The Glass Man
Author: Jocelyn Adams
Date: 2011-10-02 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Paranormal; Urban Fantasy; Romance; Fae; Paranormal Romance; Young Adult; Fairies; Adult; Magic
Description: Intended audience: 18+, strong language, adult themes, some violence. Lila Gray is just a human—at least that’s her mantra when she accidentally topples a building or bends a paranoid local's gun into modern art. That she can sense and control the minds around her doesn’t prove anything, either. Unwilling to put others at risk, she hides in the wilderness from the beautiful creature who hunts her, one who sees her as his ultimate prize. Alone, the egocentric Glass Man can kill with a thought. Mated with Lila, he's a supernatural weapon prepared to annihilate the humans he loathes. Caught in th
Publisher: J. Taylor Publishing

Finalist in the romance category of the 2011 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest.

“It’s a roller coaster ride of emotions that builds up and then goes up more before it gives you a breather as you zoom down the other side of the hill.”

— Aimee Laine, author Little White Lies

“The characters of The Glass Man were fantastic and well developed … [they] could have practically walked right off the page … although in some cases with the creepier ones, I’d be terrified if they really did.”

— Burning Impossibly Bright Blog

“Jocelyn Adams has such an elegant simplicity to her writing, I found myself easily sucked in and pretty much unwilling to leave once she had me there.”

— J.A. Belfield, author Darkness & Light

“It has everything a Fae fantasy requires: lust, danger, compassion, excitement. Adams writes [The Glass Man] as witty, arrogant and strangely charming, while still forcing you to loathe him.”

— The Bawdy Book Blog

The Glass Man

Jocelyn Adams

J. Taylor Publishing

THE GLASS MAN

Published by J. Taylor Publishing
www.jtaylorpublishing.com

Copyright © 2011 Jocelyn Adams

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events, locations, or any other element is entirely coincidental.

ISBN 978-0-9834058-2-5 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-0-9834058-3-2 (EPUB)

First Printing: October 2011
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my baby girl. You inspire me every day.

1

I plunged my knife into a log and pried against the bark, hoping for a squirming morsel to quiet my rumbling stomach. The thought of choking down another fat grub or crunching on a cricket made me gag, but berry season had ended a few weeks before, and I couldn’t find anything else. Autumn in the north was pretty, but the cuisine sucked.

A scream pierced the silence. My hand flinched, causing the knife tip to break through the rotten wood and stab into the side of my other hand. “Shit!” I applied some pressure to stop the bleeding until the skin knitted back together.

The sound came again—a piteous, frightened cry. Damn. What now? My presence alone could put an entire town in danger, but if I didn’t check the source, my conscience would chew at me for weeks. With a sigh, I folded my jackknife before slipping it into my pocket. After shouldering my backpack, I stuffed my hair beneath my black cap and tossed a handful of leaves over the matted grass I’d knelt on.

Instinct pointed me west.

A third instance of the call stabbed at my heart.

I sprinted through a thick stand of trees crowned with golden leaves, clinging to a small hope the problem might resolve itself before I arrived. No amount of wishing ever made it come true.

After running for several minutes, the forest thinned out. Light cut wider swaths through the dense shadows along the ground. I picked up the pace until I broke through the edge of the woods and stopped on a ridge.

A sprawling farm sat at the bottom of a deep valley, sporting a black barn, silo and an old fashioned house with a giant wrap-around porch. Acres of gnarled apple trees stretched beyond it as far as I could see. Who’d put a farm in the middle of nowhereville Pennsylvania?

I’d happened upon lots of orchards in the populated part of the state, but I hadn’t seen a town for days, only wilderness not fit for girl or beast. Power lines snaked along the southern ridge. I shouldn’t have been anywhere near a town unless I’d somehow veered off my intended course. The downy hairs on the back of my neck took notice and sent a prickle along my back.

I bent down to pluck a flock of burrs from my shoelaces while I scanned the buildings for signs of movement. Nothing stirred or made a sound to disturb the quiet evening.

The scream had to have come from down there; my instincts were never wrong.

Maybe my wish had come true for once, and I wouldn’t have to intervene? I’d wait just in case and satisfy the nag that occupied the background of my thoughts.

I crouched in the damp grass. The sun edged closer to the jagged line of conifers on the western ridge. Half an hour slipped by with nothing more exciting than a squirrel cussing me out from a nearby maple. I shrugged. Perfect. Civilization’s descent toward anarchy had made it hard for me to remain in obscurity even from nature’s own creatures.

I headed south along the rim of the valley, reminding myself of my own rule: don’t draw attention to self. Before I made it ten paces, energy, like a warm kiss upon the wind, pulsed through the air.

Endorphins flooded my body in a delicious wave. My knees buckled. A drunken giggle bubbled in my throat, but I swallowed it down. I’d happened upon barely perceptible ripples from a few people I’d met over the years—just never as strong. Giddy excitement brought a carefree smile to my face—something I hadn’t experienced since childhood.

The inevitable battle between my voice of reason and curiosity ensued. On one hand, the sun wouldn’t set for another few hours, so I didn’t have to worry about the one who hunted me. I could salvage some apples from the orchard, so my little detour wouldn’t be a complete waste. It would irritate me forever if I left before figuring out where the energy came from. Who lived down there? Had I found someone like me at last, another soul who didn’t fit the standard human mold? Twenty years old, and I still didn’t know why the air trembled when my energy spiked. Maybe someone down there did?

On the other hand, it was a bad idea to investigate. A whole clan of crazies might be camped out in that old house, and who knew what steaming pile of trouble I’d land in.

Hell. Who was I kidding? When it came to my oddities, curiosity always won.

I stalked along the tree line, stepping around the smattering of copper and crimson leaves. The power grew stronger with every step, quickening my pulse as I descended into the valley.

When I reached the basin floor a few minutes later, an invisible spiderweb brushed across my skin, but nothing was there. The energy I’d been following disappeared along with the endorphins. I staggered. My head buzzed as if I had a hangover without the pleasure of tasting the wine. A deep breath cleared the dizziness.

The scent of ripe apples and freshly cut grass perfumed the damp air. I scrutinized the two-story farm house in front of me but found nothing unusual about it or the barn beyond. Clippings scattered around the fenced-in yard, and the rose bushes lining the house appeared to be well tended. The whole place had a welcoming, homey presence—serene and quiet. My sharp senses didn’t pick up a trace of anything to set off alarms.

Maybe whatever had emitted the energy had moved on and left an echo behind? I jammed my hands into the pockets of my jeans. No, that wasn’t it, either. It couldn’t have been from a single person, and nothing else would have made it into the woods without me hearing it.

A door slammed in the distance. A man’s voice rang out a moment later, but I couldn’t make out what he said, only the fractious tone.

My pulse thudded in my ears as I crouched behind a thicket of spirea bushes. After a calming breath, I parted the yellow foliage enough to peer through. A boy, maybe fourteen, burst out the door of a grey shed and bolted toward me. A man with dark slicked-back hair pursued him, holding what looked like an axe handle in one hand. He had a semblance of deranged glee about him, complete with a malicious grin. Eyes wide, the boy’s face pulled tight as he ran as if he’d seen the gates of hell open and spill out a demon.

With clenched teeth, I released the branches and dug my fingers into the grass. Fuck. Had everyone in the country become a nutcase, or did I just have shitty luck?

I couldn’t shake the image of the boy and the terror on his face, so I parted the bushes again. My fingers balled into fists when the man tripped the young blond and rode him to the ground. The boy’s shrieks knotted my stomach, pulled my muscles taut until they hurt. Rules or no, that man needed his ass kicked.

While I debated what to do, I listened for signs of my hunter and scanned the surrounding trees. Only the hills, painted in shades of tangerine from the sunset, looked back at me.

The boy screamed again, the sound invading my soul like shards of glass.

Screw the rules. I jumped up and ran. Passed the white porch. Across the yard, gathering my energy as I sprinted. When I arrived within a few feet of the man—readying to bring a stick down on the boy again—he looked up.

I dove at him. My forearm caught him across the chest. He crashed to the ground beneath me, cursing and sputtering.

Fighting to contain the volcano of energy building within me, I pressed my knee into the guy’s chest and turned to the boy. “Run!”

He scrambled up from the grass, but he stood there blinking at me. Blood trickled from his nose, and his bottom lip oozed red like juice from a ripe fruit. Bruises blossomed beneath his large green eyes.

The man beneath me snickered. His dark eyes drank me in, conveyed far more intelligence than I’d expected out of some red-necked hillbilly.

A chill crept down my back. “What’s so funny, shithead?” My upper lip curled in a sneer.

When he made a move to get up, I thrust my knee against his throat, grabbed his wrist and twisted until he moaned.

His eyes rolled up enough I could only see the whites. His lashes fluttered. “You’ll see.” His thin lips stretched into a satisfied grin.

Oh, hell.

The shunk-shunk of a pump action shotgun lodged my heart in my throat. Damn. I assumed the gunman was a guy by his rugged scent, but given the world’s destruction, even toddlers and grannies seemed to be packing.

Either my finely tuned senses had failed or he’d been stealthy for a farmer to have been able to sneak up on me.

“You stand up, nice and slow,” a deep voice said. He thrust the frigid barrel into the back of my neck.

I raised my hands and stood, my eyes glued to the creep in front of me. As he climbed to his feet, his brown stringy hair fell to his shoulders. Still wearing an infernal grin, he picked up the axe handle again. Tongue pinched between his lips, he stroked a hand over the wood, gazing at it the way a man watches his lover.

I stifled a shudder. “I’m Laura.” I cleared the tightness from my throat. “I was hoping to find work for a few days.”

“Why’d you attack my men?” The one behind me shoved the gun harder into my neck.

“I didn’t attack your men. I defended this boy because Mr. Psycho over here was beating him with that stick he’s now fondling.”

The gunman took me by the shoulder and spun me around to face him.

I shrugged him off and kept my arms wide so I wouldn’t spook him. If someone shot me, I wanted it to be for a good reason, not a misunderstanding. I backed far enough away to keep them all where I could see them.

The one with the gun had at least three days’ worth of scruff on his tanned face. I had to look down at most men, but not him. He stood a good few inches taller than me. Rotten apples smeared his jeans, and he wore a coating of dirt on his upper half like a snug brown shirt.

“That true, Rourke?” He sent a glare toward Mr. Psycho, his gun hovering between Rourke and me. So he wasn’t a moron. I liked him better for that.

“We were just messing around, Liam.” Rourke’s green weasel eyes found me. “Weren’t we, Garret?”

The boy nodded, but continued to stare at the ground. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his khaki shorts but not before I saw how they trembled.

“Bitch here thinks she’s Lara Croft.” Rourke rubbed his chest. “Knocked the wind clean outta me.”

“Get on back to the shed now, the both of you.” Liam lowered his gun to point at the grass, but his fingers gripped the stock with enough force they had turned white.

My mouth fell open. “What? You can’t send the boy with him.” I pointed a finger at Rourke. “He’s a certified nutball.”

Rourke adjusted the black boxers on his narrow hips. The way his eyes locked onto my chest induced an urge to peel off my skin—a shower just wouldn’t do.

“Got a lotta nerve comin’ into my place and bossin’ me around, Laura.” Liam turned to the others. “Get on, now, the two of you. You touch him again, Rourke, and you’re done here. Understand me?”

My hands dove into my pockets again so I wouldn’t smack Mr. Psycho in his smug face. He shoved Garret along in front of him, whispered something to the boy that caused him to stumble. I watched until I couldn’t see them. The compulsion to go after him sent me forward a few steps before I stopped and cursed under my breath.

Liam blocked my view of the boy’s path. “What’s a girl doin’ lurkin’ round the woods this close to dark?”

“I left the road a few miles back to find a river so I could fill up my canteen, but I got turned around.” My shoulders heaved up in a shrug. “I saw this place and thought you might need a hand for a few days.”

A woman once told me I could lie more convincingly than I could tell the truth. I finally agreed with her. Not a drop of perspiration or a twitch of my nerves gave me away. I hated lying, but even more, I hated knowing I did it so well.

“That really your name?” His inquisitive eyes looked me up and down as if he’d never seen a woman before.

“Yeah, that’s really my name.”

Liam gave a disbelieving grunt.

Perceptive. I used a different name wherever I went.

I found my hand reaching for him before I tucked it back into my pocket. Why did I do that? Curiosity? He was good looking, I’d give him that, but that had never swayed me before. The energy must have screwed with me more than I’d thought. I added it to my growing pile of head-scratchers.

“Don’t normally put a gun on a woman, but the way you came creepin’ down the hill like that, and the way you tackled Rourke …” He shook his head. Maybe I’d come closer to getting shot than I’d thought. “You’ll get yourself killed doin’ shit like that, what with how things are these days.” He extended his hand but pulled it back. “Name’s Liam Conner. Can’t pay much, but I could use a picker for a few weeks. Come on up to the house, and I’ll fix you somethin’ to eat.” His hands scrubbed against his jeans. “Well, after I wash up.”

“Where are we, exactly?” I’d lost my map in a river a few days before, so I wasn’t sure.

He raised an eyebrow. “Ricker’s Ridge, Pennsylvania.”

How did I get so far north? I should have been nearing the southern border, but somehow I’d made it almost back to New York. What a waste. Three days hike for nothing. I’d have to risk a trip into a town to steal a map before heading for Virginia.

Liam gave me a crooked smirk. He didn’t show up as trouble on my radar, but something about him tweaked my curiosity. No backwoods barber cut that chestnut hair. It looked too modern, standing up a little on top as if he’d fingered some gel through it. The accent in his mellow voice sounded farther south than Pennsylvania, and he didn’t scream ‘redneck’ like a typical farmer.

Countries all over the world exploded into rubble several years before, and speculation about the hows and whys led to a world pandemic of paranoia. I usually chose safety over food. His acceptance of me sneaking around his place was too quick, and Rourke set off every alarm bell I had in my head, but the thought of real food tantalized me. Besides, like that squirrel that I’d pissed off, I needed to fatten myself up for winter and build energy to stay ahead of my hunter.

I hung back while Liam walked toward the house with the shotgun propped against the muscular swell of his shoulder. He turned and called back, “C’mon now … ’less you’re not hungry.”

His you’re-not-fooling-anyone look almost made me smile, but I kept my expression neutral.

I stared up at the farmhouse standing tall before me with a pristine red tin roof and two windows on either side of the screen door. The depth of quiet seemed unnatural, but other than that, it looked like a typical farm.

I turned away, reconsidered the safety of the forest. Stay or go? My empty gut growled its answer. People didn’t often part ways with their money anymore. That, and I wanted a chance to snoop around for the source of energy strong enough to intoxicate me.

Two days would be safe, wouldn’t it? Maybe I’d feel Liam out over a meal and check on that boy. Thinking of him alone with that nutball, Rourke, made my spine itch. If it wouldn’t put him in worse danger, I’d take the kid with me.

I peered at Liam from beneath the brim of my black cap. “Are the rest of the guys coming for the meal?”

Liam resumed his path toward the house, shaking his head. “Garret’s a big boy. Supper’s in five minutes whether you’re there to eat it or not.”

Hands on hips, I kicked the grass and paced. I didn’t like anyone seeing through me so easily. The guy crawled under my skin and started to fester, and I’d only been with him for five minutes. He did offer to feed me and give me a job. It wasn’t like me to act so ungrateful. That kid held me back. Okay, eat first, kid right after, then I’ll snoop around for the energy source.

I took a last look and listen for the usual warnings of my hunter. When I found nothing but motionless forest and heavy silence, I started after Liam.

2

I sat across from Liam at a wooden table, devouring leftover meatloaf and canned peas. After the forest crawlers I’d been eating for weeks, it might as well have been prime rib and caviar.

Power had become scarce after some paranoid zealots blew up one of the remaining power stations in the northeast, so Liam left the lights off. A halo of amber encircled us from a hurricane lantern flickering in the center of the table. He won another point in my book.

“Where did you get the peas?” I asked. Shadows played along the landscape of his face, darkening his eyes and highlighting his full lips. “Most of the grocery stores have been picked clean, and they only get new stuff in once a month if they’re lucky.”

He’d put on a blue plaid shirt and shaved off his scruff. All cleaned up, he didn’t look much older than me. Maybe twenty-three or so. A fresh cologne or aftershave wafted to me. Nice.

“I filled up the cellar when I saw where things were headed.” Liam’s fork hovered over his plate. “Got enough down there for a few more years if I eat light.”

A stash of that size would bring out the local goons. Every town had its little gang of thugs who plundered and burned whatever house they happened across, especially if they found the cache. Maybe that’s why Liam had his gun out?

He looked up from his plate. “Momma said it wasn’t polite to hug your knees at the table.”

My feet slipped off the chair and settled on the hardwood floor. “Sorry. Bad habit, I guess.”

“So …” He slid his large hands along the table and stared at me. “Who you runnin’ from?”

I had a moment of brain freeze but continued to chew my mouthful of peas without spitting them over the table. I met his suspicious stare without flinching. “What makes you think I’m running from anything?”

Liam wiped the back of his hand across his mouth as he shoved his empty plate aside. The purposeful look on his handsome face made me want to squirm, but I resisted the urge.

“You snuck across my yard like a trained mercenary. Dressed in a black getup without so much as a pebble misplaced under your shoe or a crinkled leaf to make a sound. Had the lay of the land within seconds too, I bet. Took down a man who outweighs you by fifty pounds as if you done it before. You hardly flinched when I set my gun on you. Now, you’re sittin’ there all hunched around yourself like a rabbit in the grass. Definitely runnin’. I just hope it’s not from the law.”

“No trouble with the law.” It wasn’t a lie as long as the one who hunted me wasn’t a cop in whatever hell he’d crawled out of. I held up my hand. “I swear on my mother’s spirit.”

“Folks are dead, then?”

I looked away while I wiped my mouth with a paper towel. A familiar pain gripped my heart. “I appreciate the meal. If you can show me where your hires stay, I’ll get out of your way.” I found it best to avoid the question when I couldn’t think of a good lie.

The sound of my mother’s last cries echoed in my head, ‘Run, Lilabear, run!’ The memories hit me hard and fast, her warm blood dripping through the floor onto my face, the agony as I scraped my fingers raw to escape the hole she’d hidden me in so I could save her from him. My legs tensed, eager to launch me away from the table, but I forced my body still. I dug my fingernails into my palms.

“Don’t mean to pry. Just curious, is all.”

Curious didn’t cover it. Who is this guy? A cop? A private investigator, maybe? No career farmer, that’s for sure. I shoved my wavy hair behind my ears and took a moment to calm myself before I spoke. My energy boiled and surged beneath the surface. Tiny sparks flickered to life in my head. Not now. Please, not now. Concentrate! I didn’t need my power to spike in the middle of the guy’s kitchen.

“Don’t ask me about them again.”

“All right. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.” With a crooked grin, he looked down at my plate. “How long’s it been since you had a hot meal?”

I glanced at the bit of meatloaf left on my plate. Had I scarfed it down like a starving fool? “A few days, maybe. Why do you ask?” I wiped at my mouth in case I had a grease moustache. My stomach groaned, so full I thought it might split down the middle. I guess it had shrunk on all that bird food I’d been eating.

He gave a disbelieving snicker and gazed at me for a long time without saying anything. The way his eyes settled on my face drew heat to my cheeks. Mother loving hell. I looked away. Nobody but my hunter had ever made me blush.

“You have some of the prettiest eyes I ever seen.” His voice warmed me down to my toes. I held my breath. “Blue as a couple o’ sapphires.”

Before I realized I’d moved, I had my pack in one hand and the door knob in the other. Could he see the other colors in my eyes? I inspected the skin on my arms. It stayed a pale peach like normal skin instead of its natural golden cream. My illusion hadn’t failed, yet.

Liam’s chair screeched across the floor. “Wait! That wasn’t meant to be a line or nothin’. You’re eyes are just—well—I never seen any like ’em. Look, I’m an old fashioned guy, not one of them country hicks that goes around touchin’ ladies I don’t know. At least not the way you’re thinkin’.”

Hand frozen on the door and my heart hammering against my ribs, I peered over my shoulder. “Fine, but we need to be clear. I’m only here for a bit of travelling money, and then I’m moving on. If you try anything funny—”

“You’ll roast my nuts on a spit. I get it.” He chuckled.

I cracked a tiny grin but erased it before I turned around and gave him the hard stare I’d perfected years before. “So we’re clear?”

“As Goddamn crystal. And you’re crazy if you think I’m lettin’ you stay anywhere near Rourke, or any of my men for that matter. Just cuz I’m old fashioned, don’t mean they are.” He nodded to a door in the back. “There’s a room off the kitchen with a cot and a lamp for readin’ if you’re that sort. Should do you fine.”

“No!” I huffed out a breath and reeled in my tone. I mean, thank you, but that’s not necessary. I can take care of myself.” If I could handle a lunatic hunting me across the country and every backwoods creep who wanted a piece of me, I could handle a bunch of farmhands.

“Yeah, I get that about you. But if you’re workin’ for me, then you stay where I say. I wouldn’t trust Rourke with my old boot, let alone a … a woman.” A mild pink blush washed over Liam’s skin.

“What were you going to say instead of ‘woman’?” I took a step toward him, tried to catch his gaze, but he scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck and stared at his feet.

“Oh, hell. Doesn’t matter. Stupid shit tends to come out of my mouth around—” He groaned and walked to the door he’d pointed to. “The room’s all made up. I got one of them slide locks I can put on the door if that’s what’s eatin’ you.”

“I’d rather stay with the others.”

He paused, his hand on the door knob. “Tell me why?”

I didn’t want to outright say I wanted to check on the kid or that he reminded me of my brother—bless his soul. Liam might have taken it as a jab at him—that he wasn’t looking out for his guys. I shrugged. “Because you shouldn’t have strangers in your house, that’s why.”

He strode over to me with his arms crossed. “You don’t trust me, do you?”

“Don’t take it personally, but I don’t trust anyone.” I leaned back against the front door, the handle pinched between my fingers. The urge to reach out and touch him grabbed hold of me again, but I forced it away. What’s happening to me?

A smile quirked his lips. “You wanna check up on Garret, don’t you?”

My lip curled up in a snarl. “Someone needs to.” I turned, yanked the front door open and went onto the porch. The damp air soothed my warm face. Twilight had come and gone, and the first of the stars leapt out against the velvet sky. A silence stretched over me like a comforting blanket. My unease clicked up a notch—more because I found nothing alarming than anything I could sense.

Liam came out behind me. “What the hell’d I say to make you devil-eye me like that? Garret’s a big boy; he can look out for himself. It’s not worth putting yourself near Rourke.” He came around to face me, but I jumped down the porch steps before he could block my escape route.

“I saw the way you looked at that creep.” I strode down the path through the roses. “I think he scares the hell out of you as much as he scares that boy. If you’re too big of a coward to take care of your people, then I’ll do it for you.”

So much for diplomacy. Involving myself in his mess could have been disastrous, but I couldn’t walk away, not then.

Heavy footsteps pounded the ground behind me. Liam jerked me around by the arm.

“Get your hands off me!” The air trembled around me. The well deep in my head overflowed, and the sparks grew to flames. If I didn’t control it, my skin would turn into a bright beacon—complete contrast to the night. Come on, dammit. You can do better than this.

Liam threw his hands up.

It would be a rush to let the power go—better than anything. No! Don’t think about that. As long as I held the energy inside and didn’t form any specific intentions, I wouldn’t level his house or do something equally unproductive.

“Did you just call me a coward?”

I groaned and shook my head. “I didn’t mean that, but how can you sit here all calm after you saw the look in that kid’s eyes? If you want me to go, fine, but not before I see that he’s all right. I’m not looking for someone to take care of me, so stop with the macho routine.”

Laughter burst out of him, startling me. I stepped back.

“How long you been on the road, Laura?”

I glared at him. “Why?”

“You look a little worn round the edges. The way your eyes lit up when I mentioned food and the way you hovered around your plate reminded me of a half-starved dog I found once. And the way you talk … seems to me you don’t keep company with people much.”

“I remind you of a dog. Nice.” I uttered a bitter laugh. “You’re a real charmer, Liam.” I shoved the bent gate open with my foot.

“Now why’d you go and take it like that?”

I thought I heard him kick something, so I stopped and spied on him through a curtain of my hair. He stood beyond the gate with his hands on his hips, glaring at the ground as if it had beaten him in a fight.

After a long pause and a few audible breaths, he said, “Fine and dandy, Laura whatever your name is. You want to sleep with the pigs, then have at it.” He pointed a finger at me. “But don’t go blamin’ me if you wake up with one of ’em naked on top of you. Crew quarters are a ways from the main house, so I won’t hear no screamin’.”

I concentrated on a white static nothing in my head. “I never scream.” Under my breath, I added, “not anymore.” I’d heal. They wouldn’t.

“Yeah, I just bet you don’t. That pride of yours is gonna do you in one of these days.” Liam marched past me. “Well, come on then, I best introduce you to the rest of ’em. This ought to be good for a laugh or two.”

3

“How’d you sneak up on me so quietly before?” I followed Liam along the front of the barn. No wind. No peeping frogs, or chirping crickets, or yipping coyotes, not even the creaking wooden song of the trees came out of the darkness.

He marched on without turning. “Am I the first to catch you off guard?”

“Why are you avoiding my question?”

He whirled around, the bright light of the full moon spilling over his face. A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth. When I didn’t let up on my stare, he took a deep breath. “I was sittin’ on the rail fence on the far side of the house when you came down the hill. When you were distracted, I crept up. Happy now?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why were you sitting on your fence half naked holding a gun?”

“Hey, I wasn’t—” He twisted his head away. The muscles in his arms corded beneath his skin as he flexed and relaxed his fingers. After a brief silence, he rolled his shoulders and ran fingers through his hair. “Fine. I been muckin’ around in the storage bins all day. Didn’t bother with a shirt ’cause it’s nasty work. And someone’s been stealin’ my tools, so I thought I’d catch ’em in the act.”

Sounded reasonable. “If you were so close by, how come you didn’t hear Mr. Psycho going at that boy?”

Chuckling, Liam rubbed his fingers along his temples as if he had a headache. People did that a lot around me. “They’re always messin’ around, the bunch of ’em. If I came runnin’ every time I heard ’em carryin’ on, I’d be out here all damn night.”

Lazy, or a wuss? I had no use for either. “You don’t sound like you’re from Pennsylvania.”

Liam smiled, reminding me of a wildcat baring his teeth. He resumed his course along the barn. “You know, I don’t like bein’ interrogated by a stranger on my own land. Don’t know why I don’t throw you out on your ass. Got enough problems. I don’t need this shit.”

I jogged to match his long stride. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m just—”

“Paranoid? Suspicious?” He threw up a hand. “Stubborn as a Goddamn mule?”

I wanted to say, ‘if you had a diamond-eyed freak hunting you across two countries, you’d be that way too,’ but I didn’t. “I’m curious by nature, that’s all.”

We came to a faded grey shed with a crooked door. A motion light came on as we neared it. Liam faced me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Curious, huh?”

The toe of my boot dug into the grass. “Yeah, just like you.”

He nodded, grinned. “Okay, you got me there. Uncle died a few years back and left me the place. When things went to hell overseas and the riots and shootin’s picked up here, I moved up from Arkansas and took it over. It was real run down when I got here, and thieves had picked it clean.”

“What did you do in Arkansas?”

“I was a cop.”

I knew it—cop eyes. “That’s what I took you for, either a cop or a P.I. Nobody else picks up details like you do.”

Liam leaned closer, squinting as if trying to see past my skin. “Is that what’s huntin’ you—a P.I.?”

I snorted and cast my face up to the moon. For reasons I couldn’t imagine, I considered telling him everything, but I couldn’t. He wouldn’t believe me anyway, and the fewer people I allowed near me, the fewer I’d hurt by accident or get into the sights of my hunter.

“So I spill my guts, but you tell me nothin’? Hardly seems fair.”

I stared until he squirmed and dropped his gaze low. “Do you miss it?”

His eyes rolled up to look at me. “What? Bein’ a cop?”

“No, home—Arkansas.”

He rubbed a hand along the sharp edge of his jaw. “Some parts, I suppose. Friends, some family, but here I don’t have to fish babies out of the bathtub after their momma drowned them thinkin’ the end of the world was comin’, or draw chalk lines on the floors of folks shootin’ neighbors over idiotic stuff like stolen weed whackers. I don’t have to deal with the constant paranoia that the government’s gonna drop the big one and send us to kingdom come.”

“You don’t know that’s what happened.” I tossed my hands up. “Why would the leaders bomb their own countries all on the same day?”

His eyes turned cold and hard—not easy for brown eyes. “Maybe they figure out the human race is what’s wrong with things and decide to take that war of theirs to the extreme.” He gave a frustrated grunt. “Frankly, that sounds like a damn good idea to me.”

“Am I hearing you right?” I crossed my arms to mirror his. “So all of the countries whose economy folded after the bombs fell, all of their people starving to death day after day—are you telling me you don’t feel anything for them? People are dying by the thousands, shot in their own front yards for a few bottles of water, raped and beaten to death by some sick fuck for the sheer entertainment of it—” I closed my eyes, concentrated on blocking memories that threatened to drown me, before opening them again.

“Oh hell, I don’t like to hear about people sufferin’.” He sighed and looked everywhere but at me. “I’m not heartless, Laura, but I’ve seen enough horrible shit to stain the soul of a weaker man. It toughens the skin. Maybe when most of us are gone, we’ll live off the land again like we’re supposed to. The whole world’s gone to hell in a hand grenade, but I figure I can survive out here even when the American cities start to burn.”

“When they start to burn? You don’t get out much, do you?” A growl burned in my throat. “So you’ll shove the whole mess under the carpet. You could have helped people if you were still a cop. Did you run up here because you’re afraid?” My internal pot simmered again. Hot tendrils of power surged down my arms. Simmer down or you’ll blow it.

His eyes narrowed. He thrust a finger at me and shifted his feet. “No, I’m not afraid. What I am is a survivor, like you. If the rest of the folks want to shoot each other full of holes and sack their towns ’cause they’ve turned into savages, who am I to stand in their way. Good riddance.”

“That’s a piss-poor attitude to have.”

“This from the one runnin’ with her tail between her legs. You don’t strike me as the kind to help anyone but yourself. What the hell could you do anyway? You’re just a girl.”

My mouth dropped open. “Just a—you don’t know shit about me! I’m not running because I’m scared, I’m running because I made a promise to my mother.” My heart fell into my shoes. Fuck. I straightened and rolled my head until my neck cracked. “At least I try to help instead of turning a blind eye to the problem.” I gestured to the shed where Garret went with Mr. Psycho.

Liam squinted at me. “What promise did you make to your mother?”

Moisture evaporated from my mouth. I launched myself past him, walked up to the grey shed and threw the slat door open. “Is this where I’ll be staying?”

Inside, I found Rourke, Garret and two other men sitting on upturned logs around an overturned basket. They stopped and stared at me, their cards in mid-play, frozen in the air.

Liam grumbled to himself as he came in after me.

“Looks like the boss found himself a new lay,” a round faced man with a raspy voice said. He stood and lumbered toward me, pinching an unlit cigarette in the corner of his thin lips and watching me the way a fat kid eyes the last pop-tart. “Boy, don’t those legs go all the way up. A brunette, huh? You’d look better as a blonde. What’s your name sweetheart?” The cigarette bounced with the words.

Liam opened his mouth, but I put my hand up. “I got this.” I turned back to Mr. Sweetheart and manufactured a smile. “I’m Laura. I’m going to crew with you for a few days, and here’s how it’s going to be.”

Garret stood beside me, the tension surrounding him so thick it pressed against my skin. Rourke slouched beside Mr. Sweetheart, casting a chilled stare at me again. A shiver raced through my core. The other one remained sitting. He had a flat-topped, grey crew cut and sneered at me as if I’d kicked his mother.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and took a moment to catch their eyes. “I’m not interested in your nasty mouths, or the size of your johnson, or what a Superman you are in the sack. I’m here to work. Not look for a good time.”

“Where the fuck did you find this one, boss?” Mr. Sweetheart snorted. His light brown hair frizzed around his head like a wad of steel wool. “Lady down the road set you up with this one, too? The hairdresser was sluttier. I liked her.”

That would explain the haircut. When I looked at Liam, he was inspecting the rafters—look, a flying buffalo, really—and his cheeks had turned to smears of crimson.

I turned back to Mr. Sweetheart, ripped the cigarette from his lips, and pressed a finger into his chest. “What’s your name?” I concentrated, peeling the magic away from my eyes long enough for him to catch a glimpse of their true color. He would still see the deep blue, but aqua and gold would swirl in constant motion around the pupil.

Mr. Sweetheart glared at me and opened his mouth—probably ready to chew me out for taking his smoke—but hesitated. He swallowed hard. “Name’s Clancy.”

“Well, Clancy. I don’t care what you think of me. Just keep your smut in your mouth, your hands to yourself, and we won’t have a problem. Got it?”

I pushed him away and looked around the shed: a few cots dotted the floor, stacks of bushel baskets were perched one on top of the other along the far wall. Aluminum ladders hung on wooden pegs next to coils of thick blue rope. A well-trodden dirt floor lay under it all. Practically Shangri-La compared to some of the places I’d stayed over the years.

“You can’t make me work with that broad,” Clancy said to Liam.

Rourke gave Mr. Sweetheart a macho shove, a maniacal laugh bubbling in his throat.

“Never thought I’d see the day.” Liam chuckled. “Clancy Moore, afraid of a woman. You’re carryin’ on like she put a gun to you instead of her finger.”

“Might as well have.” Clancy’s gaze darted to me, then back to Liam. “Those eyes, they’re—you shoulda seen the look in ’em. If she’d had a gun on me, she’d have pulled the trigger. Bitch is crazy.”

I leaned against the doorframe, a smile twitching on my lips. I’d rather they thought I was crazy than something they could hurt, or fuck.

Liam rubbed a hand over his mouth, but the hand concealed a grin. The others—all but Grey Brush Cut, who crossed his arms and scowled at me—stood still, laughter shining in their eyes, and their shoulders heaving to keep it in. It took a little weight off my heart to see Garret looking something other than terrified.

“Think I’ll sleep in the barn.” Clancy snatched a blanket from the floor. His stare never left me. When I moved aside to give him some room, he bolted past me like a frightened rabbit. The door clapped shut behind him, and a gut-wrenching laughter roared in the shed. Even I joined in—a rare occasion for me.

If I had to guess, poor Clancy would never hear the end of that night. That should have bothered me a little bit, but he asked for it, so it didn’t.

“Drop your pack, and I’ll give you the grand tour.” Liam headed for the door.

“I’ll bring it, if it’s all the same to you.”

His head dropped forward before he turned with a smile. “No point in arguin’ with you, I suppose.”

The motion light came on again as I followed Liam around the side of the shack to a small building with a roughly hung door. Beside it, a pump handle sat on top of an old cement trough.

“Bathroom.” Liam pointed to the small outhouse. “Drink and wash water.” He pointed to the pump. “And that concludes our tour, except for the river on the far side of the barn.”

“A regular four star resort.” I trailed my fingertips along the rough edge of the trough.

He smiled so hard a dimple sunk into his left cheek. I stared at him a little too long before I went to the pump and drew some water into my hand.

“I think I owe you an apology.” Liam sat on the end of the trough, sniggering. “If there’s any screamin’ going on here tonight, I don’t think it’ll be you doin’ it.”

“Told you.” I splashed the rest of the water on my face and neck. Why do I feel so hot? I needed a cold shower. Liam angled his body toward me. “So would you have?”

I straightened, brows pushed together. “Would I what?”

“Pulled the trigger on Clancy.”

My muscles pulled tighter than an old lady’s hairdo. “Only cowards use guns.”

Liam wiped a hand down his face. His smile vanished. “You callin’ me a coward again?”

I shrugged without looking at him.

“You’re sure a master at evadin’ questions you don’t like.”

“Stop asking me personal questions, and I’ll stop not answering you.” He ought to have figured that out. Good looking and persistent—a dangerous combination.

Liam stood and started along the path toward the house. He stopped, opened his mouth a few times, but kept laughing. “You’re not like anyone I ever met.”

“That’s probably a good thing.” A ridiculous grin crept up on me before I could catch it.

“You have a real pretty smile, Laura. You should wear it more often.”

I backed toward the outhouse, steam building under my shirt as I stumbled over my own feet. Thankfully I didn’t go down, though my cheeks blazed. “Well, I need to … uh …” I thrust my thumb over my shoulder.

“Oh, right. Breakfast at daybreak. We get started pickin’ right after. Need a wakeup call?”

“I’ll be up.” My shoulders raised in a small shrug. “Light sleeper.”

He smirked and nodded. “You be nice to those boys now, you hear?” With a wink and a crooked grin, he disappeared into the dark.

I flopped down on the grass beside the trough and put my forehead down on my bent knees. The flutter in my gut confused me. Clumsy didn’t typically appear on my list of issues. I never grinned like an idiot, and I was never sick. Liam was handsome and charming, I’d give him that, but a man shouldn’t be able to render me into a bumbling fool no matter how lonely and sex starved I was.

Whatever had drawn me to the farm had messed with me in more ways than one.

I needed to pick my butt off the grass and find the source.

4

A whiff of the outhouse pushed me out behind the barn instead. A shiver raced through me as I scanned the forest beyond the gurgling river. I found no warnings of my hunter: no shrill, whining insects that always preceded him, and no weight of his presence on my mind like two strong magnets repelling one another. I didn’t know if he affected the insects or if they warned me intentionally. Without them, I would have died years ago like the rest of my family.

I hadn’t seen him in several weeks. Every night my anxiety grew with the certainty my luck would run out. There, by the river, my guard came down and the tightness through my shoulders eased. I hadn’t relaxed since the diamond-eyed freak found me for the first time when I was thirteen—almost seven years before.

When I finished my business, I looked up at the black and white barn. The energy had to come from somewhere. No other person I’d met emitted such a force, not that I had the foggiest clue what else it could be. Nothing man made, certainly. I needed to find out before I left, or it would chew on my mind for months—maybe forever.

A few other buildings dotted the property: a shed covering a rusty tractor and wagon, some sort of grain storage silo, and a small chicken coop on the far side of the house. I’d start with the barn, the most likely place to hide something.

Crouched in the grass, I listened for footsteps or any other signs someone might be lurking. I didn’t need to get caught sneaking around again after Liam fed me and offered me actual money for work instead of just room and board. I hated to be such an invasive wretch, but my curiosity called.

When I heard nothing, I stalked toward the entrance to the barn.

Upon reaching the broad panels, I turned and searched the path along the river again but still found nothing but the silver veiled night. The doors hung on metal rails at the top. I tipped the bottom out far enough to peek inside, but the darkness kept me from seeing much of anything. As my eyes adjusted from the moonlight to the inky shade inside the barn, a tiny flicker of candlelight caught my eye. Damn. Clancy had said that he’d sleep in the barn.

“What you doin’ out here?” A gruff voice came from behind me.

I whirled and jammed my knuckles against the wooden panel. Cursing, I shook out my fingers while searching for the owner of the voice. My heart thumped a frantic tune against my ribs. How did he sneak up on me?

“Boss don’t like people snoopin’ ’round his business.” The old guy from the shed stepped out of the barn’s moon shadow. I could have set a plate on top of his grey brush cut, and it wouldn’t have moved. The eerie light cast shadows onto his face, leaving pools of darkness where his eyes should have been. I shivered.

“I’m sorry, I just …” Think, dammit, think! “I grew up on a farm. Seeing this barn just brought back some memories. I didn’t mean to be so nosy.” I chuckled.

He walked toward me with a limp. His left leg appeared to be an inch or two shorter than his right one. “Where’s this farm you grew up on?”

Those eyes weighed on me, even though I couldn’t see them. My pulse betrayed me, leaping out of my neck. All of the places I’d travelled scrolled through my mind. “A town in Ontario.”

“Canada? Which town?”

Danger alarms blared in my head. I had to get him out of my face before he forced me to say something I shouldn’t. “Just a little one stoplight town, farms mostly.”

The man shifted forward. I could have sworn he grew. He seemed more imposing than he had a minute before. “Why are you avoidin’ the question?”

“Lakefield. Happy now?”

He made a low, growly noise. It took me a second to realize he’d laughed. “You’re a real piece of work, lady. What the hell you doin’ down here if you’re from up there?”

Shit, he’s not going to give up. “I want to see some of the country before there’s nothing left to see.” I stretched and forced a yawn. “Well, I’m off to bed.” I tried to skirt around him, but he shifted to block me.

“What you really doin’ here?” He stepped in close, but I still couldn’t see his eyes. A deep scowl arranged the rest of his face.

Maybe a half truth would do? “I’m looking for some friends of mine. Have there been any strangers here lately?”

He stood a little straighter. “Some. Had a small group yesterday. Passed along the hill up the way you came from.”

That had to be it. A whole group of people like me. Excitement surged through my chest, but I held my reaction inside. That didn’t explain why the energy had disappeared so abruptly earlier.

“We found a bunch of tools missin’ this mornin’.” He poked a finger into my shoulder. “That what you’re doin’ in the barn? Comin’ back for the rest?”

I shoved his finger aside and rubbed my shoulder. “I’m not here to steal anything, buddy. Now, I’m going for a walk, and then I’m going to sleep, so get the hell out of my way before I knock you on your wrinkled ass.”

I returned his glare, pushed past him and strode along the river until I cleared the barn. When I turned, his gaze continued to stick to me, though his body remained by the doorway. I wondered if he’d tell Liam about my extracurricular activities. My cover story needed some work just in case.

When I made it around the barn, I scanned the ridge of trees where the energy had been the strongest. I wanted another taste before turning in. If I left the next day, I could catch up to the group, using their trail to draw me to them.

I walked all the way to the top of the hill before stopping. Nothing. Not a trace of energy remained. Deflated, I slumped down on a boulder and pounded my fist against it. How could I have come so close to others like me, missing them by a day with no way to track them? Their trail must have dissipated in the last few hours.

When I finished sulking, I sauntered back down the hill. Candlelight flickered from the kitchen window in the house. What are you doing in there all by yourself, Mr. Conner?

“Find what you were looking for?” Liam’s voice came from beside me.

“Shit!” I slapped a hand over my heart. “You scared the hell out of me.” He and his crew seemed to pop out of the ground like freakin’ mushrooms.

Liam sat on top of a rail fence in front of the house. His gun leaned against the post by his feet. “Awful late for a girl to be wanderin’ these woods alone.” His chin quivered, but his smirk emerged anyway.

My eyes wanted to explore him from top to bottom, but I forced them to his amused face. “I told you I can take care of myself.”

He nodded, the smirk escalating into a full grin.

I shoved my hands into my pockets, aching to pull up his shirt and run my hands up his chest, to smell him. Stop it!

I turned and stomped toward the shed. My spine had never tingled, nor had little wings gone aflutter in my stomach over a guy. Touchy-feely didn’t make my list of qualities. I needed some sleep, some money and to get the hell away from Ricker’s Ridge.

“Wait. Come back.” He shouted between snickers. “You make it too easy to get under your skin.”

I shook my head and kept walking.

“How about a drink before you hit the hay? Got some nice whiskey saved up.”

“Not thirsty.” Alcohol weakened my control. I never touched the stuff.

“’Night then.” His laughter faded as I moved along the front of the barn.

When I could no longer hear him, I stopped and bent forward, hands propped on my knees. A few deep breaths calmed my throbbing heart. I scrubbed my arms to get rid of the goosebumps and to erase the ache, the need to go back, to just be near him again. The entire day seemed a surreal dream, or maybe I was just losing my damn mind.

I dawdled on my way back to the shed. Although the thought of sleeping on something other than a nest of grass held a certain appeal, my greatest comfort came from having my feet against the ground, the wind in my hair and the sky above my head. Man-made places threw off my senses. I never figured out why.

I took a cleansing breath and entered the shed. A frightened voice hit me.

“Don’t, Rourke. Please!” Garret’s hands trembled where he stood by the far wall, face to face with Mr. Psycho.

Rourke glowered at him, a smile fit for a demon picking up his thin lips.

“Is there a problem here?” I closed the door behind me.

Rourke bumped into Garret so hard the boy stumbled over one of the upturned logs and sprawled out on the dirt floor. Shoving fingers through his slicked-back hair, Rourke licked his lips. His eyes dared me to challenge him. He plunked himself down, leaned his back against the wall and shuffled the deck of cards over and over.

I offered a hand to the boy. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, grabbed my forearm and hauled himself to his feet. Other than the damage Rourke had caused him earlier, I found nothing new. The bruises around his eyes had spread into a purple mask.

Garret met my eyes with an obvious effort and held out his hand to me. I took it, and we shook. “I’m Garret.” He motioned behind him with his head. “The old grump is Sebastian. I guess you know the other one as much as you care to.”

“Yeah, Sebastian and I have met.” I nodded to Mr. Brush Cut. He sneered back.

“What was that all about?” I whispered to Garret.

“Don’t. Please.”

“How often does Rourke hurt you?”

He shook his head, his eyes pleading with me to shut up. I did, but Liam and I would be having a little chat in the morning.

“You can take the empty cot in the corner if you like.” Garret pointed behind me. “It’s the farthest from Sebastian. He snores like a fucking chainsaw.” His mouth fell open, and he blushed. “Excuse my mouth, ma’am.”

“My poor virgin ears.” I smiled. “I’m not a Sunday school teacher. You can cuss all you like.”

The grin he flashed made him look so young. I wondered what had happened to put him out on his own so early in life. He rubbed the redness on his cheeks.

Sebastian harrumphed and limped toward the far end of the shed. How did he climb up and down a ladder with that leg? Groaning, he lowered himself onto one of the cots and threw the covers over his head.

Garret followed me to the corner.

“How long have you been working for Liam?” I inspected my cot and tattered grey blanket. My pack clunked to the floor beside me, dropped harder than I meant it to. Idiot!

“I’m new this season.”

I opened my pack and fished around for the T-shirt-wrapped package I stored in the middle.

“The other three been working for Liam for three years, and then old man Conner since Christ wore diapers.”

When I unwrapped it and found it unbroken, I exhaled. “Is Liam a good guy to work for?”

“Oh, yeah.” Garret parked himself on my cot and rubbed his hands over his skinny knees. “Always brings us stuff to drink and lets us off for extra time at lunch to swim if it’s real hot. Pay’s not great, but brainless shit work’s always the same. ’Sides, most folks can’t find any work these days, so I feel real lucky.” He turned those wondering green eyes on me. “What’s that you got there?”

Without thinking, I took the wooden box and set it on the bed. “My mother used to sing this song to me when I was little.” I tipped up the hinged lid, and the haunting melody played. “It’s all I have left of her.” She’d also told me never to let it out of my sight.

I touched the antique gold necklace and ring inside and listened to the music until tears threatened. The concern in Garret’s eyes brought me back from my mental wandering. My stomach lurched. Really? Did I just spill my guts to a complete stranger? Fuck.

I bundled the old shirt around the music box again and shoved it into my pack. After securing the latch, I clutched it to my chest. “Don’t tell anyone you saw this.” If anything had happened to it, I’d have been screwed. I shuddered at the thought.

“Oh, yeah, I won’t tell nobody. It’s real beautiful. Lost my mom a ways back too. Sang like a frog with a cold, but I miss the smell of her, like wildflowers and rain.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So, you gonna hang around for a bit?” Garret cracked the solemn face that had been forming and let out the excited young boy again. “You’re not so bad for a girl.”

“Uh—thanks, I guess.” I chuckled. “And no. I’ll work a bit and then be on my way.”

“What’s the rush? Don’t like hangin’ around with the riff raff?”

“Stop bothering the lady,” Rourke barked from where he lounged against the wall chewing on his gum and fanning the cards in and out. “Nosy little puke.”

“Shut it, Rourke,” I said.

He gave me that nasty grin again.

My fingers curled into a fist.

Garret pushed himself up to his feet. A scarlet hue crept along his face. “Sorry ’bout that. Before Gran died, she used to tell me I needed to work on my rattle mouth.”

I put my hand on his arm. “You’re a nice kid. Don’t apologize for that.”

“I’ll leave you be, then.” He padded off, giving Rourke a wide berth as he went.

Watching him walk away from me tugged on my heart. Some long dormant instinct in me wanted to grab him up, pull him into my bed and wrap my arms around him. The need had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with comfort and protecting him from the slimeball on the floor. I took a step forward before I came to my senses. Pure lunacy. I didn’t even know the kid. Liam could take care of it in the morning. So why didn’t the knot in my stomach believe it? No, I’d watch from a distance, intervene if I had to and nothing more.

Rourke’s mischievous eyes followed Garret to his cot and rolled toward me. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I turned my back on him—not usually something I did to a predator. Sometimes I hated that I was a light sleeper, but not that night. If I hurt him, it would be his own damn fault.

After peeling off my long-sleeved T-shirt, leaving my black tank and jeans on, I crawled under the scratchy grey blanket and settled my pack in beside me. Thoughts of Liam kept slipping into my head: those tight abs, the sexy ‘v’ of muscle disappearing into his snug jeans, those dark chocolate eyes. I smacked myself in the forehead and thought of swimming in the cold river, instead. The sooner I left, the better. Maybe I’d work for a day and leave before nightfall.

Although sleep sucked at me, I fought to keep my eyes open. My hunter would find me where my mind played while I slept. I couldn’t stay awake for a second night, so I gave up the fight.

While my eyes drifted shut, I concentrated on a place where I’d slept up in the Muskokas near my old hometown and hoped it would confuse him. The sign for Bracebridge I’d passed earlier that day sped through my memory’s vision, as did the blades of tall grass surrounding me where I’d bedded down beside a reed-lined pond. A chorus of crickets sang a sweet lullaby. A fingernail moon faded the trees to silver arrowheads stabbing at the purple sky. The musky smell of the wetlands on the far side of the thicket of trees hung in the air, and an owl who-who-whoed above me. The dampness from my dew-soaked clothing made me shiver. Replaying the thoughts over and over, I slipped into an uneasy sleep.

5

I opened my eyes to a room aglow with candlelight. A clear image hovered above me. I stared into my own brilliant blue eyes, eddies of gold and aqua dancing around the pupil. My wavy golden hair spread over a red pillow like a spray of sunlight, and the rest of my body lay concealed beneath a thin red satin sheet. A mirror was fixed to the ceiling.

What the … My eyes! My hair!

“You kept me waiting again,” my hunter said in the petulant tone he used whenever I pissed him off. If the man had a name, I didn’t know it. Nor did I know what he wanted from me. I just called him the Glass Man—partly because of his ice blue eyes. Cold and pitiless, they were portholes to his malignant core—to his dark, soulless center. Mostly it was because his flesh did nothing to conceal his madness. It swirled inside him, smoke trapped in glass, looking for a way to escape.

My pulse took off running. I turned slowly, like a little girl who’d discovered a monster had crawled into bed with her—afraid to look, but compelled to. He lounged beside me in a clingy pair of grey boxers.

This is just a dream.

His arctic blue eyes never left me. His head rested on his crooked arm. The hypnotic irises had faint hints of silver in constant motion. His black hair fell in waves around his face and had the metallic purple sheen of a grackle’s wing. His unnatural beauty drew me in like a seagull to a shiny penny. In certain lights, his skin shimmered like the inside of an oyster shell.

