Dawn's Envoy

by T. A. White

  The twins remained with the group but seemed more interested in watching Liam and me.

  “And Niamh? How does she factor into all this?” I asked

  “She’s the high king’s youngest daughter,” Liam said.

  “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” I murmured watching the newcomers carefully. She had the spoiled entitlement down pat.

  “I’m surprised to hear she married, and to Arlan of all people,” he said.

  “Jealous?” I asked, giving him a quick look.

  “No, just surprised. Her unfortunate appetites are well known among their people. Even for one of them, she is considered cruel,” he said softly.

  “How is she tied to the hunt?” I asked.

  “Blood and death are her two preferred pastimes. Hunting others down for sport is her favorite activity. She has participated in more hunts than any other Fae I know of.”

  “She’s a lady of the hunt then?” I asked.

  Liam’s small laugh held little humor. “She is far too weak for that. At least she was when I knew her. Now? It’s hard to say.”

  I sensed a story there, but I didn’t push, knowing how the past could tangle and tear a person up inside. If he wanted to share, he would do so in his own time.

  “This doesn’t seem like a good thing,” I said. “Can’t Thomas just forbid the hunt?”

  Liam shook his head. “It’s not that easy. The Wild Hunt goes where it will. That’s the nature of old magic. Even if that wasn’t the case, he still couldn’t forbid it in his borders. We have a treaty with the Fae, and to forbid it would make him seem weak in front of potential allies.”

  That was just great. A Wild Hunt where anyone could be victim or perpetrator. Even worse, I seemed to have friends caught up in the middle of things.

  “All we can do is try to control who participates and attempt to keep it out of the city,” Liam said.

  His words didn’t fill me with confidence.

  “I’ve heard stories about the Fae,” I said.

  And had experienced more than one encounter with the minor Fae, who could be considered capricious and mischievous on a good day. Everything I’d learned about the High Fae pointed to them being worse.

  “Everything you’ve heard is true,” Liam warned. “They have turned lying through truth into an art form. Be very careful with them, Aileen. They will seek to trick you just because they can.”

  I nodded.

  “Is that where you were when you were gone?” I asked, in a soft voice.

  By the way Liam went still, I could tell it wasn’t a topic he welcomed.

  “Briefly,” he said, his voice husky.

  Not too brief, considering he was gone for nearly three months. Of course, given rumors the Fae lands experienced time differently from us, perhaps his brief visit had translated into months here.

  Seeing Niamh approaching, he stepped away as he said, “Keep an eye on yourself and try to stay out of trouble for the night. Find me if you see anything amiss.”

  I let him go, not wanting to attract the attention of the Fae woman or any of her companions. I moved through the crowd, giving the rest of the Fae delegation a wide berth.

  Niall and Cadell remained on the outskirts of the gathering, not socializing with their own kind or any vampires. They watched the scene with bored eyes as they sipped their wine.

  Cadell caught my gaze and gave a slight shake of his head, warning me off. I hesitated, my desire to know why they were here, participating in this Wild Hunt, warring with the knowledge it might be better to wait for a more opportune time when we weren’t so closely watched.

  I sighed and turned away, the act enough to let them know I understood. I wasn’t going to wait forever, but I could give them this. If they didn’t find me and explain before too long, I’d get the information I wanted another way, their machinations be damned.

  I drifted in Jerry’s direction, taking a circuitous route to where he stood against the wall. He was one of the few not watched by the red caps, either trusted or considered so unimportant a guard wasn’t necessary.

  “Not exactly your scene,” I told him. I lifted the wine glass I’d plucked from a server’s tray to my lips and feigned taking a sip as I looked over the crowd, making a concerted effort not to pay any attention to the giant next to me.

  “Aileen, you’re wading in dangerous waters,” he said, not looking at me.

  Jerry was a tall man and before I’d met the red caps I would have said he had some troll in him. Compared to them, however, he looked like a foothill standing next to a mountain.

  Still, that didn’t mean he was the type of person you’d like to meet in an alley at night. The permanently grumpy lines of his face alone were enough to send you screaming. Add in the mammoth build and the fact even his muscles had muscles, and the impression you took away was that of a bruiser capable of crushing your skull.

  “I think mine are a little less dangerous than yours at the moment,” I told him.

  He made a gruff sound that could have been taken as agreement—or he had something stuck in his throat. With Jerry, it was always hard to tell.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Especially since I knew for a fact that he hated vampires. He’d suffered my presence because of a favor he owed my former captain.

  “It is an honor for one so humble as I to be called on to serve our lord and lady.” The words were said in Jerry’s deep rumble, but the emotionless way they were recited and his closed-off expression said they might as well have come from someone else.

  “Well, I never would have called you humble,” I told him.

  Imposing. Intimidating. Gruff. I could come up with twenty words to describe Jerry, but humble wouldn’t have been among them.

  “It is my honor to serve, as it is for every being with a drop of Fae blood,” he continued. He certainly didn’t look like it was an honor. No, he looked like he would chew through iron to express his displeasure about his situation.

  “Did they give you a script to recite?” I hissed. All this babble would make so much more sense if that was the case.

