Those burning amber eyes with the pupils that are too thin. Snake’s eyes. Reptile eyes. The same eyes as Mrs. Barrie, my mother’s friend, the goddamn gambling freak!
She gazed up at Sonya, struggling to stay calm, while inside she was a riot of hate, grief, fear. She had to ask. “Are you related to Doreen Barrie?”
“Am I related to Mrs. Barrie? By the Dark Path, you really are stupid, aren’t you? I am Mrs. Barrie. I took that form and enticed your adoptive mother into getting out of the house and having some fun, enjoying herself at the casino.” Sonya’s lips twisted cruelly. “We had some fun times together out on the town, Marion and I. It was fun to play a badass sixty-year-old with a little bit of glamourie. Of course, it wouldn’t have worked if she hadn’t been ripe for corruption.” Her eyes glittered with malice. “She really wasn’t happy in her marriage to your adoptive father. I gave her some excitement in her life. You should thank me.
“And as I was saying before, I dealt to your birth mother too. I made her ill. I tried to terminate you before you were born, but despite your mother’s illness, you would not die. It did end my father’s interest in her, though.”
Lilly clenched her fists until her nails cut into her palms. Wave after wave of nauseating emotion washed through her. Rage. Grief. Panic. Rage. It was all so difficult to believe. “You went after both my mothers, Sonya?”
“Time you learned my real name, little sister. Sonya, Mrs. Barrie—these are just different personas I took on in the mortal world to screw with your life. My name is Zenia.”
Lilly closed her eyes, trying to take in this new information.
When she opened them again, another birdman stood behind Zenia, a different birdman, one Lilly hadn’t seen before. The look in his eyes seemed almost kindly. He opened his beak and closed it again. She gathered he wanted to tell her something but was too afraid to speak.
Zenia noticed that Lilly was looking at someone behind her. Despair rose up in Lilly again. Zenia was too arrogant and crazy. Trying to reason with her was never going to work.
Where are Kris and Nick? What are they doing right now? They have to find me. They must!
Lilly glanced up at the sky, hoping against hope that she might see their sleigh flying toward the ship.
I’m clutching at straws now.
Zenia began to pace back and forth as she talked. “You know, little sister, you are at a big—no, a huge disadvantage compared to me if you think you can hook up permanently with Nick and Kris.”
Did she guess why I looked up? Did she know I was searching for their sleigh?
“I’m sexier than any half-human whore or even any sylph could ever be. You know why I’m hot-blooded and fierce, don’t you? Why I’m not a cold, passionless fae? Because I’m not full sylph; I’m not full air fae. I’m fire fae. Fire fae from my mother’s side. And we aren’t cold, analytical and emotionless like stupid sylphs. We’re real. We get angry. We feel things! We have passion; we demand and desire.”
Ah, the penny drops. Whether I’m immortal or not, my safety depends on coming to some understanding of her crazy thought patterns.
“So, all of this is because you desire Nick and Kris? Because you somehow found out I spent the night with them, and you’re jealous?” Glancing swiftly around, she tried to make eye contact with any of the birdmen that came in and out of her line of vision. So, they were afraid of Sonya. But did they actually like her? They were frightening to look at, and yet the one who’d given her a drink had kindly eyes. Right now, he was swabbing the deck. She wanted him to notice her, to acknowledge her again so she could feel less frightened, less terrifyingly alone and at the mercy of Zenia. Lilly turned her head and focused on the gentle birdman until he glanced up and met her gaze. But he quickly looked back down. Her stomach plummeted at the loss of hope. This creature would not help her. He might be sympathetic, but he was craven.
Zenia stopped her frantic pacing for a moment and arched a sculpted brow. “I’m certainly not jealous that you spent the night with Nick. Nick’s a pain in the ass. But Kris… Now Kris and I had a thing going for a while, you know. He has the most magnificent cock. Not the longest, but one of the thickest dicks imaginable.”
Even though Lilly’s hands were tied behind her back, she could still make them into fists. The thought of Zenia with Kris made her physically ill.