“What have you done to your beautiful goldilocks now?” He faked a pout. “Tsk, tsk. Such a pity. You look almost ordinary with that flat brown you’ve been wandering around with. Why would you waste your energy trying to make yourself look more like them?”

Travelling as a tall blonde tended to attract the kind of attention I didn’t want.

The weight of his eyes melted me into the bed, and the urge to flee tensed my muscles. When I tried to sit up, the cool silk let me know I was naked. I clutched the soft sheet to my throat. The caress of the fabric against my skin sent another shiver through me. The sea of white candles flickering around the room made the scene far too intimate for my comfort.

I forced my calm voice out. “What do you want?”

He shrugged and gave a wicked grin. “I want to talk to you.”

“And that requires me to be naked?”

“I had the idea last night. Can’t believe I never thought of it before.” He spoke through a long sigh. “Remove the clothes, and either you stay here with me until you wake up, or I get to look upon your wonderland again.” He raised a dark sculpted eyebrow and flashed a Cheshire cat grin. “Either way, I win.”

“You’re insane.”

“Possibly.” His eyes smoldered as his fingers walked playfully toward me.

Even in my dreams, his nearness made my skin ripple in goose flesh. His presence ate the light in my soul and cast a cruel, frigid shadow over me. I fought to control my breathing.

His fingers reached my bare shoulder. Delicious heat spread through me from head to toe. I shoved him away and shimmied to the edge of the bed. Half of me wanted to rub myself all over him, and the rest of me wanted to retch. How could I even want to touch him?

Before I could decide what to do, he grabbed me around the wrists and pulled me against the side of the mattress, face to face with him. I ended up kneeling on the floor while he sprawled across the bed on his stomach.

“So tell me, princess, have you figured out what you are yet?”

With a grunt, I tugged against his hold. “I told you not to call me that.”

“I’ll take that as a no. Any new ideas?” He played his soft, moist lips over my fingers while I did my best to ignore the throbbing in my nether regions.

“I won’t play this game with you.”

He rolled his eyes and expelled a deep sigh. “You know … Lila … you can be such a killjoy sometimes.”

I should have known he knew my name. “Nice to know something can wipe off that nasty grin. And I told you, I’m human.”

“Human?” He laughed a twittering bird-like sound. “You no more belong to the race of thick-skulled barbarians than I do. Hair of spun gold, the eyes of otherworldly brilliance, the golden honey skin of a Goddess.” He uttered a bitter laugh. “I truly don’t know why you waste your gifts on them. Speaking of which, why haven’t you used them in the last few weeks?”

My mouth dried into a desert. Shit. “How do you know I haven’t used them?”

I caught a flash of rage in his eyes before they went back to their perpetual amusement. “The rag mags haven’t reported any children mysteriously finding their way out of burning, smoke-filled buildings without knowing how, or guns misfiring by the thousands, or murderers waiting patiently by their victims for the authorities to come and take them away.” He faked a laugh. “Why do you bother with them?”

“Nice try. Most magazines have gone out of business.” A thought flashed through my head like a lightning strike. My neutral face cracked. “You can feel it when I use power. Any power. That’s how you’re finding me, isn’t it? Fuck!”

I leaned away from him, but he yanked me against the bed. My shoulders burned. The shadows in his eyes pulsated, the effect extending into the room. I thought I could hear dying cries, and the room chilled with a malevolent darkness. My breath came out in white puffs. My power weakened in his presence as if he absorbed my energy.

“You can’t hide from me much longer.” His hair stood on end, carried up by an unseen wind.

Cold terror crawled along the curves of my spine.

“I’ve let you run about all these years because I enjoyed the chase and our little interludes, but very soon I will need you by my side. And,” he punctuated each word with a tightening of his grip, “You—will—come.”

I grunted through the pain and willed myself to wake up, but it didn’t work. Most nights he kept me inside the dream until he finished his little game.

“Why do you need me by your side?” I had no idea whether or not the shock showed on my face. The whole time I thought he’d kill me at some point during his little cat and mouse game. Maybe he still would, but he wanted something from me first. Death or slavery? I couldn’t decide which one frightened me more.

The devil grin returned. “Because I say so.”

I licked my dry lips. “You found me the day after I ran from my mother’s house. Why didn’t you just take me when you had the chance? You didn’t have to kill them like that.” A sob pushed the words out, but I swallowed it down before it could follow.

“Tell me who your father is.”

I couldn’t tell him what I didn’t know. “Why didn’t you just kill me then?”

He growled and turned away, giving a dark laugh and casting an amused stare at me again. “Tell me where you are, and I’ll answer every question you have.”

“You can see where I am!”

He pulled my arms down against the mattress, pinned them with his elbows and pressed his lips against my cheek. A breathy sound fell from me before I could catch it.

His sweet exhale raced across my skin, an arctic wind against my warmth. “Normally your little charades are convincing, but you’re slipping.”

My heart faltered, and I closed my eyes. What did he mean? I could picture the pond, the smells, the dew. Fuck. “It’s a full moon tonight, not a fingernail moon.”

“Give the lovely lady a prize.” His lips slipped lower in search of mine. With every ounce of strength I possessed, I gave one good yank and broke free of his grip.

Walls sprung up around us, dark red, no door—as usual in my dreams. I backed into a corner and did my best to cover all my bits and pieces, but I didn’t have enough hands.

God, get it together, Lila. Wake up!

The air prickled my skin as he strode to me, moaning his approval. “As perfect as I remember.” He snickered the way men do when they think they’re about to get some. “How do you manage to keep such a tight body yet still have soft feminine curves? Good genes, maybe. Mmm, you are a delight fit for a king.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I spun and searched the wall for an escape. He pressed his bare chest along my back. A bewildering rush of electricity surged through me. My knees trembled.

His fingers played up and down my uncovered arms, drew me into an embrace as he kissed my shoulder. “I can’t stop thinking about the first time you gave yourself to me.”

I braced my hands against the wall and shoved. He stumbled away. I staggered back to the side of the bed. “I wasn’t myself that day. You—you did something to me.”

With his arms spread wide, he took tiny steps toward me. The candles beside the bed sent light licking up his six-pack and coaxed subtle colors to his skin. His eyes pulsed with blue fire. I’d never seen him from a distance without a shirt on, and even through my fury, through my terror, the sight of him drove all sane thought from my mind, replacing it with hunger.

“You were so eager, practically insatiable.”

“Shut your mouth.” I cleared my throat to cover a building scream. My body shouldn’t react to such a malignancy, no matter how appealing his packaging might be.

Before I could move, he slammed me onto the bed.

“Get off me!” I beat at him. “Get off!”

He gripped my wrists and pressed them above my head. Moaning, he settled his body down on mine. “You were sixteen when I found you in that little motel just outside of Jacksonville. Don’t you remember?”

“You killed the cleaning lady for her key.” Panic stole the wind from me.

He sat up enough for me to see a sickly, benign smile. “Oh, yes. Pudgy Randine. A true southern belle. She screamed very nicely for me.”

I’d never stayed in a motel again after seeing her insides melted and leaked out all over the room. “You didn’t have to kill her.”

“Now, now. You know what they say about those who live in glass houses.”

“I’ve never murdered anyone!”

He sniggered. “Randall Gainer, three years ago. I seem to recall his face exploding when the gun he was using mysteriously bent itself into a pretzel.” He kissed along my jaw while I jittered beneath him.

I held my body rigid as it filled with fire. “He tried to kill me.” My voice ratcheted up. “I never meant—”

“Oh, please. Humans are nothing but a scar on the face of the Goddess. I keep hoping more will fall victim to your gift, but you’ve proven a disappointment so far. We’ll have to change that, now won’t we?” He traced my lips with his tongue.

I shook my head. “Stop it!”

His mouth covered mine. My every cell answered his call as if my body had burst apart and remade itself in an instant. It coaxed a wicked sort of ecstasy into me, slipping across the razor’s edge between pleasure and pain. Instincts took over, my desires using my body as a puppet to sate its hunger. No. This is wrong. He killed them! I melted into the kiss, exploring him with my tongue, tangling my fingers into the silk of his hair. Oh God, what am I doing? His touch transcended my skin and caressed me everywhere at once, filling me with intoxicating power.

I broke away, panting. “No.”

His whisper came next to my ear. “You know you want to.”

I did. God help me, but I did. “Get. Off. Me.” Every word rose in volume. Each time he fondled me, each time I enjoyed it, I betrayed them, all of the ones he killed to get to me.

A flash of memory made me cry out. Hot, so hot. Hands, sweating, skin on skin. A rush of power burning through my flesh, and need, such need, I couldn’t hold back.

“I can’t tell you how exciting it was to deflower a force such as you.” He moaned. “I always suspected you were a screamer. We destroyed the room that night. I’d like to know how you explained that when you checked out.”

I didn’t check out. I ran for two weeks straight.

When he shimmied out of his shorts, I struggled to free myself. I tried to talk myself into calm, but my body wouldn’t listen.

Only a dream.

Not really here.

His warmth, the tingle from his fingers, the reactions in my body all seemed so real they made me want to give in to him. The brush of his skin must have conjured some ancient magic. No! He murdered my family and so many others—all to get to me.

The thought of enjoying his nearness made my stomach lurch.

Reason broke through his spell over me. My power flared. I couldn’t use it against him, but I could use it for other purposes. I held on to it for a moment, warring with the part of me that wanted a taste of pleasure for once.

I let the power go.

An echo of my mother’s last frantic words rushed through my thoughts. The man who comes tells only lies. Run, Lilabear. Run!

A deafening crack boomed around us. In a flash of light more brilliant than lightning, the dream broke, and I tumbled from the cot, wheezing on the dirt floor in the shed. The sound of blood rushing through my veins roared in my ears.

Lies. He tells only lies.

Rubbing at my eyes, I took deep breaths and climbed onto the cot again. At first I thought the ground shook, but after a moment, I realized it was only me.

I’d given myself to him once, and the darkest part of me had enjoyed it. I hugged my knees and rocked back and forth.

6

Faint pink light seeped in through cracks in the shack walls and under the door. Dawn. Did I use my power? Or only in the dream? The guys in the shed continued to sleep, and Sebastian did, in fact, snore like a chainsaw as Garret had said. A blinding flash of light and a thunderous crack should have roused them. Maybe they were heavy sleepers? I pressed palms to my forehead to contain the ache growing under the quandary. Logic emerged through the haze. They should have been awake, but they weren’t, so the surge must have been contained to the dream.

The sight of Garret, balled up under his blanket, added to the war in my head. On one hand, I wanted to stay and protect him, and on the other, if I stayed, I could put him in worse danger than even the likes of Rourke. I wouldn’t take the chance. If I did use my power, even a small amount, and the Glass Man could use it to find me, then I had to leave.

I struggled into my shirt, shouldered my backpack and went out the door. The thought of leaving weighed on my heart, but I did my best to ignore it. The urge to scrub myself raw threatened to overwhelm me. My skin still tingled from the dream, from his touch, from his breath across my lips.

The horizon blushed—the late September air held a hint of winter. My spine itched, sending my gaze into a frantic sweep of the surrounding forest. The jagged line of trees leading up the sides of the valley greeted me. Silence continued to drown the space around me. Serenity usually meant a whole heap of trouble would soon explode in my face.

Adrenaline sent me sprinting across the yard, my survival instinct compelling me to get as far away as I could before the sun went down. The Glass Man would come then—he only came out at night.

A screech tore open the silence. A jolt of fright tightened my stomach as I glanced behind for the source of the sound and kept running. I crashed into a warm body, his scent swirling around me. My momentum took him to the ground with me.

“Jesus H.,” Liam shouted. “Where the hell’s the fire?”

I scrambled to my feet. My voice shook. “I have to go.” Why is he outside so early?

Eyes squinted at my face. Liam stood and leaned closer. He reached out and lifted something from my cheek.

I smacked his hand away. “Don’t touch me.”

“You’re cryin’. If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t believe it.”

“I’m not crying. I never cry.” I scrubbed at my cheeks and came away with wetness. What’s wrong with me?

A flash of anger morphed his face into a terrifying mask. “Which one of them hurt you? I’ll fuckin’ kill him!”

“Nobody hurt me.” I tried to push past him, but he caught me across the front of my shoulders with his arm.

“Look, just talk to me for a bit.” His voice softened into a sweet lullaby. “When you come down from being all worked up, I’ll give you some cash, help you get on your way, whatever you want.” He centered himself in front of me. I couldn’t meet his eyes. “Please,” he whispered.

Something in that word reached through my towering walls. His nearness weakened my knees, flooded me with endorphins. I shook myself. Did the previous days’ visitors feel me and come back? No, that wasn’t it.

“What’s happening to me?” I stared into Liam’s shoulder. “What is it about this place? My mental compass is going haywire, and I don’t know which way is proper north anymore.” The world was a cold, empty room, and he was the fire in the hearth, the warmth on my face. I couldn’t help but draw closer to him. I met his gaze as I wiped a few more tears from my cheeks. Why did I want to stay and feel his arms around me?

“Seems like you been on your own a long time. We all need a little human contact. It’s only natural.”

“But it’s not natural.” I backed up a step, held my fists close to my chest so they wouldn’t wander. “At least not for me. I can’t. It’s not safe.”

Liam closed the distance and pushed the pack from my shoulders. With his fingers, he lifted my chin. “Tell me.”

The tenderness in his eyes brought years of loneliness and sorrow crashing to the surface, stealing my breath away.

“No,” I whimpered.

“Why not?”

“Distance will keep them safe.” I whispered the words, barely audible—an echo of my mother’s warnings from so long ago, studying his eyes, warm enough to wander into them and get lost in his comfort. “What do you want from me?” I swayed on my feet, wanting to reach out, to run my fingers over his shoulders and through his hair. To taste his lips. No! I couldn’t let him get any closer, for his own sake.

“Nothin’, I swear. Nothin’ but to take that look out of your eyes before it tears my heart out.”

“Nobody ever wants to touch me without wanting something: sex mostly, money, the clothes off my back.” I shook my head, rubbed my arms to flatten the hairs standing on end. “If I let you hold me, it might feel nice.” A shiver rumbled from head to toe. “I don’t want it to feel nice.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because I have to leave.” A laugh burst out, but it changed into racking sobs.

Liam stroked my cheek, his body close to mine. “Hush, now. It’ll be all right.”

“I don’t like pretty lies.” I dug fingernails into my palms until the tears stopped.

“Then how about I’m here with you right now, and I wanna help you.” He edged closer still, stroked his fingers over my hair.

His touch opened something in me—a door to a secret place where I found everything I’d ever wanted. Home. This is what home should feel like. I wanted to be close to him, to lay down somewhere together and bask in his warmth, to drown in the kindness in his eyes. How could I want that with a stranger? After the dream, how could I think about that at all?

The urge to touch him took over. I pushed down the fear, erased my doubts and drew up next to him. I yanked his black T-shirt out of his jeans and pressed my hands against the muscular ridges of his stomach.

The instant I touched him, the world slowed. Pleasure didn’t describe the sensation of his skin under my hands or his on mine. Something intense and raw, comforting and exciting at the same time, urged me on. I played my fingers along the course hairs running down his midline and the smooth skin around it.

His ran up my back.

My eyes fluttered closed.

A low moan escaped from him.

I slipped my hands over the swell of his chest, his muscles flexing and bulging beneath. No matter how much I touched, it didn’t quench my primal hunger. I could have crawled inside his body, and I wouldn’t have been close enough.

I had no idea how long we stood there, our hands roaming along every plane. I raised my gaze to his face, the sweetness of his breath falling across my face like a silk caress. Mesmerized by the depth of his stare, I didn’t notice when he leaned closer, his lips pressing forward toward the contact I craved.

He hesitated for a moment before melting against my mouth and tangling his fingers into my hair.

I strained to inhale oxygen into starving lungs. The growing ache to climb him like a jungle gym consumed me. I pushed him away.

He stumbled back and rubbed his chest. “What’d I do now?”

I swallowed the cotton from my mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to push you that hard. I just—” God, what am I doing?

“I won’t tell nobody I saw you cryin’. And you didn’t tell me no, or move away, you know. Don’t need to break my ribs next time. Just say enough, and I’ll back off.”

“There won’t be a next time.” I folded my arms together. “And I said I was sorry.”

Hands on his hips, he stared until I squirmed. “You’re not even gonna tell me what’s wrong, are you?”

“Look, I’m just confused. I don’t understand. I feel …” I pressed my fingers, still tingling from the touch of his skin, against my lips, “… strange.” Is he doing something to me?

“It’s called attraction. Nothin’ to be ashamed of, ’less you’re married. Been a long time since I felt it, too.”

No, not just attraction. Compulsion. Had he emitted some sort of energy? Did he mean to? It didn’t matter. “I need to go. It’s not safe for me to stay here.”

“You keep sayin’ that, but you don’t say why. Did someone threaten you?”

“It’s not me I’m afraid for.” I winced. Shouldn’t have said that.

He nodded as though he understood more than I’d said. “Just think on it a bit. At least go on up to the house and help yourself to a shower. I got some chores in the barn, and then I’ll cook you some breakfast.” Liam heaved out a sigh. “If you still want to go after that, I won’t stop you.”

A boom cracked the silence and echoed against the hill. Liam and I dropped to the gravel. My chest hurt as if I’d left my heart and lungs up where I’d been standing.

Liam unwrapped his arms from his head. “Jesus H. Christ, Clancy! You best hope you didn’t just shoot at me, or I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“You stand up now, the both of you.” Clancy’s finger trembled over the trigger of his rifle.

Liam stood first, his hands thrust into the air. I followed after, keeping my gaze fixed on the twitching man in front of us.

“We can work this out, now, Clancy.” Liam lowered his hands a little but kept them out to his sides. “You still sore ’bout last night? None of us meant no harm.”

“She’s the devil’s whore come to kill us all, boss.” Clancy eyed me along the sights of his gun. “I won’t let her get her claws into us. I won’t.”

“I am no man’s whore,” I said. “And I don’t believe in devils, only evil men and women. Are you evil, Clancy?” Energy surged beneath my skin as if readying to escape my grasp and explode that gun in his face, but I held on to it with a death grip. I’d healed gunshot wounds before but really didn’t want to have to do it again. I needed to keep his attention on me.

“You shut your fucking mouth. Don’t go sticking your forked tongue in my ear.” Clancy motioned toward the bent gate with his head. “Go on up to the house now, boss.”

“What’s gotten into you?” Liam took a step forward.

Clancy swung the gun so it pointed at him.

Liam put his hands up higher. “Whoa, now. Easy.” He shot me a glance that tightened my chest.

“No.” I shook my head. “Just go. I’ll be fine.” I begged him with my eyes to listen but he didn’t move. “Go.”

“I’m not leavin’.”

My thoughts paced back and forth. I refused to kill, at least not on purpose, so that limited my options. I could fold the gun, but if Clancy pulled the trigger I risked killing him. I could knock him out, but if the gun went off and it hit Liam, I might have to heal him. If it hit him in the head or the heart, though, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. I could make Liam leave, but if Clancy caught on, he might shoot us both, and I couldn’t heal two of us. Fuck! Why did my options always boil down to bad and worse?

“Fine, Boss. I’ll just have to do you first.” Stillness fell over Clancy’s body.

I lunged at him, thinking I’d either wrestle the gun away, or he’d shoot me.

Liam must have had other ideas. He pounced on me as Clancy swung the gun in my direction and squeezed the trigger.

Another boom rattled through the hills.

Gravel bit into my back when I fell. Liam’s stomach landed on my face, and his knees struck my abdomen. For a second, I couldn’t breathe and flailed beneath him. I stopped when I realized he wasn’t moving.

Gasping, I wrapped my arms around his waist and rolled him over. His face had already gone pale, and a rosette of blood bloomed in the middle of his torso. Copper overwhelmed my senses.

“Liam! Goddamn it, Liam!” My shaking hands hovered above the wound as I screamed into the sky. How many times had I been there, standing above the ones I couldn’t save? How many times had the sticky warmth of their life escaped around my fingers before I could heal them? Too many. No. NO! I would not lose another.

My mind retreated to the place I went to survive. The still place. The white place where pain didn’t exist, and I had only logical, rational thought—the place where my ghosts couldn’t reach me. Where the sounds of death fell silent. Where the scent of blood faded, and the ache in my soul eased. I’d been there before, and I would survive—and so help me, so would Liam.

Footfalls crunched behind me.

A deadly grin bowed my lips.

I rose to my feet, my body calm, my mind a primal, instinctual predator. I turned to stare into the black soul of a paranoid zombie—one of thousands I’d stared into since I’d left home.

“Let the world be rid of the likes of you.” Clancy stared at me through the sight of his gun.

“Do it. I dare you.” I raised my arms to the sky.

Dark slate clouds boiled in above me from the west. The wind breathed against me from all directions, swirling, filling me with static. The trees around the rim of the valley leaned inward, reaching their spindly arms toward my plight. The grass whipped around my feet, and a cloud of dust billowed up from the driveway. The sky sent shadows across the barn and the house but not me. My skin morphed into its natural golden cream as I dropped my illusion. A subtle glow came from beneath, my own personal sun shining an aura of light so bright I could barely see around it. The air shivered and pulsed with a heart of its own.

I ripped the lid off the well of my mind.

Clancy dropped the gun, babbling something unintelligible as he ran.

I placed my hands together in a prayer position, knelt and shoved them into the ground. The surface spread open like butter under a hot knife. A rumble spread out before me. The earth opened beneath Clancy’s feet with a crack, much louder than the gunshot had been. He fell in to his chest, wedged so tight he couldn’t move.

With my hair still whipping around my head, I strode to the gun and snatched it from the ground. Clancy watched as I bent the barrel into a misshapen ‘s’ with a mere thought. I cracked him against the jaw with the butt of it.

“I’ll deal with you later,” I said in a dead voice.

His bleeding head lolled to the side. Faint whimpers rattled in his throat. He blinked a few times as if trying to fight off unconsciousness.

“Sleep,” I said.

His eyes closed, and his head tipped forward.

7

Blood pooled in the gravel beneath Liam’s motionless body. I ripped his shirt open, pressed one hand flat against his mid-section where his heart stumbled within, and the other against his clammy forehead. My eyes closed, and the wind picked up again. I forced all thought and emotion deeper into me as I put out a call upon the breath of the earth.

Moments later, the silence shattered beneath the shrieking of thousands of birds. The whap-whapping of their wings drummed against the air above me. A symphony of crickets began a crescendo, yips and howls bellowed from the forest all around, and the screeching of an owl came last. I’d never had so many answer my plea.

The air quivered as I soaked up energy from every bird, every furred creature that wandered the woods, every blade of grass, every insect. The heartbeat of the earth reached up through my body and joined with mine as I opened my mind to the man before me. I searched for the wound with my energy. The bullet had nicked his gallbladder and ripped open his liver. Imagining his body healed and his heart beating strongly, I forced my will down my arms and into the fading body in my grasp.

A gurgling scream burst from Liam’s lips. His spine bowed as my mind wrapped itself around his wound and knitted his flesh back together.

Ruby patches of blood remained on Liam’s chest, but the bullet hole had disappeared. The wind fell silent as the well of energy emptied. The ones who had answered my call faded into the forest.

It had taken over five minutes, though it seemed like it had happened in a blink. He’d be sore, and he’d be terrified of me, but he’d live.

Why then did my heart burn as if it had been crushed?

I fell back on the gravel, my energy spent, hot tears trailing down my cheeks, and faced the sky until all went black.

When I opened them again, the sun had risen farther into the pale blue sky.

Clancy still slumped over his earthen prison a few yards away.

Where were the other guys? They must have heard the gunshots and my yelling. Had Clancy killed them first?

Please, no. Not Garret. He’s just a boy. My heart raced.

I turned and shook Liam.

He sobbed with his eyes crimped shut as my own tears fell again.

Why the tears?

“You’re okay now.” I tugged him into a sitting position. “We need to go into the house. Come on, help me.” I pulled his right arm across my shoulders and heaved him up.

We stumbled through the bent gate and up the front steps to the house. I laid him out on the sofa, covered him in a gold afghan and kissed him on the forehead.

“You should have listened to me, you stubborn ass. Sleep now.”

• • •

I wiped the steam from the mirror with the corner of a ratty towel. Usually, I bathed in rivers, but once in a while, I’d break into a house and have a quick shower with real soap. It had been months since I’d done that. I’d forgotten how good it felt to be clean.

Standing in front of the mirror, I pulled my fingers through the sopping bird’s nest on my head. My reflection made me jump. Even through my illusion, exhaustion decorated my skin, purple bruises took hold beneath my tired, bloodshot eyes. Nice. I look like the walking dead. At least my outside matched my inside. I closed my eyes and grabbed onto the sides of the sink, grinding my teeth.

“I should never have come here.” I pounded my palm down on the porcelain.

With a grunt of frustration, I turned away from my reflection and rifled through my bag to avoid the coming war in my head. I had to leave, so why did I want to stay?

Something about this place.

Something about Liam, but what?

I needed to protect him. Maybe he was the first good person I’d run into. Does he know what I am? No. I could sniff out liars the way a shark could sense blood in the water.

The idea of leaving made my stomach churn, but I couldn’t stay. Liam would be terrified of me, and I’d put all of the men in danger—if they were still alive. Nope, I’d get a bit to eat from the fridge and get away before he woke up.

The only spare underwear I owned caught on the zipper as I pulled them from the bottom of my pack. The once tiny hole in the bum tore across the cotton from seam to seam. The terrible ripping sound made me jump.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Put on sweat-soaked ones again, clean ones with the entire ass ripped out, or go commando—not great options when hiking through the bush in jeans.

After opening up two doors in the yellow hallway—one room sat empty, and the other was a linen closet—I found Liam’s room at the end.

Small room for a big guy, he’d painted the peaked ceiling blue. The sparse decor included a double bed under the sole window, a night stand and two dressers. An old rumpled quilt lay half on and half off the mattress, and one corner of the white fitted sheet had sprung up. Neat and tidy on the outside, messy on the inside. That described me most of the time.

The glossy white dresser on the right side of the bed had a jewelry box and a few packages of panty hose on top—must have belonged to the hair dresser.The peeling blue one on the far side held an armload of guy’s underwear.

I went to the white one and pulled the top drawer open. The left side of the drawer held more lace than I’d ever seen. On the right, a fold of pink tissue covered a bundle of bras and panties—still sporting a little lace but not a frightening amount—with the tags still on. Perfect. After ripping the tag off a black pair, I slipped them on and added a blue one to my pack.

Before I shut the drawer, I hesitated, grabbed a red pair with a matching bra and stuffed them in too. I found two pairs of jeans in the next drawer down and a few t-shirts in the bottom.

The closet door sat halfway open, revealing mostly women’s clothes inside. Hanger after hanger of dresses hung in a row. Everything from little black ones, to sun dresses, to beach cover-ups. A bunch of sweaters were piled on the top shelf. I grabbed a black hoody and a red cable-knit and stuffed them in my pack.

The floor squeaked behind me.

“Take anything you like.” Liam said. “I’m sure one of them dresses would look real pretty on you.”

I cinched the towel around me, eyes cast to the floor. “I—I’m sorry. It’s just—winter’s coming. I wasn’t thinking.” I paused, remembering he probably had questions. “You don’t need to be afraid of me.”

Liam held up his hand as he walked farther into the room. “I don’t know how you did what you did, but I’m not afraid of you. And you have nothing to be sorry for. I’d give you more if you’d take it.”

“So you saw? I kind of hoped you were out the whole time.”

He looked away. “I saw how you put it to Clancy the way you did, and I know you healed me.”

My chest seized, and my stomach filled with bees. I nodded. “He’s tied up in the shed now, so you can do whatever you want with him. I’ll get changed, and I’ll leave.” I started past him, but he moved to block the door.

“No! I mean, I don’t mean to shout, it’s just—”

“I would never hurt you.” I stared into his bare chest, still beaded with water where he’d cleaned himself up. Nothing could have made me raise my eyes. “I don’t hurt anyone unless they leave me no choice.”

“I know.”

I didn’t believe him. How could he not be afraid of me? Doesn’t matter. “Where are the rest of the guys? Why didn’t they come to help you?”

“I told ’em if they ever heard shots to run into the woods. Never know when one of them gangs of raiders’ll show up. I’m sure the boys’ll be back by nightfall.” He raised his hand to my face and hesitated for a moment before his fingertips slid along my jaw and into my hair. “Stay here with me.”

“I need to go.” I struggled to free myself from him, but I couldn’t find the strength to get it done. He tipped my face up to his, and the world narrowed down to those intense brown eyes and the electricity flowing between us.

“Why is my heart beating so fast?” My breaths stumbled in and out faster.

“I don’t know.”

Liam put his hand flat on my chest above my breast, took my hand and put it on his bare chest. His heart throbbed faster than it should, but nothing like mine. As we stared at one another, the rhythms synchronized until they beat in unison. The air pulsed around us, and the trees outside the window hissed, speaking to one another in their wooden song.

“What’s happening?” I raised my other hand to trace the muscular ridges of his arm. Why do I want to touch him so badly?

Liam put fingers over my mouth and pressed his lips to my cheek in a chaste kiss. “Stay with me tonight.” He took his fingers away and kissed me, lightly at first. Breathless, he crushed his mouth against mine, slipping his tongue between my lips. I stiffened for a moment before some instinct, long dormant in me, awakened and took over. Primal sounds came from us as we ate at each other’s mouth, hands exploring. Everywhere he touched seemed to be connected to a throbbing nerve that led to lower places.

Liam came up for air, chuckling. My legs wobbled beneath me. The sky outside rolled with clouds, and the wind pushed against the window.

“I need to go.” I edged closer to him.

“Why?”

I thought long and hard. “I don’t remember. Something bad. Something bad is coming.” I should have been gone already, not sucking face with a stranger. So why couldn’t I go? Why did I linger, waiting for him to cure my ache?

“No.” He laid kisses along my jaw. “Let me keep you safe tonight.”

“But—”

He kissed me again.

I closed my eyes, gave myself over to the urgency in my body. The ache for him became unbearable.

When I opened my eyes again, the towel lay on the floor at my feet. I stood in nothing but the black underwear. He sat on the bed in front of me, his eyes rolled up to me—hungry, dark, predatory.

I shivered under his touch as he kissed the underside of my wrist, savoring the pulsing current flowing through me.

“I can’t get close enough to you.” His voice was thick with need.

I pulled my hand away from him and backed up until I bumped into the door. A desire so thick I couldn’t think past it flooded my body. “I’m confused, I—”

Vibrations sang through the floor as if the whole world moved to watch us, anticipation trembling their feet.

He stood from the bed, his hands shaking, fear shining in his eyes. “I know this shouldn’t be happening, and I shouldn’t do this, but …” Humming filled the room as he reached for me, voices speaking a language I didn’t understand. A harmony resonated through my soul. “So much trouble.” He pulled me back to the bed. “But the pull—the need—feel high …” He breathed me in, shook his head. “Can’t fight it.”

The room filled with light when he kissed me and pressed his bare chest against my breasts. Our hearts still beat in perfect unison. Heat traveled over my skin and sank deeper, took the tremors from the house and the resonance from the voices and poured them into my body.

I cried out when Liam tore my lace panties off and looked down at me like a king before a feast. We fell back on the bed, breathing hard and fast. His hands slid along my legs, over my hips, up my waist. Everywhere he touched tingled, and the little hairs on my body rose to meet him.

When his mouth found my breast, I writhed beneath him, moaning. He took turns playing his tongue over each nipple, biting playfully and sucking before returning to my mouth, searching deep. My hands explored the landscape of his back, bringing excited sounds from him. Delicious, throbbing fire raged through my flesh.

“Please,” I whispered, giving in to the need and the giddy intoxication in my head. “Please, please, please.”

“Yes. She wants us to. She’s given her blessing.”

Blessing? Why do we need someone’s blessing? My body froze, but his languid touches removed the thought from my mind.

I wanted to drink in the tight lines of his body and the wilderness in his eyes, to rub myself all over him, and to explore every inch of his tender lips. Something close to desperation gripped me as if I’d burst if he didn’t shut up and give me what I wanted.

He scrambled off the bed, shimmied out of his shorts, picked me up at the waist and shoved me farther up on the pillows. He hooked his hands under my knees and lowered himself down on me again. His fingers found me first, playing just out of reach. He kissed me while I squirmed and moved against him, slick and swollen against his touch. When he had mercy on me and slid over the right spot, I cried out, my back bowing.

“No teasing,” I said. The air pulsed and pressed against us, drawing us closer together, urging us to finish. The wind, the hissing of the trees, and the voices penetrated my body as if I’d come apart, burst into nothing but glowing energy—a sun gone nova.

Liam ate my scream with a kiss as he pushed his way into me. A sensory overload of pleasure settled upon me.

“So eager.” He guided our rhythm. I moved with him in perfect synch with his body.

The intensity in his eyes made me close mine, but he shouted, “No! Don’t look away. Don’t hide from me. Not now.”

I opened them again and fell into his dark brown seas while he coaxed pleasure into every part of me. Within seconds, the pressure in my abdomen built to something that would soon burst free of my skin.

All sounds came in crisp and clear. The beating of Liam’s heart. The sound of his labored breathing. The energy flowing through our bodies with the crackling of static electricity. The room brightened. Lines of brilliant indigo light rose up along our skin in a network of veins. I had only a moment of fear before I went over the edge. I screamed my release as the world disappeared in golden streamers of light, and wave after wave of unimaginable pleasure smashed into me.

Something opened between us. Sweet freedom. My spirit burst out of me and permeated Liam, stretched into him like an animal that had been kept in too small a cage and had found somewhere to run.

A moment later, Liam’s rhythm faltered, and he collapsed down on me, crying out with his lips pressed against my shoulder. Light exploded into the room with the intensity of a thousand suns as he spilled himself inside me, both seed and spirit.

I covered my eyes and fell.

8

“Where am I?” I blinked awake.

Two small blue lamps pitched wedges of light up to the ceiling in the otherwise dark room. I rolled over and found Liam sitting on the edge of the bed facing the door with his elbows on his knees. He wore dark dress pants and a light blue collared shirt. Without turning, he held out a sports drink. His stash of groceries in the basement must have been bigger than he’d let on. I grabbed it and gulped it down.

Memories of his touch flooded my thoughts. An echo of pleasure drew a sigh to my lips. I sat up. “Why are you wearing that?” My brow crinkled up as I thought of the light and voices. Did I imagine that? A dream, maybe?

“You need to get dressed.” He stared at the door, his posture rigid. “There isn’t much time.”

A black sickness filled my stomach. I bolted out of bed, dragging the quilt with me. “What’s going on? Where are my clothes?” I looked out the window. Darkness had fallen. Alarms went off in my head. “What time is it?”

“You’ve been asleep for a day and a half.” He pointed to the white dresser. “Your clothes are there.”

Liam stood and went to the door.

“Wait—what happened to your accent?” It came out as a whisper.

He didn’t answer.

The room swayed as the realization hit home. “You tell me what’s going on, Liam Conner, or I swear I will bring this house down around you!”

“No you won’t … Lila.”

I gasped. He knew it all along.

Liam turned to look at me with eyes like mine—sapphire blue, with yellow swirling around the pupil. “I’ve blocked your energy. Now put on the dress, or I’ll put it on you.”

“No!” I stumbled back until I slammed into the wall. “The whole time—you’ve been trying to keep me here.” I turned and kicked the wall so hard the drywall crumpled. Pain surged through my bare foot. How could I have been so stupid? So many signs. The energy. His ability to sneak up on me so easily. The creeps in the shed. They had to be in on it, too. I overlooked it all, but why? I don’t have time for this!

I closed my eyes and searched for that well of energy I’d found not long after I hit puberty. It was there, but an invisible barrier kept me from reaching it. The more I pushed against it, the more resistance I met, like leaning against a coiled spring.

“What did you do to me?” I searched the room for another way out but only found the window. I didn’t have time to heal a broken leg from a two-story drop. “Tell me you aren’t working for the Glass Man.”

Liam closed his eyes, and a veil lifted between my mind and the earth. Sound and sensation overwhelmed my senses, staggering me. The crickets screamed in the distance, and wolves howled outside the window. My body seized up when the Glass Man’s presence squeezed my mind, covered my thoughts in shadow.

“I’m sorry,” Liam said.

Numbness swept through me. I scrambled across the bed to the dresser and yanked a few drawers open but found them all empty. The closet too. I pulled on the racy red panties and a matching bra he’d laid out, then pulled the low cut blue dress over my head. When I bent forward, I noticed my hair had gone back to blonde. Without my energy, I couldn’t change my appearance.

With my fists curled, I stopped in front of Liam, panting through the rage. “You lousy, lying shit! God! Who are you?”

“I had no choice.” He wouldn’t look at me.

“There’s always a choice.”

“You can’t tell him what we did, or about the voices and the light. If you do—he’ll kill us all tonight.”

So that did happen. “What did we do? I felt your mind from the inside.”

He shook his head, grimacing as if he’d swallowed something sharp.

“And that whole charade with Clancy in the shed, and then outside. You let him shoot you on purpose?”

“I wanted you to feel safe so we wouldn’t have to hurt you. My master told me what you’re like. That’s why Garret’s here, because I knew you’d want to protect him. If the men were afraid of you …” He turned away. “And yeah, I just let him shoot me.”

“How did you know I could heal?” I grabbed the light from the night stand and hurled it into the wall beside his head. He ducked as it shattered and fell in a jagged mess around him. “I should have let you die.”

“We were supposed to find out how powerful you were. I could have healed it anyway. The bullets were gold.”

What do gold bullets have to do with anything? “What are you? What does the Glass Man want with me?”

“Don’t you understand?” Liam threw a fist into the doorframe, splintering the wood. Blood trickled down his knuckles. “I don’t know what he wants. Even if I did, I couldn’t tell you. If I tell you anything … he’ll kill them.” His face twisted with anger, or maybe grief—I didn’t look closely enough to find out.

“No, it’s you who doesn’t understand. Whoever they are, he’ll kill them anyway because that’s what he does. He’ll kill them, and he’ll dance in their blood just to see the look on your face.”

His eyes grew wide.

“Reality’s a bitch. Get used to it.” I bolted past him and took the stairs three at a time in my bare feet. No footsteps followed behind me. If Liam wasn’t following me—shit. The Glass Man must have been closer than I thought. My heart pounded, and the colors in the stairway grew pale. I’d been so careful, and in one moment, a single good looking man undid everything I’d accomplished over the years. On top of it all, I’d lost the music box.

I would not let him win. I was the last of the Grays, the last of my family, and I would not let that bastard get what he wanted.

When I arrived in the kitchen, I slid to a stop. Four men lined up in front of the door, hands clasped in front, shiny shoe-clad feet in wide stances. They wore identical black suits and white button-down shirts.

“Good evening,” pudgy faced Clancy said with a smile. Instead of his poof of curly hair, it fell straight in a blunt cut around his shoulders. Deep ocean blue replaced the mousy brown. “Lovely evening, don’t you think?”

“Fucking bastards.” I shook my head, my energy swelling beneath the barrier. “You’re really good; I’ll give you that. Especially you, Clancy, if that’s even your name. What kind of psycho piece of work are you?”

The other three looked to Sebastian. He roared with laughter and the rest followed, all but Garret who frowned at the floor. The boy gathered his arms close to his chest. If he made himself any smaller, he’d disappear from sight. I’d found the leader of the goon squad. I’d also found the chink in the armor. Maybe if I could turn them against one another, it would give me a window to get out.

“Get out of my way, Sebastian.” I scanned the room for my pack and black sneakers but found neither. Great. I found a few other objects that might be of some use. I edged toward the nearest kitchen chair.

“Or what?” Sebastian fingered a silver handgun in a shoulder holster under his jacket. “You’ll talk us to death? Without your power, you’re just a harmless princess.” Long hair replaced his brush cut, and instead of grey, it was the red of fresh blood. All the wrinkles on his face had smoothed into younger skin.

Rourke and Clancy shared an amused look.

“Garret doesn’t seem too happy about what’s going on here,” I said.

The other three stared at the young blond, who hunched further in on himself.

“Was anything you said true?” I asked the kid. “All that talk about losing your mother, was that just another load of horse shit?”

Garret stood a little straighter and opened his mouth.

“Shut your goddamn hole,” Sebastian snapped.

“What’s the matter Sebastian?” I put out my best mocking sneer. “Afraid he’s going to spoil the Glass Man’s little surprise party?” I looked at Garret, prancing where he stood, his eyes wide. “After all, he is just a kid. He probably doesn’t know any better.”

“It wasn’t horse shit!” Garret blurted.

Sebastian back-handed him across the face while the other two snickered. Garret stumbled, but he didn’t go down. My respect for him grew a little. “Get outside before I give you a few extra holes to breathe out of.”

Garret turned his eyes up to Sebastian like a dog expecting to be beaten for peeing on the carpet. Sebastian yanked the door open and pushed the younger man through.

When footsteps thumped behind me, taking everyone’s attention, I grabbed a chair and heaved it through the kitchen window over the sink. An explosion of tinkling glass fueled the adrenaline pumping through my body. I leapt up on the counter and dove out, slicing my thighs on jagged bits in the sill. I tumbled into the roses, clutching at my wounds, wincing. Blood poured out, but I had nothing to wrap myself with.

Shouting erupted within the house. A gun fired, flaring into the darkness over my head. The sound careened around the valley into the night and drowned out the screeching insects. I threw myself to the ground again, cutting up my forearms on the fallen shards and cursing.

“Goddamn it, Sebastian,” Liam shouted. “Put the fucking gun away. If you so much as nick her, he will kill you, and then me.”

Scratched and bleeding, I stood and groaned as more shards pierced my bare feet. No time to pull them out. Holding my breath, I closed my eyes so I could determine where the magnetic push came from. The north.

With my pulse racing, I sprinted south toward the woods, imagining what I’d do to Sebastian when I found a way to release my energy. Liam would be next.

9

Pain screamed up my legs as I ran from the farm house and through the reaching arms of the trees. Shards of glass crept deeper into my soles. The cuts on my thighs dripped hot ribbons down my legs, soaking into the blue dress.

No amount of pain or blood would make me stop—not with the screaming of the insects growing louder. The silhouettes of trees whipped past me like scenery from a dark dream. I stumbled over a fallen log and crashed down, shredding my forearms. My body grew into a giant burning ache.

A deep base growl rose up from the shadows in front of me. My pulse galloped. Respect the wild things, and they’ll repay you in kind. I stumbled, picking bits of bark out of my wounds, and limped on. The glass in my left foot met with bone, and they weren’t having a nice visit.

A growl came closer. I stopped and stilled my body as I scanned the darkness. Deep in the woods, the moonlight didn’t penetrate the canopy, only dappled the forest floor.

Amber eyes appeared in front of me. A scruffy black wolf emerged. He barked and flattened his ears as he stalked toward me, his lips curled up over shining white teeth. Animals had never bothered me before. I did my best to breathe normally, holding my hands out as I sidestepped around him. My gaze never left the wolf, but I avoided his eyes. I’d learned never to stare a wild beast in the eye unless I wanted a fight—another rule I’d made.

A whine and a few yips came from my right before a second wolf stepped out to block the new path I’d chosen. When the third ruddy wolf appeared, I realized they were herding me. Hell’s bells. The Glass Man had made some new friends since I’d last seen him.

My mind spun as I looked around for a weapon. Nothing. Not even a dead branch or a rock. I tested the barriers around my energy again, poking and prodding at it, but the harder I pushed, the more impenetrable it became.

A fourth wolf, a white one, showed up, and the four of them stood in a u-shape in front of me. One way to go: the one direction I wouldn’t turn. I could climb a tree, but that would leave me trapped, so not much better.

“You are a hearty thing,” the Glass Man said in that amused tone he always used. He sauntered out from behind a tree, wearing a dark grey suit. A grey silk tie painted a shining line down a matching shirt. His wavy hair had been pulled back and secured with a black ribbon. I’d never seen him dressed up. In another life—one where he wasn’t a murderous sociopath—I might have thought him beautiful, but at that moment, he looked like cancer wearing an Armani. He stood in a little circle of moonlight a few feet away.

My upper lip curled in a snarl. “Where’s my music box?”

He straightened his tie, his gaze lowering from my face. “I chose well with that dress. Matches your eyes to perfection.” His eyes swept lower down my body. “Tsk, tsk. Look what you’ve done to it. Lucky for you, I brought extras.” He smiled as if I’d done something to impress him. “Bleeding like a stuck pig, and you still ran nearly four miles from the house before I caught up with you. I can think of better uses for stamina like that.” He gave a pathetic double-raise of his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I just bet you can. The only reason you caught me is because you called in your dogs. What’s the matter, not man enough to get me on your own?”

“I am no man!” He ripped the ribbon from his black hair, and it flew up around his face, dancing with the grace of fire. His skin glowed with veins of blue as if someone had switched on a light within.

I swallowed past the cotton lump in my throat. “You keep saying that, and I keep suggesting a psychiatrist. Maybe it’s time you took my advice.” I glanced at the four-pack of wolves to my right. “And since when do the beasts listen to you?”

His eyes brightened as he smoothed a hand down his suit. “Do you like it?”

“If you’re fishing for a compliment, you’re casting to the wrong girl.” I’d learned question evasion from him. Unfortunately, he continued to better me at it.

He sighed. “Oh, Lila, you do like to make things difficult, don’t you? If you’d stop being so stubborn, this could be such a joyous, erotic occasion.”

I didn’t want to know what he meant by that. “Well, you could leave me alone like I’ve been telling you, and you wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore. Looking at it that way, I think it’s you who’s making things difficult, not me.”

“Most females beg for my attention.”

Not too arrogant. My eyes rolled. “I’m not most females. I have standards.”

He dismissed me with a flick of his fingers. “Clearly you’re angry with me. Let’s go back to the house so I can get you cleaned up. I can’t take you to the Black City looking like a murder victim, now can I?”

I swallowed hard. “What’s the Black City?”

“Why, your new home, of course.”

Decade-old rage swelled in my belly. “I have no home. You took it from me. And I’m not going anywhere with you.”

The Glass Man laughed, a crackling sound like a lit fuse. “You still think you can escape me, don’t you? It’s pathetic, really.”

A smile bloomed on my lips, the one that always accompanied the answer to whatever puzzle I was trying to solve. “You always assume too much about me.” I turned and sprinted toward the wolves. He would have counted on me fearing their bite enough to avoid them, but he didn’t know me as well as he thought he did. I gambled that the wolves wouldn’t be allowed to hurt me.

The ruddy wolf whined, but the black one braced itself and snarled. When it moved to block me, I dove over top and rolled, landing on my throbbing feet. I made it a few yards when the patter of paws closed in behind me. Teeth tore at my calf, then locked jaws around my ankle. My scream rattled through the trees. Fuck! What a time to be wrong.

“Release her!” The Glass Man roared.

I rolled and kicked at the mutt with my other foot.

The Glass Man dug fingers into his hair as he strode toward us. An eerie glow flared from his eyes, an otherworldly god empty of all but the potential for bloody violence.

I cried out when the black wolf shook my leg before releasing me. Little pained groans came unbidden while I clutched my wound to stanch the gush of blood.

The wolf squealed as it fell into the leaves beside me. Dark liquid flowed from its ears and mouth. The eyes rolled back. Its body collapsed with the sudden evacuation of liquid from every orifice.

The other wolves paced and whined before abasing themselves in front of my hunter. He glared down at them.

I clawed at the ground, pulled myself toward the underbrush, but my vision went fuzzy and dark. Fading. Too much blood.

“Rourke.” The Glass Man’s voice sounded hollow and distant. “Has Liam returned?”

“No, my King.” Rourke’s pleased-with-himself tone grated on my last nerve.

King? King of what?

“He’s hiding something from me. I want to know the moment he returns.” Footsteps disturbed the brush nearby. “Take her back to the house and clean her up. Share enough energy with her so she can heal her wounds. I have preparations to make before we can leave.”

“As you wish, my King.”

I blinked out for a moment, sank into that black place where minds go to die, but by sheer force of will, I fought back to consciousness. Leaves crunched under footsteps. Everything blurred into vague, dark shapes. A roaring silence dominated my head.

A man crouched beside me, Rourke I assumed. Definitely a man’s cologne I smelled. Something expensive.

“I’m going to tie you up now,” Rourke said in a singsong tone that raised my hackles. “But you probably like that sort of thing, don’t you?”

I found no energy to speak, but I gave him what I hoped to be a nasty look.

He laughed. A deep, barking chuckle, the sort a lion might give if they could laugh.

White waves of nausea rippled through me as Rourke wound rope around my ankles and hands. He looped my bound wrists around his neck, picked me up and cradled me to his chest.

The thought of landing back in that house unconscious with the Glass Man’s four cronies made my blood run cold.

I shivered as the pain ebbed. My essence slipped down into the abyss again, and I didn’t fight it. Nothing mattered but sleep. Darkness would take away the pain, and the Glass Man, and the men who weren’t men. I had a moment to think it might be better if I never woke up again before the blackness sucked me under.

• • •

“Wake up, Lilabear.” Mother’s anxious voice filled the darkness around me. “Come on, my love, fight back to the light!”

My body lurched with a nauseating sway. A headache raged at the back of my skull as if it had met with a sledge hammer. I groaned and forced my eyes open, confused when I still couldn’t see.

Shit, am I blind?

Am I dead?

Did I just hear my—no, I am not going crazy. Numbness deadened my arms, but my wrists burned. In my disoriented state, it took me a minute to figure out that I hung from them. A silky scarf or handkerchief had been tied around my eyes.

I thrashed, clanking chains, but forced myself still. Shoving the panic aside, I calmed my heaving lungs. Everything hurt, and I was too weak to do much of anything.

Ok, Lila, think this through. Dead was dead, but anything else I could deal with.

The room was cold and damp. The cellar of the farmhouse, maybe? I had no clothes on, only a bra and panties by the few brushes of satin against my skin. Rhythmic, raspy sounds came from somewhere behind me—steady, but heavy. Breathing. Not the Glass Man, though—nothing crowded my mind.

“Does he train you all to be creepy sociopaths, or is that a prerequisite before he hires you?” I asked.

Snickering turned into that barking laughter I’d heard in the woods. “I’m beginning to see Parthalan’s fascination with you.” Rourke’s shoes tapped against the floor. “I saw nothing but a head-strong bitch when you first came, but watching you force your will into that gun and drawing power from the Goddess herself—now that is a power to behold.”

Goddess?

“Parthalan? What kind of name is that, anyway?” I didn’t want him to know he had my mental cogs whirring into a tizzy.

“Old Gaelic, actually. Irish.”

“I know what Gaelic is, you little shit. Unschooled doesn’t mean dumb.”

That laugh again. “So it doesn’t.”

Rourke ripped the blindfold from my eyes. I blinked against the sudden brightness of the lantern light. Everything still looked blurry, but at least I could see the room: a cellar with cement walls, shelf after shelf of mason jars filled with fruit and enough canned food to feed a whole city for years, and a dirty chest freezer along one wall. Crooked wooden steps went up from the far corner.

“Better?” Rourke stood a few feet away.

“Better would be unchained and you getting your narrow ass out of my way.”

