Flint put the bottle down with a soft clink and brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. Peasblossom’s wings erupted into motion, lifting her from my chin and giving me a clear view of the sidhe holding me in his lap. Smoke smudged his face, his jacket was torn, and his shirt had lost two buttons.
He looked incredible.
Damn him.
A golden shine slid over his hazel irises, giving them a faint glow, as if he’d read my mind. “Had I known how volatile your temper is, I might have thought twice about being your escort,” he murmured. “You are a fiery one.”
“Ha, ha.” I’d meant to sound properly derisive of his bad joke, but my lungs were still adjusting to having fresh air, so it came out too breathy. With my face this close to Flint’s, and his tarnished gold eyes teasing thoughts I shouldn’t be having from my mind, the entire moment suddenly charged with tension. A shadow passed over his eyes, something darker staring down at me. The tension grew thicker, and my lungs startled into inactivity as he leaned closer.
“Am I interrupting something?”
I twisted sharply, vertigo temporarily blurring the face of the person staring at me from less than ten feet away.
“Andy!”
Chapter 16
I sat up so fast in Flint’s lap that I missed cracking our skulls together by a hairsbreadth. If Flint had been human, and his reflexes less superior, I’d have needed another healing potion.
Andy stood five feet down the hallway, appearing much taller from my perspective on the floor. His suit remained as impeccably straight as it had been when I’d left him—a sharp contrast to Flint’s seductive disarray. He watched Flint as the sidhe got to his feet, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear Flint winked at him as he held out a hand to help me up.
“How did you get in?” I got to my feet without Flint’s help. The sidhe brushed a hand over his mouth as if hiding a knowing smile. I ignored him.
“I let him in.” Morgan stepped around the FBI agent, the feathers on her dress stirring as she moved. She took in the scene before her, my and Flint’s state of disarray, the smoke leaking through the crack in the door, and Andy’s less-than-pleased expression. She fidgeted with a small clutch she held in front of her. “The wee one was insistent about finding a way inside, so I contacted Marilyn. I caught her in a forgiving mood and convinced her to allow me a plus one.”
Every muscle in my body tightened, my neck aching as I fought not give Andy the horrified expression begging to paint itself across my face. He accepted her help. I told him—I warned him—not to accept her help. Peasblossom’s wings buzzed in my ear, and anger radiated down the empathic link we shared. The fact that she didn’t let loose with her thoughts immediately made me think she was specifically not speaking in front of someone in this hallway, so I didn’t ask after it yet. But I would. She’d said she’d gone for help. Had she let Andy make a deal with Morgan?
“It seems you had some…excitement,” Morgan said carefully.
In an instant, the memory of the gunshot I’d heard roared to the forefront of my mind. I whipped around to face Flint. “I heard a shot.” I scanned the hallway, but didn’t see Grace. Or Raphael.
“No one is dead,” Flint said casually. He lifted a gun from a holster hidden by his jacket and flicked open the chamber. “Sometimes a gun is the easiest way. He’ll be fine. There’s no iron.” He closed the chamber and waved the gun at me. “I had this made for non-lethal use on sidhe. Enough to break his concentration, but he’ll live.”
I took a step toward the door to the blackened room. “Is he still in there?”
“No. He’ll have escaped when we did, along with Grace.”
I pressed my fingers to my temples, sucking in a deep breath. “Dear Goddess. What was I thinking?”
“You weren’t.” Flint returned the gun to its holster. “Raphael pushed you. He took advantage of your heightened emotional state to push you over the edge.”
Flint’s words summoned the memory, and it returned to my consciousness with all the wild abandon of an overly enthusiastic puppy. I gritted my teeth, remembering the flood of adrenaline. The feeling of absolute invincibility. I would have walked into battle naked on a high like that. And I would have won. “He inspires excitement.”
Flint’s jaw tightened. “I suppose that’s one way to put it. Raphael stimulates the fight-or-flight response. Overstimulates it. He is one of the oldest members of his house, and over the course of his long life, he has found…interesting ways to use his influence.”
