by Karen Lynch
“They never came home, and I haven’t heard from them. And before you say something about them being able to take care of themselves, I know that. But they would never be gone this long without calling me.” My words came out sounding defensive, so I softened my tone. “I just want to know what you told them, and if you know where they might have gone when they left here.”
He pressed his lips together, his gaze flitting impatiently from me to a door off of the living room. “You caught me in the middle of something very important. Not that your parents aren’t important,” he rushed to add. “But this is time-sensitive. I need to take care of it and then we’ll talk.”
“Okay.” What else could I say? I needed his help.
I followed him into an office and stopped short at the sight of the room that was such a contrast to the rest of the apartment. Where the living room looked like it was barely used, the office was bursting with color and personality. Magazine covers and celebrity photographs covered almost every inch of wall space, and the large bookcase was full of camera equipment instead of books. The L-shaped desk was cluttered with more cameras and piles of photos, along with a bowl of questionable food I suspected was Fae in origin.
Tennin sat at the desk in front of two large monitors and typed something on his keyboard. Since there were no other chairs in the room, I stood near the door, waiting for him to speak. He surprised me by calling me over beside him so I could see what was on his monitors. On one was an open folder of digital photos, and on the other was photo editing software.
“I need to get these uploaded ASAP,” he said as he selected a few dozen pictures and opened them in the software. He clicked around too quickly for me to follow him and ran some kind of batch program. In seconds, all the pictures had a watermark of his name across the faces. Opening a browser, he uploaded the edited pictures to a gallery on his website. The whole process took less than five minutes.
“How do you sell the pictures?” I asked, fascinated by this glimpse into his work.
He started to work on another group of photos. “Most I sell to agencies, who sell them to magazines. The hotter ones I auction from my website. When I upload new pictures, an alert is sent out to interested parties, and they can log in to bid on the pictures they want.” He tapped the monitor. “This lot is going to make me a fortune.”
“Who is he?” I leaned in for a closer look. Most of the pictures were of a blond faerie, probably royal if the pictures were as hot as Tennin said. Only royal Fae got people really excited these days.
Tennin smiled smugly. “That is Prince Rhys.”
“Who?” I furrowed my brow, trying to place the name. “Oh, the new prince, right?”
He spun in his chair to narrow his eyes at me. “Are you serious?”
I shrugged. “I’m not really into celebrity stuff, but I do know he’s a big deal.”
“A big deal?” he sputtered, shaking his head. “He’s only the crown prince of Seelie, whose debut the entire world has been going crazy about. Well, everyone but you apparently.”
“I know this will come as a shock to you, but some of us have lives that don’t revolve around your royalty.” I pointed at the monitor. “If no one has seen the prince, how did you get pictures of him?”
Tennin smiled deviously. “I have my ways. I found out he was going to be at the Ralston yesterday for a secret exclusive interview that will be aired with his official intro into society. People will pay seven figures for these photos of him.”
“That’s obscene.” Seven figures for pictures of some faerie prince whose face would be everywhere in a few weeks anyway?
“I know.” Tennin rubbed his hands together. “It’s all about supply and demand. I have a product everyone wants, and they are willing to pay big for it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Wait. Aren’t you Court faeries already rich? Why do you do this?”
“Because I’m exceptionally good at it and I enjoy the game.”
I shook my head at his total lack of humility and studied the prince’s face again. “Why are you letting me see the pictures? Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell someone about the prince?”
Tennin laughed as if I’d said something hilarious. “My dear girl, by the time you walk out of here, these pictures will already be in the hands of my buyers, and in the process of being uploaded to their websites. By the time you reach the street, millions of ravenous fans will be feasting their eyes on the new prince.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling foolish.
“Even if you did run out and tell the world before I’d uploaded the pictures, you’d only be able to say that he’s blond and handsome, like half of the faeries in existence. No one has been able to get shots of him because this is the first time he’s left Faerie, so I doubt anyone would take you seriously.” He turned back to the monitors and uploaded the last batch of photos. “And now we wait.”
Guilt suddenly pricked me. I was supposed to be looking for my parents, and instead, I was chatting away as if this were a social call. “Can we talk about my parents now? I know they came to see you about a job they’re working on. Can you tell me what you told them and where they might have gone after?”
Tennin hesitated as if he was deciding how much to share with me. “I told them one of my contacts said the goren dealer is an elf, and they might find out more about him at Teg’s.”
“What is that?”
His brows drew together. “If you have to ask, it’s no place for you.”
I was getting tired of men trying to tell me what my place was today. “I can look it up when I leave here, or you can save me the trouble and tell me.”
Tennin huffed. “It’s a place where humans and faeries go to socialize and hook up.”
“I’ve heard of those. My friend Violet has been to a few Fae clubs.” Violet was a little Fae-crazy, like half the population. She’d started going to their clubs the moment she turned eighteen, because that was the legal age to enter a Fae establishment.
