by May Dawson
I stared at her in surprise. Princess Alisa was upset. She didn’t even know these mortals.
Perhaps she was a different person, in a different world. The thought stunned me, and I leaned in the doorway, trying to process. If she were a different person now, then delivering her to Faer was wrong.
But her current good nature didn’t mean she’d still be someone else once we went home.
“Hey.” She snapped her fingers at me. She’d sounded desperate a second ago, but suddenly her face was cool and haughty again.
“This is the job,” she told me. “It wasn’t about just punishing the bad. It’s about helping the innocent. You said you’d help me finish my mission, and I said then I’d go home.”
Azrael said that we’d help her finish her mission. I’d never made any promises to her. But fine. Whatever.
I cut through the duct tape that had bound one girl to the headboard, then lifted her into my arms.
Her head lolled back, and I adjusted the way I held her, so my bicep supported her head. She was filthy, her eyes dark-shadowed, and fury boiled through my blood. I wished there were still shifters left alive to punish for what they did.
When I looked back up, Alisa was watching me, as if she’d noticed the care I took.
“Tell Azrael to make himself useful,” I snapped.
Then I carried the mortal girl down to the car.
“We’re a good team,” she called after me as I went. “Thank you.”
I snorted.
We were never a team, and she should not feel gratitude toward me.
Azrael and Tiron and I would be her undoing.
Chapter Sixteen
Alisa
After we had dropped the girls out at the hospital and I’d called Elly for a clean-up on aisle nine, since we’d left quite a few werewolf bodies behind us at their compound, there was no discussion.
Duncan drove the city streets as rain broke overhead, washing the streets clean and filling the air with the scent of ozone.
We were going home.
The thought struck fear into my heart, but I’d promised I’d go.
Tiron reached out and rested his hand on my leg. I glanced at him, my lips already parting to tell him off. But there was something comforting, not sexual, about his hand on my leg, and when my gaze met his, he gave me a reassuring smile.
I smiled back, barely. It was a struggle.
Duncan parked the car on a busy city street, then tossed the keys under the driver’s seat.
“Look at how thoughtful you are,” I said, unable to resist teasing him. “Helping the mortal reconnect with his steel carriage.”
“Look how condescending you are to mortals and Fae alike,” he shot back. “You’re returning to your old self as we return to the Fae world.”
Lord, I hated him a little.
“You’d think you were my ex-boyfriend,” I said, “given your inability to ever say anything nice.”
He stared at me for a long second, his eyebrows rising above those icy eyes. Something about the ex-boyfriend line had made his jaw tense, but then Azrael didn’t like it when I said boyfriend either.
“Your ass looks nice in those leather pants, pirate queen,” he said. “It’s always been the one thing I like about you.”
“Shut up,” Azrael warned, smacking him in the chest. “I’m still tempted to punch you for that fae bitch line.”
Why did Azrael care if Duncan called me a bitch?
“You are always welcome to try,” Duncan said, offering him a dangerous smile.
“Stop fighting over me and bring a Fae princess home,” I said, just because it would piss off both of them.
When the two of them glared at me, Tiron smiled.
“Let’s go,” Duncan said abruptly, turning on his heel. He led the way to a walk-up Tarot Card reader’s office. A purple sign hung above the door, the lights off.
“This doesn’t look open for business,” I said, already quite confident no one would care. “Did you want me to get my palm read?”
“I can tell you everything that anyone needs to know about you, Princess,” Duncan said.
“I doubt that very much,” Tiron answered as he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a leather bound kit, unfurling it to remove a pair of slender silver lock picks.
“This place looks familiar,” I mused, leaning on the brick wall beside him as Tiron picked the lock. “Yeah, I think I came here before, looking for answers.”
“Now you’ll find them,” Azrael promised, resting his hand on my shoulder.
“And we’ll see how much she likes them,” Duncan muttered.
I turned to him, my brows rising. “Why don’t you just explain to me what I did to you? Not your assessment of my personality—”
“Obnoxious, at best,” Duncan inserted.
“—but the actual facts, as best you’re capable of,” I finished, adding my qualifier because I didn’t necessarily trust anything Duncan said to me.
“Later.” Azrael interrupted us both. “You two can chit-chat when we’re on the other side.”
“Does everyone on the other side think I’m some kind of spoiled princess?” I demanded. Anxiety prickled on the back of my neck. “You told me that I’m the missing heir, that my twin needs me, but the details… I don’t know what I’m walking into when I go with you…”
Tiron straightened, the door yawing open to the stairs that led up to the tarot reader’s studio.
“One second,” Azrael growled at the other two men. His hand wrapped around my hip, sparking heat—don’t like being touched, should definitely mind that, why don’t I mind that?—and he pulled me with him through the doorway before he pushed the door shut.
What little light filtered into the room from the streetlight outside passed through purple-and-gold stained glass above the door, casting eerie light over Azrael’s beautiful, chiseled face.
“Alisa,” he murmured, the name sweet on his lips. God, I wished I understood what had happened between us before. He rested his arm on the wall above my shoulder, his body almost brushing mine. I breathed in his scent, a warm, spicy scent, cinnamon and cloves and a hint of wood smoke. He smelled like home on a cold autumn night.
