by Deanna Chase
“He’s a bigot,” Dax said. “Even so, that doesn’t warrant a poisoning attack.”
“Do you really think Phoebe did it?” Imogen asked in a hushed whisper.
Unfortunately, he did. He nodded. “What I need to know is how she was before she left your office last week. Was she on any medication that might cause her to… act in an unusual manner?”
“No. She wasn’t on anything. In fact, I’d given her a clean bill of health.” Imogen frowned. “You think her actions are drug related?”
Leo sucked in a sharp breath. “Not Phoebe. Surely she wouldn’t—”
“It’s a possibility, Leo,” Dax said, his tone grave. “In some ways, I hope it is. At least then we’d have an explanation.”
“I’ll check her chart, just to be sure.” Imogen hurried down the hall, gesturing for them to follow her into a room with files lining the walls. It took her a few moments of digging, but then she said, “Aha! There it is. She might’ve been taking… Oh, no. Just a little herb concoction to aid in healing.”
It was Dax’s turn to suck in a long breath. “All right. Thanks, Imogen.”
She gave him a sympathetic smile. “I hope you find her and that this is all a giant misunderstanding.”
“Sure. Me too.” It was going to have to be the biggest fucking misunderstanding ever if he didn’t want to be the one to put his girlfriend in jail.
17
After my talk with Dax that morning, I wasn’t sure where that left me with my plan to free him from Allcot’s service. If I found a way to free him, then when Seth brought the other Phoebe back, she’d still be with Allcot. But Dax would be gone. Would Allcot blame her? Would she be in danger?
Neither Dax nor I wanted that scenario. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if his actions put her in danger. I didn’t feel quite as strongly about it. She had taken my place in my world after all. But I did see why she’d want to run from her oppressive life. Straight up forgiveness wasn’t in the cards, but understanding might be.
I spent the rest of the quiet morning avoiding Dax. Talking was painful for both of us. But it would be worse if Allcot found out. That bastard. I hated thinking of what he might do to Dax if I fucked up.
Still, I couldn’t just do nothing. It wasn’t in my nature. After making the rounds to the girls’ rooms to let them know I was there for whatever they needed, I slipped into Willow’s room and sat on the edge of her bed.
“Hey,” she said, giving me a small smile. “What are you doing here?”
“Keeping an eye on you.” I squeezed her hand, trying not to think about what her life had become here. “Are you okay?”
“Sure. I was just flipping through this course catalog. I think I’m going to sign up for a culinary class.”
My heart warmed. “That will be absolutely perfect for you.”
“Isn’t it?” She sighed and opened the catalog to a page near the front. “It’s at the New Orleans Institute of Cuisine. They offer a full course load and at the end, if I pass, I’ll get a chance to work at some of the finest restaurants in the city. I’d have to work my way up of course, but I could be working with herbs.” Her eyes glittered with excitement. “Can you imagine? Me a head chef at Chez Willow?”
I laughed. “Sure. Or running your own bakery.”
She pressed a hand to her heart and sighed. “Wouldn’t that just be lovely?”
“It’d be perfect,” I said with a nod, hoping that little seed sprouted and grew in the future.
Willow’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at me. “None of this would’ve been possible without you. Thank you.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Sure, Allcot had given the girls new contracts because I’d balked at their treatment, but if I had my way, if any of them wanted to leave for a better life, I’d have given them money to do it. But Allcot wasn’t so generous with his cash. I supposed that’s what made him a successful businessman, but it didn’t mean I had to like that he owned a gentleman’s club.
“I didn’t do anything special,” I said quietly. “In fact, I wanted to do a whole lot more.”
Willow squeezed my hand. “You did what you could. That’s what’s important.”
“Right.” I slid off the bed and glanced around the room. “Do you think I could ask you a favor?”
“Sure, honey. Anything.”
“Are you still in charge of making aphrodisiacs for the clients? Edible ones?”
