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She chuckled, the vibrations of it rumbling through me. Her sweet smell whispered around, and I shifted towards her, drawing into the beacon of love and desire. It was a call I couldn’t deny. She kissed higher and trailed her tongue up the tender flesh of my ear causing me to shiver. “Lis.”
She laughed again, a sound sweeter than any siren’s call. “Let’s go. I don’t think anyone else is coming.”
We both stood and braced ourselves as we eased down the hill and slipped into the shadows along the building. A lamp hung above the door, the candle in it burning low and casting a splash of peach over the textured surface of the building. Elisa approached the chains and pressed her fingers over the lock. The metal shimmered under the weight of her magic. She brushed her thumb over the keyhole, and her posture tensed. Her eyes changed colors, glittering silver, before returning to their beautiful green. The magic Sai had tried to distract Lira from seeing in the cart now fully on display.
Elisa’s magic dissipated, and the key she’d formed from the metal of the chain, pulling just enough from each link to produce it but not enough to break the links, sat in her hand. It brought my thoughts back to my worries from earlier. Elisa had metal magic—rare and dangerous powers to have. Fairies hadn’t possessed the ability to tap into elements for hundreds of years. Now those lost powers emerged again. Some believed it was foreshadowing for the prophecy of the elemental siblings that would rise and break the fairy courts. It was a prophecy the Maharani prayed for and I longed to see as well even if I wasn’t sure I believed it. Then again, Elisa had this magic she shouldn’t possess. Powers that had forced her to leave her home in the Seelie lands before they discovered and executed her. King Carrington didn’t tolerate magic—save his own abilities—and especially anything he labeled asdarkpowers. Perhaps some of my unease stemmed from us drawing so close to the Seelie borders and knowing it put Elisa closer to that man and his campaign of fear and hatred for fairies like her.
Elisa pressed the key she’d formed into the lock. The chain slipped then clanged as it dropped. She grabbed it to muffle the sound, and we both tensed as we waited to see if anyone heard its clatter.
After a moment, I nodded, and she opened the door.
A room sat in a spill of dim light that glowed through the curtains. The dips and highlights of illumination flowed over the treaties nailed on the wall, poured over a massive desk, and spilled onto the man asleep at it, his feet kicked up on the corner. The money pouch sat by his boot, a corner of it tucked under the heel.
Elisa smirked at me like it was a challenge, and I had to hold back a scoff. Please. I could manage this in my sleep. This snatch wouldn’t have even been difficult five years before when I’d not had the experience I did now. Magic wasn’t required. Which was almost always true, and that was a point I tried to make to Sai. Our team sometimes tapped into their powers even when we didn’t need to, which left a lingering trace others could follow. It had gotten us in trouble before and so close to Seelie lands it was best to avoid magic as much as possible for the rest of the job.
I tiptoed across the room, choosing shadowed sections to ease into as I pressed each footstep down incrementally to test for squeaking boards. When I made it to the desk, the man shifted, snorting in a breath, and the official Landrian seal on his uniform wrinkled so that the banners looked like a crumpled ball. I rolled my eyes. He sat locked in a damn room, tasked with one simple job: watch the jail. And he couldn’t manage that much.
I curled my fingers around the coin pouch and drew it towards me. It snagged on his heel, clinking the coins together. Elisa licked her lips, her zevar—an oval sapphire that rested between her collarbones—shimmered as she reached for her powers. We didn’t need magic, though. I’d achieved far riskier cons with less in my favor.
Lifting the heel of his boot so slowly my arm trembled, I used my free hand to slide the bag of money loose. I lowered the guard’s foot and glided the purse across the desk before sliding it into my open palm. I turned towards Elisa and smirked at her. She rolled her eyes, but they glistened with amusement. Now all we needed to do was walk out the door and lock the bolt back.
I stepped towards the exit, but my foot snagged over something that sent me tumbling. I bounced on my feet to avoid falling or make noise. The creature that had tangled under me curled around my leg and meowed. My hands and the jangling money bag I held smacked into the wall with a thud.
Elisa stared at me. I held my breath and pressed my fingers into the grain of the wood. The cat that had tripped me looked up, its eyes glowing an eerie gold. The guard snorted a few times and then jumped to his feet. “Hey,” he shouted. “Who are you?”
Shit.
Elisa’s zevar glowed, and I shook my head to stop her, but her magic exploded, glistening as hundreds of jewels suspended in the surrounding air. Everything froze, including the cat, its paw raised to its mouth where its textured tongue reached for the ebony fur of its paw.
“Lis,” I said. “You didn’t have to.”
She swayed and held her head. Her Seelie magic wasn’t rooted in memory work, and though her metal skills were exceptional, now she tapped into powers well beyond her natural abilities. “He could have hurt…” She winced.
“He’s one human, love. We could have handled him.”
She nodded but grimaced. “Let me choose the memories to erase and then let’s get out of here.”
I sighed. It would be days before she’d be back to her full strength again. It was my fault for not seeing the damned cat. “Superstitious humans.”
Elisa scrambled through the glistening jewels, yanking a few free and blowing on them until they turned into shimmering dust and disappeared as the shadow image of the man shifted back into the chair and he slumped into sleep again. “They’re just trying to protect themselves from something they don’t understand.”
“As if a cat could stop magic.”
“Sometimes it can help,” her voice hummed weakly, “to do something that feels like it creates control over a situation, even if there’s no real purpose to it.”
“Yeah. All good now?”
She nodded, and we walked out. I pulled the door and used Elisa’s key to lock the padlock back. She clapped her hands. The glistening magic around us swept back into her and the world moved forward again. Wind rustled tree limbs, and the lamp hanging over the door bobbed its glowing light about. Elisa took a step towards the path but swayed.
I tucked the coin pouch into a pocket and swung her into my arms. She gasped. “You can’t carry me all the way back to Sai.”
The honeysuckle scent of her hair and lavender of her lotion filled the air. Despite her words she tucked her face against my shoulder and curled against me. “I can and I will.” I trundled up the hill, holding her body against mine. She’d be tired for days, her magic not fully replenished for at least a week after that act. She didn’t possess the type of magic Sai did where he could tap into powers not inherent to him without many consequences. Nor did she have the level of magic he did, at that. She shouldn’t have had to drain herself for my misstep. “We’re returning this bag and then you’re going straight to bed.”
“With that large of a trace of magic, we should try to get a few hours away.”
She made a valid point. Thankfully Prince Lennox and King Carrington didn’t know Elisa so they wouldn’t recognize her magic trace, but it would send a pulse of powers that any fae nearby could detect. Magic used in human countries was an anomaly and always drew attention—especially a large outpouring. Elisa’s well-being came first, however. We’d faced plenty of malicious fae in the past. “No. Let’s hope it doesn’t cause trouble, but you’re not pushing yourself anymore tonight.”
She sighed but pressed closer to me as I stepped into the woods. Annoyance rippled through me. This whole side project was pointless, and now Sai would be anxious over the magic spent. But we weren’t traveling to escape potential fae who came sniffing around. I didn’t care how he felt about it.
