Pink Princess Fairytini

Fairy Files Book II

By

Katharine Sadler

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2015 by Katharine Sadler

All Rights Reserved.

CHAPTER ONE

Some things you shouldn’t have to fight for. – Chloe Frangipani

I have fought for everything I have. –Althea Frangipani

I studied the man seated across from me in my small, hot office. I had the fan running, but the air conditioner was on the fritz again. We needed a new one, but the club couldn’t afford it. I wiped a rivulet of sweat from my temple and smiled at the latest candidate for a job at my martini bar, Ephemeral. After a string of fae applicants, only two of whom had actually worked out – why the gatekeeper had ever thought a dryad who preferred trees to people would have been a good pick, was beyond me – this guy appeared to be human. He was handsome enough in a too pretty to get his hands dirty kind of way, and he had an arrogance that usually spelled trouble for a fantasy provider in my club. Unfortunately, we were understaffed and with the hours I’d been forced to put in, training with my mother’s fighting instructor and with Vin who was teaching me to be a figurehead for a fae rebellion, I just didn’t have the time to fill in like I used to.

“What do you know about Ephemeral?” I asked my standard interview question and sent up a little prayer that the AC repairman would get us some cool air before we opened.

“Just that your club is really popular with the ladies, and you have an unusually good-looking staff.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. If there was one thing I couldn’t stand, it was liars, or anyone who treated me like I was some delicate flower who couldn’t handle the truth. I wasn’t sure, yet, what category…I looked down at his resume to remind myself of his name, the heat was boiling my brain…Neil fell into. “You’ve been driving cab in Sarsaparilla for two years and that’s all you’ve heard about my club?”

He shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve heard you’ve had some great talent. A buddy of mine said he got his start here, and now he’s an actor in Hollywood.”

“Arnie Woods?” I’d only had one employee go on to Hollywood, but he wasn’t an actor, he was a make-up artist.

Neil shook his head. “No, Reggie Carson.”

I almost dropped my head into my hands and groaned. It wasn’t my place to tell the kid his friend made adult films in Nevada. “Okay, well, that’s a rare occurrence around here. He’s the only staff member of mine who’s gone on to a career in…acting. If you want the job because you think it will be a stepping stone—”

“No.” He widened his eyes, as though he was shocked by the accusation. “No. I just want a job in a club and yours seems like a good one.”

“Because you get to fuck the patrons?” I was intentionally crude to get a rise out of him. Shocking the hell out of someone is a good way to discover their true colors.

“No.” His cheeks pinked, but he didn’t meet my eyes. Strike two.

“Above all else, I expect honesty from my employees, Neil. I need you to tell me the truth. Is it your dream to be a prostitute in my club?”

His face paled and I knew I’d pushed a button. How he reacted could determine whether or not he’d be a good fit for Ephemeral. He took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “I hadn’t really thought of it that way.”

I raised my eyebrows. He hadn’t thought of it that way? Having sex for money was having sex for money, but apparently in his mind only women could be prostitutes. The double standard for women when it came to sex was infuriating, but Neil’s allegiance to it didn’t make him a bad person, just an idiot.

“It’s just…” He sighed. “Look, I wouldn’t be opposed to having sex if the job required it, but mostly I’d like to help people. My best friend’s sister came here after a bad break-up and her girlfriends chipped in to get her a couple of hours in one of your back rooms. She told him it was the best night of her life and made her realize that she should expect more from the men she dates. She’s actually stopped dating losers. If I can do that for women, I think that would be more gratifying than driving cab.”

“That’s sweet,” I said, not hiding my sarcasm. “And you think a night of great sex changed her outlook on men?”

He looked confused, and I almost laughed aloud. “Um, yeah.”

“I don’t know what kind of sex you’ve been having, but the physical act alone is rarely life-changing, especially not sex with a stranger. My staff never, ever sleep with my patrons. If they do, they get fired. Do you understand?”

He nodded, and he didn’t look as disappointed as I’d expected. Point to him.

“What my staff does is listen. We study our patrons and listen to what they say. We tell them what they need to hear, we show them with our words and our actions that they are beautiful and deserving of attention and kind treatment. It’s weird how a stranger’s words can make such an impact, but your sister’s story is just one of many I’ve heard of women discovering a new-found confidence after visiting our club.”

He hesitated for just a moment. “I…I can do that.”

“Great,” I said, though I had little confidence that he would last as a fantasy provider. He had the looks, but I didn’t trust that his heart was in the right place, and our patrons could sniff out insincerity like bloodhounds. “When can you start? I’ll want you to train for two days before I put you on the schedule.”

“I can start today.”

I didn’t usually start people immediately, but it was Monday and it would be best to start him on a slower night when someone could take the time to train him. We were normally closed on Mondays, but I’d decided to celebrate October fest with extended hours all month. “That’s perfect.” I rose from my desk, not missing the way his eyes scanned my body. Such behavior, especially when he didn’t try to hide his assessing gaze was disrespectful. He would certainly never treat a male boss that way. I should have been angry, but if I got angry every time some guy disrespected me or treated me like a piece of meat, I’d be too angry to do anything but rage. Instead, I ignored his eyes, and marked him down another point in my mental tally. Checking out the boss definitely went in the con category. “Come with me and we’ll find someone to train you. Since you’ve never waited tables before, we’ll start you out as a busboy. You can prove yourself there.”

He frowned as he rose. “What can I prove? That I know how to pick up and carry dirty dishes?”

Tick, sassing his potential boss, another point lost. “Every single member of my staff is expected to make my patrons feel good. Your job is to support the wait staff by picking up the slack when they need to spend extra time with a patron. That will mean you often interact with the patrons just as much as the waiters and waitresses. You will learn all of this in your training tonight.” I made a mental review of who was working. “You’ll be shadowing Shelly. She’s been bussing tables with us for eight months and is ready to move up to a waitress position as soon as you’re trained to take over from her.” Plus, Shelly wouldn’t put up with his shit, and she’d be able to see, in one night, whether he had what it took to be a fantasy provider. She was almost as good at reading people as I was.

“Eight months?” He didn’t bother trying to hide the sneer in his voice.

“This way.” I ignored his words and led him downstairs. The club wasn’t packed, but most of the tables were filled and Pierson was slinging drinks at a pace that meant we’d make a profit. Pierson’s easy smile and confidence drew people to him as handily as his good looks. His chiseled features and styled hair made him almost too good-looking but the angry, red scar under his eye somehow made him even more attractive, more human and more approachable. A flaw to highlight his beauty. I handed Neil over to Shelly and headed toward Pierson when he waved me over. I saw our frequent police visitor as soon as I got close to the bar.

“Chloe, there’s an Officer Harvey here to see you,” Pierson said.

“Officer Harvey?” I said, scanning the bar area like I didn’t see the man in question right in front of me. Pierson and I enjoyed our little games.

“Jesus,” Harvey said. “Don’t you two ever get tired of this shtick?”

I smiled at Harvey. “Oh, there you are Officer.”

He didn’t smile back, but I saw his lips twitch. He looked good, sitting there, all rugged muscle and laugh lines. “Glad I’m so noticeable.” He stood and stepped close to me, so close that I could feel his warm breath on my neck. I held back a shiver and met his intense gaze. “We need to talk somewhere quiet.”

I led him up to my office, wondering if his eyes were on my ass, and sort of hoping they were. I knew Harvey respected me and my authority, so I didn’t mind if he also appreciated my body. “What’s up?” I asked, taking a seat behind my desk. Harvey sat where Neil had been sitting just moments before, and I couldn’t help but compare the two men. Where Neil had been pretty Harvey was rugged and rough, his body chiseled and muscled, his face hard, until he smiled and his green eyes lit up. Where Neil had been empty arrogance, Harvey was cool confidence, a man with nothing to prove. I’d always been drawn to him, but that day the pull felt magnetic. Maybe it was because I was living with Knuffington and Sapphire, who couldn’t keep their hands off each other and weren’t very quiet in their bedroom, or maybe it was because I hung out too much with Vin who was blissfully in love with Mercury. Maybe it had to do with the unfamiliar pangs of loneliness I’d had on occasion or the rare moments when I’d wished for someone to look at me the way Knuffington looked at Sapphire. Maybe it was a combination of all those things, but acknowledging any of them would be to admit I’d changed and I hadn’t. I was still the same fun-loving faun fairy who didn’t believe in true love or happily ever afters.

Whatever the reason, I couldn’t stop staring at his lips and imagining how they would feel, how he would taste. I shook my head to shake free those thoughts and noticed his lips curl up slightly, like he knew what I was thinking.

“You look…frustrated,” he said, his voice husky and full of innuendo. “Anything I can help you with?”

“No,” I said, too fast. “What did you need to talk to me about?”

He frowned and slid a folder across my desk. I opened it and saw one of my fantasy providers, one of the better ones, in bed with a much older woman. “Why are you showing me pictures of one of my employees having sex?” I asked. “Have you developed a taste for voyeurism?”

His eyes heated. “Only if it’s you I’m watching.” He swallowed hard, like his thoughts were also going places he hadn’t meant for them to go. “He’s in bed with the mayor’s wife.”

Those words were like an ice-cold shower to my libido. “Shit. Damn. Fuck. I don’t suppose the mayor hasn’t seen these, yet.”

He shook his head. “He got them from a Private investigator and brought them to us. He wants to press charges against your club for prostitution.”

“Can he do that?” I asked, my heart beating too hard. “This didn’t happen in my club, and I can’t control what happens outside it.”

“Yeah, that’s what’s saving your bacon. He claims his wife met your guy and arranged to have sex for money at Ephemeral, but he can’t prove it. He also can’t prove you were aware of the negotiation.”

“So why aren’t you questioning me? Why just show me the pictures?”

“I know you aren’t a fucking pimp, and I’m not going to treat you like a criminal just because one of your guys can’t keep his dick in his pants.”

Harvey’s faith in me and his willingness to risk his job to help me, warmed me in a whole different way. “I’ll talk to him.”

“You need to do more than that, Chloe. We’re going to have to bring him in for questioning and if we can prove he took money to sleep with the mayor’s wife, it will reflect on you. You need to fire him.”

I hated that he was right. Dale wasn’t a bad guy, he was sensitive and kind and, if I had my guess, he’d been led on by the mayor’s wife. If he took money from her, he had to be thinking it was the right thing to do to help her in some weird, stupid way. At the end of the day, though, it didn’t matter why he did what he did, he’d broken one of my cardinal rules. The mayor’s wife was a patron, a patron he served, and he’d gotten romantic with her. This lawsuit was exactly why that rule was so important. “Okay, I’ll fire him tonight.”

He nodded and stood. “I doubt anyone will ask, but if they do, I interrogated you and put the fear of god into you.”

“Got it. You terrified me into submission.” I stood and walked him to the door. It was only a few steps, but it was the least I could do after what he’d done for me. “Thank you.”

He spun to face me, leaning one shoulder into the door, his face inches from mine. I could have backed away, but I didn’t want to. “You don’t have to thank me,” he said. “You don’t ever have to thank me. I would do that and more for you, if you’d let me.”

“More? What more could you do?”

He gripped my waist, his thumbs rubbing my hip bones where they rose above my low-rise jeans. “You could let me take you out.” He asked me the same question he’d asked every time he’d seen me for the last two years. Every time he’d asked, I’d said no.

“Okay,” I said, the words leaving my lips without my full consent. Once they were out, though, I didn’t want to take them back. Maybe a part of me wanted to find out if what I’d believed all my life, that I was incapable of romantic commitment, was true or not. Or maybe I was just tired of seeing everyone else in my life finding love while I remained alone. All I knew for sure was that in that moment, I wanted Harvey and all the reasons I’d had to avoid him no longer seemed to matter.

His eyes widened, a small smile curving his lips. “Can you say that again, just so there’s no confusion?”

“Yes,” I said, hardly believing it myself. “I want to go out with you. But we should wait until this whole thing with the mayor blows over. I don’t want you to lose your job for taking me out.”

He leaned in, his heat warming my body, his grip on my waist tightening. “I’ve waited two years to take you out, Chloe. Let me worry about my job.”

“But—” He stopped my words and my worries with a kiss. I might have expected a kiss from a man like Harvey to be rough and aggressive, but he pressed his lips to mine with a tenderness that made my chest ache. I leaned in to him, opening to him, but he stepped away and broke the kiss.

He smiled wide, his eyes twinkling. “You made me wait two years, Chloe. I think you should have to wait, too. I’ll pick you up at noon tomorrow for lunch?”

I’m not a swooner, have never been a fan of romantic movies or books, and have spent my entire adult life believing romantic love is a delusion, but the fact that Harvey knew my schedule and understood that a dinner date wasn’t an option for me, made my knees a little weak. “That would be perfect.”

CHAPTER TWO

Running, unless it’s for exercise, never gets you any closer to your goals. – Chloe Frangipani

You don’t stand and fight until you can be sure you’re going to win. – Althea Frangipani

Dale gave a quick knock at my office door and sat down where Harvey had been sitting just ten minutes earlier. “What’s up, boss?” he asked, his smile open and kind, just like he was.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” I said. “Want to explain why you’re sleeping with the mayor’s wife for money?”

His smile dropped, but his expression didn’t shutter. If he played poker, he’d lose every time, because he was incapable of hiding his thoughts. “I’ve never taken a cent from her, Chloe. I’m in love.”

I bit down hard on my lower lip to keep from rolling my eyes. “You met her at Ephemeral, Dale. You know the rule about dating patrons.”

He gave me a wide-eyed look I would have believed was insincere from anyone else. “I know it’s the rule but…It’s never really made sense to me. It was love at first sight between us, how could I deny that?”

It was a lost cause, but I couldn’t resist trying to set him straight. “She’s a married woman, Dale. You’re a young, good-looking man. Are you sure it’s love on her end?”

The hurt in his eyes made me regret the harshness of my reality check. “She’s divorcing her husband for me. She filed the papers today.”

Huh, I hadn’t seen that coming. “That’s great, Dale, I’m really happy for both of you, but I’m going to have to fire you. You broke one of the cardinal rules here, and now the mayor is accusing me of being a pimp.”

The horrified look on his face made me want to strangle some sense into him. I’d explained more than once to my staff why they couldn’t date the patrons, but he seemed shocked by the fall out. “Shit, boss, I’m sorry. Is there anyone you need me to talk to? Anything I can do?”

“No, nothing beyond telling the police the truth if they come to talk to you. I’m sorry to let you go, you’ve been a good worker, but this could close down the club.”

He nodded. “I understand, boss. I’ll miss working here, but I can’t be sorry for the love I have.”

I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood. Was I as bad as Dale, lust-struck and agreeing to an ill-advised date with Harvey because I had fallen prey to a delusion? “I wish you all the best, Dale.”

My phone rang as I showed him out. When Frost’s name showed up on the caller ID, I considered not answering. I hadn’t spoken to him in three weeks, and it had been a good three weeks. Still, he’d never called me without a good reason. “Autonomy,” I whispered and clicked the answer button.

“Go dancing with me tonight,” Frost said, without any preamble or explanation.

“What?” I asked, while I tried to arrange my thoughts. Frost was my favorite person to dance with, but he had a mystery mate, and I had a date with Harvey that I didn’t want to blow by getting caught up in some dance-fueled lust with Frost.

“I haven’t seen you in three weeks. I miss you.”

“You miss me? You don’t even like me.”

He huffed out a sigh. “Just go dancing with me.”

“I’m seeing someone,” I said. Moments before I’d been considering cancelling my date with Harvey, but just the sound of Frost’s voice shored up my resolve to give Harvey a chance. “Call your mate.”

