“Hang in there,” Becka whispered. She wanted to touch Caeda with reassurance, but was afraid to do so with her bare hands.
Had Quinn called for backup yet? Was he able to, was a better question. “Quinn!” she yelled again, panic fraying the edge of her focus, “I need you to rally and make that call. If I stop, they could die!”
“I’m calling,” he mumbled back at her.
Relief surged through her. She could do this!
Next, she ran to Brent on the stairs nearby. She slipped on the blood painting the steps and landed hard on him.
“Shit,” she ground out through her clenched jaw.
He’d have to forgive her for his future bruises. Trying to shrug off her anxiety, Becka deftly raked her hands through the web of magic encasing Brent’s chest. It was thicker, deeper than the others, and for some reason she knew he’d attacked first or otherwise borne the brunt of the attack. Moments later he sucked in air, followed by a halfhearted yip on the exhale.
She patted his fur. “Work it out, buddy.”
“But they won’t be for long…”
Mimir’s words echoed in her mind. She had to hurry. Who else was left?
Saige!
Becka stumbled to her feet and ran over to Saige, who had fallen near Mimir’s vehicle. She slid to the ground, feeling the gravel cutting into the sole of her bare foot. She worked her Nulling magic, and in seconds Saige heaved in a deep breath, shook her head and sat up, and then worked herself up onto her paws.
Saige nuzzled her face, and Becka threw her arms around her friend for a short, rough hug. Saige didn’t appear as heavily affected as the rest, but then she hadn’t been under the influence of the magic as long, either.
When Becka pulled away, Quinn was sitting upright, his pallor gray. He looked around, disoriented, as if he wasn’t quite sure what had happened.
“Did I get everyone?” Becka asked. Quinn and Saige looked around. Caeda lay flat on her back, while Brent and the other wolves were up and in sitting positions.
“Luce?” Quinn asked. “She got thrown into the trees at the start of the fight.” He pointed to the area beyond Caeda and Brent, where Becka knew she hadn’t yet checked.
Becka’s heart sank into her stomach. She leapt to her feet, Saige at her side, and sprinted towards the trees.
Please let me not be too late.
Saige found Luce first, her nose guiding them to a nearby copse of trees surrounded by juniper. Pushing back the sticky, prickly branches, Becka went right to work, ripping her way through the bundle of magical threads wrapped around Luce’s chest. In seconds, they were gone.
But Luce didn’t inhale.
“Luce!” Becka screamed at her, compressing the wolf’s chest in an attempt to make her breathe.
Saige whined and nosed at Luce’s fur. Quinn and the other wolves had risen and came to watch, all waiting for Luce to come to.
Seconds passed. Then minutes. Becka couldn’t see through her tears. Saige lay down, nestling herself against Luce’s body, and let out a high-pitched, keening howl.
Becka sat back on her heels and then stood. She’d saved most of them from Mimir’s magic, yet today felt like a loss. They hadn’t been able to bring Alvilda home, and now Luce would never go home again either. She backed off, giving the wolves space to grieve their packmate.
Quinn had done the same and was squatting next to Caeda. Becka moved to join him. Caeda’s pallor had returned. He fished a packet out of his jacket and withdrew a prefilled syringe, which he injected into her broken leg. After a few seconds, her eyelids grew heavy.
Quinn stood and moved close to Becka. “At least she’s resting comfortably now. Help should be here shortly. Enforcers are sending in an airlift.”
“Do you think they can trace the car?” Becka asked.
“I gave them details and they’re making an effort, but I’m not holding out hope. That road leads through heavy forest and the day’s waning on us. She could hide and wait us out, switch transport, or just outrun us. The Shadow-Dwellers have remained hidden this long for a reason. I bet she’s got any number of tricks up her sleeve.”
“I can’t believe how powerful she was,” Becka replied, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. “What magic was that, anyway?”
