―Perhaps not. But I do enjoy thinking about it.‖
―Bring it on, Tinker Bell.‖
I stood up.
V‘lane laughed, and the sound was angelic, celestial. Although he no longer affected me sexually, he still packed that otherworldly punch. Regal, larger than life, he would always be too beautiful for words. He was dressed differently than I‘d ever seen him, and it suited his golden perfection. Like Barrons, he wore an elegant dark suit, crisp white shirt, and blood-red tie.
―Get your own fashion adviser,‖ Barrons growled.
―Maybe I decided I like your style.‖
―Maybe you thought if you were more like me, she‘d fuck you, too.‖
I flinched, but my reaction was nothing compared to V‘lane‘s.
I was frozen for a moment, stiffer than the Tin Man without oil. I gave a full body shudder, and ice tinkled to the floor. I stepped forward, leaving my frosty casing behind. The entire library—
furniture, books, floor, lamps, walls—glistened with a thin sheet of ice. The bulbs popped, one after the next.
―Stop it,‖ I snapped, breath frosting the air. ―Both of you. You‘re tough guys. I get it. But I‘m tired and fed up. So say whatever you came here to say, without all the posturing, then get the hell out.‖
Barrons laughed. ―Good for you, Ms. Lane.‖
―Bottom-line it, Barrons. Now.‖
―Get your things. We‘re going back to Dublin. We have work to do. The sidhe-seers didn‘t save you. I did.‖
―It was Dani who rescued me.‖
―You would have died here if not for me.‖
―I would have saved her,‖ said V‘lane.
―Bottom-line it, V‘lane. And mop up your mess.‖ The ice was melting. ―I‘m not cleaning up after either of you. And fix the lamps. I need light.‖
The lamps glowed again. The library was dry. ―The Book was spotted recently. I know where and can sift you about, hunting it. You can track it much more quickly with me than with him.‖
―And you‘ll report to the Grand Mistress on our progress?‖ I said dryly.
―I aided Rowena only to pave the way for us to continue the moment you were able. I answer to you, as always, MacKayla. Not her.‖
“After your queen,‖ I said bitterly. ―The one you chose to stay with instead of rescuing me.‖
―You were first to me,‖ Barrons said. ―There was no queen in front of you with me.‖
―Right. No queen—just four days,‖ I reminded. ―I don‘t believe it took you that long to find me. Care to tell me where you were the whole time? What did come before me?‖
He said nothing.
―I didn‘t think so.‖
I crossed the room and moved to stand by the fireplace. It was the old-fashioned kind, made for logs, with no gas hookup. V‘lane‘s temper tantrum had left me chilly. It had been a cold night in Dublin, and this unused wing was minimally heated. I missed my bookstore fires. I wanted comfort. ―Make me a fire, V‘lane.‖
Flames crackled and popped from white-barked, fragrant-smelling logs before I‘d even finished speaking.
―I will provide for all your needs, MacKayla. You have but to ask. Your parents are well. I have seen to it. Barrons cannot give you what I can.‖
I rubbed my hands together, warming them. ―Thank you for checking. Please continue to do so.‖
At some point, I wanted to see them, if only from a distance. Even if the cell towers had been up, I wasn‘t sure I could have spoken to them right now. I was no longer the daughter they‘d known. But I was the daughter who loved them and would do everything in my power to protect them. Even if that meant staying away, so none of my enemies could follow me there. I turned around. V‘lane was on my right, Barrons at my left. I was amused to see that a sofa, four chairs, and three tables had appeared in the twenty-five feet between them. V‘lane had rearranged furniture while my back was turned. As if a little furniture would stop Jericho Barrons. He could move lightning-fast, and there was no love lost between these two. For the umpteenth time, I wondered why. I knew neither of them would ever tell me. Still, there might be a way …
In the meantime, while I stockpiled my flagging energy for the attempt, I said, ―Bring me up to speed. What happened at the Keltars‘ on Samhain?‖
―The ritual to maintain the walls failed,‖ said Barrons.
―Obviously. Details.‖
―We used dark magic. We tried everything. The Keltar come from a line of Druids that have long been walking a fine line. Especially Cian. Dageus and Drustan made the first attempt. When that failed, Christian and I took our turn.‖
―What exactly did your ?turn‘ constitute?‖
―Don‘t ask, Ms. Lane. This time just leave it. It was the only thing we could have done that might have worked. It didn‘t. It‘s no longer relevant.‖
I dropped the subject. I‘d get more detail from Christian than I‘d ever get from Barrons, and I planned to see him as soon as possible. He was an integral part of my plans for the future. As if he‘d read my mind, Barrons said, ―Christian is gone.‖
I jerked. ―What do you mean, gone?‖
―Missing. He disappeared when the Fae realm supplanted Ban Drochaid, the white stones where the Keltar perform the ritual. He was in the circle when it happened.‖
―Well, where did he go?‖ I demanded, looking from Barrons to V‘lane.