Her cheeks turned pink and she plucked at the bedspread. “Yeah. Did you need something for Eadric?”
“Oh gods no!” I cried, feeling scandalized. “Ugh. Never.”
Her lips twitched into a tiny smile as she looked up at me. “That didn’t sound like a wife who’s dying to hop into bed with her husband.”
“You can say that again,” I muttered.
Her amusement vanished and her expression turned concerned. “Is it really that bad?”
The memory of his teeth on my neck came roaring back and my skin started to tingle again. I didn’t have the answer to her question, but I could guess. “No, I suppose not. I just… the marriage isn’t something I chose, you know?”
“I do. I just thought… you two have been together for four years. I hate to think of you in a sexless marriage. That’s not you. It never was.”
I couldn’t imagine being in a sexless relationship either. And all evidence pointed to the fact that my doppelgänger did in fact share Allcot’s bed. But I wouldn’t. There was no way I was going to let him coax me into his bed. That was a hard pass. “No. It isn’t,” I agreed. “But anyway, that’s not why I was asking.”
“Oh?” One eyebrow rose in curiosity. “Then why?”
“I’m working on a couple of potions, and my supply at home is lacking some key ingredients. I was hoping I could check out your stash. See if anything jumps out at me.”
“Sure.” She hopped off the bed, shoved her feet into a pair of fuzzy slippers, and led me out of her room, down the stairs, and to a locked door next to a storage closet. She pressed her palm to the wood just above the knob and said, “Willow Rhoswen.”
The door swung open, seemingly of its own free will, and without missing a beat, I hightailed it into Willow’s workspace. Massive amounts of herbs and specialty concoctions filled the shelves. “Oh wow,” I said, my eyes wide with surprise. “Did Allcot let you buy all this stuff?”
She shook her head and laughed. “No way. Clio did. She was having me make all kinds of potions and herb bundles and… Well, never mind. Let’s just say she decided I was the most talented magic user of her girls and had me making all kinds of questionable potions and spells.”
“Ones she used on the staff,” I guessed.
“Yeah.” The one word hung in the air between us. It meant Willow’s magic was at the heart of all of Clio’s curses.
Nausea rolled through my stomach. “Did she force you to spell people?”
A single tear rolled down her cheek as she nodded again.
“Oh, honey. It’s not your fault,” I said earnestly.
“It’s my magic that bound them here,” she said, barely able to get the words out.
“Oh my god, Willow,” I said, my voice rising in excitement. “You know what this means?”
She turned to me, startled. “No. What?”
“You can break the binding that holds Dax to this place. All you have to do is reverse the spell.”
Her rosy cheeks turned pasty white, and she shook her head as she started to back up. “I can’t do that,” she said in the barest of whispers. “You know I can’t. Eadric would…” She shook her head harder. “I’d be punished. What about my classes?”
Son of a… I bit back a curse and tried to hold it together. The Willow in my world wouldn’t have hesitated. She’d already be working on a way to undo any damage she’d caused. It was strange to see this one so frightened. Though I supposed if you were repressed enough, fear had a way of digging in and sinking its hooks into you.
<
br /> “It’s okay, Wil,” I said gently. “I’m not asking you to do anything that would get you into trouble. I don’t want that for you. Neither would Dax. Let’s just think this through, okay?”
“Yeah, okay, sure,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Think it through.” She turned her bright blue eyes on me. “Think what through, exactly?”
“Let’s just think through how to explain why the binding would fail. That’s all. A brainstorming session if you will.”
“Brainstorming. Right. Okay.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “Does he want to leave?”
I gave her a what-the-fuck look. “Yeah, Wil. He doesn’t want to be under Allcot’s thumb for the rest of his life, just like you don’t.”
“But isn’t his contract for a year, just like the rest of us?”
“No.” I tilted my head studying her. “Is that what you thought?”
“Sure. Everyone else got the same deal. Why not him? I figured he’d work his year and then take the bonus like the rest of us.”