“I think it was the binding magic of House Ivy. I didn’t feel like I could breathe, move, and it even seemed my heart was moving slower.” Quinn grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “You did well against a more skilled opponent.”
She cast her gaze over to where the shifters still surrounded Luce. “Not well enough.”
“That’s on me. I should have anticipated that Alvilda could have been going to meet someone.”
Becka shook her head. “We discounted Shadow-Dwellers from this a while ago. You couldn’t have foreseen it.”
He dropped his arms. “You’re right, but we’ll figure out what happened here.”
Quinn walked straight to the cabin and through the open door with Becka close on his heels. It was a small, one-room affair with a wood stove, sink, bed, and kitchen table.
“Oh my gods,” Becka whispered.
Blood covered the wooden table, oozing in rivers onto the floor below. It was still fresh enough to be dripping.
Brent’s white form hovered in the doorway behind them.
“Do we know the blood is Alvilda’s?” Becka asked.
The white wolf yipped. Quinn nodded, so Becka assumed that was a yes.
“Why would Alvilda have come here?” Quinn asked.
“Mimir said Alvilda had broken her oath,” Becka replied.
“Mimir?” Quinn replied, digesting her words. “You spoke with her?”
Becka nodded. “Alvilda was supposed to poison me and failed. Although according to Mimir, Alvilda failed due to some sham prophecy and she chose to punish her for it anyway.”
“Prophecy?” he asked. “You’ll have to fill me in after we get Caeda patched up. No doubt they’d met here before.”
Becka looked around the small space, noticing a shelf behind the bench on the far wall holding a few well-worn books. She walked over to it, taking care to avoid stepping her bare foot into the blood on the floor. Reaching out to the books, Becka felt the pressure of a headache threatening at the base of her skull.
“This is something,” Becka said, picking up one book, her gloves and her mental control shielding her and the book from each other. Flipping through the pages, she realized they were journals written in a foreign language she didn’t recognize. Becka held the book out to Quinn. “Look, it’s the same script as the Shadow-Dweller book you gave me.”
Quinn’s expression turned grim. “Which we still can’t decipher.”
“Why would Mimir have left this here?” Becka wondered aloud. Was this like the book Quinn had given her? Did it also have the ability to communicate underneath these odd glyphs?
“Who knows?” Quinn replied. “This place is far enough away from House Birch’s main holdings to be of little consequence, and likely let them work without interruption. I wonder how Alvilda met Mimir, how they decided to meet at this place.”
“She must have known of this cabin, as she grew up around Padrig’s farm. As she got older, she started attending parties and events, and then she’s been hanging off Calder’s arm for the past year or so.”
“If you wanted to get close to those running House Rowan, Alvilda was the perfect target,” Quinn said, running a hand through his hair. “I bet she was being manipulated by Mimir even before Tesse’s death. It couldn’t have just been Lagan, Woden, as he’s dead. Now Alvilda’s dead too.”
Becka looked around the room. “We don’t know she’s dead.” Quinn stared at her like she’d lost her wits, and Brent’s furry head was cocked to the side. “Okay, this is a lot of blood. So mostly dead? But why take her body? Who needs a dead fae?”
“Killers only hide bodies to hide clues.”
A revelation hit Becka hard. “Perhaps her body was covered
in glyphs, like Tesse’s was?”
Quinn shrugged. “We can’t know now.”
Stymied, she needed to act. She had to, or the horror of this day would drive her to darkness. “What do we do?” Becka asked.
Quinn blinked, a ghost of a smile crossing his face, which was otherwise painted with frustration and grief. “We?”
“Yes, what do we do with this investigation?” she asked, clarifying.
“We…” Quinn whipped out his tablet and began taking pictures. “Catalog the evidence.”
Becka picked up the rest of the books. “Can I keep these?”
Quinn’s brow furrowed. “Sure, but let me take some pictures of them first.” His phone rang. “I need to grab this.” He stepped outside.
