by Sumida, Amy
“What?” I gaped at him. “When? Why didn't I know about this?”
“Only Teharon knew,” Trevor shrugged, “and he just told me.”
“Tima,” Kirill took my hand. “He vants to die, maybe you should respect his vishes.”
“Did you want to die?” I settled my gaze on Kirill and he had the grace to blush.
“Da,” Kirill's teeth clenched. “I vanted to die but I also vanted to kill. I vas insane, beyond hope of redemption from all but my Tima. You cannot do same zing for him, he is human.”
“What did Teharon do?” I sidestepped Kirill's point.
“He's put him into a sort of recuperative state,” Trevor shook his head. “Vervain, that's not a way to recover from mental illness and yet Teharon's afraid to take him out of it for fear of him harming himself or trying to harm others. This man needs to either be put down mercifully or put into a human hospital.”
“Humans can do nozing for him,” Kirill shook his head.
“So I should just kill him?” I looked at them in shock. “Just give up and put him down like a lame horse? No, I won't.”
“You don't have to be the one to do it,” Trevor met my gaze with a steady one of his own. “You know you don't have to do all the dirty work.”
“We're not killing him,” I stood and glared at two of the men I loved more than anyone else in all the realms. “Don't either of you dare touch him without talking to me first either. Do you understand me?”
“I understand,” Trevor sighed.
“Nyet,” Kirill growled and stood to face me. “Ve vill vait on killing him but don't speak to me or Trevor like zat. Do you understand me?”
Holy shit. I gaped at Kirill a moment, me and Trevor both. Who the hell was this man? And yet, he was right.
“Okay,” I reached out and touched his shoulder gently. “You're right, I'm sorry I spoke like that. I just can't have his blood on my hands. Give me some time to think of something, I just have a feeling that he's important, that if I kill him now, I will regret it later.”
“Vhy didn't you just say zat?” Kirill smiled and pulled me into a hug. “I trust you. Ve trust you and ve trust your instincts. If you say you need him to stay alive for now, zen ve keep him alive.”
“I'll let Teharon know,” Trevor nodded. “Kirill's right, Minn Elska, you could have just told us that.”
“Yeah well, I have brief moments of stupidity.”
“Brief?” Trevor raised a brow and I pulled out of Kirill's hug so I could punch him in the arm.
Chapter Eighteen
The roar of battle rushed in my ears and my war magic lifted up inside my chest in excitement. The scent of musk and man was on the breeze and that called to me as well but it brought a different magic to the surface. My lioness. I had to push her back down, I didn't want to change into a lioness today. I needed to get some training in as a woman.
I looked across the training field we had set up to the side of the palace. It was battle maneuvers day and we had my lion army split in two, Fallon leading one half and I the other. Darius would normally be leading them as I watched but since he was out on his spy mission, it was up to me to take his place and I can't say I wasn't thrilled.
I trained one on one with the Intare at least twice a week. When people are out to kill you practically all the time, and those people happen to be gods and faeries, you need to make sure to keep up the survival training. So I practiced with wooden swords and sometimes in lion form with differing partners so I didn't get used to anyone's style but knowing how to maneuver in a battle scenario was important too and I was glad to be actively participating.
We had started these training sessions at Roarke's suggestion and he took great pleasure in watching and critiquing us. I didn't mind because generally, his critiques were helpful. It was nice to have a cat-sidhe advising you on battle technique. In Faerie the term cat fight has much more menacing connotations and Roarke was a Prince of the cat-sidhe, a title earned through battle skill not given by birthright.
His skill was evident when he was on the training field with the Intare and though you'd think he was way outclassed, a cat among lions, no lion ever got the better of him and he earned the Intare's respect quickly. They now listened to every advice he gave, concerning warfare at least, and he was a welcome participant on the training field. I looked over to where he was watching on the sidelines and gave him a smile.
“Attack!” I shouted and led my side forward in a controlled run.
Fallon's group launched forward as we did and met us in the middle. It was a spectacular clash of lions and men(and two women, me and Samantha, who was on Fallon's side of course). I had a portion of my Intare in lion form and the rest in man, this gave us the best of both worlds and it was a technique we had adopted to the point of being automatic. Fallon's side was mixed as well so it was an even playing field. We had each come up with our own tactics though and it was that which would win the day.
I was excited to see if my idea would work and I nodded to the group of lions to set the plan into action. They ran in formation toward the edges of Fallon's group and Fallon's group turned to face them, half expecting us to split and try to hem them in from both sides but the group I had sent was large and didn't all stay to fight. As they ran around Fallon's army, lions broke off to keep the perimeter as the rest ran on. They made a complete circle around Fallon and his fighters, coming back around to meet up with me and my Intare who had remained in human form. We penned them in in less than two minutes.
It was a done deal from there.
Chapter Nineteen
“So he does live in Lanikai,” I looked over the video the boys had collected of Kanaloa walking out of a beautiful two-story house right on the beach. “Who's that with him?”
There was a lovely raven-haired beauty on his arm, clad only in a string bikini and looking fantastic. I swallowed back my envy over her perfect body(yet another reason I hated the beach, all those gorgeous women in bikinis flaunting their stuff) and looked closer. There was something off about her, her features looked too perfect, almost like plastic.
