by Lyra Evans
That could explain why the Woods needed to vacate the grounds of the Manor in a hurry. Cleaning up the blood and damage would have raised questions. And if any of the other Selkies figured out Indigo was missing and put the two together—well, it seemed as though the Woods was unwilling to take that chance.
“So we’ve possibly got a Fae and a Selkie working together to kidnap Selkies and sell them to buyers intent on using them for their bodies. And given that at least some of the buyers overlapped with Sade’s clients, they were also likely intent on hurting the Selkies. Maybe worse.” Niko got up and walked over to the towel rack, plucking the top, plush, white towel to dry himself off. “But why take the Soul Stones? And why would a Selkie get involved with the Woods in the first place? Particularly if they had money and power back home?”
“That I cannot answer,” Cobalt said. “It could be as simple as their intent to stop their Selkie prisoners from transforming and fleeing to the ocean.”
Niko nodded. It was simple enough, but why not leave Indigo’s Stone with his body then? Why keep it, denying him his return to the Reef? It felt personal, a specific slight, but Niko couldn’t really explain how that fit in. Other than making him more certain one of the people involved in his death was his friend. Or pretended to be.
“Well, right now we’ve only got one avenue to follow,” Niko said.
“What is that?” Cobalt asked.
Niko walked toward the locker room. “We know the last event the Woods ran was cut short. They couldn’t sell their captives, which means they’re likely to try hosting another event sooner rather than later. As long as those other Selkies are in their control, they’re at risk of being found. The Woods won’t want to keep them on hand any longer than they need to.”
Cobalt pushed the door to the locker room open for Niko, and Niko stepped into the changing area consumed by the planning of their next moves.
“We need to find out where that event will be,” Cobalt said.
Niko nodded, pulling off his wet trunks and setting them on the drying stone. He walked naked to the shower stall without thinking, and as he passed Cobalt, he was momentarily distracted by Cobalt’s growing erection. Forcing himself to look elsewhere and focus again, Niko turned on the water to the stall.
“As I figure it, there’s only one way we’re going to find that information,” he said. Cobalt walked by him, now fully naked as well and sporting a very hard cock, and stood under the showerhead next to Niko. It took all of Niko’s force of will to lean his head back and soak himself in clean water rather than drop to his knees and take Cobalt’s cock in his mouth. He gathered some soap and rushed to clean his body, trying hard not to touch himself too much in the process.
“You plan to go undercover, don’t you? As Indigo did,” Cobalt said, his eyes on Niko despite the rush of water down his face.
“Not exactly like Indigo,” Niko said. “We can’t risk going under as merchandise. There’s no telling they’d even want me, and you can’t risk exposing yourself to whatever they’re doing to control their victims. Plus, we need more access than that. So we’re going to have to go under as buyers.” Niko paused, thinking over what Sade had said. “Or rather, you will.”
Cobalt turned fully to face him. “What will you do?”
Niko took some of the nearby shampoo provided for the department and scrubbed it into his scalp. “I’m going under as your pet.” Cobalt said nothing, though Niko could feel his eyes on him. “That way,” he explained, needing to justify it, “when they inevitably ask you to ‘prove’ you’re one of them, you can perform on me, instead of one of the unwilling victims.”
Niko rinsed out his hair, glancing over to find Cobalt staring at him with an incomprehensible expression. “Is that what you want?”
Swallowing hard against the thickness in his throat, Niko said, “It’s what the case demands. We can’t put any other victims at risk for the sake of this investigation. The goal is to save them, not to victimize them further.”
Niko conditioned his hair, pretending he didn’t know what Cobalt actually meant. There was silence for a while, nothing but the sound of the shower raining down on the tiles. Niko breathed in the scent of the shampoo and conditioner so he could clear his lungs of Cobalt’s musk.
“How are we to secure an invite to the event, then?” Cobalt asked.
Turning off the shower, Niko reached for another towel and wrapped it around his waist. “It’s going to take a little research beforehand, but I think we’ll manage.”