“Will someone please explain to me what’s going on?” Andy asked calmly. He stared at me, deep lines creasing the corners of his eyes, and tension holding his jaw stiff. “Where are the children?”
My shoulders fell, and a sudden swell of tears blurred my vision. “Lindsay is dead.”
“What?”
Andy darted forward, grasping the handle of the door before I could stop him.
“Andy, wait!”
He didn’t listen. I heard the scrape of his gun against the holster, and he swung into the room in one smooth motion. I cursed and darted forward, following him inside despite my instincts screaming at me never to go into that room again.
Smoke still thickened the air, but the worst of it had been cleared by a surprisingly efficient ventilation system. I could see through the greyish fog, see Andy standing by what was left of the canvas. What was left of Lindsay.
A pile of ash and a blackened skeleton.
“How?” His voice remained calm and quiet, but the emotion infusing that one word gave it all the punch of a shout.
“The fire was mine,” I whispered. I stopped a few yards away, unsure if it was the sight of Lindsay’s remains or Andy’s tone that kept me from coming closer.
Andy turned so fast that I took a startled step back. His skin was too pale, his eyes too wide, and for a split second, he wasn’t wearing his FBI mask. Shock and horror radiated from every line of his body, bare and raw, and open for me to see.
“I didn’t kill her!” I hadn’t meant to yell, but my words sounded so loud in the empty room. Or maybe it was the dead girl lying so close that made it sound louder.
“What. Happened?” Andy said.
I filled him in as best I could, leaving out my observations of the sidhe’s emotions toward their slaves. Grace had tricked me, and I didn’t want to dwell on the possibility that Tessa had tricked me as well.
“So Lindsay killed Matthew,” Andy said quietly. He rubbed his jaw.
“She thought it was self-defense.” I wrapped my arms around myself, idly noting that Flint’s glamour over my clothes had broken. I was once again dressed in my own black shirt, still wet with my own tears, and my black leggings. “She thought her mistress was going to sell her to the red caps.”
“Red caps.”
“They’re sort of a combination between goblins and trolls. They like blood. A lot.”
Andy pressed his lips together, breathing through his nose. “Where are the others?”
“Grayson is with the kelpies. The three that were Taken today are being prepared for the auction.” I rubbed at the wet spot on my shirt, taken aback that I’d cried so much. How long would it have taken Grace to push me to the edge? “I think the last three are safe for now. No one’s going to risk hurting them before…”
“Before they’re sold,” Andy said flatly.
“Yes. Right now, Grayson is in trouble.” I tried twice before I could swallow. “We need to get to him as soon as possible. He should still be on the property.”
He smoothed down the lapels of his jacket, rubbing out imaginary wrinkles. “All right. So Grayson is our priority now. “Do we know he’s still alive?”
He wouldn’t look at me. I wrapped my arms tighter around myself, then jumped when I felt a touch on my shoulder. Flint stood behind me. For once, he wasn’t trying to be seductive, wasn’t leering at me. He stood there with a hand on my shoulder. Silent support.
“It will be no comfort to you, b
ut the kelpies won’t kill Grayson,” Flint said, speaking to Andy even though he kept his attention on me. “He’s alive.”
“Then we need to get to him now.” Andy turned and stalked out of the room without giving me a backward glance.
“Don’t let him upset you,” Flint said quietly. “He’s actually taking this all quite well for a human.”
“He’s angry,” I whispered.
“Anger is easier than fear. Let him work through it.” He dropped his grip to my waist, exerted enough pressure to get me moving. “We need to go now. This room is soundproof, but Raphael or Grace will have told Marilyn what happened. As soon as she can slip away without causing a panic, she’ll want to…”
“She’ll be cross,” I said weakly. I let him lead me out of the room.
Morgan and Andy were speaking in hushed tones. They stopped as soon as they saw me and Flint. Morgan smiled, but it was a nervous expression.