When my vision decided to focus, I wished it hadn’t. Fury pulsed behind Rourke’s ice blue eyes, and his lips peeled back over his teeth. His dark hair had been neatly styled—the greasy, slicked back look had gone—and he wore only black dress pants with a silver buckle on the belt. Shadow spread out from him as he strutted the rest of the way to me. He tickled his fingers along my stomach, stroking a soft line just above my navel.

I jerked back as far as I could make my chains swing. “Get your filthy hands off me.”

“The only thing saving you from me now is an order from my King.” A look came over him that forced a tremble through me—a devious grin and bright eyes as if he’d just thought of something terrible. Maybe I’d been wrong about the leader of the goon squad. Rourke seemed the more likely candidate. “But Parthalan’s attention span with women is terribly short, you see. He rarely goes spelunking in the same cave twice.”

I swallowed so hard my dry throat burned.

“And once you’ve used up his patience—which, judging by that gigantic attitude of yours, won’t be very long—he’ll give you to me as my plaything.” He slid his hand along the side of my jaw and into my hair as though he would kiss me. I grunted when he grabbed a handful and twisted instead. “I hope you enjoy pain.” He shrugged, snickered. “Not that it matters to me, really. Mmm, we will have some fun, you and I.”

“Dream on, you little freak.”

“Tell me, my pet, has it occurred to you that the human world began to crumble shortly after Parthalan killed your mother?”

My brows crowded together, and I couldn’t keep the shock out of my voice. “What are you saying?”

He shrugged again.

“Are you telling me that Parthalan destroyed all those countries?” Shit. It couldn’t be true. Even if he did, what did that have to do with my mother?

My fear gave way to anger, the hot kind that boils in from the top of the head and floods every corner of the body with a slow, deep burn. For one, I hated confinement of any sort. For two, I hated men treating me like a lesser person just because I happened to have tits. For three, I had no use for people who took pleasure in other people’s pain.

“You might be able to send some girls screaming and crying with that ‘I’m a happy little sadist’ act, but I’m not some girl, Rourke. I hope your king finds you with your hands all over me. I hope he pulls that fee-fi-fo-fum trick of his and melts your bones, too.”

He shoved. My head snapped back. He stepped away in a huff.

I rolled my eyes when he flexed his pecs. “Go put a damn shirt on. You’re not impressing anyone here.”

“You ruined my only one.” He leaned both hands down on top of the chest freezer, glaring at me through strands of his dark hair.

“Am I supposed to apologize for bleeding?” I gave a disgusted grunt. “What the hell is Parthalan, anyway?”

With Rourke somewhat distracted, I tipped my head back to see what held me. The shackles had been fixed to opposite ends of a metal bar. Chains went up from either end to the cross beams in the ceiling. The shackles were the kind that closed with pins. Good. I had nothing to pick a lock with, so I had to figure out a way to shimmy those pins out.

The muscles in Roarke’s arm flexed. His fingers had melted into the plastic top of the freezer or had gripped it so tightly the material molded around them.

When he stepped away, a blue string of electric current arced between the freezer and his hands. His eyes rolled up.

Oh, hell.

He soaked up electricity the way a sponge soaks up water. Grinning, he straightened and fixed his gaze on me, holding his hands out at his sides. He poised his thumb and middle finger as if he’d pinch them together but kept them inches apart. Power arced in a curved path between them, a popping blue fire drawn out in a thin strip.

“I thought you would be more concerned with what you are.” He laughed, the sound forcing every hair on my body to tingle. “Or what I am.”

Even though I struggled to breathe and couldn’t shake the thought of what he might do, I couldn’t afford to lose any ground. I swallowed the fear down and forced my casual expression out. “God, not you too. You know, this got old with Partha whatever his name is about seven years ago. I’m certainly not going to start exchanging witty repartee about what I am with you now, too.”

His lips parted before they curled into a sneer. The tension in his body morphed. I expected it to go nova and fry me into a crispy slice of bacon.

“Look, if you’re going to kill me, then do it,” I said. “If not, get the hell away from me so I can think.”

He lunged at me, shoved his hands against my stomach. My mouth flew wide in a silent scream, and the rest of my body seized. Fire burned in my fingertips and in my head. The pain had no description in my vocabulary, but it flowed through me in endless waves until I gained controlled of myself. I gathered it into a little corner of my mind and stepped away from it. I could still sense it there but not so strong that my mind would break under it. I didn’t even know I could do that. Handy.

Rourke slipped his hand around my throat, squeezing until I choked in his grasp. Maybe antagonizing him hadn’t been the brightest idea I’d ever had. He didn’t get flustered like the other wannabe bad guys I’d met.

He relaxed his hand and spoke with his lips brushing mine. “You haven’t disappointed me yet, and that is a rare thing. To take so much and not scream, at least a little, means you are stronger than I gave you credit for. But all wildcats can be tamed if you whip them long enough.” He licked across my lips, but I refused to struggle. “You will do what my King commands. I only hope Parthalan doesn’t take all your fight away before I own you.”

A true sadist. Funny, I thought he’d been kidding. My fear level clicked up a notch, and I shivered. Could a person go into shock twice in one night? First time for everything.

I coughed when he let go of my throat, but I kept my trap shut. Cussing him out wouldn’t help me.

Rourke gave me a calculating glance, but I had no energy to ponder what dark thought went with it. Did they all have powers like his? If they did, they wouldn’t be packing handguns, would they? Unless they were more sadistic than I thought, or maybe just lazy. Nothing would have surprised me at that point.

Rourke’s barking laughter faded as he climbed the stairs.

One question sat at the forefront of my mental chaos. What did his king want me to do?

10

My body shook with searing agony in my feet and thoughts of Rourke having me at his mercy. After a moment, I let it go. The tightness in my throat relaxed. No time to lose it. If I didn’t figure out how to get away, nothing mattered. If I didn’t get out, I would have failed my mother.

I looked down and found one end of the chain attached to the shackles on my ankles and the other end looped around a cinder block. An idea bloomed in my head. I swung my legs back and forth until I could gather the slack part of the chain around one ankle. After several tries, I lured the block close enough to hook it with the top of my foot. Grunting, I dragged it closer, flipped it on its side and stood on it. My feet screamed, pressed against the rough surface.

Sweat poured down my skin as I stood there. After calming my body and mind again, I concentrated on pushing my toes against the block, but it didn’t boost me enough to get my teeth around the pin. I used my arms to pull myself the rest of the way. The top of the pin—slick with blood flowing from my wrists—sat flush with the shaft. Before I moved it even a little, my arms gave out, and I fell back to the floor. “Fuck!” Pain surged up my legs and hands once more.

A squeak escaped me when something crashed through the window at the top of the wall in front of me. Flares of multicolor light invaded the room before it faded.

When the light went back to normal, Liam stood naked before me. He crouched, his wary eyes sweeping the room. The sight of his body raised my temperature before my anger took over and jacked it up more.

The upstairs door crashed inwards and shouts carried down. Liam searched through the mess of glass on the floor from the window he’d broken and yanked a gun from a pouch lying there. He fired at the stairs.

“I’ll kill you!” Rourke bellowed from beyond the upper door. I heard a clip snap into a gun. “Have you lost your damn mind? You can’t shoot while Lila’s down there, you imbecile. Those bullets have iron in them.”

What does iron have to do with anything?

“Oh, hell,” I said to Liam. “Why did it have to be you that showed up?”

“Shut up.” He reached for the shackles.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t fucking touch me.”

Liam shook his head, flexed his jaw. “We don’t have time for this! Do you want to get out of here, or not? Because if you do, then shut your God damned mouth, and let me help you.” He fired another shot at the door, where the two men continued to curse at one another.

I forced my scowling face back to neutral. Stay and wait for Parthalan, or let the guy who’d betrayed me put his hands on me? Yeah, not much of a choice. Liam would get his later.

“Fine,” I said.

With a nod, he pried up the pin on my left wrist while I pulled myself up and chewed on the right one. When he finished, he freed my ankles and helped me with the last bolt. I fell to the floor with a wet slap, right into my own congealing blood.

Gun still extended, Liam yanked me by the arm and shoved me toward the window. “There’s a blanket just outside. Climb up on that shelf and pull it through before you crawl out. And Goddamn it, hurry. Parthalan will be back any second, and I don’t know where Clancy is.”

“Great.”

I did as Liam said. Once I climbed through the window, I turned and thrust my hand down to him. “Come on. I’ll pull you up.”

“Just get out of the way.” He fired a few more rounds before the gun clicked—its magazine empty. I moved in time to see something pale streak past and land on the grass a few yards away.

“How did you do that?” I gaped at Liam but averted my eyes when I remembered how little he wore. “And why are you naked?”

“Shut up and get in the Goddamn car!”

“I don’t like cars.”

“Move!”

I did, but my legs collapsed beneath me. Had the shackles drained something out of me? I pulled myself along the grass, gritting my teeth as I crawled, shivering in the damp air.

Liam grabbed me by the waist and sprinted, dragging me toward a red sedan parked alongside the house. He wrenched the door open and rammed me into the back seat. I pulled the door shut while he ducked behind the other side of the car.

Bullets flew again.

“If you don’t put up that fucking gun, you’re going to eat it, Sebastian!” Rourke screamed.

When the crackling of energy met my ears—the same sound I heard in the cellar as Rourke drew power from the freezer—I screamed. “Get us out of here, now!”

The driver door opened, and Liam crawled in, staying low as he fumbled with the keys. The crackling grew louder. Blue light arced into the night. All the little hairs on my arms rose, and the hair on my head prickled.

“Now, Liam.”

Rourke wasn’t supposed to hurt me because of his king’s edict, but he was, after all, a psycho.

A moment later, the car roared to life and fishtailed on the grass before heading for the road. The night lit up blue behind us. The bumpy gravel driveway gave way to the smooth Route 59. I thought I could hear Sebastian screaming.

“I need you to undo what you did to me,” I said. “I’m healing somehow, but I’m still bleeding all over your car, and I feel weak.” My mostly bare skin perked up in a rash of goose bumps against the cold leather seats and Liam’s nearness.

“Not until I get you away from here,” Liam said on a huff of air. “I need to touch you, and I need to concentrate.”

I glared at his profile. “You’re just afraid I’ll hurt you.”

A heavy pause stretched out the silence. “That too.”

Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, our eyes watching for movement around us. “I don’t hear anything.”

Liam turned to look at me. “Why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know.” I scowled and scanned the empty road out the back window. “They’re not following us. Why?”

“I knifed all of their tires, but it won’t slow them for long. Parthalan will know we’re gone by now. It’s him we need to worry about, and he doesn’t need guns or cars.”

Questions piled up in my head. “Where did you get the gas for this thing? I didn’t think you could buy it around here anymore.”

“This car doesn’t run on … conventional fuel.”

I shook my head. No time for cryptic shit. “I need to know a few things before I decide whether to go with you or to get the hell out of this car.”

“Not now!”

“Yes, now. It wasn’t any coincidence I ended up at that farm, was it?”

A growl rumbled in his throat. “No.”

Using the headrests of the bucket seats, I pulled myself forward so I could look at him. Reminded of his nudity, I stared at the dashboard. My hands strained to reach out and touch his skin, but I dug my fingers into the leather, instead. “I need more than that. Why did I go there, and no one-word answers. I know I felt a surge of power, but it disappeared as soon as I got close to the house.”

“Because I lured you there with my energy, that’s why. And it’ll take too long to explain, so don’t ask me.” His tone ratcheted up.

“Don’t you dare yell at me, Liam, if that’s even your name! You have no right to be pissed. I’m the one who was royally fucked over.”

“My name’s Liam Kane. We were told to keep you there until Parthalan arrived. I don’t know about the others, but I had no choice.”

“How did you heal the bullet wound? I could feel it, so I know it was real.”

“We don’t need our Light to heal. Anyone like us can do that. Now, shut up. I need to think, and I can’t with you yammering on like that.”

“What do you mean by Light?”

“The well of energy inside us that gives us our power.”

So, he has it, too? “What happened to the real Conners? Or were they already dead when you took their place?”

Silence. His jaw flexed as he drove.

“Liam!”

“All right! We had them tied up in the barn.”

I covered my eyes with my palms. “How many?”

“Parents, two boys, and a girl. Happy now?”

“Happy? No, I’m not fucking happy.” My breath hitched in my throat. “When Clancy left the shed that night—” I sucked in a trembling breath, certain I didn’t want the answer. “How old is the girl?”

After a long, strained pause, Liam said, “Don’t ask me. I didn’t know until—I won’t talk about it.”

I shook my head. Rage turned my guts into a pool of black fire. Another family’s life destroyed because of me. “Why the accent and the cop story?”

“Because you’re too damn observant for your own good. I knew shit about farming, and I wanted to ask you questions, so I came up with a cover you might buy.”

“Fine. Why are you helping me now? I thought you were afraid the Glass Man would hurt somebody.”

Liam uttered a pained cry and pounded his palm on the steering wheel. “Their bodies were dumped at the front door of the Black City while we were—” His breath hitched. “My sisters.”

I rubbed my aching head. “Rourke?”

“Of course it was Rourke!” His voice thundered.

I jumped back against the seat and stared at the profile of pain and suffering: jaw held tight, eyes narrowed to slits, and a vein jumped in his temple.

“They were carved up.” He let out a wail, but it turned into a piteous scream. “Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” A fist pounded on the wheel punctuating each word. If we’d been going fast, we might have ended up in the ditch.

Saying ‘I told you so’ would have been cruel. Saying I was sorry seemed inadequate. Before I thought about whether or not I should tell him, my story spilled out of my mouth.

“When I was thirteen—the day I became a woman, or hit puberty, or whatever you want to call it—I accidentally turned my bedroom into a pile of rubble when I got angry at my brother.” I gripped the leather until my fingers ached. “I hurt him. He just stood there while I hit him in the face, again and again. I didn’t even know what I was doing, or why. And I couldn’t stop.

“I woke up the next day. My room and Milo were back to normal. He and my mother told me I just had a dream, but my little sisters acted weird around me for the rest of the day.

“That night, my mother grabbed me out of bed and dragged me down the street to Nan’s house. My whole family was there inside Nan’s door—in their pajamas—even my little sisters. They were five. I’ll never forget the look of terror in their eyes. Mother pushed me ahead of her until we came to Nan’s bedroom. She put a backpack into my arms, and then put her hand on the hardwood floor. It opened like a flower. I was so stunned I couldn’t even ask her how she’d done it. It was the only time she’d done something—out of the ordinary.”

Some of the tension went out of Liam, and his shoulders lowered. He turned a little in his seat.

“She shoved me into the hole, a tunnel that must have taken months to dig out.”

I clutched at my chest, the sounds and sights of that night gripping me by the throat.

“Go on,” Liam said. “Please.”

I swallowed the sob and wiped my nose. “She told me a man would come for me. She handed me the music box and told me it was the key to our people, that I would meet a man who would show me the way home. She told me to run. She told me to listen to the earth and the wind, to look for kindness in unlikely places, to not be afraid of the wild things—that they would care for me. She told me a lot of rules to follow when I left.

“And then I heard the screaming.” My words were all mixed up with a sob. “From the other room. They were dying. I could smell the blood, could hear their cries. I heard crashing and saw light leaking in under the door from Nan’s living room.

“Mother smiled at me, touched my face. She made me promise to be brave and to outthink him so I could live to put things right. I gave her my promise, and she closed the floor above me.” I drew in a jagged breath and let it out. “But I stayed. I listened to her die, the last of her breaths while he howled like a deranged god. I stayed until her blood dripped through the floor and covered my face, and I couldn’t do anything to help her but scratch at the floor.”

“Jesus,” Liam said.

“The Glass Man killed them all, and I have a promise to keep, but I don’t know how. Hell, I don’t know what all of it means, and now I don’t even have the music box.”

“Parthalan has it, but I don’t think he knows what to do with it.”

That made two of us. “I’m just one person. How can I possibly stand against him?”

Liam didn’t answer. I didn’t really expect him to, but I’d hoped he might have something encouraging to say.

“How did your mother explain your hair and eyes to you? You had to know you weren’t like the other people around.”

“She must have done something to alter my perception. We all looked just like everyone else, peach skin and blue eyes. I saw my true skin for the first time after she died. When I saw my eyes a few weeks later in a gas station bathroom, I cried.” I blurted a laugh to cover the hurt. “She must have been so ashamed, homeschooling me so nobody would find out what a freak her daughter was.”

“She was trying to protect you, I’m sure—”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

After a long silence, he said, “Do you know who your father is?”

“I asked my mother once when I was eight. The instant the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. I’d swear her eyes changed color, almost to black, and her skin went to ash. She opened her mouth a few times, but I stopped her. I would have done anything to take that agony from her eyes. I never asked again.”

11

“Where are we going?” I couldn’t stand the silence in the car any more.

“Seven Gates,” Liam said.

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles whitened. “It’s the gateway to Dun Bray, the city of the Seelie Sidhe and their Court.”

I leaned forward as if that could help me make more sense out of what I’d heard. “English, Liam. I don’t understand what you just said.”

“I know you’ve been wondering what we are.” He fidgeted in his seat. “We’re fae—Sidhe as we’re originally known.”

“What? Fae, as in faerie? You have to be joking.” I laughed, but it faltered. “I’ve read every fairytale and legend from old Celtic, to Greek, to Norse to see if anything fit what Parthalan is, but nothing ever did. And the fae are supposed to be small and winged. You’re not small and winged.”

“Legends rarely get anything right. Your mother was the queen of the Seelie Court, and now that everyone in the royal family is dead … but you …” He sighed. “You’re the queen of the Seelie Sidhe.”

I ignored the sickness in my stomach. “Are you telling me you’re not human?”

“I’m telling you we’re not human. You and me, and all of the men you met in the last two days. We’re fae.”

“I don’t understand what that means!” The words flew out in a shrieking panic. My mind ached under the weight of the truth. “Are you saying I’m like Parthalan?”

“You will never be like him. He’s the most sadistic—God, you know what he’s like. He’s the King of the Unseelie Court. Before the humans started destroying the planet, we were one people. We serve the spirit of the earth, the Goddess. It’s her heartbeat that filled you before you healed me.

“We were the guardians of her creatures, but we disagreed on what to do about the humans. We split centuries ago after our civil war. Half of our people believed that no life should be destroyed. The other half wanted to wipe out the human race. Your mother led half to Dun Bray, a hidden city created for her by the ancestors after the fae war. The queen of the Unseelie led the rest and took the Black City. Parthalan killed her six months ago.”

We both tensed when headlights came over the hill in front of us and huffed out breaths when they passed us by. In the light, fresh tears glistened on Liam’s cheeks.

“The queen,” I said, “was she your wife?”

He laughed, but it held barely contained sorrow. “My mother.”

“Shit.” I didn’t want to feel sorry for him. I wanted to hate him, to humiliate and hurt him, but the knot in my stomach wouldn’t listen to reason.

I chewed on my finger while I thought. “But your eyes are more like mine, and the rest of those men—fae, whatever—have eyes similar to Parthalan. If your mother was the queen of the Unseelie, then …”

“After the war, my father followed your mother, and my mother stayed as queen of the Unseelie.” He took a jagged breath. “I look like he did. Both Courts consider me a half breed now, but the Unseelie accept me because I’m the former queen’s son. To some, that still means something.”

“A half breed? But you said they were one people once.”

“We were one people, Lila. You included.”

I let out a groan. “Whatever. Just go on.”

“The Seelie are vain, but generally kind. They cherish life, but they hold a gigantic grudge against the Unseelie. The Unseelie are more accepting, but they’re purists when it comes to protecting the sanctity of the wild lands. They hate anything that carries Seelie blood, anything that would preserve human life. I don’t know the reason for the differences in eye color, but anyone who lives primarily in Dun Bray beneath the faerie mounds has developed deep blue eyes, and the ones from the Black City have the ice blues. You and I are the only exception to that rule—and no, I don’t know why.”

My fingers wove together. “Why do I want to touch you and Parthalan so badly, like the need to breathe? It makes me sick.”

“It’s a fae thing. We touch for a lot of reasons. Comfort, to feel connected to one another, as a form of communication. We’re insatiable sexual beings, and we’re drawn to some more than others, like you and I are. It can be intoxicating and sometimes even addicting.”

“Great. Just fucking great.” I stewed over that for a minute. “Why do the insects have a fit when he’s around?”

“They only react when he’s near you, so I think it’s the Goddess’s way of warning you.”

“Does your mind feel—heavy when he’s near you?”

He looked at me in the rear view mirror. “Heavy?”

Great, so I’m the only weird one. “It’s like his presence pushes me away.”

“Hmm. Maybe it’s because he’s your polar opposite, the night to your day. The two of you can’t exist naturally with the other, but you still have a profound connection to him, two halves of a complete cycle.”

I shrugged. That actually made a lot of sense. “You told me you believe the humans need to die before the world will recover. Did you mean it? Would you really help him destroy the human race?”

“Yes. No. Hell, I don’t know. Until I met you, the answer was yes, but now …”

“Now, what?”

“Nothing. Just drop it. I can’t think.”

“Fine. It all sounds ridiculous, anyway.” There were so many questions floating around my head I didn’t know which to ask first. “Is your father still alive?”

Liam turned the radio on and cranked it up. A twangy country song boomed out.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since your mother left Dun Bray twenty years ago. Seven Gates has been impassable since then.”

“Wait, how old are you?”

“Six hundred, give or take a decade or two.”

I groaned, wishing I’d wake up and find the whole conversation a bad dream. “Why did my mother leave?”

“To hide you, I think.”

“But why?” Was she ashamed of me?

“God, I don’t know, all right? All I know is that some believe you have the potential to become the most powerful of the Sidhe. Most of us receive some form of cumhacht, power, once we come of age—yours is the Force of Will—and once a mating has been granted by the Goddess, we receive another cumhacht. The common belief is that you’ll be blessed with more gifts than the standard two, and so will your mate.”

A thought niggled me, coated my veins with frost. “What do you mean by a mating?”

He met my eyes in the mirror. “A marriage, a bonded pair.”

I coughed, numbness sweeping through me. “You used the word mating for a reason. How do two fae become a mated pair?” Don’t tell me. Please, don’t tell me.

When he did nothing but hunch closer to the steering wheel, I pounded on his seat with the heel of my hand. “You’ve got to be shitting me! It’s true isn’t it? That’s what happened back there with the voices and the light. You said something about a blessing.” I waited for him to respond, but he still said nothing. “Tell me!”

“All right!” He turned enough I could see the tight lines around his mouth and his crinkled brow in the lights from the dash. “Sex isn’t always required, but yes, we’re mated before the Goddess, it’s true. God, why do you have to be so fucking observant all the time? If Parthalan finds out—Jesus, I am so fucking screwed.”

“How could you do that to me?” I grabbed on to the seat when my internal world spun.

“Don’t go at me like I had a choice. Do you really think I’d cross Parthalan on purpose?”

My head swam with confusion. The memories of what we did played in my head. Echoes of pleasure rippled through me, and I fought to keep the effect off my face. I remembered the look of fear in Liam’s eyes, the way he stumbled over his words. I sighed. “No, I guess you wouldn’t.” I paused for a while with a strange twinge in my stomach. “Do you regret it?” The instant the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back. Why the hell did I have to ask that?

Some of the rigidity went out of Liam’s posture, and he sat back in his seat. “No, I don’t. What I felt with you—your scent, your skin, the look in your eyes, the feeling of your spirit slipping through me—was the most incredible experience I’ve ever had. Even if I die tonight, I won’t regret what we did together. Even though I didn’t choose this, I wouldn’t undo it even if I could.”

“We have to undo it. Yes, it was—” I shook my head, unable to find a word that would end that sentence in a way that didn’t make me sound like the sex-starved lunatic I’d become under his touch. “I will not be tied to you. Once we get to Dun Bray, I don’t want anything more to do with you.” My hands strained to reach for him again before I pinned them between the seat and my legs. A fist tightened around my lungs. Part of me wanted his comfort, to become lost in his gaze again. Never had anything felt so right. Never had I found a peaceful corner to curl up in, a place where the horrors of my life couldn’t reach me.

My teeth clicked together. No! He betrayed me. He’s one of them. It was all a lie.

“If there’s a way to undo it, I don’t know it. You felt the power we created together, and I know you enjoyed my touch as much as I enjoyed yours, so stop being so stubborn and accept it. It’s the will of the Goddess.”

I cracked up at the sheer absurdity of his words. “Fine. That’s just great. I’ll find a way to undo it on my own.”

“You won’t be angry at me forever. You’ll realize soon enough that you can’t stand to be away from me for very long.”

I made a disgusted groan. “You arrogant, pompous shit. I’ve never needed anyone, and I certainly don’t need you.”

He shrugged, settled more comfortably into his seat and draped one hand over the steering wheel. The corner of his mouth twitched with a grin. “We’ll see.”

Scowling, I slouched against the seat and crossed my arms over my chest. “What’s your cumhacht?” I needed a change of subject.

“I can suppress power that comes from the mind. I can’t touch power like Rourke’s because it’s a force that comes from the cellular level. His power requires touch, so it’s limited, at least.”

“And what about that fireworks show in the cellar.”

His muscles flexed, but he didn’t say anything.

“Fine, keep your damn secrets. Tell me what Parthalan wants from me.”

“I told you, I don’t know.”

“I don’t believe you. Regardless, what do I do now?”

“Sit back and let me get you to Seven Gates, that’s what. If you can get inside, I’m sure you can find one of your people who can answer the rest.”

Numbness swept through my body as his words sunk in. My people. I slumped against the window as if someone had let the air out of me. “Just for the record, I think you’ve completely lost your marbles. But let’s pretend what you’re saying is true, and my mother wanted me to become the leader of these—fae you talked about. I don’t know the people of Dun Bray, the Sidhe-whatever. I mean, where have they been all this time? Why didn’t one of them come to get me, or at least tell me what the hell I am?” My voice had fallen into a squeak. I clutched at the worsening tightness in my chest.

“Why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying! Why didn’t my mother tell me? Why did she let me wander through life thinking I was a mutant, or a freak? How could I not be human?”

“It’s not so bad,” Liam said.

“Let me recap. I’m supposed to be some faerie queen of a people I’ve never heard of, and I guess that means Parthalan killed my family to further some political agenda. I’m expected to single-handedly defeat a raging lunatic, and now I’ve ended up in an arranged marriage to a lying dirt bag. Does that about cover it?”

Liam sighed. “Just try to get a bit of sleep. You’re overwhelmed, I get it. It’s a long drive, so take some time to think it through, and I’ll get you home.”

Home? Dun Bray wasn’t my home, and there was no way Liam could be the person my mother meant to take me there. She had no more use for liars and cheats than I did. I wanted to scream as my emotions boiled over, years of not knowing, of loneliness. Sorrow and anger crashed in on me all at once with the weight of an entire ocean. I put my hands over my face and turned to the window, pulled up my knees and clenched my teeth until it dissipated. The car grumbled down the road as country music filled the silence with pathetic songs of heartbreak, to the beat of drums and the whining of a steel guitar.

The screaming of tires called back my wandering thoughts. Liam grunted as he hammered the brakes, and the car lurched to a stop so fast I slammed into the back of the front seat.

12

“What’s happening?” I swallowed to get my heart out of my throat and peered through the seats, rubbing my chest. Dust filled the wedge of headlights in front of us. When it cleared, a gasp burst out of me. More wolves than I’d ever seen stood in rows, like ranks in an army—at least ten wide, maybe twenty or more deep.

“Fucking wolves.” Liam jammed the car in reverse, but when he threw his arm across the other seat and twisted to look out the back, he shook his head and turned forward again. “Behind us, too.”

When he threw the car into gear again, I pressed myself between the bucket seats and grabbed his shoulder. The jolt of energy that raced up my arm threw me for a second, preventing speech. “What are you doing? You can’t just run them over.” I looked out at the golden eyes and bared teeth, my chest heaving above my frantic lungs.

“Those wolves have chosen a side, Lila. You need to choose yours.”

“Shit.” He was right, but we couldn’t just kill them. Could we?

“I’ll huff, and I’ll puff,” Liam said as the tires squealed against the pavement. The car lurched forward on a collision course with teeth and fur.

I only had time to fasten the seatbelt around me before the vehicle reared up as though a giant had picked it off the pavement by the front bumper.

Both of us screamed. The car fell backwards onto the roof—a terrible sound of crunching metal and the tinkling of broken glass coming as it hit. Liam, who hadn’t fastened his seat belt, crashed down onto the roof. He looked up at me, where I dangled upside down in my restraint, defeat clear in his eyes. They widened, and he clutched at the seat. His scream pierced the eerie silence.

“Liam!” I couldn’t see the reason for his pained cries, but I reached out my hand to him as I struggled with my seat belt. Before I unbuckled the latch, he disappeared out the broken window.

I hardly saw him go.

When I freed myself and fell, I scanned the road through the shattered window, looking for Liam. He sat on the pavement outside. His bare skin bore long jagged cuts from the glass. A white wolf had its jaws around the back of his neck, growling and tugging at him. Liam’s hands pried against its teeth but only managed to slice his fingers.

“Stop it!” I scrabbled through the glass to get outside. “Let him go!”

“Oh, Lila,” Parthalan said through a deep sigh as he leaned against the front of the car. He crossed his legs at the ankle, and his arms over the breast of his thousand dollar grey suit. “This soft spot you have for Neanderthals and traitors is your greatest failing. I will cure you of it in time.”

“Here I am, dickhead.” I pulled myself to my feet using the car door for leverage. “Now call off your dogs, and let Liam go.”

“Let him go?” Parthalan belted out his twittering bird laugh again. “Oh, you are amusing, princess. He’ll most certainly be coming with us to the Black City.” Those arctic eyes swept from me to Liam, turning from amused to rage filled. “Whether he comes whole or in pieces will be his choice.”

My stomach churned, and my head throbbed.

Parthalan sauntered over to Liam, crouched down beside him and angled toward me. “I suppose you told her about us?”

Liam grunted as the wolf shook him again. “She deserved to know.”

Parthalan rolled his eyes, but his attempt at nonchalance didn’t cover his annoyance. “Tell me Liam, what are you keeping from me?”

“Nothing!”

With his lips stretching into a malignant grin, Parthalan grabbed Liam’s jaw and squeezed. Whining, the wolf let go of him, bowed its head and backed away. Parthalan whispered into Liam’s ear. He struggled at first, kicked his feet and growled, but as the seconds passed, the color drained out of his complexion, and he fell silent. The light faded from his eyes, leaving haunted shadows behind. He swallowed hard.

“Stop it!” I ran forward a few steps before a ruddy wolf blocked my path. “Whatever you’re saying, stop it! What difference does it make? You’ve got me, so enough with the fucking king of the hill routine.”

With his lips pressed against Liam’s ear, Parthalan laughed and threw Liam back. His head smacked against the pavement. Parthalan drew his foot back and launched it into the fallen man’s ribs—or fae, or whatever the hell he was. The wet, cracking sound of breaking bones sent a jolt through me. I flinched and clutched my chest as if I had been kicked. Why did I hurt so much? I’d heard of sympathy pain, but the ache in my ribs went beyond that. My anger still chewed at thoughts of him, but something else had snuck in there, too—something I didn’t understand. A tightness set into my heart that had nothing to do with physical pain. I didn’t want Liam to die, but why did I care if Parthalan kicked him around a little? Hell, an hour before, I wanted to do it myself.

“Because you are not of darkness, Lilabear,” the ghost of my mother’s voice echoed in my head. “You care even when it’s hard, even when you have been wronged, because that is our way. Open your heart and trust what it tells you. Come home, my love.”

“I won’t fail you,” I whispered to my mother’s spirit as Parthalan continued to beat Liam. The copper taste of his blood filled my mouth. My flesh ached in the places where bruises appeared on his skin. The wolf in front of me planted its feet and barked as I moved forward. “I will never be you, Mother. I will never fill your shoes, but as long as I live, I—won’t—fail—you.”

The wolf snapped at me, backed up a step.

Then another.

And another.

Parthalan paused to wipe splatters of blood from his face and looked up. I didn’t know what he saw in my face, but he turned toward me, his body rigid, fists held tight.

My focus shifted to Liam, cold worry spreading out from my soul. He didn’t move at first, but after a few seconds, he moaned and wrapped his arms around his stomach.

I let out a breath I’d been holding and took another step, and another. Fury replaced the cold with scalding heat, and I hoped it shone from my eyes as I fixed them back on the wolf who guarded me. “I don’t want to hurt you, wolf, but don’t test my patience.” My voice had degraded into that even, unemotional tone again.

Step.

Step.

Step.

The wolf tried to hold my gaze but ended up dropping its amber eyes, shook its head and turned to Parthalan as if looking for guidance or permission. He gave a flick of his narrow fingers, and the wolf turned back to me, hunched in on itself and slinked away, whining.

“Who did you say your father was?” Parthalan pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his blood-speckled hands with it.

I gave him my ‘fuck-you’ smile.

For the first time since I’d met him, he appeared on edge, his face held so tightly, little lines appeared at the corners of his pursed lips. “Only the Unseelie have power over the Goddess’s beasts. I’ve suspected for some time you were spawned by one of mine, even though you look pure Seelie. I’ve had my doubts about your potential, but perhaps the ancestors were right after all.” He grinned, erasing the uncertain mask and unveiling the evil clown again. “We will see tonight if you live up to the prophecy.”

Prophecy? What the hell did he mean by that?

I took another step. “Your wolves are a bunch of pussies.” I laughed, a stumbling, drunken sound. “I’m surprised at you, Glass Man.”

Step.

Step.

“Haven’t you learned by now that all it takes to shake a pack of weak dogs is a dominant who won’t stand for their shit?” My voice boomed by the time I’d finished.

“Rourke,” Parthalan called, amusement glinting in his eyes.

“God, can’t you do anything yourself?” I edged closer still.

“Would you please escort my future queen to the car?”

“What?” I squinted at him as if that could help me make sense out of what I’d heard.

Liam echoed me a moment later, groaning as he rolled over to look up at the gloating fae with wide, horrified eyes. “You can’t.” Liam coughed out the words. “The Unseelie would never accept her for their queen.”

“You would be surprised, my little traitor, what I can and cannot do, and what my people will accept given the right … motivation.”

Still shirtless, Rourke appeared like a good little doggie. His eyes begged to give him a reason to hurt me.

I maneuvered to the left to place a wolf between us and played eye ping pong with him and Parthalan, who, in the moment I’d looked away, had moved closer. My lungs seemed to think I’d been running an iron man race, huffing and straining for air that wouldn’t come fast enough.

“I’m not sure what fantasy world you live in, Parthalan,” I said. “But I won’t be your anything, and certainly not your queen.”

As if a door had opened between us, Liam’s spirit slipped inside me, filled me like whiskey to the brim of my crystal glass. My knees buckled, and I flailed my arms but found nothing to steady myself with. Something unfamiliar gurgled in my throat before a drunken giggle burst from my lips. I clapped a hand over it.

“Jesus,” Liam’s voice whispered through my mind. “Yes, it feels good, but could you be a little more subtle about it?”

Why could I hear Liam in my head?

Rourke cocked his head and furrowed his brow at me. He looked across at Parthalan, who gave that meaningless shrug he usually reserved for me. A subtle nod followed.

I didn’t know what to do. It must have been part of the mating process the Goddess did to us. I dropped my eyes to Liam briefly.

He urged me with his eyes to do something. “Just think at me, and I’ll hear you,” he said.

“But—”

“We don’t have time for questions! Now shut up and listen. And stop looking at me.” Liam broke off when Rourke circled me. I twisted my body to keep both the creepy ones in my sight.

Parthalan made that difficult, moving closer, walking an opposite arc to Rourke. The wolves fled back to stand in a line at the side of the pavement.

Cowards.

“If you’ve got something to say, Liam, hurry up and say it, already!”

“What’s the matter?” Parthalan asked in his singsong voice, his eyes wandering up and down my underwear-clad body. He licked his lips. “You’re looking a little unsettled. Come to me, princess. Let me sooth your aches.”

“Fuck you.”

Rourke sniggered. Parthalan didn’t. His lips pursed together.

“Why the drama, boys?” My voice came out strained and not as steady as I would have liked.

“Even a kitten without her claws may have … concealed weapons hidden in her delicious fur,” Parthalan said. “Other skills we haven’t yet seen.”

Sweet. I’d go with that. I flashed a wry grin.

“Don’t fight them,” Liam whispered in my head. “Go with them, and I’ll come and get you. Tone it down, or what Rourke did to you in the cellar will seem like a little slap and tickle.”

“Are you out of your damn mind? Why would I do anything you say?”

“Clancy,” Parthalan called. Something in his voice made everything in my body tense. When I tore my eyes from Rourke—edging ever closer—I found the Glass Man’s glare cast toward Liam. It was not a happy look, but a suspicious, considering one. Had he figured out we could talk?

Clancy, with his round, pudgy face, emerged from the shadows, lumbering the way a much larger man would. His lip swelled and bled. Maybe someone had kicked the crap out of him more recently than I had. That’d be a shame.

“If it isn’t good doggie number two,” I said. Everyone cracked up, except Clancy and Liam.

“What are you doing?” Liam snapped. “Do not antagonize them, or this is going to get a whole lot worse.”

“How could this possibly get worse?” I paused. “Wait, don’t answer that.”

“I’ll show you how doggies do it, bitch!” Clancy cupped his crotch and withdrew a silver handgun from beneath the lapel of his black suit. “Not so fucking tough without your little Force of Will, now are you?”

“Not her, you idiot.” Parthalan spoke to Clancy as though he had trouble hearing or his I.Q. equaled that of a sack of hammers. “Stay here. Question Liam about what he’s hiding and how he was communicating with my little princess, here. Each time he doesn’t answer, shoot him.”

“No!” I lurched forward a step. “I didn’t know we—”

“Don’t say it!” Liam warned through our mental link.

In the moment Liam distracted me, Rourke wrapped his sinewy arms around me from behind and lifted me off the ground. I grunted and kicked at him, but all I could reach was his ankles. He walked backwards past Liam’s overturned car. I wondered why he’d do that, but of course, Parthalan would want an audience. Stupid me.

“So, you are just a harmless kitten after all.” Rourke licked the side of my face.

“God, you are such a freak, Rourke,” I blurted between grunts. “Did your mother drop you on your head once too often, because you are one grade ‘A’ psycho.”

After a brief, crooked smile of satisfaction, Parthalan turned back to Clancy. “If that doesn’t work, start cutting things off.” He walked up to Liam, who clutched at his ribs with one arm while trying to scramble away, and hoofed him between the legs. “Starting with that.”

Screaming, Liam writhed on the ground, clutching his crotch. A painful echo hit me a moment later. I resisted the urge to cover the same spot.

“Stop it!” I shouted, but Rourke took that moment to squeeze the rest of my air out. I coughed and sputtered before his arms eased back.

“I’ll be fine,” Liam’s breathy voice whispered through my head again.

“Look, I might be pissed at you, but I will not leave you here to die like this. Please! Just tell them.”

“We’d all die where we stand. There are things I can’t explain to you right now, but I give you my word I’ll be fine. Stall the ceremony until I can get there.”

“Your word doesn’t mean shit to me.”

“Would you get over yourself!” He groaned. “You don’t have a choice. Do what I say for once.”

Parthalan, strutting like a pretty peacock, nodded to Rourke, who dropped me to the pavement and walked toward the biggest car I’d ever seen. I stumbled rather ungracefully, arms flailing to keep myself upright. When I looked closer at the vehicle, I rolled my eyes. A stretch Suburban. Compensating for something, maybe?

Chuckling to himself, Parthalan wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me along with him, his lips pressed into the top of my head. “We will change the face of the fae tonight, my darling,” he whispered into my hair. “And once our cumhachts have been granted and our Lights combined, we will be unstoppable. We will destroy Dun Bray, reunite our people under my rule, and then rid the Goddess of her plague.”

My body went rigid, and my throat constricted, blocking all intake of air. He couldn’t mean … people. Could he?

“Oh yes, princess. The time for mankind is ending. We shall push the final grains of sand through the hourglass in a bloody hurrah.”

13

Rourke climbed into the shining black behemoth first, and Parthalan shoved me in after him. I scrambled for the far door, but Rourke knocked his arm against my back and sent me down onto the expensive grey carpet. It still had that fresh-from-the-factory scent. I hadn’t smelled it since my mother bought a new car when I was seven. If she’d been hiding me and wanted to blend in, that might explain why she’d bought it. I hadn’t realized until that moment we never drove the car, it just sat in the driveway. Maybe my mother had a problem with metal objects, too.

The door clanged shut as the engine roared to life. On the initial lurch, Rourke rolled over and slammed against the back seat, laughing. His hair fell over his face in dark strings, adding the perfect touch to his creepiness.

I leapt up and scrambled over him to the back seat. After a brief glance at Garret, who cowered near the window beside me, I searched the moonlight out the back window for Liam. Clancy had him by the throat with one hand, and the gun pressed to his forehead with the other. The wolves stood at the side of the road.

“Come now, my darling,” Parthalan said. “Sit by your King.”

My fingers dug into the leather upholstery, but I clenched my teeth so I wouldn’t utter the words burning in my throat. How could the Glass Man do that to one of his own people? Why did my heart hurt as if it had been crushed?

When I could no longer see Liam, my chest seized up and a sob pooled in my throat. I will not cry, not for him, and not now. A flash, followed by another in quick succession, lit up the sky. The distant echo of gunfire met my ears. A frustrated growl burned deep in my chest as I turned around. Was he dead? Would I know if he was? Yeah, I’d know—I think. He’ll be okay. He has to be.

Rourke knelt in front of me, wearing a smirk. I came close to smacking it off him. “Your King has requested your presence,” he said. “Learn obedience now, or I’ll be forced to teach you later … the hard way.”

I noticed he didn’t call me his pet in front of his King. Coward.

“King.” I spat the word at Parthalan. “I have no king, and you’re not fit to rule a herd of goats.” Liam had told me not to antagonize them, but I couldn’t help it.

A dark shadow flashed across Parthalan’s crystal eyes, and his black hair stirred, the light in the ceiling glinting off the subtle hints of purple. The grin spreading across his lips held no humor, only malevolence. He patted the seat on either side of his legs. “Come to me.” He watched me with his dangerously beautiful eyes. “Greet your King properly.”

Oh, hell no. My empty stomach clenched, and I folded my arms. “Go back to whatever hell you crawled out of.”

His gaze slid over to Rourke, who’d climbed onto the seat beside Garret. A blue spark flared a moment before Rourke jammed his hands against the young man’s chest. Spine bowing and eyes rolling up, Garret screamed the way dying men do—a high keening sound I’d heard hundreds of times.

I scrambled across the floor and sat on the seat beside Parthalan, every muscle corded and taught beneath my skin.

“No.” He shook his head, patted the seat again. “Sit across me, one leg on either side, facing me.”

The screaming stopped when Rourke paused and looked at Parthalan.

Garret sobbed, his trembling hands pressed against the window. The thought of straddling Parthalan, especially wearing nothing but panties and a bra, made my spine itch. Something always happened when he touched me that way, but … did I have a choice? Could I suck it up, swallow my pride to save the kid? When I hesitated, Rourke hit Garret again.

I threw my leg over Parthalan. He hooked his hands behind my knees and pulled me against him. He was obviously happy to have me there. My lip curled up in disgust.

“That’s my good girl.”

My power surged behind the shield Liam had contained it in. “Don’t patronize me.” I couldn’t bring myself to look into the cold abyss contained within his eyes, so I stared out the window. “I’m here, so tell your guard dog to back off. Bring Garret over here where I can see him.”

“Mmm, so demanding.” Parthalan brushed lips across my jaw and slid his hand along the other side of my throat. I fought the urge to gag. “I suppose it wouldn’t harm to indulge my queen.”

Garret climbed onto the seat beside me, his ice blue eyes as large as the moon and just as bright. He mouthed, “I’m sorry,” wiped away the tears streaming from those sad, frightened eyes.

I didn’t say anything back, but I hoped my look told him that I didn’t blame him.

When I noticed Parthalan’s skin touched mine and I didn’t want to rip his clothes off and roll around on him the way I usually did, I sipped in a breath. My hackles stood out as I thought it through. If I could feel Liam’s pain and hear him in my head … what else would happen to me?

“Come now, my darling, you’re spoiling the mood.” Parthalan grasped my face and forced me to him. Those arctic eyes pierced me all the way down to my core. “Why so tense? Your muscles have turned to stone when they should be molded around my body by now. And you haven’t tasted me yet.” The pout in his voice made me want to strangle him.

“Hmm, let me see. You’ve been chasing me across two countries for seven years. You killed my family while I listened. You’ve sicced your mutt over there on me, left one of your people to be shot and mutilated, ordered the electrocution of a boy, and now you’re carrying on like a love-sick sociopath. Why am I tense? I’m at a loss here, Parthalan.”

He sighed. “Sarcasm is unbecoming a lady of the Court.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a lady of the Court.”

“Oh, but you are, my darling. You are the queen of the Seelie Sidhe and their pathetic Court—soon to be dissolved. You will be my right hand as I rule them all.”

“But my lord!” Rourke knelt on the seat beside us, his shocked face so close I leaned away. “I am your faithful servant. Am I not—”

“Hush, my friend.” Parthalan released me and placed his hand on Rourke’s cheek. “You are not being replaced, only augmented. The three of us will sit upon the thrones of the new fae Court, and all will bow down before us. Do not read more into what I say.”

Sighing, Rourke wrapped a hand around the pale one on his cheek, closed his eyes and melted into the touch.

“Well, this is very touching,” I said. “I’ll just leave the two of you alone.”

I pushed against Parthalan to climb off, but he wrapped his arms around me. His hand slid up my back to my neck and pressed my cheek to his, facing the slimy weasel beside us. “Once the queen has been officially … broken in.” The two of them snickered while I rolled my eyes. “Perhaps we can share an evening together, just the three of us.”

What? A threesome with a Thor wannabe and a psycho who cared more about his hair than human life? Over my dead body.

“Oh, yes,” Rourke smiled as though he’d been offered a hit of heroine. “Until then, permit me to oversee her training?”

Parthalan pressed his lips against my temple. They curved into what I assumed was a grin. “I could think of no one better, old friend.”

While they carried on with their little interlude, my mind wandered off to Liam, a note of desperation slipping into my thoughts. Where are you? Something opened in me. A doorway filled with light. A flash blinded me, but I kept my startle reaction inside. Scents of the forest swirled around me, the pine, the dampness in the evening air.

“Liam?” I thought to him. Another flash of light—longer and brighter. Ethereal light. Moonlight. The sound of large wings beating against the wind overwhelmed my ears. I almost raised my hands to them—an instinct to block out the jarring drum-like sound—but kept them pressed against Parthalan’s chest to keep a little distance from him. I caught a glimpse of white feathers with dashes of black. A moment later, the foreign sights and sounds disappeared, turned off as if a switch had been thrown. Was I seeing through the eyes of … the trees? No! I would not add insanity to my list of issues.

A shred of relief filtered through the worry. Somehow I knew Liam still lived—not that I believed he’d be able to help me again. Why did it even matter? He betrayed me! Stop thinking about him!

Parthalan grasped me by the face again and aligned it with his. I flinched. His pearlescent skin glowed. He looked so deeply into me it took every ounce of strength not to squirm. “Now kiss me before Sebastian takes us home. His method of travel can be somewhat disorienting for someone who has never experienced it.”

“What do you mean?” I said, proud my voice remained strong, even though my insides were in chaos.

“You’ll see. Now kiss me, or I’ll give the boy to Rourke for the rest of the night.”

I glanced at Garret beside us and found him huddled into a quivering ball. A halo of sunlight hair hovered around his head as if still charged with electricity. His trembling hands covered his ears, his head shook back and forth, and he whispered, “No, no, no,” over and over again. A single tear spilled from his lashes and raced down his rosy cheek.

The sight gripped me by the heart and tore it from my chest. I turned back to Parthalan. Defeat must have shown in my eyes because his smile spread, eating up the bottom of his face.

“All the power in the world, and you’re still weak.” Rourke grinned.

I leaned away from Parthalan so I could get a better look at the psychotic weasel beside him. Parthalan allowed my movement, but raised one brow.

Fury filled my limbs with a potential for destruction. My fingers curled into a fist, aching to be set free to pound something. “You know nothing of me, freak show.” My knuckles cracked Rourke across his smug face, catching him square in the nose. I tipped over with the force of the punch, but Parthalan grabbed me by the hips and brought me back to him. I ignored the pain in my knuckles.

Parthalan tilted his head back and belted out a laugh. Rourke jerked his body toward me, but his king waved him away with a few flicks of his fingers.

Scowling, Rourke scuttled from the seat. Low grumbles fell from his lips.

“Although that was entirely entertaining, no more stalling.” Parthalan sighed. “Now press those pouty Seelie lips against mine. I have missed you so.”

I swallowed the runaway train of black words and leaned in, my breath jagged, my pulse leaping in my throat. My lips hovered above his. The scent of night clung to him—dew, the crisp freshness of the air, and the organic aroma of green, if green had a smell. It would have been easier if he smelled evil to go along with the rest of him, but part of me wanted to wrap myself up in that scent, to close that last inch of distance. No. The revolted part of me reared its head and gave me a mental kick in the ass. That was new. Normally I had little control with him. Did that have something to do with what the Goddess had done to Liam and me? A tiny shred of hope permeated my reeling mind.

I swallowed hard, licked my lips. He writhed beneath me.

The car lurched to a stop and slammed me into Parthalan. We both came away with bloody lips.

“Can you do nothing right!” He pounded against the window dividing us from the driver’s seat.

Sebastian’s voice came over the intercom. “I thought you might like to witness the fruits of your labor, my King.”

A terrible grin slid across Parthalan’s face. He spun me around on my knees, shoved Garret from the seat with his foot, and pressed my face against the window. He wrapped his arms around me from behind. “Watch,” he whispered against my ear. “See what I have started and we will finish together.”

I didn’t want to look, couldn’t imagine what he meant, but curiosity forced my gaze to the window. A few moments later, something caught my eye. Fire, but it moved in small clusters. Oh, no. Torches. I scanned the moonlight and made out six dark forms, four of them holding the flaming torches. They stalked up to a small bungalow not far off the road. Smoke trickled out of the brick chimney. The windows were all dark.

Two of the dark forms smashed the front door. The rest disappeared around the back of the house. Screams ripped open the silence and sliced through my ears. Orange flame ate the curtains in the bay window. People burst out of the splintered front door.

“Let me go!” I struggled against Parthalan’s iron grip. I had to help them. “They’ll kill that family for a few cans of food!”

He gripped my wrist with one hand and pressed the button on the intercom system with the other. “Kill them all except the youngest boy and the older girl.” He snickered. “And then make him watch.” He released the button.

It took a moment before I could find enough air to speak. My guts twisted. “I counted at least six people in that house. Why would you kill them?” I struggled to break free of his grasp, but he pulled me back into the circle of his arms.

One of the car doors opened and slammed shut. Sebastian sauntered into view, swinging the car keys round and round his finger, all casual and light steps, a guy off to meet a date for a movie.

“No one understands humans the way I do,” Parthalan said. “One boy who witnesses the horror he is about to witness will turn into something useful to me.”

