by Nissa Leder
“Can I say I’m not surprised to find you here?” Kaelem said sternly, then grinned. “Though I remember something about you going to the Carribean. Scarlett, this is my old friend Nico. The one who told me about this establishment but forgot to mention how in the hell we’re supposed to get inside.”
Nico approached them and extended an arm to Scarlett. She shook his hand.
“You are exquisite,” Nico said, still holding her hand in his. “I’ve seen a lot of gorgeous women, but you’re something else.”
Scarlett pulled her hand back, resisting a blush. Though his words here flattering, something about him seemed greasy.
“This suddenly silent one is Scarlett, the one I told you about,” Kaelem said then pulled Nico into a hug. “Now, will you help us get in?”
“Of course.” Nico walked to the side of the glass door and knocked three times, paused, then knocked once more and the door slid open. “You just need to know the passcode. After you two.”
Kaelem linked his arm with Scarlett’s again as they entered the building. Being so close to him brought her comfort. Unsure of what they would face, at least they had each other.
There must have been some sort of spell on the doors because peeking in from the sidewalk, the inside looked like a plain office building with a front desk and cubicles, but this was anything but plain.
Sparkling chandeliers hung from the high ceiling above, dimly lighting the room, giving it the perfect ambiance. Instead of cubicles, high-backed booths lined the outer ring of the room.
They approached a dark, wooden podium. Behind it stood a human woman with peachy skin and blond hair. “Welcome to Sandy’s,” she said to Kaelem and Scarlett before noticing Nico. “Hello, Nico, welcome back.”
“These two are with me,” he said.
“Wonderful,” she said. “Right this way. Your usual booth is open.”
She turned and Nico followed her.
“Coming?” he turned and asked.
Kaelem and Scarlett hurried behind.
All the waitresses wore little black dresses. Some were strapless, others halter tops, some even had capped sleeves. They all were short, but none were too revealing. The waiters all wore black dress pants, but some were shirtless while others wore black shirts.
Lust permeated the air like smoke. It was thick by some booths and looked like fog when Scarlett used her magic to search for auras. Nerves settled in her stomach. They were here to search for the man who knew where they could find the weapon, not to be part of some kinky club. But she couldn’t deny the effect the lust was having on her. And when she glanced at Kaelem, she knew he was feeling it, too.
The waitress seated them. Scarlett scooted into the booth first, followed by Kaelem. She assumed Nico would sit by him, but instead, he sat next to Scarlett.
Kaelem let off a pulse of annoyance. Was he jealous?
Scarlett liked the idea of his jealousy. What was wrong with her?
Nico ordered a round of drinks for them all. “Trust me, the Long Islands are great, and I couldn’t possibly be a good friend if I didn’t get us all shots too.”
Scarlett inhaled. They were there for a reason, and it wasn’t to get drunk.
“We can’t go too fast,” Kaelem said. “We’re here for the reason you and I discussed.”
“Aren’t you in luck, then,” Nico said. “I can help you track the thing down. But first, we drink.”
Scarlett wanted to refuse, but she didn’t take Nico as a guy to take no for an answer. Which, truthfully, frightened her. If fae like him were using humans for their own pleasure, it wasn’t right.
Nico told them a story about last night and some fight he got into at a mortal bar him and some friends went to. When he mentioned some drunk human picking a fight, Scarlett quit listening. She didn’t want to hear about how a helpless human got beat up by a fae with an ego problem.
Kaelem seemed to be listening, giving an occasional ohh or ahh.
Instead, Scarlett scanned the room. If someone shared her Sidhe power, would she be able to tell from their aura? She looked from booth to booth and saw nothing but lust. Sometimes another emotion would be mixed in, like jealousy or gluttony, but nothing that made anyone stand out from anyone else.
Finally, when she was about to give up, she saw a man standing near the front, staring at her. His aura had lust, but it also had small speckles of light.
