“I know, right?” She glanced at Oberon. “She doesn’t understand you. She’s afraid of you. But she doesn’t hate you.”

“I’m glad. I am very fond of Chandler. Is she well?”

“She’s okay,” said Marissa. “It was painful for her to quit the DOR, but—”

“What?” said Oberon. “Did she quit? Why?”

“She felt responsible for the attack on you,” said Marissa. “She was ashamed that you were hurt, and Ángel was kidnapped, on her watch. When she heard that Ángel had been found she cried with relief.”

“She was not responsible.”

“She hasn’t been held responsible, really, but she’s pretty hard on herself.”

“I would like to see her,” said Oberon. “I would thank her for all her years of working to keep me safe. I would tell her that I, at least, do not blame her.”

“She’s here in Atlanta,” said Marissa. “I can call her.”

“Will you ask her to bring me a plant?” said Mendel.

So they called Chandler, and she arrived with bottles of chilled wine and iced tea. She was accompanied by Victor, silent with shame, who brought a platter of fruit and a paper bag of guava pastelitos. Chandler, prompted by Marissa, gave Mendel an asparagus fern, and Victor gave him a Christmas cactus. Mendel glowed with delight. Both Victor and Chandler apologized to Oberon, who forgave them with his usual earnest courtesy. Then Oberon sat at the piano in the parlor to play, and as the first flat notes rippled through the apartment, he and Mendel froze in shock.

“They put you in an apartment with an out-of-tune piano?” demanded Ángel. “Really, were they trying to kill you?”

So the two fae opened up the piano and poked around in its innards while Victor retreated to the kitchen to make coffee and listen to NPR, and Marissa passed around the fruit and pastries. Oberon explained to Mendel and Marissa the parts of the piano. “If we had the right tools, we could fix it.”

Ángel asked Victor for his multi-tool, which he never left home without, and offered it to Oberon. “Will this work?”

“Perhaps.”

So the two fae tuned the piano. Mendel sat on the bench and touched the keys and sang the notes at the true pitch, while Oberon adjusted the pegs. Meanwhile, Chandler and Marissa retired to the couch to cuddle and whisper together about whatever it was they had to whisper about. Victor handed around cups of coffee. It was sweet and strong and foamy, and tasted like home—Victor’s coffee was always better than Ángel’s.

“Neil Jeremy just resigned from the DOR,” said Victor. “I heard it on the radio.”

“I called him while Oberon and Ángel were in the shower,” said Mendel. “I told him that Oberon was better. I told him that we knew he had lied to us and that we didn’t trust him anymore.”

“I wonder who will take over,” said Oberon.