My nose itched. Whatever he was doing, it was powerful magic. An unnatural stillness fell over the park, the air growing as heavy and stretchy as Mom’s maple pecan sticky buns.
I glanced at the would-be-killer, but he stood immobile mid-step like that picture of the Beatles. A leaf hung suspended in front of me, its vibrant red hue glinting in the sunlight.
“You… you froze time.” I gaped at Darcy, then at the static world around me.
Sweat beaded on his face. “It won’t last long. We need to get him to the car.” Darcy pulled out a pair ofhandcuffs that glittered with magic. He approached the fae and forced his hands together. He clapped the cuffs on the guy’s wrists, then used wind magic to carry the fae back to the car. Although the man looked as stiff as a statue, Darcy fit him in the trunk.
As the car clicked closed, Darcy gasped and leaned against the vehicle. The world resumed around us, the air filling with the chatter of voices and the wind picking up again.
“Are you okay?” I started to reach for Darcy, then stopped.
“I’m fine.” He gave me a wan smile.
“I can’t believe you did that.” It was hard to keep a note of awe from my voice. “I thought it was just a myth.”
“Only the royals can do it, and even then we can’t hold it for longer than a minute,” Darcy said. “We rarely use that magic, but today felt like a good day for an exception.”
The nerves in my stomach dissolved. We’d done it.
We’d captured the target.
Chapter 14
EventhoughDarcystillheld my hand and I stood only a step away, when he ordered everyone about with a natural ease and confidence, I could feel the gap growing between us. Him, the fae crown prince, and me, an outcast from a small town. Could our lives be any more different?
“You ready to go?” Darcy’s question jarred me from my thoughts.
“Oh, sure.” I slid into the backseat after him, letting someone else drive while we rode in silence.
“You’re awfully quiet,” he said after a few minutes.
“Just thinking about you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“And how you must love chess.”
“Because…?”
“Everyone is in position and does what they're told.” My thoughts flashed to the men who jumped to do his bidding.
“People are far less predictable than chess pieces—you saw that today when the plan went awry. It’s their strength and their weakness.”
“And are you still the type who only plays when victory is certain?”
He met my gaze. “I’m learning that some battles are worth losing.”
I flushed and turned to stare out the window. We passed a few fall decorations as we drove through town, a pumpkin on a doorstep here and a scarecrow in a yard there. The sun was slipping over the horizon as we made it to Netherfield Park, outlining it in a fiery glow that set the russet-colored trees near the house ablaze.
Charles and his men unloaded the captured fae and carried him, struggling, into the house while Jane, Darcy, and I watched. Relief went through me as I stood there.Finally, we’d captured the killer and could wrap up this mystery.
“Is Caroline home?” I asked Charles as he came over.
He looked at his phone. “Looks like she and Louisa are out.”
So we were stuck with our glamours a little while longer.
The four of us walked into the house, and Darcy led the way across the polished oak foyer and down a narrow hall I hadn’t been in before. My nose tingled with the threat of a sneeze. It seemed to do that a lot in Netherfield.
