Tempting Ballad

by Katherine McIntyre

  She shrugged and pressed the key into his palm, but he didn’t take offense. He asked as a courtesy, not because his mother might be up and responsive. When the upper echelons of the Court murdered his father, they’d tried to do the same and failed with his mother. However, the vicious injuries they’d inflicted caused permanent damage no amount of magic or care could resolve.

  “Have a good visit,” she offered. He turned away, key in hand, and picked out the midnight striped tree that led to his mother’s room. With long, loping strides, he cut across the grassy knoll, dozens of these trees scattered through this place—a dryad-run facility seemed fitting for his mother who had loved to take them on strolls through the forests in the Otherworld.

  Leo slid the key into the slot along the trunk of the tree, and the bark began to peel away, revealing a dark portal. He slipped right through until his feet settled on solid ground. One moment he stood in the grassy foyer, and the next, he slid into a different room. Unlike human hospitals, fae ones connected their patrons to the elements, the Otherworld nourishing their mind and body even if all of the energy in the place couldn’t fix them.

  The room was comprised of packed earth, gentle flowers, and steady beams coming from a glowing ball overhead. His mother lay on a bed of ferns, her eyes closed and her hair splayed out in the eternal slumber she’d fallen into ever since the Court failed at finishing her off. That day he’d discovered what happened to the fae who were no longer useful to their closed-off society.

  He, Marisa, and Mother had been cast out, stripped of their wealth and their positions within Court. They’d been jettisoned by the people who’d sentenced his parents to this fate, and none of those callous bastards gave a second glance to two struggling children. Every bit of status he’d achieved since had been clawed out.

  Kincaid knelt beside his mother, a beautiful woman who’d done her best to raise him right. Every remaining memory of her was a fond one, from the gentle way she’d lean into their father to the tender strokes of her fingers through Leo’s hair. He’d held those memories close to his chest when he had little else. The gentle beams illuminated her pale green skin, similar to his and his sister’s, and they’d inherited the same cascade of black hair from her as well. He’d gotten his build, his strong nose, and golden eyes from his father though.

  Leo ran the back of his hand along his mother’s cheek. His parents had been falsely accused—discovered after the fact of course and then covered up. His parents remained scapegoats for a crime they never committed. One of the highest standing in the King’s Court, the water nymph Lilian Hornsby, had been violating the Accords. When proof surfaced, she implicated his father, throwing the blame onto him.

  The woman whispered in the King’s ear to this day, one of his top advisors.

  Apart from the King himself, she was the top person on his hit list. And when he wiped out the Courts, both Seelie and Unseelie, he would make sure she perished in the fires she’d created.

  “We’re getting closer,” he murmured, as if his mother might hear him. Not like she ever responded, but coming here helped clear his mind. The visits reminded him of why he’d started down this path in the first place. Change wasn’t something ushered in on soft-spoken words or easily-made deals. True change was a wildfire, a violent, combustible thing that could fast spin out of control. However, he’d been setting the tinder in place for years, waiting for the right spark to burn the whole structure down.

  The stone he carried in his pocket heated up, a sign Marisa tried to contact him. Since cell phones weren’t reliable in the Otherworld, he and his sister had figured out ways to reach each other when issues cropped up long ago.

  Leo brushed a few strands of hair from his mother’s face and pushed up from his crouch. “I’ll be back soon.”

  His words echoed in the lonely room, as if they might stand a chance of lingering before the silence swallowed them whole.

  ****

  Leo’s quickened heartbeat calmed once he exited the Otherworld and the texts from Marisa caused his phone to buzz. She’d just been updating him that the lab he’d sent those drugs to had finished their analysis and refused to disclose the results to anyone but him.

  After another Uber through town, he pulled up in front of the concrete facility. The building appeared unassuming, at least compared to the surrounding skyscrapers. Nala and her fellow selkies provided a much-needed service of labs specializing in fae health who remained discreet. The major one in this city wouldn’t have done him any good. Most of the technicians lived in the pockets of some member of the Courts, and if his analysis pinged anyone’s radar, the results would get sent their way at once.