“We don't know,” Darius answered, “but we think she's fey.”
“What?” Alarm bells went off in my head, this was looking worse and worse for Kanaloa. “Why do you think that?”
“She has some kind of glamor going on,” Dexter, one of my lions, shook his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes and nodded to her with his nose. It was such a surfer move, I wanted to applaud. “But it's not god magic, we think it's fey.”
“Damn,” I looked over the footage again and sure enough, when I focused I was able to catch subtle glimmers around her. They were very brief as the camera couldn't hold onto magic as well as a god made device could have, but they were definitely there and they were definitely faerie. “You're right, she's a fey. The question is, what kind of fey?”
“And why is she with Kanaloa?” Trevor asked.
“I think the why is pretty obvious,” Darius fast forwarded to show us Kanaloa and the faerie making out on the beach.
“Huh,” I chewed at my lip. “This could be nothing, a mere dalliance, or it could be the perfect reason for murder.”
“How so?” Trevor looked over at me.
“What motivates a man to kill?” I lifted a brow.
“Money, power, and sex,” Darius answered.
“I would have said love but sex will work in a pinch,” I shrugged.
“That's what he said,” Darius laughed.
“Huh?” Kirill frowned at Darius.
“It's a joke man,” Dare clapped him on his back. “You know, sex will work in a pinch... that's what he said.”
“I don't get it,” Kirill continued to frown.
“Maybe Tima will show you later,” Darius wagged his eyebrows at Kirill and Kirill started to growl. “Whoa,” Dare backed away, “just another joke, relax.”
“Kirill?” I looked him over. “Are you okay? You've been kind of different lately.”
“He's having a mid-life crisis,” Darius dared another joke but he backed away more while he said it. “Just go buy yourself a sports car and get over it, dude.”
“Don't call me dude,” Kirill narrowed his eyes on Darius.
“I'm just keeping in my surfer persona,” Darius shrugged.
“Can you even have a mid-life crisis when you live forever?” I pondered.
“I think Dad had one once,” Trevor looked thoughtful. “He got one of the female wolves to redecorate the Hall. It's how the tracing room ended up looking like a Baroque parlor.”
“Oh, it makes so much more sense now,” I nodded.
“Does anyone want to know what else we found out?” Aidan rolled his eyes.
“Oh, there's more?” I jolted out of my reverie.
“Not really,” Darius gave Aidan a look. “Just normal stuff. He stayed at the beach awhile with his little faerie friend and then they walked around Kailua, had lunch, and went home.”
“Okay, keep watching him,” I picked up a still shot of the faerie woman. “This may take awhile but we need to know who this faerie is and if Kanaloa is involved in the murders.”
“Okay,” Darius nodded, “I left Caleb with him, he's watching the house. We're going to continue watching him in shifts, and I'll let you know if we find anything more.”
“How is he watching him?” I knew he'd get kicked off the beach at night.
“He's in the van,” Darius shrugged, “We parked it on the street and then put a go away spell on it.”
“A what?” My lions always had the cutest names for god spells.
“It's a spell that makes people stay away from something,” Trevor explained. “They'll see the van but they won't think anything of it and they'll leave it alone.”
“Oh, sweet,” I nodded. “Good thinking, that area probably wouldn't appreciate a beat up van parked on its street.”
“And we don't want Kanaloa noticing it either,” Aidan nodded. “Don't worry, Tima, we got it all under control.”
Chapter Twenty
“She's definitely a faerie,” since the boys had set up the surveillance van, I thought I'd pop down and take a look myself. With a pair of binoculars and the all-seeing goggles strapped onto my face, I could get a nice look at Kanaloa's guest.
I was actually impressed with the set up. The van had several cameras fit against the windows so they could keep an eye on the house without being seen and the boys had broke into Kanaloa's house while he was out in town and hidden some cameras inside as well. The cameras sent their images directly to the numerous monitors installed along the inside of the van, beneath which was a desk that Darius was manning, complete with a computer that controlled everything. I felt like I was in the FBI.
I didn't want to rely on the cameras though, I wanted an unfiltered view of the woman and the binoculars gave me that. Without the camera processing her image for me and with the god-made goggles that revealed everything, I was able to clearly see that Kanaloa's guest was a water-sidhe.
Her skin was pearl white and her hair was almost the same shade with opalescent highlights to break up the monotony. She was even thinner without the guise of humanity, a mere wisp of a woman with a hint of curves. Her eyes were bright blue, shocking in her pale face and larger than they should have been. Kanaloa looked smitten but was he smitten enough to kill for her? And why would a mermaid, oh excuse me- a water-sidhe, want a bunch of brownies dead?
They went into the house and I put the binoculars down and pulled off the goggles, too long with those things on and I got a bit of an ego.
“Do we have audio from the cameras in the house?” I took a seat next to Darius at the console.
“Sure do,” Dare grinned at me like he couldn't believe I'd doubt him, and turned a knob. The sound of Kanaloa's voice instantly filled the van.
“Do you really have to go so soon, Gruach?” He was saying as he held the woman.