“I…Who are you seeing? I thought you and Mercury were matched.”

Oops. Mercury and I had told Sapphire and Knuffington that we weren’t really matched, but I hadn’t spoken to Frost and hadn’t thought to tell him. “Um…Mercury and I were never matched.”

Frost was silent for several long moments. “Why did you lie?”

“At first, we lied to keep Sapphire and Knuffington from questioning us living together.”

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

Because I liked you believing I was capable of committing to someone. I couldn’t tell Frost that, though, because it would be admitting that I cared what he thought of me and I wouldn’t give him that power over me. Because of the club I owned and the way we’d met, on a dance floor, Frost believed I was promiscuous, undiscriminating, and morally corrupt. I’d liked having a pretend match with Mercury to prove otherwise. “It just never came up.”

He grunted and it sounded like disbelief. “And who are you seeing now?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m dating Harvey.”

“The cop?” He sighed again and let out a low growl.

“Look, I’ve just lost another staff member and I need to get downstairs and fill in for him, so if all you’re going to do is growl at me, I’m hanging up.”

“Fuck.” His words were barely audible above the growl. “I need your help, Chloe. Can you come by my office tomorrow morning?”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be there at ten.”

“What’s up, Merc?” I asked, patting Mercury on the back. He was sitting at my bar, and I was waiting for Pierson to fill an order for one of my tables. Most of my staff were men, but I always liked to keep one or two women on the floor every night for those tables of women who wanted a true man-free girls’ night out, and for the rare tables of straight men we got.

Mercury frowned at my nickname for him. I noticed more than one woman admiring his fit body and chiseled features, his scruffy beard and scars did little to hinder his good looks, but he didn’t notice or care. “The usual. Galena is angry because I never pick up my dirty clothes and put them in the laundry hamper, which somehow means I don’t respect her or appreciate everything she does to keep our home clean. I know a lot of her anger comes from her hatred of being stuck indoors, but it doesn’t make her any easier to live with.” Galena was Mercury’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of his daughter. She’d come to the Non to escape the killing wrath of my fairy grandfather, King Regalia, who’d been set on teaching me a lesson by killing my friends and everyone they loved. I’d expected her to return to Rubalia as soon as my mother killed my grandfather, but she’d stayed. Mercury wanted more time with his daughter and Galena had agreed. Mercury had stayed to pose as a drug dealer and find out who was behind the fae drug being peddled to humans in the Non. So far, he’d come up with no answers.

“Too bad you and Vin can’t live together,” I said, trying to be sympathetic.

His face paled and his blue eyes widened. “We’re not ready for that.”

A loud crash interrupted our conversation. I held up one finger and rushed to the kitchen area. Neil was crouched down, picking up bits of broken glasses and putting them on his tray.

“He came in the exit door,” said Conner, one of my fantasy providers. “Ran right into me.” Conner still held a tray with neatly arranged tapas at shoulder-level. He was a pro and had managed to save the food in the collision.

I nodded and moved out of the way so he could pass. Neil looked up as Conner left. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m not used to this fast pace, I guess.”

“It’s okay. Glasses can be replaced.” I headed back out to the floor to pick up the drinks for my table and decided to call for Neil’s references during my break. If he couldn’t handle the pace of Ephemeral, which was slow compared to a lot of other clubs, I don’t know how he’d managed driving cab.

I smiled warmly at the ladies at my table, especially the one in the center seat, Martha, who’d just gotten out of a bad, I suspected abusive, marriage, and delivered their drinks. They looked a bit glum, and I figured they’d been discussing Martha’s divorce, so I sat down with them and let them tell me the story, offering what encouragement and advice I could. I had the contact information of wonderful lawyers and therapists who specialized in domestic abuse, since we saw women who’d been in those sorts of situations more often than I would have ever imagined possible, and I gave Martha business cards for a couple of them.

We closed early and all I wanted was to go home and collapse into bed. Even after a slow night, all the drama with Dale and Neil’s six accidents, proving that klutziness was going to be a problem for him, had exhausted me. I hadn’t been able to get ahold of any of Neil’s references and I had a bad feeling I’d get no good news when I did reach them.

I started toward the bus stop, scanning the street for trouble as I walked. Ephemeral was in a safe, decent neighborhood, still bustling with people leaving the other clubs on the street. Even on a Monday night, people stayed out until dawn. For some people, Tuesday and Wednesday was their weekend. I was contemplating my bed and a cup of hot chocolate, when fingers gripped my bicep and yanked me into a dark alley. Cold steel pinched my neck and a hard body pinned mine against the brick wall.

“What do you want?” I asked, my heart pounding with fear. “My purse is on my shoulder, just take it and go.”

“You don’t make small talk when someone puts a knife to your throat,” said a familiar, gruff voice. “You fight.”

My heart rate slowed and I sagged just a bit. “It’s always best to avoid a fight, Hi, especially if the attacker is human and will be tweaked out by the way I move.”

Hieronymus twitched, the only sign of displeasure he showed at my use of the nickname he detested. Of all the trainers my mother could have stuck me with, Hieronymus wasn’t anywhere near the nightmare I’d expected. I still liked to have fun at his expense, though. “Pretend I am a rogue fairy attacking you, and fight me.”

I sighed. “I’m tired. I just want to go home to bed, can’t we fight tomorrow?”

He pushed the knife a bit harder into my flesh and slid a knee between my thighs. “Fight.”

So, I turned my head to the side and shifted my body in the same way I would to get small enough to fly. I made my neck as thin as a strand of spaghetti and slipped away from the knife blade. He still had me pinned with his body, so I slammed the side of my hand into his Adam’s apple, while I squeezed his thigh between my own.

He dodged my blow to his neck, but in so doing, he gave me enough leeway to slide away from him along the wall. I leapt back several steps and leaped, kicking high and connecting with his head. I didn’t kick hard enough to really hurt him, but he staggered back and glared at me. “Didn’t see that coming, did you, Hi?”

He bounced back on his toes. “I have a deal for you, princess. If I win this fight, you call me by my proper name only.”

I shrugged. “And what do I get if I win?”

“A cookie.”

I laughed. “Look at you, Hi, making a human joke. That’s precious.”

He growled and ducked, running at me full-speed. The first time he’d tried that move, his bulk moving toward me at top speed had scared the shit out of me, but I was used to his tricks now. I would love to say that I shifted smoothly out of his way, maybe leaping with a single bound onto a dumpster, like in some kick-ass action movie, but I was still in training. I dodged to the side, tripped over my own feet, and landed hard on my hip. Hieronymus flew by me, and I swept out hard with both my legs. He tripped and took a header into the brick wall of the alley.

He hit so hard that I heard the thunk and couldn’t help smiling to myself. Of course I was worried that he might be hurt, but it was the first time I’d gotten him to the ground, and I couldn’t help being a little proud of myself. I scrambled to my feet and rushed over to the groaning fairy. A dark knot was already forming on his forehead, and I laid my hand over the bruise so that I could heal him.

He grabbed my wrist and twisted, snapping the delicate bones and making me shriek with pain. I crab-walked away from him with my good hand and glared at him once my back was against the wall on the other side of the alley. “What the hell?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Compassion gets you killed,” he said, rising to his feet with a bit of a wobble. “Come on. I have something to show you.”

“How about you fix my wrist up first?” I asked, not ashamed of the tears of pain on my cheeks.

Hieronymus had the healing ability like most fairies did, like I did. “In a bit. Pain is the best lesson, and I don’t want you to forget this one.”

“Or you just enjoy my pain,” I said. “At least let me heal you, so you don’t keel over before you fix my wrist.”

He nodded his acquiescence, which meant he was hurt pretty badly. He’d never allowed me to heal him before. I stood, cradling my wrist, and walked over to him. I placed a hand to his forehead and fixed the contusion and the concussion. Hieronymus straightened and looked at me, a new interest in his eyes. “Your magic is strong. It is not diluted by your faun blood.”

“Lucky for you,” I said, with a flirty smile. “Now, don’t you just feel so grateful you want to fix up my wrist?”

He rolled his eyes skyward like he was thinking, before he returned his gaze to me and smirked. “Nope. Come on, grasshopper.”

“Look at you with the human slang,” I said, not thinking he was cute at all. Still, I followed him, because wrist-breaker and annoyance that he was, he was the lesser of two evils. If I didn’t stick with him, I might get stuck with a worse trainer. Plus, there was no sense in making him angry and bringing my mother’s wrath down on me in the process.

Hieronymus led me to a fancy, black sedan that looked sleek and expensive. Cars don’t interest me, so I didn’t pay attention to the make or model, though I did hesitate before following Hieronymus into the car. With his long, lean form, expensive-looking clothes and almost metro sense of grooming, he looked like he could easily be the owner of such a vehicle. Hieronymus was the first fairy I’d met, other than myself, who wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, but he wasn’t ugly by any means. His green eyes were a bit too close together and his nose and cheekbones were too sharp, but he had a confidence and a lethal calmness about him that made up for any physical failings. Like him, I also had somewhat aquiline features, and my body tended toward skinny rather than curvaceous, but I’d never dwelled on my looks, despite my mother’s constant harping on them. I believed that confidence and personality shone through and were more important than looks. If I thought about I knew I was pretty enough but, like Hieronymus, I lacked the ethereal beauty of the other fairies I’d met. My mother had always blamed my faun genes for my “pedestrian looks” but, after meeting the gorgeous Knuffington, I figured fae beauty had as much to do with the luck of the draw as human beauty.

“What are you doing with a car like this?” I asked.

He shrugged, sliding onto the leather seats. “The gatekeeper has connections and reason to keep on the queen’s good side.”

Or the gatekeeper was just playing every side he could. I hesitated to get into the car. Hieronymus had been a hard task master, training me at a local gym, and I knew he wouldn’t kill me or put me in any real danger. Still, he worked for my mother and I really had no reason to trust either of them. Having to play nice with some royal fae would be torture enough in my book. “Where are you taking me?”

“Nowhere if you don’t get in.”

I figured I could stand on the sidewalk all night and argue with him, or I could just go with him and see what he had to show me. If I’d had more energy, I’d have chosen the former option, but I was tired and wanted to go home, so I chose the latter.

CHAPTER THREE

It’s not that I don’t like luxuries, it’s that I don’t trust them unless I earned them myself. I’ve never believed in magic diet pills or get rich quick schemes. – Chloe Frangipani

Appearances, darling, appearances are all that matter in the end. –Althea Frangipani

When the car took us to the heart of downtown and pulled up in front of a fancy apartment building with a doorman, I shook my head. “I am not a prostitute,” I said. I’m not sure why that was the conclusion to which I leapt, that Hieronymus wanted to pimp me out to some wealthy fairy, but it probably had something to do with the lectures he’d given me about my royal obligations, particularly when it came to the men I chose to date and marry. I didn’t think he was literally going to pimp me out, more that my mother was, and not for sex, but for marriage. I wasn’t sure which was worse.

Hieronymus gave me a wide-eyed look and I was pretty sure I saw a pink blush creep up his cheeks. “I hope this is just another human slang I don’t understand.”

Not wanting to shock him any more than I already had, I nodded. “Yep, sure is. Why are we here?”

“You will see when we get inside.”

Everyone has their limit and being led into the lap of luxury with no explanation was mine. I leapt across the seats and straddled Hieronymus, wrapping my good hand around his throat. He shifted to fairy size like it was as easy as blinking and shot up to the car ceiling. I’m pretty sure he was yelling at me, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying because he was so tiny.

“I’m shocked,” I said. “That you just chose the coward’s way out instead of fighting me like a man.” Though Hieronymus had taught me to shift body parts to different sizes as a method of defense, he had sworn that shifting into an animal or flying fairy was the coward’s way out of a fight, and I’d never be respected as a warrior if I chose it. When it came down to a choice between life and death in a fight, I knew I’d choose the coward’s way and life in a heartbeat, but Hieronymus didn’t need to know that.

Hieronymus flew down to what had been my seat moments earlier and returned to human size. “I will not lower myself to fighting you in a car like a common human,” he said, puffing his chest. “It is not the coward’s way to shift to flying fairy when my opponent has already acted dishonorably.”

I sighed. “Please enlighten me. Jumping on you for answers is dishonorable? We fight all the time.”

He stared heavenward as though he were asking for assistance. “Yes. We fight to defend ourselves, to carry out orders, or to protect those we love. In a situation like this, the honorable course would be to use your brain.”

Really? He wanted me to use my brain at one in the morning after I’d worked all night, been ambushed by the mayor, and had to hear in depth and at length how unhappy Mercury’s ex was making him? “Why don’t you just tell me?”

“Because I wanted to surprise you, Clarinda,” he said. “As your mother wished. Now, I refuse to tell you on principle.”

“Fine,” I said, throwing my hands up. “Just give me a few hints. Does it involve sex, theft, or mingling?”

“Mingling?” Hieronymus asked, his cheeks pinking again.

“Yes, you know, a social situation where I need to be on my best manners and make enchanting small talk and charm everyone?”

His expression suggested he thought I was insane. “You are most definitely not ready for mingling.”

“Just answer the question. Sex, theft, or mingling?”

“No. We will be alone and we are stealing nothing.”

I needed no clarification on the sex part once he said we’d be alone. I was pretty sure Hieronymus found me as a tempting as a tree stump, and I felt the same way about him. “Okay, then. Lead the way.”

“Before we go in, may I?” He reached for my damaged wrist.

I offered it to him without hesitation. “Please.”

It took more than twenty minutes for him to fix the broken bones in my wrist, and I may have screamed at the pain like a little baby but, when we got out of the car, my wrist was fully healed.

I followed Hieronymus into the building, where he introduced me to the doorman and told him he was taking me up to see my new apartment. I would have said something to contradict him, except that my heart leapt into my throat, and I found it suddenly hard to speak. My mother had told me she’d set me up in my own place, a place befitting a princess, but I’d hoped she’d forgotten. I didn’t want her to control where I lived and know when I came and went. She was one of the two most powerful people in Rubalia, and I was pretty damn sure she didn’t have my best interests at heart, so I was less than enthused about giving her more access to my life.

Hieronymus led me up the stairs to the penthouse level, one that required a key to reach, and walked me down a short hall to one of two doors there. “Who lives next door?”

“Jared Valencia.”

I stopped in my tracks. “The man who owns half of Sarsaparilla?” I gripped Hieronymus’s shoulders hard. “How did my mother afford this place? Since when do the fae have human money?”

He flinched under my gaze and looked away, not meeting my eyes when he spoke. “Some things you are not yet permitted to know.”

“Really?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. “Well, I’m not going to live in a place paid for illegally or with some sort of blood money. If this place was paid for with the money made from that drug that gives humans magic, I’m not going to live here.”

Hieronymus met my gaze. “I assure you that the apartment is being paid for from the queen’s personal coffers. That’s all I know.”

Shit. Damn. Fuck. As much as I wanted to be principled, I wouldn’t ask Hieronymus to get in trouble. “When you see her, tell her I want to know how she can afford this place, or I will refuse to live here.”

Hieronymus nodded and we continued into the biggest apartment I had ever seen. I stood in the doorway and whispered “autonomy,” to steady myself and remind myself that my mother couldn’t control me, no matter where I lived. The apartment was all clean lines and muted tones, the sort of place I detested. It felt cold and empty and sterile. I didn’t even traipse through it to check out the kitchen or the bedrooms, I just nodded and turned to leave. “I’ve seen it. Now take me home.”

Hieronymus didn’t move. “Princess, I cannot return to your mother and lie to her, and if I tell her you chose not to live here, she will punish me.”