  Kincaid strode out, the sun beating down on him. His jaunt into the Otherworld, while short, had cost him a couple of hours here—well spent. He strode to the double glass doors with a renewed sense of purpose, his mind cleared after the quiet remembrance his mother’s facility offered.

  Whatever the results were, he couldn’t shake the feeling they stepped into something spanning far larger than anticipated. Renn may have once believed his sister was a one-off kidnapping, but if fae families were being targeted and their loved ones stolen, someone stood in the background pulling the puppet strings. He’d grown far too used to the way the Courts operated, and the kidnappings combined with the designer drugs stank of their machinations.

  He stepped inside the building, the cool air circulating with an alien staleness compared to the lush vibrancy of the Otherworld. The fluorescent overheads cast their neon hues onto every available surface, extinguishing the shadows. He hadn’t made it three paces in before security strode over to either introduce or intercept.

  “I’m here on appointment,” he announced. This foyer was spartan with its single desk lining the entire length of the wall and big glass windows that let buckets full of sunshine in on the white and black fixtures of the room.

  A hobgoblin and a redcap sauntered over, both of them wearing clean navy-blue uniforms that blended in with human security officers. “Your name and business?”

  “Leo Kincaid,” he said, flashing them a disarming smile as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. “My associate has informed me that I’m required to retrieve the information in person.”

  The redcap wrinkled his nose, snatching the business card and scanning it over. The hobgoblin on the other hand glanced toward the black doors on the opposite end of the room.

  “Your appointment is in the book,” the hobgoblin said. “We’ll escort you to the labs.”

  As he followed the hobgoblin toward the black doors, curiosity percolated through his veins. The level of secrecy made sense for a place like this—he appreciated their reputation for a reason—however, the cursory examination he’d gotten of the drugs themselves had sparked his interest. Something looked different about them beyond the normal laced substances passed around among the fae. The tug in his gut told him this was important.

  The redcap marched behind him as if Leo might make a break for their empty foyer. Leo just kept his pace and didn’t look back to indulge the overeager guard. The hobgoblin placed his fingertip on the door which then glowed, webbing out from the spot. A minute later, the door opened with a click, and one by one, they stepped inside.

  The narrow corridor was sterile, all white walls, ceilings, and flooring, and the neon glow of the lights seemed right on the edge of Otherworldly in its intensity. Leo didn’t bother looking at the doors as he strode by—he’d grown familiar with this facility a long while back. Nala was a rare gem who fought against a sea of fae who’d rather succumb to the Court’s corruption, a woman after his own heart.

  The hobgoblin led him to the door at the far end where Nala processed most of her lab work. The patient rooms he passed by were usually filled with all sorts of fae who either wanted discretion or didn’t have access to Court-sponsored health facilities. Fae like the boys of Discord’s Desire who refused to claim their side of the Courts.

 
“In here,” the hobgoblin said, opening the door in front of him and gesturing. The redcap nearly clipped Leo in the heels as he attempted to surge forward, but the hobgoblin stuck an arm out, keeping his partner back.

  Leo stepped into the sterile room that could’ve been plucked from a hospital apart from the plants curled along the lamps and the pockets of deep pools filled with salt water.

  Nala stood on the opposite side of the room in her trim white coat and black slacks, but at the creak from the door, she turned around to face him. “My friend,” she said, a broad smile reaching her lips. The woman’s hair was pulled into a low chignon and she held a clipboard in hand stacked high with papers she’d been perusing. “Come in, Leo.”

  The moment he took a step forward, the door slammed shut behind him. “Great staff you’ve got working,” he teased.

  “What we get for outsourcing, right?” Nala responded, sweeping past several cleared long tables to stand beside him. “You’re here for the report on the sample you sent us, correct?”

  “That and to see your gorgeous face,” he responded.

  She shook her head with a grin. “Flattery’s not necessary, Leo. We both know your interests lie on the other side of the fence. Besides, you always bring me the most interesting projects. This is probably one of your best.”

  He snorted and slipped his hands into his pockets. “You have my rapt attention, Nala.”