“What is the research for?” Cobalt asked, turning off his own shower. He had not used any of the provided soap or shampoo, but he smelled clean and fresh, his scent overwhelming Niko again.
“If we want a way in, we’re going to have to talk to Starla again, and she neglected to tell me where she lives.”
Chapter 22
The apartment building the department records listed wasn’t very far from the complex where Indigo had rented his place, but as they descended the street, so too did the quality of the buildings. And given Indigo’s place hadn’t been anything luxurious, Niko felt his stomach contracting with each approaching step. The façade of the building was old enough it was made almost entirely of red brick, but where many of the old buildings of Maeve’s Court had restored their structures and gentrified, this building had not.
The mortar crumbled and cracked between the bricks, and thick snaking faults in the wall climbed from the ground like ivy. The cracks looked to be patchily filled with some kind of caulk or something, but it did little to inspire faith in the stability of the structure. Half the windows were boarded up or blocked with cardboard, and the front door, painted in peeling green in an effort to cash in on the antique look, hung awkwardly off its hinges. A sign in the front window claimed trespassers would be prosecuted, but the paper posted next to it stated anyone interested in ‘fine quality reproductions to fool any eye’ was to ‘call Jun-Ho’ at a listed number, so Niko wasn’t sure how devoted they were to legal action, really. Though, granted, the sign did not list specifically reproductions of what.
Niko made his way along the gravel path and up the two steps to the front door. The yard around them was unkempt and left to grow wild, but nothing in particular was actually growing save a small patch of weeds near the dumpster. There also wasn’t any kind of parking for this place, so Niko had been forced to leave his car down the street. Staring at the partially open front door, Niko considered knocking or pressing the buzzer, but given the wires sticking out of the intercom, and the fact that the door was open, he shook his head and pushed inside.
As he passed over the threshold, the door made a horrifying squealing sound, and then there was a loud crash. Spinning to see Cobalt holding the door in both hands, now fully removed from its hinges, Niko just stared.
“How did you break it?” Niko asked in an angry whisper.
Cobalt gave him a flat look. “How did I break it? It was falling off—” But Niko hushed him with a gesture, listening intently. There was some light rummaging around through the walls, but nothing to indicate anyone was rushing to see what the clamour was. With a deep exhale, Niko shot the door another look.
“Just place it back however you can,” Niko said. Cobalt stared at him a moment, as if to say ‘obviously’ without speaking, then he did as Niko suggested. He propped the door in the opening, and Niko wondered if there was another exit to the building so they wouldn’t have to deal with it again on the way out.
The inside of the building matched the outside relatively well in that it was also dilapidated. The walls were papered over with a yellowish pattern that would drive even the most robust character to madness given enough time. In places, it seemed, people already had expressed their displeasure. There were black spots, stretching upward, indicating areas where someone or something had burned the paper, and other places bore sprayed graffiti in different styles. There was no elevator, so Niko and Cobalt began to climb the rickety old stairs with care. Th
e banister was missing balusters in spots and the treads of the stairs were well-worn down in the middle. Also, as they progressed upward and away from the main doorway, the scent of heavy dust hanging over the slow decay of wood met Niko’s nose. The little lighting there was came from stained wall sconces scattered too far from one another, leaving parts of the stairs in darkness despite the early hour of the day.
As they reached the landing of Starla’s floor, Niko found himself swallowing against the wringing tension in his stomach. This was not how he imagined Starla living. Though, if he was honest with himself, he didn’t spend much time imagining Starla at all after the trial.
He stopped at the door marked number 21. The door was wooden and kept relatively clean in comparison to the rest of the hallway. An aged carpet stretched along the floor, but what colour it was was impossible to tell. Niko lingered in the doorway a moment, his hand raised, then, thinking about their plan, he stepped aside and made a small gesture to Cobalt.