“Shade. I was telling Andy, the kelpies are staying in a houseboat on the lake.” Her gaze darted from me to Andy. “I can take you, if you like?”
“Yes,” Andy answered.
I bit the inside of my cheek. I didn’t want Morgan to come with us. It had been odd enough when she’d offered to help earlier, but now she was here despite the rejection of her first offer? No sidhe was this voluntarily helpful. Not when it put them in a bad position politically.
Or maybe I didn’t like how much she was touching Andy. He was learning, but he was still new to all of this. Vulnerable. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to him.
“Marilyn will come after you soon,” Morgan said, gesturing for us to follow her. “Come this way.”
I studied Andy as he marched beside Morgan, his spine ramrod straight even as she led us out a rear door, across the lawn to a line of trees. “He’s angry with me,” I whispered, low enough that only Peasblossom would hear.
The pixie’s wings beat harder, but I didn’t know if that was anger, or an attempt to keep warm in the cool night air. “Morgan,” she spat. “That woman wouldn’t stop going on about Flint. How seductive he is, how manipulative he is. How surprised she was that you would choose to go as his guest instead of her friend’s.” She clutched my ear harder. “She said that’s a mistake usually only his lovers make.”
I turned to Flint without meaning too. The leannan sidhe kept his gaze straight ahead, giving us the illusion of privacy, but I didn’t miss the tilt to the corner of his mouth. He’d heard that.
I walked a few paces away from him, making sure I didn’t fall too far behind Morgan and Andy. “Either she’s incredibly stupid, or she was trying to undermine Andy’s faith in me,” I said under my breath.
Peasblossom shifted, but didn’t answer.
“You were there, though. You told Andy that Flint is no friend of mine, let alone a lover. Right?”
Still no answer.
A thread of panic slid into my voice. “Right?”
“I can’t lie,” Peasblossom said miserably. “You know I can’t lie. She manipulated everything.”
“What is there to manipulate?” I snapped my mouth shut and forced myself to calm down. “There is nothing between me and Flint.”
“I know that! But she asked me if you two had kissed.”
I groaned. Dammit. “But you told Andy it wasn’t a real kiss. Flint was trying to manipulate me. He was a murder suspect, for crying out loud. Blood and bones, he is a murderer!”
“Of course I told him that, but Morgan kept shaking her head. She made it seem like she was sorry for you, like Flint had you in his thrall.” Peasblossom huffed out a breath, stirring the fine hairs at my neck. “She’s good, Shade. She’s very good.”
“No wonder he had that look on his face when he found us.” I gritted my teeth. And of course he’d found me in Flint’s lap. With a dead girl lying no more than twenty feet away. Burned to a crisp with my magic.
A thought occurred to me, turning my blood to ice. “Tell me he didn’t agree to anything in exchange for coming in here with her.”
“I wouldn’t let him,” Peasblossom said vehemently. “I worded it myself. He is her guest, nothing more, and there is no obligation on either part past that of guest and escort.”
My shoulders relaxed despite the unease churning in my stomach. “Good. Good, thank you, Peasblossom.” I rubbed a hand over my face. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“I don’t wish to interrupt.”
Flint’s voice startled me, and I tripped over a rock. Peasblossom squeaked as we pitched forward and I found myself facing a rocky slope leading down to the edge of Lake Erie. Flint’s arm shot around me, and I clung to him, trying to get my feet under me. My heart pounded, and I’d just opened my mouth to say thanks when Andy chose that moment to glance behind him. His gaze took in Flint’s arm around my waist, and without a word, he returned his attention to the rocky path.
“Blood and bones,” I said.
“Your FBI agent is rather uptight,” Flint commented. He studied the rigidity of Andy’s shoulders. “I could loosen him up.”
“You will leave him alone,” I snapped. I smacked his hand away from my waist. “Thank you. I’m fine now.”
