Tyler walked right past me, winked, and joined a group of delegates directly across from where Xander had decided to settle in. My jaw dropped and I quickly snapped it shut, hiding my curiosity at Ty’s role in this strange meeting of mystical creatures. He inclined his head toward his neighbor and flashed a cheerful smile, then nodded to someone a few groups down. I’d never seen him look so comfortable, so immersed in his element.
“This is what you do?” I murmured as Raif came to stand beside me. “Walk around and bullshit?”
“Have you ever seen Congress in action? This is what the gallery looks like right before a voting session,” he said.
“I’ve never been to D.C.” I said. “Have you?”
His knowing smile was all the answer he’d give before he went to stand beside his brother.
As I contemplated the possibility that Raif had actually visited Washington, D.C., I fell into my role as a stoic man—well, woman—in black and tailed the king as he traveled from group to group. Raif was right; politics in the supernatural world were just like politics in the human world, with everyone jockeying for their views to be heard and backed up.
“Alexander!” A tall, drop-dead gorgeous woman approached, and I took a step forward, astonished at the protective instinct. Her red hair was streaked with gold and cascaded down her back in curling locks that shone with an unworldly light. Creamy peach flesh and golden eyes complemented a silk dress of peacock blues and greens. Her refined features were good enough for any fresco. Hell, Botticelli would have wept at the sight of her. My skin tingled as waves of energy emanated from her, the power seeping into my pores.
“Gods above!” she exclaimed, planting a kiss on Xander’s cheek. “Your entourage reeks of gin.”
Wait just a damn second! Indignation flushed my cheeks; I had not been drinking. Xander chuckled, and the blood drained from my face. Not gin. Jinn. Oh, give me a fucking break!
“Yes, well, my new security team leader has a little pet, my dear Luna. I hadn’t realized you didn’t favor the Jinn.”
Luna pulled her eager gaze from Xander’s face long enough to give me a sneering appraisal that would have made Anya proud. “It’s not that I don’t favor them. But have you heard what their delegation is proposing on the Shape-Shifter Initiative? Surely, you won’t be voting . . .”
I’d blocked her out once I realized Luna liked the sound of her own voice almost as much as Xander did his. Besides, if I’d had to listen to her disparage the Jinn delegation for a moment longer, I may have been persuaded to try out my fist on her perfectly shaped nose. But the king listened like a devoted admirer, nodding and hanging on every word. If it came to a vote, of course he’d consider her stance on the issue, and, yes, he would be honored if she’d return the favor to his issues as well. Spare me! Next group, please!
As if he’d heard my mental urgings, Xander kissed Luna’s hand and continued on his stroll. “Shape-Shifter Initiative?” I asked Raif as he fell back to walk with me.
“Politics.” He shrugged. “It never changes. The shifters are asking for the embargo to be lifted on their hunting grounds. The pheasant population in northern Idaho has diminished over the years, and the bird happens to be sacred in one of their coming-of-age ceremonies. They want to be allowed to hunt before the harvest moon and the autumnal equinox. It’s up for vote in a few months.”
“You mean the supernatural community actually makes environmental-impact decisions?” My brain reeled as it fought to soak up all of this new information. Levi would shit a brick if he could’ve been there to hear it all!
“Why wouldn’t we?” Raif said. “We inhabit this world, just like the humans. We must make decisions to protect natural resources, enact laws and policies. This is not chaos, Darian. We are not ungoverned animals.”
Hands tucked behind my back, I followed Xander as he paced from group to group. From the corner of my eye I watched as Tyler did the same, his hands flashing in animated gestures as he talked, sometimes emphatically with a stern expression on his face. I wondered as I watched, What is his stance on the Shape-Shifter Initiative?
“Darian,” Xander said as we approached a small group comprised of men in tailored business suits, “I’d like you to meet Dylan McBride. He owns a consulting firm out of Portland. Though didn’t I hear, Dylan, that you’re considering moving your headquarters to Seattle?”
