The dark grew more solid, the last of the day falling away. The moon rose higher. The ring picked up the light, radiating in the dark. A beam of sparkling light shot from its surface and a shimmering full-size image of his employer appeared. He caught a glimpse of bright white hair and possibly violet eyes before she pulled her starry cloak over her head and covered herself completely. She was getting careless.
“Have you found her?”
“There’s no sign of her. It’s just a big party. Are you sure she’s here? No one in this fucking place cares about anything except sex and drugs and drinking.”
“Language, Bosco.” She shook her head. “Are you having any trouble faking the spell?”
He snorted. “Sure, just rut like a pig and pass out. It’s easy.”
“Don’t get cocky.” Her voice was sharp. “Time is short. You have to work faster.”
“I may have an in, but it will take time.”
“We don’t have time. Kian was attacked again today, and it was a well-hidden location. They have the mirror and they are using her. You have to find her tonight. I don’t want the queen winning the war.”
“What about your precious prophecy. It’s powerful, isn’t it? Won’t it pull her down no matter what we do?”
“Don’t you worry about the prophecy, boy.” Despite the fact he couldn’t see her face concealed under her cloak, the sting of her glare bore into him. “You just find that girl and bring her to me. I’ll meet you in the clearing tomorrow night and you’d better have her.”
“I’ll have her, if she’s here. But you’d better have my pay.”
She pulled a small globe out of the recesses of her cloak. It glowed a bright azure and sparked with life. Inside a light flickered, darting from side to side. “I have it.”
His hands twitched. This would be the last one. The one to tip the balance. He wanted to reach into her image and seize it, but he merely bowed. “Tomorrow night then.” She disappeared and the ring cooled on his finger.
Bosco tilted his head and stared up at the rising moon. He didn’t have a clue where the queen was hiding the girl, but he’d find out. Cassie must know something, and if she didn’t, he’d find out who did. A tendril of magic from his circle hummed and he dissolved it before the person coming could sense its existence.
“Oh, hello.” Gertrude, Cassie’s nemesis, stood next to him, a full drink in one hand. Her eyes were glazed. “You look lost,” she purred and slid a hand over his bare shoulder. “Aren’t you supposed to be hanging with Her Sloppiness. Ooops!” She hiccuped and covered her mouth. “I mean the princess.”
She was more than a little drunk and her jealousy over Cassie’s status might give him just the opportunity he needed. This woman had been Cassie’s lady-in-waiting for the last three months, she should know a lot of inside information. Perhaps even if the queen and Lord Haddon had a secret.
“I’m at loose ends, for now.” He stepped in closer and gave her his most charming look, the one that had seduced queens of Underhill. “Would you like to join me for supper?”
Her thin lips formed a cat’s-got-the-mouse curve. “I’d love to.”
Bosco smiled, and gave a small bow. “Lead the way.” He grabbed his jacket and shirt.
“Leave the shirt.” Gertrude winked at him. “No one will mind.” He hung the shirt back on the brick and put on his jacket. She was right. Not only would no one mind, but he’d be overdressed by the pool anyway and she might talk more if she were distracted. He followed her slender hips in her nearly see-through gown back up the garden path to a large patio near the pool.
Supper tonight was casual, a buffet by the pool, currently empty except for a trio of mer-sylphs cavorting in the deep end, their silvery bodies catching the torch-light. Discreet waiters flitted through the gardens and small intimate tables set for two were filling up.
He pulled out her chair at a secluded table shielded by overly scented large white flowers and was rewarded with a cool smile. “They must have excellent manners where you come from.” She shook out her napkin. He signaled a waiter and ordered champagne. “Now,” she said. “I don’t think I know you, but I hear you are a regular at court.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Hmm.” She pretended nonchalance. “Shall we eat?”
He rose and helped her out of her chair. “After you, my lady.” They joined the line for the buffet.
“And where do you come from, my lord?”
He too could pretend. Avoiding a direct lie he looked her straight in the eye. “I came from the Black Court. It was dead without the queen there. Everyone was here, so I finagled an invite and arrived last night.” He took her hand and stroked the top of her knuckles. “But I’m boring. I’m far more interested in the ladies here. Tell me about yourself.”
Her lids dropped and she gave him a sly glance. “I thought it was the princess you were interested in. You seemed very attached to her last night.”
“What man in his right mind wouldn’t be interested in such a loveliness.”
Her eyes narrowed. She moved a step away.
“But you, you are much more, shall I say, elegant?”
Gertrude smiled up at him and allowed him to place a choice morsel of fish on her plate. She preened for him as he filled her plate with delicacies, flattering her all the way down the buffet line. By the time they made their way back to the table she’d gotten over her snit.
They settled down and the waiter arrived.
“Ah, the champagne. We need something to celebrate our getting to know one another.” He scooted his chair closer to her and stroked her knuckles again. “Now, tell me about yourself. How did you come to be the princess’s lady-in-waiting? Did you come with her from her previous home?”
“Of course not.” She laughed. “She arrived here with nothing, not even a dress.” She leaned in over the table. “I’ve had to teach her everything. She can’t even remember her own genealogy, let alone which fork to use.”