But Zenia just went on torturing her. “A very hard, very beautiful cock, like a stick of dynamite. He wanted me so bad, you know. I could feel it in the electricity off his skin. The way he’d hold his breath when he touched me.” Sly and calculating, Zenia touched her hand to her lips.
Lilly realized something. Zenia’s not a good liar. Kris really wasn’t that into her. Even if he once dated her. “You keep touching your throat and lips, Sonya. I mean Zenia. I saw a TV program about body language once. Everything about your body language tells me you’re lying. Kris told me you only had one date and he lost interest. So why are you lying to me about his interest in you? Why are you doing any of this?”
Zenia’s face and throat flushed red with her rage. “You want to know why I’m doing this? Simple. Despite your many weaknesses, you have always been a threat to my gaining the fae crown and signet ring. You were no one to our father. He didn’t care what he sired on some worthless mortal. Your kind are just whores to him. He is majestic and powerful, and when I rise as queen of the fae above all others, he will finally respect me, he will love me, and he and I can rule as equals. Mother is tired. She’s ready to pass on her crown. You will not stand in my way of my securing our father’s love, you dirty half-breed slut!”
The dark fae’s eyes gleamed with a kind of jittery madness. Fear bubbled up in Lilly’s belly, almost eclipsing her own anger. But she was determined not to let fear show in her voice. “You’re doing this because you think I’m some kind of fairy princess? Did it ever occur to you that none of this was necessary, that I don’t want to be a fairy princess or queen? I wouldn’t know how. It isn’t my world.”
“Of course, you’d be utterly useless at it, as you are at everything else. But no doubt you’d jump at the chance to improve your miserable lot. I can’t take that chance.”
Lilly was still confused about what the hell she had to do with fairy succession plots, but there was no doubt she was in serious danger. “So, what are you going to do with me?”
Zenia’s anger faded, and her eyes became alight with a strange glow of pleasure. She obviously thought Lilly had submitted to her will, had given up. “Well, you still have some options, Rudolph. The way to make a fae—including trashy half-breeds like you—lose all power is too overwhelm them with iron. You shall remain tied up until our magic ship sails back to my home. Then I will keep you in a cage made out of iron in the dark corners of the Realm for as long as your pathetic, whiny, half-breed self should happen to live. You can starve in the iron cage I have waiting for you, or you can do what I say right this very minute and be rewarded with food later.”
Lilly’s heart clenched. Her stomach threatened to rebel against the crepes Kris had served her hours ago. “What do you want, Zenia?”
“I told you. I want the bracelet.”
“Why is this stone so important to you? You say I’m slow. Perhaps you’re right. You need to slow down and explain everything to me.”
Zenia rolled her eyes. “Any moron could figure it out. If you and Nick and Kris were to use it in a binding ceremony, it could give you the power to be queen. And you couldn’t be more wrong thinking I covet Nick Frost. I don’t need those two do-good Warrior of the Light fae, even if blondie Kris is just my type.”
“I’ve told you, I don’t want to be a fairy queen. You have nothing to worry about on that score, so you should just let me go.”
Zenia pursed her lips for a moment. “Shh! Just shut up and listen, Rudolph! I’m going to untie your hands; your feet will stay tied to the railing. You will not try anything stupid, or I will starve you later. You will seriously regret crossing me. Once
I’ve untied your hands, you’ll need to grasp my hand with both of yours and imagine the bracelet so I can spirit it here. If you hit me or try any funny tricks, I’ll starve you!” Zenia knelt and bent over her. “You’re not exactly going to win in a fight with me with your legs tied to wood, so don’t fucking try it. Got it?”
Lilly nodded. The fact that Zenia would free her hands for any reason gave her hope. “Okay, I agree.”
Zenia started to work at the knots at Lilly’s wrists, gradually untying her. “Do Nick and Kris know you as Zenia?”
She stopped working on the knots and tipped her head to one side, giving Lilly a long, slanted stare.
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
Lilly shrugged, her heart beating like crazy beneath her feigned calm.
Her half-sister shook her head in disgust and continued the untying. “By the Dark Path, you ask a lot of pointless questions. From now on, speak when you’re spoken to. Now take my right hand and concentrate on envisioning the Blue Spirit Stone.”
