by Patti Larsen
They both nodded, taking Mom's place as Galleytrot stood and backed up until he leaned against my hip, Charlotte standing close behind me.
“First things first,” Galleytrot growled. “I have to talk to Sonja and find out what Venner knows. Maybe there is something I'm missing.” Mom's mind flashed the location, one of the senior housing apartments off campus. At least she'd been smart enough to keep Venner away from the students directly.
“Good idea.” I saluted Mom and Pender. “Warn your Enforcers we're coming,” I said as I tore a hole in the veil, not even waiting to leave to do it. The Enforcer leader's arrival made me bold and Mom didn't protest. “You might want to be right behind us so nothing regrettable happens.”
I personally hoped they were late as I dove into the tear between planes, pulling my three companions along with me.
***
Chapter Sixteen
I was actually a little surprised to step out of the veil in Venner's quarters and find him waiting for me, nasty Unseelie smirk on his face. Honestly, I expected he already ran, figured out a way to deflect the Enforcers, forcing me to waste precious time hunting him down and wringing his scrawny Fey neck.
Galleytrot's rumbling fury echoed toward the vaulted ceiling, partially collapsing Venner's smile. My eyes scanned the room, found Sonja sitting in a Victorian chair, Spaft near the door. I didn't have to tell her to act, Charlotte already stalking the tall, skinny woman, blocking her exit.
“Your little charade is over, Venner,” I said as Quaid's power rippled through the room, a blue glow sealing off the two large bay windows of the sitting room as well as the white door with the shining glass knob, sending rainbow sparkles onto the floor.
“Really, Your Highness,” Venner said, bringing his drink to his lips with a casual pinky raise. “Whatever are you talking about?”
“Was it your plan to kill Liam?” I couldn't hold my temper back any longer, not while he treated my friend's decline with so much disdain. “Or just leave him a vegetable?”
Venner's brows came together ever so slightly. “Liam is fine,” he said. “I just spoke with him this afternoon.”
Sonja twitched slightly, hands fluttering in her lap. “Liam?” She blinked, as though waking from a dream. “What's wrong with Liam?”
Everything froze inside me—my heart, my blood, my breath. I felt for the Unseelie soul inside Liam's mother and knew, even as I cursed myself, Ameline tricked me again.
“Sonja,” I said, “did you stop by to make Liam soup after class?” I already knew the answer. Saw her face crumple as she pressed one shaking hand to her lips.
“Today?” She looked up, met my eyes. “Is my baby sick?”
Ameline. Galleytrot's howl in my head hurt so much I had to clench my fists and my jaw to keep from crying out.
The soul inside Sonja shuddered, weak and lazy, her body heavy with a sense of exhaustion I’d also felt in Liam. My stomach did a slow back flip at my understanding. Ameline had taken Sonja’s Sidhe soul and used it to appear as Liam’s mother. That's why, when I saw Sonja with Liam, she hadn't seemed afraid of me any longer. Was confident enough to sweep him away from me. Liam's soul wasn't the only one Ameline tapped into. But she must have known Venner would be watching Liam's mother.
How had he missed it? Unless he knew she’d planned it all along.
“Liam's Sidhe soul is missing,” I said, blunt and harsh, not caring if it hurt Sonja, furious with her as much as with Ameline, for allowing Venner to influence her. Angry. Just angry.
Venner's frown turned to a scowl as he flowed to his feet. “What?” His eyes drifted to Sonja. “What have you done, fool woman?”
I pushed myself into his space before he could reach for her, poking him sharply in the chest with one index finger, power behind it. “Don't blame her, you jackass,” I snarled. “Who gave Ameline access to Liam in the first place?”
Venner's pale complexion turned positively ashen. “No,” he whispered, sinking into his chair. “This isn't how it was supposed to happen.”
I caught a flicker of motion out of the corner of my eye as Spaft shifted position, but ignored her, knowing Charlotte wouldn't let the woman get away even if she managed to make it past Quaid's shielding. “So this was your idea,” I said. “Spill it, Venner. What's Ameline’s plan?”