“She’ll punish you?” My mother could be selfish and shallow, but I couldn’t picture her punishing this man for something I’d done.

“She asked me to choose the place and decorate it and, if I tell her you hate it and refuse to live here, she’ll be angry.”

“Hi.” I stretched his nickname out to several syllables. “We’ve been training together for three months and you think I want to live in a place like this? It’s like you don’t know me at all.”

“It is a place befitting a princess.”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t befit me.” I sighed, resigning myself to my fate. “I’ll stay, but only because I don’t want you to be punished, Hi, and I know visiting my mother and trying to make her see my side will be an exercise in futility.”

He nodded, looking relieved.

“Still, I need clothes and my things, so please take me home.”

“I have purchased clothes and the necessary toiletries for you. A car will be at your disposal.”

He handed me a card with the number of a car service. “Fine. I will stay here tonight, but I’m not making any promises about staying here long-term.” I wanted to rage and fight, but I knew it would do no good. I’d agreed to my mother’s terms in exchange for her protection of me and my friends from any rogue fairies who might still feel obligated to come after us. However, there were a few other issues I wanted to discuss with her. “Has my mother agreed to a meeting with me, yet?”

He shook his head. “She is very busy and does not yet have time to meet with you.” Hieronymus was an excellent fighter, but he was a terrible liar. He always blinked rapidly when he wasn’t telling the whole truth.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

He took a step into the apartment and gestured wide. “Let me show you the state-of-the-art features of your new place.”

“Nope. Not until you tell me the truth.”

He stopped and faced me. “Sometimes, princess, I don’t tell you the whole truth because I’m protecting your feelings.”

“My feelings?” I asked, understanding dawning slowly. “She doesn’t want me to show my face there, does she? She’s embarrassed of me?”

“You haven’t yet learned all of the finer details of fairy etiquette, Princess. It is nothing personal.”

“Right.” I snorted, probably demonstrating another un-princess-like behavior. “So why haven’t you been teaching me etiquette?”

“There are many who want you dead, Princess. Your ability to protect yourself is the priority.”

“What happened to not hurting my feelings?”

He shrugged, a twinkle in his eyes, and walked through the apartment to the kitchen. He showed me all the features of the stove, dishwasher, refrigerator, and microwave. Then he showed me the formal dining room, the breakfast nook, the lounge, the two guest bedrooms and the master suite with Jacuzzi tub. I was so having a party in this place.

Then he showed me my new closet full of clothes and I almost fell over. “Is this some sort of joke?”

“What do you mean, Princess?”

I scanned the closet, full of beige and grey and cream and spun on him. “In what universe did you think I would want to wear clothes like these?”

“Look closer, Princess.”

I pulled at the first article of clothing and almost melted at the feel of the fabric under my fingers. It was a flowy grey top and it was back-less, so it could reveal the tattoo of my fairy wings or my actual fairy wings. I’d kept the tattoo covered as I usually did, since I’d gotten back, but I missed my wings and I loved the idea of being able to show off the tattoo and maybe my wings when I was alone.

I took my time looking over the rest of the shirts and pants and dresses and found that, though they weren’t brightly colored, each of them was back-less and each had a shiny, shimmery, night-club acceptable look to them. Several of them had sequins or some other bling and all of them were from high-end designers and well-made. I even found jeans and back-less t-shirts, high-quality lingerie and pajamas. “They’re gorgeous,” I said. “But I still don’t understand how my mother could afford all of this.”

“All will be explained in time,” Hieronymus said. “Now, you should get some sleep and I’ll see you after you’ve had a couple of days to settle in.”

I nodded, not quite sure what to make of it all.

After Hieronymus left, I called Sapphire to let her know I wouldn’t be home that night. I’d wait to tell her I was moving out for good in person, but I didn’t think she’d be too upset. I considered Knuffington a friend, but he and I just didn’t live together very well. He was a light sleeper and I kept weird hours and am apparently a loud walker. Who knew? We were all trying, but the tension had been getting pretty thick.

“Chloe.” Pierson sounded awake but annoyed, when I called him. “Did something happen at the club?”

“Nope, I just wanted to let you know we’re having a staff party tomorrow night. Can you make sure everyone knows about it?”

“Sure,” Pierson said, sounding less annoyed. I gave him the details, hung up, and lay down in my plush new bed to sleep.

My alarm woke me far too early the next morning. The decorating might not have been to my taste, but the bed was one of the most comfortable I’d ever slept in, and I was tempted to stay there all day. I considered going back to the apartment I shared with Sapphire and Knuffington, but I had a closet full of delicious clothes and a fridge full of food at my new place, so I dressed in a slinky, back-less shirt with three-quarter length sleeves, and a pair of simple black pants, got coffee and some breakfast and headed out.

The late October morning was cool without being chilly, unusually pleasant for a Florida fall day, and I decided to pass on the car Hieronymus had offered me and walk the eight blocks to Frost’s office. I called Vin on the way and let her know both about the change of plans for the morning and my party that evening. Vin was training me to lead the rebellion in Rubalia, should such a rebellion become necessary. I thought it was ridiculous. With my grandfather, the fairy king dead, I didn’t see that there was a need for a rebellion in Rubalia, but the rebels didn’t trust my mother and they wanted to be prepared. Plus, they paid Vin well enough for her to be able to help support her parents in Sarsaparilla, and that was good enough for me.

I met Vin half-way to Frost’s office, outside the one-bedroom efficiency apartment she shared with her parents in a nice neighborhood. She gave me a broad smile when she saw me, but there were dark circles under her eyes and her face looked drawn and pale.

“Rough night?” I asked.

She nodded, and yawned. “My parents both got jobs waiting tables, which actually suits them, since they’re so social, but it means they come in at all hours of the night and it’s just impossible for them not to wake me up.”

“That sucks, but I might have a solution.” As much as I wanted to think I could keep living with Knuffington and Sapphire, I knew my mother would pitch a fit if I ‘threw her generosity back in her face’ and didn’t stay in the apartment she’d bought me. Since her fits could now affect an entire population of fae in Rubalia, I figured I could do my part to avoid them.

“You’re going to let me move into your swanky new apartment?”

I shrugged. “It’s an option. How do you think my mother would react?”

She cringed. “Last week, she had a servant publicly beaten for spilling soup on her, so I’d guess…badly.”

“My mother did that?” I knew my mother could be dramatic and self-centered, but beating a servant in public seemed beyond the pale.

Vin nodded. “She needs to present herself as a strong leader who shows no mercy. Some would argue it’s what the fairies expect and need right now. With time, she could still soften and rule more generously, but the rebels are not pleased with her iron rule so far.”

“Do you have any idea how she could afford to buy me a penthouse apartment in the center of downtown?”

“None,” she said. “The fairies don’t trade with humans or have human money any more than the rest of the fae in Rubalia. I’ll broach the subject with Missella when I speak to her.”

I nodded and we walked in silence for a bit. “I think you should move in with me, anyway. I’ve got two extra bedrooms and it would make your training me that much easier. Mercury’s miserable at his place and he could move in with us, too.”

She paled. “Was that his suggestion?”

I considered lying, but Vin was my friend and I didn’t lie to friends. “No.”

“Right, because I know he’s not ready for that. Can he take your room at Sapphire’s?”

I shrugged. “With Knuffington’s new job as a concierge at The Inland Palms, I don’t think they need help with the rent, but we can ask.”

She nodded. “Okay. If I have to live with Mercury, I will. I know Galena is making him insane, and my parents really deserve their own space. I’m holding out hope they can find better jobs and a bigger place, but there’s not much call for a woodcutter or a gardener in the city.”

I nodded and didn’t speak. If I spoke, I’d have to admit that I hoped Vin and Mercury didn’t end up living with me together. I didn’t need the drama or the tension, but Vin didn’t need to hear that. I would put up with drama and tension if it made life easier for Vin’s parents and Mercury’s daughter and ex, after everything they’d sacrificed. Especially since they’d had to make those sacrifices because of me.

We arrived at Frost’s place and strode past his employees without a word. None of them had ever spoken to me, all of them always busy and working, their focus on their computer screens. Their work ethic impressed me. I could use some employees like that.

Frost waved us into his small inner office, not much bigger than my new walk-in closet, and we sat down across from him, in front of his cluttered desk. He tossed a folder into my lap. “Look that over and tell me what you think.”

I smirked at Vin, who shook her head. “Good morning, Frost. It’s good to see you, too,” I said. “I’m doing fine, thank you.”

Frost frowned and looked at me as though he were seeing me for the first time. He looked good in the morning, his amber eyes lighting up his rough and rugged features. Frost was no pretty boy, but I didn’t like pretty boys. He needed a shave three days ago and his hair needed a cut, but his well-formed face and his muscled body made his lack of hygiene seem like a fashion choice. The bad boy look. “You win the lottery last night?”

“What?”

“Your clothes. You can’t afford them.”

“Is this your idea of polite pleasantries? Or are you accusing me of a crime?” Even as annoyed as I was, I was also impressed by his attention to detail. He was damn good at his job.

“She got them from her mother,” Vin said. She noticed my glare and shrugged. “As much fun as it is to watch you two trade verbal punches, I have things to do today and I’d like to know what Frost called us in here for.”

“Your mother gave you new clothes?” Frost asked.

I didn’t like the accusatory tone of his voice or the look of disgust on his face. “And a new penthouse apartment. I’m having a party there tonight, to try to make the place look more lived in. You aren’t invited.”

“What does she expect from you in return?”

“Probably the same things she expected before,” I said, my annoyance rising. “Would you like me to try to return them? Invoke her anger and have her rescind her offer not to go after my friends?”

He growled low in his throat. “You can’t let her control your life.”

“She’s the queen of the fairies, Frost. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to choose my battles. If she does something I don’t like or asks me to do something I hate, I’ll walk away from the clothes and the apartment in a heartbeat. This is a small thing.”

“You don’t even smell like yourself.” He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

“Enough,” Vin said. “Your foreplay is boring me.”

“Foreplay?” I asked, spinning on Vin. Frost growled and threw a stapler. Vin gestured at his response as though he’d just proven her point.

I wanted to storm out of the office, but Frost wouldn’t have called us there if he didn’t have a good reason. I flipped the file open and was greeted with a picture of a teenage girl with thick, dark hair and sparkling brown eyes. The photo was paper clipped to a form detailing the circumstances of her death. Her name was Abby Fernwood and she’d been sixteen when she was killed in the crossfire of a gang fight. She was a wood nymph who’d emigrated to the Non from Rubalia six months earlier. I flipped the photo and the form over, my heart in my throat, at what I might see next. The next photo was of a male teenager, and there was only a page of notes attached to it. His name was Rodney Elder and he was fifteen. He wasn’t dead, but he was missing. He was a brownie and looked younger than fifteen, he had soft blue eyes and a sweet smile. The last was a photo of a girl who looked like she’d just entered her teen years. She was another pixy, Brianna Foxglove, and she was thirteen and missing. Her hair was strawberry blonde and her green eyes twinkled with mischief. I passed the folder to Vin, and she gasped as she looked at the pictures.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“These three have all gone missing this week,” Frost said. “The one on top, Abby, she joined a gang and was killed in a drive-by shooting.”

“She joined a gang?” I asked, unable to imagine the beautiful, innocent looking girl doing anything illegal.

“She’s a wood nymph,” Frost said. “She’s young enough to adapt, but her parents…they’re like Galena, they hate the city and they don’t want to leave their apartment. They were all starving and Abby’s part-time job at the local bodega wasn’t enough to change their circumstances. Her parents didn’t know she’d joined the gang, but her friends told me she did it for the chance to make some money. She thought she could deal drugs.”

“And the others?”

“Just missing. As far as we know. But they are from similar situations. Their parents are more willing to work, but their skills don’t apply to jobs in the city.”

“And they can’t go back to Rubalia? Now that the Fairy king is gone?”

He shook his head and I noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the lines of exhaustion on his face. “They fear your mother and the war they expect will erupt any moment. The faun king has made no secret of how much he hates your mother, and the refugees expect him to move against her. They don’t want to be around when that happens. I suspect they have more reasons, but they haven’t shared them with me.”

I sighed. I might never understand the layers of politics in Rubalia. “You want me and Vin to help you find the missing kids?”

“I want you to talk to the refugees as fae who’ve lived here and learned to survive. I want you to teach them about the dangers of the human world and help them out when you can.”

“And if we hear anything about missing kids while we’re at it …?”

“You let me know and you leave it alone.”

“Right,” I said, getting to my feet. “Because I’m so good at that.”

Frost smirked. Vin stood with me and we turned toward the door together. A sharp intake of breath from Frost made me turn back to look at him. “Nice shirt,” he said. “I like the way it shows off your tattoo.”

Compliments from Frost were rare enough that I just stared at him for a long moment.

“Too bad you can’t have your wings out all the time,” he said, his amber eyes molten. “They’re gorgeous.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I sort of miss them.”

He nodded and returned his attention to his work. The moment was over.

CHAPTER FOUR

Everyone is afraid of something and some are afraid of everything. Sometimes fear keeps you alive. –Chloe Frangipani

Fear is weakness. –Althea Frangipani

“We can skip our usual training session today,” Vin said. “The rebellion would approve of us helping the refugees.”

“And where do we even start?” I asked. “How are we going to tell the fae from the humans?”

“I have an idea. It’s something we used to do to recruit for the rebellion.”

We walked away from Frost’s office and toward the east side of the city, where the first girl had lived before she’d been killed. The buildings were in worse shape the farther into the East side we got, and I kept my eyes open for trouble. I didn’t venture to this side of town often, had no reason to, but I knew enough to understand it was dangerous. I felt bad for all of the fae, forced to live there while I lived in an apartment big enough for two families and had clothes worth enough to feed five families for a month. Vin took a right into the first apartment building she saw and knocked on the first door.

“Hi,” she said to the elderly woman who answered. “I’m looking for my cousin Horace. Have you seen him?”

“No,” the old lady said, shoving the door closed. Vin blocked it with her foot. “Oh, okay, well if you see him, can you tell him we’re having a reunion for residents of Rubalia at Ephemeral tomorrow at four? There will be free food and drinks.”

“Sure, whatever,” the old lady said. She kicked Vin’s foot out of the way and slammed the door.

I stared at Vin. “Free food? What’s stopping every person in this building, fae or human, from showing up for the food?”

“We screen at the door. Frost can smell fae, right?”

“Okay, but what about the fae? Why would they trust us? Won’t they think it’s a trap?”

She shrugged. “Maybe, and maybe they stay away. If they’re that afraid, though, they won’t last long here, anyway.”

“Or it’s just good sense,” I said. “They don’t know anything about us or what we want.”

“Not everyone is as paranoid as you. They’re running from a potential war, not assassins.”

“Okay. I guess going door to door is better than another lesson on rebel tactics.”

We knocked on doors and offered the same information to every person we encountered until mid-morning. “Well,” I said. “This has been fun, but I’ve got to get ready for my date.”

“Date?” Vin’s eyes were wide, her mouth a perfect O of surprise. Sometimes she was so cute, I wanted to punch her.

“Yep,” I said, turning and heading to the bus stop we’d just passed.

“With Frost?” She followed me.

I stopped and glared at her. I seemed to glare at her a lot. “With Harvey.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped a bit. “I guess he’s okay.”

“Okay? He’s damn fine, and he’s a police detective. He’s a hero and he…he gets me.”

She nodded, but her expression was guarded. “Does he know you’re fae?”

The bus pulled up, for once in my life arriving just when I most needed it. I took a step forward as it slowed, determined to ignore Vin.

