Unwinnable

by May Dawson

  Her gaze flickered past me—I had to suppress an exhale as if this was a break, because her gaze was unrelenting—and she gestured in the long-eared girl who’d called us trespassers. “Thank you, Tess.”

  Tess might hate us, but she put the tray she carried down between us without comment and left the room, gliding on quiet feet in her leather slippers. I glanced down at the tray, expecting new horrors, but there was nothing on it but bread, two small silver dishes with covers, and crystal bottles of water and red wine.

  “I thought you might need something after your time with Denys,” she said.

  “Thank you,” I said, but made no move to touch it. I almost asked if my friends in the cells had anything to eat, but I wasn’t sure we should eat. While most Fae food—if it wasn’t poisonous—was safe for us, there was always the possibility this food was enchanted.

  “If you’re worried you’ll have to stay in our world if you eat, that’s a myth.” She lifted the tops off the dishes, revealing creamy cheese and honeycomb in one, fruit and vegetables and a thick dip in the other. She spread cheese and honey over a roll and, before she began to eat, told me, “Well? Do you think you could refrain from lying to me so I don’t look like a fool in front of Turic for rescuing you?”

  “Did you really rescue me,” I said slowly, having the feeling she wouldn’t kill me for saying it, “or were you playing good cop, bad cop?”

  “I really do despise him,” she said. “I would torture you myself if I felt the need, though.” She gave me a slow, steely smile.

  She let that smile linger, and then she added, “I don’t. Not yet.”

  “Can I ask you a question too?”

  “You can try. Once you tell me why you really came.”

  I licked my lips, hesitating under her steely gaze. “Maddie. The girl in our group. The witches used her to activate the Dark Collar and prevent us all from shifting. Now, if we don’t figure out how to fix it….” I trailed off.

  It was more than I wanted to tell her, but it was the truth, and I hoped it would be enough to make her trust me.

  “She’s in mortal danger,” she said.

  “Yes,” I said. “We have to go home with an answer. And we came here to find one.”

  She seemed to consider that.

  I was still curious about the shifter boy we’d seen in the courtyard—and about how Denys has treated him. Plus, I’d like to distract her from pondering too much about my half-truths. “Why are there so many children here?”

  “Orphans,” she said. “Or children whose parents couldn’t raise them. They bring them to me to be trained as knights, so their children can live an honorable life of service.”

  “You have shifters here too.”

  She nodded reluctantly. “Most shifters lost their ability to become the wolf long ago, when our high king used the dark collar against them. Or they became trapped as wolves instead. But there are some who are…untamed. We block their magic so they can live among us.”

  “Really?” I sat forward. “Do you have any idea how that works—how it is that they’re untamed?”

  She raised her hand. “You still haven’t told me what you really want, Tyson. I’m not going to help you as you sit there and lie to me. I doubt your plan was to wander the Fae world until you stumble across a solution. You don’t look that stupid to me, and I don’t know why I appear that stupid to you.”

  “But could you help me if you wanted to?” I demanded.

  She shrugged. “The High Delphin might know how you could undo the magic. If she were willing to help you.”

  I had to be careful—if there were other ways to undo the spell cast by the Dark Collar, they could save our lives in the Fae world and protect the packs without us having to journey into the Grey.

  But if she told me that the cure was the shield, which the Fae would never let us take, the Fae would suspect us of trying to steal it, and it would become harder to reach the temple and steal their shield.

  “The Delphin?” I asked, to buy myself time. I knew what the Delphin was; the Delphine were their prized spiritual leaders who the Fae believed connected them with their ancestors…and with their future progeny. The Delphine was a committee of sorts, ruled by the High Delphin.

  I was curious if the Delphine could do anything for us. Perhaps the Fae had another way to release the spell.

  She cocked her head to one side instead of answering my question. “Where do you come from?”

  “North Carolina.”

  “That’s not what I’m asking, child. What Fae line? What Fae court?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know who your mother is?”

  “No,” I said sharply. Her skeptical tone had immediately irritated me, but I swallowed the annoyance. My friends were counting on me. “I know who my mother is. I don’t know what Fae fathered me.”

  “It was your father’s responsibility to bring you back to the Fae world, according to our laws,” she said. “You should never have been raised in the human world.”

  My pack would probably have agreed.

  “Maybe he missed the memo. I didn’t think it was true.” Maybe it was a good thing that she was distracted from our mission by the question of my heritage, but it certainly didn’t feel good to me.

  “We must determine who your father is,” she said. “You must know who you are to request an audience with the High Delphin. Her magic cannot help you otherwise.”

  “You’re willing to help us?” I asked.

  “Perhaps,” she said lightly. “I really didn’t care for the witches who visited before. I’d like to vex them.”

  “I would like to as well,” I assured her. “How do we find my…father?”

  The word felt heavy on my tongue. What if my biological father was alive?

  “Magic, of course.”

  “All right, but what happens to my friends in the meantime?”

  “They—” she began.

  The tall, slender Fae with sharp ears and a tangle of dark red hair—Lake— rushed into the room. He glanced at me—a cutting look—then said, “Forgive the intrusion. The Delphin just arrived.”

