I sighed into my phone, too tired to utter another half-hearted greeting.
“Trouble in paradise?” Shaw chuckled.
“Don’t make this worse than it already is.”
“Okay.” A minute lapsed.
“Really?” I dredged up a laugh. “That’s all you’ve got?”
He cleared his throat. “What are you doing for the next two weeks?”
“I have plans with Mai,” I hedged. “I was about to call you, actually.”
Expectation filled another awkward silence.
“We’re leaving for Florida tomorrow,” I blurted.
No response.
“You’re stronger now, almost back to normal,” I rambled, “so I figured if I topped you off…”
“I would last until you got back,” he finished for me.
“Yeah.” I winced. “That.”
“Who’s going with you?”
“Righty and Lefty—” I raised my voice, “—if they can behave. Maybe Diode.”
“Righty and Lefty?” His voice strained. “I assume you mean your guards?”
“Yes, my guards.” I flushed. “And no, I didn’t check to see if the designations fit.”
His surprised bark of laughter rewarded me. “Where are you staying?”
I debated my response. “We’re staying with Mai’s family, at their condo.”
“Kitsunes are aligned with the Seelie.”
I should have known employing tact was a waste of breath. Shaw knew me too well.
“I’m neutral,” I ground out, “so we ought to get along just fine.”
“You know they won’t see it that way.”
Now it was my turn not to answer him. I was tired of the pressure to choose a side. I saw each of the houses in shades of gray. I knew the Seelie weren’t as kind as their smiles implied and that the Unseelie weren’t as cruel as their sneers warned. There were extremes in both camps, but most of the fae were middle-of-the-roaders. That was what I wanted to go back to being—a line-straddler.
“When should I come over?”
“Sooner rather than later.” I rubbed my eyes, which felt gritty and dry from my Supernatural marathon. “You know Mai. She plans on rolling out early, and I’m full of ice cream. I won’t be awake much longer.”
“Can I bring you anything?” He didn’t let me respond. “I can grab Marco’s.”
“Stop trying to bribe me.” I groaned. “I can’t say no to their pizza, and it feels slimy trading bits of my soul for pepperoni and onions.”
“We could mix it up,” he offered. “Go for pineapple and ham.”
“You can’t see me, but I just shuddered.”
Amusement saturated his voice. “I’ll grab dinner and see you in a few.”
I ended the call and stared at the phone, feeling a little like takeout myself.
Shaw arrived as I finished packing my suitcase. I ignored the jump in my pulse and the way I had to force myself to walk slowly to the door so I didn’t seem too eager. As it was, I fumbled the lock, and my expression hitched between an instinctive smile and the cautious frown that materialized when I was around him lately.
“Hi.” He leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek.
My skin tingled. It was all I could do not to reach up and touch the spot. “Hi yourself.”
“Can you…?” He lifted a case of ginger beer while the pizzas on his other arm teetered.
“Sure.” Our fingers brushed as I grasped the handle. My gaze held his for a breathless moment then fell to his boots. The view there was safer. “You look good.” That brief glimpse of him eased my conscience. The wicked gleam to his coppery eyes had returned. His lips were full and pink again. Even his mahogany hair had a healthy sheen to it. “And by good, I mean you look healthy.”
His answering tone was light. “My new diet seems to agree with me.”
Unsure how to respond, I answered him with a half-cocked grin. “Give me a second, and I’ll clear us some room.” I shoved a stack of unopened bills off the coffee table onto the floor. “I apologize for the mess.” I took the steaming pizza from him. “I was playing creditor roulette earlier.”
He noticed the small trash can by my foot. “Winner gets paid?”
“That about sums it up.” I tugged on the edge of a manila folder trapped between the two greasy pizza boxes featuring Marco’s cartoonish dancing mushroom. “What’s this?”
“It’s a new lead on an old case.” He rolled his shoulders, dismissing the file.
