He chuckled. “Maybe. Are we sure she’s Gabriel’s mom? She looks like him, but I’d demand a maternity test, because otherwise, I’m not seeing anything in common.”

“He will take that as a compliment.”

I fell in beside Ricky as we climbed. “Speaking of Gabriel, I know you weren’t happy with him leaving you behind earlier, but he wasn’t trying to play my white knight. His theory is that, given what the sluagh said, they wouldn’t kill him.”

“I’m more expendable.”

“It’s not—”

“Yeah, it is, and I’m okay with that. Part of making me more expendable is making me feel more expendable. Making me feel second-rate in hopes that’ll turn me against you two. I need to watch my ego and not get prickly.” He opened the door for me. “You are going to explain what happened with the sluagh, right?”

I tried to give a casual nod, but Ricky caught my arm and tugged me back into the stairwell.

“Liv…?”

I took a deep breath. “I would love to take twenty minutes and go somewhere to tell you the whole story. But if I do, I won’t be in any mood to take on Seanna.”

“Okay.” He pulled me into a hug and whispered, “We’ll work it out.”

“Thank you.”

We reached the door and I said, “You don’t have to stick around. I hear she’s ogling.”

“She keeps telling me I have a nice ass. I can’t tell if she’s hitting on me or dismissing me as a pretty boy. Hopefully the latter. As much as I hate being objectified, it’s better than thinking she’s actually coming on to me.”

“She’s just being honest. It’s a very nice ass.”

He laughed. “That’s so much more welcome coming from you.”

He pushed open the door and led the way down the apartment hall. When Seanna saw him, she gave him a slow once-over. Then she saw me and scowled.

“Is Gwynn joining us?” Alexios asked. When Helia elbowed him, he said, “I mean Gabriel. Sorry. Arawn said—Richard…Rick…”

“It’s Ricky.”

“So cute,” Helia said.

“He is,” Seanna murmured.

Helia rolled her eyes and said, “I mean the name. I like it. Much better than Arawn, which sounds like a dog’s howl. Though that makes sense, all things considered.”

“It does,” Ricky said. “But yeah, I’ll stick with Ricky.”

“What are you talking about?” Seanna said.

“Nothing at all.” Helia leaned toward us. “Muggles. So annoying.”

I chuckled.

Seanna’s scowl deepened. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I want to know what’s going on. I’ve been taken captive by a couple of…” She waved at the dryads. “Hipster street kids.”

“That’s offensive,” Helia said. “We are not hipsters.”

“I don’t even own a fedora,” Alexios said.