He gazed into her eyes, letting his expression lie for him. She was a bitch, throwing Cassie under the wheels just so she could score with a handsome man. He let her go on, telling him all she could, but it didn’t give him the answer he wanted. She too believed Cassie was a legitimate princess.
He spent the early part of the evening talking and laughing with Gertrude, then ditched her and moved on to the rest of the large house party, buttering up fae after fae. Conversing with sylphs and centaurs, and Tuathan fae he knew from court. Not one was free of the castle’s spell. Everyone believed that there was a princess, and while some of them liked her and some didn’t, all believed she would inherit after her aunt. Once Prince Kian was killed.
He left the public rooms in a bad mood. He hadn’t found what he needed and time was running short. Worse than that, he didn’t even know where to look or what to look for. All he knew was that Cassie had to be the key and he hadn’t seen her all evening.
He climbed the stairs and rounded a corner, heading for her rooms, and ran straight into the queen’s advisor, Lord Haddon.
“Sorry, my lord.” He bowed deeply and tried to move past, but Haddon moved in front of him.
“No, stay a moment, Bosco. I’d like to have a word.”
“Of course, my lord.” Bosco put on his best easy grin. “I’ve wanted to thank you for your hospitality.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. But I have to say, after I spoke to you last night I checked our list. You aren’t on it.”
The back of Bosco’s neck tingled.
“I’m not? That can’t be right. I’m one of the queen’s favorites.” This was it. He’d known there was a risk to this mission, and here it was.
“No, you’re not. Not anymore. The queen’s moved on to newer—” his eyes tracked up and down Bosco’s body “—And may I say, younger pastures. She didn’t invite you. I would have known. And without the queen’s approval I certainly can’t let you stay here, or be close to the princess.” Haddon’s lip curled. “It’s well know
n you are just a shallow piece of court trash. A user.” He moved in closer. “And I’m responsible for Cassandra’s well-being.”
Bosco hid his disgust with the queen’s man. “Me? You must be mistaken.” Of all people to talk. Everyone knew Haddon was a predator of the worst sort. To put him in charge of anyone’s well-being was a joke.
“You.” Haddon stroked his chin. “You’re here without an invitation and you’re too close to the princess. I should have you thrown in the dungeon.”
Adrenaline surged. Bosco got ready to run.
“But—” Haddon glanced up and down the corridor and his voice dropped. “It so happens I need eyes on the princess. I’m busy with the queen and affairs of state. You, however, are in the perfect position to keep an eye on Cassandra. Let me know what she’s up to.”
Bosco was elated. This was perfect. No trip to the dungeon and he could stay close to Cassie and figure out if he was right and there was a connection between her and the mirror. And, if it turned out he was, he could get her out of the castle. Haddon was handing him the perfect way to see if Cassie knew where the mirror was hidden.
But Haddon never did anything for free.
“You want me to spy on the princess?” He let his face show his real indignation, knowing the queen’s advisor would think it was faked. “That’s not a nice thing to do.”
“It’s for her own protection. She’s a naive little thing. I’m sure you know she’s spent her entire life away at her parents’ estate, and then to be the only survivor of the attack? It’s taken away not only her memory of who she was, but also of the dangers of the world. She’s an innocent here in the castle and I don’t think I have to tell you the dangers of being an innocent in the queen’s Court.”
The irony of Lord Haddon, the queen’s right hand man, head torturer, and despoiler of all the young pages in the Black Court, enticing him with protecting Cassie’s innocence didn’t escape Bosco. But he let his be-spelled fool’s disguise take the bait. “It sounds interesting.”
“You’d report to me.” Haddon leaned in close, sneaking looks up and down the corridor as if the stones themselves might be listening. “Only to me. And I want to know everything. Where she goes, who she’s with, what she thinks.”
“What do I get in exchange?” Besides the obvious enticement of despoiling her.
“In return, I don’t hand you over to the dungeons and I don’t tell the queen that you weren’t invited.”
“Won’t she know?”
“Leave Her Majesty to me.”
It had gotten this far, that Haddon wasn’t even hiding his manipulation of the queen. The Black Court was spiraling down fast and it wasn’t Prince Kian who would take it down. Bosco hid his surprise, knowing that it might get him killed.
“And if I choose not to?”
Haddon cocked his chin at two men standing guard at the end of the hall. “I call them over and they drag you away.” He straightened up. “Now, do we have an understanding?”
He was being given full access to the very thing he needed. And all under the nose and full approval of her watch-dog. “I suppose I have no choice. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Good.” Haddon walked away. “Oh, and Bosco, just in case you’re thinking of double crossing me and telling any of this to the princess, don’t forget, I have the full trust of Her Majesty, the queen. She likes you, but that’s only because she thinks you’re her man. If she suspects you of being a traitor? She’ll tear you to pieces.”
Bosco didn’t have to fake his expression. He’d done his time in the bed of the queen when he’d first come to court. Her ideas of pleasure were costly to a man. Her ideas of pain?
Her ideas of pain were indescribable.
