Outside the shop, Bijou took Bram's arm. Bram had taken the pack, insisting on carrying it back the way they'd come. As he stood, wondering what Bijou was thinking, Bijou spoke.

"Is your sister a witch?" Bijou asked softly.

Bram laughed without meaning to. "Is your mother a vampire?" he responded glibly.

Bijou squeezed his arm hard enough to hurt even with their size difference. "I'm serious," he growled.

"So am I," Bram muttered. "There are stories, dark stories. Like the story with the carpet."

Bijou continued to frown and looked away from him. "I guess we have things to talk about while we walk," he said absently.

"I suppose we do," Bram agreed. "Where should we start?" Bram began to walk and took Bijou with him. In the light of the late afternoon, Bijou's sapphire eyes sparkled like jewels. Bram had the urge to tell him anything he wanted to hear. He knew he would have to be careful.

"I thought," Bijou said carefully, "that it would take us all day to reach your sister's. But we came upon her shop in the middle of the road with no town around."

"They started walking to meet us," Bram answered honestly.

"Your sister is a witch," Bijou accused.

"Yes," Bram admitted.

"How did she move a whole building?"

"With great effort, I'd guess," Bram sighed.

"If I look behind us now, will the shop still be there?"

"I honestly have no idea if it was ever there to begin with," Bram half-lied. His sister's shop was around a bend in the road, but which bend depended on where she needed to be.

"Are my children safe with her? She talked about Maria in Gaelic."

"You've asked a lot of questions and answered none," Bram pointed out.

"My children are everything to me," Bijou said firmly. "I was willing to put up with anything to keep up appearances for my marriage. But I wasn't willing to let them put up with anything."

Bram kept walking, but said nothing. After a moment, Bijou spoke again.

"I was married when I was eighteen," he said. He laughed humorlessly. "He was… a beautiful alpha. Strong and handsome. But he started beating me after I found out he was cheating on me."

Bram bristled openly. Bijou looked at him, a soft smile on his face.

"Oh, don't worry. I could handle myself," Bijou said.

"You shouldn't have had to," Bram said urgently. "Someone should have protected you!"

"Who?" Bijou laughed. "My alpha was the one who was doing it." He turned his head away and looked into the distance. "I could have gone to Mama sooner but I wanted to prove I could handle it on my own." Suddenly the shine went from Bijou's eyes and they became dark and stormy. "But then one day Benoit got it in his head he was going to fight his father. I was pregnant again, and he smelled it on me. He smacked me for it, calling me a harlot. Benoit ran up to him from Goddess knows where with a stick and started hitting him with it. 'Don't you hit my Mama!' he said. And his father kicked him away. That was the last straw. He could do whatever he wanted to me but he couldn't lay a hand on my kids."

"What did you do?" Bram said quietly.

"I picked up Benoit and ran upstairs for Theodore. We locked ourselves in the nursery until he went out, then I ran to my Mama's. She had him picked up that night. The next time I saw him he was…" Bijou smiled, the sparkle was back in his eyes, but a darkness still surrounded him. "He was a mess. Mama finished him herself. And ruined her favorite carpet in doing so. She had to throw the carpet out with him. That's where the story comes from."

"Oh," Bram said softly. "I see."

"I moved back home after that. Four years ago. My children have been my focus, that and learning what Mama does."

"If you're learning what your mother does," Bram said, "then you know they're safer just about anywhere than walking with us with someone out to get you."

"Maybe," Bijou said. "Who do you work for, exactly?" he asked. "And do they know you're a witch?"

"I'm not a witch," Bram lied. "And I work in the factory district."

"Oh! For Mister Du Lait."

"You know him?" Bram asked, unsurprised.

"I'm not surprised he's involved," Bijou said. "His turf is right between us and Mama."

"Don't worry," Bram said. "I'll protect you."