“That’s a no. He probably doesn’t tell you how gorgeous your wings are either, does he?”

I got on the bus, pretending I hadn’t heard what she’d said.

Back at Sapphire’s place, I changed into my own clothes. As fancy as the ones Hieronymus had bought me were, they’d gotten a bit sweaty and a change was much needed. I was dressed and ready to go when Harvey knocked on my door.

“Chloe,” he said, a wide smile on his face. “You take my breath away every time I see you.”

My heart pittered and pattered more than I cared to admit. “Pretty words for such a rough guy.”

He laughed and took my hand, his fingers sliding between mine, like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Let’s go, Frangipani.”

“Bossy,” I muttered, but I couldn’t help smiling. This easy, fun side of Harvey was even more likeable than all the other sides I’d seen.

Harvey and I walked a block down the sidewalk to Poinsettia. “I hope this is okay,” he said. “I’ve heard really good things about it.”

“It’s perfect. It’s actually one of my favorite restaurants. I eat here all the time.”

He nodded and opened the door for me, before following me in. I shouldn’t have been surprised to find out he was such a gentleman, but I was. He just seemed so rough and practical, and I hadn’t imagined he also possessed gentility.

The waitress seated us and Harvey smiled at me. “I have one rule for this date. No shop talk. You can’t talk about the club, and I can’t talk about your case or any other cases. We’re just two regular people out for lunch.”

I nodded. “Sure, I can do that.” I wasn’t sure I could do that. The club was my life. And the only other stuff I had going on involved the fae. That was a hot mess I wasn’t ready to talk to Harvey about.

He watched me as the waitress came over and took our drink orders. He looked away and swallowed hard when I raised my eyebrows, and I realized I wasn’t the only one unsure, maybe even nervous.

“So, why don’t you tell me where you learned all of those nice manners and pretty words?”

He dropped his eyes to the table for just a moment, the only sign of his discomfort, before he met my gaze. “You suggesting police officers aren’t taught manners in the academy?”

I laughed and it felt good. “I’m not making any such implications. I’m just trying to get to know you better.”

He dipped his head in understanding. “Why don’t we talk about what we want to do on our second date?”

“Hmm,” I said with a smile. “Presumptuous.”

“Nope.” He reached for my hand and rubbed his thumb over my knuckles, his touch warming me all the way to my toes. “I’m just determined not to let you get away now that I’ve convinced you to go out with me.”

“How about dancing?”

He shrugged. “I’m not much of a dancer, but I’m sure I could handle watching you dance all night.”

“No. We have to pick something we can do together.”

“How about we go for a hike? I know a great place just out of town with fantastic views and a little bit of rock climbing.”

“I’m not much of an outdoorsy girl.” I deflated a bit at our lack of common interests. “How about we save that for the third date.”

He nodded, still smiling. “How about I cook you breakfast and then we show each other what we know in my home gym. I know you’ve been taking martial arts and self-defense training for years.”

“Again,” I said. “Presumptuous.”

He chuckled. “I meant breakfast after you get off work, but if you want it to mean breakfast after you get off on me, that can be arranged.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “Now that’s more the kind of talk I’d been expecting from you. How about we save that for the fourth date.”

“I like the sound of that.” He released my hand when the waitress set down our food. “But it still doesn’t answer the question of what we should do for our second date.”

“How about you take me to the flea market,” I said. “I need to decorate my new apartment.”

“New apartment?”

I stuffed a bite of ham sandwich in my mouth to avoid answering. I didn’t want to lie, but Harvey was going to wonder how I could afford a pent house apartment, and I was so not ready to tell the truth. “I was given a new apartment by a…um, a very wealthy relative who…died. I’ll probably sell it, eventually, but while I’m living there it needs a bit more of me in it.”

“Okay,” Harvey said. “You can take me to the flea market for our second date. I could use some help decorating my place, anyway.”

I nodded, hating the twist in my gut caused by lying to Harvey. I knew I should be upfront with him, tell him the truth, but I wasn’t ready for him to walk away, and I was pretty sure he’d run as fast as he could when he knew the truth. What sane man wouldn’t? We spent the rest of the meal talking about the weather in Sarsaparilla and all the new construction and how it was affecting traffic patterns. We also planned our sixth and seventh dates – local shows we’d both been meaning to see for years.

Harvey walked me back to Sapphire’s apartment, our hands joined, and I almost blurted out the truth to him. Our conversation at lunch had felt empty and I felt our friendship, at least, deserved more than that. I stopped in front of my door wanting him to give him some piece of myself. “Come on in,” I said, unlocking the door. “I’ll show you the sort of stuff we’ll be looking for at the flea market.”

He followed me into the apartment and whistled long and low. “Wow, this is …”

“Careful,” I said, as I’d once said to Knuffington. “I love this stuff.”

“It’s…well, it’s a touch overwhelming.” He must have seen something on my face, because he smiled and leaned in close. “But it’s pretty. It’s very, very pretty.”

I’m not an idiot. I understood that he was distracting me from the kitsch decorating every square inch of the apartment I’d shared with Sapphire. I understood that he didn’t love it, but I suspected that, given time, he’d learn to like it. I mean, really, who doesn’t love cat clocks and rhinestone studded kitchen chairs? Nobody, that’s who.

Harvey backed me up against the closed apartment door and distracted me from my thoughts. He pressed his hard body against mine and nipped my lower lip until I let him in. He kissed me like a man starved, and I held on and enjoyed the ride. I kissed him until I didn’t care if he ever liked kitsch or not, just as long as he kept kissing me.

He pulled away, a satisfied glint in his eyes. “I really hate to say goodbye, but if I want to keep my job …”

I nodded. “You have to work. Come by later. I’m having a party at my new place.”

He frowned. “I’ll try, but I expect to be working late.”

I pecked his lips and he left. I watched him go, admiring the way his shirt molded to his muscular body, and tried not to think about how awkward everything besides the physical was between us.

“Chloe,” Pierson said, tapping on the doorframe to my office. “Can we talk about Neil?”

I groaned and stretched, pushing away the sales reports I’d been looking over. “If he’s bad enough you need to come to my office to discuss him, that’s a pretty good sign that he should go.”

Pierson crossed the room and took a seat across from me. “If he were really trying…but he’s an asshole who thinks he’s better than the job.”

“Have we gotten any new applications in today?”

Pierson shook his head, as I’d suspected he would. I hadn’t gotten anything through our website, but he checked our PO Box before he came into work. No one mailed in applications anymore, but I never stopped hoping.

“Okay. We’ll keep him away from the customers until I can replace him. I’m meeting with a bunch of fae tomorrow. I’ll bring Pepper with me and see if she thinks anyone there would be a good fit.” Pepper was one of my bouncers. She was also a powerful empath and would be able to sense who might make a good fantasy provider.

“You working the floor tonight?”

“Yep.”

“See you downstairs.”

I waved him off and called Pepper to see if she’d be able to work the fae meeting the next day. She was always up for more hours, and I hung up with a bit of hope that things might be looking up for me and my club. There had to be someone at that meeting who would fit in at Ephemeral.

Ephemeral was hopping and busier than usual for a Tuesday night. I wondered if I should have put more planning into my housewarming party. I had no food or drinks and the way the night was going, I wasn’t going to have time to run out and get either. And I wasn’t one to steal from my club. When I had a break, I put in a call to Buddy. I probably should have just called his sister, May, and asked her if he was still raging mad at me, but I figured I deserved Buddy’s anger and I wouldn’t hide behind his sister. Buddy had been my best friend, before he’d been kidnapped and taken to Rubalia. In my attempt to rescue him, I’d drawn the attention and the wrath of the fairies, who’d killed Buddy’s wife, Evelyn, to hurt me.

“What can I do you for?” Buddy asked when he answered, the club loud behind him.

“Buddy, it’s Chloe. I wanted to invite you—”

The click and hum of the empty line echoed in my brain long after he’d hung up on me. I didn’t have time to dwell, though. I’d tried and he’d rejected me once again. At least he hadn’t returned the baby gifts I’d sent for his little girl, though that may have been May and not him. I’d keep trying until he forgave me, because I refused to let him stay away forever. I refused to give up my best friend.

I made my way over to Pierson behind the bar and helped him fill a drink order so I could talk to him. “Know anyone who can cater my party tonight? Cheap?”

He didn’t pause in his work. “I’ll do it. For my regular salary.”

“Really?”

He laughed. “What do you need? Some chips and some booze? I’ll run out and pick up supplies after we close. I can mix drinks for the folks who want ‘em.”

“Great. Just buy the cheap stuff, okay. I’m a tiny bit broke at the moment.” Damn me and my insistence on paying Frost every penny he’d earned helping me find Buddy. Frost had offered to waive his fees, since one of his employees had tried to rape me, but my pride and my annoyance with him had prevented me from accepting his generosity.

“Deal,” Pierson said with a grin.

I went back out to the floor, and Pierson returned to slinging drinks.

It was after three before I got back to my new apartment. I’d put in calls to everyone who didn’t work with me to let them know they could come over. I changed into a backless, cream, silk dress and put my hair up so my back would be on full display. I twisted to look at my tattoo in the mirror, the colors on my skin matched that of my actual wings and were almost as vibrant and bright. It made me long to see my actual wings again, so I let them free. They flowed from my skin and popped into place. I stretched my back muscles and flapped my wings twice.

It felt so good to have my wings free that I couldn’t stand the idea of pushing them back under my skin. If any humans at my party noticed them, I could just tell them the wings were an elaborate costume choice. It was amazing what humans failed to see when they didn’t expect it, though, and I didn’t think it would be hard to convince anyone that the wings were fake. The doorbell rang and I smiled. I was ready for a good party, for laughter and friends. A wallflower I had never been.

I opened the door to find three of my employees, who’d already started drinking. Each of them gave me big hugs, which was out of character. I was not a hugging kind of boss. “Nice wings,” Clint said, doing a double-take. “I didn’t know this was a costume party.”

“Costumes are appropriate for any kind of party,” I said. I led the three men in to the living room, set them up in front of the big screen TV, and let them choose the music from the service that came with the apartment. The doorbell rang again to announce the arrival of five more of my employees. The next to arrive was Pierson and he got busy setting out drinks and food. I helped him until the doorbell rang again.

I opened it and found Frost at my door. He looked good, in his casual jeans and fitted t-shirt. Then he smiled, his skin crinkling around his eyes, and my heart stopped beating for a moment. He was seriously too good-looking to be safe.

“You’re not invited,” I said, trying to sound serious.

He smirked. “I knew you didn’t mean it. Do you want me to leave?”

I sighed and pretended to be put out. “Fine. You can stay.” I opened the door wider to let him in, but he stood his ground.

“You look gorgeous,” he said. “It’s good to see your wings. You look more like yourself somehow.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I think.”

His grin widened. “It’s a compliment, sweetheart. There’s very little I could say about you that wouldn’t be a compliment.”

My cheeks heated and I gestured for him to enter, not meeting his eyes. I never blushed. And he never called me sweetheart. He must have been drinking, too. “Except that I’m a pain in your ass.”

He chuckled and stepped inside. “Except for that.”

I started to head to the kitchen to show him where the drinks and food were, but he grabbed my elbow. “Wait,” he said. “I brought you a housewarming gift.”

That stopped me, and I watched as he pulled a large box from behind his back and handed it to me. I took it and unwrapped it, feeling like a kid on Christmas morning. Inside was a hula girl wall clock, with the clock as her belly and an actual grass skirt. “Oh,” I said, a tiny bit of a knot in my throat. No one but Sapphire had ever gotten me such a wonderful gift. “Thank you. It’s…it’s perfect.”

“I thought your new place could probably use some kitsch.”

“This is exactly what it needs.” Overwhelmed, I threw my arms around him. He tensed for just a moment, before returning my hug.

“Chloe—”

The doorbell rang, interrupting whatever he might have said. “Go get some food and drink.” I turned from him, holding tight to my hula clock and answered the door.

Sapphire, in a pretty pink dress, and Knuffington, in slacks and a button-down, greeted me.

“Oh, my god,” Sapphire said, her gaze going instantly to the hula clock in my arms. “That is the best clock I’ve ever seen. Where did you find it?”

“Frost just gave it to me. You’ll have to ask him. He’s over by the kitchen.”

Sapphire and Knuffington made their way to Frost, and I ran to my room and put the hula clock on the bed, before heading back out to answer the door.

An hour later, the party was hopping and everyone was laughing and drinking and dancing and having a good time. I took a break from dancing and made my way over to Sapphire, who was chatting with Knuffington and Frost, I threw an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. She shook me off with a scowl.

“I love your wings,” she said. “They’re amazing.”

“You don’t look like you love them,” I said.

“I do.” She sniffed. “And I love this apartment. I just hate that you’re moving out.”

“I do, too.” I put my arm back around her shoulder. “But what if Mercury took my room at your place?”

She frowned. “I don’t know or feel comfortable with him.”

“Vin?” I asked.

“She would be better, but I want you back, Chloe. I want things the way they used to be.”

“I do, too. But things change. You and Knuffington will probably be looking for your own place soon, anyway.”

She nodded. “Maybe. Promise me we’ll always have our Saturday flea markets.”

“I promise.” I held out a pinky, which she shook with her own. “I’m bringing Harvey with me this Saturday.”

“Boo.” She pouted. “But I guess that means I can bring Knuffington.” She looked around and smiled. “This place can hold a lot of kitsch.”

I opened my mouth to say it could hold a lot more kitsch than I could ever afford when the doorbell rang again. I’d thought everyone was there, so I didn’t know what to expect.

Judging by how wide Harvey’s eyes got when I answered the door, I wasn’t as he’d expected either. “Wings,” he said.

I spun to show them off, curious if he’d get that they were real. “It felt like a wings kind of night.”

When I spun back around, he had a confused crinkle between his brows. “They look…They look real.”

And I knew that moment mattered. I knew I should tell him the truth, but it didn’t seem the right place or time, and I wasn’t prepared for how he might react. “Aren’t they amazing?” I said, as though they weren’t real. I figured I wasn’t really lying to him.

When I turned and led Harvey into the party, I saw Frost a short distance away. He met my eyes and raised his brows and I knew he’d heard the exchange. I ignored his look of disapproval and took Harvey over to the food and drinks. I introduced him to the folks he didn’t know and we all chatted and laughed for a while. Harvey wasn’t a social butterfly, but he had no problem mingling and having a good time. He was able to talk about a surprisingly wide array of topics and I felt guilty for being surprised at his wealth of knowledge.

After about twenty minutes of chatting, the dance floor started calling to me. I leaned in close to Harvey’s ear and whispered, “Dance with me.”

I saw the goose bumps rise and knew I’d gotten the desired reaction out of him, but he shook his head as he turned to face me, gripping my hips with his strong hands. “Not unless you’re talking about the horizontal, bed-top kind of dancing.”

My heart picked up speed at the thought of Harvey in my bed. My new, heavenly bed, and I almost took him up on the suggestion. Instead, I gave him a little tug toward the living room. Ten of my friends and employees danced there and they waved me over. Harvey, however, dug his feet in and refused to move. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Sorry, I don’t dance.”

I took a step back to stand with him, but he gave me a gentle push forward. “Don’t let me hold you back,” he said. “You go dance. I’ll watch.”

The way he said “watch,” his lips warm against my skin, made me certain he’d be thinking of something other than dancing while he watched me. I joined my employees on the dance floor and raised my hands in the air, spinning like a little kid. In my element and happy. Someone grabbed my waist and pulled me close, moving his body against mine in a way I recognized at once.

“What are you doing with that guy?” Frost asked, his lips close to my ear.