I already knew. But I needed him to confess in front of witnesses. To cover my ass and Mom's. Damned politics.
Venner fixed me with a look filled with fury and broken hope. “I need to find her,” he said. “Has she crossed already?”
“Just answer the damned question,” I said.
Venner's hands quivered around his glass as he clutched it in front of him, eyes locked on the slowly sloshing amber liquid inside. “I was merely going to borrow the boy's power,” he said. “Only to allow me to cross, that is all.”
“What was Ameline's role in all this?” How much of an idiot was he, anyway?
“It was her suggestion we use Liam,” Venner said, shaking his head, green eyes flashing with Sidhe fire. “I'm a fool.”
Duh. “Go on.”
“She said she needed a soul, that was all.” Venner lurched to his feet, some of his natural grace gone as he paced toward the window while Galleytrot tracked him step by step. When Venner turned, sparks in his gaze shone from the shadow of his form where the streaming sun cast him in darkness. “I agreed to help her acquire one.”
Wheels turned. “Is that why you were poking and prodding the students during your lecture?”
He sagged further. “We were examining other souls, to see if any had the strength of Liam's. So we could remain under your radar.” Venner's body twitched. “The virus was her idea. I had no idea she'd already implemented it.”
“She did,” I said. “Obviously, Ameline had no interest in keeping you in the loop.” Jackass. “Did you know she took Sonja’s soul?”
His eyes darkened as his face fell. “The first time,” he said.
Liam’s mother gasped, a hand to her throat. Whatever, lady.
“The first time.” Calm, Syd. Patience. Wringing his neck won’t get you answers.
Venner was silent a moment. “We had to test it. To make sure the disguise would work.” He met my eyes again. “And it did. Liam was completely deceived. Ameline used her power to begin the process with Liam, implanting the suggestion he avoid you so we could work without your interference.”
Sick bastard. “Kind of backfired on you, didn’t it?”
“She told me she knew how to disguise me once the virus did its job.” He shook his head, long hair flowing in its twin silver clasps. “That she could help me use Liam's magic to appear like him, so the Gate would let me pass without alerting the Sidhe I'd returned if we couldn't find another more suitable soul.”
“Instead she duped you,” I said. “She tricked you into trusting her so she could have access to Sonja for the second time. Easier once the soul was used to Ameline, I imagine. Made it simple for her to steal Liam's mother's form and strip him herself.”
Venner took a step toward me, features clear again as he left the backlight of the bright window. Real anguish touched his face, though for all I knew he'd been practicing. And real to a Sidhe? Who knew what that was.
Shaylee huffed her irritation at my cynicism, even though it wasn't aimed at her directly, as Venner spoke.
“It was never meant to be permanent,” he said. “I was going to return the soul to the boy after I passed through.”
Good to know the soul could be returned. And since Sonja was still in possession of hers, I had hope for Liam’s recovery.
“Sure you were,” I said.
Venner shrugged. “The moment I released it upon crossing, the soul of Cian would have simply returned to Liam on his own.”
I pictured a green-tinted rubber band snapping the Gate creator’s Sidhe mist back to Liam with cartoonish impact.
What was wrong with me? This was no laughing matter.
Sonja's daze
d expression was long gone, destroyed, I supposed, by Venner's confession. She surged to her feet, tears coursing down her face, hate trembling through her entire body as the glamour he'd held her under shattered and fell away.
“What have you done?” She lunged at him, throwing herself on the Unseelie lordling, tearing at his clothing as she shrieked her rage. Quaid took two steps forward, arms around her, magic wrapping her in a cocoon as he pulled her back, still fighting. She finally sagged in Quaid's control, bursting into tears. “I believed in you, in your lies. Where’s our new life, my life of peace with Liam? What have you done to my son?”
She clearly missed the whole part where Ameline used her to get to Liam. That I'd been fooled by the act. But Ameline's depiction was different enough, I knew it was Sonja who first appeared at my dorm door, not my evil witch nemesis.
Though I wouldn't put it past the evil witch to come see me just to test out her new form.
Laughing at me all the while.
I wanted to kill her and bring her back to life just so I could kill her again.