“As you wish.” Flint let me go, but stayed close as we reached the winding path that led off the main property down to the beach. “If you don’t mind my asking… You do have a plan? For when we meet the kelpies? Not to be insulting, but their kind can be…mercurial.”
“Six kids were Taken, and now two are dead,” I answered firmly. “We’re going to investigate his circumstances and make certain he’s not in danger.”
“And if he is?” Flint asked warily.
“Then he’ll be coming with us.”
Flint stared at me. “Please tell me that’s not the extent of the plan?”
“I have to speak with Grayson,” I answered, ignoring the lump in my throat as I continued after Morgan and Andy. “If he wants to leave, then I will do my best to negotiate with the kelpies for his release.”
Flint stopped walking. “You’re going to negotiate with kelpies?”
“Yes.”
He caught up in three long strides. “Do you have something you believe they will want?”
“No. But I’m a witch. I’ll figure it out as I go.”
Flint waited. I left it at that.
Flint scratched his face where the tattoo had been. “I was in entirely too much of a hurry to get rid of that damn tattoo,” he muttered. “Agreeing to be your escort is not turning out the way I’d planned.”
“I can’t imagine what you had planned,” I replied crisply.
There was no time to continue the conversation, whatever Flint might have said. We reached the bottom of the slope, and Morgan gestured ahead to where a large houseboat floated at the end of a long pier jutting into Lake Erie. It appeared normal enough, an expensive two-story structure painted white with dark slashes of burgundy in the shape of abstract waves. Lights glowed at the rear of the boat, one on the slim shelter over the upper deck’s patio, and two over the awning. A pair of green lights twinkled at either side of the back end, lending a splash of color. The front of the boat emanated a strong glow, as if someone had the lights on in the front room.
“It might go more smoothly if I go first to make introductions,” Morgan suggested.
She walked ahead of Andy, marching with calm confidence down the pier, her heels rapping sharply against the wood. I jogged to catch up with Andy, suddenly desperate to give him yet another warning. He let me come alongside him, but didn’t take his attention off Morgan.
“Kelpies are water horses,” I said in a low voice. “They can appear as humans or horses. They have a reputation for drowning humans, and they’ve earned it. Try to avoid getting in the water at all costs.”
“Understood.”
“And don’t trust Morgan,” I blurted out.
“I don’t.”
I searched his face for some sign of what he was thinking, b
ut he wouldn’t turn to face me. He stared straight ahead, focused on the task at hand to the exclusion of all else. I settled beside him, telling myself we were both under a lot pressure. Once we had the kids safely away from the fey, everything would be fine.
We were still only halfway down the pier when my resolve not to press the matter failed me. I glanced at Andy. “You don’t trust her?”
“No.”
“Why? I mean, you shouldn’t, but why don’t you?”
Andy frowned, giving me a look that said I should know the answer. “As far as the Otherworld goes, I don’t trust anyone.”
Maybe I was being too sensitive. My emotions had been through the wringer in the last hour, crushed by Grace’s despair then inflated to the bursting point by Raphael. It was entirely possible that I was still raw. But as I stared at Andy, I waited. Waited for him to qualify his mistrust of the Otherworld. Waited for him to say he trusted me.
He didn’t.
I took a breath to prompt him, ask him outright if he trusted me, but the words wouldn’t come. Fear held them down. Suddenly I felt as if Grace were still with me, still trying to drown me in her power, suck me into a depression that would leave me huddled in the fetal position on the ground. I looked away before I could do something foolish. Like cry.
I reached for my shielding ring. The sidhe auras must still be affecting me, I should not be this upset. I felt my ring finger and frowned when I found nothing. I froze, staring down at my hand. “My ring is gone.”
Flint came up behind me, grabbing my hand as if I might have somehow missed the ring. When he found only my naked finger, his face twisted into a scowl. “Raphael,” he spat. “He must have taken it when he kissed your hand.”
“Or you took it,” Andy said without turning.
Taken Page 23