I gave him a shove, and he moved so there was a breath of space between us. “What do you care?”

“I care,” he said. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

I laughed a little harder than I should have, some of the tension I’d been feeling with Harvey, tension about how he’d fit with my friends and what he’d think of my wings, leaving me. “I don’t get hurt.” I was the one who did the hurting.

“You aren’t as tough as you pretend,” Frost said. “And you shouldn’t hide yourself from him. If he can’t accept it –”

“Mind if I cut in?” Harvey asked, his jaw tight.

Frost raised his hands and stepped back, a smirk on his face, but his body tense. “She’s all yours.”

I hated him. I really hated him for always pushing and for sticking his nose in where it ought to get smacked off his face. Harvey wrapped his arms around me and did his best to move to the music, but his discomfort and awkwardness made me uncomfortable. Annoyance layered over the tension I’d felt since he walked in the door, and I mentally slapped myself. Harvey was doing nothing but being sweet and trying to make me happy. I couldn’t fault him for that.

“I need a drink,” I said, when we bumped into one of my employee’s dates and almost knocked her on her ass.

Harvey smiled his relief and led me to the kitchen.

Harvey stayed until the sun had risen over our hot city and all of my guests had left. He helped me clean up and get my apartment looking as sterile and boring as it had before the party.

“Thank you,” I said with a yawn, exhaustion making me a bit dizzy. Harvey caught me as I tripped over my own feet and pulled me against his chest.

“You should get to bed,” he said, his hands warm against my bare skin beneath my wings. “Want me to help you take these off.” He touched the wings, petting them gently. “They’re so soft and–”

“They’re real.”

He laughed until his eyes met mine, then he released me like I was hot and took two steps away from me. “You’re serious.”

“I’m fae. Half fairy and half faun.”

He sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen counter. “Fairy and faun?” He looked a bit like I’d hit him in the face with a bat. “How did I never know this?”

I shrugged. “I don’t have obvious characteristics. My mother hid them when I was tiny and they stayed hidden until recently.” I didn’t think he was ready to know about the faun tail that popped out in Rubalia. The one I kept hidden in the Non. “And it’s not something I talk about or that affects my life or my job.” At least it didn’t in the past, but judging by the expression on his face, he wasn’t ready to hear that my mother was a fairy queen and had named me her heir.

“Okay,” he said. “Does this change anything?”

“What do you mean?” I sat on the stool next to him, and he spun me around until my back was to him. He was silent for several long moments, and I almost got up and asked him to leave. I mean what the hell was he doing back there?

“They are the most gorgeous wings I’ve ever seen,” he said, reverence in his tone.

I spun around and faced him. “Does this change anything for you?”

He smiled and his eyes heated as he looked at me. “It doesn’t make me want you any less. It doesn’t change that you are the toughest, smartest, most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. It doesn’t change that I want to kiss you right now.”

What more could I ask for? I leaned in and pressed my lips to his, letting myself fall into his heat and his touch, the feel of him. He stood and pulled me with him, placing one hand on the bare skin of my back and pressing me into him. My body trilled like every nerve ending was having a party and I knew I wanted more. I needed more. I stepped back from him and slipped my dress off my shoulders. It fell to the floor in a silvery puddle, leaving me in a pair of dainty, silver panties.

His breath caught and his eyes were like a physical caress as he ran his gaze over me. He dropped to his knees at my feet and kissed my stomach, hooking his thumbs in my panties and pulling them down. He followed them with his kisses, until he reached my center. He paused there, taking his time and using his tongue and fingers to bring me to a screaming orgasm that left my legs like jelly and my mind fuzzy. He rose back up and wrapped his arms around me, supporting me and holding me up. “You taste even better than I imagined.”

“That’s the faun,” I said. He chuckled against my lips and kissed me. I pushed against his shoulders, walking him backwards until we reached my room. I shoved him down on the bed and took my time undressing him, savoring every inch of his hard, cut body. Scars marred his smooth skin in several places, and I wanted to ask him how he’d gotten them, but I needed him inside me more than I needed answers.

“Condom?” he asked, once I’d bared his beautiful body.

“Night stand, top drawer.” He twisted away and got the condom, then handed it to me and massaged my ass as I slid it on his hard length. I was glad that I hadn’t let my little faun tail out like I’d let out my wings. I was pretty sure Harvey could only stand so many oddities in one night.

I rose up ready to ease onto him, but he stopped me, holding me in place with his hands. “I want to feel every moment, every centimeter of contact as I slide inside you,” he said. “I’ve waited a long time for this. I want to savor it.”

I never minded savoring anything, but I’m not a fan of being bossed around, even in bed, even by someone as sexy as Harvey. He lowered me down slowly, so very slowly, and the mischievous side of me came out to play. I let him have control, enjoying the feel of him, all of my synapses firing with a pleasure so full and deep I wasn’t sure how rational thought was still possible. Once I was seated on him, though, I grabbed his wrists and pushed them up over his head. “You’ve had your turn,” I said. “I’m in charge now.”

His eyes darkened and he licked his lips. “I’m at your mercy.”

I watched his face and listened to the sounds he made as I moved over him, finding my pleasure in creating his. I loved the feel of him and the freedom of having my wings out, of being completely bared to him. As his pleasure increased, so did mine, until we reached the edge and climaxed together, my name on his lips.

I laid down on him, and he hugged me tight. We stayed like that for a few moments, and then he got up and disposed of the condom. This was the moment where I usually told the guy I had an early morning or he told me he did, and we said our goodbyes. Instead, Harvey came back to bed, and pulled me against him, until my face was in his chest. I lay there, breathing in the scent of him, and tried not to move. My whole body felt twitchy and I wanted to roll out of his arms and get comfortable in my own space, but I didn’t want to push him away. Just as I decided I’d never fall asleep, I did.

I woke up in an empty bed and rolled onto my belly, stretching my arms and my wings, feel-good tingles running all through me. My hand brushed a piece of paper on the pillow next to mine, so I grabbed it and lifted my head to read it. Harvey had to go to work and hadn’t wanted to wake me. No romance, no hearts or frills, just the way I liked it. He had to work, I had to work, and neither of us needed promises or sweet words. This just might be the perfect relationship.

I glanced at the red numbers on my bedside clock and saw that it was after noon. Time to get up and get ready for work and the meeting with the refugees. I climbed out of bed, still naked, my wings free and comfy, and almost stepped on the hula clock Frost had given me. It must have rolled off the bed during the night. I picked it up, so smooth and cool against my skin, and checked it over. It appeared to be undamaged. I carried it into the kitchen, wondering where to put it. When I’d found the perfect spot, over the couch in the living room, I put it down and searched for a hammer and nails. The place had come fully stocked, there had to be a hammer and nails somewhere.

I wandered the apartment, still nude, until I found them in a hall closet, on the top shelf. I’d have to thank Hieronymus, he’d thought of everything. Well, everything except a step stool. I balanced on the back of the couch and started hammering a nail into the wall.

“Well, there’s a gorgeous sight you don’t see every day,” a man said behind me.

I startled, lost my balance, and toppled right onto the couch. I grabbed a couple of couch cushions and covered my important bits as Mercury and, oh, shit, Frost laughed at me. “What the hell are you two doing here?” I asked, not bothering to keep the growl out of my voice.

“I’m moving in, roomie,” Mercury said. “Remember, you gave Vin a key this morning?”

I groaned. “Right. You could have at least knocked.”

“I live here, now,” Mercury said. “And you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You have an amazing body. Feel free to walk around naked any time you please.”

I smirked and glanced at Frost. “And you, what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Vin and I decided it would be a good idea to meet and talk about what you should say to the refugees at the meeting today. I ran into Mercury on the way here and he let me in.” Frost’s jaw was tense and he didn’t meet my eyes. “Vin should be here any minute.”

“Wow,” I said. “Love how you three just planned my day without talking to me and totally ruined naked time.”

“Naked time?” Mercury said. “Is that going to be a regular thing, because if it is sign me up. I love to let the boys hang free every once in a while.”

I laughed at the image of me and Mercury having naked time together. I mean he was gorgeous, but he so belonged to Vin that I’d never even think of going there. “Yeah, we should probably schedule it, though. Naked time is not a group activity and I’m not interested in seeing your boys.”

“You should get dressed,” Frost said, his tone curt and severe. “Vin will be here soon.”

His tone, his implied disapproval, and his inability to look me in the eye pissed me off, and I’d been having a good day. I stood, dropped the couch cushions, and put my hands on my hips. “I thought wolves weren’t bothered by nudity.”

Frost growled and Mercury chuckled. “Quit poking the wolf and go get dressed, Chloe.”

“Fine,” I said, because I really did want to get dressed. I’m not particularly modest, but being the only naked woman in a room with two clothed men went way beyond my comfort zone. “But only because you asked nicely.”

I turned and headed to my room. “And take a shower,” Frost called after me. “You stink of Harvey and sex.”

What the hell was his problem? “That’s because I just had sex with Harvey,” I shouted as I stomped into my room and slammed the door. I don’t know why his attitude and his words made me so angry. Frost and I had made a sort of game of pissing each other off, but he was going too far. I had the feeling I was going to have to teach him a lesson.

An hour later, I was dressed in dark slacks and a cream-colored back-less tank that allowed my wings to be out. And I still had them out. I loved having them free from my skin. I had stayed in the shower longer than usual just to revel in the feel of the water drops on my wings.

I sat down on the couch next to Vin and glared at Frost. Mercury was gone, either in his own room or off to his day job selling fae drugs that purported to give humans magical abilities, though we had yet to see any humans with said magical abilities. “Do I smell good enough for your sensitive nose now, Frost, honey?” I asked in a sing-song voice.

He just growled low in his throat. I swear he was getting ruder and more animal-like. “Let’s just focus on what we’re here to do,” he said. “Vin suggested I might be able to help because I know the neighborhood better and know more of the sorts of trouble kids can get into there.”

Vin pulled out her notebook and a pen, and started taking notes as Frost spoke. I listened, surprised that he didn’t just give Vin facts and statistics, but told her about individuals and the hardships of those in the neighborhood. When he started talking about drop-out rates and low incomes, I got distracted by his lips, the way they moved in such a confident assertive manner. His amber eyes softened and hardened to gold by turns as he spoke about what concerned him and the dangers in the human world.

“You hate violence,” I said, the realization occurring as he was mid-sentence, and my words spoken without forethought.

He froze. “Is that relevant to this conversation?” There was steel in his voice, but his eyes had gone hot and seemed to be stuck on me. I didn’t look away. I ignored the anger in his voice, focused on the intensity in his eyes, and pondered the problem of a wolf, an alpha, who hated violence or was, at the very least, angered by it. The heat in his eyes wasn’t anger, and it made me uncomfortable. He liked that I’d seen through to his inner self.

“No,” I said, dragging my eyes from his. “But the fae can do little about the danger and the violence unless we give them a way out, a job that gives them other options than crime.”

“We don’t have the resources for a career counselor or job training. We can only do so much,” he said, turning to Vin for support.

“But it won’t be enough,” she said, echoing my thoughts. “Chloe’s right.”

He sighed. “It’s all we can do right now. If you two can come up with a way to do more, I’d be happy to help.”

I nodded, the gears in my brain already turning, searching for solutions to the problem. Of course, we wouldn’t really know how much of a problem it was until we’d met with everyone and heard their stories, but I wanted to be able to offer them options, to give them a reason for hope. I didn’t have the money or the means to give them those options directly, but I might know some folks who could.

CHAPTER FIVE

Even the strong need to be saved every once in a while. – Chloe Frangipani

You look out for yourself first, baby girl, because no one else is going to. – Althea Frangipani

Ephemeral filled with the scents of tapas from the kitchen as my tables filled with fae of all ages and all species, until there was standing room only. I hadn’t wanted to put Frost on the front door and scare away those fae brave enough to venture to my club, but we had to weed out the humans somehow, and he was the only person I knew who could sniff out the humans. He’d told the humans that the event had been cancelled and let in the fae.

“Only a few fae got spooked by me,” Frost texted. “Don’t see any more headed this way, I’m locking the door.”

I nodded at Vin and she stood. “Thank you all for coming tonight,” she said. “The food will be out shortly, but before it arrives we want to talk a few minutes about why we called this meeting.”

That was my cue. I stood and let my wings unfurl from my back while Vin moved her thick hair away to reveal her nubby horns. Her furry legs and hooves were covered by pants and we’d decided it was probably best if she didn’t strip in front of everyone. “We are fae, just like you,” Vin said over a few gasps of surprise. Some of them didn’t look surprised, and I figured they’d pegged us as fae as soon as they walked in the door. Pierson, who already knew I was fae, would be serving the folks there, and my cooking staff had been instructed to remain in the kitchen. I didn’t think it was necessary to keep my fae status a secret, but I’d seen how quickly my mother had been accused of being crazy when she’d tried to bring the fae out into the sun. “And just like you,” Vin continued. “I have had to learn how to navigate the human world as a stranger to its ways. Chloe, here, has lived in the Non all her life and has some good information for us about how to stay safe and maybe how to better our situations.”

Vin sat, and I remained standing. “Thank you all for coming,” I said. “When you came in, you should have all picked up a piece of paper and a pen, I’d like you to list your contact information, your skills, and what you need most, and turn those in to me by the end of the evening. We want to help you all find jobs and get you the things you most desperately need. First, though, I want to explain to you the customs and the ways of the human world and then speak about the dangers.”

“We don’t need no hand-outs,” shouted a burly man with green, seaweed-like hair.

Vin had warned me that the large majority of fae didn’t believe in giving or accepting help, especially from other species. It just wasn’t their way. “Maybe you don’t, but maybe others here do. I’m not suggesting I can provide for all of you, but I might be able to help you find work or a better place to live. I can at least give you helpful information. If you don’t need any of that, you are free to leave.”

“Why should we trust a fairy?” A tall, lithe woman asked.

“I’m a fairy who’s lived all of my life in the Non. I have no affiliation with the fairies who terrorized people in Rubalia.”

“Except that your mother is the queen, right? And she’s done nothing to improve things in Rubalia,” said a scrawny teenager.

Shit, I really didn’t know what my mother had or hadn’t done in her new role as queen, and I couldn’t argue in her defense, even if I wanted to. I looked to Vin for help, but she was already on her feet. “Chloe is not her mother and her only interest, her only goal, right now is to help all of you have better lives here in the Non. If you don’t or can’t trust that, you should leave. But you have my word that she has your best interests at heart.”

About ten of the two hundred or so fae in the room stood and left without another word. The rest stayed and listened while I detailed the dangers of the human world and the basic rules of human etiquette. After about an hour of that, Pierson set out the food buffet-style and everyone got something to eat. Then we opened it up to questions and let them go.

I was just starting to sort the papers the fae had given us into some sort of workable order, with the help of Vin, when Frost showed up at the door to my office. “Another kid has gone missing,” he said.

“Run away?”

He shook his head. “Maybe, but this one’s only ten and his family has only been in the Non for two weeks. They’re so wary of me that they didn’t come to me directly, but a friend of the family asked for help on their behalf.”

“Ten?” I asked, looking at Vin. “Do the fae mature more quickly than humans?”

“Do you know the species?” Vin asked.

Frost shrugged, his jaw tense. “Fairy.”

Vin sighed. “Like humans, fairies believe that children should be allowed to be children, but life experiences determine maturity. There’s just no good way to know.”

Frost nodded. “That’s why I’d like you two to come with me to talk to the family. They’re more likely to open up to you.”

I dropped the pile of papers on the desk and stood. “Let’s go.”