  He snorted, but didn’t respond.

  “What’s this I hear that Hermes isn’t currently carrying messages?” I asked.

  I’d written the sphinx’s declaration off as exaggeration, a fanciful turn designed to influence me to help. In fact, I never gave the claim an ounce of credibility, but standing here next to Jerry with him acting like a puppet, maybe I should have.

  “Everything I have serves the lord and lady’s agenda,” Jerry said, turning his attention to me for the first time since I’d arrived. His words had a certain weight to them, the significance of which wasn’t lost on me.

  My eyes widened, even as I fought to keep my reaction under control.

  That, more than anything I’d heard or seen tonight, unsettled me. I nodded to show my understanding of the message.

  “Aileen, lass, you have a good heart, but listen to me this time. Steer clear of this,” he warned. “You’re digging on unsteady ground. Throttle your normal reckless impulses and keep your head down.”

  Jerry didn’t wait for a response, plodding away, his broad shoulders cutting through the crowd with little effort on his part.

  I watched him go as I took a sip of the fairy wine. The taste of it burst on my tongue, tantalizing and sweet, the endless possibility of spring coupled with the refreshing bite of the season’s first snowmelt.

  A person could get addicted to this stuff if they let themselves.

  I set the almost full glass of wine on a passing server’s tray as I considered what Jerry had told me. I was afraid it would be impossible to follow his advice.

  Even if I wasn’t hopelessly entangled, I would have become invested once I’d learned about Jerry’s presence and the likely fact that all his couriers had been enslaved to the High Fae’s service.

  The thing I hated about loyalty was that it wasn’t so easily discarded. You couldn’t shrug it of
f like you could a pair of dirty clothes. It was there, an undercurrent to every action. Whether you wished it to be or not.

  Jerry had received my loyalty when he gave me a job at a time when I was lost. He’d earned it when he kept me on despite the considerable trouble I brought to his door.

  I didn’t know what he’d gotten himself caught up in, but I wasn’t going to sit back and watch him and the rest drown. Not if it was in my power to throw him a lifeline.

  How, was the question.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  During my perusal of the room, I slowly became aware there was almost as much attention being directed toward me by the vampires, as there was to the Fae.

  I watched them, even as they watched me. I supposed it made sense, given my reputation. I was the rebellious baby vamp who’d made it possible for their master to claim his current lofty position, even as I rejected everything to do with their society.

  I’d probably be curious too if I was in their position.

  “How very understanding of you,” a voice murmured from a few feet away.

  I didn’t jerk, having spied Aiden’s approach. I hoped he’d bypass me, but it seemed the younger vampires before me weren’t the only ones who were curious.

  “How rude,” he said.

  Aiden took a sip of his wine as he joined me. His hands weren’t the overly manicured ones of many in my generation. They were rough and calloused. It was obvious at one point in his life he’d worked in some type of manual labor. A trait he must have continued for his hands to be as rough as they were.

  Aiden always reminded me of a young boxer, with his slightly crooked nose that had been broken and not set when he’d been human, and strong, square jaw that practically dared someone to come at him.

  “I thought my mental defenses prevented you from reading my mind,” I said.

  He gave me a slight smirk. “They do. Except when you think very loudly.”

  I hadn’t been thinking loudly. Protecting my mental space was a technique I’d had to develop as a courier, since a few of the people I served were skilled empaths and telepaths. Letting them pluck secrets from my head would have meant a much shorter career and possible death for breaking my contract with Hermes.

  Those telepaths had been on par with Aiden. Or so I’d thought. Either he had downplayed his strength or something had changed since our last encounter.

  “Of course, your face is also very easy to read,” he said with a teasing glint in his eyes.

  I wasn’t sure if I believed that. Perhaps that was his intention.

  He propped himself against the wall with me. Together we watched the rest of the crowd.

  “Have you come to tempt me to join your clan again?” I asked.

  “No, I’m afraid that is no longer an option,” Aiden said, his voice idle.

  I glanced up at him and frowned.

  “You’re the master’s now,” he explained. “Any clan you join would be his.”

  I settled back. That was an interesting little tidbit. So, when Liam and the rest pressured me about a clan, they were in effect pushing me towards Thomas. Good to know.

  “What do you think of your guests?” I asked.

  “You mean ‘our.’”

  “Right, that’s what I meant.”

  Aiden’s gaze was watchful as he turned his attention to the party. Musicians had begun playing and there were several people gliding about the dance floor elegantly. Nothing like what Caroline and I had been doing last night. These were stately movements in a graceful pattern that almost made me wish I hadn’t quit those dance lessons as a kid.

  Before Aiden could answer my question, he let out a small curse and took a gulp of his wine. I looked to see what had caught his attention and nearly cursed myself.

  I was familiar with the woman striding purposefully toward us. Kat, formerly of the Davinish clan, was one of the first vampires I’d ever met, aside from my sire and Liam.

  Needless to say, she hadn’t left a good impression. She’d done a thorough job of souring me on my fellow vampires when I didn’t need the extra help.

