by Karen Lynch
“I met your parents a year ago. I was waiting for a bus one night when some men attacked me. The Goddess was watching over me that night because your parents came along and stopped the men before they could do serious harm.” She held out her arm and showed me a two-inch scar on her bicep. Only a cut from an iron blade would leave a scar like that on a faerie.
“I thought I’d never see Caroline and Patrick James again.” Raisa inhaled deeply. “Over a month ago, a twist of fate brought them back into my life. I believe Aedhna sent them to me so I can repay the debt I owe them.”
“What happened?” I knew from the incident with Prince Vaerik that faeries took debt seriously, especially when someone saved their lives.
Raisa looked around nervously and whispered, “I don’t know the whole of it, only that your parents did something to anger the Seelie royal guard.”
I sucked in a breath. The royal guard of each court protected the monarch and their heirs, and they were the most lethal of all the faeries. My parents would know better than to cross them.
“The Guard didn’t want to dirty their hands by killing two well-known bounty hunters, so they called someone else to do it,” she said.
“You?”
She shook her head. “My brother, Rogin. For the right price, there isn’t much he won’t do. But I intercepted the call and had your parents brought here to our home. I gave them goren from Rogin’s supply and hid them from him. He rarely comes to this house, and he has no idea they are down here.”
“But why didn’t you just let them go?”
Raisa’s eyes clouded with fear. “I couldn’t. The Guard would know we hadn’t killed them, and all of our lives would have been forfeited. You do not betray the queen’s guard and live to speak of it. But I could not let your parents be killed either, so I did the only thing I could think of to keep them alive.”
My animosity toward her lessened when I saw she was truly afraid, and she had taken the only option available to her. But it was a strange twist of fate that the sister of the goren dealer my parents had been hunting was the one to save their lives.
“How long were you planning to keep them here like this?”
“For weeks, I have been trying to find a way to contact you.” She wrung her hands. “It has not been easy to get away, and the few times I could, you were not alone.”
“Is that why you followed me to the cemetery that day?”
She hugged her middle. “Yes. But the agent approached you, and I left. Weeks ago, I followed you to a diner in Queens. I was about to go inside when one of the royal guards came out with two men. I was so frightened I ran away.”
I thought about the day I’d overheard those men and the faerie plotting to kill Prince Vaerik. Had Faolin known the faerie was a Seelie royal guard when he looked at the security tape? That might explain why he’d looked even more pissed when he’d come back to the booth.
“I saw you that day.” It gutted me to know how close I’d come to finding my parents, but I couldn’t dwell on that now. “Did you also put a note on my Jeep?”
“Yes. I saw how sad you were at the cemetery, and I only wanted to give you hope. I’m sorry I was too afraid to go to your apartment. If I had, you would not be here now.”
I frowned at her. “There’s one thing I don’t get. Why would you send people after me if you were trying to help me?”
She took a step back, shaking her head. “That was Rogin, not me. He was paid by the queen’s guard to silence you because you were asking questions. He has no idea your parents are still alive. If he did, he would have killed them already. I was afraid he had found them when he was down here earlier to check on his prisoner.”
I rubbed my temples where a headache had formed, and I was reminded I probably had a concussion on top of everything else.
“Where does Faris come into all of this?” I asked her quietly so he couldn’t hear me.
She pressed her lips together and turned her head to look toward his cage. “All I know is that he also crossed the queen’s guard, but they chose to give him a slow death.” She shuddered. “Queen Anwyn has no mercy for her enemies.”
A chill went through me. “But how did he end up here?”
“My brother,” she said in disgust. “As I said, Rogin will do anything for money, and the guard pays him well for certain services. He was keeping the faerie at a warehouse owned by his business partner, but he had to move the faerie when there was a break-in at the property.”
Her words triggered a memory of Violet telling me about a break-in at a lawyer’s property. “His partner is Cecil Hunt?”
“Yes.”
Pieces began to click into place. “You called me from his house on my mother’s phone.”
She nodded guiltily. “That was the first time I tried to reach you. I knew Cecil was away, and I thought it would be the perfect place to talk. I was inside the house when you and your friend were arrested, and I felt terrible about it.”
“At least, I know it wasn’t someone luring me into a trap.”
“Raisa,” called a faint male voice from upstairs.
She jumped as if she’d been shocked. “I have to go,” she whispered urgently. “He can’t find me down here.”
I grabbed her hand, which was still on a cage bar. “Will you help us?”
“I’ll try.” She pulled her hand from mine and flipped off the light as she ran soundlessly from the basement.
I went back to my parents, but as much as I wanted to hold them, I couldn’t just sit here. I started to explore the cage for anything I could use as a weapon. It would have been a lot easier with a light, but I knew why Raisa had left me in darkness. She didn’t want anyone who came downstairs to see I wasn’t alone in my cage.
Crawling around on the grimy floor was not pleasant, and I let out a disgusted “eww” when I touched dried rat droppings. But I pushed on and was rewarded when my searching fingers found a small piece of hard steel wire the length of my hand.