Allcot hadn’t offered him any such deal. Dax would’ve told me when we talked earlier. And I was pretty certain I knew why. It all came down to my counterpart. The other Phoebe. Allcot and Dax both wanted her, and Allcot would not lose. I stared at Willow, my expression hard and my voice cold. “Allcot is punishing him because he cares about me. I won’t stand for it. I can’t, Wil. You understand that, right?”
“Sure. Absolutely,” she said, nodding.
“Okay, good. Then you don’t mind if I experiment with some of your herbs?”
Willow swept her gaze over her worktable, looking from me to her stash. She pressed her hand to her forehead and said, “Yeah. I mind. But only because it will only take me about half an hour to make the potion. And likely if you do it, it won’t even work. Breaking a fae spell is trickier than breaking one made by a witch.”
All the tension drained from my shoulders, and I grabbed her, pulling her in for a fierce hug. “Thank you, Wil.”
“You’re welcome. But while I’m doing this, you better come up with a damned good excuse as to why the binding failed. Otherwise, we’re all going to be in a heap of shit.”
“I’m on it.”
Twenty minutes later, she handed me a pale pink potion and I handed her the bottle of dragon’s blood.
“What’s this?” she asked me.
“Take a look at the expiration date on the bottom.”
She turned it over and frowned. “This says it expired six months ago.”
“Right. If Allcot asks what happened, you feign innocence and tell him you need to check on something. Tear through your studio and finally come up with this. It’s the active ingredient in binding spells, right?”
“Sure. But it lasts forever,” she said, still staring at the bottom of the bottle.
I shrugged. “Clio bought you discount products. It’s not your fault. You just used what you were given.”
A slow smile broke out on her face as my words sank in. Then she threw her head back and laughed. “You’re brilliant, Phoebe. Clio was cheap as shit. Everyone who knew her knew that. And since Allcot hasn’t allowed me to source my own herbs, it’s not my fault either. This is perfect.”
I threw my arms around her one more time, squeezing her tight, and said, “I love you, Wil. You’re the best kind of person.”
“I love you too, Phoebe,” she said with a sniffle. “Now go. Let Dax know he has his freedom when he’s ready.”
18
“You’re sure you want to do this?” Director Halston said as she read Dax’s report.
“Am I sure?” Dax scoffed and started to pace the director’s office. “No. I’m not even remotely sure I want to turn that in. But it’s increasingly clear that the people on that list are in danger, and all roads lead back to Kilsen.”
The director rubbed her chin. “Kilsen has never given me any indication that she’s anything other than a dedicated agent. Are we sure this isn’t a setup?”
“I thought of that. More than a few times. None of this is like Kilsen. And if I hadn’t seen her yesterday, I’d still assume she was undercover for a reason. But she was cagey, acting very strange, and then she ghosted. That isn’t…” He wanted to scream. The fact that even the director was questioning his conclusions was enough to send him right over the fucking edge. “She’s never lied about or kept anything from me about an investigation before. It doesn’t make sense that she wouldn’t turn to me, or even you and the Void if she was innocent.”
“Perhaps.” The director had a thoughtful look on her face. “But, in any case, you’re right. She has to be brought in. We can’t leave a rogue agent out in the wind carrying out some secret mercenary mission. Do what you have to do to bring her in.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said and stopped wearing a hole in the carpet. “I also want to bring the shifters on the list in for protection until we find her.”
“You’re that concerned?”
“One is dead and another was poisoned today. I think we have a moral obligation to protect them.”
Halston dropped the file on her desk. “You’re right. We do. I’ll have Maria issue an order. Give her a few hours. This requires clearance from the higher-ups.”