  She flipped the sheets on her clipboard until she paused and glanced up. “The main substance wasn’t problematic—pretty much our kind’s equivalent to the human MDMA. I’ve seen it made in a variety of ways—pixie spit, crushed ocanthala leaves from the spirit trees in the Otherworld, but we found a different element to this batch. It was streaked with DNA from an asrai and likely drawn via blood or spit.”

  Leo’s alarm bells buzzed louder and louder.

  Coincidence was a belief held by those too naïve to draw conclusions. And his mind already leapt three steps ahead.

  Designer fae drugs peddled by a notorious Unseelie house, missing victims from prominent Court families, and asrai DNA showing up in their drugs right when the Ashewarrens, an asrai Unseelie family, searched for their missing brother.

  His stomach churned. He had the feeling he knew what the missing victims were being used for, and the thought stoked those embers of rage that had never died.

  He didn’t know whether to hope they’d kept Renn’s sister alive or pray they’d given her a merciful end. Whatever fate she’d faced, Leo couldn’t let this continue. He’d fulfill his promise to the Ashewarrens and to Renn, all while bringing another prominent Court family down in flames.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Renn had woken up to the best kind of soreness after the filthy things he and Leo got up to last night. With the amount of disruptions they had over the past week, he half expected someone to bust through the door, but instead they enjoyed an entire night of uninterrupted pleasure. For the first time in a long while, the humming in his chest and the urge to rush out and burn down a building abated. Leo Kincaid must possess some sort of magic, because one night with him soothed Renn more than a month of flings.

  Of course, Mr. Successful Businessman already jetted earlier, but like the considerate asshole he was, he left a tray of breakfast—a covered scone, fruit, and a carafe of still-warm coffee. Renn had downed most of the carafe by the time he noticed the barrage of texts on his phone. His bandmates had gotten up earlier than him as per usual. In the RV, he got up once the lot of them made enough noise clanging around up front to rouse him, but in this hotel, the quiet of the room had him falling deeper into sleep.

  He chewed on his scone, crumbs dropping onto the carpet and then the asphalt as he wandered his way outside of the building. His heart thumped a little harder at the idea of seeing the RV again. When he’d left the other night, he’d believed that might be the last time. He stepped out through the front doors and caught sight of the RV, black with stripes along the sides they’d painted when they first bought the behemoth to begin touring.

  The assholes sent a barrage of texts but no actual explanation of why they were having a band meeting in the RV. He’d gotten a dozen or so eggplant emojis in his inbox too, thanks to Ky and Danica. Apart from salacious details of the mind-melting sex with Leo Kincaid he’d overshare to his bandmates, Renn locked away any other thoughts on the man, even from himself. The lingering warmth in his chest as he finished off the scone begged to differ, but he’d become a vet at ignoring pesky emotions.

  Renn approached the door—already, he could hear the reverberating sounds of voices coming from inside. The RV didn’t do a great job at soundproofing, something they’d all learned to live with over the years. When he stepped inside, the familiar scent of old leather washed over him, stopping him in his tread. He’d only been able to give this up by refusing to think about it. The leftover smells of coffee and bacon lingered in here, and the word home branded on his bones.

  “Who could even attempt shut eye with the lot of you blowing up my phone?” Renn called as he strode down the corridor toward the back of the bus. Trev and Jett lounged on the vinyl booth while Ky gesticulated wildly, and Liz stood in front of the coffee pot with her arms crossed. Whatever was brewing involved the golden couple. Danica had made the smartest move and probably stayed behind in the hotel room.

  “Just in time,” Ky said, drawing his attention away from Liz.

  “Run while you can,” Jett drawled, his arms swept back along the booth.

  Trev heaved a sigh.

  “Please, you think Mr. Runaway is going to side with you on this?” Liz asked, focused on Kieran.

  Renn strode between them and snagged the coffee pot. He could use another cup to punch him awake before getting dragged into this mess. “Mr. Runaway isn’t going to be of much use to anyone today after the vigorous, uninterrupted hours of fucking last night,” he drawled. Jett let out a loud groan, and Liz rolled her eyes. He had to hide his grin. Half the time, he just liked to rile these fuckers up.

