine, I presume?” he said.

I arched my brows.

“Your reputation precedes you,” he said. “It just took me a moment to make all the connections. Girls, this is Eve Levine. Aspicio half-demon and spell-caster extraordinaire.”

One of the nymphs from the couch crossed her arms and thumped back into the cushions. “That’s not funny, Luther. We aren’t stupid, you know. Half-demons can’t cast spells.”

“True,” I said. “But even half-demons have two parents.”

The nymph frowned as she struggled to digest this.

“You girls go on upstairs,” Ross said. “Ms. Levine and I have business to discuss.”

It took more coaxing than that, but he finally cleared the room. Then he took a seat in the chair across from mine.

“So, lessons…” His gaze traveled up my bare legs. “I believe that could be arranged.”

“There’s some other business I need to discuss first.”