I froze under the scenarios that formed in my head. “You mean he’ll snap and kill a bunch of people? Oh, God. Is that what you’ve been doing all this time, why there are so many psychos around?”

“You call them psychos, I call them weapons in my war against the human disease.”

“Why do they always burn the houses after?”

“Why, to hide the bodies, of course. I can’t have my brainless thugs getting picked up for murder, now can I?”

I ground my teeth. “Have you killed people all over the world?”

“No. At least not directly.” He chuckled, nuzzling into the side of my neck. “Spread a rumor here and there, slip the agencies of warring countries false intelligence about an impending attack from the other, provide some fae-enhanced fire power. Presto! They annihilate one another out of sheer bravado and stupidity.” He drew in a breath, sighed. “Wonderfully brilliant, don’t you think?”

“You’re truly sick.” The more I struggled, the tighter he squeezed me. He forced my face to the window again.

Sebastian, his hair glistening like fresh blood in the silver glow, held a gun on a teenage girl. A boy knelt in the grass in front of them. I didn’t need to see the look on his face. My heart had been ripped out the same way when my family died.

After forcing the girl to lay face down on the grass, Sebastian walked over to the other family members, stuffing the gun into the holster inside his black jacket. All of the darkly dressed ones stood around watching casually. How many murders did one have to see before their soul died? I couldn’t carry that thought through to completion.

Pain tore through my body when a woman, probably the mother, screamed as Sebastian broke her like a matchstick. The moon cast enough light to show me her limbs were bent in disturbing ways. The man fell soon after, followed by the other two children. I’d never had the urge to kill Parthalan more than I did in that moment. If I’d had access to my power, I’d have buried him in the earth and used it to crush him into red goo.

When Sebastian finished, he grabbed the girl and boy by the throats and dragged them toward the Suburban like mice in the claws of a lion. I already knew what Sebastian would do to her. Damn you, Liam! Why couldn’t you have released my power?

Rourke plastered his face against one of the other windows and snickered. Adrenaline surged through me. I needed to hurt them. All of them.

Sebastian forced the boy to his knees at gunpoint and pressed the girl’s face to the window right in front of me, a hand wrapped around her throat. She had strawberry blonde hair and appeared to be in her late teens. Her eyes stretched open wide. Fear spilled dark shadows behind them. Each of her frantic breaths sent clouds of fog across the glass. Her desperate pleas transcended the car, and my soul.

I closed my eyes and searched for a way to my Light but found none. The barrier seemed to be growing denser as time went on. Instead, I let the adrenaline build, a rocket about to launch. When I could no longer contain it, I threw my head back and cracked Parthalan in the face. He released me with a roar. I kicked off the back of the seat and landed on the floor. Rourke leapt on me, but my feet caught him square in the chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. Garret kicked him over and jumped on him. I’d have never guessed the young, quivering guy had the courage in him. My respect for him grew a little more. I threw the door open and scrambled out.

Outside, Sebastian didn’t look up while he fumbled with the button on the young girl’s jeans, grunting like the pig he was. I threw a fist at him, aiming for a place on the far side of his head and catching him across the jaw. He rocked sideways.

“Bitch!” He stumbled and went down.

“Run!” I screamed. The girl bolted, but the boy just sat there gaping at me, that soul-shattering look contorting his face into something unnatural. I kicked gravel at him. “Run, God damn you. Run!”

He scrambled to his feet and ran toward the woods.

I turned back to Sebastian but landed on the gravel before I realized he’d knocked me down. A little parade of white lights danced an endless circuit around my eyes. Red hair cascaded over my face as Sebastian picked me up by the throat and squeezed. He lifted me off the ground as though I weighed nothing. I’d always been stronger than most people, but he was a tank. Maybe that was another fae quality.

“Release her!” Parthalan’s face appeared in the open car door. “Put her inside and drive, you imbecile.”

An explosion rocked the house. Flames shot into the night sky. I shoved Sebastian away and rubbed my throat. Numbness engulfed me as if my body hid the aching in my soul so the hurt couldn’t touch me yet. Glaring at Parthalan, who looked back with amusement, I climbed into the car and sat beside Garret on the back seat. He covered his face with his hands, but I could still see the beginning of bruises and scarlet rivulets trickling from his lip.

Rourke sat in the corner of the opposite seat, glaring at me, and by the way he held his body, I thought he was sulking, too. Poor baby. Blood trickled from Parthalan’s nose, where I’d head butted him. That should have given me a little satisfaction, but all I could see were bodies as they crumpled to the ground and the boy who watched. All I could hear were their screams. Smoke from the burning house clung to my skin—an acrid, bitter scent. I scrubbed at it, trying to get it off, but it only intensified the smell.

The car started again. A few pathetic man giggles burst from Pathalan’s lips. A moment later, the light around the car flared. I leaned closer to the window for a better look. My pulse kicked into overdrive. Silver light shivered and pulsed over the trees. I drew in a breath that never came out as the land folded, pressing together like the air box on an accordion.

The pressure on my mind threw me to the floor, and I cried out, clawing at the pain in my head.

Black ink swallowed the world.

14

“Time to wake up, princess.” A velvet voice floated to me, distorted and distant.

Pain rippled through my face. I screamed out in my head as I climbed through darkness. Lost, so lost. More pain brought light to the other side of my closed lids. I ran toward it, hardly able to breathe. Someone slapped my face so hard it snapped to the side. I wondered how long that had been going on.

When I opened my eyes, I stared at the ceiling of a car. “Where am I?”

Parthalan’s sideways face appeared above me, his black hair flowing over me, tickling my nose. “I was beginning to worry.” He grinned. “I want you awake for your next journey.”

He looked up, nodded. Someone grabbed me by the ankles and yanked me out of the car until my butt landed on the pavement. One of them had clothed me in a blue cotton dress identical to the one I’d ruined. The thought of their hands all over me while I slept made me want to peel my skin off and climb into a vat of bleach.

A dress wouldn’t have been my first choice of getaway gear, but at least I wasn’t half naked anymore.

My eyes didn’t work quite right, throwing off my equilibrium as I struggled to my feet only to stumble back to my knees. Still no shoes, though. Great.

Rourke sat on a rock beside me, snickering.

God, I hated that guy.

Sebastian climbed out of the driver-side door and leaned against the car, staring needles at me. I inspected his face for damage I might have done, but I didn’t find any. Pity.

The sky, like a smear of rainbow sherbet, cast a pink glow over everything. Dawn. How long had I slept? The bigger question: why had I slept? I rubbed my eyes and surveyed my surroundings.

“Why are we at the Grand Canyon?” I asked in a breathy, uncertain voice. How had we arrived there so fast?

“I’m about to take you home.” Parthalan climbed out of the Suburban, dragging Garret by the upper arm. The boy whimpered; his complexion faded to white.

“Here? The Black City is in the Grand Canyon?” I struggled to my feet again, determined to stay there.

Rourke shared a gleeful look with Parthalan, who threw Garret to the ground. Humming to himself, Parthalan hooked his arm around my neck and pulled me the rest of the way to the edge of the cliff. Small boulders and scrub brush lined the rim on either side of us. He stopped, yanked me in front of him and rested his chin on my shoulder.

My brows knitted together as I stared at the gaping hole in the earth before me.

“Are you ready for eternity with me, my darling?”

Shit. Panic jolted down my spine. I pushed back against him, my feet propped out to find purchase on the rock. My mind seized, and everything turned a paler shade than normal. “What are you doing? You chased me all this time just to throw me over a cliff? You’re fucking insane!”

The wind picked at my hair, tossed ribbons of it against my face. So far down. Don’t look, you idiot! I didn’t enjoy heights. No, scratch that. Heights petrified me.

Adrenaline burned through my body, and I lost control of my lungs. A longing for Liam’s touch gripped me. Are you alive? Where are you?

The same vision I had in the car overtook me. I could smell the forest again and see bright yellow eyes. Bird eyes. The white feathered head turned a little and stared right at me as if it heard me.

“Time to go.”

My vision snapped back to the ledge as Parthalan pushed me a little closer. The edge waited no more than two feet away. My bare toe kicked a rock that skittered across the ground. It clinked and tumbled down the cliff face for what seemed like forever. A whimper trembled on my lips.

No! I won’t let him do this. I won’t fail you, Mother.

After a moment’s hesitation, I went limp, dead weight, falling to my knees. He’d either have to come with me, or let me go. He gripped me tighter, but I slipped through his fingers onto the ground, so close to the chasm that part of my knees hung over. I threw my body to the side with whatever strength I had and thrust my palm against his knee. A war cry exploded up my throat. His knee snapped back into an unnatural angle.

Parthalan screamed and bent over, clutching his buckled joint.

I scuttled along the stone on my hands and knees. He caught me by the ankle while I scratched and clawed, but he dragged me back. I kicked and flailed without success, a mouse pulling against a train engine.

Garret made a move toward me, but Rourke slammed a fist across the back of his neck. He went down with a thud.

“Lucky for you I heal faster than most.” Parthalan winced as he yanked me to my feet again. “I do admire your tenacity, but for that, there will be consequences.”

What consequence could be worse than falling a mile and creating a red puddle on the canyon floor? I sipped in a breath.

He stepped closer to the edge, pushing me along in front of him. I whirled to face him, stared into those pitiless eyes and let him see the fear in mine. “Just shoot me, rip my head off, tear my heart out, whatever. Not like this. Please.”

Another step.

The stone crumbled beneath my heel. I pressed myself closer to him, my legs trembled. “Please!”

Step.

I held onto the ledge by my toes. My knuckles turned white as they gripped Parthalan’s lapels. The wind picked at my dress and hair. It isn’t supposed to end this way. Not yet. Liam. Regret filled me. I’d never know his touch again, never have his spirit fill me with his intoxicating essence. Guilt over those his king had killed warred with the part of me who wanted to forgive Liam.

“Why are you doing this?” The first hot tear left my lashes and tumbled down my cool cheek. A dark sickness filled my soul.

Parthalan laid a lingering kiss on my forehead. “Because I can.”

I looked into him and found nothing but cold insanity staring back. He’s going to do it. Oh, God!

He threw his weight at me, hysterical laughter rushing from his lips.

We fell.

The wind whipped around us, stole my breath away. I lost my grip on him, gasping and shrieking, swinging my arms and legs like a drowning swimmer. The pressure of wind against my ears sent pain through my head. The ground approached impossibly fast. I’m sorry, Mother. So sorry.

My direction changed in an instant as if a magnet drew my feet toward the cliff face. A moment later, I crashed into something hard. My head told me up should be a different direction than the grey stone ceiling above me.

Feet clad in shiny black shoes strode over to me, and the rest of him crouched down. “Did you enjoy the trip?” Parthalan wore a mischievous grin, his eyes shining with laughter. My curled fists ached to pound him in the face, but I held them against the black marble floor.

“Where are we?” My voice shook. “We fell … how did we get here?” I tried to stand, but dizziness sent me into the wall twice. I gave up and sat back down. Rourke appeared a moment later with a sagging Garret in tow, and Sebastian dropped down right after. Did they drop out of the ceiling?

The look on my face must have been a good one because Parthalan and Rourke both broke into deranged laughter. Sebastian stared at me with a sneer.

“Traversing the portal to the Black City can be a little … unnerving, and the shift to this reality does tend to upset the equilibrium for a while.” Parthalan wiped away his amused tears. “If anyone attempts entry without my permission, the gateway simply lets them fall to their death. Brilliant, don’t you think?”

Brilliant wasn’t the word I would’ve used. Insane, maybe. Fucked up with a capital ‘F’, certainly. It made sense. Only creatures as completely mental as Parthalan would consider throwing themselves into the Grand Canyon with only a chance of landing in that God forsaken place.

“Take her to my chamber and have Althea and Willa dress her in something more …” Parthalan stroked his chin.

“Provocative?” Rourke offered.

“I was thinking outrageously slutty, but provocative will do.” He patted Rourke on the shoulder and crouched by me again. “Our moment is almost upon us at last, my darling.” He kissed me, but I stayed rigid while his tongue wormed its way between my lips. Vomiting into his mouth would have been satisfying, but it wouldn’t come.

With his lips still hovering over mine, he added, “This is usually the part where you ravage me. Perhaps the journey was harder on you than I thought. Forgive me?”

“Forgive you? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I met those glass eyes with every ounce of fury and hatred I had in me. “Maybe you’re just not as good as you think you are.”

Rourke looked like a soda bottle that had been well shaken, his lid barely holding. Garret slouched against the wall. His skin held a green hue, his eyes willing me to shut up. Sebastian twirled the car keys on his finger, bored or nervous, I couldn’t tell which.

Parthalan’s eyes flared. I thought I saw black flames burning behind them before he turned and set them on Rourke. “No harm is to come to her. Do not fail me in this.”

He stood, smoothed his hands down his suit and pulled his fingers through his wavy hair before he disappeared through the tallest wooden door I’d ever seen.

“Can you walk yet?” Rourke strutted toward me.

“If it means you’ll keep your creepy hands off me, I’ll do back flips and cartwheels.” I used the wall to haul myself to my feet. My brain told me I should be sideways, but as I put one foot in front of the other on the cold marble tile, it believed what my eyes and gravity told it.

Rourke muttered something I didn’t catch as he threw open the doors. He glared at me. “Hurry up then, all of you.”

I made it two steps outside the door before my jaw dropped, and I craned my neck to look into the sky. “Is that water?” A churning purple liquid moved above me.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Rourke gazed up with reverence. “Our sky, frozen in perpetual night. It isn’t liquid. It’s the souls of our ancestors lingering to protect and guide us.”

I turned to tell him he must have forgotten to take his meds, but something caught my attention before I could get it out. Scrambling to get back to the doorway, I shouted, “What the hell is that?” A dark mass in the sky wrapped in swirling fog stopped, and if I didn’t know better, fixed its glowing orange eyes on me. My heart did its best to break free of my chest.

Sebastian slammed into me as he walked by. My head snapped back, and I yelped. “Watch it,” he barked as he took off down the street.

“It’s okay, Lila.” Garret’s meek voice came from beside me. He pointed at the sky. “That’s Bain, lord of the Sluagh, the guardians of the Black City. Whatever you do, don’t call them the Sluagh to their face. Call them the Host.”

A dark figure made of thick grey smoke dove into the ground. I expected to see a bloody splotch on the cobblestone when the mist cleared, but instead I found a creature cloaked in black. He stood rigidly. Strange orange eyes stared back at me from beneath the hood. I couldn’t see the rest of his face, and the tingles creeping up my spine didn’t want me to. Black feathers brushed the street beneath his cloak.

“What is this?” Bain hissed from lips that didn’t sound like they were designed for the English language.

“Good evening, M’lord Bain,” Rourke said with a bow. “My King has requested his queen be taken to his chambers. The ceremony will be in two hours in the throne room.”

“She will bring pain here, pain and light. The Host do not like the light.”

“I’m sure my King will hear your grievance, M’lord.”

Bain nodded subtly, studied me for so long my feet carried me backwards until I bumped into the wall. He exploded into the liquid sky, a dark rocket with giant wings bursting from the smoke to carry him higher until I could no longer see him.

I fell into silence for a moment. “Well, you don’t see that every day. What is he, exactly?”

Garret came to stand beside me. “They’re fallen fae. My father says they recover the ones that die and bury them in the Cargun Cemetery in the Sluagh side of the city. When they rise again, they’re undead. Most keep a milder version of their cumhacht.”

“Got it,” I said. “Avoid dying in the Black City.”

“You don’t have to die here for them to get you. They fly outside the faerie mounds at night looking for any that might take their fancy.” Quickly, he added, “They don’t take many Seelie, though.” If he meant to ease my mind, he didn’t succeed.

“Isn’t your father looking for you?” Rourke scowled at the young fae. “Even if he isn’t, get lost.”

Garret’s eyes reflected worry and fright, but I didn’t think he feared for himself.

I did something I never did. I hugged him. Fiercely. “Go,” I whispered. “I’ll be okay.” His touch comforted me, and it took a great effort to release him.

He went, but not before he looked back a few times.

“I knew Bain would bitch about something,” Rourke muttered to himself, shaking his head. “Appropriately named if you ask me. Bane of my fucking existence.”

I chuckled. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he scared the bajeepers out of you, Rourke.” Nice to know someone could put the freak in his place.

Blue light flared as he neared me. “The Black City holds enough power that I can draw it out of the air. I could fry you where you stand before anyone could stop me.”

I choked on the rest of what I wanted to say. “Yeah, good to know.”

“And I’ll see him cower in my presence once Parthalan rises above the fae like a god.” He turned and started down the cobblestone street. “Come on, that whiny shit made us late.”

I thought about going back through the door, but without my Light, Rourke had me at his mercy—not a place I wanted to be. I followed after him, my gaze darting around at the dark silhouettes of buildings on either side of the road. Wolves trotted out from between them and formed lines up and down the street—spectators at a midnight parade. Did they dive over a cliff to get here, too? Surely not. Then again, they did work for Parthalan. If I had to dive over a cliff or have my bones melted by him, I’d choose the leap, too.

The watchful amber eyes made my hackles stand on end, but I kept trudging forward, jogged to catch up with Rourke, who sped along and muttered to himself.

Something moved near one of the buildings, so I stopped. Staring at the dark siding didn’t bring me any closer to knowing what it was made from—not a material I’d ever seen before. It expanded and contracted as though it breathed. Two windows above the black hole of a door flickered with candlelight. Did it just … blink?

I pressed my hands against the cool surface without knowing how I’d arrived next to it. “It’s alive,” I said. “It’s smooth, like snake scales.”

Rourke appeared beside me, stared at the building, then at me as if he’d never seen me before. His eyes grew to crystal platters. “What the …” He grabbed my wrist and yanked me back to the middle of the street. “We have to go. Now. And don’t touch anything else.”

“But how does a building breathe? And it blinked, or winked at me, or … something.”

“Shut up and walk!”

I stumbled along in his grasp. Thankfully Rourke’s touch didn’t affect me the same way Liam’s did.

The whole city had a heartbeat of its own pulsing beneath my feet. More and more buildings shifted, the walls of their breasts rising and falling, their window eyes tracking me, blinking once in a while. They recognized me. They lived for me. I didn’t know how I knew, but I did.

We climbed a gradual hill and came to a stop before a wide set of stairs. They led to the base of a stone castle stretching far into the sky.

Liam had told me to stall. The instant I thought of him, I caught another glimpse of those white feathers sailing across the sherbet sky. What am I seeing, Liam? Would he still come for me? Oh, hell. Acting didn’t make my skills list, and I’d never counted on anyone before. Why, after one steamy night in the sack, did I suddenly care for him? I needed to forget it. I had more pressing issues.

Rourke mounted the steps, and I followed after him. The stone sang beneath my feet as if tickled by my touch. Half way up the stairs, Rourke ducked and screamed. I pasted myself to the stone, my eyes scanning the area around us, but I found nothing but Rourke writhing around a few steps above me. He batted at the air as if something clawed at him.

“Run!” A low, distant voice shouted at me. “Now, before the illusion wears off.”

After a moment of searching, I found Garret standing with a bearded man. They were in a turret in the beast of a castle looming above me. “Run, for Goddess sake. Now!”

I’d like to say he didn’t have to tell me twice, but apparently he did. I hiked up my dress and ran. Down the steps I went, stumbling twice before I made it back to the cobblestone and sprinted in the direction we’d come from. If I could make it back to that chamber, maybe I could find a way out.

Wolves flooded the street in a patch-work quilt of greys, whites and blacks. Fuck. The mass boiled and snarled, a stew of teeth and fur. Adrenaline picked up my feet and propelled them in the other direction, past the steps and into a part of the city devoid of light except for a purple glow from the spirit pool overhead.

I squealed when smoke rockets darted from above and piled into the street in front of me. More of the creepy Sluagh guys. Double fuck. I darted between two of the scaly buildings but found two wolves and more winged, hooded creatures closing that route. As I backed out, the cloaked beasts on the street formed a half circle around me. I ended up against the wall of a large house, stroking my hands over it in a soothing motion.

One of the shorter Sluagh made a strange guttural sound, followed by low hissing. I thought maybe they were talking in whatever language they used.

Another stepped forward—tall, with aqua eyes, the color of Caribbean seawater over a white sand beach. He answered the short one with a series of short, hollow sounds. They carried on, back and forth until my patience came to an end.

“Who are you?” I flattened myself against the wall and searched the ground for a weapon or something useful. Nothing. Figures.

“I am Rodan.” The tall one shuffled closer. “Captain of the guard, and this—” He nodded to the short one. “—is Tobias, lieutenant.” Rodan cocked his head. “Is this true? Do you carry the sweet, sweet blood of Queen Arianne?”

“My blood is none of your business, Rodan. Now what do you want?” Why did he call it sweet? How did he know my mother’s name? Doubt spread into my core with the speed of fire through dry tinder. Was it true, what Liam had said? My mother, a queen of the faeries? That would make me … Mother-loving hell!

“See,” the short one hissed. “She is trouble. Kill her now, bury her in the bone yard. Take her for your own, and use her to reclaim the Black City. Take back what is rightfully Sluagh.”

No way. Over my dead body. That was the point, I supposed.

Think, Lila, think! If they hated the Unseelie … it had possibilities. “I want the king dead as much as you do,” I blurted.

The six Sluagh before me froze beneath their black cloaks. Had they heard me? The wolves sauntered up and sniffed at them.

All of Sluagh’s heads snapped to the side, stared down the street as if a single brain controlled them all.

My head cramped under the magnetic push. The Glass Man drew near. His fury carried on the wind like a stinging, choking fog.

“Get me out of here, and I’ll help you. I swear it,” I said to Rodan.

“No!” Tobias screeched. “Bury her. Claim her before it’s too late.”

Rodan’s aqua marbles settled on me. Although I couldn’t see the rest of his face, the crinkling at the corners of his eyes betrayed his smile. It forced a new energy into my body.

I gulped as the pressure on my mind increased. The wolves whined and paced.

What could I do? I had no power to fight them, no weapon, and no place to run. Where are you Liam? That flash of feathers appeared again with a glimpse of color.

“Take her to the bone yard and kill her.” Rodan pointed a gnarled, sparsely feathered finger at me.

Fuck.

15

A sea of hooded Sluagh rushed at me. I fell backwards through the spongy wall of the house I leaned on.

“What the hell?” I regained my footing on the slippery black tile. Did the house just … eat me?

When I put my hand against the red surface, it had solidified again, as smooth as the outer scales. Ridges ran the length of the space, ribs in the belly of a beast. I turned in search of the flickering light source in the room. A black wrought iron chandelier holding dozens of white candles hung in the center. Wax dripped and dried around the base like melting skin.

An oversized black leather sofa sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by two white wing chairs and a rocking chair by the fireplace. Wispy black curtains hung over the windows.

“Lila!” Parthalan roared beyond the walls.

While my mind spun escape scenarios, thundering wings and baying wolves sent vibrations through the house.

I darted around the room with my fingers tangled into my hair so it would stay out of my face. “What now?”

As if the house heard me, a staircase grew out of the floor beside me and stretched up to the second floor. Nifty. I understood how Alice felt, but instead of Wonderland, I’d stepped into Hades on acid.

I scrambled up the steps.

At the top of the stairs, the window eyes along the blue walls closed, blotting out the purple sky beyond. “Okay, smart guy, now what?” Great, now I’m talking to a house.

The racket outside grew louder.

Similar to the lower floor, sparse furnishings populated the large open space: a bed with white satin coverings, a black area rug, and another white wing chair similar to the one from the living room. No pictures graced the walls, and nothing else indicated that someone lived there.

An explosion rocked the building. Debris clattered across the floor downstairs. I jumped, stumbled and fell onto the bed. The house shuddered and groaned.

“How dare you defy your King!” Parthalan’s shoes tapped out a devil’s tune on the floor below. “Return her to me, or I will burn you to the ground.”

My eyes stretched open wide as I searched for an escape. “Open your window again, and I’ll go out.” The window to my left blinked open.

One of the Sluagh hovered outside, the hood thrown back to reveal a jagged black beak protruding from an elongated face. Large red eyes bulged above it, and black feathers partially covered ashen skin.

“Okay, bad idea. Close it up again.”

Choose the devil, or his minions? I didn’t like either choice, but option ‘c’ hadn’t presented itself yet. My thoughts returned to Liam, that he would somehow keep his promise to come for me. Ridiculous. I gave myself a mental slap. No time for fairytales.

Parthalan’s shoes clicked up the stairs.

“Can’t you close them up or something?” The vibrations beneath my feet changed. It took me a moment to realize they were trembles of fear. I went to the wall and stroked my hand over the smooth surface. The window to my right fluttered, and clear liquid trickled out of the corner. “Oh, don’t cry,” I whispered. “Please don’t cry. I’m sorry.”

“How touching.” Parthalan flowed over the top of the stairs like an angry wind. “In the city for ten minutes and already made a friend.” The glower on his face didn’t match his words. The look said he’d hurt me, and he’d enjoy it.

I didn’t move, didn’t say anything. I stared at him and kept my hands against the wall because it seemed to comfort me as much as the house.

“You resist your King at every turn, defy me, insult me, humiliate me, and now you somehow awaken these creatures after centuries of dormancy only to entice them to turn against me.”

I turned my face toward the wall when he approached. Awakened after centuries? What did that mean?

He stood so close his sickly sweet breath washed over my hair and down the back of my neck. I shivered—and not entirely from fear.

When I shifted to the right, he pinned me against the wall with his body.

He pressed his cheek against my ear. “Have you nothing to say to me? I expect you on your knees, begging my forgiveness.”

“I think you would have been terribly disappointed if I’d come quietly.”

Silence. I held my breath and waited for the pain to come, but nothing happened. He burst out laughing. My muscles contracted. Why is he laughing?

“You do know me well, my darling. The challenge has kept me entertained all these years.”

I concentrated on keeping my body still so I wouldn’t give away my fear. So … did that mean he wasn’t going to melt my guts?

“But for your naughtiness, I have promised Rourke a few hours with you tomorrow, after we’ve enjoyed our wedding night.”

I jumped when Parthalan clamped a shackle around my wrist, the kind that closed with a lock. Goddamn it! I cried out when he wrenched my other arm back and fastened both of them behind me.

“These will slow you down if you somehow manage to escape me again.” He yanked me by the upper arm toward the stairs and turned to the wall. “I’ll deal with you later.”

The iron sapped energy through my skin. “Leave it alone, it’s just a house.”

“Nothing is just what it seems here. Besides, any that stand against me must fall.” He spit out a dark laugh as he guided me down the steps. “Except for you, of course. For now.”

For now? I licked my dry lips. “Why did you choose me? And what happens now?”

“The ancestors told me one would be born among the Seelie who would equal my power. I felt it the first time you used that delicious Light of yours. You were thirteen, merely a budding beauty. The spirits told me if I brought you here, they would grant me a mating before the Goddess, that when she sees our potential as a pair, she would bless us with gifts from both Courts.” He threw me down the last few steps. I landed on my knees. “But I decided to wait until I could kill the queen first. Then you would be mine alone to command instead of both of us serving as her puppets.”

The house continued to shake, causing the chandelier to swing back and forth. Wax spilled opaque globs onto the black tile. I jumped to my feet and turned to face him. “Both Courts? So the Seelie have different gifts than you do?”

“We are granted gifts from the wild, from the Goddess herself. The ability to shift, to have an animal to command, control of an element, and even to regenerate after death itself. There are too many to name, really.”

I backed up until I bumped into the wall. Parthalan’s eyes devoured my legs as he strutted toward me. “And the Seelie?” I squeaked.

He snickered. “Afraid, and still you question me. Bold. Wonderful.” He sighed and brushed a few strands of hair away from my face. “You and I have a similar cumhacht. Most Seelie powers have to do with seeing past or future, healing, flight, psycho kinesis, and other pointless trifles. Force of Will is a unique cumhacht among the Seelie, hence my interest in your father.”

I scowled, looked away and clenched my teeth so I wouldn’t unload a torrent of curses at him.

The walls groaned. I surveyed the gaping wound Parthalan had made in the side of the house. What should have been splintered wood and drywall looked more like bone and flesh. A hole had been blasted from floor to ceiling. Black liquid oozed out and pooled below.

“How did you do that?”

“Distractions won’t save you from my questions forever, my darling.” He followed my gaze. “That’s the work of Rodan, captain of my guard. His talents have come in handy over the centuries, and now he does my bidding instead of that infernal queen’s. Good riddance.” He said the last as though he’d tasted something bitter. I considered telling him his loyal captain had betrayed him by ordering me killed but decided to save that tidbit for later.

“What’s that dark liquid running out of the walls? It can’t be … blood.”

“I’d say it’s dying but not quickly enough for me.”

Ice climbed my spine. “You can’t just let it die!”

A crease formed in his brow. “Why would I save a traitor to the Unseelie Court?”

Because it tried to save me? Because it’s alive and deserves to stay that way even if I don’t know what exactly it is? Those answers would have earned me a scoff and some rolled eyes, so I shrugged.

Parthalan studied my face from so close I could only see his mesmerizing eyes. It took some effort, but I held his gaze. He smirked as though he’d found what he’d been looking for. “You truly are soft beneath that hard shell you wear.” He sniffed along my skin, moaning. “Maybe we could strike a bargain?”

I struggled to breathe in his icy shadow. “What do you want?” What am I willing to give up to save something I don’t understand?

“Just a trifle, really. A kiss, perhaps, the kind only Seelie Sidhe lips can give. To hear you speak the words I’ve been aching to hear from your lips.”

Could I swallow my pride to get it done? The price wasn’t as high as I’d feared, and it would save a life. “And you won’t let this … house die if I do this?”

“I give my word I will not destroy it.” A victorious smile arched his lips.

“That’s not good enough. I know you better than that. You can’t destroy it, nobody else can destroy it, and you also have to heal it.”

That earned me an eye roll. “Sometimes I wish you wouldn’t be so thorough.” He nodded. “Fine, fine, what you said.”

“Say it. You won’t destroy it or have it destroyed, and you’ll have someone heal it if you can’t do it yourself.”

After an exasperated exhale, he repeated me.

He sauntered over to a black sofa and flopped down. Smiling that dark way men do when they’re admiring the view, he spread his arms across the back and drummed his fingers along the leather. “Come now, my darling. Let us share the moment we were robbed of in the car.”

I hesitated, unable to peel myself from the comfort of the wall. How could I touch him without getting carried away? He probably wanted to prove he still had some physiological effect on me, but I had to keep myself under control.

Thinking of drowning puppies and wrinkled old men, I went to him. Stopped. “Stand up. I’m not sitting on you again.”

He rolled his eyes. “You agreed.”

“I agreed to a kiss, not the delivery. Stand up, and I’ll make good on my promise.”

After a few huffs and a dirty look, he pushed himself off the sofa and stood in front of me. We were the same height, increasing the intimacy, but at least my girly bits weren’t pressed against him.

Sighing, he stroked my cheek while he stared at me. His touch still made me goose bumpy, but nothing compared to how it used to be. Nothing compared to Liam’s touch. Think of him. Just this once. I relaxed a little, more in control than I’d ever been with Parthalan.

“Now kiss me and mean it.”

“Uncuff me so I can do it right.”

He pondered that for a moment, shrugged. “I suppose it doesn’t matter.” He dug a key from a pocket inside his suit jacket and unlocked my cuffs. I flexed and relaxed my fingers until they worked properly again.

A moan escaped him when I slid my fingers along his sharp jaw. I didn’t do it for intimacy, but because I wanted to control him. It took everything I had not to retch as I leaned in and found his lips with mine. Energy arced between us, but it didn’t tear me open and eat me up like it normally did. I kissed him softly. When I went to step away, he wrapped one hand around my waist, pressed us together and grabbed a handful of my hair. He kissed me hard, invading me with his tongue.

I squealed into his mouth when he pushed me against the wall. His skin shimmered, and mine answered with a faint rainbow of morphing colors. When he started pushing the hem of my dress up farther, I turned my head.

“Stop! You said just a kiss.”

His breath blew across my ear in ragged puffs. “You are such a tease. The touch of Seelie flesh is like no other, so warm and soft, your scent so sweet. And your power—” He moaned and lapped at my skin. “Don’t pretend you don’t want this, that you don’t feel what we will be once we are mated before the Goddess.”

Can a fae be mated twice? I was starting to see why Liam didn’t want to tell him.

Fire spread through my flesh; my pulse raced. Not as bad as I’d feared, but I needed to get away. “We should wait,” I blurted. “Save all this energy for later, at the ceremony. Don’t you think?”

At first he kept pulling at my clothes but gave up and slumped his head down on mine. “I suppose you’re right. We’ll give them a sight none have witnessed before and never will again.” He released me and went through his little preening routine: suit, tie, hair—the usual.

What did he mean by ‘they’? Knowing Parthalan, sex would be involved, even though Liam said it wasn’t necessary. The thought twisted my stomach, sending acid into my throat. Some sort of ritual must precede the consummation of the ceremony. I rubbed my arms, desperate for some soap and water to wash away the scent of him. I had an unbearable urge to scratch my skin off.

“Now,” he said when he’d finished his primping, “kneel before me.”

“What? Oh, hell no. I am not doing that.”

He tilted his head back and howled a laugh. “I do so love your dirty mind. This is the second part of our bargain, just words, unless the mood strikes you to do more.” He raised an eyebrow. When I did nothing but glare back, he went on. “Now kneel before me. You have given your word. To break your oath can have dire consequences.”

Now he tells me. Not that I had any intention of backing out, but still. Scowling, I knelt in front of him, tucked my skirt under my knees. His gaze slid down the top of my dress, so I cinched it tighter across my chest.

“Now, repeat after me. I am yours, my King.”

My brain cramped. Every time I tried to spit the words out, they turned into barbed hooks in my throat. My arms trembled, and my fingers curled into fists as I stared into his thighs. Lousy, pompous shit.

Parthalan repeated himself and shifted his feet. “Say it!”

I opened my mouth several times before anything came out. “I am—”

Rourke stumbled through the hole in the wall and fell beside us. For once, I was glad to see him. His words came out through panted breaths. “My King, please forgive me.”

“Now?” Parthalan threw his hands up. “Really? Have I surrounded myself with nothing but brainless twits?”

“Oh!” Rourke grinned, stood and brushed bits of rubble from his black pants. “Has she sworn herself to you so soon? You disappoint me, Lila. Even your own people will treat you as a traitor now.”

“What?” I scrambled to my feet, glared razors at Parthalan. “So just by saying those words, you’d own me?”

He cast a fiery gaze at his peon, who shrunk in on himself. “She would have if you had better fucking timing.”

Rourke stuttered a few times. “It was Garret and his father, Donovan. They cast an illusion over me. A dragon. He burned me.” He held up his arms as if to show us the char marks, but they were as smooth and pale as before.

The shadow around Parthalan pulsed and spread like a puff of smoke around us. A sudden wind carried his hair above his head, and his eyes flickered with blue fire. “I can trust no one but myself, it seems. I will take Lila to my chamber and deal with them myself.”

“You gave your oath to heal this house,” I said.

Rourke turned a shocked expression toward his king.

Parthalan cast a snide glance my way. “You didn’t fulfill your part of the bargain. Let it rot.”

“Lying bastard!”

He shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”

Muttering to himself, Parthalan clamped a shackle over my wrist. I yelped and pulled too late. He heaved me over his shoulder as I unleashed a storm of curses at him. He growled, and his muscles hardened beneath me as he strode through the hole onto the street. I didn’t bother to struggle, weakened once again by the shackles.

I had to get the hell out of Parthalan’s world, but there were a few details I needed to know first—like, why did Garret’s father help me?

16

Parthalan carried me up the steps of the castle and waited in front of the towering arched doors. When they creaked open a moment later, he crossed the threshold and tossed me onto the black marble floor.

Rodan, and the rest of the Sluagh I’d seen on the street outside the house, filed in after us and shut the door with a resounding crash.

Parthalan turned to Rodan, his voice commanding respect. “Put a call out to the rest of the Host. Garret and Donovan are to be brought to me immediately. Do. Not. Fail. Me!”

Rodan dipped his head in a nod. His black hood did nothing to hide the disdain in his eyes. He gave subtle hand signals, and several of his brethren slipped out the door.

I climbed to my feet and stared up at the ceiling far above me. “Something’s moving up there.” When I looked closer, the entire expanse boiled black and silver. I backed toward the door. “No, scratch that. A lot of something’s are moving up there.” What is that?

“Those are the Bean Sidhe,” Parthalan said. “Some call them banshee, pets of the Sluagh. They keep a vigilant watch over the Court. Best not to upset them.”

There must have been thousands, but the way they writhed around one another made it hard to tell. Women’s faces floated in black rags, but they didn’t have any eyes, only dark holes where they should be and gaping mouths. My eyes grew larger by the second. My bound hands groped for the door handle behind me, but I ended up grabbing fabric instead. I didn’t make a sound when I turned and found Rodan staring down his black beak at me. As I retreated, I thought I caught amusement in his seawater eyes.

My heart tried to climb my throat.

Parthalan eyed me, laughed right from his belly. “Oh, I do love to watch you squirm, my darling.”

“Go to hell,” I whispered under my breath.

“Rodan, take Lila to my chambers and keep a guard on the door.”

The captain gave that subtle nod again, but he kept staring at me. His face wrinkled up around his eyes as though he grinned somewhere in the shadow. This can’t be happening. The creepy undead guy needed only a moment to snap my neck, and without my Light, I had nothing to defend myself. I searched the hall for someone or something that might be useful to me. Nothing but foreign Unseelie scum and more feathered creeps waited. I shot a glance at Parthalan. For once, I considered him the lesser of two evils.

“I’d like you to take me.” I sauntered back to the Unseelie king, swinging my hips with faked enthusiasm. He stood rigidly at first, stared at me with a wrinkled brow. After a few moments hesitation, his shoulders flattened, and he slid his arm around my shoulders.

Parthalan raised a sculpted eyebrow as he led me away from the cavernous hall and down a wide corridor lined with the same black marble as the entrance. Thick vines snaked along the ceiling everywhere—brilliant emerald lines on the dark backdrop. Tiny yellow flowers appeared in clusters.

A peer over my shoulder revealed Rodan pacing us at a distance, eyeing me as if he knew what I planned to do when Parthalan and I were alone. A few of the other Sluagh pranced and fidgeted behind him, and some of the banshees crept along the walls and ceiling. Their shreds of clothing blended into the marble. Except for the ashen skin of their eyeless faces and the gnarled hands that groped blindly along the surface, they were invisible.

I stifled a shudder and turned forward again. If I had to choose between becoming one of the Sluagh or going with Parthalan, I’d choose the latter. I could sway him with a little flirting and touch. I needed to figure out how to use it to my advantage.

We stopped in front of another wooden door. Parthalan turned and grasped my face in his hands. Despite the desperate urge to shake him off, I stood there and forced a smile.

“I can’t tell you how it excites me that you have begun to embrace me.” He kissed me gently, tracing my upper lip with his tongue. I found the contrast between the psychopath and his soft side disturbing. “Welcome to the honeymoon suite.” He swung the door open with a flourish and led me inside. I wiped off his slobber when his back was turned.

When Rodan approached the door, I slammed it shut in his face with my shoulder and whirled around. “I need to talk to you … my King.” Gag me.

The largest bedroom I’d ever seen stretched out before me. The ceiling loomed high above, similar to the one in the entrance hall, except made from glass. The swirling liquid sky cast a strange shade into the room. The building pulsed with life beneath my bare feet.

“I haven’t much time, but I’ll hear you, my Queen.” Double gag me. He lounged on an enormous bed with red satin coverings. Dark wooden beams rose up from the four corners, supporting an open frame at the top. Red gossamer and ivy hung from it in a scalloped design, something I’d expect if someone made a princess porn movie.

“You can’t leave the Sluagh to guard me,” I blurted when he beckoned me to lie beside him.

He sat up, stared at me as if I’d shed my skin. “Why ever not?”

“Rodan gave the order to kill and bury me in their cemetery just before you showed up at the house tonight. The other one, Tobias, egged him on. He said the Sluagh could use me to overthrow the Unseelie and take back their city.”

He shot up from the bed. “You would accuse my faithful guard of treason?” He held his arms ramrod straight at his sides.

“I give you my oath, it’s true.”

Parthalan shook his head, curled up his lip in a snarl and paced. Ten steps to the wall, ten steps back. His hands gestured as if emphasizing whatever thoughts crowded that psycho head of his.

On his fifth pass, I said, “You’ll wear a hole through the floor if you keep that up. I thought you said you were in a hurry.” I needed him out of my face so I could find Donovan.

A faint sound caused me to turn. I caught a glimpse of two women peering around a door opposite the bed before they disappeared again. The space in which they hid appeared to be either a bathroom or a dressing room.

“Whether true or not, I cannot take the chance. Not tonight.” Parthalan stared at the floor and stroked his chin. “But I must tread lightly, or they’ll bring war upon me anyway.” He looked at me, something unfamiliar pooling in his eyes. I’d never seen him afraid before. I turned so he wouldn’t see my smile. “Willa! Althea!”

The two women emerged, the first striding boldly from the other room. Her long sable hair hung down past her waist, swinging as she walked. She wore a red skirt low on her full hips. It flowed out around her like ripples of crimson water. On top, she wore something similar to a bra in matching fabric. The way she looked at Parthalan made me want to vomit. I finally understood how he thought women worshipped him, or at least how she did. The need in her eyes made me avert mine in case the heat might flare out and burn me.

The other woman, shorter and more voluptuous, peered around the door. After a thorough, wary look, she crept into the room. Her sandy blonde hair lay in two braids over her shoulders. Both women had enormous brown eyes, but she had lashes that would make most women jealous—thick, curled and dark. She wore a similar outfit to the other, except she overflowed her bra and brilliant blue replaced the red. Just as the heat in the other one’s eyes made me turn away, the fear in her drew me in, made me want to pick her up and hide her from the monster in the room.

Red Skirt plastered herself against Parthalan. “What’s yer pleasure, my King?” she asked with a thick Irish lilt as she slid her hand down the front of his pants.

He jerked her arm away and pushed her back. “Not now, Althea. Bathe and dress Lila for the bonding ceremony. You know what I like. You have an hour.”

With a grin, he moved toward me, but Althea grasped his arm. Her face twisted with rage. “Her? Yeh’d take the Seelie over yer loyal pet?”

Parthalan rolled his eyes, turned to Althea. He launched a mocking laugh into the woman’s face. “How could you ask that? How could I not desire Seelie flesh and power over that of a mere selkie?”

“A mere—how dare yeh!” Her brown eyes darkened to black. “Yeh’ve treated me as yer queen, taken me to yer bed. I give yeh all a king could want. Now this one comes, and I’m nothin’ to yeh?” She flicked a long finger in my direction.

A small shift in stance turned Parthalan into something worse, something more imposing if that was possible. “For your insolence, I shall destroy your skin. The sea will be lost to you forever.”

Althea gasped and fell to her knees, pressed her face against his legs and pawed at him. “Forgive me, my King. I only want yer happiness, to please yeh. The Seelie doesn’t want yeh the way I do. I meant no—”

With an annoyed shake of his head, he turned and disappeared behind me, fumbling with my shackles until they fell to the floor. The weakness they caused in my arms began to ease.

He gathered my hair into his hands and pushed it to one side, kissed the side of my throat. A mutinous shiver raced down my skin. “To control the weak is enough for the lesser fae, but to control the strong, to control the one who won’t be controlled—now that is a thrill worthy of a king.” He breathed across my ear, bit along my jaw. I held my body rigid and resisted the urge to scrub my skin. “I’ll be waiting.”

The door opened and slammed shut behind me. My lungs expelled the pent-up air.

When I focused on the woman who knelt across the room, her eyes were impossibly wide as if someone had struck her between them with a hammer. Tears welled above her lower lashes as she wailed at the ceiling.

“How could he?” She screeched. “I’ll kill him, I will. I’ll scratch his fuck’n eyes out.”

“I told yeh this’d happ’n.” The one wearing blue—Willa he’d said—spoke with a soft angelic voice. She shot a wary glance at the door before draping herself around the sobbing woman.

“What did he mean about the skin?” I moved closer.

Willa placed a finger over her lips to shush me and continued to whisper, eyes darting to the door once in a while. “We be selkies. Water elementals we’re called by the Sidhe of our home. Without our seal skins, we’d be trapped on dry land, left to die parched in sight of the Goddess’s great sea.”

“So, you turn into seals, like real seals with these … skins?” I’d never read that legend before.

Willa nodded as she passed a soothing hand over Althea’s hair. “The king took ’em so we’d have ta stay. Said if we show our worth, he’d be lettin’ us go.”

“He lies, Willa. No matter what he says, if he owns a piece of you, you’ll never see it again. How long have you been here?”

Her kind expression turned to sadness. I wanted to take that look out of her eyes. “As prisoners, only since he offed the queen. ’Bout six months.”

I nodded, knowing I’d added one more item to my to-do list. “I’ll help you if I can, but I need you to help me first.”

Althea sprung from the floor as if something had launched her. “Ah, go ahn! Why would the Seelie be helpin’ the likes o’ us?” Her expression couldn’t make up its mind between hope and disdain for me. “The fae do naught but spit on the selkie and use us as whores.”

I jabbed a finger in her direction. “I don’t even know what it means to be Seelie, so you’ll have to forgive my ignorance if there’s some sort of history between you and them. And I’ll help you because nobody should be treated as slaves, especially not by Parthalan. Now enough about that; we’re short on time. While you get me ready for this thing, I need you to tell me everything you know about Donovan, Garret’s father, and get a message to him if you can.”

17

“You have got to be kidding me.” I stood in front of a full-length mirror in Parthalan’s dressing room. “I look like Barbie does S&M.”

Black thigh-high hose hugged my legs. Over top of the fishnet, I wore shiny black vinyl boots with silver heels. They made my legs look a mile long. Black garters held up the hose, and a tiny red thong covered my girly bits, leaving my butt to hang out in the breeze. A red lace-up corset squeezed my waist so small I could hardly breathe and squished my breasts up until they flowed over.

“D’yeh think it’s too much?” Willa continued to primp my hair. Half lay in a lattice-work of braids and the rest hung down my back in bouncing golden curls.

Althea paused from her chore of returning the rest of the fetish-wear to the endless racks of clothing along the far wall. She put her hands on her hips. “We’ve covered her ’bout as much as he’d allow. Knowin’ him, he’d have her goin’ in naught but the red knickers.”

“I guess I should be thanking you, then,” I said. I’d never seen such a large room devoted to dressing. Parthalan’s clothes hung in a mammoth closet through a door next to the vanity table. Mounds of makeup and hair accessories covered the marble surface of the vanity, and some had fallen down to the floor, spraying pink powder halfway across the shining blue tile. All of the clothes he’d made for me were more suited to a brothel catering to the Goth crowd.

A snicker to my left drew my gaze away from the mirror.

“Oh, hell.” I rolled my eyes and looked for something to cover myself with but found nothing but my own hands. “What do you want? Did you come to gloat, you lousy slime?”

Rourke watched me from the doorway. I noticed something different in his eyes, something softer. Was it pride? No. He snickered, a different sound than his normal barking chuckle. “Do you always talk to Rourke like that?”

The two selkies sniggered behind me.

I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer to him. The clothes were different: black pants, a black button-down shirt and an ornate red cloak with golden embroidery slung over his shoulders. His hair had been neatly arranged and secured with a red ribbon tied into a bow.

“Why are you talking about yourself in third person?” I searched for what I’d missed and what the girls found so funny, but I saw nothing obvious.

The ribbon disappeared, and his locks retreated toward his head into a shorter style with lighter brown curls. His eyes changed only a little—swirls of yellow appeared instead of the silver. A goatee sprouted on his chin, his shoulders broadened, and he grew taller by a foot.

I picked my chin off the floor. “You’re Donovan, the one from the tower. How did you do that?”

“It’s my cumhacht.” His amused face relaxed. “I can create illusions that go beyond normal fae glamour.”

“Nifty. But … where’s the real Rourke?”

He flashed a satisfied smile. “I made him think I was you and lured him down to the cell block for a little slap and tickle. He’s probably still shackled to the wall, waiting for you to put on something more … enticing.” He looked me over, rolled his eyes and shook his head.

I snorted. “You what? Why would he be so stupid? He had to know Parthalan would have killed him if we’d done anything like that together.”

“Have yeh met our Rourke?” Althea asked. “Promise him a bit o’ pain and he’ll follow yeh ’round like a kitten after a lick o’ cream. He likes gettin’ as much as dolin’ out.”

We all groaned and nodded.

“Why are you so familiar to me, Donovan?” I moved closer to him. “And why did you help me back there on the stairs?”

“Told yeh,” Althea said. “She don’t waste any time, this one.”

“I see that.” He grinned, sending warmth through my body. The warmth of home.

I turned to Althea. “How did you find him?”

“Yeh lucked out. He found me whilst I was wanderin’ about lookin’ for ’im whilst Willa was doin’ yeh up.” She winked at him and wandered away.

I put my attention back on Donovan. “Who are you really?”

He looked away for a moment. “I thought I’d never meet you. I thought … we all thought you’d perished when Parthalan kept turning up empty-handed.”

“We’ll just …” Willa grabbed Althea, and they went out the door.

He offered me his hand, and I took it with an instant sense of trust. That was new.

“Parthalan could have taken me dozens of times, but he just played with me and left.”

“Because he wanted you for himself. I get that now. If he’d turned you over to the queen, he wouldn’t have been able to kill her so easily. I swear none of us saw it coming. I looked for you so many times, but … Parthalan is a better tracker than I am. I’m so sorry.”

He put his other hand over top of mine. His sad eyes travelled the length of my arm until they landed on my face. I squeaked when he jerked me forward and wrapped his arms around me. His breath rasped as he worked to keep it even. “You look so much like your mother.”

I froze. It took a few tries to find any air to speak with. “You’re my father.”

He pushed me out to arms length, kept his hands on my cheeks. He nodded. A single tear trailed down his dark ivory skin. I caught it on the tip of my finger. Part of me had written him off as a figment of my mother’s imagination, a dream that never truly existed. It was the other part of me who recognized him from the place in my soul where he’d always been with me.

“Then that means—”

“Garret is your brother.”

I backed away, my sight turning inward. “I just need a minute.” I paced, my pulse flying into a tizzy while I thought it through. For years I’d wondered what he looked like, what kind of a person he’d have to be to win my mother’s heart. I’d been near him for a few minutes, and I already knew why she’d loved him. He radiated kindness and affection, a comforting presence in a cold world. One part of it didn’t make any sense. “If Garret is my brother … he must have a different mother.”

“I loved your mother with every part of myself. We were secretly mated before the Goddess after the fae war.” He pinched the top of his nose as if reliving a painful memory. “We don’t procreate easily—only a few couples succeed in producing children. Arianne and I … when we were blessed with Milo, we vowed to bring as many as we could into the world.”

“But … how old is Garret?”

“Fifteen.”

The cogs in my brain screeched to a halt. “I would have been five years old. I’d have known if my mother was pregnant.”

“She used the same glamour she used to change your appearance and to make you believe your skin and eyes looked human.”

“But …” I shook my head. “Why hide that pregnancy and not my sisters’?”

Donovan pulled a chair from the vanity table and motioned for me to sit down. After staring at him and finding no signs of deception, I sat. He knelt before me.