He let the shudder out and Haddon’s lips curved up. “I see we have an understanding. You’ll report directly to me.”
“Yes, my lord.” Bosco bowed and Haddon walked away. Bosco straightened, watching the narrow figure of the green man strut down the hall and out of sight.
He started the trek to Cassie’s tower, each step slower than the last the closer he got to her door.
What was wrong with him?
He had the go ahead to spend time with Cassie. To wrangle out all the secrets of the summer castle and all under Haddon’s long, twitchy nose. He should be thrilled. He should be filled with excitement. Running up the stairs to Cassie’s tower and working to get every last bit of information he needed to close this deal. Instead, he felt like taking a long hot shower and scrubbing the corruption from his skin.
For the first time in a long time he wondered what his big sister would think of the man he’d become. Someone who did whatever it took. Someone who’d made countless underhanded deals with devils, like Haddon. Someone with no honor.
Is this why Siobhan had sacrificed her freedom to save him?
He’d been young. Too young.
The competition at the games that year had been fierce, or so he’d thought. Later he realized that some of the boys hadn’t competed as hard as they could have. Or that the mysterious injuries that knocked the lead boy out of the running, days before the final decision, had been caused by something other than a fall.
No, it wasn’t until months after he’d been whisked away on the queen’s sparkling white sleigh, pulled by six white reindeer, that he’d started to understand. And then it had been too late.
The White Queen only took the most handsome boys as her tribute. They had to be just into adolescence, a time that lasted fifty years or so for the fae. He and the other children thought the boys never returned because they became lords and ladies, but once he was at the court he understood. They were never allowed to leave.
At first the queen had spoiled him. Given him treats and new clothes. And then she’d seduced him.
She’d been amazing, teaching him all about the wonders of sex far, far too young. He’d been head-over-boots in love.
If Siobhan had visited during the first few weeks, even the first several months, he would have laughed at her concern and sent her home. He’d been devoted to the queen. He didn’t understand the sly looks and pointed words of the Winter Court. Until the queen got bored of spoiling him. And the sex games turned nasty.
By the time Siobhan came it had been years, and he was more than ready to leave. Ready to claw his way out. But he never would have run if he’d known the price.
He took the last stairs to Cassie’s floor. The hall in front of her quarters was empty. No guards. He knocked on the door.
“Come in,” she called.
He reached for the knob. It turned easily in his hand. He glanced up and down the empty hallway and a surge of intense anger rushed through him.
There were no guards outside her room. Her lock was a joke. He could pass some magic over it and be inside without any trouble. No one took care of her or treated her with respect, yet they all called her princess. He couldn’t figure it out
He stalked into Cassie’s apartment, pissed off at Haddon. Cassie. The whole damned Black Court.
He leaned on the open the door and took the sight of her in. She stared out the window at the moon. “Maybe I’m just crazy,” she said in a low voice. She was so beautiful, her golden red curls catching the light. Could she really be innocent of all of this?
Suddenly, he believed in her innocence—believed in her—and it was crushing. He pasted on a smile. “Do you think you’re crazy?”
She turned, her eyes widening. “I’m beginning to wonder.”
In order to save his mission he’d promised Haddon he’d spy on her. He’d promised his employer he’d do what needed to be done. And, if he didn’t, he would never have enough power to go back north and keep his original promise. The one that had driven him for years.
“Are you okay?” She came over to him, her voice soft and concerned. He took her in his arms and buried his face in her hair. She smelled fresh and clean, with that fruity underlay that was all Cassie. He wanted to dive into her softness—take ref
uge in her purity. After years of keeping everything to himself he had a sudden need to let it all out. To share the loneliness. The frustration. The guilt.
Years of hiding. Years of working undercover. Years of planning and waiting until he was strong enough to go back and do what needed to be done. What had been waiting for too long. He was so close, it was spilling out of him. He wanted to share it with someone. And that someone was the person he needed to betray in order to have it all come together.
With Cassie in his power he had what he needed. Haddon would leave him alone. He had full access to whatever she knew. And he suspected she was somehow connected to the person he’d been sent to retrieve. He was one step closer to getting this job done, getting his payment, and finally heading north to the Winter Court after years of being away.
So why did he feel so conflicted?
Chapter Thirteen
Cassie stepped out of Bosco’s embrace. “I want to see you.”
She’d spent the last few hours distracting herself from thoughts of Lord Haddon and the queen and what horrible secrets lurked in her past, with fantasies of what she’d like to do to Bosco, the real Bosco. And fantasies of what he could do to her.
Sex with Bosco had triggered her memory. She’d remembered something of her days before this idyllic sojourn in eternal summer. It was horrible, a glimpse of cages and pain and torture. But the rest of her memory must be there, buried underneath the pain. Memories of her mother and father, and her life in their mountain castle before Prince Kian and the rebels had destroyed it. Those memories had to be there but she needed Bosco to help her free them from their prison.
Now, he was here and she needed him to touch her, to kiss her. To either take away all these doubts, or to give her back something she couldn’t remember losing.
Enchanted: A Fae Fantasy Romance (Fae Magic Book 3) Page 10