His eyes widened when her gaze met his. Then he tilted his head to the left. Scarlett looked that way and saw the signs for the bathrooms.
She lowered her mental shield for a quick second.
Follow me, a voice said. Raise your shields.
She listened. Was it safe to follow him? He seemed adamant her shields be up, so she didn’t want to risk lowering them again.
“I need to use the ladies’ room,” she said.
She felt a knock on her mental shields. It was likely Kaelem wanting to talk, but after the Sidhe’s warning, she didn’t dare check. She placed a hand on his knee and met his gaze. After she gave him a nod of reassurance, he moved and let her out of the booth.
“She’s a grown woman, Kaelem. I think she can handle going pee by herself,” Nico said.
At first, Scarlett had thought he seemed suave, but now his cockiness had shown through and she didn’t much care for him. She leaned in and gave Kaelem a peck on the lips. “I’ll be back, darling.”
It was what he always called her, and she had to admit it was fun to return the nickname and to show Nico she wasn’t a prize he could have.
She casually walked toward the bathroom signs where the man had disappeared to. Hopefully, he hadn’t gone far. She wasn’t sure how safe it was to follow him.
When she rounded the corner, she saw him in front of one of the bathroom doors. Instead of group bathrooms, the club had a row of individual bathrooms. He entered one and shut the door. Did he want her to go with him? Or was he peeing?
A warning from her high school P.E. Teacher on health day flashed into her mind. “Don’t go anywhere with strangers.” It was pretty standard common sense. But this was the man with answers, and it was a chance she had to take.
She turned the handle slowly. Unlocked. When she entered, he his index finger was raised in front of his mouth. Nervously, she shut the door and locked it, hoping she wasn’t making a huge mistake in trusting him. He pulled a small glass container from his pocket and uncorked it, then sprinkled the powder inside in front of the doorway.
“There, now no one can hear,” he said.
Scarlett felt her eyes widen.
“No,” the man said. “You’re safe. I just don’t want snooping ears to overhear.” The man bowed. “My queen.” He eyed Scarlett up and down. “A bit different than what I expected.”
Scarlett wanted to cover herself, not because she was modest but because she knew the tattoos on her skin weren’t supposed to be black. Since she didn’t know how to glamour herself a jacket, she let her arms hang awkwardly at her side. “I know I’m not like Dana.”
“No, you’re not,” he said. “But you shouldn’t be. You are a new queen for a new time.” Worry filled his aura. “We need to hurry. You’re being set up. The man with the Unseelie King is stalling.”
Set up. The words played in Scarlett’s mind. No. They couldn’t be. They hadn’t told anyone.
“Only Nico knew and the Fates somehow figured it out and offered him a hefty reward if he captured you and turned you in,” the fae said. “We have to be quick. I’m Maeron. I don’t know how much you know, but a few of us Sidhe went with Dana to the mortal realm to be her protector for the rest of her human life.”
Wait, had he read her mind?
“Yes,” Maeron said. “You’re safe for now with the willow in front of the door, but you need to keep your mental shields up. When the mind is weak, you’re always in danger. People can steal your thoughts or control you or erase your mind completely.”
“We need to get out of here while we can,” Scarlett sai
d. If she got caught again, she doubted Ankou or the Fates would underestimate her as he had last time.
“First, I need to know why your tattoos are black.” He stared at her, waiting for an answer.
“I…” She raised her mental shields. What was she supposed to say? She was a screw up of a queen? What confidence would that bring him? “I tried to sneak into the Darkland to save my friend. The Fates had blackmailed him into giving himself over to them and, in doing so, brainwashed him. I thought with the element of surprise, I might be able to get in, save him, and possibly kill Ankou, then get back out. I was wrong.”
She was an idiot, but she’d tried to finally do something herself.
She continued, “I can access the dark magic that Ankou uses. I used it to get my friend and myself out of there and somehow my tattoos turned black in the process.”