I tried to discern any pattern of energy coming from Dylan as I studied him top to bottom. Graying salt-and-pepper hair, fine lines at the corner of his eyes when he smiled. Dylan seemed as average as any guy walking down the street. “I am, in fact, planning a move. We’ll be anchored here by spring.” He turned his attention fully to me and took my hand. A firm but not unusual grip.
“What kind of consulting do you do, Mr. McBride?” I couldn’t help but ask. Maybe he advised pixies on the best brand of magic dust to buy.
“I’m a financial consultant. I also manage business ventures for clients who have an issue with blending into normal society. Estate sales, acquisitions, stocks, bonds—I pretty much do it all.”
Dylan’s gray eyes sparkled, and I looked to Raif, who mouthed the word human. Sure, why not? Everyone else seemed to be here. Why not a human or two? I needed a drink.
“Nice to meet you, Dylan,” I said, stepping back behind Xander. Dylan clapped the king on the back and moved on, smiling and chortling with his cohorts as they passed.
“Surprised?” Xander asked with a sideways glance in my direction.
“You have no idea,” I said, sour and not afraid to show it.
His arrogant laughter sent chills down my spine. I hated the way he affected me, made me want to silence him for good. “What now?” I asked, my mood taking a dive. “More meet and greet, or are we going to get this show on the road?”
“I have one more person I’d like to speak with. By then, I believe we’ll be ready to start.”
Xander plowed ahead, Raif beside him and me trailing behind, trying to look like I had my shit together. But I so didn’t. Not even close. Son. Of. A. Bitch. How in the hell could I have been so blind? I was walking through a supernatural pep rally with hundreds of attendees, by my estimation. How had I never noticed them before? Or was it like Levi had said, and the supernatural population had suddenly shifted their focus on Seattle and the brewing conflict between Xander and his heir? I felt like throwing up.
We approached a man and a woman, both tall and unusually thin. Their pale skin appeared luminescent against the warehouse lighting, an aura of pinkish light hovering around them. With features too similar to ignore, they had to be related. Faun-colored hair, straight and fine, trailed down the woman’s back, while the man’s had been clipped short. Their eyes, the lightest blue and hauntingly empty, only made their faces look more ethereal. As we came near, identical smiles graced their mouths—a baring of teeth that could only be described as predatory. They were a frightening pair, and I rested my hand near my dagger, ready to defend if need be.
“Sidhe,” Raif whispered close to my cheek. “The oldest living creatures in the Fae lineage. Older than recorded time. Do not look them in the eye.”
Okay, easy enough. Just a glance in their direction made my skin crawl. Literally. A powerful energy, greater even than what I’d felt from Luna, crept out from where they stood, slithering over my skin like rough-skinned snakes.
“Alexander, I bring greetings from your father’s father,” the woman said. “To you as well, Raif.”
Raif bowed his head, and Xander followed suit. My own gaze I kept toward the floor, but I felt an urge to drop lower, as if invisible hands pushed me down. I looked up, just enough to see the man staring at me, his pleased smile telling me he was the one pushing my buttons. And I refused to let him. Without looking him straight in his eyes, I focused my gaze at his hawkish nose, fighting his influence with all I was worth. It felt like I was squatting five hundred pounds, but I resisted the power flooding from him as well as the urge to kneel at his feet.
<
br /> His sneer faded into amusement, and still I would not meet his eyes. I don’t bow for anyone. Period.
“I have matters to discuss with you,” Xander said to the woman, brushing aside my silent power struggle. “You know what’s happening in my kingdom.”
“I do,” the woman said, seeming disinterested.
“You will not intervene?”
“No.”
The word carried enough finality to draw my attention. I looked at Xander; pain was written on his face. I knew that look; it was a reaction to betrayal.
“We will not involve ourselves in this matter,” she continued. “Fate will see the victor.”
“I’m putting this matter of war before the delegation today.” Xander’s tone had become more frigid with every word. “I will ask for aid if it comes to war. I cannot risk my kingdom.”