It didn’t take long to break the wire in half and bend one of the pieces into an L-shape. It took two frustrating hours of reaching my arms through the bars and working blind to pick the padlock on the cage door. When I got home, I was going to learn to pick locks like a cat burglar and always carry a pick on me.
I had to be careful not to make too much noise as I unwrapped the chain and set it on the floor. The door squeaked loudly when I eased it open, and I froze, expecting someone to come running down the stairs.
The first thing I did when I was out of the cage was check on Faris. The faerie had been quiet for far too long, and I was afraid he’d succumbed to his illness. His head was hanging low, and he didn’t react when I called to him. I studied the lock on his cage and decided it was too risky to try to pick it. The best thing I could do for him and my parents was to escape this house and come back with help.
I returned to my parents and covered them with the blankets again. Making the decision to leave them after I’d just found them was the hardest thing I’d ever done. My eyes stung as I wrapped the chain around the bars and padlocked it.
“I’ll be back soon, I promise,” I said under my breath.
I surveyed the long, narrow basement. Faris’s cage was near the stairs at one end, and my parents’ cage was at the other. In the middle, there was a single window that had been boarded up with a piece of plywood. I could fit through it if I could pry the plywood off, but a search of the basement turned up nothing I could use. Aside from the cages, there wasn’t much else down here.
I went to the foot of the stairs and peered up at the dark landing. There was no other option. I had to go up there if I was going to get out of here.
I crept slowly up the stairs, stopping on each one to listen. At the top, I was faced with a door on either side of me. If my memory served, we had turned right before we descended the stairs, which meant the door to my left led to the garage.
I pressed my ear to the second door and picked up muted voices. Well, th
at made my decision easy. Door number one it was.
I put my hand on the knob, letting out a breath when it turned easily under my hand. I eased the door open and slipped through, shutting it quietly behind me. I found myself in the garage with the same sedan that had brought me here.
Careful not to knock into anything, I went to the garage door, which had three small windows overlooking a well-lit residential street. The dark windows of the two houses I could see told me it was probably well after midnight when most people were asleep.
I was reaching for the handle at the base of the door when I heard voices from inside the house. Someone was coming.
Panicked, I ran to the back of the garage and squeezed in behind a stack of boxes. I barely had time to pull my feet in when the door to the house opened.
“Hasn’t he ever heard of sleep?” Barry grumbled. “Goddamn elves.”
Glen chuckled. “We’ll sleep when this job is done and we’re a lot richer.”
Car doors opened and closed, and the engine started. I flinched when the headlights came on, shining like a spotlight on my hiding place. Curling into a tight ball, I prayed they couldn’t see me. I was only getting one chance to escape this place.
The garage door rose, and my entire body coiled tight with tension as I waited for them to back out. When I could tell the car was out of the garage, I peeked around the boxes to see it slowly backing down the short driveway.
The garage door motor started again, and the door began to descend. I was trapped as long as the headlights were still on the house. What was taking them so long to turn onto the street?
After what felt like forever, the headlights swung away from the garage. I scrambled out from behind the boxes and ran to the door. Dropping to my stomach, I rolled beneath the door with only seconds to spare.
I lay there for a moment, staring at the night sky in stunned disbelief. I was free.
Sitting up, I looked around. There was a light on over the front door, but it only reached the middle of the driveway. I got to my feet and moved toward the lawn on the darkened side of the driveway. As soon as my boots hit the grass, I ran.
My foot had barely touched the sidewalk when someone slammed into me from behind. I went down hard, hitting my chin off the pavement as the air was punched from my lungs. Gasping desperately for air, I didn’t fight when I was rolled onto my back to face my attacker.
Kardas grinned down at me. “I think someone is having a bad day.” He leaned closer. “And it’s going to get worse.”
He pulled back. The last thing I saw was his fist coming at me before everything went black.
* * *
I sputtered awake when cold water hit me in the face. It took me a moment to recover from the shock and to realize I was back in the basement, but in a much smaller cage. My coat and boots were gone, and I was propped against the back wall of the cage. To add insult to injury, my hands and feet were bound with what looked like my own shackles.
“You might be more trouble than you’re worth,” drawled Rogin, who stood outside the cage. Next to him a sneering Kardas held an empty bucket.
My lip curled. “Excuse me if I don’t apologize.”
Rogin’s smile was more of a leer. “I was going to dispose of you, but being a businessman, I see the financial value of things. With that red hair, you could have fetched me a tidy price with the right buyer, but I found a much better use for you.”
I glared at him, determined not to show him an ounce of fear. “And what would that be?”
“You’ll find out soon enough. And just to make sure you are more cooperative; I took the liberty of removing this.” He held up a hand, and my heart dropped like a stone when I saw my leather bracelet dangling from his fingers. “Now, I think you should get on your knees and tell me how sorry you are for being such a pain in my ass.”
“You’re out of your mind,” I spat.
His brows drew together in confusion. “On your knees. Now.”
I lifted my chin. “Screw you.”
He punched the bars and whirled on Kardas. “You missed something. She’s still wearing a talisman.”
“That’s all the jewelry she was wearing,” Kardas argued. “You want me to strip her?”
My stomach rolled, and I pulled my knees up to my chest. “Don’t come near me.”
