“I needed that,” Herne said, wrapping his arms around my waist. He nuzzled my neck, kissing my shoulder. “I love you so much, Ember. And I am so happy you are wearing my ring. You’re mine, you know.”
“I know. You told me while we were making love.” I laughed as I slipped out of his embrace to find my panties and bra. Herne had a possessive streak, but he had managed to get beyond the intense jealousy that had driven me crazy. A little jealousy might be flattering. A lot of jealousy bugged the shit out of me.
“I can’t help it.” He pulled his shirt on and zipped his jeans. “So, what did my mother say? We haven’t had a chance to talk about her visit.”
“She was happy—more than I expected. She told me a little about the Gadawnoin. I’m not exactly looking forward to it, but you know…it will be all right. I trust Morgana and she said she’ll coach me for it.” I paused, then added, “She also said it makes the Cruharach look like a walk in the park.”
“You’re afraid,” Herne said, pulling me to him for a slow, gentle kiss. “You’ll manage. I would never have asked you to marry me if I didn’t think you had everything necessary to survive the ordeal.” He let go and handed me my shirt. As I pulled it over my head, he picked up my jeans and held them, waiting.
I slid into them, zipping them up and buckling my belt, then sat down to put on my socks and my boots. “That sounds so grim. Survive the ordeal.”
“You have plenty of time for my mother to prepare you. You won’t undergo the ritual until the week of our wedding. So, now’s not the time to dwell. We have far too many other things to concern ourselves with.” He let out a sigh, shaking his head. “Yutani might be right. Maybe Typhon is weak. But until we have a way to capture him, there’s no sense in taking him on.”
“Do you have anybody you could send into the astral as a spy?” I asked, pulling my hair back and up into a ponytail.
“Hmm, I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll ask my father and mother.” He motioned to the door. “We’d better get back to work, as much as I’d love to just cuddle and take a nap.”
I kissed him again, then unlocked the door and headed back to my office. Angel glanced up and I saw she had her earbuds in. I blushed, but then again, I heard her and Rafé at home, and she heard Herne and me. It wasn’t like we didn’t know all about each other’s sex lives. She caught my gaze, smiled, and gave me a thumbs-up. I winked at her and started to head back to my desk, but she pulled out one earbud.
“Hey, what do you want for lunch? I thought I’d call in an order since we’re going to be here all afternoon.”
“Tacos sound good,” I said.
“Viktor wanted a burrito, so Mexican food sounds like the order for the day.” She picked up the phone and I headed back to my office.
I settled in, staring at the mound of paperwork. Luckily, Rafé now was in charge of most of the data entry, but I still had to make notes so he could enter them in the files, and my handwriting had to be legible enough to read. As I picked up the first file, a ding announced a new appointment coming through.
A glance at my email showed me that Angel had just made an appointment for a new case. Somebody named Henny Jessaphy wanted to meet with us about a problem with a repeat intruder. Angel had scheduled the meeting for ten on Tuesday. I noted it down on the calendar and was about to dive into documenting some work on a case from last week when my personal phone jangled. Pulling it out, I glanced at the caller ID.
Sharne.
Sharne was my great-uncle, and he had been brother to my grandfather Farthing. Farthing had tried, among other things, to kill me. He was behind the murder of my parents, along with my maternal grandmother. I couldn’t get beyond the fact that both had willingly killed their children in cold blood, all because of the war between the Fae.
It would have been different if my father and mother had committed some unconscionable acts, but their only “sin” had been their bloodlines. My mother was Light Fae, my father was Dark Fae, and they had fallen in love. For that transgression, they had paid with their lives.
I had come home from school to find them sprawled out in pools of blood, stabbed to the point of where there wasn’t a drop of blood left in their bodies. That had been all I needed to hate both sides of my heritage.
But Sharne had surprised me. I had expected to meet a clone of my grandfather. Other than his looks, I had been pleasantly surprised.