With a slow inclination of her head, the woman rested a pearlescent hand on Xander’s shoulder. “Then Fate be with you,” she said. “I do not wish to see your kingdom in danger. Nor you or yours. But the die has been cast, and these events must be seen through to their end.”
The sound of a gavel banging saved me from having to plunge my dagger into anyone’s belly, and the siblings retreated toward the far end of the warehouse. The man cast a backward glance at me as they left, and I felt something in the invisible energy pulsing around him. Nothing malicious or even taunting. But, rather, curious. As if he’d been testing me. His lips turned up in a soft smile that spread to warm the chill in his white-blue eyes. He looked pretty damn pleased, actually. I stumbled, my attention inexplicably drawn to the Sidhe. In turn, Raif snatched me by the elbow as we followed Xander to his seat. “I’m proud of you, Darian,” Raif said. “He is an ancient, and very powerful.”
“Does he have a name?”
“I will not speak it,” Raif answered. “The older Fae will not be named. They believe that by giving someone their given name, they are giving up a portion of their power. Few know their true names.”
Wow. Supernatural 101. I hoped there wouldn’t be a quiz later. “What do you call them, then? You have to call them something.”
“Moira, and her brother is Reaver.”
Cheery names to go with their cheery faces, no doubt. “They mentioned your father.” Or was it his grandfather? “I didn’t realize he was still alive.”
“Technically, he isn’t.”
Another round of gavel banging interrupted our conversation, and Raif and Xander promptly took their seats.
Curiosity burned little scorching paths through my brain as I rounded the rectangular table. Technically? What in the hell did that mean? I took my place at Xander’s left side and used the moment of inactivity as an opportunity to take in each and every detail of the other beings seated along the tables.
I’d never known, let alone seen, such an assortment of creatures gathered in one place. Tall, short, fat, thin—and, for the most part, remarkably human in appearance. Everyone, that is, but Moira and her brother. They seemed to flaunt their otherness with brash arrogance. Beneath the facades of the delegates, I caught a glimpse of what these creatures really were. The glamour must’ve allowed them to pass for human. But a shimmer in the fabric of reality blew away as if on a soft breeze, and their true faces were revealed. A tiny girl sat to one side of Xander, her hair tossed in wild curls almost to the floor. She gave the impression that she could’ve crawled out from under a tree before taking her seat. Across the square from her, a pair of nymphlike creatures sat. A male and female, their skin glistened as if they’d just taken a swim. That wasn’t all. Creatures with fur and some with feathers sat side by side with others covered in scales. And ignorant as I was, I couldn’t even place a name with their shapes. Faeries, gnomes, werewolves; I wouldn’t know a vampire from a shape-shifter, if either were present. And under the cover of their glamour, they appeared no different from the humans on the street.
My face felt hot all of a sudden as the embarrassment seemed to crawl right up my cheeks. Damn Azriel. I bet he was getting a good laugh over this right now. It must have been his goal to keep me in the dark, both literally and figuratively. His actions had become inexcusable, and the thought of his death not only acceptable but appealing.
Xander turned from his conversation with his brother and beckoned me. Like any good employee, I moved closer to see what he needed.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I think I’m an idiot,” I said, low, next to his ear.
Xander laughed and some of the spark returned to his eyes. I didn’t miss the dark glance he shot in Tyler’s direction, though. “Let me ask you this.” He paused and traced his finger in a square on the table’s surface. “What do you feel here?”
It was my turn to take a pause. Feel? Like, my feelings? I didn’t know we were choosing this moment to open up about that sort of stuff. But then my brain actually kicked into gear and I realized he wasn’t asking how I felt, but what I felt. I’d noticed it before, as we walked among the other delegates, that the room definitely had the energy of many different creatures buzzing around inside it.
“I feel others like us,” I began. “And”—my heart jumped in my chest—“I sense a Lyhtan somewhere here.”
“What else?” Xander asked softly next to my ear.
“A hum, not like the pressure I feel in the air when a Shaede or Lyhtan is present, but something else. A vibration, almost.”