A woman answered the door, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy. She looked young, so, so young. Younger than I’d ever been. And, yet, she had a ten-year-old son. “Hi,” I said, keeping my voice gentle, because she looked as though she’d fall apart at too loud a sound, her small, delicate wings trembling. I wondered that no human had noticed the wings, or if they just thought she was quirky and wore fake wings. I let my own wings fly, to help her feel connected to me, to trust me as a fellow fairy. “I’m here to help. I understand your son is missing?”

The woman, Mrs. Rosen, nodded, but she darted her eyes to Frost who stood behind me and Vin and fear flashed there. I knew the fae didn’t all love werewolves, but I didn’t understand why she’d fear one. “It’s fine. My husband is out looking for Renny now.”

“Of course,” Vin said. “I’m sure he will find him, but my friends, Chloe and Frost, they’ve lived in the human world all of their lives. They may be able to help your husband find him more quickly. You do want your son home as soon as possible, don’t you?”

Her jaw tightened and her eyes hardened in a way I would not have expected. “You two may enter,” she said. “But the wolf stays out there.”

I looked back at Frost and he nodded. “Okay,” I said. “He’ll stay out here.”

Mrs. Rosen stepped back from the door and gestured us inside. The apartment was tiny. A single room with one double mattress on the floor, a small galley-style kitchen and two closed doors, which likely led to the bathroom and a closet. The room was spotlessly clean and neat. “I’m sorry I don’t have furniture,” she said. “You may sit on the bed.”

It felt strange to sit on her bed, but Vin shook her head when I tried to sit on the floor. Vin took a seat in the center of the mattress, and I sat next to her. “Thank you for your hospitality,” she said. “Can you tell us when your son disappeared? What was he doing? Where was he?”

“I asked him to go down the street to the shop on the corner. I needed some soap to wash the clothes and we’d scraped enough together for it. He never came back.”

“Are you employed,” I asked. “Does your husband have a job?”

Mrs. Rosen’s back straightened and anger flashed in her eyes. “That is not your concern. We take good care of our son.”

Vin opened her mouth to step in, but I waved her off. “Of course you do. But other fae kids who have gone missing joined gangs and, if your son thought you needed money, he might have joined a gang to try to help you out.”

“My son would never join a…What is it exactly? This gang?”

I almost laughed at Mrs. Rosen’s 360 degree change in expression, but I managed to remain expressionless after a few deep breaths through my nose. I looked to Vin for help, and she explained the concept of gangs to the fairy woman in words she understood. Apparently, in Rubalia they had wandering mobs of criminals not unlike our gangs, but more wild west than inner city.

“No,” the woman said. “He is a good boy. He wouldn’t join a gang.”

“Not even to keep you from starving?”

She shook her head. “My husband is lucky. He has just gotten a good job at a bank as a teller. He is good with numbers. I’ve been taking in sewing projects to make us some money in the mean-time. My son had no reason to join a gang.”

“Sometimes gangs offer friendship. Could he have been lonely?” I asked.

“No,” Mrs. Rosen said. “No. We’d only moved here three weeks ago, and he already had a half-dozen friends. He is very outgoing and people like him.”

Vin looked just as bewildered as I felt. “Was there anyone from Rubalia who might be angry with you? Who might have caused trouble for your son?”

She shook her head. “No, no. We left because we fear the war that is brewing. We had no enemies there and most of our closest friends and family left when we did.”

It didn’t make sense to me that the fear of a war, the distant possibility of a war, would cause them and all of their friends and family to leave Rubalia. There had to be something more going on, something she wasn’t telling me.

“Did you have concerns about any of his friends? Hear any of them mention being in trouble?”

“No,” Mrs. Rosen said, tears rising and falling down her cheeks. “He’s a good boy, everyone loves him.”

“We’ll need to talk to his friends,” Vin said. She got a list of names and addresses and we left. Frost met us in the hallway.

“We should call the police,” I said.

“Already did,” Frost said. “They came to talk to the mother, and she told them she doesn’t have a son. She was terrified of the police for some reason.”

I shook my head. Nothing about any of this felt right. I stared at Frost, trying to make sense of all the different pieces and came up empty. It couldn’t be a coincidence that all of the missing kids were fae, and had recently left Rubalia. I needed to know what was making so many leave Rubalia. “I need to talk to my mother.”

Frost flinched as though I’d slapped him.

“No,” Vin said. “There is no reason to involve her. We’ll talk to Renny’s friends first.”

So we knocked on doors and talked to more people, all of whom seemed wary and afraid of Frost, but none of whom could contradict anything Mrs. Rosen had said. “We got nothing,” I said, once we were back on the street. “I’m going to talk to my mother.”

“No,” Vin said. “There’s no reason for her to tell you the truth and, even if she did, it wouldn’t get us any closer to finding this kid.”

I looked at Frost, waiting for him to contradict me, but he looked thoughtful, his gaze distant. “I agree with—”

“You people the ones been asking about the missing kid?” A brownie, recognizable by his short stature, stub nose, and scent of chocolate, walked up and inserted himself amidst us.

“Yes,” I said, smiling brightly, hoping to charm him and get him to reveal what he knew. “Did you know him?”

“Nope, but word on the street is that he didn’t run. He was kidnapped.”

“Word on the street?” Frost asked. “Did someone see him taken?”

The brownie shrugged. “I’m just repeating what I heard. Folks around here don’t talk too loud, they whisper, and the whisper about the boy is that he was taken.”

“Taken where? By who?” Vin asked.

The brownie shrugged. “If we knew that, we’d go and bring him home, now wouldn’t we?”

“Would you?” I asked. “I’ve never known brownies to be overly helpful.”

He shrugged. “I’m here now, aren’t I? Talking to you. Things are different here, the fae need to stick together.”

He stepped away from us, done talking. Frost and Vin’s expressions matched mine, doubt and wariness. “What’s your name? Where can we find you if we have questions?”

But the brownie walked away and didn’t look back. “I don’t like it,” Frost said. “It’s too convenient the way he showed up out of nowhere and gave us just enough to pique our interest.”

“But what did he stand to gain?” I asked. “Why lie to us?”

Vin shook her head. “I’m going to talk to Missella, and see if she knows anything about kidnapped fae kids. Frost, will you stay with Chloe? I don’t want her being left alone.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” I said. “This has nothing to do with me.”

“And I have a job,” Frost said. “I can’t just drop everything to guard Chloe from someone who’s kidnapping kids.”

I had to pinch myself to be sure I wasn’t dreaming. Frost and I agreeing about anything was just that rare. Frost looked at me and smirked like he knew what I was thinking.

Vin sighed. “Because you’re going to talk to your mother, Chloe, and I don’t want you going alone.”

“Wait…what?” This conversation was giving me whiplash. “Why?”

“In case what that brownie says is true and this boy was kidnapped. Like you said, it’s too much of a coincidence that all of the kids are recent arrivals and fae. If they’re being kidnapped, it seems more likely they’re being taken by other fae than by humans. We need to know what’s going on in Rubalia.” She looked from me to Frost. “Go to Rubalia, but don’t trust what Althea tells you, investigate and see what you can find. There’s something off here.”

“Right,” Frost said. “There’s something off here, in the Non. Going to Rubalia won’t solve that.”

Vin shook her head. “I think you’re wrong, and it’s worth this boy’s life to go to Rubalia and look into it.”

“But if we’re wrong …” I said, my earlier desire to talk to my mother forgotten with my fear about the risk we took. Taking Frost away from this case when it might mean the boy’s life wasn’t okay.

“We’ve got no leads here,” Vin said. “Don’t you have someone else in your office you can put on this case, Frost?”

He shook his head. “They mostly do research for me, all the grunt work I don’t have time for. Amy sometimes works the odd insurance fraud case, but none of them have the experience I have. I can’t leave this case to them.”

“What about Harvey?” I asked.

“What about him?” Frost’s body tensed and his jaw clenched.

“He could work the case. He might uncover something we haven’t.”

“He’s also got restraints on him I don’t have. I can focus all of my attention on this case, but he’s got a boss to answer to.”

I nodded. “So I go to Rubalia alone.”

“Shit, no,” Frost said. He ran his fingers through his hair, causing half of it to flop in his face, which only seemed to annoy him more. He needed a haircut. “Call Harvey and have him meet us at my office as soon as he can.”

“You want to go to this…this fairy land to visit your mother who’s a queen there? Because you think she might know something about a boy missing here?” The brilliant smile Harvey had greeted me with when he arrived at Frost’s office was gone, replaced by a severe frown. He shook his head and then rubbed his hands over his face, as though he were trying to ground himself. “So you are literally a fairy princess.”

I nodded. “Right. Except I’m half faun royalty as well and the fairies don’t like mixed breeds, so—”

Harvey held up his hand. “No more. The fairy princess thing is all I can handle right now. What I don’t get is why I can’t go with you.” He shot a glare at Frost and I had the urge to slap him. Sure we were dating and I liked Harvey, but he didn’t get to glare at Frost when Frost was risking himself to help me and this missing boy. Only I got to glare at Frost.

“You have no fae blood,” Vin said. “You’d probably die if you tried to cross through the portal.”

“Can we be sure I have no fae blood?” Harvey said. “I’ve got some pretty freaky cousins.”

Frost leaned in and sniffed Harvey. “One hundred percent human as far as I can tell.”

Harvey leaned away. “Look, I’m trying to be okay with all of this. Frost is a werewolf, Vin is a faun, and my girlfriend is fae royalty, but please refrain from sniffing me or magicking me for the moment.”

My heart swelled at the way he’d called me his girlfriend like it was the most natural thing in the world, and I leaned over and kissed his cheek. The look he gave me, though, wasn’t warm, but wary, and my heart sank. I hated that he doubted me even the slightest bit. “No magicking, or sniffing,” I said. “We just want you to work with Mercury to try to find these kids, while Vin, Frost, and I go to Rubalia to find out what’s going on there.”

Harvey shrugged. “I’ll have to use vacation time, but I’m between cases at the moment, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Give me what you have on the case and I’ll look into it.”

Frost nodded and slapped Harvey’s shoulder. “Thank you. I appreciate it. If there were any way you could be the one go to Rubalia with your girl, I’d trade places with you.” The smile on Frost’s face looked strange and tense, but Harvey seemed to relax just a smidge.

“Honestly, man,” Harvey said. “I’m probably not ready for visiting the land of the fae.” He didn’t meet my eyes and relief washed over his features when his phone beeped. “I’ve got to take this.”

He left and Vin went with him, walking him out and heading home to get some sleep before she had to face Missella in the morning. “I should get to the restaurant,” I said, feeling a bit not myself after Harvey’s obvious insecurity about my fae nature. It wasn’t as though I’d expected him to be excited about the news, but it would have been nice if he’d been just the tiniest bit supportive.

Frost nodded, lost in thought. “He’s a tough guy, Chloe. Don’t take his attitude too personally. With everything we just laid on him, most humans would be freaking out, but he stayed and agreed to help. He’ll be there for you when it counts.”

I considered kicking Frost in the balls for butting into my relationship with Harvey and for seeing my insecurity, but I wanted to hear his opinion more than I wanted to hurt him. Just one more reason romance was bad, it made me needy and vulnerable. “What does that even mean, Frost? He’s a tough guy so he can’t look at me when I tell him I’m a fairy princess?” Yeah, I guess I was more pissed at Harvey than I realized, but I liked being pissed at Frost even more.

“He’s a tough guy. He doesn’t like anything, any problem, he can’t punch or shoot his way out of, but he cares about you and what you told him changes how he sees you. It changes what he thought he knew about you and that probably makes him uncomfortable. Don’t you think?”

I nodded.

“Right. He doesn’t like it that the woman he’s been pursuing for however many years has huge secrets, but he can’t cry about it or talk about his feelings, and he can’t punch you or kick you, so he has to withdraw for a little while, maybe go punch or kick someone else. Then, he’ll come back to you and he’ll be supportive the way you need, though it may not be all hearts and flowers the way you want.”

“Since when did you become an expert on men’s psychology?” I was hurt by Harvey’s withdrawal and annoyed at Frost for being so rational and making so much sense, and I couldn’t see the logic of what he was saying. I didn’t want to. “And I don’t need hearts and flowers. I’m not that kind of girl.”

Frost smirked and I took three steps back from him, so I wouldn’t slap him. “I’m a tough guy myself, princess, so I know what he’s feeling. And you need hearts and flowers more than any other girl I’ve ever known. You deserve an outpouring of love so heavy and deep you feel like you’re drowning, to make up for all the love you didn’t get from your waste of a mother.”

I took another two steps from him, but I was trembling with fury, and with some other emotion that I refused to consider. How dare he? He didn’t know me, and I didn’t need his pity for my past. I’d had a fine childhood, I’d never been abused or mistreated. “I’ll see you in the morning,” I said. “Meet at the portal?”

He nodded and walked back to his desk. I turned and walked past the three empty desks in the main room, trying to pretend I didn’t hear his parting shot. “I don’t know why I waste my breath.”

I could have used that as an excuse to go back and take my anger and hurt out on him, but I just wanted to get as far from him as I could.

CHAPTER SIX

I’ve got nothing against people who believe in true love, any more than I’ve got a beef with people who believe in zombies or unicorns. Just keep your beliefs out of my life. –Chloe Frangipani

There is nothing worse than loving someone who can’t love you back. –Althea Frangipani

I arrived at Ephemeral in such a daze from my heated exchange with Frost that I didn’t even notice something was wrong until I tried the door. It was locked. It shouldn’t have been locked. The doorway shouldn’t have been dark. There should have been a steady stream of patrons heading in and out of my club. I unlocked the door and went inside to find the place empty and silent. Something had happened and no one had called me? What the hell?

I pulled out my phone to call Pierson, but he appeared from the kitchen before I could. “Hey, Chloe,” he said. He looked exhausted, pale, and shaken.

“What happened?” I asked, immediately thinking the worst. Some angry husband had shown up and shot the place up, or a woman had gone crazy and attacked one of my employees. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“I’m sorry. I should have called right away, but I thought I could handle it and, when I realized I couldn’t, I couldn’t get away to make the call.”

“What happened?”

“After the meeting, I helped Charles clean up the kitchen and get ready for the night. He’d already prepped everything and we had time before opening, so we went over to O’Grady’s for dinner and a game of darts.” He shook his head. “We never should have left.”

My heart pounded with fear and stress. Ephemeral was my baby and I had a bad feeling that someone had hurt her. “What happened?”

“Someone stole all the top-shelf liquor, about a grand’s worth, and they took our blenders, smaller coolers, and our smallest broiler. Random stuff that I don’t see anyone fencing. They took a bunch of other stuff, too. Almost like they’re trying to set up their own bar.”

“Did you call the police?”

He nodded. “I didn’t want to bother you. I knew you were helping Frost find a missing kid and I figured this was a police matter anyway. I called and they said they’d send someone over to check it out. When someone knocked on the door a few minutes later, I thought it was the cops.”

My heart sank, and I was pretty sure I was going to throw up. Losing several grand worth of equipment and supplies was bad enough, I couldn’t handle any more. “Who was it?”

His shoulders slumped. “The health inspector, Chloe. The fucking health inspector. I explained we’d had a theft, but he insisted on checking the place out. I figured we were fine, because Charles and I had cleaned up before we headed to dinner and you know as well as I do that we follow all of the regulations.”

I nodded. I was a stickler for cleanliness.

Pierson sighed. “The health inspector found enough violations to shut us down. Whoever stole our stuff also set us up.”

I saw his lips moving, I heard the words, but I was sure I’d heard wrong. “That’s not possible. Who would do that?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but unless we can prove we were set up, we’re shut down for three weeks before we get another inspection.”