  “Good, that means you’ll have enough energy to keep Liz from running off to what is guaranteed a trap,” Ky argued, his golden eyes flashing.

  Renn snorted. “With the way your girlfriend waves her Beretta around? I’m too pretty to get shot at.” He took a sip of coffee, savoring the still-warm liquid.

  “Gotta look good for your boyfriend,” Trev responded with his Louisiana twang.

  Renn flipped him the middle finger.

  “I’m here, you know,” Liz said, waving her arms between the two of them. “Right here. And I’ll be going whether any of you approve or not. I know the rest of you are kill-on-sight for the main cabal of hunters, but I’ve been waiting to find out more about my kind for far too long.”

  Renn crooked an eyebrow and leaned against the kitchenette counter. “Did you get invited to the Annual Hunter’s picnic?”

  Liz cast him an annoyed look, all while Kieran glowered on the other side of her. The pair was hands-down meant to be together—no one else would put up with their level of bickering. Liz continued. “We found a letter slipped under the RV door from a hunter named Natalia. She disagrees with Darren Andrews’ ‘attack all fae’ plans and wants to meet up.”

  “Natalia? That sounds like a sexy name,” Renn responded, his fangs poking out with his grin. “Is she hot?” Even as he said it, he could feel the marks on his skin left from Kincaid last night, his mind drifting back to that man.

  Liz pursed her lips. “Don’t know, since I haven’t met her yet. Though you could join me and find out.”

  Renn grinned in response. If he had to sit around any longer while Leo investigated the Harrods for his grand master scheme, he’d go insane. “Count me in. When’s the meet up?”

  Ky threw his hands in the air. “That’s not what I call back up,” he shot back, storming to the bunk beds in the back of the RV.

  Jett leaned forward to pat Liz on the leg. “Ignore your huffy boyfriend. We’ll go with you tonight.”
<
br />   Liz nodded and glanced to Renn. “She wants to meet at Ratification in the city. Think you guys can handle a bar night without picking a fight or setting the place on fire?”

  Renn pointed to himself. “I have no idea what you’re referring to. I’m an angel.”

  “Yeah, Lucifer,” Jett shot back.

  “Cruel. Don’t be jealous, J,” Renn responded with a grin as he took another sip of the coffee. A couple of thumps sounded from the back end of the RV, and Renn couldn’t ignore the heat blossoming in his chest. He’d been an idiot to hide his past from these guys. No matter what they all went through, his bandmates were the first true family he’d known since Belle.

  “We’ll go with you tonight, Liz,” Trev said, casting a glance toward the back of the RV. “All of us.”

  ****

  In the short hours between their RV meeting and the rendezvous at Ratifications, Leo returned to the hotel room looking far broodier than before, as if that were possible on the serious man. Renn wouldn’t press. Leo promised him they’d talk later, and they’d gotten into a hot and heavy makeout session before Renn realized he needed to jet to get to the bar on time. His Fae Batman lover needed to stay behind and protect Gotham or some shit.

  Which was for the best. The more time they spent together, the more he began to appreciate the man’s presence and notice how his mind quieted the moment Leo came into the room. Thoughts like that promised nothing but trouble.

  Renn hopped off the bus he’d taken into town, the creak and groan sounding behind him. He could’ve gone with the guys, but as of late, he’d take any chance he could get to clear his head.

  Plus, if he were being honest, he wanted to scrape together any spare moments he could with Kincaid. Any of Renn’s relationships had a definite expiration date, but he found himself pushing this one back further and further.

  This time of night, the crowds roamed through the streets in full force, denizens of the city on the prowl for a drink or dinner. Crowded was better, unless this mysterious hunter decided to pull a pistol on them. Then the situation could get ugly, fast. His skin prickled at walking through these streets, the scent of autumn in the city laced with dried leaves, dark porter, and a crisp chill. Give him hitmen or thugs any day—he’d take the lot of them over being in the same city as his family.