  Fenig rubbed her hand across her face. “All this time and she emerges from her cottage now?”

  “Yes, now.” A very elderly woman pushed aside the red-haired man and entered. She murmured to him, “Thank you, Lake.” He blushed slightly as she passed, and I had a feeling that her hands lingered a little longer on his body than they needed to.

  Fenig rose and bowed, her hand pressed above her heart. “Delphin.”

  I wasn’t sure what to do but I figured rising from the bench and bowing too could never go awry.

  “Oh, he is very handsome and quite sweet, isn’t he?” The Delphin asked, looking me over. I half expected her to pinch my cheeks like a grandma—or maybe pinch my ass, like I had a feeling she’d done with Lake.

  “I don’t know if I would describe him as sweet, but he and his friends might be allies,” Fenig said, her voice dry.

  Allies? Of course they would want something from us, but what? What did the Fae need from us?

  “It’s too bad about the trial-by-combat,” the Delphin went on, smiling brightly. “I do hope he survives.”

  “What?” Fenig demanded.

  “Make sure he has a good dinner tonight,” she said. “He must face the labyrinth tomorrow. The laws are the laws, Fenig.”

  “I know,” Fenig seemed exasperated. “But according to tradition, you aren’t supposed to give him an audience yet—and you aren’t supposed to pinch my knights, either.”

  The Delphin spread her hands unapologetically. “I have my ways.”

  “Can you help me?” I asked.

  “Survive tomorrow, boy, and I will,” she told me. “The spirits will determine if you are worthy.”

  “The spirits,” Fenig muttered. “The monsters, you mean.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Blake

  Kit texted me. Any luc
k getting the truth out of Chase?

  No… maybe there’s a logical explanation

  Maybe the logical explanation is that there are werewolves!

  I tossed my phone on the nightstand and flopped back onto the bed. The walls of my room were painted black, and they seemed to loom over me. I’d been irritated expecting Chase to tell me not to be stupid when we were at the hardware store, but he’d just kept his mouth shut. Even though he’d never said a word, when we’d finished painting and the color felt like the walls were pressing in, I knew I’d live with it until I went off to college.

  It would’ve been nice if Chase talked to me before he left. But he never talked to me now. Why would he? He had a bunch of friends his own age, and they were always here if he was. It was his house, his money. Not mine. I couldn’t complain.

  I liked the guys, and Maddie too. But Chase and Skyla and I only had each other. If Chase had them, then who did I have?

  I reached for my cell and started to text Kit again, but as I was typing to suggest we get together, she texted me, want to meet at the park?

  Can’t, I texted back. Babysitting duty

  Ugh. Big brother gone again, huh?

  The words instantly irritated me. Kit was fun, but the way she talked about my big brother as if I needed Chase annoyed me. I didn’t really need anyone.

  Bring her! She texted next. I love kids! We’ll all have fun… just not the usual kind ; )

  I left the cell phone behind and headed downstairs.

  Skyla was watching television, draped over the back of the sectional. She slid off onto the cushions automatically when she heard footsteps, then her head popped up over the back.

  “Forgot it was me, huh?” I didn’t care if she wrecked Chase’s precious furniture. I’d never known he had such a Martha Stewart side until we got this house. He fucking loved the place.

  When we went to the mall, I’d thought Penn was going to keel over in boredom as Chase sniffed every damned scent in the Yankee Candle store. I was kind of surprised the guys didn’t tease him about it more.

  “I thought maybe he was home.”

  I grabbed a Coke out of the fridge, then put it back and took out a can of PBR. I was sipping it as I walked back into the living room, about to say something snarky about how often Chase was actually around. But that would just hurt Skyla, and maybe it wasn’t even fair to Chase, so instead I threw myself onto a chair across from her.

  “Want to go to a park?” I was dying of boredom in the house now that it was just the two of us.

  She dangled upside down from the sectional, her hands to either side of her head as if she might do a headstand—and fall forward into the glass coffee table. I set the can down so I could grab her if she needed me. Taking care of little kids is a constant game of figuring out how they’ll try to kill themselves next.

  “You want to go to a park? Like a playground?” she asked skeptically.

  “Yeah, like a playground. You seem like you need to burn off some energy. What’s up next? Parkour around the room? Hanging from the chandelier?”

  “I did all that while you were talking to your girlfriend.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Are you going to play with me?” she asked. “Or are you just going to stare at your phone like it contains the secrets of the universe. Or like you’re watching po—.”

  “Skyla.” I sat forward fast, bracing my elbows on my knees. “What do you know about… about that?”

  “I’m going into fifth grade, Blake. I hear things at school.”

  “Jesus Christ,” I said, running my hand through my hair. “Okay, that’s terrifying.”

  “So are you going to play with me?”

  “No,” I said. “Taking you to the playground in the first place is me doing the nice thing. Swinging and playing pretend would be above and beyond.”

  “Someday you’re going to miss the days when I was sweet and innocent.”

  “I already do,” I told her.

  “And you’ll regret that you didn’t hang out with your little sister.”

