A raspy throat cleared, and Isaac released me with obvious reluctance to turn and face Meemaw.
“You’re looking good, Meemaw. The shawl is a nice touch.” For some reason, he sounded on the verge of laughter. “How was your trip?”
Cocking my head at their familiarity, I was pretty sure I had identified the tattletale responsible for Meemaw’s intel. Now I just had to decide what to do about him.
“Thierry provided an escort. He doesn’t talk much. It’s one of his finer qualities.” Meemaw thumped her cane to make her point. “I’ve been waiting to see Dell too. Of course, I can’t get around like I used to. I just called down in the mornings and saved myself the trip.”
“I tried that.” His hand found its way back in mine. “They refused to give me any information over the phone.”
“I had Thierry’s private number,” she explained.
“Ah.” He spared Thierry a glance I was unable to decipher. “I see.”
“Well, I don’t see.” I squeezed his hand and dragged his attention back to me. “What are you doing here, Isaac?”
The long-suffering look he bestowed on me told me I was missing the obvious. Except not much had been obvious to me since the day I got issued Day-Glo orange scrubs. “What do you think? I’m here to break you out.”
Jaw falling open, I almost bit my tongue when he tapped my chin and clicked my teeth together. “You do see Thierry—a conclave marshal with arresting powers—sitting there, right?”
“Yes.” A half smile curved his lips, and he winked at her. “Who do you think cooked up the plan?”
Chapter 2
The synapses in my brain sparked like fireworks on the Fourth of July, and I made the connection between the fae to my left and my impending adventure. Turning from Isaac, I faced Thierry. “You said I got to pick a two-man team.”
“No,” Thierry corrected me, “I said you got a two-man team. I never said you got to choose them.”
A twang arrowed through my chest when I realized what Isaac’s presence meant. “Looks like you’ll get your wish.” My throat tightened. “You’ll get to explore Faerie like you always wanted.”
His many-times-great-aunt Zelda had been paid her weight in gold and precious gems, a hefty bribe from a frustrated Faerie king, to leave his lands and chart this world in the hopes that being given an assignment might defuse the lethal combination of having a magically potent and perpetually bored subject stirring chaos in his court. She was the first Gemini who migrated to Earth, and the others, being a communal race, flocked after her. Isaac would be the first of his kind to return since their mass exodus. Gemini were, in fact, thought extinct in Faerie. Now he would complete the cycle his aunt had begun all those centuries ago.
“Dell.” Isaac gripped my shoulders. “Don’t look at me like that.”
He had always been smoke I couldn’t cup between my palms. This time my fingers didn’t curl to try. “I’m worried about Cam.” I couched my fear he might lose himself to Faerie as hers. “You’re like a brother to her, and she’s not going to be thrilled if you run off and get yourself killed.”
“I didn’t come here for Cam.” His hands flowed up my throat, slid over my jaw and cupped my face. “I came here for you.”
The potent draw of the unknown sat between us. Both of us knowing I wasn’t the only reason for his presence. Both of us unwilling to pry open that can of worms in polite company.
Noticing Meemaw’s marked interest in our conversation, I withdrew from his warmth and faced Thierry. I found the ceiling fascinating all of a sudden, and not just because it allowed me to keep hot tears from rolling down my cheeks. I had cried over him enough. I ought to have run dry by now.
A firm knock rattled the door, and then Littlejohn peered into the room. “Another visitor, ma’am.”
Thierry and I inhaled in stereo, and I felt my eyes rounding. The crushed rosemary-and-leather scent was unmistakable. She waved her hand. “Send him in.”
“Enzo. Not you too?” I scarcely believed my eyes. Damn but Thierry was playing with fire by recruiting him.
Isaac and Enzo shared the same height, but there the similarities ended. Enzo’s chocolate eyes were soulful and rich, his black hair slightly curled and in need of a trim. Genetics had blessed him with a natural tan my pale skin would never hold despite the fact I spent most of my days outdoors, and he only glimpsed sun between trips from his car to his lab. Like all redheads, I burned. And like all women, I envied the complexion I didn’t have.
