City of Fae

“You’re her weakness, or you would be, if there was a way to stop her manipulating you.”


Andrews had bowed his head. “There must be a way. We can’t let this happen. What about the fae in Under? Surely they don’t want her out? She’ll ruin everything your kind have worked for. The freedom, the attention … If the people see what you’re really like, they won’t let you live among them. Not anymore.” He spoke with surprising vehemence, and I couldn’t blame him. A fae had taken his sister. He knew what they were capable of, and that was before you turned them into monsters living below London’s streets.

Warren’s smile was a sorry thing, laden with regret. “We’re all glimmers of what we once were. Most are afraid, in denial, and would rather pretend they can live perfectly fine among humans than deal with the queen. The younger ones hardly even know what they’re capable of. And then there are those that believe she can free us all. The queen is old draíocht, from another time, another place … We’re all lesser, shells of what we were, what we could be. Those who might rise against her, she’d crush.” He drew in a deep breath. “The FA are the only ones who might be able to help, but right now, they’re more interested in stopping Reign, and me, considering I let him out of confinement.”

“Surely they’d rally around a greater threat?” I asked.

“Yes, once me, Reign, and you, are behind bars. But what do you think they’ll be able to do against the queen, Alina?”

Every member of the Fae Authority I’d met had been pretty damn terrifying. They certainly wouldn’t hesitate in trying to stop her. Put a few of them together, and they were formidable. “We should get them on our side, somehow, and before Saturday.” I raised an eyebrow at Warren. “Didn’t you and the Keepers create the FA? Don’t you have some sort of power over them?”

“No. We created them, put the laws in place, gave them command over their own means of operating. They’re independent. It had to be that way to have any hope of controlling the fae.”

I’d blown any chance of talking to them when I’d stabbed two in Reign’s apartment, a memory I wasn’t particularly keen on reliving. They’d lock me up before I could say “boo.” I wasn’t human. They had authority over me. Resistance would be met with deadly force.

“You’re our best chance, Alina,” Warren said. “You’re the only thing that can get close to her before Saturday, before she escapes.”

Andrews lifted his head. “It’s suicide. The queen will kill her.”

“She’s dead anyway.”

“You don’t know that.” Andrews shoved off the kitchen counter. “You’re meant to be some hot-shot ancient fae, why don’t you go see the queen, huh? Do something? This is happening because you didn’t get it right the first time.”

Warren’s lip rippled. “Back down, Detective. You have no idea who or what you’re talking to.”

“It’s okay.” I rested a hand on Andrews’s shoulder. I had days to live, according to Warren. Days in which I could wallow in self-pity, bemoaning a life that wasn’t mine, or try and make a difference. “She won’t kill me … She created me. Maybe … maybe I can get close enough to do some damage.” The memory of her huge and hideous body, with its glistening carapace, poured sickly shivers through me.

Andrews whirled, as though alarmed. For a second, he looked almost surprised. He dropped his gaze to my hand, then his face softened. “Okay … fine. I need to check in with work and inform the right people of what’s going on here.”

“They won’t believe you.”

He hesitated, lips twisting, wanting to deny it. “I can’t just do nothing. My partner was bespelled by the queen. How many others are involved? I can’t sit on this, Alina. I just can’t.”

“Tell the FA.” I glanced at Warren who shook his head; screw him. Someone besides the people in this room had to know what was going on. “They’ll listen to you.”

“And then lock us away behind iron bars,” Warren chimed in.

I shot him a glare, and told Andrews, “Don’t worry about us. I’ll find a way to make it work.” Hey, look at me, sounding like I knew what the hell I was doing when really I didn’t have a clue. “Get the FA involved and, if you can, convince them they need Reign and Warren free, so we can lure the queen in.”

Andrews nodded, “Okay—”

Reign burst through the door. “FA, coming in hot. We have to get out of here, now.” Warren crossed the room in a few strides and was out the door in seconds. Reign hung back, hand out, waiting for me to take it. “Alina, c’mon … You need to come with me now.”

Andrews gave me a reluctant nod. “Go, I’ll tell them everything, and hope they listen.” I didn’t want to leave him. He was caught up in this and seemed so out of place. He must have seen the concern on my face. “I’ll be fine, go.”

I closed my hand around Reign’s, ignoring the tingle, and glanced back as he dragged me from my home. Andrews had already turned away.





Chapter Twenty