“Arianne knew and loved all of you from the time of conception. She knew Garret would have Unseelie eyes, like me, and he’d be better off growing up among our people. It’s hard for a fae to live happily outside the faerie mounds.”

My mother seemed happy enough. Didn’t she?

I tried to be patient while I waited for the rest. When it didn’t come, I frowned at him. “That doesn’t explain why she would hide him from me, and change my appearance, and didn’t tell me she was a queen, and that we were all fae and probably all had some sort of power. Was she ashamed of me?”

Donovan took my hands and cradled them on my lap. He set his forehead down on them for a moment before staring up at me again. “Her mother, Abigail, the one you call Nan, delivered the prophecy.” His voice deepened and quieted as if he spoke forbidden words. “A golden-haired child will be born to the Seelie with the power to unite them again.”

“And why did mother think it was me?”

He smiled. “Your mother never ‘thought’ anything, my sweet child. She knew you would be the one, could feel your power coursing through her body as she carried you. She fled from Dun Bray to keep you safe. The Seelie had grown weak and vain, so caught up in modern gadgets and appearances that they had forgotten their duty to this earth. Your mother wanted you to meet the Goddess with your own eyes, to commune with her creatures and her people and make your own judgments untainted by the fae of either Court. She knew Greisha, the Unseelie queen, would hear of the prophecy and send for you. Arianne didn’t expect your powers to manifest so soon or Parthalan to find you so quickly after.” He looked down. I wondered what he didn’t want me to see in his face. “She never dreamed Parthalan would set events in motion to destroy the humans. If she had, I think she would have prepared you better.”

“She could have at least told me what I was.” I swallowed the anger down. Numbness swept through my core. “Liam told me nobody wants him because he’s a half breed. So that’s what I am too, right?”

“It doesn’t matter. Nobody will ever know unless you tell them.” He looked at me with fatherly adoration and tucked a stray hair behind my ear. “You and I are the only living fae that know the truth.”

I pulled my hands back and turned away. “Maybe that’s why none of the Seelie Sidhe came to find me. They must know, too.”

“That’s not true. I’m sure they looked for you as I did.” His eyes found me again, haunted. “Other than our family, nobody has seen one in twenty years.”

Did that mean all of the Seelie were dead? I rubbed my stomach to quell the churning. “Why is it so wrong to carry the blood of both Courts? What’s wrong with me?”

“A stupid, centuries-old conflict, that’s all. And I think you’re forgetting the most crucial fact. A child of mixed blood is more powerful than any who came before. You, Lila. You can unite the Courts again.” He stood and leaned against the vanity, cast an unwavering stare at me. “You can return civility to the humans. It may take centuries, you may have to spill blood to see it done, but if any can do it, it’s you. You’ve made it so far on nothing but your own strength of will and tenacity. I have faith in you.”

“That makes one of us.” I bolted up. “Parthalan is about to bind me to him. I’ve already failed.” Would Parthalan be able to tell that I’m already mated with Liam?

“Don’t say that! You haven’t. Go to the chamber and wait. You will leave here tonight just as you are, the rightful queen of the Seelie Sidhe.”

My brow furrowed. “What are you planning to do?”

“We haven’t the time. I need to get—”

“No. I need you to do something for me, and I don’t want you anywhere near Parthalan. He knows it was you who distracted Rourke on the steps. He’ll kill you.”

“You don’t get your stubbornness from your mother, young lady.” His smile held sadness. “I’ll do what I must.” He held his hand up when I opened my mouth again. “Now tell me what must be done.”

I tried to glare at him, but I couldn’t. I sighed. “The selkie skins … do you know where Parthalan keeps them?”

“In locked cold storage a few floors down, why?”

“Can you get in there without raising suspicions?”

A curious grin curved his lips. “I can’t, but Rourke can.”

“Then please, get the skins and help the girls get out of this place. I’ll figure something out with Parthalan. I can’t leave here until I know they’ll be safe.”

Pride flooded his eyes again. “Now that you get from your mother.” He kissed me on the forehead. “Selflessness.”

“If you say so.” I hesitated, stumbled over the words a few times before I spat them out. “One more thing before you go … the buildings, they …” I grunted in frustration and fidgeted in the corset. “If I tell you, you’ll think I’ve gone mad.”

“They live for the one they recognize as their true monarch, their protector and savoir.”

I waved him off. “That can’t be what it means.”

His eyes darkened. “Does Parthalan know?”

“He destroyed one of them when it ate me earlier, so yeah, I think he knows.”

Donovan nodded and opened the door into Parthalan’s bedroom, his lips pressed together. As he went through, he said, “Don’t be angry with him.” He closed the door behind him.

When his words sank into my rattled brain, I followed after him and yelled, “Be angry with whom?” but he’d already gone through the outer door into the hallway. The sickness in my stomach worsened as I walked into the bedroom and sat down on a chair by the fireplace.

Willa hovered at the end of the frilly princess bed.

“How long before I have to go?” I asked.

She came and knelt beside me, watched me with those large seal eyes. “Fifteen minutes. What’s goin’ ta happ’n now?”

“Donovan will bring your skins here, and then he’ll get you and Althea out.”

Althea stopped straightening the covers on the bed and turned to me, her mouth hanging open in shock. The way she’d been drooling over Parthalan, I wondered if she’d actually leave.

“That’s no’ wha’ I meant,” Willa continued. “What’ll happ’n ta you?”

I laughed, a hysterical burst of sound. “I have no idea what will happen. I think Donovan has something in mind, but …”

“Yeh’re afraid for ’im.”

I couldn’t speak, so I nodded.

She wrapped her hands around mine. “I best ready meself, then.” She squeezed my hand for a moment and smiled as she stood. “The selkie won’ forget what yeh’ve done.”

As she walked away, I ached for her to come back and hold my hand again. A ridiculous sentiment that I shook off. No time to fall apart now. I’d found my father at last. I needed to find a way out of the ceremony without him dying to get it done. I’d never escaped Parthalan once he had me in his grasp, but I had to do it that time, even if I had to … kill him. My chest tightened. Killing on purpose would lead down a dark, slippery road I’d sworn never to travel. To save my father, I’d have broken every one of my rules.

18

A knock came on Parthalan’s bedroom door ten minutes after Donovan left. Two fae guards entered, wearing the same black outfits with the red and gold capes that Donovan wore. Their black shoes gleamed.

“I’d like a robe to wear until I get there, Willa.” I peered around the doorframe from the dressing room. The red corset pinched, and the hose itched my legs beneath the vinyl boots. My lips tingled, slathered with a sticky layer of bright red gloss.

“Just as you are,” the shorter of the two guards said. He had thick forest green hair woven into braids and light coffee-toned skin. His crystal eyes held splotches of mint. He stood as straight as a T-square.

Willa shrugged, a frown pulling at her full lips. “Sorry. I’m sure he’ll be wantin’ to show off his prize.”

I pounded a fist against the door and hung my head for a moment before I crossed my arms over my chest and stepped the rest of the way into the room. If I’d had Donovan’s cumhacht, I would have made myself look like a wart-ridden hunchback and crawled into the nearest bell tower.

The other guard’s eyes bulged as if they might pop out and roll over for a closer look. I glared at him. His short hair looked dark at first, but when I looked closer, I found a few shades of plum.

He cleared his throat, offered a little bow. “Pleased to serve you, my Queen.” His deep, mellow voice soothed.

“I’m not your queen.” I couldn’t be as rude as I wanted to be. Who knew which of the fae could be useful later? “Nice to meet you both.” My hips swayed as I walked toward them. Damn boots. No wonder the women who wore them always walked like whores; I couldn’t help it. “What can I call you?”

Green Hair fumbled for the door knob while his eyes scanned me. When he managed to get it open, he gestured for me to go out with a dramatic sweep of his arm.

He stuttered a few times before he spoke. “I’m Lochlann, and this is Cas.” He cleared his throat, and his eyes left me in favor of the wall. He won a little of my respect for that.

I kept my smile plastered on and sauntered past them, nodding as if I gave a crap. Cas’s lips jerked into a pathetic, crooked grin.

Concentrating on the growing ache in my abdomen, I followed Lochlann along the wide corridor. I tried to avert my mind from the impossible task ahead and the consequences if I failed. Liam would have been there already if he’d survived. Doubt slithered around my guts and sickened me.

Lochlann strutted as if trying to keep up with someone who had a much longer stride. Cas followed behind me. We walked along an endless maze of vine-infested tunnels and up a flight of stairs. My feet complained in the boots. Considering I’d never worn heels before, it was a miracle I could walk at all.

“Where are those black banshee things that crawl along the ceiling?” I asked when I couldn’t stand the clacking of my boots anymore. A constant assault of thoughts came at me. What if I can’t stop this? What if Donovan’s plan doesn’t work? How could I stand Parthalan touching me that way again? What if he uses me to destroy what’s left of the human world? A tremble ran through me. Help me, mother. Give me strength.

“Our king sent all of the Sluagh out on a task.” Lochlann peered at me over his shoulder. “He sent the banshees with them.”

Smooth, Glass Man, very smooth.

I couldn’t stand the weight of Cas’s gaze any longer, so I stopped and whirled around with my hands on my hips. Where else can I put my hands in this outfit?

Cas froze. His eyes were fixed to the place where my exposed butt cheeks would have been. I glared as his skin turned from dark tan to several shades of red.

“Having a good look, Cas?” I asked.

“I … forgive me, my Queen.” He stared at the floor.

Lochlann stomped over and smacked the younger fae on the side of his head. “What are you doing? Parthalan catches you eyeballing her like that, and I’ll be cleaning you off the floor with a mop and bucket.”

“I doubt it.” I uttered a frustrated grunt. “Anything that humiliates me seems to tickle his funny bone. What’s so fascinating, anyway? It’s just ordinary skin.”

Cas lifted his gaze, rubbed at his head where the other guard had hit him. “There’s nothing ordinary about your skin. I couldn’t help it, your bare …” He paused, and discovered a few more ruby shades while he gestured to my back side, “I’ve never seen anything like yours, and I’ve never met a Seelie Sidhe before. I feel like I need to touch you to see if you’re real.”

A laugh burst out of me unbidden.

Lochlann narrowed his eyes at me.

“You’re not kidding are you, Cas? You truly can’t help it? Even now you’re staring at my breasts.” His innocence and embarrassment endeared him to me in a backwards sort of way.

Cas smirked and tore his gaze away, but I could tell it took some effort.

“Come on!” Lochlann yanked him by the arm, and they both walked in front of me. Cas kept trying to gaze over his shoulder at me, but it earned him a slap in the head every time.

“So why can’t we do this ceremony thing in Parthalan’s room?” I rubbed my bare arms and rolled my neck. “Does he need a big stage in order to perform?”

Cas whirled around. “The members of the Court wouldn’t fit in his bedroom.”

Lochlann grabbed him by the throat and shoved him into the wall.

“What?” The word came out in a whisper. “Are you saying he’s going to … in front of the entire Unseelie Court?” Not that I knew how many fae that meant, but if Donovan’s plan didn’t work, then I had no chance of escaping a whole herd of fae. No wonder he wanted me scantily dressed—the ultimate humiliation. My feet moved me backwards, and my lungs squeezed down until I could hardly breathe.

I turned and ran, chased by Lochlann shouting, “Stop!”

The boots slowed me down at first, but I leaned forward and ran on my toes. Hallways branched off every few yards. It didn’t take me long to become hopelessly lost. When heavy footfalls drew closer, I darted around the corner and down a corridor. It grew darker and narrower the farther I ran.

“Don’t make me hurt you!” Lochlann shouted between gasps.

“You can’t—” Cas started.

“Shut your trap!”

I turned enough to see how close they were, but I stumbled and fell in the boots. When I scrambled to my feet, cursing, Rourke’s face met mine. My guts twisted into knots. I held my breath and waited for the lightning bolt to fry me.

He winked.

My breath came out all at once. “Donovan. You scared the hell out of me.”

“Play along.” He spun me around, wrapped an arm around my throat and twisted my right arm behind my back.

Lochlann and Cas skidded to a stop in front of us, looked at the floor.

“I’m sure the king will love to know the two of you have failed him again,” Donovan said in Rourke’s creepy cadence. “Run along now. Lila and I are going to have a little chat.” He pushed me forward, and I stumbled along in front of him.

I attempted to show panic on my face, but it wasn’t necessary. Both guards kept their eyes down. They backed away slowly as if any sudden movements would draw a strike from a snake. When they reached the main corridor, they turned and sprinted in the opposite direction we’d been walking.

Donovan let me go, and we walked side by side. “Fools,” he muttered.

“Are Willa and Althea safe?”

“I gave them their skins and disguised them as wolves. I’ve done all I can for them.”

“Thank you.” A bit of tension eased out of my muscles.

“You saved them.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything.”

He put his hand on my shoulder, turned me toward him. My father’s smile coming out of Rourke’s face was disturbing. Pride shined in his eyes again. “Don’t be humble. And don’t be afraid. Our plans are in place.”

“Our? Who else is helping you?”

My father didn’t answer. I stopped and stood in front of him. “Who?”

He averted his gaze. “You must trust me now, and do exactly as I say.”

“I don’t like this.”

A pained laugh rattled in his throat. “Neither do I, but we must go now.” With a smile, he offered his hand to me.

After a few deep breaths, I took it. “Why can’t you disguise me and sneak me out the same way? We could leave together, right now.”

Donovan hung his head before staring back at me. “I’ve tested every exit from this building. Parthalan had Sebastian place a perimeter ward around the entire structure. If you cross the barrier, Sebastian will know it.”

“What are wards?”

“That’s Sebastian’s cumhacht. It’s typically a witch’s power. There are lots of different kinds, but this one is a sort of magical barrier specifically tuned to you.”

“Witches don’t really exist, right?”

“Many races inhabit this world, my child, but now is not the time for that.”

He was right. I shook off my curiosity. “How do you know the ward’s there? And how do you know it’s tuned to me? I mean, are you sure?” My hope faded.

“I felt it, like walking through cobwebs. I didn’t know it was specific to you until I asked Sebastian about it.”

“Cobwebs.” So that’s what I felt that day at the farm where I met Liam. It must have done something to mask their energy from me and keep most of the sounds out. I thought for a minute, picturing the way Liam had closed his eyes right before my senses returned to me that night. “I thought Liam lifted the ward the night Parthalan came.”

“They must have had a metaphysical means of communication between the group. Liam probably told Sebastian to remove it.”

I nodded, somewhat enlightened and more confused at the same time. We started down the corridor again in silence.

A few minutes later, we arrived before gigantic wooden doors that were at least twenty feet high. I turned and stopped short of touching Donovan. “I’m …” I couldn’t say it. His presence reminded me of my mother—a safe haven where I could tell him anything, that I was afraid, or let him see me cry. I wasn’t a little girl anymore. I hadn’t scraped my knee or thought I’d heard a monster beneath my bed. The monster had already dragged me away to his dark cave, and he waited behind that door. I needed to be strong.

Donovan wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. My heart sang.

“Soon you will be free of this place. You will be free to become who you are supposed to be, and one day you can return here as queen. A queen of all fae.” After kissing me on the forehead, he pushed the doors open and stepped through.

The sight before me erased all thoughts from my mind. I stood there gaping, unable to move.

You have got to be shitting me.

An enormous cathedral stretched out so far I couldn’t see the sides of it. The conversations crashing around the room in a deafening roar fell silent, and all crystal eyes turned to look at me. There had to be several thousand, at least.

Donovan cleared his throat. When I tore my eyes from the towering glass ceiling, he urged me forward with his head. I took a step and stopped when it ricocheted like a gunshot into the silence. After a deep breath, I straightened my back, lifted my chin and sauntered down the main aisle toward the raised dais at the far end. I wouldn’t give Parthalan the satisfaction of seeing me squirm any longer than I could help.

Three ornate wooden thrones with red embroidered seats sat on top of the stone platform in the distance. Two benches framed them on either side. Behind them, a stained glass window stretched from wall to wall, a rendition of the Black City, complete with a few Sluagh dotting the purple sky.

On either side of the aisle, there were smaller daises set along a gentle, bowl-shaped slope, so the uppermost one sat far above my head, but still had a perfect view of the entire room. Bodies filled every seat, all grouped in little clusters of fae wearing matching clothes. Mostly, they wore black with a different colored or patterned cloak tied at their throats. Some wore elaborate beaded or feathered hats, while others had gem-encrusted swords strapped to their sides. Every color of skin painted the room.

My heels clacked as I continued toward the front of the Court. Parthalan lounged in the tallest throne on the dais. One leg dangled over the wooden arm, swinging casually. A satisfied, rather wolfish grin spread across his features.

I glared at him.

Sebastian sat on one of the benches, slouched forward with his elbows on his knees. His eyes rolled up to me.

The door crashed shut behind me.

I nearly leapt off my high heeled stilts and turned to find Lochlann and Cas pushing some sort of thick rectangular object along the aisle. A red velvet blanket had been draped over it and trailed along the floor.

Donovan cleared his throat again. When I looked at him, wrapped in his illusion of Rourke, his expression made me think he’d been trying for a while to get my attention. I resumed my course forward and walked until I made it to the edge of the dais in a large open area. Parthalan sat ten feet away, still perched on his throne. Tension drew the muscles in my back taut.

I have to stop this.

The platform arrived behind me. The two guards arranged the blanket neatly all the way around and placed red satin pillows at one end. What lay beneath wasn’t a table, but a thick stone slab on wheels. A sacrificial altar.

I did my best to breathe while I tore my gaze from the makeshift bed to Donovan, who had a fierce look in his crystal eyes. He turned and walked around the king’s dais to the stairs, climbed up and sat in the throne to Parthalan’s right—where Rourke would normally sit, I assumed. He glanced at his watch, then at me. My logical side knew my father sat only a few feet away, but part of me ached to have the safety of his arms around me again.I held myself still.

“My people.” Parthalan’s voice echoed into the room. He rose from his throne, lithe, regal, watching me as he walked to the front of the dais, and jumped down beside me. “This night you will bear witness to a mating between the two most powerful fae ever to have lived.” He paced in a circle around me, studied all of the fae as if it would be a great insult to leave one group unacknowledged. He spread his arms wide, and his voice rose in volume with every word. “And when we rise, bonded, blessed by the Goddess herself, we will cleanse this world of her disease!”

A roar of cheers thundered. All rose to their feet, shouting and throwing triumphant fists into the air.

Donovan’s eyes followed a circuit from his watch to the stained glass window and back to me. I gestured to Sebastian with my eyes, hoping my father would realize he needed to be more subtle. He gave a tiny nod, sat back in his chair and drummed his fingers along the arm of it.

“And now, my darling.” Parthalan sashayed to me. “Our time has come at last.”

“What?” I squeaked. “I mean, already? Isn’t there some sort of ritual first with, you know … words?”

“Oh, there’s a ritual.” He snickered as he traced my bottom lip with his finger. “It begins when I finish peeling the last bit of clothing from your delicious body and spread you upon the altar like the kingly feast you are.”

I managed not to throw up. With a thundering heart, I took a step back, but Parthalan lurched forward and grabbed me by the upper arms. I considered begging. I considered pretending to faint or something equally degrading. My pride wouldn’t allow it. Instead, I held his gaze, my breath puffing out in short bursts.

He kissed me hard, grunted as he pulled me off balance and dragged me toward the altar. The fae shouted, urging us on like a rowdy horde at a titty bar.

I panicked when my bare behind pressed against the velvet blanket. I jerked my head to the side to search for Donovan. A hush fell over the crowd. The kiss broke, and we both looked up.

A swirling, purple cloud descended from the ceiling and engulfed us in an ice cold mist. I shivered from the contrast of Parthalan’s warmth and the frosty blanket around us. It had a pulse and spoke, but I couldn’t understand what it said. My heartbeat slowed in contrast to Parthalan’s amplified rhythm. Our skin glowed light blue. A moment later, the mist evaporated, took the glow from our skin and the chill from the air.

Parthalan released me and held his arms out. “What is this?” He screamed into the ceiling. “You have given your word. Even the dead will be held to their oaths.” He paused for a long time. His posture sagged. Slowly, he turned back to me. The dark intent in his eyes made me scramble over the altar before I looked at him again.

His inky hair blazed around his head, and his eyes had turned to blue fire. “Tell me, Lila. Tell me Liam did not have you while you stayed at that human dump.”

I opened my mouth but closed it again when I found no air to speak with. Avoiding questions usually served me well, so I went with that. “Why would it matter?”

“Tell me!” He pounded a fist down on the altar. It split in two, and the entire room shook. Nobody else made a sound. “The only reason the ancestors would not grant us a mating is if you are already mated before the Goddess.” He punctuated each word with a sharp inhale. “Now … tell … me. Before I get angry.”

Hell. If that wasn’t angry, I didn’t want to see what was.

Parthalan darted around the altar. I shuffled to the far side to keep it between us.

“Lila!” Donovan shouted. My head snapped toward the dais in search of him. He stood beside it, shifting his feet.

The door in my head opened. Liam’s voice whispered through my mind. “Take cover. Now!”

I sighed. When I shook off the initial euphoria, I dove behind the stone platform. A moment later, the stained glass window exploded behind the dais into a startling burst of color and sound. The glass hit Parthalan, throwing him back a few feet and onto the floor. He screeched and clawed at his face where shards protruded in a few places.

Behind me, cries of pain and terror rose in crescendo until the sound hurt my ears. When I looked back at the rest of the fae, I saw nothing that would cause them to writhe on the floor and scream the way most of them did. Many scrambled for the door at the back as if fleeing an unseen beast, but it wouldn’t open. Some lay motionless in the aisle, glassy eyes open. Others slumped over their thrones or benches, unconscious—or maybe dead, I couldn’t tell.

Someone yanked me to my feet. I turned and punched him in the face. Garret groaned and threw back the hood of his black cloak.

“Shit, I thought you were one of the Sluagh,” I shouted over the screaming horde. “What’s happening?”

He didn’t say anything as he tugged me toward the far side of the dais, his eyes bright. Blood trickled from his nose.

A high, piteous scream burst from Parthalan’s lips. He arched his back where he lay on the floor, threw his hands out as though someone stabbed him repeatedly in the belly.

Donovan’s illusions.

As Garret and I cleared the dais, Donovan moved to the side. Liam stood amongst the glass confetti on the floor, still naked, still beautiful and without a mark on him. The sight of him eased a pain I hadn’t noticed around my heart.

Donovan nodded to me, sprinted toward Parthalan, his eyes fixed on something in the crowd beyond.

“Come on!” Liam shouted.

I’d never been so glad to see another person in my life. I sprinted and threw myself around him. He pried me off and shook me. “No time, we have to go.”

“What happened to the window? How did you get here?”

“Not now!”

“What are we supposed to do?”

He dragged me by the arm toward the window, while I searched over my shoulder for Donovan.

“Get on my back,” Liam said. When I hesitated, he shouted, “Now, Lila. Now, now, now!”

Brow furrowed, I slid my arms around his waist. Garret pressed himself against my back and held on to me. A hundred questions lined up in my head, but I didn’t say anything.

Parthalan wasn’t screaming anymore, but the rest of the conscious fae continued to cry out. Donovan stood a few feet from the king, blood gushing from his nose. Unbearable pain invaded my heart.

Liam pressed his hands over top of mine. “Whatever you do, don’t look down, and don’t let go.”

“What do you mean?” I shouted. “We’re going to jump? No! I’m not leaving here without Donovan.”

When I tried to let go, Garret forced my arms around Liam’s waist again. “This is the way my father wants it,” Garret said with a wavering voice.

Liam tried to maneuver us closer to the gaping wound where the window had been, but I dug my heels into the floor. I struggled against Garret, who was clearly stronger than he appeared. A single tear made it passed my lashes as I looked back.

Parthalan had climbed to his feet, clutched the broken altar for support and cast a demon stare at my father. Wind swirled around him, lifting his hair in a dance above his head. His skin glowed, and his eyes darkened when his gaze landed on the three of us at the window. My skin prickled under it.

I roared and dug my heels into the floor. “Let me go. Donovan!”

Liam strained to move us forward. He teetered at the sill. “I’m sorry. There’s no other way.”

A moment later, I could only watch as my father crumpled to his knees, his eyes on me, a sad smile on his lips.

Liam jerked me off balance and dove out the window. Donovan’s pained cries chased us down as we fell.

I screamed, clutched Liam tighter, breathless as terror squeezed my throat. “Go back! I can save him if you give me back my power. You have to go back!” I screamed through our link.

After a long free fall, Liam’s muscles writhed beneath his skin like snakes in a sack. I held my breath when feathers burst from his body, drowning my vision in white. His body grew impossibly large beneath me. His neck and head disappeared into a feathered mass. Gigantic wings unfolded and beat against the air moments before we would have crashed into the cobblestone street.

Instinct forced my hands beneath the feathers, and I grasped two of the thick quills at their base. The owl, at least twice my length, pushed against the wind, carrying us higher, then banked to the right. He turned his head. One bright yellow eye blinked at me before he turned away again.

I started to plead, but the rational part of my brain knew it was futile. No amount of begging could change the fact that my father had died to save me. My soul shattered, and my stomach seized with the pain of deep loss. How could fate be so cruel? To give me my father for an hour only to steal him away again? My brother. Liam. Both in danger because of me. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing them, too. Garret squeezed me tighter as the wind grabbed at us, but he said nothing. He pressed his face against my bare shoulder, his hot tears wetting my skin. He’d lost his father, too, but I couldn’t comfort him yet. We had to get away first.

Parthalan would be on the warpath after what we’d just done. None close to me would be safe.

I wondered where Liam would take us.

“We’re going through the portal,” Garret shouted as if he’d heard the question I never asked. The roaring of the wind against my ears made me strain to hear him. “But the Sluagh will come for us. We might not make it.” He laughed, but it turned into a sob. “I’m not sure if I even want to.”

I sighed and, with a herculean effort, pushed my sorrow down and sealed it up. “Don’t ever say that to me again. I will die before I let them take you back to the Glass Man.”

19

The liquid sky darkened to black as we approached the tall wooden doors of the portal building.

“They’re coming!” Garret squeezed me hard.

My ribs creaked, and I grunted. “You need to go faster, Liam. God, there are so many I can barely see the sky.”

“Look, I’m just learning to fly this thing, so shut up so I can concentrate!”

“What do you mean, just learning?” I’d assumed he’d purposely omitted the fact that he could transform into an owl from his list of skills.

A moment later, Liam gathered his wings close to his body and we crashed through the doors. His wide shoulders grazed the opening. The building moaned. A jagged shard of wood sliced my arm and knocked me sideways, but I held on, yanking one of his feathers out in the process.

“Ouch! Goddammit, that hurt!”

“We almost fell off! Thanks for your concern.” Thinking about how to survive the next few minutes took my mind off darker thoughts.

Inside, Liam couldn’t spread his wings out, so he crouched and hopped to the back of the chamber. He pushed off, and we burst through the ceiling. I buried my head, certain it would be smashed against the marble.

A rush of cool air turned warm as we appeared in the middle of the Grand Canyon in a nosedive toward the bottom. With a few thumping flaps of his wings, Liam changed direction and headed for the upper lip of the cliff.

“Why is it night here already?” I shouted back to Garret. “It was dawn when we went in, and that couldn’t have been more than three hours ago.”

“Time moves differently in the Black City.” He shifted closer to my ear. “Dun Bray is different, so I heard. It moves along with the human world.”

“How do the Unseelie usually leave the Black City? We came out falling.”

“Parthalan controls the gateway. If he doesn’t want someone to leave, they’ll fall. Anyone else will appear on the top of the cliff where we jumped.”

Moments after we cleared the upper ledge, a black swarm of Sluagh boiled over the rim in pursuit.

“Shit!” I shouted. “I didn’t think they’d follow us through. Where is Seven Gates?”

“It’s in Northern Ontario.” Garret’s voice was hollow and unemotional. “Too far. We’ll never make it. Even if …”

“Even if what, Garret?”

“Nothing.”

I hadn’t the time or patience to deal with cryptic shit. I peered over my shoulder. A fast-moving storm of Sluagh approached, their black wings carrying a sheen from the muted moonlight. I shivered in the damp air and the punishing wind. Clouds covered most of the sky, drawing an ominous blanket over the land.

Liam dove toward the ground. The g-forces pressing against my body made me lightheaded. I strained to hold on.

When we slowed, I sat up straighter for a better look around. “What are you doing? They’re right on top of us.”

“Trust me,” was all he said.

A series of twitters rang out before a dozen or so birds rocketed out of a treetop in front of us. Liam banked hard and followed the birds, pushed harder than he had since we’d narrowly missed the cobblestone below the Unseelie Court. The thrumming of his wings boomed like a death-march drum.

The Sluagh broke around us like black water around a rock. They encircled us completely, except for a narrow path in front. I found them above and below us, too. “Now what?” I asked. The day wasn’t improving.

Garret tensed behind me, muttered something I didn’t understand. The air around the song birds vibrated and glowed.

My heart sank. “What are you doing to them, Garret?”

“I’m not as strong as my father is … was,” Garret said against my ear. “I need something living to attach the illusion to.”

“I don’t want anyone else dying to save me, Liam. Just drop me and take Garret away from here.”

“Don’t be stupid,” he said. “They volunteered. It’s a necessary sacrifice.”

Garret touched my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Illusions exploded around us, mirror images of us. They flew in different directions while Liam dropped toward the ground.

A triumphant screech burst from Liam’s owl mouth as we hit something. A high pitched mewling came from below. Two of the Sluagh fell, crushed in his talons. Could the undead still die?

The rest of the Sluagh broke into chaos. Guttural hissing sounds mixed into a terrible symphony. Garret continued to chant in a broken voice, his trembling arms encircling my waist. Grief and fear radiated from his body like a frigid winter wind.

Once we reached the tops of the trees, Liam leveled out and flew away from the dark mass. The Sluagh followed the birds. Each time they tried to grab the illusion of me, they found nothing but air. Their screeching rose in volume with every failed attempt. A moment later the bird beneath the spell would plummet, broken, to the ground. Garret had somehow made us invisible to the feathered devils.

“This is wrong, Liam,” I thought to him.

“We never expected the Sluagh to chase us so quickly, but we arranged this as a last resort just in case. Now don’t make a sound, or their sacrifice will have been for nothing.”

A pained screech in the distance met my ears, then another, and another. Pain tore my heart from my chest, and I collapsed against Liam. Where there should have been sorrow came rage. So many dead: the birds, Liam’s sisters, so many of the humans. My father. My hands quivered, the pain searching for a way to escape. Nobody should have had to die for me. I wasn’t worth it.

“I’m sorry about Donovan,” Liam said. “He had to be close to them in order to keep up such a large illusion. He knew what he was doing.”

“I wondered who my father was my whole damn life. I didn’t even get a chance to know him, and now he’s gone.” A sob escaped before I could stop it.

“Jesus. I swear, I didn’t—it doesn’t matter.”

• • •

By the time Liam touched down beside a rock face hours later, the sun had poked its fiery head above the trees. A great emptiness inhabited me. My thoughts and emotions were locked up in a box deep in my throbbing head. I slid from his back and sat on the grey rock.

A blaze of white light flashed behind me. Liam groaned.

“Lila?” Garret’s meek voice came from behind me. His footsteps padded closer.

“Don’t touch me.” My voice sounded lifeless.

“I didn’t … if there was … I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “Everybody’s sorry. Well, take your sorry and shove it. Sorry won’t change anything, so just save it.”

Liam stomped around to face me back in his regular body. His fingers tugged on the zipper of a pair of jeans. I wondered where he’d found them, but I didn’t ask. “He risked his ass so you could live. We all did what we had to.”

I jumped to my feet. “Maybe I don’t want to live like this! Did you even consider that? You could have told me about what you and Donovan had planned.” I swallowed around the mammoth lump in my throat. “I could have found another way.”

“If I could have gotten into the castle without Sebastian knowing, things might have been different, but I couldn’t. Gaoth, the wind spirit, with the help of the Goddess, carried my messages to Donovan, and his to me at tremendous risk to himself. Your father and every one of those birds knew what they were doing, so stop being so fucking selfish. They loved and believed in you enough to trade their lives for yours.”

“Your …” Garret started, opened his mouth a few times. “But …”

Liam palmed his forehead. “Shit, he didn’t know?”

“He does now.” I stared into the surrounding brush, but didn’t really see past my own dark thoughts.

Garret cleared his throat a few times as if the words were getting caught. “So … you’re my sister?”

My mind had wandered so far away that all I did was nod. My head filled with shadows and echoes of sounds I couldn’t bear to hear again. My throat constricted.

“You’re supposed to fix everything, so you have to live,” Liam said. “That’s what your mother wanted.”

A fresh wave of grief stole my air for a moment. “Don’t talk about my mother.” I turned and stomped away. “How did you get away from Clancy?”

A pause stretched the silence into something painful. “I shifted and crushed him.”

My gasp came with the close of my eyes.

“Jesus. Would you rather he’d killed me, instead?”

All logical thought fell beneath the tremendous weight of loss. I bent over and retched, but nothing came out—my stomach empty of all but pain, like the rest of me.

Liam held out a small bottle of water to me.

I snatched it from his hand and drank. “Where’s the gateway? I need to get away from you.” I needed to get away from my life and the images tormenting me, to crawl into a hole and never come out.

“I don’t fucking believe this. Fine, you want to blame me for everything? Great, I’ll take it. I’d rather you hate me forever than live with myself if I’d failed you. It’s not just you or me at stake here, so you need to pull it together. You have some hard choices to make and more sacrifices to endure before this is over.”

I crossed my arms over my red corset while Liam and Garret strode past me. Garret shot me a pained look over his shoulder before he turned forward again. He seemed smaller, younger. I couldn’t cope with anything other than the rage chewing at my soul.

Sacrifice. How many will fall in my name before it ends? I couldn’t live with myself as it was, so how could Liam expect me to go on as if nothing had happened and knowing more blood would be spilled? My voice of reason agreed with him. I was acting irrationally. At that moment, I didn’t care.

We walked along the towering rock face for a while. Liam stopped in front of a rounded opening, ten feet high and only wide enough for one person to slip through.

“There are seven of these along the rock,” Garret said. “My father said that if you enter without knowing the right door to take, or what path to take once you’re inside, you’ll wander forever, lost inside the rock.”

“Why is everything so fucking complicated with these people.” I walked up to the opening. “So what do I do now?”

Liam paced, his glare pointed at the ground.

My energy surged behind the barrier at his silence. If I’d had my energy at that moment, I would have broken him into a pile of kindling. Warnings went off somewhere in the back of my mind, but I ignored them. “Give me back my Light.”

He stopped and looked up. “No.” He resumed pacing.

“It’s mine. Give it back.”

“Or what? When you get inside and have some time to grieve, to accept the way things are, I’ll release your energy and be your humble servant. For now, I’m in charge, and I say no.”

I kicked at the stone. A chunk flew against the rock wall with a clack. I turned and ploughed my fist against the stone over and over until pain sang up my arm in a brutal wave. One pain to take away another. When I finished, I turned and leaned against the cool rock. My hand throbbed, occupying my senses so other hurts didn’t reach me.

“Are you finished?” Liam pressed a hand against the wall and leaned toward me.

I tried to slow my intake of air, but my lungs faltered, strained and weak. “For now.”

“Then let me see it.”

My eyebrow shot up. “See what?”

“Your hand. It looks like raw hamburger.” He reached for it, but I jerked it away. I tried not to let the pain show on my face, but by the look on his, I hadn’t succeeded.

“Stop being so Goddamned stubborn!”

Before I could turn away, he grabbed me, hooked a foot behind my ankles and pushed me to the ground.

A grunt expelled from my lips. “What the hell are you doing? Get off me!”

He straddled me and grabbed my forearm where blood trickled down from my mangled hand. “Now be still, or I swear I’ll hogtie you.”

His skin against mine injected a warm, delicious heat, but I didn’t let on. I glared at him as he looked over my hand.

“Must have been some shale in that wall.” He turned my knuckles toward the light. “You hit so damn hard you’ve got at least two shards of it right down to the bone. I need to dig them out before the skin heals around them.”

“Just do it and get off me.”

“I can distract you while Garret does it.” He cleared his throat and sat up. “If you want.”

I looked over at Garret, who had turned a pale shade of green. “Yeah, I don’t think so.” What did he mean by distraction? “Do it.”

Liam shook his head and cursed under his breath. He pulled at my skin to get at the pieces, but his fingers were too thick and his fingernails were chewed to scraps. “Garret, go over to where Karo stashed everything. I asked him to drop a first aid kit here just in case.”

“Who’s Karo?” I asked.

“He’s the Regent of the owls up here in Canada. He had some of his brethren drop supplies for us.”

“Can you talk to all animals now?”

Liam tugged on my skin again. I winced, buried it under a scowl.

His eyes swept my face. “No, just the birds and only when I’m in owl form.”

Garret came back with the kit.

Liam flipped it open, fished around and came out with a pair of long metal tweezers. He leaned close to my face. “This is going to hurt.”

“You think?”

As he dug around in my flesh with the tweezers, a piece of rock connected with bone. I flinched. He gave one hard yank and pulled out a tiny wedge of grey shale, hardly worth the pain it caused.

Dizziness swept over me.

“I’ll give you a minute before I do the rest.”

I shook my head. “No. Get it done.”

After a shrug, Liam pulled out one more piece that broke off, making him dig deeper for the rest of it. I cried out as fire raged up my arm. He closed up the skin as well as he could and bandaged me from fingertips to wrist.

“You don’t need to worry about infection, at least,” he said when he finished. “The fae heal quickly, and we’re immune to most illnesses that afflict humans.”

When he climbed off me, I rolled onto my side and clutched my arm to my chest. He squatted down in front of me and brushed my hair back from my face. If the pain hadn’t been so terrible, I would have moved away. Part of me wanted to have the distraction of his touch, the pleasure to counteract the pain, but my pride and anger wouldn’t let me ask him to stay.

“Please,” I whispered. “Just leave me alone.”

Guilt accompanied the little voice nattering in the back of my head. Why am I taking it out on him? None of this is his fault.

Liam dropped his gaze to the ground, leapt up and walked away. “You’re welcome.”

• • •

“How long before they find us?” Garret sat perched on a rock, his knees drawn up to his chest, gazing at the seven openings in the wall.

My hand had already begun to heal, so I sat up and stared at him.

“Not long enough.” Liam paced behind me. “We need to stop pissing around and figure this out.”

“The Sluagh kept talking about how much they hated the light,” I said. “Do they even travel in the day?”

Liam grunted. “No.”

“Then we have at least a few hours, so stop pacing. You’re driving me crazy. Is Parthalan the same? Is that why I’ve never seen him during the day?”

“He’s stronger at night, that’s all. Donov … someone told me he draws power from the moon. Frankly, I think it’s because he thinks his hair looks better in the silver light.”

My father’s name gripped my heart for a moment and led to thoughts of my mother, the music box and the life I no longer had.

Liam stopped and stood in front of my brother. They shared a considering look. Both of them turned to look at me.

“I think this is what you needed the music box for,” Liam offered. “What was in it, exactly?”

I sighed while I tried to think. “A gold chain with a ruby pendant and a ring woven into a Celtic pattern. They both looked ancient.”

“Do you suppose you need to wear them for the gateway to grant passage?” Garret rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.

“If so, we’re shit out of luck. That would be the icing on the fucking cake.”

“Did you find anything unusual about the music box?” Liam rolled his eyes and let out a huff.

“It played music and held jewelry. The box itself was made of cherry wood. The hinges and clasp were silver. I’ve looked it over hundreds of times, but there was no writing, no secret compartment, nothing but the box and the gold.”

“Wait.” Garret sprung up from the rock. His crystal eyes stretched wide, and his finger poised as if to make a point he hadn’t quite formed in his head yet. “It played music. You told me your mother … our mother sang that song to you. Do you suppose that’s the key? The music itself, and not the box?”

“Do you remember the song?” Liam asked.

“I could never forget it.” My focus snapped to Liam. “Wait, you aren’t asking me to sing it, are you?”

Liam threw a hand up. “Please tell me you aren’t complaining because you’re embarrassed to sing in front of us. Can you please swallow your pride and dignity long enough to save us from the madman?”

I was being a lousy shit. I sighed. “I’m sorry,” I said, though it came out petulant. “I’ll try.”

20

Liam and Garret wandered a little way along the wall while I stood before one of the openings. I stared at the place my mother had lived before I ruined it all for her.

The song fell from my lips before I could think about it.

“Codail a mhuirnín, codail a stor

Dún do shúile

Gheobhair is gheobhair, o gheobhair a pháiste

Codail a stóirín go ciúin is go sámh”

“There!” Garret pointed at the opening second from the left. “There’s light coming out.”

“Was that so hard?” Liam grumbled as he hastened past me.

“What’s your problem?”

“Stop!” Garret pushed back the hood of his black cloak and stopped in front of us. He turned and held his hands up. “Would you two just kiss and makeup already. This day has been hard enough without the two of you chewing at each other like a pair of pissed off trolls.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Trolls don’t exist. Right?”

Garret groaned and looked away for a moment before he set his ice blue eyes back on me. “Are you changing the subject?”

I drew in a giant breath, huffed it out. “Look, I’m sorry I’m angry, and I’m sorry I took it out on you. Let’s get inside. I promise I’ll shut up if he does.” I jabbed a thumb toward Liam.

“That’d be a miracle I’d like to see,” Liam muttered.

I scowled at him. “I heard that.”

“Enough!” Garret shoved fingers into his hair. “Goddess, I’m starting to wonder who’s the grown-up here.”

Liam nodded. “Fine.”

“Fine,” I agreed.

Garret shook his head, turned and disappeared into the lit opening in the granite. Liam gave a bow and a dramatic sweep of his arm to usher me inside.

“Tits before dicks.” I strode past him.

He followed me in, laughed as though trying to keep some ugly words inside his mouth. Just having him close soothed my soul, so why did I keep pushing him away? Because he betrayed me. Because he’s of Parthalan’s people, that’s why.

I expected cooler, damper air inside the cave. Instead, I found comforting warmth. The walls were smooth instead of bumpy, and everything gleamed as if someone had recently polished it from floor to ceiling.

Garret walked ahead of me, jumping every time he kicked a pebble or my heels made a louder click than the one before. A halo of dark blond hair stood out all over his head. The sight of him reminded me of Rourke. Hopefully nobody had found him wherever Donovan had chained him. I shivered despite the warmth.

The light in the cave never changed, never allowed us to catch up and never left us behind. We followed it in silence until the tunnel opened into a wide lake. The rock ceiling hovered only a few feet above the water. Crouching down, we could see the tiny light on the far side. It had to be at least a mile across.

Liam stepped up beside me. “What now?”

“I guess we swim.” I unwrapped the bandages from my hand. “Why do you suppose they’d put something like this here?”

“It’s a test for anyone who tries to cross. If the gateway doesn’t deem you worthy to enter, the ceiling probably comes down and drowns you.”

Garret made a tiny sound. The color drained out of his cheeks, and he stared at the water as if it might eat him.

“Let me guess,” I said. “You can’t swim?”

He shook his head, his gaze never leaving the lake. “I don’t like the water.”

I went to him and took his clammy hand. My anger drained away in the face of my brother’s terror. My brother, all I have left of my family. He was mine to protect, and I would do it, so help me.

“It’s okay.” I gripped his shoulder with my hand. “I can swim really well. I’ll lay on my back in the water, and you’ll lay in front of me. I’ll pull you along. All you have to do is stay limp, and we’ll be okay.”

“Maybe I should take him.” Liam met my eyes. A moment later, he shook his head. “Never mind.” He opened the button of his jeans.

My eyes drank him in before I gave myself a mental slap. “Why are you undressing again?”

“I’m not swimming in my jeans.” He turned to face me as he shoved them down his hips. “You didn’t seem to mind while you treated my body like an amusement park the other night.” He flashed a defiant grin and dove into the water before I came up with a good retort.

“Why is he so infuriating?” I peeled off the ridiculous boots, then the garter and hose. I kept on what little I had left.

Garret shrugged as he dropped his cloak. “I think what’s happening is just getting to all of us.”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. Still, it makes me wonder why the Goddess played her little match-up game with us.”

“She must have had a good reason.” He dropped his black pants and stood in a pair of blue boxers, rubbing his hands along spindly arms.

If she had a good reason, I’d like to have heard it. So something amazing happened when we were together. It didn’t mean we were compatible life mates.

I walked into the water and turned around, savoring the cold against my warm skin. It didn’t smell fishy the way normal lakes did, but sweet and soothing like honey.

Garret stared down at me. His hands shook.

“It’ll be ok, little brother. I promise I won’t let you drown.”

He flashed that innocent grin I saw that first night in the shed. “You give your oath?”

I nodded. “I do. Now come on, let’s get this over with.”

After testing the water with his toes, Garret walked in and leapt at me. He wrapped his arms around me, trembling. His teeth chattered.

I rubbed my hands up and down his back as I held him. “Hush now, it’ll be all right. You need to listen to me, or you’ll drown us both. I’m going to turn you around now, and you need to relax. You’ll float better that way.”

“Don’t let me sink, please, please, please,” he whispered with his eyes closed.

As I spun him, I began to sing again. He leaned against me. I looped my arm around his chest and tucked my hand under his left arm. He tensed and squeaked when I pushed off from the bottom, then relaxed against me.

“You told me your mother sang like a frog with a cold,” I said when I tired of singing.

“That part was a lie, but I do remember her scent. Do you look like her?”

“So they tell me. I’m sorry you never knew her. She was … everything to me. I would have saved her if I could.” A few tears escaped and trailed down the sides of my face.

Garret nodded. “Yeah, I know. I can’t believe I have a sister.” I gave him a squeeze because my voice would have betrayed me.

It took a long time with only my legs and one arm to move two of us, but after a few rest breaks along the way, we made it to the other side.

Liam offered his hand to Garret, then to me. I stared at it for a moment before I took it and climbed out of the water. I ignored the warmth travelling up my arm.

“Thanks.” I averted my eyes from the tight lines of his nude body and wrapped my arms around myself so my hands wouldn’t reach out for him. God, why do I feel this way? “Garret, can you give us a minute?”

He stared at me for a moment, looking like a half drowned cat. With a grin, he nodded, turned and followed after the light. The sand gradually turned to grass, and in the distance, a green meadow stretched for miles.

“I know I’m being an ass.” I dug a toe into the sandy shore.

“Yes,” Liam said. “You are, but so am I. Sometimes I forget what your life’s been like.”

I shook my head. “I’m so angry, it’s choking me. It’s coming out at you, and I can’t seem to help it.” I gave a humorless laugh. “Not that I’m trying to excuse it. I’m still furious that you didn’t at least give me a chance, but thank you for saving my brother … and me. You didn’t have to.”

A zap of electricity sang down my arm when his hand landed on my bare shoulder. I leapt away and turned to face him. When my gaze traveled down his nude body, ribbons of water still trickling down his chest from his wet hair, I put my hand over my eyes.

“Don’t shut me out. Not now. Touch me. Find something good out of this dark day.”

I held my hand up until I could speak without my voice cracking. “Feeling what I do when you touch me … it’s a betrayal to them. They’re dead, my entire family except for Garret, and it’s my fault. I shouldn’t feel anything good.”

I uncovered my eyes but forced them to his face.

He nodded. “None of this is your fault.”

“How can I let myself care for anyone when he’ll just take them away from me?” I clenched my teeth. I will not cry.

“I’m not sure if I understand, but I’ll keep my distance until you’ve had some time. But don’t go off on me if I forget. I want to touch you as badly as you want to touch me.”

I drew in short breaths to calm my aching lungs. “How come sometimes I can feel you in my head, and other times I can’t? It’s as if a door opens between us.”

“I can hold you out. I knew you were overwhelmed, and I didn’t want to add to it.”

I nodded. Part of me wanted to see a future with him, but the logical side of me knew it was just a fairytale. He’d be safer if he wasn’t around me. I wouldn’t give Parthalan another target he could use to get to me. “For now, can you just shut up while we find Garret?”

He smiled, warming me down to my toes. “I think I can handle that.”

We walked along the grass toward the meadow—Garret a small speck in the distance. “The shifting, did that happen after we …” I made an awkward gesture between us with my hand.

“Yeah. Taking an animal form is an Unseelie cumhacht. Scared the hell out of me, too. When you dove out the window that night at the farm, I went out the front door after you. I was so confused and scared of what Parthalan might do. And then I felt something growing inside me too fast like it would burst out of my skin if I didn’t stop it. I ran out behind the barn and went down like a sack of shit. God, it hurt so much. Every bone in my body shattered and remade itself. I didn’t know what had happened until I moved my arm and saw a wing. Thought I’d lost my damn mind.”

“And the colors I saw when you came back to get me in the cellar, that was you changing back?”

“Shifting uses a lot of Light. When I shift back, the Light is released as pure energy. When I could look at it without getting blinded … it’s beautiful.”

“You must have already started to change before you came through the window. You’re huge as an owl. You would have taken out half of the house.”

“Yeah, I started a little too soon, actually. Almost ploughed into the ground head first, but I managed to hold the last of my feathers until the last second.”

I grinned as I pictured that, but it faded. “Something happened when I left you on the road last night. When I thought of you …” I couldn’t assemble the words in my head to sound anything other than insane.

“What?” He stopped and stood in front of me. “Did the Goddess grant you a gift?”

“I don’t know. I thought of you, and … I think I was using the trees like an extended set of senses. I could hear the flapping of your wings, could see glimpses of your white feathers, could smell the forest and feel the dampness in the air, but it was fleeting.”

Liam stood, blinking at me, his face held tight in concentration. “Sight of the Goddess.”

My brows crowded down over my eyes. “What does that mean?”

“It’s a Seelie legend. If the Goddess ever deemed a fae worthy, she would lend her earthly senses to aid them. You can think of any anyone in the world, and you can see where they are and maybe even communicate with them. Shit, that’s amazing.”

“I called out to you and saw yellow eyes—your owl eyes. You looked up as if you could hear me.”

“That was you? I thought I heard a voice in the wind, but I decided I must have been hearing things.”

“So you did hear me.” I didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to lie down, go to sleep and wake up to find my life a sick joke, or a dream. Worse, I wanted Liam to lie down with me.

We found Garret standing in the middle of a green meadow. Tiny white star-shaped flowers spread across the lush expanse like confetti on a jade carpet. The scent of rain mingled with a gentle breeze, and not a cloud scarred the blue sky overhead. If I didn’t know we were deep inside a cave, I would have said we stood outside. The silence had a hollow, almost musical quality to it as if the air hummed in a frequency I couldn’t quite hear, but the vibrations registered in my bones. I’d hoped for some degree of familiarity, and although the meadow was beautiful, it sparked nothing more than awe.

Before us stood a broad oak door. Nothing held it up—no walls, frame, hinges or strings.

My brother turned to us and shrugged. “There’s no handle or anything.”

Liam and I looked at one another. “Now what?”

21

Liam passed a hand under the door and stretched to reach up the sides. If fae glamour hid the construction holding it up, touch should reveal it—or so he’d told me when I’d interrogated him.

I walked a tight circle around the door for the fifth time but found nothing new. A narrow mother-of-pearl inlay decorated the arched top and continued down the perimeter two inches from the edge of the door. The wood had been stained a dark honey color, and an emblem of an eye had been carved into the center of the single raised panel.