Resisting the temptation to peek inside, I set down the food. “What’s it doing in my apartment?”
He could have left it in his truck. In fact, in light of my suspension, he should have left it there.
“The folder must have gotten stuck.” He managed a passible impression of innocence. “I hear cheese is one hell of an adhesive.”
“Uh-huh.” I tapped the file. “What about the wax paper?”
Wax paper came on a roll, in a box with a serrated edge, just like tinfoil, and Shaw loved it. He kept a roll in his messenger bag as an aid for his spellwork. He used it as a liner, made funnels for getting ingredients into tight spaces, preserved herbs he picked on roadsides, used the wax as a lubricant and to waterproof temporary workspaces. So yeah, we both knew he had trimmed a length to protect the file from the greasy boxes.
I raised my eyebrows. “It just unrolled and trimmed itself to fit?”
“You’re a fairy princess, and you’re questioning the existence of self-cutting wax paper?”
“Touché.” I huffed out a breath. “I guess this is a working dinner.”
“I always loved watching you work.”
Startled by his compliment, I ducked my head and reached for the folder to cover my surprise. It wasn’t like he had been stingy with praise back when we were partners. He was a good marshal, and that meant he behaved professionally, even when our relationship blurred the line into personal. The shock came from my reaction to his praise. His words sent warmth flooding through my chest.
Rook and I…were complicated. Yes, I had kissed him. Twice. Maybe three times. But I had also been pretty damn sure I wasn’t leaving Faerie with a pulse. At the time, making out with a handsome guy didn’t seem like a bad way to spend my last night alive.
Having survived, I got the fun of living with those consequences.
“You don’t have to collaborate if you don’t want to,” Shaw said.
“Twist my arm, why don’t you?” I grabbed the file before common sense kicked in, and flipped it open to the first page. “A missing person’s case?” I skimmed the file. “Female. Thirty-five. She’s got fae blood a few generations back.” That might explain how the case fell into his hands. “Valkyrie, huh? Those bloodlines are rare.”
“They are,” he agreed.
I gave him a look. “Is that why you got stuck investigating this?”
He shook his head.
“Then I don’t get it.” I thumped the file. “This information is months old.”
“Considering the person in question vanished ten years ago, it’s still recent by comparison.”
“Why haven’t you followed up yet? This looks promising.”
He tapped the file’s edge. “Check the bottom of the last page.”
“The subject was spotted at a Walmart in— You’ve got to be kidding me.” I scowled. “Orlando?”
“She was on vacation with her husband and their kids in Port Arkansas, about eight hours from Wink, on the Texas coast, when she disappeared.” He studied me. “I was given the information while I was…away…but Florida was too far to travel in my condition.”
My eyes narrowed. “And now that your food’s on the move, you can be too.”
“I didn’t ask you to go.”
“Of course not.” I picked at the edge of the file. “You’re just making the most of a convenient situation.”
His shoulders rose and fell.
“What am I missing here?” I read the topmost sheet a
gain. “This isn’t like you.”
Sure we had our share of missing persons’ cases to work. Fae were hell to find when they didn’t want to be found. But those were handed down from the conclave. This case read like freelance work.
“The missing woman, Jenna.” He set his jaw. “She was my brother’s wife.”
“Wife?” My hand spasmed, and papers slid across the floor. “A married incubus?”
Shaw’s brother had a wife. He was married. A married incubus. The revelation shifted the world beneath my feet. Or, since I was seated, my ass.
“We are capable of commitment,” he growled.
For a day? A week? We had lasted almost a month. Yet here was proof an incubus could choose to settle down, choose to spend his life with one woman. I guess, for Shaw, I just wasn’t her. I locked down that line of thought and shut my mouth before the past spewed over my lips and ruined the weird truce we had worked so hard to maintain since I began feeding him. “So this is personal.”
“Yes.”
“Having had my mother kidnapped recently, I get that you need to look out for your family.”
“So you don’t mind me crashing your trip?”