Sharne had welcomed me into his home, and apologized for not being able to stop his brother. We were building a tentative bridge I never thought I’d be able to build, and I was getting used to the thought that at least one family member had a conscience.
“Hey, what’s up?” I didn’t have to ask—I knew what was up, but I’d let him tell me.
“I gather you heard the news?” he asked. He sounded uneasy.
“Yeah, Saílle told me. So, when did you meet… What’s her name?”
“Her name is Neallanthra. And I haven’t met her yet.” He paused. “Just a moment.”
I heard him moving around and then when he came back on the phone, there was a muffled sound to his voice.
“I just triggered a magical silence zone—it dampens what I say from reaching any ears that might be listening through magical means. I’ve already turned the place upside down looking for bugs.” He let out a sigh.
“You think Saílle is trying to listen in on you?”
“Well, I didn’t until yesterday. After she told me about my upcoming nuptials, I decided I’d better check my apartment and I found one eavesdropping device. There may be more.” He sounded grumpier than I felt.
“So, you had no clue you were getting married until…?”
“Last night. The news was delivered by one of her messenger boys. All of a sudden, I’m to be part of the nobility, married off to a woman I’ve never met. At least the woman’s from my home clan—the Orhanakai band.”
“I’ve met them,” I said. “When I was in Annwn, we traveled with Unkai and his people for a while. So this happened very fast.”
“Right, and I have no clue what brought it about. Saílle has never taken much notice of me.”
“I can tell you,” I said. Our conversation confirmed what I had suspected since the parley. “Saílle found out that I’m marrying Herne. When that happens, I’m to be elevated to goddess. Saílle’s trying to get on my good side, but she must think I’m pretty damned stupid given her clumsy attempts. She tried to drag me into her court before Névé had a chance, but I can only join both courts on an honorary basis. Neither one wants me, but they’re not going to let a chance go by to get in good with me before I have the power to smack them flat. So Saílle is using you as a pawn to get to me.”
Sharne groaned. “You mean my bachelor days are being sacrificed on the altar of royal diplomacy?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Sharne seemed to prefer his own company to anybody else’s.
“I’m afraid so. You know most marriages among the Fae are made for power and prestige. I am sorry you got dragged into this. I imagine she’ll treat you right in the court, given she won’t want to make me mad. Boy, this must be a thorn in Saílle’s side,” I said, laughing. “That’s the only joy this whole mess gives me.”
With a snort, Sharne said, “Yes, I imagine so. Well, let me congratulate you and Herne. And that you’ll be safe from both the Light and the Dark Courts pleases me. If I have to sacrifice my single status to help ensure that, so be it. I sure as hell didn’t do anything to help you when my brother…” The laughter vanished and I could almost see his face. “I’m so sorry, Ember. I really wish… I just wasn’t strong enough to go against Farthing.”
I knew that he meant it. “Sharne, it’s all right. For what it’s worth, I don’t think there was anything you could have done to stop Farthing. Even if you had found a way, he would have just waited until later, when you weren’t there. He was determined to destroy my mother and father. And he tried to destroy me. My grandmother and Farthing were too smart and
too cruel, and too determined. You can’t fight a force like that. You would have had to kill them both.”
Right then, I knew that I was right. No matter what Sharne might have tried, he wouldn’t have been able to stop Farthing’s plan.
“Thank you. I’ll always blame myself. But I appreciate your support. Apparently, you’re supposed to escort my blushing bride over to TirNaNog?” He sounded about as enthusiastic as a wet blanket.
“I guess. Saílle hasn’t contacted me yet, but I remember her saying something about it.”
“Let’s talk about brighter things. Say, I wanted to come visit you, if I could. And the sooner, the better. Do you mind if I drop by tomorrow evening? We can discuss this more then.”
I glanced at my calendar. “I’m free tomorrow night, as long as I don’t get called out. I want to tell you about a few things, too. There’s something going on and I want you to protect yourself—”
“Does it have to do with the vrykos that are running rampant?”