Charlotte's growl alerted me and I spotted Spaft easing closer to the door. I wasn't sure what the hideous woman expected. But escape wasn't even a remote option. Still, I'd underestimated too many people in the past to let her get the jump on me.
“What was your role in all this, Hortense?” I prodded her with earth magic, making her scowl, skin pulled in tight lines by the impossibly perfect bun at the base of her neck.
“Just a pawn in another game,” she said, as Venner's glass shattered. I glanced over my shoulder, saw the shining shards scattered at his feet, a terrible expression of rage on his face.
“What did she promise you, evil one?” Venner's normally musical voice grated across my eardrums, the thrum of heaving earth beneath it. “What did Ameline promise you to betray me and our plans to go home?”
Her black eyes narrowed, light flashing on the lenses of her glasses. “Your plans,” she spit. “Your goals. It was always about you, wasn’t it, my lord?” She shook a little, whole body trembling. “I have served you faithfully for years. And you plan to abandon me?” One of her hands fisted, punching her own thigh as her anger escaped. “And you accuse me of betrayal?”
He stared at her, a flash of shock crossing his face. “You fool,” he said. “You could never have crossed over with me. You know that. Your Sidhe soul isn’t strong enough to protect you for prolonged periods of time. You would fall victim to the glamour of the realm.”
Spaft didn't say anything more, back straight, chin up, still shaking. Venner cursed, a soft sound, but a word so vile in Sidhe Shaylee winced. I was kind of glad she didn't offer a translation.
“It was Hortense who introduced me to Miss Benoit,” Venner said. “She was our liaison.”
Interesting. I couldn’t help the nasty smile that crossed my lips. “Conspiring with a wanted witch will get you arrested, Ms. Spaft.” She just glared back, one hand rising to adjust her glasses. “But I have to say, I didn't take you for a self-starter. So, what was it Ameline offered you?” I already had a good idea, especially after her little speech to Venner, but I wanted—needed—her to say it. “Power? Money? A better first name?”
Spaft snarled at me, black eyes snapping, her hideous face shining with hate. “What he never offered me,” she spat. “Not this weak incarnation I carry, but the soul of a full Unseelie Lady. And my proper place at court.”
Venner shook his head, hands in the pockets of his tailored suit-pants, looking like a super model ready for the runway while his power flashed in his eyes and sent sparks from the ends of his shining silver hair. “She lied to you,” he said. “Ameline would never offer you what you can’t have. No Sidhe would willingly incarnate in you.” Now he was just being cruel. But she flinched from every word as though he lashed her with them. “You aren’t worthy of the pathetic soul you already carry.” He turned from her, face a stone mask of beauty. “And because of your duplicity, I will personally see to it you never acquire what you’re looking for.”
Spaft sagged, a howl of anger and sadness escaping her lips. But despite her anguish, somehow, I didn't think she was all that repentant.
***
Chapter Seventeen
Mom didn't waste time showing up. We'd just wrangled the confession from Spaft when the seal Quaid made shuddered and parted, the door to the sitting room opening to admit Mom and Pender, three Enforcers at their backs, the scowling board of governors trailing behind them.
“Really, Miriam,” Gertrude's gravel voice made me want to buy her some lozenges, “what is the meaning of this?” She smiled and offered a little wave to Venner before fixing Mom with her baleful beady eyes again. “I thought we told you Lord Venemeth has our full support?”
I could tell from the tightness around Mom's eyes she was this close to dropkicking the nasty old woman out one of the windows. I almost wished she would.
Popcorn, please. The show was about to start.
“Lord Venner has some explaining to do,” Mom said. Nodded to me. Did he confess?
He sure did. I motioned to Venner. “Your precious Sidhe lord here planned to strip the soul from the Wilding Springs Gatekeeper in order to return to his own plane.”
Gertrude sniffed while Elegance shifted her position, head brushing the hanging light fixture. “You say 'planned',” she said. “If he hasn't done so yet, there is nothing to prosecute. We have only your word as evidence, and that certainly isn’t enough.” She seemed rather satisfied by that. As did Gertrude and Periwinkle.