The most dangerous thing about Enzo wasn’t his killer smile, but the fact he was the younger brother of Miguel Garza, the most powerful witch in the southeast. Enzo was no slouch, but he was apprenticed to his brother, and Miguel would spit nails if he had any idea his little brother was standing inside Macon Correctional Facility.
“You didn’t think I’d let Isaac have all the fun, did you?” Enzo crossed to me, shouldered Isaac aside and pressed a warm kiss to my cheek. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
“Your brother will have a coronary if he finds out about this.” I aimed the unasked question at Enzo and Thierry.
“Then we’ll have to make sure no one tells him. I won’t if you won’t.” A bright grin broke across his face. “Without a patron, witches can’t enter Faerie, and no fae with the influence to act as a patron is willing to stick their neck out for a lowly human with bastardized magic.”
I raised my eyebrows at that.
“There are scholars who believe witches are descendants of the original fae explorers who discovered this world. The magic had to come from somewhere, right? Ours bonded with this world, and theirs with theirs. Both can function in either place, but each is stronger where it originated.” My eye must have twitched, because he simplified it. “Our magic is a watered-down version of theirs. Combine that with our mortality, and most fae can’t be bothered to note our existence. Let alone expend energy teaching such short-lived beings any magic of worth.”
“Does that mean you’re hoping to get a patron out of this?” Considering he was already indentured to one master, his brother, he had better hope a second one didn’t want another dozen years of his life in exchange for his tutelage. Or by the time Enzo worked off his debt, he would be too old to enjoy his power.
“No.” He rubbed his hands together. “I want access to the native flora.”
“You want to gather samples?” I assumed. “Aren’t there laws against that?”
“Thierry has granted me immunity in exchange for my cooperation. This is a chance for me to collect stock for my own supply of rare herbs.” His lips quirked. “Miguel and I have arrangements with a few Unseelie bazaars, but you have no idea how expensive the good stuff is on the black market.”
I couldn’t argue with him there. Who knew illegal herb trade was a thing?
“You guys are my team?” I heard the doubt in my voice and winced. “Not that I don’t respect you both, but you’re both top drawer. There are powerful people here who wouldn’t thank me if you don’t come home.”
“Accept that I’m your friend,” Enzo said, “and friends don’t let friends go to Faerie alone.”
“She won’t be alone.” Isaac folded his arms over his chest. “I’ll be there.”
Meemaw eyed the strutting peacocks with amusement before coughing into her fist.
“Meemaw, are you feeling all right?” Enzo, who was a passing medic, ignored Isaac in favor of my grandmother. He squatted in front of her chair and gathered her hands in his lap. “Have you been taking the allergy medicine Miguel prescribed?”
While he conducted a quick exam and Isaac stewed, Thierry caught my eye and mouthed, I see where you get it from.
Unlike Meemaw, I didn’t have both guys eating out of the palm of my hand. Mostly they were too busy snapping their teeth at one another to pay attention to me. Days spent in Faerie under these conditions would be miserable. With that thought in mind, I began to understand my punishment was twofold. I had to locate an
d return the prince, and I had to not murder the other two people in my party.
Thierry clapped her hands to bring attention back to the matter at hand. “Okay, guys, we don’t have much time. Let’s focus.”
Meemaw pouted. Until that moment I’d had no idea she was capable of such a thing. Isaac took point behind my chair, his fingers almost brushing my shoulder. Enzo did the same behind Meemaw, but he kept his hands to himself and his attention on Thierry.
“Enzo, are you ready?” She slid into business mode. “You’ve got all the supplies you need?”
He tapped the side of his head. “It’s all up here.”
“A light packer. I like that.” She eyed Isaac next. “How about you?”
“My gear is in my pack in the hall.” He jerked his head in that direction. Bet it weighed a ton too, filled with compact tool kits and various electronic thingamabobs that might not even work in Faerie. “The rest…” he lifted his right hand to indicate the spur nestled beneath his middle finger’s nail, the one he used to draw blood from his donors, “…the locals will provide.”