Becka stowed the new books in her bag and took one last look around the cabin, only to note what looked like blood smeared across the kitchen table. She drew closer and the words came into sharp focus.
FIND ME
A shiver ran down her spine. Mimir had left her those words, perhaps as a taunt? Perhaps as a threat? On a whim, she pulled the three new books and the original one out of her backpack. She opened them, one at a time, and flipped through the pages.
A vice-like pain gripped her heart. The words FIND ME were repeated, page after page, in all four of the books. Tears streamed down her cheeks yet again, but this time she didn’t wipe them away.
Becka returned the books to her bag. She shook her head, mopped the tears away on her sleeve, and then walked over to the table. She wiped the bloody words away into one giant smear. Becka used a drapery in the kitchen that was mostly clean to wipe her hand off.
What was she hoping to accomplish by destroying evidence? Guilt washed over her, followed by a wave of confusion. Becka didn’t fully understand why she’d done it, just that it had needed doing. Becka suspected the message, which Mimir had also spoken to her directly, was for her and her alone. She didn’t want anyone else getting caught up in the Shadow-Dwellers’ obsessive interest in her. Becka didn’t want there to be more Votts or Luces hurt in the crossfire.
She suspected the new book of glyphs was a clue to finding Mimir. She was familiar enough with how the one Quinn had given her worked and was already starting to develop a plan to study them further.
She turned and headed outside, again taking care not to step in the blood. She walked up to Quinn as he finished up his call.
The wolves remained circled around Luce’s quiet form, but their ears and eyes made it clear they were on high alert.
“What do we do now?” Becka asked.
“The chief is sending out a team to process the site and a crew to transport Caeda and Luce. After they get here, we should head back to the manor.” His expression was dark and stormy.
“What are you worried about?” she asked.
He looked at her, and Becka had the impression he was choosing his words carefully. “I’m surprised we have another Shadow-Dweller after you just months after Woden’s death.”
“Woden said they had a network.”
“Yes, but I now suspect there are more of them than we’d estimated.”
Becka let that sink into her consciousness, the added weight of the books in her backpack especially heavy at this moment.
“Mimir took Alvilda, presumably so we wouldn’t see her body, but then why leave the books?” she asked.
He nodded. “Exactly. They would know we’d identify that script as used by Shadow-Dwellers.”
Tightness gripped her chest. “They want me to know they’re right next door. Waiting for me.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. But what do I know? You’re definitely not safe at House Rowan. And maybe not anywhere.”
Chapter 31
Fae Territories - House Rowan
Becka paced the length of the council chambers, for once alone in the opulent room. She crossed to the windows and opened a pane, breathing deep the fresh air drawn on the crisp fall evening breeze.
The door opened behind her, and Becka glanced back to see Maura close the door behind herself. As glad as she was for this private audience, her stomach was doing flip-flops. The fist clenched around her chest hadn’t abated since earlier in the day when she’d realized the poisoning had been directed by a Shadow-Dweller.
“How are you holding up?” Maura asked, coming to stand near Becka.
She took a moment to consider how to put her thoughts into words, but she appreciated Maura starting the conversation by showing concern. “It’s been a rough day at the end of a series of rough days,” Becka replied.
Maura appeared to take her measure. “Would you like to have a seat?”
“I’m too on edge.”
Maura took her gloved hand in her own and walked her over to the table. “All the more reason to sit. No one will interrupt us, I made sure of it.”
Becka relented, sitting in her chair, but then turning it to face Maura’s.
“Not even Calder?”
Maura rolled her eyes. “He wouldn’t let off his ranting and wild accusations towards the enforcers and shifters over losing Alvilda. I sent him on a walk to work out his anger.”
Becka wrung her hands. “It would have been nice if he’d been reasonable, but I can’t say I’m surprised.”
Maura shrugged. “No worries. I have thick skin, and he couldn’t say no, so off he went.”
“Have you heard from House Birch yet? I’m worried we may have upset them.”
