by T. G. Ayer
“Kai,” said Tara, the warning clear in her voice. She was using her regal queen voice. Completely unnecessary.
“We had the black substance analyzed. Pieces of the bark, leaves and even the roots.” I took a deep breath, my throat tightening. “The tree is poisoned.”
“Poisoned? Poisoned with what?” asked Tara, her voice, volume and tone, a little bit higher, a little bit more frantic.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and swiped through my emails until I found the report. Handing it over to her, I waited while she read.
When at last she returned the phone, the veins in her hand were tight and distended.
“Send me copies of those, please?” she asked softly.
“Consider them sent.”
I watched her, staring off into the distance, her mind elsewhere and decided it was time to speak. ”I’m a little worried about you, Tara. Why are your people keeping information from you?” My eyes narrowed as I studied her face even as she tilted her head away from me. “Something going on? Why are they keeping you out of the loop? Why don’t they want you to know the truth behind the poison?”
Tara looked at me, head on now, as if she’d decided to face it. ”The best reason is that someone within my court is guilty of poisoning the tree.”
I gasped. “Don’t you think that’s a bit of a drastic assumption? Maybe they’re concerned for your safety. Maybe whoever is killing the tree is after you as well.” I was grasping at straws, and I sounded like it too, but for some reason as the words left my mouth I realized that they were a possibility.
Tara’s wide eyes said she was on the same wavelength.
She began to pace. “I sent everything out weeks ago to be analyzed. The results came back within a few days. The lab assured me that it was just a phase, that the tree was purging toxins that had built up over the years. I should have understood then what was going on. That it was just a bunch of bullshit.”
“You really think they would do this deliberately?” I asked, side-stepping a human couple pushing an adorable gray-eyed baby in a stroller. The baby gurgled as I passed, keeping her eyes on me. If I ever doubted that babies could see through the glamor, then at that moment I was convinced.
“I’m not sure. It’s entirely possible especially since . . .” The baby laughed louder as she stared at Tara. I could just imagine what my Fae friend would look like to a human eye, all glowing and gold dust.
“Tara? Maybe it’s time to tell me what’s going on?” I suggested, mentally crossing my fingers that I didn’t have to find creative ways to get the information out of her.
She turned and looked at me, her face filled with worry. “I’m not sure.”
“Don’t you trust me?” Hurt seared like an iron fresh from the forge.
Beside us, the mother lifted the baby from the stroller, curious what had gotten the kid so excited.
“It’s not about trust,” Tara said softly as she curled a long lock of hair around her ear. “It’s got more to do with protecting the people around me, than with keeping things from you.”
“Okay.” I spoke with a patient tone, although I didn’t have much of it left. “But I can look after myself, as you well know. And if it means protecting you from danger then I want to know. I deserve to know.”
Tara sighed, and lost the glamor for a brief moment. The baby gurgled. The mother squeaked, her eyes widening at the sight of us. I knew she’d be seeing a shimmering image, almost like a mirage before we solidified.
Thankfully, Tara drew the glamor around us again and we hurried away. A glance backward confirmed the baby’s big eyes were still trained on us while the mother stared blindly around her as if demons were about to pounce.
If she only knew.
“Sheesh. That was careless,” Tara grumbled as we hurried back to the alley.
“And yet perfectly understandable. With everything going on I have no idea how you’re keeping it together.” I sent a text to Mel as we walked, and she replied almost immediately. We had fifteen minutes. “So now, tell me what is Elan’s problem. Apart from the fact that he likes ending Walkers.” I gave a dry smile.
“Elan is . . . complicated.”
I pursed my lips. “Not so complicated. He’s got the hots for you, that much is obvious. But he’s conflicted because he would prefer that his ass was on the throne and not yours.”