Garret sat cross-legged in the grass, elbows on his knees, staring at the oak slab.

“I’m going to touch it,” I said.

“No. I told you, we don’t know what might happen.” Liam came to stand beside me, still nude.

All the while, I fidgeted in the corset and thong, wishing I had pockets. I did my best to keep my gaze glued to his face, but my eyes kept wandering back to his enticing landscape.

“We can’t risk your safety,” Liam continued, “and if Garret or I touch it, it’ll certainly do something unpleasant to us because we’re Unseelie.”

My eyes narrowed as I edged closer to him. “What do you think it’ll do to me?”

“I don’t know. That’s the problem.” He stood in front of the door, his arms straight at his sides, his intense eyes fixed on me.

“So, what do you suggest? Stand here and stare at it?” On one hand, I wanted Dun Bray to fill me with a sense of home and to find others like me after believing I was alone for so long. On the other hand, I wanted to find nothing and prove my mother hadn’t lied to me, that I wasn’t the queen of the Seelie. I didn’t want to be fae, and I certainly wasn’t queen material. I didn’t know what I wanted. Peace might have been enough—to go a day without seeing something horrible, to have the comfort of Liam’s body wrapped around me one more time and the insane pleasure we shared that night. I groaned internally. Stop it! Not going to happen. Mind on task, Lila. Mind on task.

The longer I thought about what I’d find beyond the door, the more my mind conjured images of corpse-strewn streets and ruined buildings. Somehow, I needed to get Liam away from that door before I convinced myself all of my mother’s people were dead. If I lived to kill Parthalan, I vowed to take some acting classes.

Wincing, I pressed my fingers to my temples.

“What’s wrong?” Liam ran forward, but I turned away from him. When he came around in front of me, I whirled around and rushed for the door. I placed my hands against the smooth finish, just barely touching until I determined it wouldn’t eat me like the last one I’d leaned against. My heart fluttered.

“Goddamn it.” Liam appeared on one side of me, jaw flexed and eyes narrowed. Garret stepped up on my other side but not too close.

“It just feels like a door.” Disappointment tainted my voice.

Liam turned and uttered a curse. When he returned his focus to me, he said, “Fine, you’re right. Push it open then.” The unease tucked behind his dirty look seeped out. I wanted to ask what he thought we’d find on the other side, but I didn’t want him to know the extent of my confusion.

I hesitated for a second before I pushed hard. When it didn’t budge, I hung my head. “I guess I’m not welcome here after all.” I settled my gaze on Liam, afraid to take my hands away as if that would make my rejection final.

Liam reached for me but stopped short and dropped his hand. The deep blue of his eyes drew me in, but I couldn’t take the intensity in them. To stare at them too long would weaken my resolve on the distance I needed to keep. I averted my eyes back to the door.

“We’ll figure it out, the three of us,” he said. “Don’t give up on me now.”

Maybe my rejection from Dun Bray was a sign.

I screamed as pain tore through both of my hands. Liam grabbed my wrists and yanked me away from the door. Wooden spikes had sprung out from the surface in the exact place where my palms and fingers had been. My blood ran down the surface like ruby tears before disappearing into the wood.

None of us said anything, only gaped as the door groaned and swung open.

I tugged against Liam’s grip when pleasure spiraled up my bones.

He tightened his hold, sapphire eyes boring into me.

“I’m fine!”

With a groan, he released me. “I won’t touch you, but hold them up so I can look.”

“Why did it do that?” Garret kept his gaze fixed to the open door.

“It was tasting her blood.” Liam traced each of the puncture wounds on my hands. “The Seelie probably sealed it, and only the true queen can open it … with a small sacrifice.” He glanced at Garret. “I need your shorts.”

“What? I’m not giving you my shorts.” On any other day, the mouth hanging open, eyes stretched in horror as if he’d been asked to dance naked in front of a bunch of teenage girls might have made me laugh.

“I’m fine,” I said. “And besides, I don’t want his dirty shorts wrapped around my hands.”

“I told you, we don’t get infections the way humans do. You’ll heal faster if we can stop the blood flow with some steady pressure.” Liam strode over to my brother and reached for his boxers.

Garret backed away with his hands out. “Look, you might be fine walking around with your stuff swinging in the breeze, but I’m not. She isn’t bleeding that badly. Right, Lila?” He nodded his head at me, urging me to agree.

I intertwined my fingers and pressed my palms together. I kept the wince inside. “There, the pressure will stop the bleeding. It’s already starting to heal. I can feel it. So can we go now, Nurse Liam?” My hands hurt, but it wouldn’t kill me.

Liam pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Maybe talking himself out of another lecture. When he looked up, he shook his head. “I don’t get the whole nudity issue, especially you, Garret. You grew up with the Unseelie. Quite frankly, I’m ashamed you can’t deal with it for ten minutes to help your sister.”

“Hey, leave him alone.” I paused, considering what he’d said. “Are you telling me the Unseelie go around in the buff often?”

He shrugged. His lips pulled up in a mischievous smile. “You could say that. Why wear clothes if you don’t have to?”

I chuckled as I walked toward the door. “Great. I’m metaphysically joined to a fucking nudist.” In my head, I added, ‘that I can’t stop looking at like a lollipop prime for the licking pleasure.’ I needed to get away from him so I could think without having to plaster a triple-X warning across my forehead.

“So … are we going in, or not?” Liam asked.

I turned to him. “Y—yeah.” This is the last place mother was truly happy. I don’t deserve to be here. My grief waited in the background, a shadow ready to engulf me. I needed a plan to deal with Parthalan, but for that moment, I welcomed concentrating on and having the courage to walk through that door.

Garret stepped up beside me. A tiny grin picked up one side of his lips. “At least you’re not going alone.”

With a closer look, I found my older brother, Milo, in Garret’s large eyes and unwieldy blond hair. The resemblance reminded me that I carried pieces of them in me, too. “Thanks, little brother.”

That earned me a heartbreaking smile, my mother’s smile. I cast my eyes away before tears could form and stepped through the door. Garret followed, and Liam came last. The oak portal closed behind us and disappeared, revealing a street in a similar arrangement to the one I’d first seen in the Black City. Long and narrow, made with cobblestone in a light sand color and lined with white buildings on either side.

After a horrible silence, Liam cleared his throat. “I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this isn’t it.”

The sky, similar to the one in the Black City, appeared to be liquid, but instead of purple, it was a mixture of gold, cream and yellow. Grass grew through the cobblestone at our feet, and vines climbed the buildings on either side of us as if the wild had begun to reclaim the land for its own. Not a sound broke the eerie calm. The lack of vibrations or heartbeat at my feet made my heart fall. The air smelled stale, like a tomb sealed off from the living. Maybe that’s what it was.

“What happened here?” I gasped, starved for air. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’d been trying to prepare myself to find my worst fears realized, but to see it before me filled my stomach with needles.

I approached one of the houses—a tall white two-story, narrower at the bottom than the top. After stripping away the ivy, I placed my hands against the surface. It had the same smooth, scaly texture as the ones in the Black City, but it didn’t move. The windows remained dark, and no rhythm of life pulsed within the walls. “Does that mean all of the Seelie are dead, too?”

“I don’t know,” Liam said from somewhere behind me. “I just don’t know.”

When I took my hands away, my bloody hand prints remained. A moment later, the wall absorbed the blood, and a tiny shiver ran through it. My pulse sped up.

“Did you see that? It reacted to my blood. It’s not dead, so … what’s wrong with it?”

“It must need Seelie Light to survive. Every cell holds residual energy, even our blood. If all of the Seelie left Dun Bray when your mother did, then the city must have gone into some sort of hibernation.”

Excitement climbed my bones. “Give me back my Light. I can heal them. I know I can.” Eyes closed, I placed my hands on the wall and pressed to force more of my blood to come out.

“Stop that!” Liam grabbed me by the arm. When I glared at him, he growled and threw his hands wide. The brief touch left a tingling rash along my skin. “Let’s have a look around first.” He took off down the street without looking back. Garret shrugged at me and followed after him.

I jogged to catch up to them. “I won’t do anything to you. You have my oath. Now stop stalling and fix whatever you did to me. These—things, houses, are starving.”

“Not yet.” Liam stopped in the middle of the grass-infested street. He peered down a side street before carrying on in the same direction we’d been travelling. We were going uphill mostly.

“Why not yet? What are you looking for?” I inspected every building as we passed. Some were tall with so many windows reflecting the sky that the entire structure shimmered gold. Some were short and squat with two window eyes and a black door mouth. A few stretched entire blocks, with only a central door and a few narrow windows along the top. All were dull white beneath the tangle of vines, with sagging scale shake roofs and no signs of life.

“Just …” Liam groaned and rubbed fingers along his temples. “Please be quiet until I can figure out where the Court is. If anyone’s here, that’s where they’ll be.”

“If these are my people—shouldn’t I feel them somehow? I mean, if there are any here?”

Liam met my stare, but he didn’t hold it for long.

“Spill it, Liam.”

“There.” Garret pointed up a steep slope to the highest point we could see. “I saw something reflecting up there.

Without a word, Liam started up the hill.

A tiny shred of hope leaked into my thoughts at the possibility of someone alive in Dun Bray. Please let someone be here. I had no idea what to do if the three of us had to go against Parthalan alone. If it came to that, the human race would die a violent death, and so would we.

Before we made it halfway to the shining white tower on the hill, a group of fae blinked into existence around us. I shoved Garret between Liam and me as I surveyed the latest pile of shit we’d landed in. I didn’t have enough energy to be scared, or even pissed—only a burning desire to get up that hill.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

The twenty or so fae stared with deep blue eyes similar to mine. They all wore black pants tucked into short black boots and white tunic-style shirts with a golden crest of an eye across the left breast. They could have stepped off the set of a bad Three Musketeers movie.

One had a sword strapped to his side. He stepped forward, extended his open hand. Energy flooded the air as he curled his fingers into a fist as if trying to snatch something out of the air.

When I went to move, my body didn’t obey me. All three of us grunted and growled as we struggled against our invisible chains.

“How did you get in here?” The sword guy tucked his shoulder-length platinum blond hair behind one ear. His brilliant eyes stood out against his pale skin, polished gems against porcelain. He struggled to keep his eyes above the danger line of my red corset. “Only our queen can open …” He squinted at me, drew in a breath.

“That’s right, shithead,” Liam said from behind me. “She’s your queen, so take the fucking cuffs off.”

If I could have turned enough to glare at him, I would have.

The fae with the sword beamed, his eyes shining. He stepped forward and turned my palm over. While I glared at him, he swiped his finger over one of the few puncture wounds that hadn’t yet healed. He put his finger in his mouth and closed his eyes.

“That’s disgusting,” I grumbled.

“It’s true.” He opened his eyes. “Lila Gray has come home at last. Forgive me; I should have seen the resemblance.” He uttered something that removed his hold over me.

“What’s your name?” I said.

“I’m Mannix, captain of your personal guard. Most call me Nix.”

“Well, Nix, are you and your Musketeers here the only Seelie left in Dun Bray?”

He looked over his outfit, chuckling. “No, my Queen—”

“Just Lila.”

He nodded. “There are some still at Court. When the others left, a few of us remained to keep the heart of Dun Bray alive until your return.” He flashed a dazzling smile. Dimples sank into both cheeks. He was pretty, I’d give him that.

“Perfect. Take me to whoever’s in charge. I’m starving, and I need some clothes.” I had to pee like a damn race horse, but I kept that tidbit to myself.

“I’ll take care of you, my—Lila.” Nix’s eyes made the trip down my body but not in a way that insulted me. When his gaze returned to my face, the tightness around his mouth relaxed. “You look like your mother in some ways, but you have a more natural beauty about you.” His focus darted to the corset, then back to my eyes. “I see someone has tried to tame you, but they didn’t succeed. I still see who you are.”

I didn’t think I kept the stunned look off my face. “No, he didn’t succeed. And the last thing I need is some arrogant shit thinking he can do a better job of it.”

He flashed a silly cockeyed grin. “I wouldn’t dream of it. In fact, I find you quite—refreshing. The Seelie need a good kick in the ass.” With a flick of his fingers, the other guards gathered around me in a mass of black and white. I stopped trying to figure out Mr. Suave and focused on the rest. What now?

“What are you doing?” Liam hovered around me. His warmth permeated my back. I had to concentrate so I wouldn’t melt into it by accident and start moaning like a porn star again. Garret leaned against my side, knocking me off balance for a moment.

“Your people will carry you the rest of the way,” Nix said. His gaze never wavered from me.

“What?” I raised an eyebrow. “No, I don’t think so. I have no use for laziness, and my legs aren’t broken. Just lead on and we’ll follow.”

I turned in time to see Liam take a step back from me, a tiny smirk quirking the corners of his lips.

One of the guards, short and stocky with bright red hair, kept looking at me, then at his captain. “But she looks weary,” he said.

“You heard your queen,” Liam snarled. “Hands off and get moving.”

I spun to Liam and leaned close enough to whisper. “Cool it. We’re supposed to be asking these people for help, so stop acting like an ass.”

Our link opened, and I sighed, happy that I remained standing and didn’t giggle.

“I don’t like this guy. Do you see the way he looks at you? He might as well just rip the rest of your clothes off and be done with it.”

My brow creased as I stepped back. He fixed a heated stare on Nix, who smiled back at him.

“Oh my God,” I whispered through our link. “Are you pulling some jealous macho shit on me? One—you don’t own me, Liam. Two—I have about as much interest in getting it on with this guy as I have in stabbing out my eyes with a fork. Three—they consider you Unseelie. If what you said is true, that they’ll hate you, then start acting friendly so I don’t have to sell my fucking soul to convince them to let you stay in their city.”

“It’s your city. You command them, so get commanding.”

I rubbed my aching head and turned away from him, grinding my teeth. After shaking off my frustration, I gestured up the street. “Can we go now, please?”

Nix glanced at Liam, raising an eyebrow at me. He nodded to the guards. They stepped away from me but kept their attention fixed on Liam. The testosterone in the air spiked as Nix and Liam continued to square off in their little eye war.

In the city for ten minutes, and Liam had already pissed off the locals.

Will this day ever end?

22

By the time we’d made it to the top of the hill, I cursed myself for not taking them up on that ride. My legs burned, and my stomach growled. The silent pissing contest between Liam and Nix—the heated glares and clenched fists—wore me down even further.

I stopped and gazed up at the turrets of a building that disappeared into the golden sky. The white scales that made up the outer walls gleamed and held hints of yellow from above. The scene glistened before me, a heavenly mirage or something out of a fantastic dream. A few of the windows blinked, and bright light shone from them. A bit of tightness eased out of my chest, replaced with hope that the city wasn’t beyond repair.

I’m not too late, mother. I’m here.

When I stumbled on the first of the stairs leading to the Court building, Liam and Nix came at me so fast they almost bumped heads. The killing looks continued between them, though Nix kept his grin in place. I didn’t have the patience for anyone to fight over me. We had a lunatic to stop.

“I’m fine,” I said, huffing from the hike. “I just need a minute.”

“You’re not fine.” Liam scooped me up from the pavement and started up the steps without waiting for me to react.

Crafty. I had way too much skin touching his nakedness, and a delicious fire spread through my body. Stop it! He betrayed me. He took my power, and here I am, drinking him up like high-proof whiskey. What is wrong with me? I started to protest, but my senses kicked into high gear, and I ached to get closer. His heart throbbed beneath my arm, a steady rhythm that lulled me into calm.

He smelled so good as if he wore some masculine, otherworldly perfume designed to bewilder me into submission. Before I knew I’d done it, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself closer, buried my face against his throat and closed my eyes. He cradled me close, protectively, or maybe possessively, I couldn’t tell which. At that moment, I didn’t have the strength to care. I could have stayed there forever.

• • •

Sleep must have overtaken me at some point because I woke up staring at a white ceiling, buried beneath a fluffy gold duvet. Something sent a tingling sensation up my arm, along with warmth. My head lolled to the side, still disoriented and groggy, to find a strange man holding my hand. A woman stood beside him.

The man had the darkest brown skin I’d ever seen. Add stark white hair hanging in braids around his face and it made for a startling contrast. His eyes were clouded, but I could tell they were a deep blue beneath the milky film. He wore a suit styled from the eighteen hundreds with a high-collared white button-down shirt and a brown twill coat and vest.

The woman had metallic silver hair stretching to the floor like Christmas tinsel. It moved even when she didn’t as if it had a will of its own. Her face appeared young at first glance, but a network of tiny lines hinted that she might be much older. Her blue Seelie eyes had a lavender sheen bleeding out from the pupil. She wore a flowing blue sleeveless gown that tied behind her slender neck.

“Do not fear, Lila.” The man had such a low voice it didn’t sound real—like fingers strumming a bass.

I snatched my hand back, flexing and relaxing my fingers to see if he’d done something to me. Other than a few pins and needles, everything seemed normal.

“My name is Gallagher and this—” He nodded to woman at his left. “—is Neasa. We are here to offer you council and to aid your transition to the throne.”

I wasn’t interested in the damn throne. I tried to sit up, but the room spun, so I didn’t finish the motion. “Where are Liam and Garret?”

Gallagher cleared his throat and frowned. “Nix has made them comfortable.”

My hands fisted into the comforter. “You mean he’s confined them somewhere.” I glared at Neasa, clearly the one in charge by the way she stood ramrod straight, staring down her nose at me.

She smiled. It seemed genuine, but I got the impression I wouldn’t enjoy the words forming in her mouth.

Great.

“They are Unseelie, my lady,” she said without losing that infuriating flash of white teeth.

She sat down at the edge of the bed and reached for my hand, but I shuffled away from her. The touchy-feely business had already started to wear on me.

“They can’t be left to wander about our fine city.”

I groaned, talked myself down from the cannonballs I wanted to launch at her. “First, none of this ‘queen’ or ‘my lady’ stuff, just Lila. And second, they both risked their lives to get me here. You bring them here where I can see them. Get me some clothes and food, and then we’ll talk like civilized folks.” I surveyed what they were wearing and added, “and none of that froufrou frills and lace stuff. Jeans, or something I can move in without worrying about what might fall out. And I need a bathroom.”

Gallagher turned his face away. At first, I thought I’d said something offensive, but then I realized his shoulders heaved with hidden laughter.

Neasa huffed, the corners of her mouth creased due to her pursed lips. “A queen’s wardrobe does not contain slacks.” A little flare of her heavily lashed eyes emphasized her frustration.

I pushed myself up a little farther and stared her down. “Then raid one of the guard’s rooms and bring me some pants that fit. I can’t fight Parthalan dressed in a fucking gown.” Slacks? Where the hell did she come from?

She shot up and grabbed Gallagher by the arm, the wrinkles in her forehead deepening. “There is no call for profanity, Your Highness.”

I cringed.

As she pulled the snickering fae to the door, she gave me a little bow. “As for clothing, we’ll see what can be arranged.” She nodded toward a door in the corner. “The facilities are through there. I trust you’ll find them to your liking.”

As long as it had a toilet, I didn’t give a flying leap if she put a whole damn circus in there.

Gallagher winked at me as he followed Neasa out and shut the door behind them. Him, I liked. The other one would take some work.

I took in the room, still unconvinced I was finally alone. The walls were all painted cream and had bland landscapes hung in carved black frames around the perimeter.

“A little dreary, don’t you think?” Other buildings had heard me. Would the castle, too?

The room groaned. The walls shook. The cream paint melted away and pooled on the floor, revealing a deep red. All of the paintings fell with a crash. New ones grew, vivid pictures of sunsets, one of a fae who looked similar to my mother warming her hands by a fire, and other brightly colored landscapes.

When I gathered my chin off the floor, I managed a smile. “Red suits you better, and I don’t imagine having your guts covered in paint is particularly comfortable.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed. As broad as two kings pushed together and far enough off the ground it took steps just to get down from the mattress.

After I not-so-gracefully stumbled down the stairs, I clutched the back of a blue wing chair and made my way toward the door in the corner. A stone fireplace crackled along the same wall as the hallway door across from the foot of the bed.

I sped into the bathroom where most of the fixtures were gilded gold, even the toilet. A sunken tub took up most of the floor, though it was more the size of a small swimming pool than a tub. A glassed-in shower stall sat at the far end with an enormous round golden showerhead perched above the center. I had to admit the thought of a hot shower enticed me. Later. A dark wooden vanity stretched the length of the far wall, with gold bowls on top for the sinks.

I did my business while shaking my head at the absurdity of such an exorbitant room. When I finished, I pulled open a few closet doors until I found a silk robe that I applied over top of the corset and red butt floss.

It took me half an hour to stack all of the old pictures along one wall. I stood on the bed, working on a painting half the size of a Volkswagen wedged behind the head board when a voice startled me.

“Do you need some help with that?” Nix leaned against the doorframe, his hand still on the knob. Amusement ripened his tone.

“Damn it, Nix, you scared the hell out of me.” My breath heaved out in unhealthy bursts. “Ever hear of knocking?”

“I did, but you look pretty absorbed in what you’re doing. I guess you didn’t hear me.”

I’d give him the benefit of the doubt. I nodded my apology and returned my attention to the painting, in search of a place to get a good grip. I had to stretch to reach it. “Would you mind getting the other side of this?”

He stepped up on the bed beside me, gazed around the room. “Redecorating?”

We lowered the painting and set it against the front of the headboard. His blond hair tumbled forward. It reminded me of pale corn silk.

“He is.” I pointed to the wall. “I just made the suggestion.” I jumped off the bed and grunted as I dragged the painting over to the rest. “These buildings are alive. Give them a pat once in a while. They get lonely.”

“Neasa says they exist to serve us.”

I gritted my teeth, assembled my thoughts so I didn’t say the nasty words burning my mouth.

“I didn’t say I agreed with her.” He grinned.

“Now you’re making fun of me. Nice.” I shook my head and stroked fingers along the smooth wall. “What are these structures exactly?”

“As our population grows, they rise out of the ground within the faerie mounds. When I needed a place to live, I sent out a burst of Light, and one of the creatures answered me. Once I formed a bond with it, I pictured what I wanted: color, design, furniture. The changes happened before my eyes. My perfect home and companion too, like sleeping in the arms of a cherished friend. Gallagher says they’re shape-shifters that predate even the fae. Somehow they became dependent on our Light to survive. I think they stay here because they enjoy the company.”

Fae, trolls, witches, shape-shifters. I didn’t have any room left in the mental inn for more, so I held up my hand to stop him. “How do I fix the ones in the rest of the city?”

Nix smiled half-heartedly. “I give you my word I’ll explain everything, but later.” He motioned to a small table by the door with a tray of food on it. “I brought you something to eat. Why don’t you tuck in, and I’ll find someone to help me take away the snore-worthy art Neasa arranged for you.”

Maybe Nix wouldn’t be the pain in my neck I’d first imagined. “That would be great.” I returned his smile.

A jolt of panic caught me off guard when I remembered Liam and Garret.

“Where are my boys? I mean, thank you for the food and the help. I don’t mean to sound so ungrateful.”

“They’re waiting for us in the main briefing room. They’ve eaten, showered and changed, and I give you my word nobody has harmed them.”

“Okay. Can you tell them …” Tell them what? That I ached to have Liam near me again? That the thought of my little brother alone and scared somewhere made my heart hurt? I didn’t know Nix, and I didn’t want to hand him my weaknesses, though my reaction probably betrayed me anyway.

“I’ll tell them of your concern.”

I fidgeted with my hair, twisted a bunch in my hands as he took the silver lid off a bowl of orange soup and another from a plate that held a variety of cheese and crackers.

“Liam tells me you haven’t been able to eat much, so I thought something simple would be best until we can return you to full strength.” The contented smile never left his face as he spoke, or when he stared at me afterwards.

“Uh … thanks. That’s thoughtful. And good thinking.” I found myself tugging the robe tighter around myself and wondering if his pale skin was as soft as it looked. God, what the hell am I thinking? If I couldn’t be around the fae without turning into a nympho, I’d be going back out to the bush to live under a tree for the rest of my life.

“Do you need anything else before I go, Lila?” The way he said my name enticed my eyes to his.

I don’t have time for this! “No. I just need some time to myself. I’ve had better days.”

“Understandable. Once you’ve had some time to adjust, we’ll establish a link so you can call me metaphysically. For now, there’s a silver wall panel beside the bed. Just place your hand against it, think about what you need and I’ll come. Brígh will be here in a while to drop off your clothes.” He winked at me, but I didn’t know why.

I wouldn’t hitch my mental caboose to another guy whose presence made me all squeegee. “Thanks,” I mumbled as he walked out the door.

The instant he left, I wanted him to come back. My frenzy to clean the room had only been a distraction. Alone, I had nothing to do but think.

Thoughts of Donovan, of his face, of his screams crept out of the shadows of my mind to haunt me. The thought of eating made me gag, so I paced, frantic to take my mind somewhere else again. More dark thoughts poured in: my brother, Milo, bellowing from beyond the door that night, the high-pitched squeals of my little sisters as the Glass Man took them from me, the look on my mother’s face as she closed the floor above me. Garret. Liam. That young boy and girl who witnessed the murders of their entire family. The Conners, who would never be the same again.

I threw myself on the bed and screamed into a pillow, the sounds in my head growing to a boom, the blood painting my mind’s eye red. The room vibrated as I leapt up, desperate for some way to cut the pain out of me. I ran into the bathroom, stripped off my clothes and turned on the shower. Hot water poured over my head as I slid my back along the wall, shaking until I sat on the white tile beneath the showerhead.

“Lila,” Liam’s voice whispered through me.

When I tried to speak I realized I was weeping. “What?” I thought at him.

“You can’t fool me when I’m with you like this. I can feel your pain. Don’t shut me out.”

I gasped when his spirit filled me until I thought I’d burst. He wrapped his essence around me, an embrace from the inside while the water washed away my tears for Donovan, and for the rest of the ones I couldn’t save.

Liam fed me his warmth, his desire to take away my ghosts, to grab me up and run away with me, to keep me safe. For the first time since I’d left home, I put the weight of my mind on someone else, and I let him hold me. I wanted to stay that way forever, to never be alone again. The softness of his thoughts sliding through my mind brought light to my dark night.

When there were no more tears, I pulled myself together and turned the shower off. I would find a way to keep my promise to my mother. I would fix the Seelie and the devastation Parthalan had brought upon the human world. Somehow.

“I’ll be waiting for you,” Liam whispered as he left my mind.

I dried myself with a towel and slipped the robe back on before going out to the bedroom. The soup was cold, but it still tasted like ambrosia. I scarfed down the crackers and cheese until the plate held only miniscule crumbs.

My mouth was still full when the hallway door burst open and a girl rushed in. Her light pink hair, the color of the sky before dawn, was gathered up in a bouncy ponytail that reached down past her shoulders. She had the look of fresh youth—fair skin with a smattering of freckles high on her cheeks and pouty pink glossed lips. Her white skirt flared around her knees, and a T-shirt in the same shade as her hair stretched over her small breasts. She held a bundle of clothes in her arms.

The young fae stopped mid-stride and scanned the room with barely contained energy, antsy as a racehorse behind the starting gate. When she turned and saw me standing beside the door, she let out a huff.

“Well, come on, girl.” She urged me forward with a nod toward the bed. “Let’s get you in some practical clothes before old mother hen comes back and pecks my eyes out. They’re waiting for us.” She had to be Brígh.

“Who is?” I grabbed the clothes and sorted through until I found a pair of reasonably sized black pants.

“Everyone that’s left in the city.”

“Where did you find these clothes?” I put on the blue underwear and a matching bra I found in the bundle. I yanked on the pants and pulled a snug-fitting white T-shirt over my head. I rubbed my hands over the cotton, happy to be dressed again.

“I saw you coming and went looking for something practical for you to wear. I knew the silver bitch would never go for anything but the ruffled shite she wears, so I hooked you up.” Ah, so that’s why Nix winked.

I stopped while trying to stuff my foot into a grey sock, my thoughts screeching to a halt. “What do you mean you saw me coming?”

“I’m a Seer. I’m not very good at it yet, but some snippets of the future come to me stronger than others. Seeing you come through the portal sent me off the bed in the middle of the night. Cracked my forehead open on the table and went around for three hours with two black eyes and a red exclamation point carved above my eye. Hurt like a bitch, but I figured I might as well get to work while I was up.” She went from talking to a blinding grin in an instant. Watching her bounce around filled me with some of her restlessness.

How could they all take their abilities in stride when I hurt more people with mine than I helped? Why weren’t they afraid of their power? I began to wonder if I’d been doing something wrong.

After I finished lacing up a pair of black sneakers, I went to the door where Brígh pranced as she waited for me.

“What’s the rush?” I asked.

Some of her jubilance drained away as she met my stare. Brígh’s anxiety convinced me something waited for me.

“We received a message from Parthalan.”

I coughed in an effort to avoid throwing up my soup. “Oh, hell.”

23

I sprinted along the corridor after Brígh. The polished alabaster walls gleamed, making the tall, seemingly endless hallway appear brighter than it really was.

“What was the message?” My chest constricted—not from the exertion of running, but from the horrific thoughts that crept into my mind about what Parthalan might have done or threatened to do. Knowing him, it would be bad.

She stopped in front of a set of wooden double doors, an inlay of a golden eye in the center of each. The doors opened a moment later, revealing a white chamber. Without a pause, she snatched up my hand and yanked me inside with her. The doors closed, and the light in the walls brightened.

“What is this thing?” I asked when my vision distorted.

“It’s a transport. Beats the hell out of walking up the stairs.” She paced and muttered something unintelligible.

I moved to block her path. “The message. What was it? By the way you’re carrying on, I’m thinking we need to get this transport moving faster.” My heart beat an ominous tune against my rib cage as I stared at her fear-shined eyes.

“I don’t know exactly, but it freaked out Gallagher. If it freaked him out, then—shit. He doesn’t get freaked out over anything.” She shook her hands out and threw her arms around me. I stumbled back into the wall with my new cling-on. When I couldn’t pry the trembling fae away from my body, I rubbed her back until she calmed.

“Your Light is so warm,” she whispered against my throat.

Awkward didn’t quite cover it. I grabbed her by the arms and pushed her back far enough I could see her face.

“Can you see what Parthalan plans to do?” I asked.

She dropped her eyes, rubbed her arms. “It doesn’t work that way. And I don’t want to see.” She put a hand over her eyes, a child afraid to look at the monster.

I wondered how old she was. I guessed late teens, but considering how slowly the fae aged, she could have been anywhere from fifteen to four hundred. “Then how does it work?”

“I see visions once a path is certain, like when you escaped Parthalan and started for Dun Bray. Nothing with him is ever certain. His madness makes him too unpredictable to see, and his ambition makes him dangerous.” She met my gaze with haunted eyes. “He can still win. He can still destroy everything we are and every last human on the earth. All he needs is you to do it.”

I slumped against the chamber wall. She spoke the truth, but to hear a certified psychic say it out loud crumbled the momentum I’d been building.

The doors opened. Panic launched me out of the transport beneath a domed glass ceiling. The enormous circular room hummed, filled with at least fifty fae, sitting, standing, some talking and some staring absently at the alabaster walls. Their postures, low voices and darting eyes betrayed a communal fear.

Liam bolted up from a black leather chair, one of many that encircled a round table the size of a small house.

I ran, unable to peel my eyes away from him as others stood. Clean shaven, his hair spiked up a little—similar to the first time I’d seen him—wearing light blue jeans and a white T-shirt. I stopped before I touched him, realizing how many people were watching us. He kept coming, grabbed me up in a hug and squeezed until I thought he’d break me in two. I gave up, pressing my face against his chest and inhaling his scent until his essence drowned out everything else. Trembling, he grabbed my face and crushed his lips against mine.

Our Light flared, permeating me to my marrow. I opened myself to him, relished in the softness of his lips, the skill of his probing tongue.

When he finally released me, I found Nix standing beside us. The sight of him brought my thoughts back to reality. I put a hand on Liam’s cheek.

“I missed you,” he said through our link.

“I missed you too. I admit it, but I’m not into public displays, and we kind of have a big problem right now.”

I wondered if Liam put on that little display for Nix’s benefit, but I shoved it aside. Message now, petty concerns later.

“What’s the message?” I asked Gallagher. My voice echoed back to me from the ceiling.

Neasa approached. Her mouth hung open, I assumed upon examination of my outfit.

Garret sat huddled beside a stone fireplace beyond the table. He shot me a glare, and the corners of his mouth dropped into a frown. After kicking the nearest chair hard enough it slammed against the table, he folded his arms over his chest and scowled.

Gallagher stood and walked directly to me as if his clouded eyes could truly see me. Expression grim, jaw flexed, he reached a hand out and touched my arm. Instinct forced me back a step, and he didn’t pursue. I liked him better all the time.

“I think it would be best if the boy leaves before we begin.” Gallagher stared at me in a way that made my spine itch.

“He lost his father getting me here, Gallagher. He has as much right to hear this as I do.”

The white-haired fae glanced at my brother. After stuffing his hands into his pockets, he edged closer. “It’s out of kindness for the boy that I say this. This concerns his father, and his emotional stake in this matter will not help us come to a decision about what is to be done. We have a hard choice to make, and the outcome will undoubtedly have a profound effect on Garret.”

My knees wanted to give out on me, but I held them stiff and concentrated on breathing. I came close to blurting out that he was my father, too, but I kept my wits about me long enough to remember why I shouldn’t.

Liam must have heard and slipped his hand into mine. I squeezed it while the colors of the room paled. The edge of consciousness frayed and threatened to send me into the abyss.

“I think Gallagher’s right,” Liam said. “I can talk to Garret if you want.”

I shook my head, my chaotic thoughts locking the words in my throat.

“Where did you get those ghastly clothes?” Neasa sat down on a heavy wooden chair nearby and clasped her hands in her lap. Brígh, who stood beside her, shrugged.

“Not now, Neasa.” I pondered what to tell Garret that wouldn’t upset him any more than he already was.

“Why do you touch this one—” Neasa flicked a finger at Liam. “—but refuse the touch of your own people?” Her eyes challenged me.

I stared at Liam, who seemed to know what I wanted. He closed his eyes and our link opened a moment later.

“Do I tell them?” I asked.

“They’ll figure it out anyway.” His eyes wandered toward Nix, a tiny triumphant grin spreading across his face.

“Stop it, Liam.” I shook my head and turned back to Neasa. “I’ll make this brief because we don’t have time for this protocol shit. The Goddess mated Liam and me a few days ago. No, it wasn’t our choice. I can’t help touching him, and I’m not sure how I feel about it, but it is what it is.”

With my gaze fixed on my brother, I strode over to him, the weight of every eye in the room pressing on me. A few gasps and whispers followed.

“Garret.” I sat down beside him. “I don’t have time to explain this to you properly, but I need you to go back your room until I come and get you.”

When he leapt up, I pulled him back down and put a finger over his lips. His jaw flexed, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “I give you my oath, I’ll explain everything after I talk to these people.”

If I’d been anyone else, the darkness behind his eyes might have made me cower. He stood without a sound, kicked over one of the chairs at the table and jogged back to the transport. When one of the guards in a white tunic followed him in, Garret glared at him. What the hell happened before I got here?

As the doors closed, I stood and went to the table where Liam waited. He motioned for me to sit in the empty seat beside him. Those who didn’t have a seat at the table stood in a circle behind the chairs.

“What’s the message?” I asked again.

Gallagher sat straighter in his chair and closed his eyes. His head twitched as if something hurt him. When Parthalan appeared in the middle of the table, I pushed my chair back hard enough it toppled over, throwing me to the floor by the fireplace.

“It’s okay.” Nix offered his hand to help me up. “Gallagher is projecting the message he received from one of Parthalan’s telepaths.”

After taking a few deep breaths to overcome the rush of panic, I took Nix’s hand and stood. His hands were large and rough. A working man’s hands. I liked that.

Liam hovered beside us, staring daggers at the blond Musketeer. I shook my head, left them both behind and sat back down at the table.

The illusion played before me. Parthalan sat in a dim room, wearing streaks of someone’s blood thick enough to be mistaken for a striped crimson shirt. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his raven hair waving around his head.

“Although I have enjoyed the chase, my darling, my patience with you has come to an end. You will return to the Black City before the sun sets on the human world tomorrow, or Donovan will suffer for your refusal.”

With a gasp, I shot up from the table. “He’s not dead? But—I saw him collapse.”

Liam wrapped his arms around me from behind and pulled me against him. I struggled free of his hold.

The illusion continued. “He has already suffered more than any fae has suffered and survived, but I promise his pain will grow with every hour you delay. He will beg for death before I grant it.” Parthalan stood, his scowl evolving into a psychotic grin. He walked to the far side of the dingy room. It had the appearance of a dungeon from an old castle, chains dangling from the walls like broken arms. Dark splashes scarred the stone, probably old blood.

The next set of shackles held a fae slumped forward. Blood trickled in a steady flow from his bowed head. My heart stopped when Rourke stepped into the image, grabbed the fae by the hair and yanked his head up so I could see the face. Barely recognizable as a fae, battered and coated in blood, I could only make out the goatee on his chin. The sounds in the room faded beneath the thudding of my heartbeat. My father.

Rourke turned as if he knew just where to find me, flashing his lunatic grin. “Allow me.” He pulled a cloth from the pocket of his black pants and wiped the blood way.

“Shit!” I blurted. “Stop, please stop for a second.” ‘The Glass Man tells only lies.’ My mother’s warning rang out in my head.

Gallagher blinked and sat forward in his chair. The image froze. “What is it, Lila?”

“I saw Donovan fall. Blood poured from his eyes and ears as we jumped from the window. Is there anyone else other than Donovan and Garret that can create illusions?” I pointed a trembling finger at the Parthalan hologram. “This has to be a trick.”

“It’s possible,” Gallagher said. “That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t want Garret to see this yet.”

To my right, a female fae with light brown pixie-style hair cleared her throat. “I can see through any fae glamour, and I see no illusion here.”

“But you are seeing what I see, Granya,” Gallagher said. “It may render your cumhacht ineffective in this case.”

She nodded, dropped her gaze to the table, then turned to me and offered a sympathetic smile. A few of the others around the table whispered to one another, their faces all equally grim.

I slumped back down in my chair when dizziness enveloped me. “Okay.” I planted my hands on the table to steady myself. “Let’s see the rest.” I spoke the words, but the voice in the back of my head screamed at me not to look. I had to see.

Gallagher closed his eyes and the scene continued with Rourke throwing the bloody cloth to the ground. Parthalan appeared on the other side of my father, handed a dagger with a curved blade to Rourke, who spun it once in his fingers with the skill only years of practice could have perfected. He laughed as he pressed the tip of it into Donovan’s chest at the base of his throat. My father’s crystal eyes opened. He screamed as Rourke slid the blade farther down his skin. A scarlet ribbon opened up in its wake.

I gripped the table until my fingers turned white. The sound of my father’s pain invaded my ears and injected acid into my soul.

Parthalan sauntered back to his chair and sat down. “If this does not persuade you to come, then I will begin arming my human thugs with fae weapons. Their descent into beasts has amused me, but I’ve grown bored. Perhaps a little violent action might … entertain me.” He blew me a kiss, the blood from his hand staining his mouth crimson. Moaning, he licked his lips. “See you soon, princess.”

The illusion vanished, along with the air in my lungs. I bolted up from my chair, stumbled toward the wall and smashed my fist against it again and again until Liam grabbed my wrists and pressed them against the smooth surface.

I roared in his grasp. “I could have saved him from this!”

“No,” Liam said, “you couldn’t have.”

I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all. “He’s alive. I’m going to keep him that way.”

Liam whirled me around, gripped my face with his hands and forced me to look at him. His swirling blue eyes pulled every muscle in my body tight. “We don’t know that for sure.” Liam averted his gaze. “Donovan was afraid this might happen. I gave my oath that I wouldn’t let you go back for him, and I intend to keep my word.”

My palms thrust into his chest, tearing a grunt from him. “I won’t let him suffer and die like that!”

“The matter of the Unseelie is of no concern to us, Majesty.” Neasa folded her hands together on the table. “We need to decide on an offensive before he escalates war among the humans.”

Unable to contain the instant rage, I dashed for her, picturing my hands around her scrawny neck. The lid on my well of energy rattled, but it didn’t give. Otherwise, she would have been folded into a pile of flesh on the floor. A commotion rose beside me before someone tackled and pinned me to the cold tile.

I fought against Nix as he contained me in his arms with effort.

“I’m sorry,” he said between grunts. “I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret later.”

“I wouldn’t regret decking that heartless hag!”

Both of us yelped when Nix flew upward, bringing me with him.

“Let her go.” Liam’s fingers locked onto Nix’s shirt.

“Enough!” I shoved a hand into each of their chests, taking a few breaths to calm myself. Their energies tasted different. Nix’s seemed muted somehow, but they both crawled up my arms like a heat wave and threatened to overwhelm me.

I stepped away, shook out my tingling fingers. “I promise I won’t rip her head off—for today. So what do we do now?”

“The queen needs to call her people home,” Gallagher said.

I found him standing behind me, his hands in his pockets.

“Why did they leave in the first place?” I held fists against my legs, still wrestling with the desire to pound something.

“When your mother left, they became fearful that the Unseelie would destroy the city. They fled and hid amongst the humans.”

My blood burned through my body, a rage I could hardly contain. “Well that’s just perfect. One person leaves and everyone runs away? Fucking cowards. They abandoned their city to die. What would I want with a bunch of self-absorbed pansies?”

“You need to lead them. Build us into a nation. Make us proud to call ourselves Seelie again.”

I blinked at him for a long time. “I don’t know how to do that. I’m not even sure if I want to.”

“Call them home, and I’ll help you.” Gallagher gestured to the rest of the fae in the room. “We all will.”

“What about Donovan?”

“Put out the call, and we’ll talk about it.”

I rubbed my forehead to ease the weight of the impossible task resting there. “So in other words, we won’t do a damn thing?”

Gallagher stepped closer, offered me his hand. After a brief hesitation, I sighed and took it.

“We won’t risk your safety, Lila, but I give you my oath that if there is a way to save this fae, it will be done.”

I studied his face and found no deception there. His touch comforted me, sapped the rage from me as well as valium.

“Thank you.” The rip in my soul didn’t stop bleeding, but it didn’t hurt quite as much.

Gallagher’s brow creased as he placed fingers against my temples and closed his eyes.

“What are you doing?” I squirmed for a moment. What can he find in my head? Does he know I’m a half breed? With a growl, I jerked my hand away. “Get out of my head.”

“Incredible,” he whispered. “Forgive me, but I couldn’t help myself. The Goddess has granted you her Sight. If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Gasps and whispers rose in a chorus around the room.

“I’d appreciate you not announcing my personal shit to a bunch of strangers.”

He nodded, his hands dropped to his sides, and his mouth turned down at the corners. “I must tell you—that’s not all that has changed with you.”

I followed his gaze as it moved to Liam, who fidgeted beside me.

“He has blocked more than your Light,” Gallagher said.

My mouth fell open as his words registered with me. I whirled around to face Liam head on. “What’s he talking about?”

Liam wouldn’t meet my stare. “I did it to protect you.”

“Did what?” I threw my hands up, stepped closer.

Nix came up behind Liam, stood ready with a wide stance, his eyes on me.

Liam growled. “After we—the thought of you with Parthalan, how he said you reacted to him …”

“Would someone tell me what the fuck is going on here? Because I don’t speak stutter and half sentences.”

“He inhibited your attraction to other fae,” Gallagher said. “Like a radio, he tuned you to his frequency and blocked the rest.”

My eyes flew open as wide as they’d go. “You—what? Is that why you’ve been so unwilling to fix me? So I’d crawl all over you like a lovesick nympho and you wouldn’t have to worry about any competition?” I clutched my chest, an unbearable weight upon it that threatened to crush me to a pulp.

I pointed a finger at him, wheezing. “You know how hard it is for me to trust, and you pull this shit on me? What else is there Liam? What else haven’t you told me, because now is the fucking time!”

“Nothing,” he muttered as he kicked at the tile floor. “There’s nothing else.”

“Perfect. Then release my Light and undo whatever the fuck else you did to me.”

Hesitantly, he closed the distance, looking everywhere but at me. “Lila, I—”

“Save it. I knew there was a reason I didn’t trust you. I guess my instincts are always right.”

He nodded, his shoulders drooping. “I need to touch your bare chest. I mean, not—above your …” He gestured to my breasts.

“Just do it.”

After wrestling with my shirt from the front, he went behind me and reached his hands down through the collar until his hands rested against the skin below my throat. The pressure beneath his hands made me groan and lock my knees to remain standing. His breath quickened, and he moaned.

I screamed when my energy flooded through my body, shinning through my skin as if I’d just crawled out of something radioactive. A moment later, all the fae in the room lit up in my head—the lights of home—some brighter than others.

Liam whispered through my mind as he released me, “I love you.”

I swallowed past the giant lump in my throat. My face hardened into the stone mask I’d worn for years. Even the voice in my head turned cold. I thought slow, pointed words at him. “How dare you say that to me! I don’t even know what those words mean, but I know you wouldn’t treat me like your personal whore if you loved me.”

How could I have imagined a life with him? I’d lived alone all of my adult life and had survived just fine. Maybe that was the way it was supposed to be.

“What do we do with this one?” Nix’s heated stare fixed on Liam.

My eyes closed, stealing away the site of the Unseelie. “Get him out of my sight.”

24

Gallagher appeared beside me as a few of the guards escorted Liam to the transport.

“How do I call the fae?” My voice drained of emotion. I turned away, unable to watch Liam leave as if it would drive the hurt deeper inside me if I did.

I squeezed something warm in my fingers. Intense energy climbed my arm. I looked down to find Nix’s hand turning white in my grasp. I let him go and stepped away with a scowl.

“Your Sight of the Goddess will make it easier,” Gallagher said. “We’ll go to the top of the tower. Concentrate on all Seelie, then use your Light to make your voice carry stronger upon the wind. When they feel your power, they’ll return.”

“And then what?”

“And then you’ll greet your people as their queen. Tell them what you expect of them. We must deal with Parthalan as a nation or fall beneath his boot.”

I wiped a hand down my face, gripped my hips. “I’ll heal the city first.”

Nix offered me his arm. “I’ll help you.”

“The return of the fae will heal the city.” Neasa’s four inch heels tapped across the room toward us. Her tinsel hair swished out behind her. “Don’t waste your Light on lesser beings. You’ll need it to call our people home.”

“The only lesser being here is you.” My energy welled up in a flash. The air in my vicinity vibrated and glowed. My golden hair danced around me, weaving itself into a chaotic tangle above my head. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed my Light, like an entity living within me with its own pulse, its own mind.

My old friend.

Neasa’s mouth flew open as if I’d shoved a taser up her rigid backside. Pity I didn’t have one.

Nix grabbed my arm. He inhaled sharply at the touch, and I echoed him a moment later. Intoxicating fire spiraled along my bones, invading my chest and other places. I jerked away, rubbed the goose bumps on my arms.

“How can you think of anything else while your city suffers?” I sneered at the smug bitch. “The shifters are beings with souls. They feel pain and loneliness just like you, and I’ll heal them whether you like it or not.”

Gallagher edged between us. “I can draw Light from others and lend it to you when you’re finished.”

“Perfect.” I headed toward the transport. “Nice to know someone gives a shit about this place.”

Nix followed me, chuckling. “It’s about time someone put that broad in her place. She’s been strutting around here like she owns the place since Qu—” He cleared his throat and fidgeted beside me as we waited for the transport.

“My mother’s name won’t turn me into a raging beast, Nix.” My fists balled tighter.

His lips twitched. “Yeah, I think it’s a little late for that.”

“I’m not in the mood for you to poke fun at me. If I crack you one or blow something up in your face, it’s your own damn fault.” I forced myself to breathe through my nose until the anger subsided. Neasa and I were going to have to come to an understanding, or I’d end up popping her one.

When the doors opened, I stomped inside, stood in the corner and concentrated on my energy to distract me.

I gathered up everything Liam-related and tucked it away deep in the cellar of my mind. No time to fret over lying dirtbags. I had a city to save and a whole shitload of asses to kick. I held little hope that I could save my father, but I’d still try.

• • •

Nix and I stood in a small garden in the middle of the city. A lush green carpet of moss cushioned my feet and smelled of fresh growing plants. Little blue bell-shaped flowers added a sprinkling of color to the emerald canvas. Small mounds of wildflowers grew around trees I’d never seen before, the foliage dark pink and wispy like feathers. The fragrance smelled somewhat like roses but sweeter.

“This is the heart of Dun Bray,” Nix said, passion clear in his voice. “Most call the Court the heart, but this is where I feel the greatest connection to the city and her creatures—and to the ones who have left their earthly bodies and fill our skies with their Light.” He looked up, a heartbreaking smile on his face.

“Have you lost someone?” Part of me hoped his answer would be yes, that maybe he would understand my agony. God, really? I’m wishing my pain on him so I’ll have someone to talk to? Now I can add cold-hearted bitch to my list of qualities.

He lowered his gaze to me again. We were the same height, so I could see through his facade into the hurt dwelling behind those brilliant eyes. When he offered me his hand, I took it without hesitation, eager to ease his suffering and hopefully mine at the same time.

“When the years stretched on with no word, some of us went out looking for you.” He squeezed my hand, used it to draw me closer. “Few of us returned.”

I snatched my hand back, moved away and stared down the cobblestone street. “Is there anyone who hasn’t lost someone because of me?”

“No—wait! I didn’t say that to place blame on you.”

“Who did you lose, Nix?” I folded my hands over my stomach to quiet the churning there.

He paused for a long time. “My mother and my youngest brother.”

I nodded, an ache growing in my bones. “I’ll fix the city now, and then I’ll call the damn Seelie back for what good it’ll do.”

With my eyes closed, I concentrated on my Light, letting it build and brighten until I thought it would tear me apart or burn me up. I knelt and placed my hands against the cool moss. The pulse of the city throbbed like a weak heartbeat below me. A sudden wind grabbed at my hair and stole my breath away. The trees creaked in protest.

When I could no longer contain the energy, I dug my fingers into the moss and pushed my will down into the soul of Dun Bray, ripped open its heart and poured in my own. My every cell burned with the intensity of the release. I cried out as I poured everything I had into the ground. My Light ignited the sky and everything around me as if lightning had flashed and frozen at its brightest.

As my energy spread through the city, more and more of the shape-shifters awakened. Their glee filled me as their dormant bodies returned to life again, followed by their ache from years of loneliness. I had an overwhelming urge to crawl inside one and sleep forever.

When my well of energy emptied and my Light extinguished, I collapsed onto the moss, panting.

Nix said nothing, only lay down beside me—close enough that I could share his warmth and the gentle pleasure from his energy but not close enough to overwhelm me. We stared at each other for a long time before I closed my eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, I’d recouped enough to stand. “Why did Gallagher want me to go to the top of the tower?” I brushed bits of moss from my black pants. “I don’t have the first clue how to call a bunch of people I’ve never seen.”

“He’s a powerful telepath. Maybe he can show you their faces.”

A little hope ignited in me. “Maybe you’re not just pretty muscle after all.” I winced. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

Nix laughed, a bright, infectious sound. “You just called me muscular, good looking and smart. What could I possibly find insulting in that?”