Cobalt knocked gently but firmly on the wood and waited. Niko, his jaw set and tight, listened closely for signs of movement. For a moment there was nothing, and Niko feared they’d either got the wrong address or Starla wasn’t home. But then the sound of a chair scraping on wood came muffled through the wall and footsteps followed. The door opened a crack, and Starla stared out at them with pursed lips.
“When I suggested you find me if you needed me, I didn’t mean it,” she said, taking in the sight of them through her cracked door. A security chain blocked it from opening all the way, but Niko figured it wouldn’t do much to stop a very determined intruder. “It’s just something you say.”
“May we come in?” Cobalt asked, his tone implying she had the right to refuse them. Starla eyed him a moment, then turned her attention back to Niko.
“This an official visit?” she asked.
Niko ran his tongue over the inside wall of his teeth. “Yes and no,” he said quietly. “We need your help.” He said the last as less than a whisper, barely a breath, but she definitely heard him.
“Already gave you that,” she said. “Sorry. You’re going to have to find someone else—”
“I talked to Sade,” Niko said quickly and quietly. She stopped abruptly, her eyes widening as she searched his face.
After a long silence, she said, “He wouldn’t’ve given you information for free.” Niko said nothing to this, and Starla’s expression softened in a way that caused a stab of pain through Niko’s chest. “Hold on.” She closed the door on them, unhooked the chain, and opened it wide enough to let them through. “Come on, you sorry idiots.”
Niko stepped in first, skirting by Starla into the narrow entryway, followed by Cobalt. Starla closed the door behind them, resetting the chain. Niko turned back to see her setting a wooden bat against the frame of the door. She caught Niko’s glance.
“A woman’s got to protect herself,” she said primly, moving past them into the main area of the apartment.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Niko said, though it rang hollow. The truth was he expected a lot more, and yet here she was, in a crumbling apartment building with no warding and only a bat to defend herself.
The inside of the apartment wasn’t much better than the outside, though it was certainly clean. A small wooden table sat to one side, adorned with a fraying and threadbare tablecloth with blue flowers around the edges. Only two chairs sat around the table, and they were mismatched. The kitchen was barely large enough for one person to stand in, the refrigerator taking up most of the space. The rest was a square of counter next to a small sink, and a single hotplate sat atop the counter. A comfortable-looking but very worn couch took up much of the sitting room. The blue of its fabric was lighter in places from use, and the coffee table in front of it bore a stack of newspapers and books with a couple coasters. The only other furniture in the room was a large if simple bookcase against the other wall. It was filled with old, cracked paperbacks. Everything smelled of paper and tea, and Niko found his throat tight.
“Well, have a seat,” she said, gesturing to the couch. She plucked one of the chairs from the table and turned it around so she could face them. Cobalt sat easily on the sofa, but Niko felt rigid as a mannequin as he lowered himself. After a moment’s silence, Starla rolled her eyes and got to her feet. “Let me make you some tea.”
“Please, do not trouble yourself for our sake,” Cobalt said politely, and Starla snorted a laugh.
“Bit late for that,” she said. She pulled a simple kettle from a cupboard and filled it with water, then set it to boil.
“I thought you drank coffee,” Niko said. Starla shot him a look, standing in the doorway to the kitchen and leaning against the side. She wore a thin, oversized t-shirt with a graphic that read ‘make me an offer’ in red lettering, and a pair of plaid short shorts that seemed like sleepwear. Her hair was pulled up in a messy knot atop her head with pieces slipping out, and her feet were covered in fluffy blue slippers. She wore no makeup at all, though there was the slightest black mark underneath her eyes where she hadn’t quite removed it well enough the night before.
“Can’t afford coffee,” she said. “Or, well, the kind I can afford is fucking swill. You can get pretty good tea though for cheap, so tea it is.”
Niko fell silent, watching as Starla went back to the kettle which had already started to steam. Starla pulled out a couple of dainty teacups and saucers, set them down, and slipped a little teabag into each. Niko forced himself to look away, taking in the details of the apartment again instead of watching Starla like this. It reminded him too much of how she’d cared for him when they met, and he couldn’t bear the guilt.