“That’s not what I said.” Mai would kill me if she found out he was tagging along on our vacay. “You’re welcome to stay in Orlando. I’ll be an hour away, on Daytona Beach, working on my tan.” His eyes flashed white, and a shiver rippled down my spine. “That’s close enough you can find me if you need to, but far enough away we can each handle business without tripping over the other one.”
“Fair enough.”
I bent to collect the scattered papers. “We probably shouldn’t mention this to Mai, though.”
The front door swung open, and Mai sauntered in wearing tangerine-colored biking shorts and a white sports bra under a long, sweat-stained tank top. Its swirling tie-dyed pattern reminded me of a melting Creamsicle. Her cellphone was strapped to her upper arm in an elastic holster, and earbuds hung from around her neck. She stared at Shaw and me expectantly. “Did someone use my name in vain?”
Damn fae super hearing.
“I was just telling Shaw about our vacation plans.” I cut him a back me up here look.
He made himself comfortable. “Thierry said you’re heading to Daytona for a few days.”
“We are.” If Mai shifted now, her tail would be twitching. “I guess you’re here for—” she inserted air quotes, “—dinner.”
He swept his arm out to indicate the food he brought. “You’re welcome to join us.”
“Kinky.” She curled her lip. “But I’ll pass.”
“Mai,” I warned.
“I’m grabbing a shower.” She pointed at me. “Scream if he gets handsy.”
“Will do.” I saluted her. “Save you a slice?”
“Or three.” She wiped sweat off her forehead. “Why burn calories if not to replace them?”
“Why indeed.” I nodded sagely.
“Tee…”
“I’m on it.” I snapped my fingers, and the guards reappeared. I cut them each a hard glare. “Remember our little chat, boys.”
The glacial looks they returned told me they remembered our talk very well.
After exhaling with relief, Mai edged toward the hall and dipped into her room.
Shaw raised his eyebrows over her hasty exit, and mine rose at his reaction. Hot chick, tight clothes, starving incubus. I expected passing interest. He showed none. No white clouded his eyes. No claws tipped his fingers. No white flesh rippled as hunger settled into Shaw’s driver’s seat.
It was a stark reminder of my prime view from the top of his food pyramid.
Part of me thrilled to know I was the only woman Shaw—and his hunger—craved, but the hollow spot in my chest kept me honest. It wasn’t me he wanted. It wasn’t like he suddenly decided to give us a second chance. He didn’t want to be faithful. He was stuck with me. We were bound together until I figured out how to fix the energy circuit forcing him to feed only from me.
“She never did like me much,” was all he said.
Taking pity on him, I confided, “You failed her test on the first day of the academy. That kind of thing leaves a mark.”
His eyes widened. “She tested me?”
“She thought you were hot, and I was curious how kitsunes tested their mates.” I folded my legs underneath me, settling in to eat my dinner before it got cold. “So I told her she should go for it.”
“She asked your permission first?” His brow furrowed. “What if I had passed?”
Another, sharper pang made it difficult to breathe. “Then you and Mai would be a thing.”
He took a slow drink from his beer. “You would have been okay with that?”
No. I would have fought for him. Worse, I might have lost my best friend over a guy. But Shaw was Shaw, and Rook or not, I couldn’t deal with the idea of him being with my best friend.
“That was then.” I flipped open the box, grabbed a slice of pizza and said in my primmest voice, “I’m married now.”
“That’s not an answer,” he said softly.
I felt my guards’ eyes on me. “What do you want me to say?”
He opened his mouth, shut it, shook his head and then took another drink.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” I muttered.
Chapter 6
That night, after Shaw left and I forced myself to crawl into bed, I dreamed of Rook. I knew our meeting was more than it seemed, because I “woke” balanced precariously on the limb of the tree where I had briefly slept in his arms.
Sentimental is my husband.