  She was an unrepentant social climber, determined to rise to the top of their society by any means necessary. It seemed to be working for her too, because she’d somehow inveigled a way into a position as one of Thomas’s aides.

  Her skirt whipped around her legs, a clear sign of her agitation as she approached. She looked at Aiden like he was scum on the bottom of her shoe. The expression didn’t suit her model-perfect face.

  He sighed. “You do know I still outrank you?”

  She scowled at him.

  “I see your rise in circumstances hasn’t made you any better at guarding your thoughts,” he observed.

  There was a banked rage in her gaze as she turned to me, obviously intent on ignoring the patriarch. Always a mistake. You never put a predator at your back unless you were sure you could survive them.

  “Your master desires you make yourself useful,” she said.

  “Oh?”

  It was interesting how he had passed along that message when he hadn’t gotten within ten feet of Kat all night. I knew because I’d been watching.

  She arched an eyebrow.

  I didn’t twitch, meeting her gaze with a calm that seemed to irritate her. Petty of me, I know, but in the case of this vampire, I was okay with resorting to such tactics.

  “What are you waiting for?” she snapped.

  Aiden didn’t bother concealing his amusement at her expense, his expression slightly taunting. “Perhaps she is waiting to be told what exactly it is you expect her to do.”

  I snorted, not even bothering to pretend a respect I didn’t feel. The vampire before me was a bully, one who liked to use her status to get others to dance to her wishes. I didn’t plan to be one of them.

  “You’re needed in the parking lot.” Her very red lips curved upward. “To park cars.”

  When I still didn’t move, her gaze turned angry. “Now what’s the hold up?”

  I favored her with a bland smile. “I have my orders and they don’t come from Thomas.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Thomas’s orders trump everyone else’s.”

  “If they had come from Thomas, perhaps,” I said, pleasantly. Even then I probably wouldn’t have obeyed. To do so would be to admit his hold over me was real.

  “I outrank you,” she spat, insult on her face.

  I shrugged. “I don’t care.”

  She huffed and stalked off.

  “That woman is either going to end up ruling us all or dead when her maneuvering finally backfires,” Aiden observed.

  “Someone like her is too smart to take the wrong side of any battle,” I said tiredly. “She’s like a virus that just won’t go away.”

  Aiden’s laugh was surprised. I noted a vampire in the crowd near us turn his head slightly, intelligent eyes meeting mine before he bent his head to his companion. Neither vampire had moved in the entire time Aiden had been standing near me, as if they were hoping to listen in on something interesting. Or act as guard and protector, I thought, noticing as they shifted to block Aiden from view as one of the Fae circled in our direction.

  They must be part of Aiden’s clan. Enforcers by the look of them, their presence unobtrusive but with the obvious intent of protecting their patriarch.

  It was similar to those revolving around Thomas as he mingled with his visitors.

  “She doesn’t outrank you. In case you were wondering,” Aiden said, pulling me from my thoughts.

  I hadn’t been. What I told Kat was true. I truly didn’t care if she outranked me or not. She was playing a game when I wasn’t even on the board and had no intention of ever being on it.

  Aiden seemed to follow the line of my thoughts or at least had learned to accurately read my body language. “Fascinating. I think I will enjoy watching you find your place.”

  “I already know my place,” I told him, turning back to the crowd.

  He took a sip of his
wine. “Do you? Please, enlighten me.”

  I didn’t answer.

  “Because from my eyes, you’re lost and alone yet you yearn for purpose.”

  I didn’t react, even when his words seemed to channel thoughts that plagued me during the deepest part of night when the world was still and I was on my own.

  He was wrong, but he was also right.

  I wasn’t lost; I knew exactly where I was. It just wasn’t necessarily where I wanted to be. I missed being part of something. I missed the sense of purpose that came from doing what you loved, or at least doing what was important.

  In that sense, I was lost, but I also knew joining the vampires and toeing their line wasn’t going to give me what I wanted. It wouldn’t fill that void inside me, despite what vampires like Aiden and Thomas might believe.

  “You never did answer my question earlier,” I said, not reacting to his words.

  He tilted his head as I looked up at him.

  “About your thoughts on our guests,” I said, expanding.

  “Didn’t I?” He took a sip of his drink.

  “I would remember.”

  “Hm.”

  “There you are,” a velvety voice said.

  A woman approached, her eyes alive with laughter, dancing to a joke only she knew. She glided across the floor, the movement seduction itself.

  “Sofia Davinish, you are breathtaking,” he said, appreciation in his voice.

  He took the hand she offered and brought it to his lips.

  Interest filtered through me at her name. This was the Davinish matriarch. I’d been to her clubs, met some of her vampires but had never met the woman herself.

  She held herself regally, her head up as she flirted with Aiden—surprising given the depth of dislike Kat had always shown the patriarch. I’d always assumed that Aiden’s clan and the Davinish clan didn’t get along.

  From the byplay between the two now, I saw I might have to revise that assumption.

  “From the look on my protégé’s face, I can assume you’ve been tweaking her tail again,” Sofia said, amused.

  “Your protégé is a shark given legs,” Aiden said, his voice light and airy as if he hadn’t just insulted someone from the woman’s clan.