“I took the liberty of packing for you, Dell.” Thierry hauled a heavy-duty pack from underneath her desk and swung it up, letting it hit with a dull thump. “Civilian clothes, some food and water, basic survival gear and a few girly concerns.”
She gestured me forward, and I strapped in, feeling ridiculous considering I was geared up for a trek into a foreign land while wearing my prison uniform and no shoes. I wiggled my toes in consideration. The pads on the bottoms of my feet were calloused. I could make do until I could steal or barter for a pair on the other side.
“I almost forgot.” She leaned over and tugged off her own boots. “These are broken in, waterproofed, and they’ll fit. I figured comfort mattered over style.”
“Oh nice.” I caught the pair of clean socks she pulled from a drawer and tossed at me. “My feet thank you. Unless that indebts them to you, in which case they appreciate you instead.” Breaking in new boots while on the run would not have been fun. “Now that we’re all kitted out, I have to ask. How is this going down?”
“You’ll see. All you have to do is follow me and run when I give the signal. The rest will be gravy.” She grinned. “Trust me.”
Trust and Thierry did not go hand in hand for me, but I resisted the temptation to insult my ticket out of here. “Okay.”
Thierry nodded at Meemaw. “It’s go time.”
On cue, my grandmother clutched her chest and began moaning. I dashed to her side, thumping her walking stick on Thierry’s desk then easing her onto the floor before her dizzy spell toppled her out of the chair. Blood dappled the floral pattern of her skirt. I checked her for wounds but found the cut responsible on my finger. I must have sliced it on the bark crusting her walking stick.
Enzo shifted into medic mode while Isaac removed a small item resembling a remote from his pocket. He pressed a series of buttons then rushed to the door, yanking it open as he called for help. Littlejohn met him at the threshold and brought his radio to his mouth only to discover it was dead.
The officer looked to Thierry. “Ma’am?”
“Go alert the front desk.” She pushed magic into her runes until they glittered. “I can handle Dell alone.”
Clearly unhappy with his orders, Littlejohn hotfooted it down the hall and around the corner. When the sound of his footfalls quieted, Meemaw’s pained gasping did too. She grinned up at me, mischief sparkling in her eyes, and winked.
First pouting and now winking? My, what a big repertoire you have, Grandma.
“You’re not Meemaw.” I recoiled from the old woman as she wheezed out a laugh. “Who—what—are you?”
“Izzy, you owe me fifty bucks.” The person who was not my grandmother cackled then shifted his attention back to me. “He said you’d see through the act. I was counting on sentimentality to do my work for me, and I was right.”
Only one person called Isaac Izzy and lived to talk about it. His twin brother, Theo.
Except, as far as I knew, Gemini took on aspects, as in one or two facets of a donor’s gift, not cloned them head to toe. Then again, I had seen Isaac go full-on monolith. I had assumed he was borrowing the rock-hard skin as a facet, but was it a deeper transformation? What was normal for fae able to mimic with only a drop of blood as a template? I was realizing I had no good answers for either question, and there was only one person who could illuminate me. The man himself.
Later. I would deal with this, and Isaac, later. First things first. I sprang to my feet and whirled on Thierry. “Where is Meemaw?”
“Snug as a bug in a hotel in town.” She wisely kept the desk between her and me. “We needed a fresh blood sample for Theo to impersonate her, and clothes that held her scent, but I doubted you’d want her involved in what goes down today. I ordered her to remain in the hotel restaurant until I call with the all clear.”
Mollified, I relaxed my fists and soothed the wolf pacing the perimeter of my thoughts. “You were right. I don’t want her anywhere near this.”
Theo’s impersonation would implicate her, but Thierry had been smart enough to arrange for Meemaw to be seen in public by enough witnesses that no one could shift the blame for whatever was about to happen onto her shoulders.
“She’s fine,” Theo promised me. “I swear to you that no harm will come to her from this.”
The words rang with magic that held a fine thread of truth woven into the vow.
Before I could press him for the reason he was here, other than to impersonate Meemaw, Isaac hauled me to my feet.
“Careful, brother.” Isaac fastened a stern look on his brother then wiggled the fingers of his right hand. “I’ll know if you’re not.”