I dropped into the nearest chair. Being shut down for three weeks meant a loss of revenue I wasn’t sure we could handle. That on top of having to replace the liquor and equipment, might be enough to end Ephemeral. But worse than any of that was the damage to our reputation that came from being shut down. We’d lose patrons because of it and we’d lose more who thought we were closed for good and found new bars to love. My chest got tight, and I found it suddenly hard to breathe, as I pictured my dream ending and my club closing permanently.

Pierson pushed my head between my knees. “Just breathe, sugar,” he said. “We’ll figure this out. We’ll be okay.”

I tried to suck in a full breath and calm down, but I didn’t share Pierson’s certainty.

Once I could breathe normally again, Pierson took me on a tour of my own club and showed me the violations the inspector had found and the holes where the missing equipment had been. We made plans to meet up to fix the violations and buy new equipment as soon as I got back from Rubalia.

“Why don’t you come over to my place?” Pierson asked. “We can eat junk food and drink cheap wine and reminisce about the good old days of Ephemeral.”

I wrapped my arms around Pierson, overwhelmed with gratefulness and love for this man who’d worked so hard for my club and loved it as much as I did. “I’m not ready to mourn Ephemeral, yet,” I said. “But if we have to close this place for good, I’ll take you up on your offer. Tonight, I need to get some sleep.”

Pierson nodded against my shoulder and gave me a hard squeeze before he released me. I pecked his cheek and we walked out together. I was two steps from the front of the club when someone called my name. I turned to see a woman in a flowy red party dress, and kitten heels. “Hi,” I said. “I’m sorry, but the club’s closed.”

She shoved an envelope into my hand and stepped back. “Not here to drink,” she said. “You’ve been served.”

She turned and left. I watched her and wondered what I’d done to deserve the kind of night I’d had.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Sometimes good things come to good people, but bad things are not prejudiced, they will cling to whatever body is nearest. Karma is a fickle beast. – Chloe Frangipani

You make your own good, baby girl. Sometimes that means pushing the bad off onto someone else. –Althea Frangipani

Pierson looked over my shoulder as I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside. I scanned its contents and Pierson cursed behind me. I folded the letter and put it back in the envelope, trying to make sense of what I’d just read. “Can he do that?”

“Sure,” Pierson said. “Anyone can sue anyone else for any crazy reason they can come up with.”

“But he can’t possibly win,” I said. “He can’t have any proof of prostitution here and the letter says that he’s suing me for breaking up his marriage when I had nothing to do with his marital problems. He should sue Dale.”

“He’s the mayor, Boss. He can sue whoever he wants. It won’t matter if he wins if he ruins you in the process.”

“Ruins me …” I turned and looked back at my club. Pierson was right. The mayor might not win the case, but he could ruin my reputation and force me to spend a lot of money and time fighting him. “Do you think he had anything to do with …?” I waved back at the club.

“It makes sense,” he said. “Maybe you could ask Frost to investigate—”

“No. I can’t afford Frost right now. Just…could you bring the staff in for a meeting, see if any of them know anything? I would do it, but—”

“But you’re trying to find a missing kid,” Pierson said. “I’ll do it tomorrow. They’ll probably feel more comfortable talking to me anyway.”

“Okay.” I tried to sound confident and sure, since I needed to be in charge, but the pity in Pierson’s expression suggested I’d failed.

“How you holding up?” Frost asked when I met him the next morning outside the warehouse-like building that housed a night club and a portal to Rubalia. He looked at ease and gorgeous in jeans and a t-shirt.

“I’m great,” I said with forced cheer. “Just tired.” Worrying about Ephemeral and my chances of saving it had kept me up most of the night.

“You looked exhausted,” he said, his voice gentle.

I narrowed my eyes, pretty sure Pierson had gone behind my back and told Frost what had happened to Ephemeral. “Where’s the guy who’s going to let us in? And what lie did you tell him this time?”

“I want to help, Chloe. Let me help.”

“I can’t afford you. And I thought we were going to Rubalia, not discussing my club.”

He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something else, then he shook his head and pushed the door open with one finger.

“Breaking and entering?” Frost was as straight-edge as they came and I couldn’t imagine him committing a crime.

He shrugged, mischief dancing in his eyes. “The door was open when I got here.”

“Right,” I said, dragging out the vowels as I followed him into the empty club. “What a lucky coincidence.”

He gave me a smile so bright I stumbled over my own feet. “I am a very lucky wolf.”

I watched him walk away from me, and tried to figure him out. Every time I thought I had a bead on the guy, he did something unexpected and out of character and I was thrown off again. He reached the portal before I’d answered my own question, and I hurried to catch up to him. I stopped when he started stripping out of his clothes next to the portal. I averted my eyes until he’d gone through, and then I followed.

The portal threw us into a night club in Rubalia and the faun DJ looked at us with wide eyes that got wider as wings popped out of my back and Frost bent and shifted into a horse-sized wolf. “Hey folks,” the DJ said, his voice shaking. “You have clearance to be here?”

Frost growled at him and the DJ raised his hands. “Go on in. Welcome to Rubalia.”

Frost and I made our way through the busy, bouncing night club and onto the street of the small faun village where the club was located. Unlike the last time I visited Rubalia, the night club was filled with fauns instead of a heterogeneous mix of all the species of Rubalia.

Since we had misjudged and arrived in Rubalia in the middle of the night, we had a few extra hours to kill. We strolled through the faun village, looking for any signs of change or trouble, but saw nothing. Once on the road to the fairy castle, walked in silence for about the first twenty minutes, and I tried to work out how to approach my mother and what attitude was most likely to get answers from her. As we continued to walk, I started to notice that the landscape had changed, the forest seemed denser and darker than the last time we’d traveled that path. It might have just been a darker night, but the moon shone full and bright and the shadows remained deep everywhere I looked.

“Is it just me, or is this forest a whole lot creepier than last time?” I asked.

Frost’s hackles were raised, his wolf body tense. He nodded his head, but didn’t look at me, he scanned the path before us and the forest to either side.

“Do you smell anything that should concern us?”

He nodded, shook his head, and then nodded again, which I took to mean he had no fucking clue what he was smelling.

“Great. Just growl if trouble approaches. If you hit the deck, I’ll drop, too. Deal?”

He whined low in the back of his throat and picked up his pace. I hurried to a slow jog to keep up with him and wished I’d come armed.

A full moon stretched its rays through the dense branches above and kept the wide, well-trodden path lit, but off the path the shadows were dark and thick. Too dark to be natural and, if any darkness edged onto the trail, I stepped around it, my curiosity about it not outweighing the primal, gut-deep urge I had to stay as far away from it as possible. Frost must have felt the same way, because he didn’t touch the shadows either.

We reached the edge of the forest as the first rays of dawn lit the sky, creating a gorgeous sunrise. I looked back the way we’d just come and shook my head as I calculated. “Does the forest seem bigger to you?”

Frost growled in response, and I turned to see three people, two women and a man, all fairies, in our path. Each of them held a bow, arrows pointed at us.

“I’m Clarinda Jessamine Rose blossom Regalia Frangipani, and my mother Althea is your queen. This wolf is my friend, Frost, and we’ve come to speak to my mother.”

The fairies did not lower their bows, but looked at each other as though they might be communicating telepathically. “How can we be sure you are who you say?”

“You can’t.” I could show them my wings and my faun tail, but I couldn’t be the only fairy faun mix in all of Rubalia.

“Then we will escort you to the queen,” the woman in the center said. “We must keep our weapons on you as a precaution. Dark things have come from that forest and we have found it is best to be careful.”

“Dark things?”

No one answered, the conversation part of our morning was concluded. The three fairies walked with us, one behind, two flanking, all with arrows trained on us as we walked up and down the hilly landscape the last three miles to my mother’s castle.

When we arrived, my mother wasn’t yet up, so our fairy escorts locked us in a dungeon cell and brought us a warm and rather delicious breakfast. Whatever they thought we might be, they didn’t want to risk treating us too badly and earn my mother’s ire. They were hedging their bets, and it only made me more curious to find out why. What sorts of things came out of that dark forest?

Frost ate the same human food they brought me and then paced the small cell until I felt dizzy. “Please, stay still for just a bit.”

He collapsed on the floor with a short growl of annoyance, but he couldn’t stay still. His padded feet and his nails tapped out a rhythm on the floor.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “You just don’t like being caged?”

He nodded, his whole body twitching.

“Fine, then, do whatever it takes to make yourself feel better.” I wanted to ask him so many more questions as he pushed to his feet and resumed pacing, but my questions required more than just yes or no answers.

After about another hour, we were released and escorted, again under armed guard, to see my mother.

She sat regally on a throne in a silvery dress that swirled around her like mist and barely covered her naughty bits, revealing the smooth skin of her lithe and well-toned body. It felt odd and uncomfortable to see my mother dressed like that. She looked younger and fitter than me, or at least not as tired and world-weary. She smiled brightly as I was brought before her.

“What was your favorite toy as a child, Clarinda?” my mother asked.

“What?”

Annoyance flittered across her face. She’d never been patient. “Just answer the question, dear, so that I may dismiss the guards. Your favorite toy.”

“I didn’t have a favorite toy. You said such sentimentality was dangerous and would make me dependent on something that was inherently undependable.”

Frost growled and my mother glared at him. “Toys break, wear out, I wanted to save my daughter some pain.” Her expression hardened and she returned her attention to me. “Not that it’s his business. I was a good mother. Now, just one more question, dear. The name of your club in the Non?”

“Ephemeral,” I said. “Why are you asking questions you already know the answers to? Does this have to do with the forest?”

“The forest?” She forced a confused look onto her face, but she wasn’t such a good liar that she could hide from me. She knew exactly what I was talking about.

“The forest we walked through to get here, it’s different, denser and larger.”

My mother waved her hand and our contingent of guards dispersed and left the room. “When a new ruler takes the throne, the surrounding landscape often changes, responding to the new magic in power.”

“So then what’s with the questions?”

She frowned. “Why are you here, Clarinda? Why not address your questions to Hieronymus as you should?”

“Because I wanted to talk to you, Mother. There are more refugees coming into the Non since before you took the throne and—”

“How do you know this?”

Her words stopped my train of thought so quickly that it took me a moment to realize what she’d said. “Frost knows. He’s seeing more refugees than ever before and we—”

“Has he taken a census? Has he kept records? How does he know that these new refugees are more and not less? Perhaps the earlier refugees settled in other areas and these new refugees want to be close to the princess.”

“Do you think—?”

“I don’t think anything, dear. I don’t concern myself with those who leave. The Non is none of my concern.”

“But Rubalia is your concern, and we’ve heard talk.” I barreled over her when she tried to interrupt me again. “Talk that the people of Rubalia fear another war because of the contention between you and the faun king. Now fae children are going missing from the Non, possibly kidnapped, and I want you to quit bullshitting and tell me what’s really going on over here.”

“There is no reason for you to involve yourself with the state of affairs in Rubalia.”

“I am the princess. The heir. If I shouldn’t concern myself, who should?”

“As long as I am your queen, you will leave such matters to me. Now I really must—” She stood as though to leave.

“Then how will I learn? How will I learn to rule if you shut me out?”

She sat back down and studied me for a long moment. “When I am sure of your loyalties, Chloe, I will share the secrets of this fairy land with you.”

“I’m living in the apartment you chose for me and wearing the clothes you paid for, what more do you want from me?”

“I want you to choose me over your friends in the Non. To choose blood over the silly distractions of the human world. How can you suggest your loyalty is not split when you are dating a human? Or is your involvement with him just a ploy to achieve a larger goal?”

“You’re watching me?”

She emitted a fake tinkle of a laugh. “Of course, I’m watching, Chloe. You are my heir and you must be protected. I must know where your loyalties lie before I can entrust certain information to you. Right now, your loyalties lie with those people in the Non.”

“Mother, don’t you care that your people are leaving Rubalia? They are streaming into the Non in massive waves, greater than when your father ruled and massacred people.”

She shook her head. “If they don’t want to stay, I’m not going to force them. Maybe that’s what my father did, maybe that’s why there’s more leaving now. Either way, I have things to do, so unless you’re here to declare your undying loyalty, you should go back to the Non.”

I watched my mother leave the throne room, and then our cadre of guards returned. At least this time they weren’t pointing their weapons at us.

The fairy guards left us at the edge of the woods. “You may continue on alone,” one of the women said, but she glanced back over her shoulder, her whole body tense with nerves.

“And if I tell my mother you failed to escort us all the way back to the portal?” I didn’t particularly want their company all the way back, but I did want to know how afraid they were of that dark forest. “You think she’ll be okay with that?”

Not one of the three fairies met my eyes. They all seemed to find an area over my left shoulder fascinating. “Fine,” said the blonde woman. “But we’ll go around the forest, not through it.”

“Why?” I asked. “What’s in there?”

“We’re not to speak of—” One of the men started.

The woman glared at him. “We’ll go around.”

So we all walked around the forest, which seemed to go on forever, the dark shadows stretching out into the grassy meadow that bordered it in several places. “What are those shadows?” I asked as we made our way through the taller grass of the meadow to avoid them. The sun beat down hard and I was pretty sure my pale skin would be burned when we got home, but I preferred that to testing the shadows.

None of the fairies answered me and I knew that if I wanted to get any answers, I’d have to talk to someone else, someone who’d be more willing to talk. Unfortunately, I didn’t know anyone in Rubalia. “We’ll be okay on our own from here,” I said to our guards. “I promise I won’t tell my mother you failed to see us all the way back to the portal.”

“No,” the woman said. “We’ll follow her orders.”

“What exactly were her orders?”

“To see you safe,” one of the men said. He turned and faced his colleagues. “I see her and she’s safe. I’d say that’s good enough.”

The woman rolled her eyes. “We’ll escort you to the portal.”

It was evening, the hot sun setting, when we got back to the faun village and the night club we’d entered that morning. “Here’s our stop,” I said. “We won’t see you three around.”

The fairies nodded and walked away without another word, leaving me and Frost at the door to a nightclub and a treasure trove of gossip.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Being good at small talk is all about the other person. –Chloe Frangipani

I don’t like people and I don’t care to hear their tiresome, sad stories. –Althea Frangipani

There was no bouncer at the door, no one to stop me from walking in with Frost at my side. The DJ was already spinning and there were about ten fauns dancing. I wondered if they’d gone home at all or were still there from the night before. It took Frost a moment to realize I hadn’t gone straight to the DJ booth, but he caught up to me at the bar and didn’t complain when I sat on a stool and ordered a drink.

“Nice dog,” the bartender said, her eyes kind, her age somewhere around the middle. “Don’t see too many dogs around here.”

“Do you have a dog?” I asked.

“No,” she said, leaning her elbows on the bar top, settling in for a chat. “The only dogs we have here are the ones folks bring back from the Non, and I’ve never had a good excuse to go to the Non and get one for myself.”

“I got this one from a pound in Sarsaparilla,” I said. “He was just a flea-bitten, skittish thing when I adopted him, but he’s toughened up since.” I ignored Frost when he nipped at my ankle. “At least he had until I tried to take him into the forest here.”

The bartender nodded. “The shadows. You must have recently returned from the Non.”

“Yes, just yesterday, in fact. He’s never been afraid of shadows though. I’m worried Rubalia doesn’t suit him.”

The bartender shrugged. “Rubalia’s not suiting many anymore. There’s been strange happenings, and the more sensitive have chosen to leave.”

“What sort of happenings?”

