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“What are you doing here?” I hated when she used her powers to just drop in on me whenever and wherever she pleased. Especially when she knew magic use near Lydbury would leave a mark that my protection spells couldn’t cover. She might as well set off a beacon and alert our enemies that we were snooping about Edric’s manor. Her disregard for simple instructions put me and my defenseless hosts in danger.
“Don’t worry. I’ll cover my tracks.” She paced around the clutter until she’d reached the one window in the room. “I told you I’d be back to check on you. Found a distraction, have you?”
“Get away from that window before someone sees you.” I waited until she’d stepped away before answering her question. “She’s Vivian’s niece. Visiting for Christmas.”
“Well, if you’re planning on charming a human into your bed for a lark, it sounds like you don’t have much time, then, cuz.” She ran her finger over the frame of an oil painting I’d propped against the wall.
“Not to worry. I’m not charming anyone, anywhere.”
“Yes, well, as long as we’re clear on that,” she said, smirking at me. Of course Arabella would find this amusing. That someone of our heritage—the son of the reigning Faerie Queen, no less—would resort to human-style flirting instead of exercising full-force Fae charm to seduce a lover must appear ludicrous to her. But magic use was magic use, and I couldn’t risk it. Not that something like that had ever stopped Arabella when she was on the hunt.
She stalked across the room until she was standing in front of me. My cousin had the feline grace of a huntress, honed over the years she’d spent as second-in-command to our eldest cousin, Fiona, who was next in line to be queen. “You haven’t found anything useful yet, have you? In this pile of junk?” She waved a hand toward the artifacts in the room.
“No. But I will. Just give me more time.”
“We’re running out of time. The solstice is in a few days. If we don’t figure out how to stop them, the Hunters will return, and we can’t afford to lose any more Fae to the Hunt.”
I resisted the urge to snap at her and instead ground my teeth in frustration. Being hunted each solstice for centuries by Edric and his gang of underworld spirits had reduced our folk to near extinction. We wouldn’t last much longer if we didn’t find a way to stop Edric and keep the Hunt from returning.
“I know,” I said. “I searched all the files in his office. I can’t find anything on Lord Edric.”
“Well, look again. Use your powers if you have to. There has to be something. An object, a note, something that is helping hold him to this world. You”—she took a step closer to me and jabbed her finger into my chest—“just need to find it.” She punctuated those final two words with additional jabs.
“Arabella,” I said as sweetly as I could, “for the last time, Oscar is Godda’s descendent as much as he is Edric’s. That puts him under our protection. Magic use will lead the Hunt directly to Lydbury. Even if I didn’t have to worry about Oscar and Vivian, I don’t think we want Edric to know what we’re up to here. Do you?”
“Fine. Don’t use magic.” She paced and pouted. “But you don’t have time for distractions. So keep away from that human and stay focused on the mission.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible, either. Evelyn’s become part of the mission.”
“What? How? She’s not even related to Godda and Edric.”
“Oscar’s asked me to entertain her. I can’t decline without blowing my cover.”
“Then just tell him who you are and what you’re after.”
“And then what? Kill him? He’s human. It’s against Fae law, even if he is descended from Godda. Not to mention the fact that it’s highly unlikely he’d let us just destroy one of his precious artifacts.”
“You have an answer for everything. How would he even know anything’s gone missing in this place?” She gestured to the dusty boxes crowding us into the corner of the room.
“Why don’t you leave this to me? I’m sure you have something better to do.” I pulled myself up to my full height and allowed some of my power to leak through and radiate off my skin. “After all, as you like to remind me, we’re running out of time.” I smiled at her and put a hint of dazzle into it out of habit. Not enough to leave a marker but enough to remind her with whom she dealt.
“You know your charm doesn’t work on me, cuz.” She pinched my chin. “Faerie immunity.” She met my eyes and flashed her own dazzling grin back at me. “Now get back to work and make your queen proud.” She snapped her fingers and disappeared in a flash of light.
As much as I hated to admit it, Arabella was right. I needed to find the artifact linked to Edric, fast. But first, I needed to convince Oscar to skip lunch so Evelyn would be free. If I couldn’t manage to improve Evelyn’s opinion of me, she might convince Oscar to give me the sack.
3
After my shower,I reached for the phone on my dresser, only to discover a dozen missed messages. I skimmed through them. One was from my mother. Two were from my brothers. I’d read those later. I scrolled through the rest, stopping when I realized that most of the messages were from friends I hadn’t seen or talked to in months. College friends that Connor was probably hanging out with right now.
I opened the first message. Lacie:It’s not the same without you. Call me if you want to chat.
I scrolled to the next message. Serena:R U ok? Here for you.
One of Connor’s East Coast friends’ family had a vacation home in Vermont. Ever since junior year in college, when Connor and I started dating, we’d flown out from the Bay Area for what started as a post-finals, pre-Christmas party weekend before splitting up and returning to spend Christmas with our respective families. The tradition continued after graduation. This was the first year that I’d skipped it. I missed our friends, but they had more history with Connor, so I’d assumed he’d get to keep them after we broke up. It seemed odd that they’d all start texting me at the same time, expressing concern.
I skimmed through the names, stopping when I found a message from Connor. I read it quickly. Then I read it again.
Hey. Ignore Jace. He’s a jerk. Talk later?