“Thank you.” Dax walked out of the office, feeling defeated even though the director had given him everything he’d asked for. The problem was, he both did and didn’t want to be responsible for bringing in Phoebe. He loved her. Wanted her safe. But if she was behind the attacks, he had no choice. And he’d prefer it be him that brought her in rather than any of the other agents. He’d handle her with care. The others, they’d use the opportunity to air any grievances. And Phoebe and her give-no-fucks attitude had certainly earned some enemies.
No, if he handled it, he’d be able to make sure she wasn’t hurt. He’d also be able to get a psych evaluation just to be on the safe side.
Instead of pacing the Void building, waiting for the orders to come through or for someone to call in with a tip on Phoebe’s movements in the city, Dax slipped back into investigation mode. He needed to retrace the steps of the victim and figure out what happened before her death. Try to see why she and Phoebe ended up in an altercation. He only had the vague information that Phoebe had supplied. She’d insisted shifters had shown up with pictures of her dead brother and threatened her. If it was true, he needed to track who else had threatened her and why. He’d start at the scene of the crime and work backward.
“Leo?” Dax called as he walked back into his office.
“Yeah, boss?” The young shifter lifted his head from the files he was studying.
“We’re headed into the field. Time for some old-school research.” He jerked his head, indicating the shifter should follow.
“Where are we headed?” Leo asked, falling into step beside Dax.
“Back to the beginning.”
Dax and Leo stood on the sidewalk next to the cemetery. There wasn’t anything to even hint there’d been a death in the area less than a week ago. Dax hadn’t expected there to be.
“You studied the files,” he said to Leo. “Didn’t Maci work around here?”
“Yes. At an interior design firm on Magazine.” He pulled out his phone and checked his notes. “Old World Elegance.”
“Lead the way.”
A green velvet couch with a scalloped, tufted back was the showpiece in the firm’s reception area along with two matching armchairs. A clean-cut young man who’d been sitting behind an ornate wood banker’s desk rose and walked over to the two shifters.
“Good afternoon,” the dark-haired man with kind eyes said, holding his hand out. “I’m Drake. Do you have an appointment?”
Dax shook the man’s hand. “Hello, Drake. I’m Dax, and this is my associate Leo. We don’t have an appointment. We were just hoping to ask a few questions.”
“Sure. Do you have a place that needs to be decorated? Or are you looking for a few key pieces?”
“Neither.” Dax pulled a busin
ess card out of his pocket and handed it over. “We work for the Arcane, and we’re investigating Maci Masterson’s death. I understand she worked here.”
The man’s expression turned to one of despair and his eyes turned too bright. “Yeah,” he croaked. “She worked here. In fact, that’s the reason I’m working the front desk. That was her job.”
“What do you normally do?” Dax asked, just to ease the man into the conversation. He was clearly shaken up, and Dax wondered if Drake and Maci might have had more than just a working relationship.
“Stockroom stuff. Inventory. Deliveries. That kind of thing.”
Dax nodded. “Were you working the day of her death?”
“Yes, sir. Maci helped me check in a large order.” He swallowed hard. “We spend most of the day together. She was headed out for drinks with a guy from school. She was really excited about it.”
That didn’t sound like a woman who was planning to threaten a witch. Dax frowned. “Did the guy come here to pick her up?”
He shook his head. “No, they were going to meet some place uptown that isn’t far from the streetcar line. That’s why she was headed up to Saint Charles. Usually I give her a ride home, but I stayed late to finish some work.” The young man stared at his feet. “I should’ve just taken her like usual. The work could’ve waited.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Leo said, clapping the guy on the shoulder. “It’s not your fault, you know.”
Drake turned blazing eyes on Leo. “What would you know about it? My… friend is dead and I could’ve prevented it. She was a sweet girl who only wanted to finish school and get a job at a prominent architecture firm. Fuck.” He pressed his hands to his eyes, clearly trying to keep the tears at bay. “She was the last person who deserved this.”
Dax was certain the kid had been in love with her. All the signs were there. He waited until Drake dropped his hands and took a deep breath.
“Sorry. I just can’t believe she’s gone,” Drake said.