As he scanned the dingy walls of the apartment, he realized there was something missing from her place. It was the same thing that was missing from his apartment, if he thought about it. Photos. There were no pictures of Starla or anyone else hanging or framed around the room. No images of friends or family, no indication she had any. Now that Niko thought on it longer, he realized he didn’t know if she had any family left in Maeve’s Court. And as for friends—spending years in captivity under the control of a psychopath like Sade meant little opportunity for socializing.
Starla set down two cups on the table before them. Returning to the kitchen, she plucked her own cup and a small sugar bowl from the counter and placed them down too. The teabags removed from the cup, the warm, rich sepia colour called to Niko. Even from far, he could smell the sweet, floral aroma of black tea.
“Hope you don’t want milk or cream,” she said. “I don’t usually stock them.”
Niko shook his head, and Cobalt said, “This is wonderful, thank you.”
Taking the spoon in the sugar bowl, Niko ladled out several servings and stirred the sugar into his tea. Cobalt measured out a half-spoonful and tipped it into his own tea, stirring quickly before taking a sip. Niko froze a moment, watching Cobalt drink boiling hot liquid without struggle. Then he remembered what Cobalt had said about how they cooked in Azure’s Court and that he’d hoped to be a chef one day, before his Landwalk. Perhaps he had a greater resilience to heat.
Niko held his cup and breathed in deeply, letting the warm aroma fill his lungs and lend him a calm he didn’t feel. After blowing softly on the surface of the drink, Niko tipped the cup to his lips and sipped at the edge. A faint note of chocolate underlay the floral sweetness, and Niko savoured it.
“So, are you going to get to why you’re here?” Starla asked, setting her cup on the table after drinking half of it. Niko held his own cup a moment longer, needing something to occupy his hands, but he eventually set it down too.
“Sade gave us some valuable intel on the Woods,” Niko said. Starla watched him as he spoke, her expression clearly anticipating the other shoe to drop. “It’s pretty clear that someone involved with the Woods is responsible for Indigo’s murder. We’ve even located the crime scene.”
“But?” she asked, one eyebrow arched. Niko glanced at Cobalt.
“But we can’t identify the people involved through police channels,” Niko said. “No matter what we do, we keep hitting dead ends. No one is talking, and we can’t even get a warrant for anything because we were told we ‘don’t have enough evidence.’” Niko put on a voice for the last few words, his expression communicating clearly exactly what he thought of that assessment.
“And you’re surprised why?” Starla asked. Caught off guard, Niko merely stared at her. She rolled her eyes again. “You’re still so naïve, Niki,” she said. She’d said it without skipping a beat, and Niko’s chest grew warm. It was the tea, surely, and not the diminutive of his real name. “I guess it’s hitting a little too close to home, to think that someone in the justice system might be corrupt.” Starla picked up her tea again. “So what’s your next move, then? Or have they told you to drop it yet?”
Cobalt set down his cup, completely drained of tea. “There is no dropping this case,” he said. “The murder of a prince of Azure’s Court must not go unpunished.”
Starla favoured him with a sympathetic look. “Oh, sweetheart, I don’t mean you would drop it.” She shot Niko a glance. “And honestly, Niki wouldn’t drop it either. But I figured there’s a good chance someone with enough power would step in and try to shut it down by now.”
“And risk the ire of our Court?” Cobalt asked. “King Azure would never forgive it.”
Niko thought it over. “If someone that high up with that much power really is involved, then it is possible. Alliance with Azure’s Court isn’t a sure thing. We’ve no idea what the economic, social, or political gain would be of a partnership. We also have no idea what the potential repercussions of that move would be, but Maeve’s Court has both Nimueh’s and Connor’s Courts to rely on now, if we faced some kind of war. Protecting the wealth and power in Maeve’s Court could be reason enough to derail a budding relationship with Azure’s Court.” Niko shrugged. “But we haven’t been warned off. If that happens, we’ll deal with it, but in the meantime, we’ve other things to worry about.”