Tara snorted. “Again, you don’t miss much do you?” She sighed and leaned against the sun-warmed brick. Now, close to twilight, the warmth was beginning to recede as we stared at the tree in the distance, it’s height still making it easily visible above the buildings along the street. A dark pall hung over the Ash, as if the shadows of the underworld were already there to claim it.
I must be upset if my imagination was becoming so melodramatic.
Tara cleared her throat. “We were called back to Allira because the council refused to allow me to choose any longer. They’d been patient with me for long enough apparently, and Gracie’s coddling was no longer to be tolerated.”
“Where is Gracie, by the way?” I grinned as I asked.
Tara let out a silent breath. “Gracie is dead.”
My throat closed as I stared at her, stunned. Unexpected and unwanted news. “What?” The word came out a hiss of air.
After a few moments, I was able to ask, “How?”
Tara watched me, her eyes a green so dark it bled black. “Sometimes bargaining chips end up losing their value.”
My ears began to ring. “They killed your mother?” Righteous fury filled me, making me want to go right back to Boston and rip all of their throats out one by one. “I never knew the Fae held their royalty in so little regard as to just kill them off when they wished.” My limbs shook with anger.
“Gracie was not my mother.”
I wasn’t sure what was worse. Gracie’s death or this new revelation. “Tara,” I said patiently, despite how stunned I felt. “This is called a ‘what the fuck’ moment. So please can you tell me that you are not messing with me? I’d like to implode for a valid reason.” Despite the smart-ass comments I did feel like I was about to collapse in on myself.
Tara curled her fingers around my shoulder, tears glinting in her eyes as she bent to look at me. “She was, for all intents and purposes, my mother. She nursed me, raised me, trained me, protected me. Everything a mother should do. Everything that my mother could not be bothered to do.”
My mouth dropped open and I had to force it to close again. Overwhelmed was the only word I could apply to the crazy turmoil inside my head.
“My mother is the daughter of the Earth and the Air Fae. She mated with an Aqua Fae and surprising everyone gave birth to me, a Fae with the ability to hone metal. I’m unique.”
“I always suspected.”
Tara grinned. “Gracie couldn’t manipulate metal. We just kept up the show for both our safety, and that of our friends. But someone must have fed the Fae court with information because they forced me to choose; Gracie lives and I become Queen and take on my royal duties. Or Gracie dies.”
My voice was granite. “But Gracie did die.” As if she was ignorant of the fact.
“Apparently an accident while transporting her from a maximum-security prison to somewhere more comfortable. No-one will tell me how she died but I suspect their reticence is to hide the truth that they’d planned her death.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t have much of a choice. I have to be Queen, and now with the Ash Trees dying, it’s best I remain at the head of the Fae, even if just as a glorified double agent.”
“Especially since they seem to want to keep the truth from you.” Tara nodded sadly. “So what now? You go back to Boston and keep a keen eye on your underlings?”
“Yes. And you keep me up to date on the forensics. I’ll put my own feelers out, see what I can find out. I know someone who has an inexhaustible knowledge of Fae biotoxins.”
I took in a breath feeling like I hadn’t b
reathed in days. “While you do that we need to identify possible suspects who may be behind this.”
“I’ll send you a list from my end.”
I chuckled. The sound was mirthless. “At least we know that Storm isn’t involved.”
“What makes you so sure?” asked Tara.
Her eyes bore the same kind of hurt I saw in my own expression in the days after Storm’s betrayal. But Tara’s voice was bitter. She was furious at him. Good. Better than wallowing in self-pity.
“I concede to your point. He could have put plans in place before he was caught.” I stiffened. “Come to think of it, there was something that one of my contacts mentioned while I was in the Graylands. Something about another attack that was being planned. Why do I feel like I heard the mention of planes?” I shook my head annoyed that I couldn’t remember.
“Don’t stress yourself. You were injured. Serious blood loss while in the Graylands can affect mental function on many levels.”
I stared at her suspiciously. “Have you been keeping tabs on me?”
She shrugged. “Being a queen has its advantages.”