“Yeah. You might not want to stay in TirNaNog…at least on this side of the portal…if we…well, I’ll go into it more tomorrow. Come over for dinner? Eight p.m.? Angel will cook.” I knew that would win him over. He’d been over to our house a couple of times in the past couple of months, and each time, he’d been won over by Angel’s cooking. I thought he might have a little crush on her, but he was polite and kept it to himself.
“Eight it is. I’ll see you then.”
As I replaced my phone in my purse, Yutani popped his head through the door and startled me out of my thoughts.
“Hey, Ember? Can you come look at something? I need a second opinion.”
“Hmm? Oh, sure.” I stood, following him into the office he and Talia shared. Talia was nose-deep in research. She had her headphones on, and it appeared that she had been printing out documents she found online. I tried to peek over her shoulder to see what she was researching, but it was all text and no pictures to give me a clue, and by the focused look on her face, I didn’t want to interrupt.
“What’s going on?”
Yutani pulled a chair over beside his desk and motioned for me to look at the site he had pulled up on his laptop. It was a story about a murder over on Whidbey Island. The victim had been found with marks all over his body in what sounded like an eerily familiar pattern.
I scanned the info. “That reminds me of…”
“Straff?”
“Right.” Frowning, I read through the article again. “But he’s in Cernunnos’s dungeon, I thought. Surely he couldn’t have escaped. And Blackthorn is batshit crazy, but not in the same way his son is.”
Blackthorn was one of the Ante-Fae, the King of Thorns whose son had committed a series of murders over on the island. We had managed to catch Straff. Cernunnos had dropped him deep in his dungeon for…well…as long as Cernunnos thought he should be there. But the case Yutani was looking at sounded exactly like the one we had faced.
I shook my head. “We might want to bring this to Herne’s attention. He can ask his father to check, to make sure Straff’s still where he’s supposed to be.” I paused, then asked, “Do you know if Blackthorn had any other children?”
“I don’t remember, but I can check. Maybe Raven knows?”
“Just because she’s one of the Ante-Fae doesn’t mean she knows all of them. I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask, but don’t tell her why. We don’t want her going over there alone to poke around.” I really liked Raven, but Herne was right. She could be reckless at times.
“Raven mostly pokes around where ghosts are involved. And this is a corpse, not a ghost.” Yutani let out a sigh. “I think I’d rather be chasing down Straff again instead of dealing with dragons. This is a hell of a mess.”
“I know what you mean.” I glanced over at Talia, who was still absorbed in her work. “I feel like we’ve been under a massive weight ever since this business with Typhon started. It’s like a rock hanging over our heads.”
“The sword of Damocles,” Yutani said. “Hanging by a single thread and once that thread breaks, we’re so much cannon fodder.” He leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. “So you and Herne are actually tying the knot?” He examined my face with a dark gaze.
Yutani was an intense man, and I could feel the chaos of his father’s blood swirling around him. It had grown stronger as time passed. The Great Coyote’s magic seemed to fill Yutani’s aura and he walked on the path of chaos. Yutani was magnetic, and he ran on a spectrum that I chose to avoid, but there was no denying how attractive he was. But Yutani liked control, and whoever he ended up with would have to bow to his leadership.
“Yeah, we are. I decided that I can handle life as a goddess. Though even the sound of that is so absurd that I still can’t quite believe it. Herne’s a powerful man, but I often forget he’s a god. And now…”
“Now you’ll join him in that realm. You’re going to kick ass as a goddess, Ember. And I hope to be around to see it.” He grinned at me, breaking the mood. “Okay, I’ll go show this to Herne. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t imagining things. I’m not sure what we can do about it, but at the least, we need to make sure Straff is still locked up in that dungeon.”
“He wouldn’t go back to the same feeding grounds, though, would he? Maybe it’s a copycat killer?”
“Could be, but if it’s not…” Yutani stood, following me out the door.
I headed back to my office while he went to talk to Herne. I hoped it was a copycat. The last thing we needed was to go up against Straff and Blackthorn again. Once had been enough.