“Teg’s is not one of those upscale night clubs. It’s a bar, and it can get wild there at times.” Tennin looked like he regretted mentioning it. “That place will eat you alive.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He scowled. “Look at you. You might as well walk in there and ring a dinner bell.”
I looked down at my outfit of jeans, red top, and short puffer jacket. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
“It’s not the clothes, silly girl. It’s you.” He waved a hand at me as if I should know what he meant. “And you don’t even know who’s who in Fae royalty. The moment you open your mouth, they’ll know you don’t belong there.”
I crossed my arms. “I can be tough if I need to.”
His arched eyebrow said he didn’t believe that for one second.
Tennin’s computer dinged, and a new email notification appeared on the screen. He rubbed his hands together. “And so it begins. If you don’t mind, I need to take care of a little business.”
“Sure.” I walked around to the other side of the desk to give him some privacy.
Tennin didn’t waste time. He hit a few keys and settled back in his chair, wearing a broad smile. “Two point five. I’d call that a good night’s work. Wouldn’t you?”
“Two point five million?” I nearly choked out the last word, unable to imagine having that much money. A tenth of that would pay for all the college I wanted.
“Like I said, it’s all about supply and demand.” He stood and began packing camera equipment into a bag. “I hate to cut our visit short, but I have to be in LA in two hours for Princess Titania’s birthday bash.” He stopped what he was doing to shoot me a quizzical look. “You do know who she is.”
I scoffed lightly. “Of course.” Just because I didn’t keep up with current celebrity news did not mean I didn’t know Fae history. Princess Titania was the first faerie to address the world after the Great Rift, and she was the most loved and celebrated among the royal Fae.
Tennin resumed packing, and I wondered what it was like to be able to travel across the country or the world in a matter of minutes. Faeries were able to do it by creating portals between our two realms. They passed through the portal into their world and then created a second portal to arrive at their destination here in our world.
There had been much debate and speculation over the years about when and if this technology would ever be available to humans. But humans could not enter Faerie, so I couldn’t see how the portals could work for us.
Tennin zipped up his bag. “Something tells me it’s no use asking you to stay away from Teg’s. If you insist on going there, don’t go alone. Take someone you trust with you, preferably someone who knows more about us than you do.”
“I will.” I already had the perfect person in mind.
“Good. Come on. I’ll walk out with you.”
* * *
“You can’t wear that.”
“Why not?” I frowned at the petite Chinese girl standing in the doorway of my apartment.
Violet Lee shook her head of long, blue-and-black hair and walked past me into the apartment. She wore artfully ripped jeans, a white V-neck camisole, and a gray suede jacket that probably cost more than I’d made in a month at my old job. She’d paired the outfit with knee-length boots that brought her within an inch of my height.
“The jeans and combat boots are great, but that sweater and coat…” She wrinkled her nose. “You’re going there as the daughter of two of the most badass bounty hunters this city has ever seen. You need to channel Caroline James and dress like you mean business.”
“You’re right.” I turned on my heel and went to my room to change into a plain black T-shirt. Then I walked down the hall to my parents’ bedroom to borrow one of Mom’s short leather jackets. I stood in front of her mirror, my chest tight as I donned the jacket that smelled of her favorite soap. With my hair tied back in a ponytail, I could pass for her from a distance.
I was about to turn away from the mirror when my gaze landed on a framed photo sitting on the dresser. I looked at the beaming faces of my much younger parents and a chubby, red-haired baby boy. My brother, Caleb.
I’d never known Caleb. He had been only two months old when he’d died from an undiagnosed heart defect two years before I was born. Because of that, I’d spent the first year of my life under the care of a pediatric cardiologist. Thankfully, I had been blessed with a strong, healthy heart.
We didn’t speak of Caleb often because it hurt Mom to talk about him. Dad was better at hiding his emotions, but I could see a flash of pain in his eyes whenever Caleb’s name was mentioned.
“That’s more like it,” Violet said from the doorway. “Do you need to wear those glasses?”
I frowned. “Yes, if I want to drive.”
She tilted her head to study me. “I guess they do work on you.”
“Thanks, I think.” I rolled my eyes as I walked past her.
She followed me. “Ready to go?”
“Almost.” I went to the office where I rooted through the supplies. I picked up a knife but decided against it. I’d had a lot of self-defense training, but I’d never practiced with a weapon. Placing it back on the shelf, I continued my search until I found a small leather pouch. I checked the contents and stuck the pouch into the inner pocket of my jacket.
“What’s that?” asked Violet.
I patted down the front of my jacket to make sure there was no bulge. “Just a little protection in case we need it.”
“Protection from what?”
“The boogeyman,” I quipped dryly. “Protection from faeries, of course.”
She chuckled. “You might be more like your parents than I gave you credit for.”
“Just because I don’t have your obsession with faeries doesn’t mean I don’t know much about them.”
Sharing a home with two bounty hunters gave me access to information the average person didn’t have. My parents had accumulated an impressive collection of reference books on everything Fae, and I’d read them all from cover to cover.
