“It’s my library, not Feid’s. No matter what he thinks. This is my stronghold. And what’s mine is yours.”

“You nicknamed Feidhelm? The douchey dude who looks kind of like a cherub and totally hates me already?”

Donovan chuckled. “Cherub. He’d love that.”

“I’m sure he’d absolutely love anything I called him.”

The humor in Donovan’s face drained away and his voice dropped low. “Was he other than helpful to you?”

“It’s fine.” Donovan coming to my rescue about this wouldn’t do me any good. My stomach rumbled.

“That’s why I was coming to find you. It’s dinnertime. You must be starved.” Donovan grabbed my hand, but I tugged him to a stop.

“But the mess. I should—”

“Don’t worry about it. Feid will set it to rights.”

So he said, but I’d been hoping to fix it before Feid noticed. But I had no idea how to put the cards back in the right spots, so it wasn’t like he’d be happy with my effort anyway. “Okay. Let’s go.”

“Grand. Ian’s waiting. He went to fetch something for me.”

“Cool.” I hoped he was getting something that could help us, because I had come up with nothing.

Donovan grinned, his blue eyes sparkling. “Let’s go.”

By the time we hit the door, Ian was about to walk in. “Ah, ready then?”

Donovan nodded and led the way toward their dining hall.

My stomach let out the biggest rumble ever. It literally echoed in the hallway.

“You’ve not been taking care of your mate,” Ian said from behind us.

“Hey now. Even if I couldn’t take care of myself just fine—which I can—he does a great job as my partner. It’s my fault I didn’t stop for lunch.” I had no idea where to find food in this monstrosity of a stronghold, but if I’d really wanted to, I could’ve figured it out.

Ian held up his hands. “I’ve no doubt the one Donovan picked can take care of herself.”

I waggled my finger at Ian. “Hey. I picked him and he should thank his lucky stars for that. Or else he’d be stuck with psycho bitches who throw shit.” I turned and started walking backward so that I could see their faces. “Can we just go back to that for a second because I’m still processing it? Dude. Vivian threw a vase at me. She’s seriously out of her goddamned mind.”

Both guys laughed, and on the inside I was laughing too. But on the outside, I looked appropriately outraged. After two murder scenes and that talk with the lovely Helen, we all needed a laugh. Desperately. I was happy I could provide one.