“Gruach?” Darius made a face. “That's an awful name.”
“It's probably Gaelic or something,” I shrugged and tried to push down the guilty feeling of spying on someone.
“With the time difference, I've already been gone too long,” Gruach smiled and wiggled against him. “You could come back with me.”
“No, no, no,” I whispered to the screen. “Please don't do it, please don't be guilty.”
“I haven't been invited back,” Kanaloa looked a little confused over that.
“I'm inviting you,” she shrugged and looked decidedly smug. “It's not like we haven't snuck you in before.”
“No!,” I growled. “Damn it, Kanaloa.”
“True,” he grinned, “Okay, let's do it.”
They hugged each other and disappeared.
“Fuck,” I leaned back in the chair and stared accusingly at the monitor. “Now I have to go back to Faerie but I won't be in the same time as they are.”
“You'll go back before them, right?” Darius looked speculative.
“Yeah.”
“So that's a good thing,” he nodded. “You can do some more investigating in that realm and warn everyone over there that this mermaid is gonna let Kanaloa through, maybe you can prevent that from happening.”
“You're bloody brilliant, you know that?” I looked over at him, wondering why I hadn't thought of that.
“That's why I'm one of your generals.”
“Generals? I thought we were going with the title of lieutenant?”
“Why be a lieutenant when you can be a general?” He smirked.
“I don't know, I guess I always thought of generals as stuffy old balding men.”
“You know what?” Dare looked a little panicked. “I think I like lieutenant after all.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Again?” Trevor frowned at me. “You're going back again?”
“I'll be gone all of two seconds,” I rolled my eyes. “Why do you do this every time?”
“I don't know,” he grimaced and sat on the bed. “I guess it just worries me that one of these times you may not return.”
“Trevor,” I gaped at him. “You know I'll always come back to you.”
“If you're alive,” he whispered and shared a look with Kirill. “What if something tries to hurt you there? I hate being here and wondering if this will be the time one of the fey succeeds in killing you.”
“It's frustrating zat ve can't go vith you,” Kirill nodded. “Even zough it feels like only minutes to us, ve know it's much longer zat you spend zere. Anyzing can happen and ve can't help.”
“Okay,” I nodded, “I get it and I'm sorry to put you through this but this is the best I can do. I can get hurt anywhere. I could get attacked in the Human Realm when I'm out shopping alone, Faerie isn't the only place I have enemies.”
“That is so not helping,” Trevor growled.
“My point is, I can't barricade myself here and never go out alone just because you two worry about me,” I gave them a small smile. “Just as I wouldn't expect you to never leave the God Realm without an entourage. You go to Moonshine alone all the time, Trevor, and I don't say anything. Even though you've been abducted from there twice, I don't say anything because I trust you to take care of yourself. You gotta give me the same trust.”
“Gods damn it,” Trevor swore. “I hate it when you do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn things around and do the whole what's good for the goose is good for the gander thing. It's hard to argue against.”
“You mean to say that I'm right,” I smirked.
“Yeah, you're right,” he grumbled. “Get out of here already and try not to get killed by a kelpie again.”
“I'll try my best,” I laughed and went over to kiss him and Kirill goodbye.
Then I asked my ring to take me back to Faerie again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I reappeared in almost the exact same spot I'd le
ft from, standing right in front of Kirill. Only Kirill. I looked around the room, a little irritated to find Trevor once more absent from my homecoming.
“There's been an emergency with the Froekn,” Kirill came forward and gave me a hug. “Trevor left seconds after you did.”
“What kind of emergency?” Fear shot through my belly with a cold twist.
“I don't know,” Kirill looked worried too. “He told me to vait here for you and he'd come back for us as soon as he knew more.”
“Okay, so we wait.”
“Did you find Kanaloa?” Kirill pulled back but kept his hands on my upper arms. “Do you know if he is innocent?”
“No, he never showed or if he did, he was too slick for us,” I gave him a small smile. “I do however, know for certain that there is a traitor fey working with the murderer. Even better, I have his scent.” I held up the handkerchief with the fey scent on it. “Whoever is the muscle behind this fey, and I believe it's a god, they are powerful, powerful enough to hide from Faerie herself while in Faerie.”
“Zat's very powerful,” Kirill frowned and let his arms slide off of me. “So you came back to find zis fey?”
“Yes, and hopefully he will lead me to his master,” I grimaced. “You know, it's actually been a long day for me, I've been cooking and entertaining, believe it or not. I think I wanna just veg out in front of the TV for a little while. I'm sure Trevor will come and find us when he needs us.”
“You vant some coffee?” He brushed a strand of hair back over my ear. “I'll go make some for us?”
“That sounds fantastic,” I stood on tippy toes and gave him a kiss. “I'll meet you in the common room?”
“Okay,” he grinned and left the room on his coffee mission.
I quickly changed clothes, throwing on a comfy knit dress, and headed to the common room to take over one of the TVs and maybe relax a little. Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to not think about it for a little while and I felt as if I'd been trying to work out this fey issue for months. Oh wait, that's because I had. I had been in Faerie for over a month this last time and a few weeks on the trip prior to that. It had indeed been months since this had all began.