A phone chimed, and Rogin pulled his from his pants pocket. “I don’t have time to spare. We’ll just have to make do without the glamour.” He tossed me a scathing look. “Sleep well, Miss James. Tomorrow is a big day.”
My body seemed to fold in on itself when he spun and left the basement with Kardas trailing after him. I hugged my knees as I began to shiver violently. I didn’t know if it was from the cold or fear, but I couldn’t stop.
“F-Faris, can you h-hear me?” I called through chattering teeth.
Silence greeted me. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear his calming voice until I was denied it. I hoped he was okay, but it wasn’t looking good for either of us. All I could do was pray that Raisa was somehow able to save my parents.
A wave of helplessness and despair crashed down on me, and I curled up in a ball on the floor. “Mom, Dad, I’m sorry.”
* * *
Feet pounding down the stairs woke me from a restless sleep. I sat up and watched Kardas, Barry, and Glen arrive carrying towels, blankets, water, and a bundle of clothes, which they took into Faris’s cage.
Glen looked at Kardas. “Is he dead?”
“Not yet, but it won’t be long,” Kardas replied callously as he pulled a syringe from his pocket.
I crawled to the side of my cage closest to them. “What are you doing to him?” I demanded through parched lips. I was so thirsty, but no one had brought me water, and the jug was out of reach.
“None of your business,” Barry retorted as he unlocked the chains encasing Faris. He held the faerie while Glen removed the chain. Kardas kept a safe distance from them until they laid Faris’s naked body on the blankets.
There was a sense of urgency around them as they quickly cleaned Faris with the towels and dressed him in the clothes.
“Hurry up,” Kardas whisper-yelled at Glen, who was taking too long to put shoes on Faris’s feet. “I don’t want to be here when he arrives.”
Barry gathered the dirty towels. “Have you ever met him?”
“No, and I don’t want to. I’d prefer to live a very long life.” Kardas visibly shuddered. “Rogin has lost his mind, playing both sides like this. If the queen’s guard finds out, he’s dead.”
Glen stood. “Done.”
The three of them left the cage and hurried upstairs. I looked at Faris, who was almost unrecognizable in clean clothes with the grime washed from his face. They’d even tied his matted hair back in a ponytail.
“Faris,” I called.
He didn’t move or answer me, not that I expected him to. He hadn’t spoken since just before Raisa had come to visit me last night, and I worried it was too late for him. They had removed the iron, but the damage had already been done to his body.
A commotion upstairs drew my attention away from the unconscious faerie. One of the doors at the top of the stairs opened, and I could hear Rogin talking.
“I wanted no part of it, but you don’t say no to the queen’s guard when they order you to do something,” he professed so earnestly that I almost believed him. “I didn’t know he was one of yours until she confessed the truth yesterday, but I had no way to reach you.”
“Take me to him,” commanded a hard, male voice, and it suddenly felt like every bit of air had been sucked from the room.
“Of course. Right this way.”
My eyes were glued to the stairs when the elf came into view, but it was the two blond faeries close at his heels that had me clutching my cage bars for support. Kerr and Iian were armed with swords, and their expressions were nothing short of lethal.
Behind them came a stone-faced Lukas, and my heart nearly burst with joy when I saw him.
Conlan and Faolin took up the rear, also armed and looking ready to slice the head off the first thing that moved. If I didn’t know them, the sight of this fearsome group of faeries would have had me cowering in a corner.
I wanted to jump up and shout at the top of my lungs. All I managed was a weak croak. “Lukas.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off him, so I saw the moment his cold gaze landed on me…and moved past me as if I didn’t exist.
Pain lanced through me before I decided Rogin must have placed some kind of glamour on the cage to make it invisible. That had to be it because Lukas would never look through me as if I were nothing.
My gaze went to Kerr, and our eyes met for the briefest of seconds before his moved away. What was going on? He’d seen me. I knew he had. Why was he acting like he hadn’t?
I looked at the one person in the group who had always been nice to me from the moment we met. Conlan wouldn’t ignore me. He didn’t have it in him to be cruel.
Conlan didn’t even glance my way. Nor did Faolin, who had eyes only for the cage next to me.
If someone had told me a month ago that my heart would be broken by a group of faeries, I would have laughed and called them insane. But as I watched the five of them walk up to Faris’s cage without a single acknowledgement that I was here, it felt like pieces of my heart had shriveled up in my chest.
Faolin entered the cage. As he knelt beside the unconscious Faris, I saw warmth in his green eyes – eyes that looked exactly like Faris’s. Faolin’s voice was gruff when he said, “Brother, can you hear me?”
Brother?
“What happened to him?” Lukas demanded harshly.
Rogin spoke, but I was reeling too much to hear his response. Faris was Faolin’s brother. He was what they had been hell-bent on finding and the reason Lukas had offered to help me search for my parents. Lukas hadn’t once mentioned they were looking for a person, and I’d just assumed they were on business for the crown.
I’d spent hours talking to Faris last night, and it had never occurred to me to ask what Court he came from. If he’d said Unseelie, I would have asked if he knew Lukas and his men. Not that it would have mattered.