When I struggled against the threads binding his illusion, I smelled my brand of fabric softener and sensed the soft pillow beneath my cheek. It wasn’t much, but the knowledge I could end this dream calmed me.
Rook reclined against a knot of staggered limbs, the perfect spacing to make him a backrest while protecting him from taking a nasty tumble. If he had been a human, a fall like that would have killed him. Given his ability to sprout wings, and my apparent lack of feathers, I was more concerned for myself.
If I fell to my death in a dream, would I die in reality?
He tapped the ends of a leaf with his fingertips. “How are things in the mortal realm?”
“As good as they’re going to get.” I scooted closer to the tree’s trunk. “What about here?”
“In dreams,” he mused, “all is well.”
I reached the heart of the tree and wrapped a companionable arm around it. “I meant in Faerie, and you know it.”
“Both houses follow me, for now.” His hand dropped. “Neither are pleased with your absence.”
Tough. Their pleasure was the least of my concerns. “Have you heard from Mac?”
He shook his head. “No one has.”
“So King Moran’s killer is still at large?” Not great news. The marshal in me wanted to see the murderer pay for his crime, but his ability to dodge my father actually played out in my favor. If the fae believed I was at risk from an assassination plot in Faerie, they would stay open to keeping me hidden here.
“You could say that.”
I scowled at him. “He’s either been caught or he hasn’t.”
“The answer is not so simple.”
“Riddles aren’t my thing.” I stifled a yawn. “Why did you visit me?”
A cunning spark lit his eyes. “Can’t a husband want to see his wife?”
I rolled my eyes. “We both know our marriage isn’t real.”
“It could be.” He sat up. “It’s not unusual for monarchs to have their spouses chosen for them.”
“Except you chose me. You arranged all of this.”
“Not all of it. You played your part beautifully, Princess.” He interlaced his fingers. “I believed you were capable of winning the Coronation Hunt, but to watch it… You amazed me, Thierry.”
Conflicting emotions wound me up until I didn’t trust myself to respond.
He looke
d serious when he said, “If ever anyone was worthy of becoming queen, it is you.”
“It’s late, and I’m tired.” Another yawn overtook me. “Why are you here?”
“Our bargain stipulated that you would be trained in the ways of royalty.” He leaned forward. “I studied alongside my brother. I can teach you what you need to know, as much as anyone can. But you are at a disadvantage. This world, this role, is new to you when others have lived here and coveted it all their lives.”
I heard what he didn’t say too. I didn’t want the position. That meant I wouldn’t fight for it.
“You are powerful and clever,” he offered, “but both houses are filled with more dangerous and slyer fae than you can imagine. Our only hope of surviving is if we work together, and even then…”
His gaze drifted toward the night beyond us and widened slightly.
“Rook?” I wasn’t brave enough to glance behind me and risk falling.
“You must go.” He waved his hand, and the dream—or whatever it was—dissolved.
Chapter 7
I jolted upright on a gasp then doubled over coughing. My lungs burned from lack of oxygen. It hurt to suck in air, ached as my chest expanded. I stung all over. Stumbling from the bed, I collapsed on the floor as my door burst open and Mai rushed in steadying a baseball bat on her shoulder.
“Tee?”
I groaned.
“Are you okay? What happened? Where are they?” She screamed, “Show yourselves, bastards.”
“What?” I arranged myself into a sitting position. “Who is they?”
She growled, “Righty and Lefty, of course.”
If my mind hadn’t been sleep-addled, I’d like to think I would have figured that out for myself.
“They had nothing to do with this.” I shoved to my knees. “I had a dream, that’s all.”
A dream whose fading tendrils haunted me. The way my strange meeting with Rook ended left me cold. How his eyes shot wide when he forced me from sleep. I was worried about him, yeah, but I was concerned for me too. What did it mean for me if Rook got hurt? Being the considerate wife I was, I hadn’t given his safety a second thought. I had been too eager to escape Faerie—and get my life back—to consider the mess I left him to clean up.
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