I turned away. My heart hurt too much to deal with flirting no matter how mild or innocent. I sipped in a breath when an idea struck me. “With Sight of the Goddess, I can think of Donovan, and I’ll know if he’s alive. Right?”

“Parthalan might have wards around the city to keep all cumhachts from penetrating. I know we do.”

“I’m about to find out.” Donovan, I thought, drawing up the memory of his arms around me, of the adoration I saw when he looked at me. My sight jetted across the land, carried high above the earth by the wind. Flashes came from different places—some forest, field, desert, some place where snow and ice stretched on for hundreds of miles.

“Did you find him?” Nix asked when I opened my eyes.

“No, but I didn’t see any flashes from inside either the Black City or Dun Bray. I seem to be limited to the human world.” I leaned forward, propped hands against my thighs.

I turned and started up the hill, shaking off the disappointment. “Let’s go.”

We ran back to the white building and sprinted up the steps. A transporter ride later, and we stepped into the briefing room where Gallagher and Neasa talked heatedly by the fireplace. Everyone else had gone.

“Let’s get this done, Gallagher,” I said.

The two fae paused and snapped their attention to me.

“Is there a problem here? I need to talk to—” Shit. I almost called him my brother. “Garret.”

When Gallagher turned toward me, Neasa grabbed him by the arm. He twisted his head back to her. Her eyes stretched open wide as she released him. I wished I could have seen his face. The look must have been a good one.

Wearing a wry grin, Gallagher continued toward us.

“What was that all about?” I asked him.

“Another time perhaps.” Gallagher motioned for us to get back on the transport. “For now, it should please you to know that Brígh is with Garret. I thought it best if he was not alone.”

“Thank you.” I followed Nix back into the white chamber.

After a dizzying ride, we stepped out onto the top of the tower. I gulped, noting a short wall separating me from a long drop. The wind nudged me sideways, and I stepped back into Nix.

“I won’t let you fall,” he whispered.

Gallagher took my hand and led me away from the transport doors. I did my best to walk, despite my rigid muscles, and kept my eyes averted from the wall.

“Why are we up here?” My mouth dried to a chalky paste.

“I can amplify your power with my own and Nix’s, and it works better in the open. It may not make a difference, but we need all the advantages we can get.”

“Okay, but please hurry so we can get out of here.”

Gallagher stood facing me, his hands grasping my upper arms. Nix came from behind and placed his hands over top of Gallagher’s. “I’ll plant the images of the fae in your mind,” Gallagher said. “Use them to send out the call.”

I nodded and closed my eyes. The rush of images overwhelmed me. I struggled to get away, but Nix whispered reassurances to me. So many faces, skin colors and hair of every imaginable shade. When I adjusted enough to think past the constant slideshow, I opened the well in my head and set free what little Light remained. A moment later, Gallagher forced his energy, along with Nix’s, into me. Fire ignited my flesh, flooding me with the urge to giggle like a drunken fool. I concentrated on the faces and used our combined Light to push my will out farther across the wind and into the trees.

It took a few minutes before answering gasps rang in my ears. Startled faces turned up to me, some sitting at desks in an office, some in their bathtubs, walking down busy streets or boarding up their windows. They all dropped whatever happened to be in their hands and covered their ears as I commanded them home. Hours passed, along with hundreds of faces, maybe thousands—I’d long since lost count.

“Lila!” A voice shrieked in my ear.

My concentration shattered, and I crashed back to reality. Gallagher stumbled away and sat down on the stone, rubbing his head.

I turned to find Brígh standing beside me. Some of her pink hair had escaped her ponytail. Dried blood caked the rim of one nostril.

The look in her eye made me grab her by the arms and shake her. “What happened?”

She handed me a folded piece of paper. A tear trickled down her freckled cheek. “It’s Garret. He knocked me out. When I woke up, I found this.”

With shaking hands, I grabbed the note and unfolded it.

Lila.

I’m going back for father. I covered myself in illusion and came back to the briefing room, so I know everything. Maybe you can live with yourself sitting around while he suffers, but I can’t. I’d rather die.

Garret.

“No!” I sprinted to the transport with Nix on my heels.

“What does it say?” He grabbed the note from my hand. He closed his eyes and pressed his palms against his forehead. “Fuck. She was supposed to watch him!”

“This isn’t her fault. It’s mine. I should have kept him with me. He’s my responsibility. If I’d let him stay in the first place—I have to bring him back.”

He clenched his fists. “Please, just give me some time to figure this out. I won’t let you commit suicide.”

“He can’t have gone far, even if he hitched a ride in a car.”

“It’s night in the human world. You slept for a long time when you passed out in Liam’s arms. The Sluagh will pick Garret up if they haven’t already.”

I thrust my hands against the walls of the tiny space as we descended. “I forgot about those things, but it still doesn’t make a difference. I promised to keep him safe.” With my Light returned to me, the Sluagh didn’t concern me, though Parthalan did.

“Parthalan must have found a way to get what he wants. He always does.”

“Gallagher said your cumhacht doesn’t work against Parthalan. If you give yourself to him—” Nix paced with me.

“I don’t even understand why he still wants me. I’m mated to Liam.” A twinge of pain in my stomach caught me off guard. I groaned.

“There are ways to break the bond.” Nix spoke carefully as if afraid of my reaction.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m going anyway.” The ache for Liam grew worse, spread through me, a disease where the cure could hurt me worse than the affliction.

When we arrived at the ground level, I bolted across the main hall and out the doors. Down the stairs I went, taking a few at a time. Urged along by pure adrenaline, I ran along the cobblestone, the window eyes of the houses watching me as I passed. I thought about stopping to use my Sight to find him, but I kept running, driven to move.

“Lila, wait!” Liam emerged from one of the houses, his face and hands bloodied.

“Where are your guards?” Nix growled.

Liam stood in front of me as if he hadn’t heard Nix. “I can feel everything you do, remember? What happened?”

I stopped and averted my eyes, debating whether or not to tell him. The crinkling of paper made me turn. Nix had handed him the note.

Liam pressed the note against his lips. His chest heaved. He leapt at me before I could react and kissed me violently, lingered so close I could see the determination in his eyes. The ache in my body eased with his nearness.

“I love you,” he whispered. “I will die before I fail you again.” He released me and ran toward the portal door.

It took a second for the effects of his touch to wear off. “What? Wait, where are you going?”

He shouted over his shoulder as he exited the city. “Keep her in the city, Nix, or I will personally kill your ass whether I’m dead or alive.”

25

I paced in my room, cursing to myself.

Nix leaned against the wall opposite the bed. Purple bruises bloomed below his left eye where I’d decked him trying to go after Liam. Gallagher had appeared during our battle and did something to knock me out. He and I would be having a little talk later.

“You knew what Liam would do when you showed him that note.” I stomped past Nix for the hundredth time. “And go put something else on. You look ridiculous in that white tunic.”

His peaceful demeanor and underlying joviality had disappeared, replaced by taut muscles and a creased brow. “I give my oath I will never lie to you,” he said. “Do you believe me?”

I stopped and scowled at him. “I’m not answering shit for you until you admit you did it on purpose.”

“Yes, I gave it to him knowing what he’d do.”

I snatched a hairbrush from the bedside table and hurled it at him. He didn’t flinch when it smacked into the door beside him and fell to the floor by his feet.

“Why?”

“Because he has a better chance of getting Garret back than you do. He knows the city. He can fly. He can suppress a fae’s Light.” Nix took a hesitant step nearer. “You know it was the right thing to do.”

“What I know is that he’ll die right alongside Garret if I don’t do something. So now instead of two hostages, I have to rescue three. Brilliant thinking, Mr. Genius.”

“Not if he succeeds.”

“You don’t get it.” I growled, unsure what to do with the fury swelling in my body—an angry beast about to break free of its cage. “Parthalan is completely bat-shit crazy, and now he’s pissed. Liam … won’t … succeed.” I threw up my hands to punctuate my point.

“My duty is to you. I saw an opportunity, probably the best one we have of fixing this without putting you in danger, and I took it. I won’t apologize for that.”

“Duty.” I spat the word out in a petulant tone. “I don’t want anyone feeling obligated to me.”

Nix stood up straighter. “I’ll take care of you because I want to, and for no other reason. Yes, I was given the privilege to protect you, but I asked for this long ago.”

I angled away from him, crossed my arms. “I can take care of myself.”

“I know, and when this is over, I’ll back off.”

I paused, tried to think clearly and failed. Liam betrayed me and continues to lie to me, so why does my heart feel like it’s shattering all over again? I’d tried to contact him using my Sight, but I received images of feathers again. If he’d heard my commands for him to come back, he’d ignored them.

“The ones we love always hurt us the most.” A note of sadness deepened Nix’s voice.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If you didn’t love him, you wouldn’t be hurting so badly.”

I shook my head. “I’m not hurting.”

“You can hide it from some but not from me.”

I uttered a bitter laugh. “I’ve known him for a few days. From what I know of love, it doesn’t happen that fast. It’s just this damn bond screwing with my head. I don’t love or need him, but that doesn’t mean I want him to die.”

Nix strode around to face me and smiled. “Okay.”

A frustrated sound rumbled in my throat. “I’m leaving now.”

“No, you’re not. The fae are arriving. Some won’t make it in time, but you have to greet those that do in two hours.”

“Two—I can’t wait two hours!” I leaned toward him. “Get out of my way, or I’ll move you myself.” A sudden wind ruffled my hair, and a golden sheen covered my skin.

“Don’t do it.” Nix returned to the door and stood in a battle-ready posture. “I’m psychokinetic, you saw what I can do. At the first hint of power, I’ll bind you. I don’t want to hurt you, so please don’t force me to.”

I widened my stance and snickered, a dark, sinister sound. “You can bind my body but not my mind.”

“You won’t hurt me. Gallagher has given me some personal wards to stop you from affecting my will.” His posture changed to mimic mine.

I couldn’t argue with him. I wouldn’t hurt him—badly. Through my feet, I pushed my energy into the floor and used it to send the table hurtling toward him. With a flick of his fingers, it broke into a stack of kindling on the floor around him.

Nix crouched and steadied himself. “You can’t get to me with anything in this room. That puts us at an impasse.”

“Assuming I won’t crush your heart into a gooey pulp.”

Nix chuckled, but uneasiness clouded his stare. “Yes, assuming that. I told you when we met that I could see who you are. I know you won’t do it. You don’t want to be like Parthalan or the humans who tried to do such horrible things to you.” He straightened, placed his hands behind him and leaned against the door. “Brígh will be here with your clothes soon. Why don’t you do something to relax? A bath, maybe?”

I hated that I was so predictable. I needed to leave, but I wouldn’t hurt him to do it. Dawn had risen from the shadows beyond the portal, and the sun would set around six.

So little time.

Parthalan had said the torture would intensify with every hour I delayed. I couldn’t let them suffer two more hours. There had to be a way out. I just had to think it through.

“Why do I need to change?” I resumed pacing.

“Neasa had an entire wardrobe designed for the new queen. New jewelry, too. The Sidhe of the Court are very—flashy.”

“She can shove it. All of it. I’ll go as I am, ready to work.”

Bright laughter burst out of him. “As long as I’m there to see her face when you show up at the Seelie Court in sneakers and a T-shirt.” He shrugged. “You know, I think it’s perfect. No pretence, just show them who you are up front, though you might have difficulty swaying some to see reason dressed that way. To show solidarity, maybe the guards should start wearing jeans and T-shirts, too.”

I stopped again. “Yeah, why don’t you go and change before we have to do this thing?”

He grinned. “No, I’ll hang around. Nice try, though.”

• • •

Nix, along with five other guards, surrounded me where I stood in the main hall. The time had passed painfully, and my nerves were so frayed around the edges I’d begun to unravel, but the fae were finally assembled in the Court. Several hundred were still missing, but we couldn’t wait any longer.

“I can’t wait to see Neasa’s face when we show up like this,” one of the female guards said. She breathed out sexuality the way others expelled carbon dioxide. I hadn’t picked it up when she stood amongst the others, but standing beside me, wearing a snug white T-shirt and black pants, her presence engulfed me. She had strawberry blonde hair woven into two braids that hung down the front of her shoulders.

“Don’t let the lack of uniform allow you to forget your duty, Neve.” Nix gazed back at me. “You’ll do fine.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why’d you say that?”

He leaned in and spoke soft words. “You’re prancing, and you’ve cursed more in the last five minutes than I’ve cursed in my entire life.”

Hell, is it that obvious I’m about to go off like a rocket? I stared up at the distant ceiling and the curling golden mist beyond. A few deep breaths, and the panic waned. What could I possibly say to inspire the change of a nation? I wasn’t my mother. I didn’t have her kindness or charisma. Nobody did anything for her out of fear. They did it because they couldn’t stand the thought of disappointing someone so utterly good. The fae wouldn’t love me any more than I cared about them. I wouldn’t be able to hide it for long, but somehow I had to make them listen. Then I had to find my brother and my father—and Liam.

I patted a hand over my thumping heart.

“It’s time.” Nix urged me with a hand on my back toward the arched doors.

I licked dry lips, rolled my shoulders and nodded. Neve and another guard opened the doors. Nix walked to my right, and a guard with short red hair stayed at my left. Two more came behind me.

The light in the Court hit me first. The alabaster stone of the towering walls lit up like the sun shining on a sparkling crust of snow. White pillars lined the distant walls, green ivy snaked up the length of them and crawled along the glass ceiling in places.

Blinking, I strode into the room, the echoes of my footsteps subdued by the rubber soles of my sneakers. The silence when we entered grew into hushed conversations, a few gasps and even one “who let this riff raff into our Court?” I noted that one—a tall stick of a woman wearing an ice blue satin pantsuit. She stood with her hands on her miniscule hips. She wore trouble like a designer perfume. I’d have to keep my eye on her.

Similar to the Unseelie Court, miniature daises were stacked in a bowl shape around me, and a large raised dais sat at the front with a gold and jewel-encrusted chair. I shook my head at the absurdity of such a ridiculous throne. Behind it, a brilliant stained glass scene stretched the entire length of the wall, amber and cream glass creating the sky and white glass representing the shifters of Dun Bray. A fae who looked like my mother floated in the sky, her arms spread like an angel watching over her people. Her people. They will always be her people. The thoughts snuck in and formed a lump in my throat. They’ll listen to me, or I’ll make them listen. Somehow I have to make this happen.

When I arrived at the front, I hopped up on the dais and sat with my legs dangling off the edge of it. The shocked faces of the fae in the Court stared at me. One look at Nix, and he, along with the rest of the guards, stood in front of the dais on either side of me.

“Please sit down,” I shouted. It echoed into the room much louder than I had imagined. Everyone jumped.

Neve nudged my leg with her elbow. It took me a second to find Neasa staring at us from the far end of the platform. Her mouth gaped open, her hands half extended as if wishing she could throw a curtain down to conceal us from view. I waved at her.

“The Sidhe of the Court do not sit until the queen has been seated,” the stick woman said. “Where is she? We all have lives you know.”

A terrible grin arranged my lips as I climbed to my feet on top of the dais. “My name is Lila Gray. I told you to sit down, so sit down before your ass finds a chair the hard way.” My good will had lasted only thirty seconds—a new record for me.

Gasps and pitiful cries rippled through the crowd of fussily dressed fae. A guy wearing an honest-to-goodness silver sequined jacket and white pants spoke over the noise. “You can’t be the queen’s child, and no commoner would dare speak to Callandra that way. She is more than a thousand years old, a member of this Court for centuries.”

“What’s your name?” I gave him a hard stare.

“Richard.”

“I don’t care who she is, nor do I have time to coddle a bunch of self absorbed fae. We’re at war in case you missed it. It’s going to take all of us to fight, so no more hiding, for any of you.”

They all shouted obscenities and threw fists in my direction. All with their hair perfectly styled, clothes right off some designer’s shelf—one of the few that remained. Their necks and fingers glittered with enough diamonds I needed sunglasses. I wondered where they’d found all of it. Fae glamour, maybe?

“Queen Arianne was supposed to protect us,” one of them shouted.

“She abandoned us,” said another.

“She left us defenseless,” someone from the top shouted.

“If we hadn’t saved ourselves, nobody else would have.” It went on and on.

I stood there, anger boiling through my guts. Nix must have noticed because he jumped up on the platform and put a controlling hand on my shoulder.

“You look like you just crawled out of the woods, Lila Gray,” Callandra in the blue silk shouted. “I can’t believe you are Arianne’s daughter. Did she teach you nothing of being a lady of the Court?” She turned up her nose. “You are not fit to be queen.”

The truth in her words sent me over the edge.

Gallagher appeared from somewhere on my left. He gazed up at me with an expression I couldn’t read. I assumed it was disappointment.

The booming voices and the weight of my promises to my mother sent me sprinting from the room. I didn’t stop running until I made it to the garden in the heart of the city, sucking wind.

I dropped to my knees, stared into the sky. “I can’t do this! I’ll never be you. I don’t know what to do!”

Tears rained onto my cheeks. “Why didn’t you tell me what I was and teach me how to be you if that’s what you wanted of me?” As I gazed into the spirits of my mother’s people, the answer came like a shock through my body. My voice fell to a whisper. “You didn’t want me to be like you.” I stared into my past, learning to survive through hell, its purpose becoming clearer. “You needed a warrior who could stand up to Parthalan, who wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. If I’d grown up here, I’d be like them.”

A moment later, Nix knelt in front of me. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the sky to meet his gaze.

“That’s right. You’re Lila Gray, a survivor, exactly what this nation needs now, even if they don’t realize it. Not someone to indulge their whims or listen to their nonsense and lead them by the hand to see reason. They need everything you have become, everything that your mother intended you to be. Queen Arianne couldn’t have won this fight, but you can.”

I lowered my focus to him. “So what do I do about them? You know they can’t help me with Parthalan. Taking those fae into battle would be like leading a bunch of sparkly sheep into the wolf’s den and ringing the fucking dinner bell.”

He nodded. His chin quivered as if fighting a grin. “I know. They can’t help you defeat Parthalan, but they can help what’s going on outside that portal and defend this city. Most have useful cumhachts. Put them to work to repair the damage he’s done to the humans. Stop them from destroying themselves until we can find a way to rebuild their world. Then you and I will figure out what to do about the Unseelie king. Spell out what you expect of them, and then demand it.” He took my hands in his, settling determined eyes on me. “Use force if necessary.”

My brow crinkled as I extended that thought. “What do you mean by force? I can’t force my will on more than a thousand fae.” Can I?

“You don’t have to. Your reputation as a hard case preceded you.” He chuckled and averted his eyes for a moment. “Though now that I’ve met you, I see it was greatly understated.”

I mocked a laugh. “Yeah, you’re really funny.”

“Just make a threat you’re willing to enforce.” Nix looked skyward. A heartbreaking smile grew on his lips. “Look.”

The swirling gold from the sky descended on us, bathing us in light and warmth. Their presence surrounded me: my mother, Milo, my sisters, Nan. Their essence filled me with echoes of laughter before retreating back to their resting place.

I inhaled the sweet fragrance of the garden and stared in awe. A tremendous weight lifted from my soul. My mother was happy. Her joy passed through my body—a beacon of sunlight through an endless night. She held no regret, no shame, nothing but certainty that I would find my own way. I took a deep, shuddering breath and beamed. I kissed my fingertips and raised them to what remained of a life I’d forgotten, to the contented spirits of my family.

Nix was right. I had to ensure the safety of the city and its people, but I didn’t want to force them all to do it. That would solve nothing in the long run. Maybe I could find a compromise, meet my mother’s methods half way.

My task still lay before me like the foothills of an impassable mountain, but I could finally see the path. I only needed to start walking.

I placed my hand on Nix’s arm, in need of something to ground me again. “What happens if a fae never returns to the faerie mounds?”

“If they don’t return at least every few decades, their Light will fade, and they’ll age the way normal mortals do.”

Perfect. “How do the portals work? I know Parthalan can control who comes and goes from the Black City.”

“The reigning king or queen can interact with the portal and give it commands.” His eyebrow lifted. “What are you up to, Lila?”

“Just curious. Now shut up, I need to get back to the Court.”

I dashed back to the white tower and sprinted up the steps with Nix on my heels. When we arrived in the main hall, Gallagher stood outside the doors of the Court. Voices still crashed on the other side. A closer look at my royal aid revealed a clenched jaw and deep furrows in his brow.

I stopped in front of him, my arms limp at my sides. “What now?”

Gallagher sighed. “I’ve received another message.”

I held my hand up to stop him from speaking, unwilling to let my wounds go any deeper. “Parthalan has Garret and Liam.”

He nodded.

Liam had blocked me from sensing him, but their capture was inevitable. I had no time to dwell on my aching heart. My decision had already been made, and none of them would approve.

Least of all, Nix.

26

I opened the well of energy, spilling delicious heat through my body.

Nix grabbed my arm. “What are you doing? When I said force, I didn’t mean for you to destroy the Court to make your point.”

A ghost of a smile curled my lips. “What do you feel?” I placed a hand against his cheek, urged him to stand closer to me. “Do you feel anger in me now? Destruction? Do I feel out of control?”

He sighed, leaned into my touch and cupped his hand over mine. Gallagher stepped in behind him, his eyes narrowed with worry.

“I feel purpose in that power.” Nix’s voice sounded breathy. “It’s incredible, like being filled with the rays of the sun.”

Some of the tension went out of Gallagher’s shoulders, and he offered an approving smile.

I placed a kiss on Nix’s forehead. “You wanted me to be queen, so I’ll be queen. Trust me now.” Hold on, Liam. I’m coming. Please be okay.

Nix gasped and stumbled back when I released him. A drunken smile quirked on his lips. “They won’t know what hit them.”

“That’s sort of the point.”

A few of the guards opened the doors to the Court. Raging voices smashed into me. Gallagher and Nix followed me as I entered. My hair whipped out behind me on current of energy.

I raised my hands to the sides, shoving my Light out through my fingertips. Slowly, the noise diminished to hushed whispers.

The guards spread out and mounted the platform as I climbed up after them. When I whirled to face the Court, I found the fae’s mouths hanging open. Most sported a deep scowl, and the air shimmered around them. Some wore grins of pleasure as my Light continued to saturate the room.

“Callandra was right.” My voice echoed into the distant ceiling. “I’m not my mother, nor will I ever be like her. She taught me nothing of the Court. She didn’t even tell me I was fae, or why I could do the things I can do.” I sat on the arm of the ridiculous throne. “But I think she knew none of that would help me, that I needed to find my own way here, to see and experience the cold place the world has become. It hardened and honed me for this task. I didn’t understand that until today.”

I winked at Nix. “She knew kindness, glitter and protocol wouldn’t give me the weapons I needed to go to war.” I launched to my feet. “And this is war. The second fae war if I understand our history correctly. If Parthalan wins, you’ll be under his rule, and the humans will cease to exist as anything but cruel, carnal beasts for his amusement.”

Mouths began to close and some of the fae shifted forward in their seats.

“I also know none of you can help me against Parthalan, so I won’t ask it of you. But that doesn’t mean you can crawl off again until it’s over. If I fail in what I’m about to do, then he’ll come for this city, and whoever doesn’t pledge their fealty to him will die along with Dun Bray.”

Nix shot a wary glance at me.

I edged farther away from him. “Before I leave here, I will alter the portal.”

Both Gallagher and Nix reacted with a rush of power, but with my Light already flooding the air, I thrust my hands out to them and said, “Sleep.” I’d counted on them both having their guard down, and I’d found some luck at last. My will burst through their consciousness, and both fell in a heap at the edge of the platform. “I’m sorry.”

Neve and a few of the other guards shifted beside me.

“You need to trust me now.” I met each of their eyes. “Nix and Gallagher don’t understand yet. This is what I was born to do. Now let me do it.”

They backed off. Neve grinned at me, touching my shoulder.

I turned my attention back to the fae spread before me. “Anyone who flees Dun Bray before Parthalan dies will be permanently barred from entering Seven Gates. Most of you have useful cumhachts, so I hear. So get ready to defend your city, or join the mortals permanently. Choose carefully.”

Callandra rattled in her seat. The air wavered around her.

I stared at her. “I don’t bluff. If by some miracle I return, then be prepared to get your polished manicures dirty with the humans. You’ve all grown lazy, turned your back on the Goddess. This is me reminding you of your pledge to her. Don’t disappoint her again.”

With that, I leapt off the dais and ran down the main aisle with the guards at my heels. Every eye followed me out. The shouting rose to a roar again, but I didn’t give them a second glance.

The redheaded guard opened one of the doors. I nodded to him as I passed through. He closed them behind me.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Neasa spat the words at me as I emerged in the main hall. Brígh stood beside her, rolling her eyes. “You can’t treat your mother’s people this way.”

“I’m trying to save my mother’s people. Don’t you get that?”

Her whole body shook—a cat prepping to pounce. “They will never stand for this. I will not stand for this.”

“Then they’re free to leave, as are you.” I turned toward the outer doors, but she centered herself in front of me.

“I will not let you humiliate us.” Her Light invaded me, draped me in a black veil.

My knees buckled when my mind filled with darkness. I stumbled, lost in my own head. With the darkness came despair thick enough to drown in. A voice screamed in the distance. The sound sent my heart into a frantic gallop.

Where am I?

I couldn’t think past the anguish. If I didn’t find a way to escape it, my sanity would disappear into the frigid night.

Madness.

It waited for me to give in, to embrace it.

I need to do something. Liam. I had to get to Liam.

My sight returned to the hall with a flash. The screaming I’d heard in my head poured freely from my mouth. I stopped, my lungs struggling to feed me air.

“Lila?” Pink hair fell around my shoulder before a youthful face appeared above me. “It’s all right,” she said.

I stared at her for a few seconds before my mind cleared. “Brígh?”

“Yeah.”

“You need to get up.” I searched past Brígh to find Neve standing nearby, shaking her blood-dappled hand. Neasa lay sprawled out on the tile beside Neve.

Fists pounded on the Court doors behind me. A few of the guards stood braced against it.

I clamored to my feet. “What the hell just happened?”

“She attacked you,” Neve said. “I clocked her in the face when I figured out what she was doing. But there’s no time. When she interrupted your Light, Nix and Gallagher broke free of your Will.”

Shit! They could still stop me. Without another thought, I bolted out the main doors, stumbled down a few steps before Neve appeared beside me and took my arm. Whatever Neasa had done to me lingered, the slightest sound startling me. Brígh took my other arm a moment later, and the two of them pulled me along the street toward the portal door. It appeared as we approached.

“You can control the portal.” Neve drew open the door. “Put a temporary seal on it so nobody can get out until you’re gone.”

I nodded. “Thank you. Both of you.”

“Come back to us, Lila.” Brígh touched my cheek.

“I don’t make promises I can’t keep.” I stepped through the portal without looking back and closed it behind me.

Still a little shaky, I drew up my Light and touched the back of the door. I thought about the new rules and forced my will into the smooth surface. Nobody out for an hour, and after that, any who fled before I’d killed Parthalan’s ass would be forever barred from re-entering.

Instead of the meadow I expected as I passed through, I found the outer entrance of the cave before me. Everything else—the lake, the mile of twisted caverns—had disappeared. I stepped out under midday sun.

“Lila!”

I stumbled back into the stone wall with a hand over my franticly beating heart.

A small group of people stood a few yards away. They wore brown cloaks and fur capes draped around their shoulders. One stepped away from the others and peeled back the hood, pouring sandy blonde hair over her shoulders.

“Willa?” I rushed toward her, letting out the breath I’d held. “What are you doing here?”

“Waitin’ for someone ta come out so we could find yeh.” She smiled. “I know there isn’t time. The selkies heard what happn’d ta Donovan. We tried, but …” Her smile faded, and she cast her eyes down.

The knot in my stomach tugged tighter. “Tell me you didn’t go back there.”

“Doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. We’ve come to offer what help we can.”

“Parthalan has Garret and Liam now too, but you can’t come with me. I won’t let you.” I fidgeted with my T-shirt, forcing the tears away.

Willa wrapped her arms around me. For a moment, I allowed myself the comfort, then stepped away.

“I’m so sorry things’ve taken such a turn.” She held me at arms length. “We’ll do what’s right, and I’m afraid it’s not yer choice. We’ll go back with or without yeh till there’s no life left in us.”

I don’t have time for this! The thought of putting such a tender soul back in Parthalan’s hands put an extra squeeze on my burdened heart. I ran along the rock without thinking about which way to run or how I’d get back to Arizona.

“Quinn can transport us,” Willa called after me, a note of triumph in her voice. “It’ll be faster than runnin’.”

I stopped and hung my head before I turned and jogged back to them. “Okay, fine. You can come with me that far, but I won’t give him another hostage.”

Willa smiled as another of the group stepped forward and dropped his hood. He had short sable hair that invited touch.

“Are we off, then?” he asked. A scar ran the length of his face from above his left eye down to his chin. It did nothing to take away from his handsomeness but gave him a rugged edge.

I didn’t know how the transport worked, so I stood amongst the group. My spine tingled. I’m coming, Liam. Don’t you dare die, or so help me I’ll find someone to resurrect you so I can kick your ass.

Quinn gazed skyward and reached his arms out to the sides. He uttered something in Gaelic. I knew a little of the language, but I didn’t understand what he said. The air compacted and pressed down on me. I wobbled on my feet. Flashes of dark and light lit up my vision and churned my stomach. The silence convinced me I’d gone deaf.

When the world stopped spinning, I fell to the ground at Quinn’s feet. My ears transmitted sound once again to the point the wind rushing past caused a deafening roar. He reached a hand down to me. I took it and stood, clinging to him until my head cleared.

“God, I’m so sick of this otherworldly crap,” I said. “I’ve fallen on my ass more times in the last week than I have in my entire life.”

“Yeah, it’s quite a ride the first time.” Quinn glanced toward the canyon. “Off you go. Draw ’em all outta the chamber if yeh can.”

“No!” I searched for Willa. She came to stand beside Quinn. “I told you, you’re not coming with me. I don’t want to have to worry about all of you, too. I’ll free Liam and the others, and then I’ll deal with Parthalan.”

That innocent smile again, her brown seal eyes shone with it. “Yeh may be stubborn, and I might be afraid, but the selkie don’ back away from something so vital, even with death starin’ us in the face. The riddance o’ that king benefits the lot of us, and we’re here to give yeh the best chance of gettin’ it done. Like it or not.”

I’m sure the shock showed on my face. “The portal will let you fall.” I didn’t think she had it in her.

Quinn cleared his throat. “I’ll port us directly ta the chamber. I’d send us somewhere else, but we’re wary o’ the Sluagh.”

“I could force you to stay.”

“But yeh won’t.” Willa’s grin never wavered. “Now get off with yeh before I have ta get Althea ta give yeh a push. Probably get a kick out of it, too.”

I hadn’t even noticed her in the crowd. She nodded to me but didn’t appear entirely happy to be back there. That made two of us.

“But what will you do once you’re down there? The place will be crawling with Unseelie scum of one kind or another.”

“Exactly.” A shadow of a smile lifted Quinn’s lips. “Distraction, then we’ll wing it.” In his eyes, I found the same determination, the same desperation that drove me.

I sighed and turned. “It’s your asses. I guess you can decide for yourselves how you’ll die.” I hesitated, glanced over the group of ten, maybe more, wondering how many more had fallen trying to save my father. “Thank you. All of you.” The words would never be enough, but for the moment, they were all I had to give.

With a few deep breaths, I pushed aside my fear and sprinted the rest of the way to the ledge. With no hesitation, I leapt into the canyon with closed eyes. The wind whistled in my ears as I fell. It occurred to me that Parthalan might have led me back only to send me hurtling into the ground.

Too late.

When I’d fallen far enough my theory gained merit, the portal drew me against the rock, and I toppled onto my knees in the chamber. Empty. Not a soul within the building. That I didn’t expect.

Peering into the shadows, I crept to the doors and eased the left one open. Someone grabbed me by the shirt and yanked me through. His cologne stung my nose. The world spun as I tumbled to the ground and smashed the side of my face against the cobblestone. Before I could right myself, he jammed a knee into my stomach and wrapped his hand around my throat. I coughed through the pain and the squeeze on my windpipe.

My Light came bursting out of my skin, but I couldn’t locate the mind controlling the body that gripped me.

After a few seconds, my eyes focused. My heart skipped a few beats. For a moment I wondered if it would stop all together.

“Ah, this brings back memories, doesn’t it?” Rourke’s grinning mug hovered inches above my nose. His dark tangle of hair blocked all but his face. For a brief moment, I hoped my father hid beneath his Rourke illusion again, but the stone cold eyes stole away my hope.

“It seems to me this is how we met.” He chuckled, pushed his knee into my stomach. I grunted as I struggled in his grasp. “In case you’re wondering why you can’t bully me, Sebastian has warded me against you. But you have bigger problems, my pet. Your King awaits you, quite impatiently in fact. He’s very disappointed that you sullied your goodies with that insolent half-blood, Liam. And you’re so late. Parthalan doesn’t like to be kept waiting. Good thing he has a few things to—amuse himself with.” He grinned. “Shall we go?”

Rourke yanked me to my feet. I cursed under my breath as I strode along in front of him. Thoughts of what Parthalan might be doing to Donovan and the others threatened to overwhelm me, but I forced them away. What the hell good is my Force of Will if everyone can turn off their brain to me? It didn’t matter. I needed to defeat Parthalan, and my cumhacht wouldn’t work on him anyway.

“What’s this?” Rourke said. “No sarcasm? No jabs? No making fun?” When I said nothing, he added, “If you won’t talk to me, then maybe you’ll scream for me.”

Electricity charged through me. I screamed a high, piteous sound that came unbidden. Ripples of agony surged through my body. My back arched. Rage tainted his Light, intensifying it into something not only painful but terrifying, too.

I’d fallen to the ground at some point. He jumped on my back, grabbed a handful of my hair and twisted my face to the side. His warm breath washed across my ear as he panted—from exhaustion or maybe excitement.

“I’ve so longed to hear that beautiful sound from your lips, my pet. A taste of what’s to come between us. Once Parthalan breaks your bond with your precious Liam and takes you for his own, he wants nothing more than your power and to see you bow before him as his slave. The rest of you he has promised to me.” He licked across my ear, dark laughter grumbling in his chest as he righted me again.

Numbness consumed my body. With some effort, I managed to breathe in and out, to move one foot in front of the other. I had to keep moving or my courage would fail. I’d rather have fallen to my death in the canyon than become Rourke’s pain slut. If I failed, that would be my future. He might have intended to wear me down, to frighten me, but he strengthened my resolve instead.

Where are you, Liam?

No answer.

The time had come to break my rules. Rourke couldn’t be influenced by my will, but I could still break his body. I turned and dove at him, slamming him to the ground. My well of energy burst open. I pressed my knee into his chest and gripped his throat with my hand. Rourke stared up at me with hope shining from his eyes, face held tight with need. I shoved my will into his flesh, pictured his shins in a splintered, bloody mess.

The wet cracking of bones invaded my thoughts. Rourke cried out beneath me. His body jerked. I leapt up and hoofed him in the ribs twice while he screamed. He rolled over and drew his broken legs close to his body. Gurgled coughs rushed up his throat.

He moaned and angled his face up to stare at me—the kind of moan that belonged in the bedroom, not the sound a person should make after someone broke their legs and maybe a rib or two.

“Oh, my God.” I scowled. “You really are a fucking pain junky. You make me sick.”

“More.” A purr vibrated low in his chest. “Please.” He rolled onto his back. Wetness spread across the front of his jeans. The sight of him induced my gag reflex.

I hurt him, and he unloads in his pants. Fucking unreal.

“Go to hell.” I started up the street but stopped.

Rourke and I had drawn an audience to our little freak show. Wolves and Unseelie Sidhe lined the street with the purple light from the sky pulsing around them. Their power thickened the air into something that touched my skin like a warm, rough hand. Sluagh lined the rooftops and hovered above me. Every color of glowing eye stared in my direction.

Great. Over, around, or through?

27

A Sluagh soared down from the sky. Bain, Lord of the feathered guys, landed on the cobblestone in front of me. “Where’s Rodan?” I sucked wind from the struggle with Rourke. Fear climbed my spine with prickly fingers. “I figured he’d have taken over your job by now.”

“He has been—demoted,” Bain hissed in his choppy way. By the uneasy shifting of the rest of the undead, I took it that demoted meant someone had killed his ass.

What a shame.

Bain tossed back his hood, revealing his ashen, bird-like face. He writhed and groaned as his black beak and feathers withdrew into his body. After a few seconds, what appeared to be a regular man with pale skin stood before me. His blazing orange eyes remained the same, and raven feathers covered his head. I found him handsome in a twisted sort of way. They were all fae at one time—could they still use glamour? How many Sluagh had I passed by in my life, not knowing what they were?

I stifled a shudder when I considered the implications.

“The king and I have come to a new arrangement.” Bain’s voice sounded normal, though low and a little hoarse.

Before I’d arrived, I’d considered the possibility of striking a bargain with the Sluagh. There went that idea. I’d just arrived, and Parthalan was already a few steps ahead of me. “What do you want?”

“You will come with me to the Court. After my last duty has been completed, the city will be divided, and we will no longer serve the king. I will rule Cargun, and the Unseelie will keep the rest of the Black City.”

Like hell I’d go with him. I surveyed my surroundings, wondering where the selkies had gone. If you’re coming, now would be a good time.

Something moved on the right side of the street, but I didn’t turn to look in case the selkies were mounting an attack. Instead, I took a step and feigned pain in my leg. When I bent to rub my calf, I glanced along the row of houses. The one closest to me held its door halfway open. Scenarios played in my head. If I forced my will on all of the king’s minions, it would drain me, leaving me helpless for a few minutes—not something I wanted to be in the Black City. I didn’t even know if my cumhacht worked on the undead or if they’d all been warded against me. I couldn’t risk it.

Crawling inside a shape-shifter might leave me trapped, but I’d take it over an undead escort. If nothing else, I’d buy myself some time to think.

Bain stood a few feet away, turning his human fingers back and forth as if he didn’t see them often.

I sprinted toward the door just as it swung open farther. Howls and flapping wings erupted behind me as I dove through the opening. The door slammed shut behind me. Fists pounded against the outside of it.

“What now?” I yelled into the empty room. The red walls expanded and contracted as if it strained to breathe.

The floor opened and stairs formed down to the basement. I didn’t even hesitate. It could have been a trap, but at that moment, my instincts screamed at me to get the hell down those stairs.

The door crashed inward as my head sunk below the floor. The stairs disappeared, dumping me onto the basement floor. The hole in the ceiling sealed shut.

“Thank you.” I paced along the wall. “Now what?”

Right on cue, a hole opened in the red wall in front of me, revealing a tunnel, the end of it lost in the distance. If the passage went all the way to the Court … sweet. If not … oh boy.

“You’re the best.” I entered the tunnel, lit by dim red light. Had they’d stored some of the Light they gathered from the Unseelie? Maybe they’d been listening in on the fae that lived in them? That could prove useful.

Shouts punctuated the commotion outside. My thoughts conjured images of Willa, terrified as she faced the Sluagh, but I had to think of something else. She’d made her choice, and I’d made mine. I hoped I succeeded for all our sakes.

Goddess help them.

As I trudged on, memories of the last time I’d crawled through a tunnel haunted me: the copper scent of blood, the sounds of my mother’s cries, the blinding light seeping through the cracks in the floor above me, the sounds of the Glass Man’s laughter as he killed them all. I stopped for a moment, bent over and propped my hands against my knees.

Not now! I can be sad later when this is done. A few shaking breaths calmed me, and I started forward again. Each time I passed into the bottom part of another shifter, I uttered my thanks and sent a little of my Light into their walls before passing through the next tunnel.

They jittered in response.

After several minutes, a stone wall appeared at the end of the passage. I sprinted toward it. A few feet before I reached the wall, another ward passed over my skin, similar to the one at the Conner farm—an invisible spider web. I didn’t have time to wonder what it was for but knew it had to be Sebastian’s. I allowed a little hope to push away the doubt that had taken hold of me. I never believed I’d make it, yet the wall had to lead to the castle of the Court.

Gathering power, I placed my hands against the cold stone. I had a suspicion it wouldn’t work, but I had to try. After conjuring an image of the wall exploding inward, I poured my will into the rock. Not only did it not break, but it sent an answering jolt of cold energy at me. I landed a few feet away on my back.

I roared my frustration at it. Lately, there didn’t seem to be any other way than ‘the hard way’. A sprint brought me back to the last shifter I’d passed through.

“I need something to break stone with.” I gestured with my hands. “A pick, an axe, a crowbar. Can you create something like that?” I’d seen them create furniture but never tools.

The house shuddered, but it seemed weak or maybe hurt from its sluggish vibration. I pressed my hands against the wall and fed it some of my Light. The sense of joy radiating from it did little to overcome its pain as its doors and walls took a beating from what I assumed to be my pursuers.

Shit.

My head thudded as I searched the room for anything that could break through that wall. I knew I didn’t have much time left. Even with the selkies distraction, there were too many Sidhe and at least a few hundred wolves on the surface. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Sluagh owned the skies. I had to stay underground and find a way to make it work.

The shifter groaned as a mass of oozing black liquid formed at my feet. Sickening, squishy noises and the tinny scent of blood filled my senses. Part of it hardened into a wooden handle. The metal head of the pick axe formed last.

“Perfect.” My half-assed plan might work after all. I snatched the axe and went back through the ward to the castle wall. I hacked away at the stone again and again, chipping away small pieces at a time. The dull roar of a fight grew louder. They’d broken through the outer wall of the last shifter. I hacked faster.

Sweat pearled on my forehead and trickled along my face as I worked. My shirt soaked through with it before I broke a big enough hole for me to crawl through head first. After checking the room beyond for movement, I shoved the axe through and climbed in after it.

“Liam,” I thought at him, “where are you?”

When I received no response, I decided to risk using my Sight. Sebastian’s ward would have clued him in to my arrival anyway. I thought of Liam, his touch, the pleasing lines of his face. Memories of his scent overtook me, coaxed a sigh from my lips.

Flashes of black marble filled my mind. Down corridors, up stairs, through rooms, my Sight travelled. I didn’t know what part of the Goddess lived in the castle, but whatever lent me its sight rested along the ceiling.

The vines.

I remembered seeing them during my first visit, how they snaked along overhead as I walked the corridors. I let my mind drift along their pathways.

I clutched my chest when I found Donovan, Garret and Liam shackled to an oozing stone wall, the same one I’d seen in Gallagher’s vision.

They’re alive.

“Liam!” I called across the wind.

He looked up as if he could hear me—bloodied, swollen, broken. The door opened between us, startling a moan out of me.

“No, Lila! You—”

The connection dropped as quickly as it came. Something—or someone—cut him off. I had a suspicion that I’d have to destroy Sebastian before I’d get to his king.

Although Liam’s voice had been cut off, his Light still called out to me—one floor above, directly below the Unseelie Court.

Up the stairs I climbed, hugging the wall. My lungs ached as I concentrated to slow their heaving. A metal door with an ivory handle sat at the top of the steps. I grasped it and eased the door open a crack. The dim hallway lay still and silent. Not even a banshee slithered along the ceiling. I expected armies of Sidhe and Sluagh at the very least.

I crept out the door, searched both directions before I edged along the wall. The little voice in my head screamed warnings at me, but I had to keep going while I could. My instincts led me forward with the same ferocity they had led me into the valley toward Liam the first time. I didn’t resist the lure of his power; I opened myself to it, let it stoke my internal fire.

Every hallway I passed stood empty. No light shone beneath any doors. No footsteps echoed down the well as I climbed the winding staircase to the next floor.

The warnings screamed louder, but I trudged on, stalked low to the ground until I came to the door I’d been looking for. Moss and vines snaked through the top of it and ran in both directions down the marble ceiling. Energy flooded the space around it.

After a moment, I recognized where I stood—the hallway outside Parthalan’s bedroom.

Engulfed in the energy, I realized, with horror, that it didn’t taste the same as what Liam used to lure me to the Conner farm. It was darker, more potent.

My breath hitched in my throat, choking me. I ground my teeth together and leaned against the wall so I wouldn’t fall over. I’d travelled Parthalan’s path like a mouse in a maze, but instead of the cheese, I’d get a date with a psychopath. I’d been thinking myself a genius for finding a way through the horde outside, but they only served as obstacles in the puzzle. He knew I’d find a way around them so he cleared the path inside the castle and probably giggled while I let him reel me in.

Numbness saturated my flesh, and I dropped the pickaxe to the floor with a clank. The door swung open without a sound. I stepped through, and it closed behind me. One bright light shone from the ceiling in the middle of the room where a large glittering circle had been drawn on the floor. Little red droplets interrupted the glowing arc every few feet.

A shadow fell across the light. Echoes of vicious laughter induced a shiver in me. The acoustics made it hard to determine what direction it came from. I gnawed my lower lip while thoughts spun in my head. Stay calm. This is what Mother trained me for.

“Come in, my darling,” Parthalan sang from the shadows.

“I think I’ll stay over here, thanks.” Having the door at my back gave me a sense of security, though part of me knew it was just an illusion. No flying off half cocked, Lila.

Before I could think about what to do next, the door opened again. Torn with where to look, I backed toward the dressing room so I could see most of the room, or at least what little the light revealed.

Deep breaths, Lila. Don’t let him see you squirm. I shook my head. Great, now I’m talking to myself. I hated having Parthalan out of my sight, but his presence pressed on my mind as it always did, giving me a general sense of where he was.

Sebastian came through the door first, holding one of Rourke’s arms. Bain held the other. They dragged the psycho piece of shit into the shadow toward where I thought Parthalan might be.

A few Sluagh entered behind them, along with a dozen or so fae I recognized from the Court. They spread out along the far wall beside the red princess bed, whispering and snickering.

My Light flared and pulsed a golden glow into the room.

A drunken laugh burst out of Rourke. With the addition of my Light, I could see him propped against the wall a few yards from where I stood. He giggled, his weasel face arranged around a lunatic grin as he stared up at Sebastian with wide, contented eyes.

“She broke his legs,” Sebastian said through clenched teeth. He slouched where he stood inside the circle at the end of the bed. He bowed to the far side, a bloody curtain of red hair tumbling forward.

There you are, Parthalan, you prick. Your peon just gave you away. I couldn’t help but smile, but it didn’t last long. Knowing his location didn’t improve my situation much.

“Mmm, getting bolder I see.” Parthalan snickered. “Have your precious rules gone by the way at last?”

“Rourke doesn’t seem to mind, in case you hadn’t noticed,” I grumbled.

“No, in fact you gave him exactly what he wanted from you.” Parthalan’s bare feet slapped along tile.

Why isn’t he wearing shoes? Please, please, please let him have clothes on.

“I have a gift for you, my darling.”

“Keep it. I have all I need.”

“Oh, I think you’ll want this one.”

A scream preceded a scuffle in the hallway.

I turned my attention to the open door, afraid to see but couldn’t look away. My hair swept over my face, and I pushed it back with a shaking hand.

Cas, the plum-haired guard, came through the door towing two sagging forms shackled and draped in heavy iron chains. He wouldn’t meet my glare, and his lips folded into a deep frown. He lowered his cargo to the floor and disappeared into a dark corner of the room.

New and dried blood coated both of the fae on the floor. One didn’t move, the other wept softly.

“Donovan!” I dashed toward him, but Sebastian beat me there.

He held a black pistol to my unconscious father’s forehead. “Take another step, and he dies.”

Garret lifted his head from the floor. When his swollen eyes opened and landed on Rourke, he wailed and jerked in his chains. My mind wanted to haunt me with scenarios of what my brother had gone through in Mr. Psycho’s hands, but I couldn’t allow the distraction.

“I’m here, Garret.” I ached to gather him into my arms and heal his wounds, to tell him it would be all right, but I didn’t want to lie to him. My energy answered my rage, brightening my skin.

My little brother looked up at me. Tears washed white paths down his blood-stained cheeks.

I nodded encouragement to him.

Green-haired Lochlann grunted as he walked backwards through the door, struggling to hold Liam. One of his eyes had swollen shut, and his clothes were torn to shreds. Bruises and gashes covered most of his pale skin. Lochlann threw Liam to the floor and put a foot in the middle of his back with a sneer contorting his coffee-toned face.

The sight of Liam made me want to scream, but I kept it inside. My hands clenched into trembling fists. Keep it together. For him. For all of them.

“Step into the circle, Lila” Parthalan commanded. “You have five seconds to obey before one of your precious fae will cease to exist.”

“We’re not worth it,” Liam muttered through swollen lips.

I swallowed the fear and anger like a black, wriggling snake and shook my head. “You’re wrong.”

I walked toward the glowing line in the floor and froze after I passed through a thick and itchy ward as if I’d been wrapped in wool. Parthalan’s silhouette stood before me, a few feet farther than the light could reach. I didn’t need to see his face to know he wore a triumphant grin.

“I’m here,” I said, “so let them go.”

Parthalan stepped into the circle with the grace of a phantom easing across the floor. He wore nothing but a pair of tight black leather pants. His midnight hair danced around his head. A creature from another time and place where gods and demons roamed the land. Light played along the hills and valleys of his body, accentuating the muscular ridges along his arms and stomach. He either practiced his poses in a mirror, or he had a natural flair for the sensually dramatic. At least he wasn’t naked.

If I hadn’t been terror-stricken, I might have rolled my eyes.

“So terribly predictable.” He sighed. “I don’t understand the draw to this—” He flicked his fingers toward Liam. “—half-breed peasant.”

“I could explain it to you all day, and you still wouldn’t get it.”

I caught my eyes creeping toward Parthalan and forced them elsewhere. Panic whispered through my chest like a stalking beast. I’d forgotten the effect he had on me without Liam’s interference. How could I kill a fae that could render me helpless by appearing shirtless before me? He reminded me of Medusa, but instead of stone, he turned me into a raging nympho.

“Do you see what I mean now, Liam?” Parthalan moaned as he ogled me, his voice more suited for lovers’ words shared between satin sheets.

Things down low reacted, swelling and tightening. Damn it!

“Do you see how she’s drawn to my power? Do you smell her desire?”

“I said let them go! This is between you and me.” I scratched my arm to break my growing ache to touch him, to run my hands along the hard lines of his body beneath the soft leather. His power had never overtaken me so fiercely, hot and potent with the potential to eat me alive if I let it.

His laughter rippled into the room. “I said nothing about releasing them, my darling. Only that I wouldn’t kill them if you arrived in time. Now, we start the clock anew.”

My mind spun. I started toward Liam, desperate for comfort, for an idea that would save us. At the edge of the circle, I bumped into an unseen barrier. “What the hell is this?” I ran my hands down an invisible, but spongy, surface. The well in my mind opened, releasing Light into my flesh. I tried to keep it in, but it swelled within me until I thought I’d come apart. My skin lit up with a golden cream, illuminating the Sidhe and Sluagh standing along the walls.

Liam strained against the chains. The look in his eyes ripped my heart from my chest.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “You weren’t supposed to come.”

“Don’t.” I pressed my palms against the barrier.

“You’re standing inside a circle of protection Sebastian designed just for you, darling.” Parthalan moved closer as he spoke. “It also confines your power to a small space, increasing its potency.” He moaned from right beside my ear, startling a yip out of me. I whirled around and found him kissing close. “The effects are most … intoxicating, wouldn’t you agree?”