“I’ll be there with you,” he promised, his gaze meeting mine.
“That doesn’t answer any of my questions,” I reminded him.
“I know.” He brushed the back of his finger up over my jaw, and my knees went weak, damn me.
“I swear it feels sometimes like my body remembers you,” I said softly.
I expected him to say something cocky, but instead, he cupped my cheek lightly, his thumb stroking across my cheekbone. “You and I were never supposed to be together, even before.”
“Given how it ended, it sounds like maybe that would’ve been wise advice to follow.”
“It would’ve been boring.” His breath was in my hair as he whispered, “And that’s one of our faults. Neither you nor I have ever been able to bear being bored.”
“Maybe I’ve changed in my old age.”
He laughed. It felt as if he were about to kiss me, but he still held his body away from mine. Somehow I longed to feel his hard, muscular body pressed against mine.
“I don’t think so. Not much about the Fae world is boring, Alisa, I can promise you that.”
“And you promise you’ll be with me.” Not that I should care. It would just be nice to have familiar faces, someone around me who seemed to care, even if he was my ex-boyfriend.
“And I’ll be with you,” he promised. He raised my hand to his face, his thumb caressing my scarred knuckles. “As long as you’ll be with me. You’ve always been a formidable enemy.”
“And a good friend?” I was just repeating what Elly had said earlier. It meant nothing to be a dangerous enemy unless one was also a faithful ally.
His lips twisted.
It was just a flicker before his face was as composed as before, his gaze still soft, but it told me everything I needed to know. Tensi
on threaded through my blood, my heartrate accelerating.
I pulled away so fast that my shoulder blades slammed into the wall behind me. Suddenly, I was keenly aware of the fact that the Fae in front of me was tall and broad-shouldered, much bigger than I was. Quite dangerous.
“Alisa,” he said, his eyes troubled, as if he hadn’t meant to give so much away with a glance.
I reached for my sword, but he got there first, pinning me against the wall. “Alisa. Easy.” He took the same tone I did with wild, scared animals in the clinic, but he fixed me with a beautiful smile. “Just trust me.”
He waited for my answer, his arm a hard bar across my chest, his gaze on my face. He was feigning patience, but he had me pinned.
I didn’t owe him that answer.
I slammed my foot down on his instep, throwing my weight low, breaking out of his hold. I exploded out of his grip.
The door swung open and before I could do a damn thing, Duncan drove his shoulder into my abs so hard that it knocked the breath out of my lungs.
He stood with me, pinning my legs to his powerful chest, slinging me over his shoulder as easily as I carried a bag of dog food at the clinic. Azrael reached out with one hand and unbuckled my sword harness before he ripped it off my back.
“Put me down!” I shouted.
I lifted myself up to get enough leverage to drive my elbow into Duncan’s kidneys. He grunted, but continued his implacable journey up the stairs.
“God damn it, I’m supposed to be a princess! Put me down! You’re supposed to do what I say!”
“You’re not that kind of princess,” Duncan told me.
Azrael charged up the stairs ahead of us, then went into the office. Tiron’s face was troubled as he followed us up the stairs.
As Duncan shifted, I caught glimpses of Tiron and Azrael from my upside-down vantage point. I drove another elbow into Duncan’s kidneys, and this time, I wasn’t even rewarded with a grunt.
Azrael ripped down a length of purple silk that hung from the wall, revealing a spot that seemed to shimmer.
I struggled to get free, but instead I was carried ass-first through the portal. Cold and darkness washed over me.
The next second, we were in another world. Lush greenery surrounded us; we were deep in a forest, vibrant green, humid, carrying a sweet, heavy floral scent. It felt like summer here.
“Welcome to your realm, Majesty,” Duncan said, his voice cold and dead.
Chapter Seventeen
Duncan dropped me unceremoniously on the ground.
“Are you all right?” Azrael asked, his eyes wide as he leaned over me.
I kicked him in the shoulder, and his big body rocked back under the force, although he kept his footing.
I scrambled to my feet and faced him, my chest heaving. Azrael looked at me with hurt written across his face.
“You’re no friend of mine,” I told him, since he’d made it clear I’d been no friend of his. “I don’t know what the hell I did to you, but I’m going home.”
“This is home,” Duncan said calmly, his arms crossed over his chest. “Now, unless you want me to carry you all the way into the palace past your subjects and servants, I suggest you walk.”
I looked back at the shimmer in the air, past the three males who’d brought me here. Azrael still gripped my sword harness in one hand, regret written across his face. That asshole. I’d show him regret. Tiron offered me a rueful smile.
Duncan glared at me as if he were daring me to get past him.
My jaw was tight as I glanced at the forest around us. “Which way?”
“This way.” Tiron gave me a comforting look as he gestured. “Everything is going to be fine, Alisa. You’ll see.”
Duncan snorted.
I didn’t trust Duncan one bit—he hated me, more than anyone else did—but I did think he probably had the most realistic assessment of the situation.
The three of them stared at me as if they were waiting for me to do something, and I made an impatient gesture. “Lead on.”