Maeron nodded as he processed what she’d said. “Dana told me the new queen would be different than she was and that somehow that difference is what stood a chance against Ankou. Maybe accessing his magic will be the trick to defeating him. I see the light in you still.” He bowed again.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He didn’t know how much it meant to her that he still had faith in her, despite her seeming so unlike the previous queen. Maybe her screw-ups could somehow help them win in the end. It was a much more uplifting thought than having dug her own grave.
Maeron checked his watch. “The weapon is a dagger. It is the only weapon that can truly kill any Otherworld rulers, including you and Ankou. The Darkland is part of the Otherworld and there is one other kingdom very few know about. It is the Sea Kingdom and resides deep in the ocean. The Sea King should have the dagger.”
“How do I get there?” Scarlett could swim, but she couldn’t exactly hold her breath long enough to find an underwater kingdom. The need for oxygen was one thing that had remained from her time being mortal.
“I’m not sure. Go to the Otherworld ocean and find a water creature. Perhaps they can help. I wish I could tell you more.” He reached out and squeezed Scarlett’s hand. “You need to get out of here. I want to keep my cover. No one knows I overheard. They underestimate my mind gift. Maybe I can learn something else to help you.”
“Thank you.” Scarlett kissed his cheek.
She would go back to the table and pretend to be sick. Did Sidhe get sick? That might be too human. She’d pretend to freak out about being away from her sister. That would have to work. There was no time to come up with a better plan.
As she walked away from the restroom, she glanced back and gave Maeron a thankful nod. When she turned the corner and saw the booth where Kaelem had been, it was empty.
“Looks like my friend isn’t so much who I thought,” Kaelem said behind her.
She turned to see him tied in a silvery rope, with sparkles that glittered in the chandelier light. Either they had a thing for bling, or the rope was more than just any old rope.
Two men Scarlett didn’t recognize stood on each side of him.
Nico came around from behind them. “I am a little bit sorry now that I’ve met you. You are very beautiful and seem like a great queen.”
“Let him go.” Scarlett’s voice was fire. The rage she’d been holding back crept to the surface. “Now.”
“I wouldn’t do that.” Nico glanced behind her.
Ten fae, six more men and four women, circled around her, herding her as if she were cattle.
Thirteen total. Were those good odds? She’d never tested her power. Not against regular fae. None were royal. It shouldn’t be bad odds. When she did one more take, she saw the outside row. Another fifteen.
So twenty-eight. No big deal. She was a Sidhe queen who had both light and dark magic. It should be a piece of cake. And maybe if she’d actually learned the capability of all her magic, it would have been, but she hadn’t.
Would giving in now be smart? Maybe a better opportunity would come to escape. But then again, maybe it wouldn’t.
No. She would not be captured again, not without a fight first.
She created an orb of light and threw it at Nico’s face.
He lifted his arm and used the outside of his wrist to block it.
Scarlett expected it to go right through but instead, it bounced off and fell to the ground, burning a hole in the hardwood flooring below.
“How?” she asked, astonished.
“Don’t think we didn’t come prepared.” Nico rolled up his sleeve to reveal a metal bracelet of sorts. Somehow, the metal must block her magic. He held up a set of handcuffs. “Now be a good girl and let me put these on you. I promise I won’t make them too tight.”
Scarlett glared. There were so many of them and unless she could get Kaelem untied, he couldn’t help her.
Suddenly, six of the fae around her dropped to the ground.
Maeron stepped out from the hallway. “Metal shields really are important.”
She had mind power, too. She searched out and found a crack in one of the female fae’s minds. She saw images of the woman with her lover, tangled together in bed with the sheets curled at their feet. Then Scarlett saw it. It wasn’t a literal switch, but it had the same purpose. If she slashed it, the woman would die. She wouldn’t return to laugh with her lover ever again.
Scarlett didn’t want to take the woman’s life, but her people were counting on her. She needed to find the weapon and getting taken by these people would only take her further from that goal.