  “Sure,” I said. Suddenly I really wanted to see Kit. I kept thinking about how her pink hair smelled like strawberries, the way her lips turned up at one corner right before she kissed me. “Look, I’m going to go down the street. I’ll be back in like, an hour. You can take care of yourself, right?”

  “Obviously. Do you want to hear about child labor in the—”

  “I do not, you little nerd,” I said.

  “You could try watching a documentary every now and then too, Blake,” she said. “You can get yourself an education for free—”

  I tuned her out as I ran up the stairs. I grabbed my cell phone and texted Kit on my way out. Her last message was: Ignoring me?

  I can do the park after all

  My day just got so much better!

  “Don’t open the door to anyone,” I shouted before I left.

  “Oh, I won’t!” Skyla shouted back. I was pretty sure if I accidentally locked myself out, she’d leave me sleeping on the porch, just to 1) follow the letter of the law, and 2) mess with me.

  I double-checked that the door was locked behind me. Then I jogged down to the park.

  Kit was already there, and she leaned against the side of a very cool looking old school black car.

  “Wow, are these your wheels?” I asked as I walked up to her, and she slipped her cell into her pocket, giving me a grin. “How’d you get it in here?”

  The fence all around the broken-down playground didn’t have a gate big enough for cars, and I started to look around for a place she’d been able to drive through.

  “Where’s Skyla?” she asked.

  “Oh, she stayed home,” I said, turning back to her, just in time to see her face fall.

  Her features smoothed out the next second, her beaming smile returning as she said, “Oh good, I like when it’s just the two of us, but I was prepared to adjust.”

  “Thanks,” I said warily. “It kinda seemed like you wanted to hang out with Skyla.”

  She shook her head. “Nah. But I don’t mind kids.”

  She took my hand like she was going to pull me over to the swings, but instead she tugged me toward her and began to kiss me. She smelled as sweet as ever, and her lips were soft and warm as they teased against mine. Her hands ran across the waistband of my jeans, her fingernails skating over my bare skin.

  It was hard to pay attention to anything else when she kissed me like that.

  “Let’s go up to the tower,” she murmured. Her hand slid lower, cupping me through my jeans. “Is Aunt Jen on babysitting duty?”

  “No,” I said, starting to say something about how Chase had scared her off for now.

  She glanced away into the night, as if she’d heard something, or as if she was looking at someone. I took a step back, scanning our surroundings.

  She smiled, that smile that lit up her whole face. She crooked a finger at me. “Come play with me.”

  Her voice was sultry.

  “Who the hell are you?” I asked.

  She gave me a strange look, still smiling. “Is this a joke? You and I know each other pretty well now.”

  “You’re awfully curious about werewolves,” I said, “and you’re awfully curious about my sister.”

  My instincts were flaring, telling me that somehow, this situation was dangerous.

  I had the feeling she’d been communicating with someone else, out here in the night.

  “Anyone would be curious about werewolves,” she began.

  But I was already running.

  She called after me as I hurtled the fence. Maybe I was overreacting, but my heart was suddenly pounding. I had to get back to Skyla and make sure she was safe.

  I ran all the way home and when I got there, Aunt Jennifer’s car was parked in front of our house.

  She was just opening the trunk, and she hadn’t seen me yet. There was no way I could make it all the way across the front yard to the front d
oor without her noticing me, though. Instead, I stopped at the mailbox and opened it up. It held a few catalogs and bills and junk mail, and I took my time leafing through them as my breath slowed.

  Jen would still be suspicious that I was locked out. I wouldn’t have locked the door behind me to go to the mailbox—unless I claimed it was force of habit. Still, she was keyed up enough about Chase leaving us. She’d be suspicious.

  “Hey there, Aunt Jennifer,” I said, tucking the mail under my arm. I gave her a hug, then reached to grab her suitcase before she could finish wrestling it from the trunk.

  “Hey there,” she said. She let me take her suitcase as she slung her purse and her tote over her shoulder. “Where are you coming from?”

  “Mailbox.” I held it all up. “There’s nothing good.”

  “It only gets worse when the bills are yours,” she promised, but I wasn’t sure that was really true. I thought sometimes I’d be happier when I was on my own.

  I headed up the walk toward the sprawling house ahead of her, hoping I could get the door unlocked without drawing any attention, but when I tried the knob, it was already unlocked.

  My heart started to gallop as I pushed the door open.

  But Skyla stood there in the foyer, with a mischievous look on her face—she’d want me to pay for that cover-up one day—balancing her book on her head. She’d watched some movie about princess training that had the girls carrying books on her head, and now she did it all the time.

  Kids are weird, man.

  “I’m bringing this upstairs,” I told her, my heartrate returning to normal when I saw her.

  If I hadn’t been trying to look normal for Jennifer, I might’ve hugged her.

  I had a bad feeling about things with Kit.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Maddie

  Ty returned to our hallway with his hands unbound, sauntering down the hall with two young guards.

  The tall, red-headed male stepped into the hallway while Tess stood by with her sword in her hand and an eager expression on her face, as if she would love it if we tried to escape.