I wasn’t the only one feeling testy. Her eyes had gone flat and cold and nearly dripped with arrogance. Whatever help we’d offered would do only so much to save us.
“Other sups felt it, too,” I said, keeping my tone as mild as possible. “You may not be the only ones feeling powerful.”
I was telling the truth; we knew they weren’t the only sups who’d felt the wave, and I calculated she wouldn’t like a potential change to the city’s supernatural balance of power. Based on the narrowing of her eyes, I guessed she was calculating whether she might need us in the future and should bother keeping us alive.
“There was a sudden power in the lines,” she said, decisionmade. “We have been weak of late, and we took advantage of it. We made food and drink of the magic. We feasted.”
“Yeah, we saw that part,” I said wryly, sarcasm one of my favorite weapons against fear. “How are the lines now?”
“Uninteresting,” she said, queenly boredom back in her tone. But there was disappointment beneath it, maybe that the fae couldn’t ride a wave of power into a new era of dominion.
“Did a demon cause it?” Connor asked.
“I do not know what caused the surge. I only know its vehicle—the lines—and that we drank much.” She looked across the room, gaze vague, and I wondered if she were seeing what had come before we’d arrived, not the ruin of it. The fae would have to deal with what they’d done.
“We’ll go,” I said.
Claudia made a sound not unlike a growl. I thought she meant to strike out as revenge for our interrupting their festivities, so I turned my body to deflect the coming blow. But no strike came. Instead, she looked regretful.
“It has been many moons,” Claudia said. “I do not regret that we experienced this surfeit, although perhaps we went too far.” She looked at me, gaze narrowing again. “You have helped us once again. We owe you a boon.”
Fairies, like vampires, were very big on debts being owed and paid. And she looked none too thrilled about the transaction.
A woman with pale skin, dark hair, and deeply bowed lips stepped beside her.
“My queen,” she said with disdain, “they surely chanced upon us. No boon is owed for following the whims of fate.”
“This was not chance,” Claudia said. “The bloodletter and her consort would not come here without reason. They came to seek our knowledge, but they stayed to resolve our peril. For that, a boon is owed. And no harm will come to them,” she added.
Her people would probably obey her. But they were riding the magic, or grouchy with its absence, and that made our presence risky. It was time to say our farewells.
“We don’t need to collect today,” I said, and gestured to the broken wall. A mourning dove had flown through and now perched on a rafter, grooming its pearly feathers. “You have other business.”
“Yes,” Claudia said. “We will repair what we have broken. And we will see what brings the ill wind.”
“I want the wind to bring peace and quiet,” I murmured when we’d hustled back down the stairs under watchful eyes. Guards had already returned to their positions at the gatehouse, and as we passed, they touched their scabbards, the only threat they dared to make.
We all but leapt into the vehicle, and Connor’s eyes kept flitting to the rearview mirror until we cleared the fence around the property and left the fairies behind us.
THREE
Did you find out why they were unconscious?” Roger asked when I called the team for an update. They’d reviewed the pictures I’d taken.
“They were on a magical bender,” I said, and relayed what Claudia had told us.
“The ley lines are normal again?” he asked.
“So Claudia says. And I don’t think she’d lie about that. She might have enjoyed the feast, but she understood bringing the tower down around them wouldn’t help them regain power. And it’s going to take energy to repair the building. Have you learned anything else?”
“No,” Theo said. “The vampires of Navarre and Grey were, not surprisingly, also unconscious during the magical burst. And we haven’t found anything in the city that looks like it might have caused the jolt.”
“The wards are still safe,” Roger said, so that was at least some of my worry gone. “I’ll give the mayor the answers we’ve gotten so far. We’re bound to learn more.”
With the ley lines involved, that seemed inevitable.
* * *
“Will dinner with your family be more or less intense than our fairy encounter?” I asked Connor when we were driving to the Keene house.