“What stone? I still don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“The one that Nick gave you, with the stone as blue as a robin’s egg. The stone that holds the power to find any creature’s fated mates! Once the turquoise is in my hands, I’ll have the assurance that my fated mates will come to me in this life and rule the Fae Realm by my side.” Zenia paused for a moment and then began to hum.
A rush of adrenaline-fused excitement raced through Lilly at being freed. She took Zenia’s hand in a firm grip with her left hand and used her right to fish her phone out of her pocket and hit memory number three.
“Hello?” Nick’s smooth dark voice was like the warmth of a hug. The relief of hearing it could have made her burst into tears, if she’d let it.
“Help me, Morrigan’s Revenge, Zenia, Birdmen, kidnapped, help!” A fist slammed into her jaw; then another slammed into her face. Blinded by a fog of pain, she dropped her phone into the cold water at her feet.
Rage surged through Nick, hot and blinding. If any dark creatures had hurt Lilly, he’d slit their nasty throats. He and Kris had no choice. They would need to shrink themselves to sylph form and use their wings. He turned to Kris. “We got no choice, buddy. To find Morrigan’s Revenge, we have to shrink. We can’t go flying around full size. We’ll give the mortals a heart attack, and there’s nowhere to park the sleigh if the ship is out in the middle of the ocean.”
Kris took a bite out of one of the hot cinnamon rolls he’d baked. “Damn, if only we could just become invisible.”
“Well, we can’t, and Lilly’s at risk, so hurry the fuck up.”
“Hold up, cowboy. Zenia has birdmen. They’re going to fight us. We can’t just go racing off. We have to call for backup. We have to summon the centaurs. Maybe get some help from the water fae too.”
“Hell! The Undines? Well, you stay for a little while and do the summoning ceremony, then follow me to the ship.”
Kris took a bite of bacon and nodded.
“I really don’t know how the hell you can eat when Lilly’s life is in danger!” “Fighting on an empty stomach is dumb, Nick. And from what Lilly’s told us
about near-death experiences, I’m pretty sure she’s immortal. Anyway, we can’t rush into this in a half-assed way. We need planning.”
As much as he hated the change, as dizzy as it made him feel, Nick reveled in the power of flight, his wings beating against the wind. He followed the faint trail of evil magic he could sense. He knew Morrigan’s Revenge was a ship of the dark fae. It was in the mortal realm now; he could smell the evil. He would find it.
He thought over what he knew about the ship. Owned by Queen Zenobia of the dark fae, the ship took magical creatures from the dark side of the Fae Realm to the mortal world and back. The dark fae liked to cause trouble for mortals. They loved to taunt and torment them when they could and were often responsible for chaos or random human deaths.
And despite what Kris thought, they didn’t really know if Lilly was the kind of half fae who could be killed or not. The thought that Zenia or Zenobia might be able to kill Lilly filled him with a cold fear, like icy shards of glass in his stomach. What on earth could dark fae even want with her? He blamed himself. Why the hell hadn’t he put more effort into making her stay with him and Kris tonight? Why had he let her go back to the townhouse? His hands formed fists, and he thumped them against his thighs. Above him loomed dark and pendulous clouds, obscuring the moon.
Nick beat his wings frantically against the wind, concentrating every bit of psychic power in his possession on locating the evil ship, until soon he was flying out over the ocean, sure of his course. The water below churned, gray, dark and foreboding.
Chapter Ten
Pain in Lilly’s jaw and head made her dizzy, and her feet froze in the cold water that continually splashed onto the lower deck. She must have been concussed for several seconds, and remembering Zenia’s violent act brought renewed fear.
A demanding howl in the wind filled her with a bone-shivering chill. She knew what had brought the change in the sound the wind made: a storm was brewing. Thank goodness part of the upper deck sheltered her head to protect her from any rain that might come, and that she still wore her wool coat, but her legs were uncovered. Water had sloshed into her ankle boots, her feet were freezing, and her teeth chattered. She gritted her teeth against the cold, her jaw clenched so tight it hurt, and now not only did she have birdmen and Zenia to fear, but all the risks of sailing on an ancient ship during a storm.