At four o’clock, we met with Jana Wildmere from the Shifter Alliance. She was a short woman, about five-four, sturdy and solidly built. She looked like she probably was a bodybuilder, but in a weird juxtaposition, she was wearing a short pleated pink skirt, a cream-colored V-neck tank top, a pair of heels that showed off her impressive calf muscles, and her purse was covered with silver sequins. Her blond hair made her look like a short, athletic doll.
“Won’t you have a seat?” Herne said, ushering her into the break room where Talia, Yutani, Viktor, and I sat.
Rafé was busy entering data at the desk that Herne had crammed into the storeroom, and Angel was still at her desk. Given Rafé and Angel were in a relationship, Herne had decided it would be better for both if they had some distance between them.
“I’d like you to meet Ember, Yutani, and Talia, three other members of our team.”
Jana smiled pleasantly, though there was a predatory air about her. I chalked it up to her being a wolf shifter. They always had a competitive size-up-the-opponent vibe to them. I reached out and she shook my hand, then offered her hand to Yutani, Talia, and Viktor in turn.
“Let’s get down to business, shall we?” Herne said.
“Yes, please. The council members on the board of the Shifter Alliance are curious as to what this is all about.” She leaned back, waiting.
Herne let out a long breath. “You know about Typhon? I assume you were there when my mother and father talked to the United Coalition?”
She nodded, her smile evaporating. “Yes, I was there.”
“Well, we’ve come to the conclusion that, given all the attacks from the vrykos lately, and there are likely to be more incidents in the future, we need resources to fight them. My agency can’t take care of every uprising, and the police aren’t equipped for it. The mayor agrees that we need a militia we can call on when skeletal walkers or vrykos or zombies are on the move.”
A light flickered in her eyes. “I think I know where you’re going with this.”
“We’ve already spoken to TirNaNog and Navane and have forged a truce between them for the present. We’ve also received their permission to call up the Fae militia. We’d like the Shifter Alliance to create a militia and give us access for the same reasons.” Herne motioned to Viktor and pointed toward his coffee cup. “Jana, would you like a cup of coffee and something to eat? I think we have cookies?”<
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“Doughnuts today,” Talia said.
Jana smiled at Viktor. “Thank you, yes. With cream.” She turned back to the rest of us as the half-ogre crossed to the counter where he poured her coffee and carried both it and the doughnut platter over to the table.
“So, do you think the Shifter Alliance might agree?” Herne asked, pressing gently.
Jana accepted the coffee and took a sip, then set her cup down. “I think we might, though I can’t speak with certainty until I talk to the others. I may be the president of the Shifter Alliance, but I’ll have to take a vote of the council. But I can say that I, for one, will be pressing for a yes on this. Typhon poses an incredible threat to everyone.”
Visibly relieved, Herne let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that. Typhon’s the biggest threat to this world right now that I can think of, and we need everyone on board in this.”
She arched one eyebrow, turning to Yutani. “Pardon me, I don’t mean to be rude, but do I sense coyote medicine around you?”
He shrugged, giving her a long look. “My father’s the Great Coyote, and my mother’s a coyote shifter. So, yes.” He held her gaze and I detected a subtle challenge.
Jana stared back at him, until he suddenly flinched, which was totally uncharacteristic for Yutani. I grinned. He had met his match. Jana was no beta bitch—she was an alpha for sure.
But a smile played over her face as she dragged her gaze away and turned back to Herne. “I’ll meet with the council today—I can convene a special meeting under our emergency treaty rules. I’ll get back to you with our decision either tonight or tomorrow.”
Herne let out a long breath. I wondered if he had expected to have a fight on his hands. “Thank you,” he said. “For once, something might go smoothly.”
“Just promise my people that we’ll only have to deal with the Fae if we’re all called out to a fight.” She glanced at me and blushed. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean…well, I guess I did but I didn’t…” Her voice drifted off and she shook her head. “I’m not going to even try to talk myself out of this one. I apologize. I seem to have lodged my foot in my mouth and I really don’t know what to say.”
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