I snorted. “Just make sure to be queenly when I visit your palace. I want the gold ticket tour and the penthouse suite.” I grinned. “And throw in a sexy bare-chested masseuse too.”
“I’ll have it all arranged. Just say the word.”
Chapter 9
As I ran, I reveled in the feeling of the wind against my cheeks. My panther growled, enjoying her freedom. We both needed an outlet of pent-up energy. Tara’s news about the Boston tree wasn’t what I’d expected, nor was it what I’d wanted.
Add that bad news to Tara’s revelation about her true parentage and the death of Gracie and I was a hot mess.
Tears burned my eyes and I felt them hit my cheeks and fly away. It didn’t seem fair losing so many people. Anjelo, Logan and now Gracie. Good, loyal, loving people so easily removed from our lives. Sometimes I wondered if anyone realized how tenuous our hold on our loved ones was.
Gracie was loving and cheerful, scolding and cuddly. Not that I’d ever hugged her. I’d thought all along that she was Fae royalty and I’d treated her with the respect she’d deserved. Something deep in my heart twisted knowing I’d been lied to. That all that time I’d known Gracie, all those years of seeing her so often, all those poisons she’d scoured the Faelands to find just for me, all that time she’d been lying to me.
Tara had been lying to me.
But in the face of Storm’s betrayal, Tara’s omission was minor. A small hurt that was inflicted because she’d cared for me enough, because she’d wanted my safety above all else. Storm hadn’t cared about our safety. All he’d wanted was to ensure he avenged himself for what he’d lost.
I branched off the highway, heading into the trees and up into the hills, my paws slammed into the soil, raising little clouds of dust. The loping movement of running as a cat was calming, everything in sync, fluid, cohesive. Cloaked by leaves and shadows, I pushed myself to move faster, feeling the burn in my muscles, the tightening in my lungs.
So deep was I within my thoughts that only the sound of the gravel beneath my claws brought me back to awareness. I’d run on automatic, heading for my father’s house without thinking about direction.
Slowing to a stop, I changed to human form, the rucksack still secure on my back. Naked, I hurried around the house and headed for the old pool house. With us kids all grown and gone, Dad hadn’t bothered with the upkeep of the pool, but with our three young guests it looked like he’d finally made an effort.
The water twinkled and the pool house looked almost new with its sparkling lick of white paint. I entered and changed as quickly as I could, before hurrying to the kitchen entrance a few feet away and keying in my code. After the whole Storm debacle Baz, our resident vampire - yes we have a vampire living in our home - had insisted every person have their own codes, and that we all used them when we entered and left the property. It seemed pedantic but with Baz and the goblin twins Alina and Alix Longford still living with my father, it had made a lot of sense.
Technically Baz, or Sebastian Ross, hacker extraordinaire, had been partially turned by a vamp-demon, but the end result after being bitten tends to be the same. For Baz, vamp speed merely made him more dangerous at the keyboard. So we kept him. Or he stayed. I can no longer be sure which.
The keypad beeped and the door clicked open, giving me a chance to get my breath back. I entered the hallway, the empty kitchen offering no warmth or welcome. The living room though was perfect.
Alina lay on her stomach in front of the fire, the firelight making her red hair glow. Mom sat beside her while the two of them discussed the sheer recklessness of Nancy Drew’s antics. Mention was made of lockets and a lane called Larkspur, but all was forgotten when Alina looked up and caught sight of me.
The excitement in her eyes brought an answering grin to my face, and although I was eager to visit with Logan, I entered the room and returned her enthusiastic hug. Mom smiled at me from over the child’s head.
“So where is your little brother?” I asked softly.
She shrugged. “Doing boy things?”
“Now what in the world could be a ‘boy thing’?” I asked, crouching down in front of her.
“Chopping wood. With Baz.”
“Ah. I see.” I smiled at the disappointment in her eyes. “So . . . did they explain why chopping wood is a boy thing?”