When Lilly had first recovered her senses, Zenia had ranted and raged at her, retying her to the railing with knots that felt much tighter than before and cut into her wrists painfully. Then, oddly, Zenia had gone below decks, declaring she needed her beauty sleep, and that nothing and no one had better disturb her.
Lilly took a deep breath. Now that her half-sister was no longer in near proximity, her body relaxed. She unclenched her jaw and felt the ache of it, working it by opening and closing her mouth to release the pressure. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of the salt air. But soon anxiety nibbled its way into her heart again.
The dark fae was unlikely to be taking a nap as she claimed. Perhaps she’d gone below decks to perform some kind of ghastly spell that might hurt Nick and Kris. The birdmen who guarded her were giving away no clues of their mistress’s intentions. None of them spoke. There were more of these creatures around her now, watching, their cold, sinister eyes boring into her. Some stood around her; others stood on the balcony and upper deck. In their taloned hands, they held iron swords and shields.
On the upper balcony, Lilly saw two birdmen sitting on top of a huge iron trunk. One of them tried to make eye contact with her. She almost thought there was something kind in this one’s eyes, something very different from the others, but she wasn’t sure. Was that Rurik, who’d given her the drink? She wasn’t sure she could tell these creatures apart.
Suddenly, Lilly heard a sound above her. She looked up to see the most amazing creatures flying above the ship. Huge, heavy wings beat the air. The horse part of the creatures’ form was beautiful, and they were multicolored— sleek black, milk white, chestnut red, sorrel and dun, all glossy and beautiful. Their torsos were of handsome warrior men, and each centaur had wings the color of his horse body. The centaurs carried bows and arrows or swords and shields seemed to be made of pure silver. Hope surged in her chest.
Are they good creatures? Could they…will they help me?
Wonder and joy bubbled up inside her. Such creatures were real. It was almost like she’d taken a trip inside her favorite children’s book series. Like she was in Narnia.
Or maybe like the Fae Realm? Your birthright?
With a tremendous clattering of hooves, they landed as one large group on the deck of the ship, distracting her from any more reflection.
The birdmen, armed with axes and swords, were the first to approach, but the centaurs slashed, cutting viciously at the birdmen, w
ho either dodged and fought back, or gurgled and screamed, their lungs full of blood. A birdman hacked the tail off a beautiful chestnut centaur whose screams sent cold chills rocketing through her.
Her teeth on edge, Lilly wanted to look away, sickened by the slaughter, but she couldn’t. Another part of her wanted to join in and fight against the birdmen, who she was sure were all on Zenia’s side.
The sky filled with winged creatures, heedless of the strong winds. More centaurs, more birdmen coming to join the battle. The sun glinted off the bluish-silver metal armor protecting the centaurs’ chests. The bronze helmets of the birdmen shone red as though recently polished.
Wind ruffled feathers and tails. With a high, thin cry, one of the birdmen dove out of the sky, talons slashing at the eyes of a beautiful white centaur. Lilly’s soul ached with horror and pity for the animal. Her hands struggled fruitlessly against her bonds in her desire to brush tears from her cheeks.
And then suddenly she saw the results of the magic Zenia must be doing below decks. From out of nowhere, fire sputtered, sparked and then spewed to life, flaming across the decks, burning only the centaurs in its path. Her heart leapt in her throat as two of the centaurs were consumed in fire. The sight of them set alight, whirling in panic, their wings burning orange coupled with the piercing sound of their animal screams would stay in her head the rest of her life. The wind howled, and rain began to fall. The sea was an angry monster pounding the sides of the ship with huge, swelling fists. The army of birdmen slashed with their iron swords, making the ship run sleek with blood that the steadily increasing rain washed over the decks and over her feet and around the dead. She felt sick at the sight, but the rain sizzled on the wooden planks and washed out Zenia’s fire. And that was a good thing.
She willed one of the remaining centaurs to come and cut the ties from her hands, but none of them came near her. She tried in vain to inch around to find some bit of broken wood or something that might shred the rope, but she couldn’t get away from the railing to which she was securely fastened.
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