With a deep breath, Scarlett slashed out with her mind gift inside the woman’s head and she fell to the ground, her mind shattered.
Scarlett, feeling the horror on her face, looked to Maeron. He raised his eyebrow and nodded approvingly.
Then the battle began.
The fae all around threw orbs of different colored light at Scarlett. She inhaled and lifted a protective sheet of light around herself. When the orbs struck it, they exploded. It was as if she was inside a small glass room and fireworks were going off all around her.
She dropped the light and went on the offensive, using her light magic as a lasso. First, she threw it around the feet of one of the men guarding Kaelem, knocking him off balance and pulling him down to the ground. She released it from his ankles, only to lift it up like a rope and slash it through his torso.
To her astonishment, it cut him in half.
“Scarlett,” Kaelem yelled.
She turned to see a purple orb flying at her. Quickly, she leaped to the side, but it caught the edge of her shoulder, burning through her flesh.
Her wrath boiled. When she threw a lasso at the fae who’d struck her, the lasso was black. It curled around his neck and she pulled it tight. She grinned as he desperately tried to pull it away, but to no avail.
Scarlett let go of the lasso and turned her focus elsewhere as the man struggled unsuccessfully for air. She reached out with her mind again, this time with more focus. Two fae—one male, one female—watched in terror as their friend wrestled for air, dropping their mental shields just enough to let her in.
This time, Scarlett didn’t hesitate.
They both dropped dead to the ground.
Her world had become a frenzy. No more doubts plagued her. No more sympathy. Rage consumed her.
Maeron had been taking down fae as quickly, if not more quickly, than Scarlett. She might have been a queen, but he’d been alive far longer and had much more time to learn his magic.
A flash caught Scarlett’s attention. Nico had turned away and was trying to flee. His bracelet had caught the light and reflected it back toward Scarlett.
“I don’t think so,” she said as she threw a dark lasso around his torso and yanked him back to her. She glanced around. All of his friends were now dead. Kaelem stood with his hands still tied. She asked Maeron, “Can you untie him?”
She wasn’t sure how the bonds worked, but he was able to remove them with ease.
Kaelem rubbed his hands to
gether. “Well, well, former friend. What have you gotten yourself into?”
Betrayal filled his aura, hovering around him like a thick fog.
“I’m sorry,” Nico pled, the reality of what he’d done heavy on his face. “They threatened me. Told me they’d kill me if I didn’t cooperate.”
“Was that before or after you accepted their offer for money?”
“How?” Confusion filled Nico’s expression.
“Right before your men snuck up on me from behind, I was able to sneak into your mind and see your meeting with them.”
“Please… I’m sorry…” Tears poured from Nico’s cheeks. “I can help you find the dagger.”
Scarlett rarely tried to read someone’s thoughts, but she used her mind gift now to peer into Kaelem’s mind. Flickers of memories with Nico flashed in it. Times of laughing together, clinking glasses together in cheers, sitting together in an audience with half-naked women dancing around. There was love in his memories, friendship and brotherhood.
Doubt quivered in Kaelem, a small hint of compassion surfacing. But it didn’t last and as quickly as it had appeared, the hesitation vanished.
“I don’t think so,” Kaelem said as he pressed his thumbs to Nico’s forehead. “Bye bye, asshole.”
Nico’s crying intensified.
Then, he dropped to the floor, dead.
Chapter Ten
His mother had refused to disclose much about her meeting with Morta, but on another try, she told Cade that he needed to head to the Winter Court for an important meeting.
How had Morta forgotten to mention that when he’d seen her?
Apparently, the meeting was that afternoon, which gave him little time to prepare. Not that he had a lot he needed to do, but one thing had been weighing on his mind for a while and he’d kept putting it off.
He needed to decide if he wanted to involve Poppy in the dangerous game he played. Any more than he already had, that was. He’d changed his mind at least ten times on the walk from his room to hers. How would he ever be able to make a decision?
After taking a deep breath, he knocked on her door.