I edged away, testing the perimeter of the circle with my fingers.

His eyes followed me with a predatory glint.

“What do you want?”

A silken laugh slid over my skin. “So direct.” His smile faded. “I want your Light. Renounce Liam as your mate. Use your Force of Will to sever the bond.”

“No!” Liam and I shouted in unison.

Parthalan stroked a hand down his abdomen as if to draw my eye to its perfection.

“Liam’s death will also sever the bond. Either way, I’ll get what I want. The method of delivery is yours to choose.”

“Don’t you dare,” Liam said. “He’ll bind you, and you won’t be able to stop it. You won’t remember me. You won’t remember that he killed your family. I know you. If you do this, your soul will die. He’ll use you to destroy everything we are, and have been for millennia. Please listen to me now.” His eyes—both open because he’d begun to heal—pleaded with me.

“But he’ll kill you, and it’ll happen anyway.” The truth in my words sliced through my mind like a white hot blade. “I have no choice.”

“You told me there’s always a choice.”

I offered a weak smile. “Not this time.”

The sight of his quivering chin and the wetness around his eyes gripped the wound in my soul and tore it wider. If it could have bled, I would have died where I stood. I had to find a way to fix it, all of it. Everything I needed lay before me in chains. Family. Someone to care for me despite my hardness. I imagined a life in them I’d never allowed myself to want in the past, and I knew it would break something inside me if I let it go or caused its destruction. A single tear left a hot trail down my cheek.

I won’t fail you. Goddess help me.

Parthalan beckoned Sebastian to him with a wave of his fingers. The two of them whispered outside the circle. Sebastian’s face brightened, and he looked at me. His grin made me clutch my stomach.

He nodded and walked around the perimeter of the circle toward Liam and the others.

“What’s he doing?” I ran to the edge of the ward as the redheaded shit came closer. He stroked a hand over his gun.

My muscles tensed to the point of pain as I pushed against the barrier, pounded my fist against it. I backed up and launched a kick only to bounce off and stumble back, screaming my frustration.

Parthalan came for me, his head tilted forward. His glass eyes dared me to challenge him. When I tried to dodge him, he moved to block me. With no other option, I stood my ground, teeth clamped together.

He stopped short of touching me, his warm, sweet breath washing across my lips. I held my terror inside as his shadow enveloped me. His Light differed from mine, similar to the eerie glow before a storm when the potential for destruction lingers in the air.

“We’re going to play a little game now,” he whispered, his mouth close to mine. His power licked at my skin, wrapped a cold, intense pleasure around me.

I didn’t move, but it took effort. Part of me wanted to taste that power, to take it into myself and let it drug me into a stupor.

“What game?” I didn’t want to know, but he appeared to be waiting for an answer.

“Every time you disobey your King, Sebastian will shoot Liam. The first bullet will hit his lower extremities, then continue up his body until he gets one between the eyes. The bullets have iron in them, so he can’t heal them himself. And he can’t shift and leave because the chains are pure iron.”

I swallowed past the cotton dryness in my mouth. “Let’s finish this, just you and me. Let them go, and I’ll stay with you, no fight, no fuss.” I couldn’t keep the desperation out of my voice. My hands trembled at my sides. I shoved them into my pocket so I wouldn’t slide them along the smooth swell of his chest or pound him in the face. I couldn’t decide which held the greater urge.

“Where’s the fun in that?” He stepped away with a snicker, stroked the sharp lines of his jaw with his fingers. “Shall we begin?” His eyes glittered. “Show me what you can do. Destroy something.”

I searched the room, my stomach in knots. “What do you want me to destroy?”

The dark thoughts passing through his eyes tensed my shoulders. “I’m curious. How accurate is your power? Did you break Rourke’s legs on purpose, or did that just happen to be where your power manifested?” His gaze wandered the room as he stroked his chin and made a come-hither motion with his finger.

I turned to find Sebastian dragging a whimpering Garret into the circle. He dropped him and return to Liam.

“Break his fingers.” Parthalan pointed at my brother.

“What? No!”

Garret’s eyes widened. “Don’t, please!” He struggled in the chains.

Sebastian shoved the gun into Liam’s foot and pulled the trigger. The tremendous sound sent a shock through my head and vibrations through the floor. He screamed. The chains clanked as his body jerked. The ward must have kept me from feeling it along with him. I wanted to take it into myself, but our link had become impassible.

Rourke had climbed to his feet to get a better look, his face rearranged with dark glee.

How did he heal so fast?

“Stop!” I scrambled across the tile to Garret. I knelt beside him and stroked his blond hair, grasping for ideas to get me out of what I had to do. Nothing useful came to me. “Just do it.” He stared up at me with sad blue eyes. “I know you have to. It’s okay. I don’t want him to hurt Liam again, either.”

A few feet outside the circle, Liam clamped his teeth together until his jaw quivered. Ruby ribbons trickled from his wound.

I blinked away the tears that threatened to overflow my lashes before turning my attention back to my brother. Face blank once again, I forced a smile, hoping Garret could see in my eyes how proud I was of him.

After gathering my energy, I placed my hands on his arm. With my metaphysical sight, I searched my brother’s body until I found the bones of his left hand. “I’m sorry.” The terrible cracking made me jump back. Garret groaned and turned his face to the floor, but he didn’t cry out.

“There, you’ve had your little demo, now let me heal him.” Without waiting for Parthalan to answer, I reached for Garret again.

Bain stepped in between us. He grabbed Garret by the ankle and dragged him out of the circle.

“Do you have to touch someone to cause damage?” Parthalan paced behind me.

I hesitated, aching to cross the barrier to my brother. What are you up to now, Glass Man? “The farther I am from someone, the less control I have.”

“So, if you’d forced your will, say, through the floor, you might have broken his neck or crushed his heart, instead?”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “It’s unpredictable. I might not even hit the person or object I intended.”

Donovan had woken up at some point. He stared at me, his eyes empty of fear and disappointment. My courage grew a little. I offered him a subtle nod and he returned it.

“How many can you control at once?” Parthalan asked.

I shook my head. “Maybe a few hundred.” I didn’t know how many had been in the Seelie Court, but I wasn’t about to tell him I’d sensed them all at once.

“Try. Feel out the minds in this city. Tell me how many are here.”

His request wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, but I didn’t want him to know I could reach them all. I looked over at Liam. If Parthalan knew I’d lied, he’d tell Sebastian to shoot him again.

With my eyes closed, I stood and gathered my Light until my flesh could no longer contain it. I called my Sight and pushed it across the city like ripples of gold through a black and white photograph. Minds crawled through every dark corner, through the streets and inside the shifters. The sights and thoughts sent a piercing ache through my temples. I knew the number of minds in the city without having to count. “Three thousand seven hundred and forty-six Sidhe, twelve hundred and five wolves and four thousand shifters, though some of the minds are quiet, so I’m not sure of their exact numbers.”

A few gasps carried around the room as I opened my eyes.

Parthalan stared at me as if I’d surprised him. He smiled. “Beyond my wildest desires.” His hand extended in my direction. “Now come to me.”

Sebastian rose to his feet, inspecting his gun. My heart leapt. I sped across the tile to the Unseelie king.

“That’s my good girl. Now bathe me in your Light. Let me taste it without resistance.”

Pompous ass. He could draw out my energy on his own, so why did he need me to do it? Shit. If I opened myself willingly, he could drain me dry. Was he afraid of me? “Why don’t you just take it?”

His gaze sought Sebastian. I threw my arms wide and opened the well in my mind before Parthalan could give the order. I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting Liam again.

Static crackled in the air. Wind swirled as if it came from within my body, and my Light pulsed into the room like molten strips of fire.

Parthalan mirrored my actions, spread his arms to his sides. My energy siphoned away until it mingled with his. The hue of his skin glowed brighter as mine grew dimmer, and I fell weaker.

When my knees could no longer hold me, he caught me and held me up. “So the mountain can be moved with the right motivation.” His hand found the bare skin of my arms. With a moan, he tilted his head back and rolled his eyes up. His scent engulfed me—fresh night air and evergreen. I buried my face in the hollow beneath his jaw as he shoved his Light into me—a terrible force of the sort I’d never imagined, hungry for destruction, intoxicating to the point of addiction.

So good.

“Liam can’t give you what I can,” Parthalan whispered against my ear. “Feel what we can be together, the pleasure we can share. Sever the bond, and my power will become yours forever. Join with me, and we’ll rule them all.”

The urge to rip the leather from his body and throw him to the ground overwhelmed me. I slid my hands along his chest, watched the shadow of desire engulf his face as I did. He shuddered and sighed beneath my touch.

I laughed a throaty, frantic sound.

“Fight it, Lila!” A voice shouted from far away. “Remember who you are.”

Donovan. Father. His voice came to me with such urgency it broke through my trance. What little energy I had left flared enough to break Parthalan’s hold on me. I pushed him away and scrubbed at my skin. His power tickled me, coaxed me back for another taste. I wanted to. Goddess help me, but I did.

No!

“I’m a fae who gets what he wants, and I want your Light,” Parthalan growled. “Break the bond, or Sebastian will finish your half-breed trash. You have five seconds to decide. Either way, I will have you and all that you are, tonight and every night after if I choose.”

“My King!” Rourke blurted. “You—”

“Silence. My anger made me foolish. Be a good boy, and share with your king.”

Rourke flexed his jaw and glared at the floor as he nodded. I considered egging him on to start a fight, but stirring up the lunatics would be too unpredictable.

“Five,” Parthalan said.

I turned to Liam, clutching my throat to contain the scream. “I have no choice.”

“Don’t.” His deep blue sapphires pleaded with me. “I’d rather die feeling your spirit inside me than die alone. You know he’ll kill me anyway.”

My focus shifted to Parthalan. “If I do this, do you promise all three of them will be set free without any more harm? They can return to Dun Bray.”

“Four.”

“Please!”

“Three.”

I swallowed a sob. “What should I do, Donovan?”

He shook his head. “There is no good choice.”

“Two.”

Sebastian thrust the barrel of his pistol into Liam’s forehead. His finger trembled over the trigger. The curl of his lip and shine in his eyes said he’d do it and enjoy it.

“I’m sorry.” I turned my back on Liam, on the one I’d begun to imagine a life with. Tears flowed down my cheeks in an endless parade. I couldn’t bear to see the look on his face, so I stared at the devil in leather, instead. “Tell me how to break the bond.”

Snickering, Parthalan brushed the tears from my face and kissed me. “Search your mind for the place where his spirit attached to yours. Force him out. Make room for your one true king.”

I closed my eyes. It took several minutes before I found the bright spot in my head where our connection had formed. I didn’t know how I hadn’t noticed it before then—so warm, so bright. Maybe I did, but it had become a part of me as if it were always meant to be there. The instant my Light touched it, the link between us opened. “Forgive me,” I thought at him. “I’m so sorry for doubting you, for everything. I—I love you.”

I centered my Force of Will on the task and tore the connection apart. Both Liam and I cried out in unison. Pain swept through my mind, gripped my soul and threatened to shatter it.

Great racking sobs burst from Liam’s lips as he strained against his chains, shouting “No!”

A moment later, a cool hand touched my forehead. Calm overtook me. Parthalan stared at me with something I took as regret before I remembered who the look belonged to.

“Take Donovan and the boy to the gateway and release them,” he said. “Allow them to return to Dun Bray. It makes little difference. The city will fall soon enough.”

Not as long as I lived, it wouldn’t. I gripped Parthalan’s wrist, both to keep his attention and to prevent myself from falling to my knees. “What about Liam?”

“He has grown powerful since tasting of your Light. I need him where I can see him until we’ve been mated by the ancestors.” He leaned in closer and whispered in my ear. “And when my guidance makes you more … reasonable, you can choose his fate.”

I shook my head, sickness spreading through my body like cancer. “Please, take me somewhere else. I don’t want him to see.”

Parthalan’s malevolent grin emerged. “Oh, but I do, princess. I want to see his face when you ravage me the way you did the first time. We will create a force and spectacle none have seen before.”

He kissed me hard and fast. My Light responded to him, bursting into the room with the flare of fireworks. Time crawled—or maybe stopped—while I basked in his power. When he released me, I found my legs wrapped around his hips. I jumped down, swallowing a scream. My energy overflowed.

“You are such a tease.” He pulled me back into his arms.

I drowned in his scent, melted against his smooth flesh. Warning voices screamed at me, but I could no longer understand what they said.

“Kill the peasant,” a voice hissed in my mind. The language wasn’t English, but I understood it just as well.

I opened my eyes wide.

“What’s the matter?” Parthalan stroked my hair, but I shook him off and backed up.

“Take the father and child to the bone yard. Take all that fall this night.”

As in the Sluagh’s bone yard? Several thoughts poured into my head at once, none of them my own. They had different tones of voice and varying cadences. Did they have a collective mind? If so, why could I hear it?

“You said they’d go free!” I rubbed my temples, the voices so loud it took most of my concentration to think past them.

Parthalan cocked his head. “Whatever are you talking about?”

Hell’s fucking bells, just blab it out loud, why don’t you. I didn’t want him to know I could hear the Sluagh—not until I figured out how to use them.

Before I could think of a good lie, the door crashed inward. The Sluagh launched into the air, screeching, and the fae jumped to attention. Their energy saturated the room with varying brightness and colors, terrible and wonderful at the same time. I wobbled on my feet as if I was drowning in high proof whiskey.

I put my hands to my ears.

“Selkie trash. Kill them. More in the corridor. Drive them out.”

A woman screamed, then stopped. I thought the sound came from the group at the door, but the racket from the Sluagh made it hard to tell. The silence frightened me worse than the screaming. I didn’t know who had fallen, and the ward rendered me helpless to do anything about it.

“I suppose this is your doing?” Parthalan glared at the boiling mass of bodies by the door. “I tire of your games, Lila. Do not cross me.” He strode out of the circle.

The Sluagh parted far enough to reveal Willa and Quinn standing in the corner, crouched in defensive postures.

“Why, Willa,” Parthalan said in his singsong voice. “How nice of you to return. Your skin will make a lovely rug for the front of the fireplace.”

The crowd shifted again. Althea lay sprawled on the floor, her neck bent at a disturbing angle.

“No! You bastards!” Huffing, I threw a fist at the invisible barrier because I needed to do something with the rage. The pain in my knuckles did little to draw my attention away from the sight before me.

“I will not waste my precious energy on these trifles.” Parthalan grabbed Bain by his cloak. “Kill them both.”

The Sluagh advanced on them all at once. Their excitement filled me with bloodlust that wasn’t my own, a vile craving that demanded to be sated.

“Stop!” I shouted.

They all froze mid-step and cast glances at one another.

Huh? I didn’t really expect them to listen to me.

Parthalan grabbed one of the Sluagh by the throat. “I said kill them!”

“I forbid it.” A rogue idea hit. I had asked for the Goddess’s help. Maybe instead of granting me an animal to command, she gave me the Sluagh. I could work with that. “Remove all Sidhe from this building except Liam, Donovan and Garret.” I thought for a moment, then added Cas’s name to the list. I got the sense he was no happier about the evening’s festivities than I was.

Parthalan rushed at me, but the Sluagh blocked his path as they attacked the Sidhe around him. I allowed myself a tiny spark of hope. I didn’t understand why they had to obey me, but I wasn’t about to question it.

A few of the Sluagh squealed and flew up. Blood dripped from their mouths. Parthalan waded through the rest, his face contorted with confusion.

I backed to the far side of the bed.

“Kill the selkies and then Liam,” he said. “Do it, Bain, or I will take all your lands and force you out of the City.” His muscles writhed beneath his skin, and his teeth clenched as he neared the circle.

Banshees poured in through the door and flowed across the ceiling, their empty eye sockets staring blindly forward. Their black wispy bodies trailed out behind them. The room erupted into chaos as the Sluagh attacked in a solid black mass of feathers. Bain leapt off the floor. His wings exploded around him. He hovered for a moment, those orange eyes narrowing as they glared at me.

The banshees descended, shrill whining cries preceding them. They carried off screaming fae toward the ceiling, down the hallways and out the door.

Liam shouted my name from somewhere on the far side of the room, but I couldn’t see him through the horde.

Parthalan re-entered the circle and grabbed me.

“Get off me!” I beat at him with my fists, but he held me with an iron grip. The more energy I expelled, the more he could drain from me. “Liam!”

Parthalan kissed me as he forced me back against the bed. “No time to do this the fun way.” He tipped his face up to the ceiling. “Ancestors, hear my call.”

A frigid purple mist descended around us. Voices dwindled to a few shouts as the room emptied. Over top of it all came the screeching of an owl.

I descended into Parthalan’s darkness until our hearts beat in unison. Voices filled the shadows growing darker around us—dark, malevolent whispers that sent raw fear treading along my spine. My body no longer obeyed me.

Our skin flared with deep blue light. Wind pushed us closer together, carried our hair up in its angry exhale. The room faded from my sight. I drowned in power so fierce I waited for it to tear my soul in two. Our skin didn’t just touch, it melted together.

The world trembled.

I wandered in darkness. So cold. “Help me!” Lost. So lost.

Only laughter answered.

Wailing, I searched for relief from the black nothing. I tried to remember how I’d arrived there. Faces passed through my thoughts, but I had no names for them.

A presence smashed into my spirit.

I cried out and thrust my hands up to keep it away, but it had no physical form inside my soul. Energy filled my body to capacity before it burst free of my skin. A moment later, another consciousness surrounded me.

His madness and lust for power clung to him like a leech, waiting to devour my sanity along with his. He invaded my mind, stole my breath.

My spirit shifted from me into him—a cold, empty place where nothing but ambition and greed existed. Numbness swept my body. A terrible loneliness settled down on me, sucking at my Light and will. I had nothing left to fight with, so I let it have me.

Time held no meaning as I wandered in his wilderness. Had it been hours? Days?

Distant sounds startled me where I lay alone in the cold. Screaming. Gurgling breaths of a dying fae. Shouting. The unmistakable scent of death settled into my nostrils.

My vision returned. Purple mist rose toward the ceiling until it retreated behind the glass. A warm body stirred beside me. His wavy black hair hung in a tangled mess around his smiling face. He looked so peaceful I smiled back, coaxing his hair behind his ear with my finger.

I held my hand up and marveled at the sight of it. “Do I know you?” The being didn’t appear to have any flesh, only pure white energy.

“Lila!” A voice shouted from my left.

I sat up and gazed around. I knew that voice. Didn’t I?

A man stood a few yards away. Dried blood covered his body from head to toe. Two others stood behind him, wearing brown cloaks and furs. Two men hovered by the door, shouting at someone down the hall outside the room. Tears streaked all of their faces.

“Are you hurt?” I asked the one covered in blood.

“I killed Sebastian, but the ward didn’t break,” the handsome man said. “Tell me what to do.”

“Who’s Sebastian?” I gazed around the room until I found a body lying on the floor near the door. Deep gashes scarred his back as if giant talons had sliced him into pieces. “You did that?”

He nodded.

I slid off the bed. Bright light shone through my jeans and T-shirt as if they weren’t there. The man from the bed stood and put his arms around me.

I smiled up at him. “Do you know what a ward is?”

“No, my darling. Why don’t you ask your friends, the Sluagh, to rid us of these trespassers?”

“I’m so tired. Can’t we sleep?”

The dark beauty before me gathered me closer to him. “Give the order, and we’ll sleep as long as you like.”

I turned to the five strangers. The woman’s chin quivered. The man beside her looked about the room, searching for what, I couldn’t imagine. The bloodied one paced, his fingers jammed into his short hair.

Fluttering sounds drew my eyes to the ceiling. Hundreds of winged creatures clung to the cross beams or sailed across the void. Some landed along the walls and skittered down the surface. A plethora of glowing eyes fixed on me.

“Are those my friends?” I marveled at their dark grace.

“He’s deceiving you!” The bloodied man shouted. “Remember me. Remember that I love you, Lila Gray.”

I shook my head, my brow furrowed. My head throbbed. “You—love me?”

“Kill them,” my mate growled. “They’ll hurt you. They want to take you away from me forever. Order the Sluagh to kill them.”

They didn’t look dangerous, but doubt sprouted to life in my thoughts. “Don’t let them hurt me.” I clung to my mate, staring into the endless dance of colors in his crystal eyes.

The one who loved me stopped pacing. He wailed as he fell to the ground. His body twisted, hands pressed against his ears. All eyes turned to him. The woman dropped to her knees beside him, held her hands above his body as if she couldn’t find him. The color of his skin and hair faded. In a blink, he disappeared.

My mate threw me back against the bed and stepped forward. “You’ve been holding out on me, Liam. Even Keepers who interfere will die.” He looked up to the sky. “You heard your queen. Find him. Kill him!”

The room filled with sounds of beating wings darting from the ceiling.

A flash of light blinded me for a few breaths. I scrambled across the floor until I came to a wall I couldn’t see. Terror squeezed my throat.

The woman wearing the fur crouched down outside the barrier in front of me. “I’m Willa. Do yeh remember me?”

I shook my head, clutched my chest above frantic lungs.

“Parthalan killed yer family. He’s about to kill us. Yeh have ta stop them.”

“Is that his name?” The pounding in my head worsened. “No. He wouldn’t do that. The spirits have mated us. He’s mine.” The words didn’t sound right. A tiny voice shouted at me, but I couldn’t understand what it said.

Giant white wings filled the circle. I gasped and huddled closer to the invisible wall. In desperation, I looked back for the one Willa had called Parthalan. Talons and beak tore at him. The terrible screeches from the owl stabbed at my ears.

“Yeh helped me outta this place once,” the woman insisted. “Listen ta me now. Yeh’re Lila Gray, daughter of Arianne, Queen of the Seelie. Yeh have ta remember. Those are the Sluagh. You have ta stop them.”

One of the Sluagh swooped above the woman. She rolled onto her back and kicked hard. The Sluagh squealed and circled, readying for another dive. The two by the door, along with the other man, also fought with attackers. Someone with plum hair came in from the hallway, wielding a sword and holding a wooden box in his hand.

“But, I’m Parthalan’s. He promised to keep me safe.”

“Feel the Goddess’s gifts flowin’ through yeh’re flesh.”

My palms pressed hard on my ears. “No. Lies. He said you’d take me away from him forever.”

The man with the sword tossed the box to Willa. She opened it, and a haunting melody flowed out. “Remember the song yer Mam used ta sing ta yeh. Remember yer promise.”

I shook my head, confused by the faces and sounds flashing through my mind: a fae looking down at me, her smile, the look on her face as she closed the floor above me the day she left me in the world alone. My mother. Liam’s touch, the depth of emotion in his eyes when he stared at me, the joy as his spirit flowed through me. My brother. My father.

I drew in a deep breath that couldn’t find a way back out. Everything flooded back with tremendous speed, drowning me in sights, sounds and thoughts. Tears trickled down my face and dripped off my chin.

A Sluagh dove at Willa again.

“Stop attacking!” I waved at the horde above.

Liam. My love. As I settled back into my own head, my eyes focused on the battle raging before me.

The great snowy owl used his wings to prop himself against the floor as he lashed out at the king with his talons. Shrieks pierced the room. Parthalan sidestepped him and attacked with a speed that rendered him into a blur.

Blood poured from Liam’s beak as he grabbed Parthalan’s arm and bit down. The bone snapped. He roared, and his Light answered with a bright flare.

Shit.

“Listen to me,” I commanded the Sluagh. “Break the circle if you can.”

All at once a wall of darkness descended. They plummeted toward the barrier but passed through. Some crashed into the wall on the other side, others banked hard to avoid it. When I realized they couldn’t affect the ward, I ordered them to attack Parthalan.

No matter how many flew at him at once, they fell into the ground in a bloody heap. He continued to battle with Liam, swatting the Sluagh away like flies. His arm had already healed.

I ordered the Sluagh to leave. Even the undead shouldn’t meet their final end that way.

The crackling of energy drew my attention away from the fight. Rourke stood just outside the circle. Blue fire arced between his fingers. His malicious stare locked onto Liam.

I positioned myself in front of Mr. Psycho. “Come on you lousy shit.”

Rourke focused on me, grinned and leapt toward the barrier.

Roaring, Garret slammed into Rourke from the side and knocked him flat on his back. The two rolled and tangled across the tile.

“No!” I screamed.

Blue light flared in the room. A piteous wail deadened all other sound. As I pounded my fists against the barrier, Donovan rushed to his son. With a laugh, Rourke rolled through the ward before my father could grab him.

Garret lay motionless. Black char marks in a star pattern adorned his chest.

He can’t be dead. “Donovan,” I whispered.

My father lifted Garret’s head and cradled it in his lap. Smoke swirled up in silver ribbons from the young fae’s skin.

The pain in my father’s eyes broke something in me. Parthalan’s Light burst open in my mind, a cold fury burrowing into every corner of my being. In the grips of a hunger to see Rourke broken at my feet, I shifted my attention to the psycho piece of shit.

“You’re a dead fae, Rourke.”

Liam and Parthalan screeched and roared as they struck at one another again and again, but I couldn’t see them, only the murderous lunatic before me.

He looked up as I approached, still grinning. “Are you going to hurt me again?” He turned over onto his hands and knees, batted his lashes at me.

I shook my head. “You killed my brother.”

“Brother?” Rourke raised an eyebrow and laughed. “You don’t have it in you, my pet.”

A smile bloomed on my lips. I grabbed him by the throat and swung a leg over his back to straddle him. My lips pressed against his ear, and I spoke soft, even words. “Ten minutes ago, you would have been right, but your precious king just changed all that.”

Rourke’s body stiffened beneath me before I wrapped my arms around his head and gave a sharp jerk to the side. The sound of his neck breaking sent a jolt of glee through me. I threw Rourke’s body to the ground and kicked him in the chest until pain raged up my leg.

“Fight it, Lila,” Donovan said. He stood with his hands against the barrier beside Willa. “This isn’t you. You’re stronger than Parthalan. Don’t give in to his power.”

Struggling to rise above the seductive lure, I returned my focus to the battle.

Parthalan opened a wide gash on Liam’s chest. He stumbled back, gasping, his white wings flailing.

If I couldn’t take on Parthalan with Light, that left only brute force or firepower. “Sebastian’s gun.” I pointed toward his body by the door. “Get it, Willa. Shoot Parthalan.”

She ran back to the door and searched around the floor for the handgun. Donovan and Quinn helped her. Cas stood in the doorway, his gaze pointed to something beyond my sight. His sword dripped crimson droplets onto the floor.

Liam squealed from his owl mouth. Blood gushed from it a moment later.

Parthalan circled him, chuckling. “You’re too late,” he sang. “I live within her now, and she within me. She is mine, and through her, I will rule you all. Or maybe I’ll kill all the Seelie along with the humans just for the fun of it.”

Rage chewed at me again, my body a glowing mass of energy, my mind still. My Light had darkened to bronze with my anger. As I thought about what to do with it, Parthalan siphoned it away through the link he’d formed with me.

This isn’t fucking happening.

I considered attacking him physically, but I knew nothing of hand-to-hand combat.

Willa came back a moment later with the handgun. The other three came after her.

“Are you sure the bullets will penetrate the ward?” Donovan asked.

None of us knew.

Liam fell back with a crash, his breaths panting from his beak. Ruby splotches decorated his white feathers.

Parthalan let out a deep growl. He fell to his knees, howling, his body bucking. A moment later his limbs broke and reformed, casting flashes of deep blue light into the room. Black fur sprouted as he writhed on the floor. When he rose again, a giant wolf stood before us, a rumble vibrating low in his throat. It took me a moment to realize he was laughing.

Oh, hell.

I threw myself on the floor when feathers, teeth, talons and fur exploded within the circle. The sound was enough to shatter the mind.

“Shoot him!” I screamed at Willa.

She held the gun up, adjusted her aim as the two of them destroyed the bed while they tore at one another.

“Can’t. They’re movin’ too fast,” Willa shouted. “I might hit yer fae.”

A new idea dawned. Parthalan drained my Light and my will—that means he can feel my pain, too. I stood and cast a determined stare at Willa. “Shoot me.”

“What?” Donovan’s eyes grew to giant moons. “No.” He pounded on the barrier, as impassable to him as it was to me. My father stood so close, but I couldn’t comfort him. I could only watch the realization take the shine from his wet eyes.

I placed my fingers against the invisible wall. He placed his hand on the other side. A sob shook him as he leaned his forehead down beside his hand.

“Trust me now.” I didn’t linger to see if he responded. The longer I gazed at my father, the more chance my nerve might crack. Instead, I turned my attention back to Willa. “Shoot me, before it’s too late. I can feed him my pain through our link. It will give Liam a chance.”

Willa’s hands trembled. Her eyes darted around the room as if looking for a way out of the terrible task.

“I wish I didn’t have to ask you, but you need to hurry.”

The snarling and screaming continued behind me, feathers flying, flesh ripping. I winced and brought my hands to my ears. Each sound dug deeper into my mind, threatening to break it.

Willa took a few steps back and tried three times to aim the gun at me but kept dropping her arm. “I’m sorry.” She sobbed.

Quinn grabbed the gun from her and pointed it at me, not a doubt to sway him, only a determined stare and a nod of encouragement. I tried to keep the fear off of my face but didn’t think I succeeded. I drew in a breath and held it. My hands shook.

His eyes darkened. His body went still. He hesitated for a moment before he squeezed the trigger.

The room disappeared behind a white flash. I didn’t even hear the shot before fire spread through my belly.

“Search for his darkness.” My mother’s voice echoed in my thoughts. “He caused you nothing but pain. Return it to him.”

I wandered through my mind in search of the place where he’d bored into my head with the enthusiasm of a thirsty tick. So dark here, now. So cold. When I found the frigid tunnel that tasted of his power, the intensity of his Light filled me with pleasure, confusion and doubt. Every time I tried to breach the link, I fell into a daze.

“Use your Light, Lilabear.”

Light to conquer the darkness. I gathered up my pain into a concentrated bundle in my center and wrapped Light around my consciousness. With a cleansing breath, I forced my way through the bewildering sensations and projected my suffering across the link to Parthalan.

He wailed in agony, stumbled, but he didn’t go down. Liam tore a deep gash along his side and knocked him sideways before Parthalan shook himself out and attacked again with renewed ferocity.

I sat up in the full throes of the burn tormenting my abdomen. “Again, Quinn. In the chest.” The metallic taste of blood saturated my mouth. Fighting off my gag reflex, I coughed, a terrible, wet sound.

“No!” Donovan roared. “We can find another way.”

I smiled at my father. “No, this is the only way.” I turned to Quinn. “Finish it.”

Quinn shook his head, his nostrils flaring. It took him a few tries to raise the gun. “The Selkie will never forget your sacrifice. Forgive me.”

Excruciating heat burned through the right side of my chest. Before the waiting darkness could consume me, I fed my pain to Parthalan again. Laughter bubbled in my throat. I would find peace where my mother waited within the eternal light above Dun Bray. Somehow, the whole time, she’d been watching out for me beyond the grave. She lived within me, would lead me back to her tender embrace. I stared up at the ceiling, unwilling and unable to move from where I lay. Blood filled my lung. I coughed as I began to drown.

A deep base scream pierced my thoughts. White wings beat against the air, carrying a bleeding fae in his talons. They went up and up until they crashed through the glass ceiling. Shards tinkled to the floor around me. I closed my eyes. Numbness climbed down my limbs and erased them from my knowledge.

My body jerked as if I were falling. So far down, the wind blowing my hair, fear so ferocious I waited for it to consume me with jagged teeth. A scream echoed in my ears when more pain engulfed me.

His pain.

Fear eased out of my mind. Though weary, I knew we had climbed the mountain. My people would mend the human world eventually, and the Courts would have to remain separate. Even prophesies didn’t always get it right. I smiled.

Then nothing.

28

“Follow me.” The mellow voice came from a distance.

I opened my eyes a crack to a liquid sky above. A cacophony of concerned shouts rose—some near, others far away.

“In here.”

I gazed up to Liam, his jaw clenched, his blue eyes frantic. He carried me across the city. Why? I’m dead. I should be with the spirit of my mother, not in this godless place.

The sky disappeared behind a crimson shade.

“Set her on the floor.” I recognized Cas’s voice.

I tried to speak, but a gurgle escaped, instead.

Liam set me down. My body below my neck didn’t register with my brain. Tears streamed down his face and landed on my cheeks.

“Don’t you dare give up on me,” he said.

I didn’t think I had a choice in the matter. He raised my hand to his lips, but I couldn’t feel his kiss.

“It’s starting.” Donovan crouched down beside Liam, put his cold palm against my forehead. “Do you feel anything, Lila?”

Blood filled my lung, splashed into my throat when I tried to breathe. I broke into a gurgling coughing fit.

Pain roared through me all at once. A wet scream burst out of me unbidden. I tensed as my back tried to arch, but something pinned me to the floor. Wet tendrils crept through my wounds, burrowing into my flesh from below.

Liam leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine, his uneven breaths fanning across my lips. “I’m sorry. We can’t do anything about the pain. I’m here. We’re all here.”

My body seized, and uncontrollable trembles rattled through me. I caught a glimpse of Willa pacing back and forth at my feet. Tears drew a wet line down her cheek. I struggled to sit up, but Liam threw his body over mine. Pain raged to unbearable agony. Quinn stood to my right, his head hung, shoulders slumped.

My lungs drained of liquid. Drawing in short, shallow breaths. I recognized where I lay—on the floor of one of the shifters. The pain receded as flesh grew inside me, repairing the damage made by the bullets. My back stung as the tendrils retreated below.

The shifter groaned and rumbled. Black blood dripped from the ceiling, then poured out of the walls.

“Shit.” Liam jumped to his feet. “We have to get out of here, now!”

“What’s happening?” My voice rasped.

He scooped me off the floor and dashed out the door. The rest followed behind us.

The house caved in, punctuated with a mournful cry.

I coughed and raised my hand to the rawness of my throat. “What happened to the shifter?”

“It took your wounds into itself,” Donovan said. “Cas thought maybe you could heal it once you were stronger, but the injuries were too severe.”

I had nothing left in me. “Where is Garrett now?”

Donovan raised his face to the sky. “I don’t sense his spirit here in the Black City.”

“Then he’s with Mother in the sky above Dun Bray.” The pain in my heart eased a little. “He’s dead, isn’t he? Parthalan? I felt him die.”

“When you fed him your pain, he shifted back.” Liam cradled me close. “I crushed him and dropped him from the top of the Court tower. I watched him hit the ground.”

My eyes kept closing. What I didn’t say was that a shadow of his power lurked in the dark place he’d left behind in my head, tainted with rage, hungry for freedom inside its new host. And I’d never let him free.

“Do you think you can hold on to Liam well enough to fly?” Donovan hovered over me.

On a blink of awareness, Liam’s scent swirled around me, his white feathers cushioning my body as Donovan tied me to the giant owl with rope. “Get Lila back to her people.”

Liam took flight. His muscles rolled beneath me, filled me with a sense of home, of belonging.

My consciousness slipped into the void.

• • •

A warm hand rested against my cheek. Light painted colors behind my closed eyelids, but I couldn’t find the strength to open them.

“Come back to me, my child.” Donovan’s voice pulled me the rest of the way to consciousness.

I forced my eyes open. The light stung them as I searched for my father. His hand moved up to brush hair back from my face. The smile arranged on his pleasant face stole my confusion and unease.

My heart sang at the sight of him. “Where am I?” I croaked.

“You’re safe now. This is your room, in the Seelie castle.”

I nodded but didn’t believe. “I can’t believe you’re alive. I thought maybe I’d dreamed all of that. Or I guess nightmare would be more appropriate.”

Donovan handed me a glass of water and helped me sit up. I drank it down, slopping half of it on the satin nightgown I wore.

“Where are the others?” Memories of Garret’s last cries returned, tearing at my heart. I’m so sorry, brother. I’ll finish what we started. I promise you.

“Liam is waiting for you in the garden. The powers here won’t let him back inside the castle. I disguised myself, which is the only reason I’m sitting here.” Donovan glanced over his shoulder at the door. “I’m sure Nix knew I wasn’t who I claimed to be, but he’s perceptive, that one. I think he knew I meant you no harm. He’s standing outside your door and hasn’t left your side since we brought you here two days ago.”

“Two days.” I shook my head. “I’ll talk to Gallagher, though it’s probably Neasa who doesn’t want him here. Where are those two? I’m surprised they’re not hopping all over me by now.”

“I think Nix has convinced them you need some time to heal.”

“Garret’s body …” Instant grief stole the air from my lungs again.

“I tended to him myself. His spirit is happy here, Lila. He holds no regret over what happened.”

I nodded but couldn’t accept it. “What about the selkies?”

“Quinn and Willa have returned home.”

“Only two made it out?” I put my hands over my eyes. Tears crested my lashes.

“They number in the thousands. The ones who came volunteered knowing they had little chance of returning, and now that you’ve shown your worth to their clans, all of them will gladly align themselves with you. You offered the Goddess your life to save us all, and she didn’t take it.” His hands grasped mine. “That has immeasurable significance to all who are faithful to her, to all who want to see the world and all its creatures returned to peace. The selkies consider their part a small sacrifice for the greater good, and so should you.”

In theory, I understood the significance of that and the sentiment behind it, but I couldn’t get the sight of Althea’s broken body out of my mind. “I need to see Liam.”

Donovan kissed me on the head. “I thought you might. Have a shower. I’ll arrange food and some Lila-approved clothing for you to wear.” He smiled, his eyes shining with that same pride he always wore when he looked at me. “Your mother’s music box is on your bedside table.”

I jumped out of bed and ran to the table, picked up the wooden box and opened the lid. I closed my eyes while the haunting melody played. My voice filled in the words, then my father’s in harmony. The sound injected me with mirth that couldn’t find a way to escape. I laughed through my tears. The only physical connection I had to my mother, back in my hands. I couldn’t believe it, either.

“I’m so glad you’re here—Father.” I put the music box down and wrapped my arms around him. My father. The words still sounded foreign to me but surrounded me with peace. He gathered me into his arms and swung me around.

I giggled despite the protests from my empty stomach.

When he put me down, I lingered in front of him. “She speaks to me sometimes.”

He took my hands. “Death doesn’t truly separate the fae from the ones we love. Just as she once carried you within her, part of her flesh and blood, part of her soul, now she is a part of you. She has never left you, my child.” He caught a tear on my lashes, turned and went out the door.

I supposed part of me had always known she was watching me, that she had always been there to guide me when I needed her. Hearing my father say it mended my wounded heart a little more. That she held Garret in her spiritual arms soothed me further.

After showering and dressing in a nice pair of jeans and a red T-shirt, I ate a bowl of soup while Nix stood over me. He studied me, smiled whenever I looked up at him, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes.

I squirmed.

Could he see the dark power Parthalan left behind in me—an echo of his Light and spirit? Parthalan was supposed to be dead, but I could still sense him in my head—a living, breathing entity pulsing in the background. His seductive energy, his madness waited for me to open myself to it. Its presence formed a tangled knot in my stomach, but I didn’t know what to do about it yet.

Donovan returned as I finished eating. “Are you ready?”

I stood and took Nix by the hand. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

He gathered me into his arms. “Forgive me for doubting you. I’ll never do it again.”

• • •

I walked with my father toward the garden in the middle of the city but stopped before it came into sight. My toe dug into the grass between the cobblestones. “I don’t know what to say to him. He saved me.”

“You gave him what he needed to finish Parthalan, willingly giving your life in the process. Despite the terrible odds, you came to the pits of hell to save us all, and without that, none of us would have walked away. Never forget that.” He tried and failed to hold back a grin. “And I think once you see Liam, your heart will overcome your mind.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I tried to glare at him but couldn’t. Instead, I put my hands on my hips and faced away so he wouldn’t see the smile creeping across my face.

“I’ll give you some cover while you get reacquainted. Now get down there before he wears out the moss with all that pacing.”

“Thank you.” With a laugh, I started toward the garden. After a moment, I gave up trying to be casual and sprinted. My heart throbbed in my chest.

Father’s chuckles followed behind me.

My breath jammed in my throat when I found Liam running his fingers through the feathery foliage of one of the pink trees in the garden. I slowed my pace and walked the rest of the way, taking in every detail of him. He wore dark grey dress pants with a cream sweater and a leather jacket tailored to his lean physique. I wanted to touch his face to see if he was as smoothly shaven as he appeared.

He held his hand out to me. The smile he flashed melted me into my shoes. When I regained control of my senses, I closed the distance, concentrating to put one foot in front of the other. Instead of taking his hand, I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him.

“You’re shaking,” he whispered. “We’re all right.”

I eased my arms back and rested my hands on his chest. Transfixed by his brilliant blue eyes, I stared at him. An idiotic grin tugged at my lips. Were we all right? I wasn’t as certain as Liam sounded, but I pushed those thoughts away.

While gnawing my lower lip, I tugged him by the hand into the open space in the middle of the garden. Heat rushed into my cheeks and other places. “You know, it just occurred to me that I owe you one.”

He chuckled. “You owe me nothing.”

“Oh, I disagree. That time, outside Seven Gates … don’t you remember?” I hooked my foot behind his ankles and shoved him. He fell back onto the moss with a grunt.

A purr trickled from my lips as I straddled and pinned him to the ground. “Now be still, or I swear I’ll hogtie you.” Before he could respond, I kissed him, explored the far reaches of his sweet mouth before I eased back. “I suppose that makes us even.”

The fiery heat in his bright eyes induced a shiver to race along my spine. I leapt off and skittered away, laughing.

“I thought you weren’t into public displays.” He climbed to his feet, crouched, predatory.

I shrugged. “Donovan cast an illusion over us. If anyone looks this way, they’ll see nothing but a beautiful garden.” I hope.

He flashed the naughtiest grin I’d ever seen and chased me through the trees while the golden light of my ancestors danced above. Bits of clothing dotted our paths like marks on a treasure map.

We played for a time that stretched out endlessly. Fingers, lips, tongue explored each other. The scent on his skin, the texture of his hair, the muscular playground of his body made me crazy for more. When he plunged into me, Light broke the surface of our skin and mingled as we tangled our bodies together, moved to the rhythm of the earth, our eyes locked in a tender embrace.

The world seemed far away, a nightmare that existed outside of our existence compared to the raw emotion in his stare, in the way his body moved on top of me, the pleasure he coaxed out of me again and again. He screamed his release against my throat as he succumbed to my touch.

I laid on top of him, my face pressed against his throat. He stroked my back in a circular pattern.

“How did you get through the ward that night?” I asked when I found the energy to speak. “It looked like you just—disappeared.”

“Mmm,” he mumbled. “I don’t understand it, but the Goddess gave me a Seelie gift, even though our bond was severed.”

“What gift?”

“Your people would call me a Keeper.”

A crease formed along my brow. “A keeper of what?”

“Of the place between.” He snickered as if I’d said something silly.

I poked him in the chest. “Don’t laugh at me. Everyone talks in riddles around here. How am I supposed to know?”

He squeezed me, his warmth penetrating me to the core. “I keep forgetting you don’t know everything about us yet. I can travel through the place between darkness and light, sleeping and waking, life and death. It was like walking through a nightmare, everything distorted, but I focused on you, and I just popped back into reality inside the circle.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I snuggled closer to Liam and basked in his Light. “The Goddess is crafty, I’ll give her that. I thought we’d both lose our gifts once I broke the bond, not gain more.”

Liam swallowed hard, squeezed me. “I asked Gallagher about my father.”

He didn’t need to say any more. “I’m sorry.”

“He’s happy, and I think he’s proud of me. I never thought he would be, we never really got along, but I felt him up there.”

I squeezed him back.

I thought about what would happen next, overwhelmed by the task that still lay ahead and the expectations pressing down on me. We’re alive. That’s more than I’d hoped for. When my eyes closed the night Parthalan died, I thought I’d never see another sunrise. “What happens now?”

“I killed the king,” Liam said as if that should answer my question.

I pushed myself up so I could look at him. “You say that like its significant.”

“Anyone strong enough to kill a king or queen earns their place on the throne.”

I rolled off him and knelt on the moss facing away. My chest tightened as I thought it through. “So—you’re saying you’re the new Unseelie king?”

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

I closed my eyes. After everything we’d been through, Parthalan would still take Liam away from me. I scrambled to my feet, wrestling with my thoughts.

“What’s the matter?” Liam came up behind me. “I thought you’d be happy about this. We can work things out together now.”

Oh, hell. I couldn’t help the sense of loss niggling my heart. “I—I’m sorry. I’m acting like an idiot again. Congratulations.” I opened my eyes, turned and smiled to force away the tears. “I couldn’t think of a better fae for the job.”

He held my chin and forced me to look at him. “Tell me.”

I twisted free of his grasp. After a few deep breaths, I forced the words out. “I don’t want you to go, all right? I thought we might—you know—spend some time together now. Like, for a long time.”

He laughed, his eyes reflecting it. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear those words from your mouth.”

I scowled at him. “Great. I finally spill my guts to you and you laugh.”

“Oh, don’t be like that.” He hugged me, though my body remained stiff. “You’ve made me shiver, talking that way.”

I relented and molded against him. “Why didn’t the Goddess mate us again?”

He sighed as if he’d been waiting for me to ask. “She can’t. At least not yet.”

“Why not?”

“Without threatening death on them, my people won’t accept you as their queen, and your people won’t allow me to be your consort. We can’t force this on them, or we’d be no better than Parthalan.”

My throat constricted. “Are you saying we can’t be together?”

“No, I’m not saying that. Just not yet, not formally anyway. Remember, you’re supposed to be the bridge that brings our Courts back together. Until then, we’ll see each other—quietly.”

“I don’t believe this.” I wiped a hand down my face to prevent my frustration from showing. “I hate sneaking around. It’s like admitting we’re doing something wrong.”

“It will take time to change two headstrong nations. We have to be patient, take baby steps to lead them into a new era, and then we’ll lead them together.” He wore a knowing grin. “If you had a choice between discretion and never doing what we just did again until we fix things, what would you choose?”

Hell. What can I say? I’d have sooner gone without air or water than have to refrain from touching him that way. Although I didn’t like it, he was right about forcing the issue. I wouldn’t be a dictator like Parthalan. I sighed. “Fine, you win. We’ll sneak around like horny teenagers until the fae get their heads out of their asses.”

“Mmm, horny teenagers. I would have said lovesick fools, but I’ll go with that.”

Shadows crept around my memories. They’d been lingering since I woke up, but they wouldn’t be ignored any longer. “What did you do with Parthalan’s body?”

Liam made an abrupt about-face and gathered up his clothes. He put them on as he found them, looking everywhere but at me.

I squinted at him, studied the deepening furrows in his brow. “Liam?”

He stopped and rubbed at the back of his neck. “I wanted to wait until I knew for sure before I said anything.”

I pressed my palms against my forehead. “Tell me you had someone get his body and destroy it.”

“When Cas and Donovan went back—” he sat on the moss, pulling his shoes on. “The dent in the street was there and lots of blood, but his body was gone.”

“Bain!” I clenched my fists.

“That’s what we think. He’s sealed off the Cargun side of the city somehow. We haven’t seen any of the Sluagh since that night.”

Not enough air. I paced, shook my hands and cracked my neck so I wouldn’t hit something to relieve the pressure filling me like flames.

Liam grabbed me and forced my eyes to his.

“If he comes back as Sluagh, you own him. Remember, you command them now.”

His words sort of made sense to me, and my hyperventilating dwindled back to normal breathing. “I guess. But the thought of seeing him again …”

Sickness permeated my soul as I gathered my clothes and put them back on. Liam and I walked to the portal hand in hand, my feet dragging to stretch out our last moments. When we arrived, I found Donovan waiting for us.

“Tell me you’re not leaving, too?” My mood drooped even further into the black pit.

Donovan approached at a jog, kissed me on each cheek. “Until I’m a welcome visitor, I’ll keep my distance from Dun Bray, but I’ll see you—” He gazed up. “—and the rest of our family often one way or another.” He wrapped his arms around me, held me until I smiled. Before he let me go, he whispered, “You’ve made an old fae very proud young lady, but if you ever scare me like that again, I’ll ground you for a century.”

We laughed and wiped away a happy tear or two.

“Whatever you decide to do about the humans, the Unseelie will support you.” Liam planted one last lingering kiss on my lips. He slipped a small silver square into my hand. It looked similar to a cell phone, but none of the networks operated anymore.

“What is it?” I turned it over in my hand.

“It can create a temporary metaphysical link between us so we can arrange our battle strategies.” He gave me a corny double-eyebrow-raise, winked.

Ahh—crafty. “Nifty.” I smirked as I considered the possibilities.

Donovan went through the door first, followed by Liam, who paused halfway through and looked back. He stood straighter, more confident if that was possible with him. He appeared regal, a look befitting a king. He pressed his fingers to his lips and extended them to me as he closed the door behind him.

I slumped down against one of the shifters. So many lost in my name. Somehow I had to pay tribute to my brothers, to the shifters and selkies, and save the humans from the damage Parthalan left behind. I had to be strong, to earn the trust they’d all given me.

Liam’s masculine scent clung to me, bringing a smile to my lips and warmth to my body. I lay along the cobblestone and stared at the golden sky. Tension eased out of my shoulders. The future suddenly didn’t seem as dark as it once had. Two prejudiced nations stood between us, but with Liam’s help, we would lead them into a new era of peace.

He loved me. I couldn’t think of a better motivator than that.

Acknowledgements

It’s amazing what can change in one year with enough determination and perseverance. I started writing seriously in August of 2010 and happened upon the writing group my lovely and talented friend, Rebecca Hart, dubbed The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pens. Waves to you!

To the witty and hilarious Pam Bitner whom I loved and cursed (usually at the same time) when she made me work for the final product you’re about to read—I bow to you. To Aimee Laine, without whom I never would have grasped the difference between showing and telling, or how to use the comma correctly (that little twerp of a punctuation point and I still don’t always get along well)—you are my teacher, my moral support and my mentor all in one. You’re awesome. To Rebecca Hart, your wisdom and dedication to seeing me through to the last page will never be forgotten. To Della Odell, Larry Royce, Ruth Steven, Emma Madden and Stephanie Pleli who stuck with me through my blips and changes and rewrites—I’ll never forget your encouragement and enthusiasm and, without which, The Glass Man would still be a work in progress buried in the depths of my laptop.

To the brilliant and understanding folks at J. Taylor Publishing, who took a chance on this total noob, answered my millions of questions without complaint and gave me the tools and confidence to do this thing—you rock!

Lastly, I give thanks to my family who must have days when they forget I’m there, save for the clacking at my keyboard. Without your patience and support, I never would have succeeded.

Jocelyn Adams

Jocelyn Adams grew up on a cattle farm in Lakefield and has remained a resident of Southern Ontario her entire life, most recently in Muskoka. She has worked as a computer geek, a stable hand, a secretary, and spent most of her childhood buried up to the waist in an old car or tractor engine with her mechanically inclined dad. But mostly, she’s a dreamer with a vivid imagination and a love for fantasy (and a closet romantic — shhh!). When she isn’t shooting her compound bow in competition or writing, she hangs out with her husband and young daughter at their little house in the woods.

December 2011

February 2012

Table of Contents

- Reviews
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Acknowledgements
- Author
- Coming Soon