Tiron walked with me, Azrael and Duncan bringing up the rear as if they were afraid I’d make a sudden break back for the portal. I glanced over my shoulder, past them, trying to find the shimmer in the air. Was that it? No magic words? Just walk through the shimmer and I’d be home again, back with Carter and Julian and Elly?
I squared my shoulders. I’d come here for a reason. I’d get my answers, and if I didn’t like it here, I’d leave Faerieland behind and go back to the human world.
“I suppose you’re happy,” Azrael accused Duncan behind us. “You got to carry her kicking and screaming back home.”
“I didn’t want her here to begin with. But I suppose you’re right. I’m happy you’re not happy,” Duncan replied.
“Trouble in paradise?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder at the feuding brothers. A low-hanging branch hung in my way, and I raised my hand to push it up.
Tiron jumped to push my hand down, and I skidded to a halt, staring at him.
“Bad idea,” he chided me. “You really don’t know anything about the Fae world, do you?”
“I’ve only said that eighty-two times now.” They seemed to be surprised all over again, over and over, about the fact that I didn’t remember anything about my past.
Even if my traitor body seemed to remember that it liked the way Azrael smelled, the way Azrael touched me… no matter what an ass he was.
I studied the branch in front of me. Little barbs ran all along the branch, curling out like so many jagged little splinters. “So the tree’s got bite.”
“Literal bite,” Tiron said. He tugged me to one side, then reached out to catch a crawling beetle from another plant. He carried the bug over in cupped hands, then dropped it onto the tree branch.
The spines snapped closed around the beetle, then the branch jerked up toward the trunk of the tree. I hissed in a breath of surprise at the force with which the branch slammed into the trunk.
When the branch unfurled again, the beetle was gone, although there was a faint slick of bug guts and blood left behind where it had been. Horror wiggled through my gut. Surely I was too big for that tree to eat, right?
“Everything in the Fae world is trying to kill you,” Tiron warned me.
Including the Fae themselves, a dark voice warned somewhere in the back of my mind.
“Splendid,” Duncan said, “Now she’s advanced to the level of knowledge of an average two-year-old. The temperament of one, too. If the object lesson is done, can we move on to the palace?”
“You’re the one who hauled me over your shoulder like a big bully,” I pointed out.
“I was trying to save my brother before you disemboweled him,” Duncan said. “Sometimes I think he deserves it, but our mother would have been so unhappy with me, rest her soul.”
I couldn’t picture Duncan and Azrael ever having a mother who fussed over the two of them.
I stayed close to the males—damn them—since I didn’t know anything about the other dangers of the forest. They didn’t seem inclined to let me die on their watch, anyway. But it might be trickier than I had thought at first to sneak out here and escape through the portal, until I either regained my memories or learned what I needed to survive in the Fae world.
No, I’d get my memories back. That was the whole point of coming ‘home’.
Trees soared impossibly high overhead. Vibrant green and purple leaves shook as birds hopped through the branches, singing. One small white squirrel chased another, chittering back and forth as they leapt through the thick canopy.
Flowers bloomed from vines that wrapped trunks and hung down from the trees, in richer and more beautiful displays than at any wedding. The flowers were not only in a kaleidoscope of colors, but they released tantalizing floral scents. My nostrils flared, trying to tease out the different fragrances as we passed beneath the trees.
As we journeyed through the woods, I had to admit the land was beautiful. Wild and untouched,
lush and gorgeous.
We reached a narrow river, where cool blue water coursed over shallow, gray rocks. Creatures dove into the water, filling the air with the sound of splashes, although they’d been a blur I couldn’t really see.
“It’s gorgeous here,” I admitted in surprise. I headed for the river bank, then paused, glancing at Tiron because there might be dangers I couldn’t see.
“Let me help you over,” he said. “There are dangers in the water, but they’re more afraid of us—when we’re together—than we need to be of them.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I said, but Tiron was already sweeping me off the ground, holding me against his chest. He waded into the water resolutely, ignoring the way it soaked his clothes to his body. He shifted me higher as the water deepened.
“She doesn’t mind when Tiron carries her, did you notice that?” Duncan asked Azrael, his voice barbed.
“Tiron hasn’t been an ass to her, as you have,” Azrael shot back.
Tiron smiled faintly at the exchange.
“I’m not sure I’d go that far,” I whispered. “You know things you aren’t telling me.”
“But I’m on your side, Princess,” Tiron whispered. “I don’t think you’re evil.”
“That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me all day.”
“Lies,” Tiron responded. “Duncan said you’d make a lovely pirate, or something like that.”
At Tiron’s teasing, some of my tension ebbed away. The three of them weren’t my friends, but I’d figure things out. I’d be fine. I always was. I had a feeling Tiron could easily be turned into an ally—he’d been distressed at the way Duncan dragged me into this world.
On the far side of the river, Tiron set me down on the lush, green grass, then steadied me with his hands on my waist until he was sure I’d regained my balance.
Azrael strode ahead of us now, his face taut with tension. There was a trail on this side of the river that the four of us followed until we stepped out onto a lush, rolling green field that turned into an elaborate garden.
A shining white castle towered above us, and I sucked in a breath of surprise.