Mom and Dad didn’t want me hunting with them, but they’d always encouraged me to learn everything I could about faeries. When I went to college, I planned to study law so I could be a legal advocate for lower faeries, like Finch and Gorn, who didn’t have someone to fight for their rights.
We left the office, but I turned and went back. I searched the desk drawers until I located Mom’s spare bounty hunter ID. It might come in handy, and the picture on the card was so small that I was counting on no one looking at it too closely.
Back in the living room, I found Violet and Finch watching an entertainment news show. Finch didn’t like most outsiders, and he normally disappeared the second we had a visitor. Violet was the exception. She’d spent so much time here with me that he was used to her. Plus, she was the only one who would watch these shows with him. I think he secretly loved it when she came over.
“I still can’t believe someone actually got those pictures of Prince Rhys,” she said.
Tennin’s photos of the prince were splashed across the TV screen. The internet had blown up last night the minute his pictures hit the first gossip site. You couldn’t look at social media or television today without seeing the prince’s face.
“It was bound to happen eventually,” I said with a shrug.
Violet gave me the side-eye. “How can you not be the least interested in this? A new Fae prince is like history in the making.”
I snorted. “A new world leader is history. This is pop culture.” I didn’t tell her I’d seen these pictures before they’d been released into cyberspace and taken on a life of their own.
“You’re hopeless.” She glanced at her phone screen. “We should probably get going.”
I looked at Finch, who sat on the back of the couch. “I’m leaving now. I’ll try to be back before midnight.” I hated leaving him alone, but I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to find our parents. He understood my reasons, and he wanted Mom and Dad to come home as much as I did.
“Later, Finch.” Violet gave him a finger wave as we left and he waved back.
She stopped me when we reached the lobby. “By the way, Mom wants you and Finch to come stay with us until your parents come home.”
Warmth filled my chest. “If it were just me, I would. But I don’t think Finch will want to leave here. He’s pretty upset about Mom and Dad, and you know how he is with strangers.”
“I figured as much, but she still wanted me to ask.”
I gave her a one-armed hug. “You’re the best.”
She pushed open the main door. “I know.”
Teg’s was a graffitied, one-story brick building in the Bronx. It didn’t look like much on the outside, but Violet said she’d heard it was a popular spot.
Music, laughter, and a wave of warm air hit me when I opened the heavy door and stepped inside. The place smelled like alcohol and an intoxicating scent I couldn’t identify. It made me a little lightheaded and filled me with a sense of longing, but for what I didn’t know.
Violet caught me sniffing at the air and leaned over to whisper in my ear. “It’s the Court faeries. When you get a lot of them together, they can be a little overpowering. You’ll get used to it.”
“Oh.” I felt stupid for not remembering that from the books I’d read. Everything about Court faeries made them attractive to humans: their beauty, their voices, and even their smell. It was forbidden for them to use their magic on humans, but it wasn’t as if they needed help finding willing bed partners.
The interior of the bar was bigger and much less dingy than it appeared from the outside. To my right was a cluster of tables where I recognized trolls, elves, ogres, and a few humans, sitting and drinking together in small groups. Past them was a raised section where all I could see were Court faeries and humans.
On my left was a long bar manned by three bartenders, who were busy serving up drinks to the human and faerie pat
rons lining the bar. Violet was right. Teg’s was a busy place. Tennin had been full of it, though, when he’d said this place was too wild for me. It looked pretty tame.
“Do you see him?” Violet asked, coming to stand beside me.
“Not yet.” I scanned the room for the bar’s owner. I’d done a little research on Orend Teg last night. There wasn’t much to read about him, but I’d found a picture of him on his bar’s website. Not that it was much help. Teg looked like half the male faerie population: young, blond, and beautiful. The other half was young, brunette, and you guessed it – beautiful.
We walked over to the bar and squeezed between two men in their mid-twenties, who looked like they’d spent more time getting ready tonight than I had. The man next to Violet looked me up and down before his gaze slid to her.
“Whatever you’re drinking, I’m buying,” he said to her, earning a scowl from the pretty blonde on his other side.
Violet smiled politely. “No thanks.”
“One drink,” he pressed, and I thought I heard an angry harrumph from the blonde.
“Sorry, not interested.” Violet leaned in to direct a saucy wink at the other girl. “But I just might steal this beautiful girl if you don’t treat her better.”
The girl blushed and averted her gaze, but her little smile told me she wouldn’t mind being stolen by my best friend.
A bartender approached me. “What can I get for you?”
“I’m looking for Orend Teg. Can you tell me where to find him?”
He studied me for a moment, and his brow furrowed. “Are you sure? You don’t look like his usual female visitors.”
I swallowed a scoff, having a pretty good idea of the kind of visitors he was referring to. Pulling out my mother’s ID card, I flashed it at him, just long enough for him to see the official Agency seal. “I’m here on business.”
The bartender nodded and pointed toward the rear of the room. “In that case, you’ll find him in his office. Just follow the hallway in the back.”
“Thanks.” I tucked the card into my pocket and went to Violet, who was making eyes at someone on the dais.