Curious what that meant, I didn’t intrude in their private moment.
“Goes both ways, bro.” Theo grinned through Meemaw’s face, and the effect was eerie. “Keep him safe, Dell.”
That’s not my job almost popped out of my mouth in a fit of pique, but Isaac had volunteered to play backup. That meant I owed him the same protection. “I will. I’ll get both of the lunkheads home safe.”
“We’re running on borrowed time, people. Let’s move.” Thierry stepped over Theo and led us out into the hall. “The cell housing the tether is this way.” We ran full tilt until we hit a set of solid steel doors that Thierry keyed us through. As it slid closed behind us, I heard footsteps pounding and shouted voices along with Theo’s rising wails. “This is a highly restricted area. There are no guards. For now, the location is considered top secret. Let’s keep it that way.”
The area in question resembled the rest of Macon. There were basic cells and a walled-off portion that had been transformed into the intricate locking chamber we had just exited. It was as if they had sealed off what had once been an active portion of the prison. Had it been by design? Or accidental? I would have had to understand how tethers were created to decide, I suppose, and no one had written books on them. Not that I had read.
“It’s through here.” Thierry guided us into a cell. Isaac went first and then Enzo. I was reluctant to cram myself back into a tiny concrete box no matter how mystical an escape I had been promised. A whine tightened my throat. The wolf, who still couldn’t manifest, wanted no part of this scheme. I couldn’t say I blamed her, but Thierry had been right about one thing. Lorimar represented a new ideal, a dream of peace and coexistence, and all dreams came at a cost. “Ready?”
I eased inside and accepted the hand Isaac offered me. He drew me flush against his side, and then Enzo was there, taking up my other hand. Heat tickled my nape. The experience of being sandwiched between them… Well, let’s just say it wasn’t a bad one.
Thierry drew a knife from her pocket, flicked it open and sliced her palm to the bone. She doused the area in front of us in her blood and then began twisting unseen dials or spinning invisible knobs. Who knew? Her wound knitted closed before my eyes, faster than any healing I had ever witnessed, and I wondered again
who she was under that affable exterior. She might only be half fae, but she was far from human.
“Where will this spit us out?” I wondered aloud since no one else had enlightened me.
“A coat closet at Firn Hall, the king’s private estate,” she said absently. “He’s expecting you.”
“King Rook?” I croaked.
“I didn’t figure you one to get flustered over titles,” Isaac said to my right.
“She’s a woman going to meet a king dressed in an orange jumpsuit,” Enzo replied. “Of course she’s flustered.”
“Trust me, Rook won’t care.” The air thickened as magic pulsed in the room, and she lowered her hands. “On the topic of trust, don’t believe one sugared word that falls past his honeyed lips. Don’t take clothing from him. Don’t dine with him. Don’t enter his room under any circumstances.”
Rook? How had she gotten to be on such informal terms with the current king of Faerie? And why did she think entering his rooms was even a possibility?
“You speaking from experience?” Isaac drawled.
“He’s my ex-husband.” She shrugged when my jaw dropped. “It’s complicated.”
Enzo huffed out a laugh at my elbow. “Relationships usually are.”
“It’s time.” Thierry stepped back until she stood in the doorway. “Walk straight through and hold on tight to each other or you may not all end up in the same place. Oh, and I’m sorry in advance.”
“For what?” I frowned at her, but the guys, ignoring my question, rushed forward, dragging me behind them and thrusting us into the tether.
“Remember your promise, Isaac,” she yelled, her voice squeezing flat as we left her behind us.
The sensation of falling sucked my stomach into the soles of my feet, and my head spun like I’d been on a bender down at the local bar. Wargs didn’t get drunk without a lot of effort, and Meemaw hadn’t raised a quitter. I tightened my grip on the guys, letting their presence anchor me in the ether. Just when I felt like I might vomit up my toenails, we slammed face-first into a frozen slab of a door. Stunned, we all slid to the ice-block floor in a pile of moaning, miserable limbs. As important as it had seemed a second ago to ask what promise Isaac had made, it evaporated in the face of my sudden, abject misery.
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