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“Yeah, shit happens, I guess. To us. It happens to us.”

Little Jimmy had scarpered as soon as the SSD had arrived, which would have been fine, except I had his murder weapon in my pocket. So, naturally, I’d been arrested for multiple counts of murdering lots of fae, and the defense that I was just a human who happened to have been kidnapped—again—didn’t seem to be going down so well with the Special Supernatural Division.

“Have you ever been arrested before?” I asked Zee.

“Me? I’m so fucking offended right now. I am the epitome of good behavior. The model citizen. Sweet and innocent. The absolute⁠—”

“How many times?”

“Nine.”

“Nine?”

“Maybe ten.” He shrugged. “How was I supposed to know the hot cops in tight uniforms were actual officers? Also, a whole lot of partners get super upset when they discover their significant other prefers demon dick.”

“Ten times?!”

“It was the police commissioner’s wife for eight of those.” Another shrug. “He paid me a fuck ton of hush money though, so you should probably forget everything I just said.”

We were going to need a really good lawyer.

We’d been in the cell a few hours when a deep sigh sounded beyond the bars. I looked up, and there he was—Victor Reynard, looking like the perfect gentleman in his expensive suit, his shoulders straight and silvery eyes intense while concern pinched the rest of his expression.

“Are you alright?” Reynard asked.

Zee blinked, and his tail tried to twitch but was pinned by the ball. “Took your time. Did you have tea before setting off, Your Grace?”

Reynard glanced at me, and I nodded. “We’re okay.”

“I have Pierce working on your release now.”

Pierce was the vampire royal family’s scribe and lawyer. “Thank you.” But Pierce’s help would not be free. I pushed to my feet and met Victor at the bars. It was good to see him. Zee and I had been gone at least a day, so he must have been worried. “We were taken. We didn’t kill those fae, Victor.”

“Of course not. You do not need to explain. This is all a misunderstanding. I’ll have everything straightened out soon.”

“For me too?” Zee asked, his voice curiously small.

Reynard dipped his chin. “For you as well, Zodiac.”

A tall, imposing, androgynous fae with pale green hair approached from a side corridor. My blood cooled and a tiny stab of fear touched my heart. “Agent Leomaris.” They were just as intimidating as when they’d been snooping around the hotel—perhaps even more so now there were bars between us. They’d told me they’d once been a bounty hunter. And they were on my Bad People list.

I’d have preferred Detective Somers, but he’d been suspiciously absent since Zee’s performance at Razorsedge.

“Adam Vex, Zodiac,” Leomaris greeted in their long, soft drawl that took forever to get to the point. “And Baron Reynard. I’m pleased to meet you, Baron. I understand you’re here to aid with your associates’ release?”

“I am.”

“Then, perhaps you’d like to join us as we discuss this situation.” Leomaris nodded at the jailor, who swiped a card over the cell’s door and opened the lock. “Zodiac, please be advised that should you translocate when you leave the cell’s wards, your guilt will be assumed and you will be charged with further offences.”

“Got it, Agent Fae.” Zee scooped up the iron ball chained to his tail and hugged it close.

“You should probably use their name,” I whispered, leaving the cell alongside Zee.

“Fuck, right. Understood, Agent Leomaris.”

“Right this way.” Leomaris led us down a blue-carpeted corridor, with blue walls and pale blue ceiling.

“The feds really like blue,” I heard Zee mutter behind me.