She scrunched her nose. “Olivia is for olives, and in the old country we saw far too many of those. We had to live in a field of them once, when they cut down our forest.” She shuddered. “Olives stink. But we will call you Liv, if you insist.”

I sighed. “Call me whatever you want. Now, since Lloergan lost Seanna’s trail so—”

“It isn’t her fault.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” I rubbed the cŵn‘s neck. “It’s hardly her fault that Seanna got into a car.”

“I meant that the cŵn cannot perform as well as she’d like as long as she still suffers from her injuries.”

“We’re working on that.”

“They’re deep wounds.” Helia moved to Lloergan and reached to touch her torn ear.

“Rude,” Alexios said.

“Quite right.” Helia crouched in front of the cŵn. “May I examine you, Lloergan?”

Lloergan turned her head, offering her injured ear. Helia checked it and fingered a few scars. The she settled in front of the hound and gazed into her eyes—the clouded one and the good one—before rising.

“Someone has done well with the ear,” she said. “But more scar tissue can be removed to unblock the canal. For the eye, I would suggest a tincture of coleus. But most importantly, consider small doses of nightshade mixed with kanna and skullcap.”

“Isn’t nightshade toxic?”

“Not to fae. Mixed with other ingredients, it creates a potion that helps dull old memories. Traumatic ones. That’s her greatest problem. Not the physical injuries, but the ones in here.” She tapped Lloergan’s skull and then patted her head.

“Speak to the Tylwyth Teg,” Helia continued. “They’ll know the recipe. It’s a common one for fae.” She offered me a half-sad smile as she gave Lloergan one last pat. “In such a long life, there is always something we’d rather not remember.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

It was nearly 3 a.m. when we knocked on Patrick’s door. It took a while for him to open it, and when he did, he sighed and shook his head.

“I knew you’d be by eventually,” he said. “I just expected it at a decent hour. Silly me.” He looked at Lloergan, standing at my side. “Protection against Seanna’s return? Sadly, whatever her crimes, I don’t think she’s killed any fae. Otherwise, I’d say setting a hound on her is a lovely idea.”

“Ricky’s out of town.”

“Ah, cŵn-sitting.”

We walked past him into the house. When I noticed Lloergan wasn’t at my side, I looked out to see her on the front stoop.

“Staying out there?” I asked.

She grunted and laid her head on her paws.

“Good call.”