Maura nodded. “We’ve had runners going back and forth all afternoon. They aren’t upset at Rowan because enforcers crossed into their territory without warning, but they aren’t too happy to hear that someone killed a shifter on their lands, home to the House of Healing.”
“The irony…”
“I don’t think it’s lost on them. They claim the Shadow-Dweller can’t be hiding within their territory, that all fae are accounted for.”
“The enforcers’ investigation will confirm or deny that fact.” Becka supposed she should be grateful they weren’t accusing them of making up boogeymen, but was exhausted by the immediate denial, nonetheless.
“As you say,” Maura replied. “But I had the impression you have other things to speak of?”
“I do,” Becka replied, steeling herself. “My civic duty letter arrived.”
Maura’s brows raised. “That was fast, but certainly a good next step. It’ll give you the opportunity for a change of pace to distract you from all of this mess. Who’ve you been placed with?”
A breath hung in the air between them.
“As a consultant to the enforcers,” Becka replied, hearing the trepidation in her tone.
Maura blinked. “We can protest. The last thing you need is to be exposed to more traumatizing events like you saw today!”
Becka held up a hand, and Maura frowned. “I don’t think Rowan should protest.”
A silence settled between them as Maura digested her statement. “Why would you want to work with them?”
Becka didn’t want to offend her mother, but now, of all times, she needed to stay strong and be direct. “You must realize I’m not safe here. Alvilda might have delivered the poison, but the Shadow-Dwellers were behind the attacks.”
“But if you work with them in the city, it can’t be any safer. Here we have guards. Magical defenses. Measures we can take,” Maura replied, her expression concerned but her tone terse.
“Sure, but more requests will come in for my civic service and I could get pulled around fae and human locations alike. A longer-term assignment will surround me with enforcers. I can’t take fae guards with me everywhere, but I can be side-by-side with enforcers for the foreseeable future. It’s a much safer option until the Shadow-Dweller threat is managed.”
Maura sat back in her chair. “What if your next requested assignment sends you right into the lion’s den?” She pursed her lips. “But I understand you want to take on the Shadow-Dwellers head-on, and there will be risk no matter the assignment. At l
east we assume the Enforcers would be able to protect you.”
Becka let out a nervous laugh. “I never thought I’d hear you say something nice about them.”
Maura sighed. “That may be the first and last time. But they do have their uses and they didn’t try and overstep during the interrogations, which was a pleasant surprise.”
Encouraged by her mother’s positive shift towards the enforcers, Becka pressed forward. “I’ll also have access to portable scanners for checking my food, and self-defense training.”
Maura tapped her fingers on the table. “It sounds like you’ve had time to think this through.”
Becka shook her head. “I just got the letter at lunch today.”
“I’m surprised Quinn didn’t give you any warning,” Maura said, eyes narrowed.
“Oh, he did. First thing this morning. If you heard me yelling earlier, that would have been why.”
Maura laughed. “Busy day.”
It felt good not only to laugh with her mother, but also that they were seeing eye-to-eye. “Yeah, busy day.”
“Look,” Maura said, leaning forward, an elbow on the table. “You’re bound by law to do civil service; we don’t have a way around it. I can’t complain if you’re surrounded by armed enforcers, especially if the alternative of spending time at other houses is too dangerous right now. If this is where you want to be, then I won’t fight it.”
“Thank you, Maura,” Becka replied, relieved beyond words to have her consent. The last thing she’d wanted was to have a new argument between them.
Maura raised a finger in warning, as if Becka needed a lecture. “You need to be aware this assignment won’t solve your image management problem.”
“Wait, what?” Becka said, feeling like she’d taken a blow to the gut.
“The incident with Hanna goes well beyond House Hawthorne.” Maura stood, pacing the length of the table. “Hawthorne is claiming you’re unfit and a danger to others, and other houses are moving to support them.”
Poisoned Shadow: An Urban Fantasy Supernatural Detective Mystery (The Shadow Series Book 2) Page 24