Another shrug. “I think they wanted to be alone.”
“Oh.” Interesting. “Is Alix troubled by something?”
“Maybe.” Alina made a face. “Baz said that Alix needed some manly advice.”
I gave an exaggerated sigh. “Well, if Baz thought so then he must be onto something. Has Alix seemed troubled at all?”
“He misses Daddy. He cries at night. And then in the morning he pretends he doesn’t because he thinks he should be protecting me and not the other way around.”
“Well, there you have it.” She frowned. “Baz is helping Alix out with his problems. He’s still mourning for your family and maybe it makes him feel weak. I’d guess Baz is just putting him on the right path.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Then he shouldn’t have called it a boy thing.”
I nodded solemnly. “Maybe he shouldn’t have. I’ll have a word with him.”
She nodded and gave a small smile and not for the first time I marveled at the age-old wisdom in her eyes. The poor child was so young and yet had lost so much. What was it like to be the only survivor of a massacre that killed her entire clan? Every single person in her village, everyone she’d loved, dead.
I rose and so did Mom. She whispered something to Alina who nodded and ran out of the room, giving me a little wave.
Again, I received a hug and this time it was me receiving the comfort. “How are you honey?” asked Mom.
I sighed. “How can a girl feel with one guy comatose and another guy trying to sweep her off her feet?”
I hadn’t expected to blurt that out, but things like this usually happened to me when Mom was around. There seemed to be some barrier to lies when it came to her. Probably all those years we needed to make up for.
The fire spat and crackled and Mom went over to nudge the logs around with a poker. Her face was bathed in golden light as she said, “Caught between two loves, huh?”
I snorted as I drew closer to the warmth of the flames. “I’m not sure I can describe my feelings toward Justin as love.”
Mom smiled. “Kai, from what I gather you were head over heels for Justin Lake from the day you first met. And neither of you ever fell for anyone else until you met Logan in Chicago. You left the Walker lifestyle. I believe the technical term is ‘you broke his heart’.”
“Mom,” I admonished softly. “That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
“You did leave without a valid reason.”
“I had a valid reason. I felt suffocated. Unable to make a single decision of my own. Even my
relationship with Justin seemed to have been orchestrated.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Language, Mother.” I laughed. “Iain generously informed me that Justin’s father and Dad had arranged our marriage when we were both toddlers. He said that neither of us had a real choice in the matter. That joining the clans was of utmost importance.”
Mom snorted. “Probably his way of convincing you that you had no choice but to marry his best friend.”
“Well that backfired on him, didn’t it?” I said, trying to keep a straight face. Had Iain only been trying to help? Had I overreacted and run off for no reason? No. “Besides. Even if you ignored the whole Justin thing, I wasn’t in the right place, either to be in a relationship or to be the daughter of an Alpha.”
“Kai. You and I both know you had your own demons to fight. And I think Justin knows that too.”
I folded my arms. “Even when I’m in love with someone else?”
“It’s not as if Justin joined a monastery after you left. You both tried to find love afterward.” Mom sighed and moved away from the fire. “One of the biggest problems with Walkers is being long-lived. For each human year, a Walker suffers almost twice as much. I hadn’t realized until you were born that a Walker’s longevity was so prolonged. I was extremely grateful for my Mage abilities when you were babies. My longer lifespan certainly helped when a year of the terrible twos ended up lasting six months more. My only regret is that I missed your teen years. That must have been something awful.”
“It wasn’t so bad for me. Greer suffered the most.” I hadn’t meant it to sound like I was blaming her, but from her expression I knew that’s how she took it.
Mom sighed. “It’s okay. I know I contributed to Greer’s pain. But no, I’m not taking all of the blame. She was troubled from the start, and if I was a human shrink I’d come up with some sort of genetic mental affliction that felled both Niko and Greer.”
I snorted. “Are you saying my kid may be mental too?”