“The only problem?” I wanted to knock their fool heads together. “Thanks to him, another beat him to it. Liam O'Dane has had his Sidhe soul stolen and now lies on his deathbed.” Okay, we weren't sure he would die. But it was likely enough I didn't feel like I stretched the truth too far.
They finally looked uncomfortable, though Gertrude stuck out her chin in a stubborn jut. “Sidhe business,” she said. “And has nothing to do with us.”
Was she serious. Really? I met Mom's eyes with my mouth hanging open while my mother ground her teeth together.
You see now, she sent. What I deal with.
Oh. My. Swearword.
“Listen up,” I snapped. “You might not think this is your problem, but you're very wrong. Not only is the Gate no longer protected by a Gatekeeper, leaving all of our plane open to Sidhe magic should the knock go unanswered, but Venner's little plan failed to a witch.” I watched the three flinch. Yeah, that's right, ladies. Stuff that in your ugly craws and choke on it. “And not just any witch, but witchdom's most wanted—Ameline Benoit.”
Had their attention at last. “It's not true, is it, my lord?” Gertrude's plea was a parody of grief coming from her mouth.
Venner spread his hands, a showman to the end as he smiled sadly at her. “I was duped, Gertie,” he said.
Lying bastard.
She nodded, patted at the corner of her eyes, shining with tears while her two companions did the same.
“Be that as it may,” she said, “if you were involved with a witch who has broken our laws, our hands are tied.” Elegance blew her nose on a dainty hanky, the honking sound forcing me to bite my lips to keep from grinning. If they had any idea how ridiculous they were...
“You agree then,” Mom said at her most mild, a sign she was ready to lose her cool. “Lord Venemeth is now a criminal under our laws?”
Periwinkle nodded. “Of course,” she said. “Gertrude, we must act.”
Gertrude sighed, but gestured to Mom. “Do your job then, Miriam, what are you waiting for? Take this criminal into custody and have him questioned.”
“He didn’t act alone.” I pointed at Ms. Spaft. “Under his own admission, and her confession, she was the one who had the first contact with Ameline.”
Gertrude sniffed at me like I’d spoken out of turn, but nodded. “Very well.”
No “well done, Coven Leader Hayle.” No “you’ve saved the day, Sydlynn.” Nope. The three of them
just spun and left, marching out as though they were the heroines of the hour, leaving Mom to sigh and run her hand over her eyes before straightening and addressing Pender.
“Enforcer Leader,” she said. “If you would?”
“Please,” Sonja practically fell on Mom before anyone could stop her. “Where is my Liam?”
Mom's eyes met mine as she waved off the Enforcers. “He's in good hands,” she said before gesturing for one of the Enforcers to take Sonja. “I'll make sure that remains the case until he can be restored.”
Sonja was led from the room, sobbing openly, pausing in her weeping only long enough to lunge at Spaft. Whether it was a good thing or not, the Enforcer guard held them apart. I would have liked to see what Sonja could have done with a few good blows.
As for Spaft, she just slumped in the guard's arms and left without a word. Maybe she was finally realizing the deal she made with the devil fell apart on her. Surely she wasn't regretting what she'd done, but only that she'd been caught.
But when the Enforcers came for Venner, he locked gazes with me, his magic reaching out. “You must take me with you.” So much desperation. Pathetic, really.
“Yeah, that's going to happen.” I cut off his magic's reach and slammed some of mine into his chest, sending him back a step. “You've proven yourself oh so trustworthy in the past, Venner.”
“You don't understand,” he said. “You'll need me, Your Highness.”
Shaylee shifted inside me while I stared Venner down. “I'm going to open the Gate and talk to Thalion,” I said. “That's it.” Right, Syd. Don't bluff a bluffer.
Venner's green eyes never left mine as the guards tried to lead him away. “You know you'll be forced to cross,” he said, pulling against the Enforcers. “And there is no promise Ameline went to the Seelie court for help, is there?”
Hang on a second. “Wait.” I knew I'd regret it, saw the doubt flash over Mom's face, but had to hear him out. Damn him. “What are you talking about?” I already knew. Hadn't we just talked about this possibility?