“Faerie?” Raif asked, leaning to speak behind Xander. “I’m not sure, but I bet that’s what you’re feeling. It could also be a Sylph, I suppose.” He pointed to the girl with the long, wild hair who was sitting beside Xander.
“Anything else?” Xander asked, ignoring his brother.
Raif shot his brother a murderous glare, and for a moment I could almost picture them fighting like children. A hint of a smile formed on my lips as the image of two boys arguing over a favorite toy popped into my head.
There were too many sensations to differentiate between them all. It felt like I was sitting in a hot tub, wrapped in one of those massage pads, with melting ice trickling down my back. Top it off with a buzzing in my ears, the hair standing up on my scalp, and a pounding pulse, and that just about covered it.
“I can’t divide and identify all the sensations,” I admitted. “And if I could, I wouldn’t know what it meant or who to credit the feeling to.”
Xander smiled and leaned farther back, studying my face. “You are remarkable.”
I looked up to see Tyler scowling in my direction. I was warming up to the idea that the only way to settle their little grudge was to put him and Xander in a steel cage together and let them fight it out. Two men enter; one man leaves. I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Raif asked.
“I was thinking of Thunderdome,” I said.
Raif gave me a puzzled look and shook his head.
“What about the Lyhtan?” I asked Xander, looking at the table to our left. Sure as shit, the nasty bastard lounged in its chair with, of all things, a human standing security at its back. I knew the guy was just as normal as Dylan McBride, though the glazed-over look on his face told me he wasn’t all there. “That human,” I said, jerking my chin toward him. “He’s guarding the Lyhtan. Under thrall?”
“I would say so,” Raif said, examining the Lyhtan’s security detail. “How did you know?”
I wanted to shout with glee. Finally, I knew something that Raif didn’t have to tell me first! Thank you, Levi! “I have my sources,” I said, before snapping back into business mode. “Raif, it’s obviously not safe to be here. Especially after the attack this morning.”
Xander brushed the comment aside with a wave of his hand. “This is a diplomatic meeting. No violence.”
“Then why am I here?” I asked.
Xander chuckled but didn’t get the opportunity to answer. A man—not Shaede or anything else I’d ever seen—stepped to the middle of the square near the brazier and held his arms to the sky, palms faci
ng up. He bore a striking resemblance to the Sidhe, Moira and Reaver, but at the same time, his features were different enough that I knew he wasn’t one of them. A strange master of ceremonies, he tipped his head back and chanted something, his voice melodious and reverent, in a language that meant nothing to me.
The king and everyone else present bowed their heads. I took a step back and did the same, feeling a lot like a guest at a church I didn’t attend. When the man was done with his prayer, or whatever it was, I studied him at length.
I sensed the hum coming from his direction, making me assume he was one of the faerie attendees Raif had mentioned earlier. Even beneath the surface of his glamour, he could’ve passed for human if he’d wanted to. He’d have to hide the slightly pointed ears and do something about the long, silvery-white hair, though. That might stand out in a crowd. An ageless quality graced his face; it seemed impossible to determine if he was old, young, adolescent. . . . His skin, smooth and fair, bore no wrinkles, even when his eyes narrowed at the corners.
The hum emanating from where he stood hit me like it was being funneled right into my chest. I concentrated on the sensation for a moment. It must have been magic; that’s the only way I can describe it. I sensed power in him and felt it deep down in my bones.
He held a black velvet bag over the brazier and dumped out the contents. My breath caught as I watched the bleached-white hunks fall out. I expected them to tumble into the fire, but as if they’d been cast on a glass tabletop, the items rolled out like dice and settled on the air.
“The runes have selected the High King of the Shaede Nation, Alexander Peck, to speak first.”
A corner of Raif’s mouth tugged into a smirk, and Xander stood. “War stands at our doorstep.”
“It stands only at your doorstep, Shaede,” someone called out, eliciting nods of approval and shouts of encouragement. “Why should any of the other nations care about your coup?”
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