Page 39 of Fallen Court

Ciara huffed at his betrayal before she threw her hands in the air and resumed her pacing. “So you want us to nip you to Dublin and hope you both make it out alive?”

“No, I want you to get that spell fully operational.” I grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face me. If this was a trap, Oberon would use it as an excuse to attack the Nether Court—and New Orleans. “I want you to protect our family and our court. Can you do that?”

She held my gaze for a beat before nodding.

“Bring her back,” Channing called to me.

I turned to face him. “I’d start working on my apology if I were you.”

The recently returned color drained from his face, but he managed to bob his head. “Just get her home.”

But I gripped Roark’s shoulder and dragged him to the corner. “If we don’t come back,” I said in a low voice, “keep Ciara safe. Whatever Oberon’s up to, he’ll target her if she’s standing between him and what he wants.”

“You’re coming back.” His tone brooked no argument.

But even if he didn’t want to, he needed to hear this. “No matter what happens, get the bona fides up. This isn’t just about the Hunt. We don’t know what Oberon is planning. Keeping control of the city is priority number one.”

“I understand.” He pinned me with a stare. “Don’t pick a fight. You can’t win. If it’s a trap, come back. We’ll find another way to reach Cate.”

It was his duty to say it. I understood, but we both knew there were only two ways I was returning to New Orleans: with Cate by my side or in a body bag.

“Let’s do this,” I said, shifting to nod my farewell. Shaw offered a quick bob of the head as he moved to stand by the hospital bed, where Channing looked like he might spring up and try to follow me. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to go after his sister. At least Shaw could keep him from doing anything stupid.

“Wait!” Ciara leaped in front of me. Her nose wrinkled in concentration, and I felt the faint tingle of magic as a glamour settled over my features. “You can’t go in there with your ears out. The magic will only last a few minutes at that distance, though,” she warned me.

A few minutes was all I had, but with any luck—something that was admittedly in short supply—it was all that I would need.

“Don’t get killed,” Ciara blurted out as Roark lifted his hand.

“I’ll do my best.” I flashed her a smile as my penumbra snapped his fingers.

The world slipped out from under me in a riot of light and colors, weaving and winding until my feet found purchase on a cobblestone street—right in the middle of a group of tipsy university students. They scattered like birds, shouting in disbelief to one another, but I ignored them. They were too drunk to be believed, and the clock was ticking. I needed to find Cate before my time ran out and unwanted attention proved deadly.

“Where did you come from, mate?” one of them yelled.

I strode past him, moving as quickly as I could without drawing attention to myself. They shouted after me, earning the attention of more people on the street. A few glanced in my direction as I scanned the block, but they quickly lost interest. There was nothing to see. For now.

My chest tightened when I spotted a swinging sign emblazoned with the name O’Malley’s a few doors down. I turned the collar of my jacket against Dublin’s cold, blocking the mark of the Hunt that not even Ciara’s glamour could hide. Each step seemed to take an eternity, and I half wondered if it was another dream, if the cobblestones would turn to quicksand before I reached the pub.

It had to be nearing final call at O’Malley’s as I stepped inside, even if the pub was still crowded. I scanned the room, feeling for that persistent tug that had wormed inside me since I was separated from Cate. I didn’t see her, but I felt her. She was nearby, within reach. I just had to find her. Her presence beckoned me, its grip on my heart unshakable. She burned in my blood, sharpening each of my senses as I cut my way through the crowd with a certainty that left no room for doubt.

Cate was a survivor, which meant she would be smart enough to hide. Because of the mark, she wouldn’t expect me to be the one to come for her. That’s why she had called Ciara. But as I wove my way through the boisterous patrons, my excitement turned to agitation, then fear, when I spotted two muscular men in well-tailored suits entering through the front door. They marched up to the bartender, leaning to ask her questions. Oberon’s men carried themselves like mine did—all business. The woman behind the bar crossed her arms, regarding them for a moment before she shook her head. Something told me that I owed her one.

One of the guards turned in my direction, and I ducked behind an ancient wooden post, out of sight. Warning prickled up my spine. It wasn’t a good sign that they were here. Maybe Roark was right. Maybe Oberon had laid a trap for me.

But she was here, and even if Oberon had planted her as bait, I couldn’t just walk away.

Closing my eyes, I placed a hand over my chest, over the other permanent mark burned into my skin. The one that no longer moved like the others, because it had found where it belonged and where it would stay until my dying breath. Her name had written itself on my soul. I reached for that connection now, called out to the bond that linked us with the last of my waning magic. The connection stretched taut, and when I opened my eyes, the crowd shifted as a group called out farewells and headed for the door—and tucked into the corner behind them was…her.

She was more beautiful than I remembered, even though her face was seared into my mind like the bond inked on my flesh.

Cate stood, her eyes darting through the room and widening as they caught sight of the guards I’d already seen. She crouched slightly, sliding against the wall and disappearing into a tight corridor marked with a toilet sign. Alone. She was hiding. Not bait at all.

And she was in danger. I couldn’t risk nipping us out—not with Oberon’s guards close enough to sense my magic. It was a long shot that they would try to follow, but it wasn’t a gamble I was willing to take.

I slithered through the crowd, working my way swiftly but carefully so as not to draw the guards’ attention. The place was closing up. If I could reach her, we could slip out with the crowd. I kept my head down as I brushed past a couple arguing in the corridor, my heart hammering so loudly they could probably hear it over their disagreement. And past them…

I had never moved so quickly in my life.