―If we knew that, he wouldn‘t be missing,‖ Barrons said dryly.
―Impossible to say,‖ said V‘lane, ―although we have been searching. My queen is deeply distressed to have lost one of her Keltar Druids at such a critical time. His uncles, too, seek him.‖
―He‘s been missing for two months?‖ I was horrified. Where was the young, sexy Scotsman?
Don‘t let him be in Faery, I thought, being made Pri-ya! He had just the kind of extraordinary good looks that appealed to the Fae. I hated asking the next question. ―Do we know if he‘s alive?
Does either of you have some mystical way of determining that?‖
They shook their heads.
I sighed heavily and rubbed my eyes. Damn. Christian was the only man I‘d met since arriving in Dublin that I‘d actually trusted—well, more than anyone else, at least—and now he was gone. I refused to believe he was dead. That would be giving up on him. I would never give up on any of my humans.
Not only did I like him, I needed him. He was a walking lie detector. His ability to discern truth from fiction was a talent I‘d been itching to put to use. And it was these two standing in this very room that I‘d wanted to test it on. I narrowed my eyes. How very convenient for both of them that he‘d disappeared when he had.
I was worried for Christian. I was disappointed that I‘d lost the opportunity to force some answers.
But I hadn‘t lost all my opportunities.
―Get your things,‖ Barrons said. ―Let‘s go. Now.‖
―MacKayla comes with me,‖ said V‘lane. ―You cannot protect her parents. You cannot sift. She will not choose you.‖
There was enough testosterone in the room for an entire army of men, and I wasn‘t immune to it. Even without glamour, V‘lane was more seductive than any human male alive. And Barrons—
well, the body remembered and reveled in every moment of it. The two of them turning it up at the same time made it a little hard to breathe.
I looked from one to the other, considering my options. They watched in silence, waiting for me to make my choice.
I stepped toward Barrons.
His dark gaze glittered with triumph. I could feel the smugness rolling off him, nearly as strong as the sexual charge he was throwing my way.
―Think hard and fast,‖ V‘lane hissed. ―It would be unwise to alienate me, MacKayla.‖
I was thinking hard and fast.
I closed my hand around Barrons‘ forearm. He could not have looked more pleased if I‘d just gazed up at him with doe eyes and told him he was my world.
I locked my hand down, dug my nails into his flesh, and held on.
His eyes narrowed, then flared, and then I was no longer seeing him at all, because I‘d pushed, pushed, pushed violently, stabbed myself brutally deep into his mind with the special sidhe-seer talent that had fully wakened in his bed.
I wanted answers. I wanted to know why there was so much animosity between these two. I wanted to know who to trust, who was not the better man but at least the slightly less-bad one. I pushed, seeking any breach I could exploit, and suddenly I was—
In Faery!
It had to be. The scenery was impossibly lush, the colors too rich, vivid, so full of tone they had texture, like that first beach V‘lane had taken me to months ago, where I‘d played volleyball with Alina, when he‘d given me the gift of seeing her again, if only in an illusion. But this was no beach—this was the Fae court!
Brilliantly colored silk chaises were scattered around a dais. Trees sprouted leaves and flowers of incomprehensible color and dimension. The breeze smelled of jasmine and sandalwood and some other scent that I imagined heaven—if such a place existed—would smell like. I wanted to look around. I wanted to see the queen on her dais, but I couldn‘t turn my/our gaze toward it because I was a passenger in his head, and I was—
Inside Barrons‘ body.
I was strong.
I was cold.
I was mighty, and they didn’t even know just how mighty I was. They didn’t recognize me, the fools.
I was danger.
I was everything they should fear, but they’d lived so long that they’d forgotten fear. I would teach them.
I would remind them.
I was with a Fae Princess, buried deep inside her. She throbbed around me. She was energy, she was empty, she was sex that devoured. Her nails were on my shoulders, clawing. I was more pleasure than any of her princes could ever be. I was full. I was inexhaustible. It was why she’d sought me. Word had spread, as I’d meant it to, and, bored, jaded, she’d come for me, as I’d known she would.
I’d spent months at court, in her bed, watching, learning, studying the Seelie court. Seeking answers. Hunting the bloody damned Book.
But now I was bored, and I’d learned all there was to know from them, because they were fools who drank again and again from a mystical cauldron to make themselves forget. As if forgetting eradicated the sin.
I needed them to remember.
They couldn’t.
But I could make them remember fear.
V’lane was watching me, as he’d been watching me from the moment I’d taken his princess, waiting for her to be his again, certain she would; after all, they were immortal. They were gods. They were invincible. Waiting for that moment when I was no longer her protected plaything so he could destroy me.