The bartender looked around to make sure no one was listening. Satisfied, she leaned back in. “Take them shadows for instance. Some folks claim that anyone who touches one of them shadows is changed, possessed. Most folks avoid the forest these days.”

“Is it caused by the new queen? Has her reign caused the shadows to rise?”

The bartender stood, and began wiping the counter. I thought she wouldn’t answer. “Some say it’s the nightmare realm creeping over into our world, ready to take advantage of our weak rulers.”

“The nightmare realm?” But the bartender had walked away, and she didn’t look back.

I went to the floor for answers, dancing a bit and chatting with anyone who appeared sober. I didn’t get any more answers, just more stories about strange, dark happenings in Rubalia. Despite the homogenous group of fauns in the club, no one seemed bothered by the wings on my back, though I did get more than a few double-takes. Clearly, the absence of other species of fae wasn’t because of animosity between the different groups, but for some other reason. When I’d gotten everything I thought I could, Frost and I walked to the portal and crossed back over to the Non.

Frost shifted as soon as we landed back in the DJ booth in the night club in the Non. This time, I was prepared, because I turned away before I caught a glimpse of him naked. He was also prepared, because he tapped on my shoulder a moment later, dressed in the clothes he’d stripped out of that morning.

“Let’s go back to my office,” he said, glancing at his phone. “Vin’s waiting for us there.”

I nodded, wondering how we could explain that we were no closer to an answer about the missing kids. Though we had some idea why people might be leaving Rubalia in growing numbers, we had nothing to explain why the fae kids may have run away or been kidnapped. I hoped Vin had gotten more than we had.

I followed Frost out of the club and down the midnight street. People filled the sidewalks, laughing and tipsy, listening to buskers on street corners or going from one club to another. “You know anything about this nightmare realm?” Frost asked.

“Not really,” I said. “I guess during the last war some monsters crossed over into Rubalia from the nightmare realm. I have no idea what kind of monsters they were or where the nightmare realm is, though it must border Rubalia.”

He was silent for a few moments as we continued to walk, his gaze introspective. “And your mother,” he said. “If she can force you to live in a condo you hate, why doesn’t she just have you live with her in Rubalia?”

His question surprised me and brought me to an abrupt halt. “She said it isn’t safe. The people need time to learn to accept me.”

“Right,” he said. “Except she’s not the sort to do anything based on what makes others comfortable or safe. It seems like she’s playing some sort of game, maybe playing both sides.”

“The Non and Rubalia? How’s that work?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t figured it out, yet, but I will. I will make sure you’re safe.”

I grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face me. “I appreciate everything you do for me, but it’s not your place to make sure I’m safe. I’m not your problem.”

“You’re not my problem,” he said, not quite meeting my gaze. Then he dropped his eyes to mine and the intensity there, the heat of his gaze, made my heart skip a beat like a stupid teen in a romantic comedy. “You are my solution.”

With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me bewildered, but unwilling to ask for an explanation. I was afraid of what he might say.

Vin sat across the desk from Harvey back at Frost’s office, the two of them in deep conversation. She smiled when we walked in, but didn’t stop talking. Harvey looked exhausted, but happy. He gestured for me to come closer and I went to him, thinking he had something to show me. He grabbed me and pulled me into his lap, wrapping his arms tight around my waist and nuzzling my neck. “I missed you,” he whispered, his breath hot against my skin. It felt wrong somehow, flaunting our relationship in front of Frost and Vin, and I pulled away to stand next to him. He didn’t let me go. He kept one arm around my waist as I sat on the corner of the desk closest to him.

I’ve just never been a fan of PDA or a touchy-feely person, but I knew it would hurt him if I pushed him away again, so I let him hold me, his arm heavy and too hot. “What happened while we were gone?” I asked, ignoring Vin’s smirk at Harvey’s hand on my hip and Frost’s tight jaw. I swear the wolf was going to grind down all of his teeth if he didn’t stop clenching his jaw.

“Missella claims she doesn’t know anything,” Vin said. “She says she brought all of her spies back to Rubalia to prepare everyone in case there’s another war.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “Doesn’t she need her spies to let her know if a war’s brewing?”

Vin nodded. “Yes, which is why I know she’s hiding something. I tried to get information from a couple of rebels I know, but I was always just a spy, I didn’t interact with the rest of the group very often and they didn’t want to talk to me.”

“What about Mercury?”

Vin shook her head. “They might talk to him, but he’s pretty deep in with the drugs and he can’t leave that without blowing his cover.”

“Is he finding out anything there?”

Vin nodded, looking suddenly weary. “The last time I talked to him, he was. Some humans do develop magical powers as long as they’re taking the drug, but once they stop, the magic stops. And the drug has some pretty nasty side effects, death being just one of them. When I spoke to him this morning, he said he needs to not see me for a while. Some that he works with used to work for Missella and he doesn’t want them to think he’s still working for Missella if they happen to see us together.”

I nodded, unsure why he couldn’t just say Vin had also left the movement, but not wanting to cause trouble. “Why did the others leave Missella’s movement?”

“One, like Mercury, fell under the suspicion of the faun and fairy kings, and fled here. He needed work and dealing drugs was a good option for his skill set. The other thinks Missella is wasting her time, that there’s always been corruption and fighting in Rubalia, and there always will be.”

Based on what I’d seen in Rubalia, I suspected the ex-rebel might be right. “What do you think of that?”

She studied me for a long moment. “A history of corruption is no reason for us to give up, to stop trying to make things better.”

“Okay,” I said. “So you’ve just got hints that Missella might be up to something. Did you hear any mention of the nightmare realm? Because we found some pretty creepy shadows in the forest, and heard gossip that it might be the nightmare realm creeping into Rubalia.”

Harvey released me and crossed his arms over his chest as Vin shook her head. “I heard something about a nightmare realm,” Harvey said. “Thought it was the mad ravings of a drug addict at the time. You telling me it’s real?”

I filled them in on what we’d learned in Rubalia, and Harvey paled just a touch. He was putting on a brave front, but he still hadn’t quite accepted all of this fae and fairy stuff. “The guy was drunk or high, but he said he left Rubalia because the nightmare realm was going to take over and make Rubalia its territory. He even mentioned a name, Ludwiggia, the queen of the nightmare realm who wants to expand her territory and her power. He said the missing kids are being stolen by her minions, to fight on her side. I thought it was all nonsense at the time, but now …”

I looked at Vin. “Is that possible? Could people from the nightmare realm have come here and kidnapped kids?”

She shrugged. “No one really knows what the monsters from the nightmare realm are capable of.”

“But they crossed over into Rubalia before, right? There’s got to be someone who remembers something about them.”

“Yes,” she said. “But who? And why would they talk to us?”

“Knuffington might know,” I said. “I’ll take him out to lunch and pick his brain.”

Harvey yawned, and I realized he must be exhausted. “Why don’t the rest of us get some rest,” I said. “There’s nothing else for us to do in the middle of the night, anyway.”

“Sounds good,” Harvey said, rising to his feet. “I gave a description of the missing kids to the folks at the precinct, so you’ll have us humans looking for them, too.”

He didn’t meet my eyes when he said humans, and I knew he was still weirded out about me being so very different from him. “Thank you for all of your help.” I laced my fingers through his and waited until he met my eyes. Affection warmed his gaze. At least he still liked me, even if he hadn’t quite figured out what to make of me.

“Of course,” he said. He bent and placed a soft kiss on my temple. “I’ve got to get some sleep, mind if I crash at your place? It’s closer than mine.”

“Of course not.” I started out the door with him, Vin having already left.

“Chloe,” Frost said. “Could I talk to you alone for just a moment?”

“I’m sure there’s not anything you need to say to me that Harvey can’t hear,” I said, annoyed by his curt tone.

“It’s okay, Chloe,” Harvey said. “I’ll wait for you outside.” I ignored the pang in my chest, as I realized he probably didn’t want to hear any more fae stuff.

Frost sat on the edge of his desk and faced me, silent until Harvey had gone and closed the door behind him. “You need to prepare yourself,” he said. “If these creatures from the nightmare realm are creeping into Rubalia with the plan to take over, they will want to destroy anyone who can threaten their claim.”

I stared at him for a long moment, waiting for him to go on, not wanting to accept what he was trying to say.

He sighed and raked a hand through his thick hair. “They’ll go after your mother, your grandfather, and they could very well come after you.”

Something clicked in my brain. “You think that’s why my mother wants me in the Non?”

“Maybe,” he said, but he didn’t sound at all certain. “Just…be careful.”

I nodded and turned to walk out.

“And Chloe, if you’re going to make this work with Harvey, you’re going to have to tell him you hate all the touchy feely stuff in public.”

I spun, angry that he’d read me so easily, that he was butting into my relationship with Harvey. He probably assumed we were doomed, that Harvey was too good for me. “I love the touchy feely stuff, Frost. Especially when Harvey’s the one touching me.”

Frost didn’t flinch and his face revealed no emotion. “You can’t pretend to be someone you aren’t, Chloe, not if you’re in this for the long-term. You need to be honest with him.”

On some level, I knew my anger was irrational, not just because Frost was butting in where he shouldn’t, but because I thought I was doomed to fail with Harvey. On some deeper level, I felt that there was something wrong with me and I needed to change to suit Harvey. He was already being forced to handle so much, I could handle a little public display of affection. “I. Love. His. Hands. On. Me,” I said. “Any time, any place.”

Frost shrugged and turned away. “Fine. I was wrong.” He crossed to sit behind his desk and I was hit with the overwhelming urge to tell him the truth and ask him what was wrong with me. But I doubted he could help me. I’d been born and bred twisted when it came to love and that’s just the way it was.

“The gatekeeper,” Knuffington said. “He keeps records and he’s seen it all. He was there for the war in Rubalia. If you can get him to talk, he’ll have the answers you need.” We were having lunch at Poinsettia and sweating, because the air conditioner had broken and the fans just weren’t keeping anyone cool when the humidity was high and the outside temperature was almost in the high eighties.

“If I can get him to speak.” I didn’t want to think about what it might take for that to happen. The last time I’d gone to ask for information from the dragon, he’d required a cup-full of my blood in exchange. He’d implied he wanted more than that. Sex, to be exact.

“He won’t talk to me,” Knuffington said. His gaze moved over my shoulder and his whole face lit up, his eyes warming. I turned to see my best friend, Sapphire, walking toward us. Knuffington stood and met her half-way, giving her a tight hug and a quick kiss on the lips. Sapphire’s smile couldn’t get any wider without splitting her face and something warmed in me to see my best friend so well loved and cared for.

Knuffington brought her over to sit with us.

“Were you able to get away for lunch today?” I asked. Sapphire worked as a researcher at a genetics lab and usually ate lunch at the office, so she could get back to her work more quickly. She loved her job as much as I loved Ephemeral.

“No,” she said. “Actually, Frank asked me to work in the field this afternoon. With more fae moving into the Non, he’s wondering if humans will start to notice their different attributes and start to ask questions. I’m going to give a presentation at a local school with a strong mix of fae and human and see what I can see.” Frank was Sapphire’s boss at the genetics lab where she worked. He was also an elf. Their side experiments about the fae were kept secret from the humans at the lab.

“Huh,” I said. “You think kids might be more likely to notice the different traits?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Frank thinks the fae give off a sort of aura that humans find unattractive and causes them to look away.”

“That can’t be,” I said. “How would succubi and incubi lure in their prey if they were unattractive to humans?”

“I asked the same question and Frank said alcohol impairs human judgement.”

“Or he’s totally off-base, and the human blindness is caused by something else altogether.”

The waitress reappeared and took Sapphire’s order. “I agree,” Sapphire said. “In some cultures, people can see shades of colors that the average human walking down the street in Sarsaparilla wouldn’t recognize. I believe that as more fae come to the Non and have increased interactions with humans, the humans will start to notice their differences.”

“Would it be okay if I went with you to the school? I’d like to know what the fae kids might say to me on neutral turf without their parents around.”

“Sure, but the school is in a different neighborhood than the ones the kids you’re looking for have gone missing from, so I doubt you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

“What I’m looking for is a clue to the secrets their parents are keeping. Something big is going on and no one’s talking about it. I’m hoping the kids will be more open.”

“Don’t press them too hard,” Knuffington said. “Loyalty is of tantamount importance among most fae. If the kids say more than they should, they may feel they’ve betrayed their family. It would be best to get your answers from the gatekeeper.”

“I’ll be gentle,” I said. “I’m not going to ask them for family secrets, just what they know about a darkness consuming Rubalia.”

“Sure,” Sapphire said, her expression wry. “Because that’s just the sort of innocuous question no parent would complain about.”

CHAPTER NINE

People see what they want to see, whatever allows them to live with the choices they’ve made, whatever lets them live as they choose. –Chloe Frangipani

Giving money to charity helps no one. It only enables the weak and lazy to continue being weak and lazy. –Althea Frangipani

I called Pierson on the bus ride to the school. “How’d it go with the employee meeting?”

“Good enough,” he said, sounding like he’d just woken up. “They all promised to wait for the club to re-open and to come back to work for you. Neil wasn’t there. I called him and left three messages, but I’ve had no response.”

I mulled that over for a moment. “No sense in coming into work if you’re the guy who stole a shitload of stuff.”

“Yeah.” He yawned before continuing. “I called Harvey and Frost, let them know they might want to look into him.”

“Why didn’t you call me? And why did you call Frost? I asked you to leave him out of this.”

“He wants to help and I’m going to let him, because I love Ephemeral as much as you do and I don’t want to see it closed up for good. There’s a chance Neil was working for the mayor, as part of his plan to ruin you. Frost can find out if there’s a connection.”

“Harvey could find that out.”

Pierson was silent for a long moment. “Better to have the two of them on it, in my opinion. You know I like Harvey, but he’s got a big workload and a boss that Frost doesn’t have.”

I sighed, unable to argue with his logic. “Fine. But I want it noted that I don’t like this at all.”

Pierson laughed. “Noted.” Then he hung up on me.

The school was on a city street and looked just like the office buildings around it. I shuddered as we approached, remembering first days at too many different schools. I’m a fairly confident, brave person, but I haven’t always been and it would have taken two boatloads of confidence for any kid to walk into a new school and not feel at least a twinge of trepidation. “What are you talking to these kids about anyway?”

Sapphire smiled. “What it’s like to work in a lab. Career day, you know.”

“I could talk to them about owning and operating a bar.”

She came to a complete stop and spun on me, her face pale, her mouth open. I could only imagine the reactions of the parents if their kids came home and said they wanted to be martini bar owners and provide fantasies for women when they grew up. Sapphire studied my face long enough to realize I’d been pulling her chain. “Not funny, Chloe. Not funny at all.”

“I thought it was funny.”

Once we were in the classroom and standing in front of a room full of the shining faces of impressionable, innocent third graders, I wondered if I’d made a grave mistake. How could I nose into these kids’ lives and live with myself? What if I brought more trouble down on them? Then I thought of the missing kids, and I knew it would be worth it to save them, and maybe save the kids in that classroom.

As Sapphire started on her spiel about working in a lab and researching genetics, I studied the kids, looking for tell-tale fae traits. I made out two fauns, their nubby little horns poking through their hair, a water nymph with pale blue skin, three trolls, and a redcap. Seven kids out of twenty-two were fae and possibly more who didn’t have obvious traits. Something was definitely going on and driving more people out of Rubalia and into the Non.

Sapphire finished her talk and suggested they do an activity to learn about genetics. She called on volunteers and asked each of them to tell her about themselves and then discuss what physical traits each shared with their parents. Then she explained recessive and dominant genes to the kids, so they could understand why some of them looked like their parents and others didn’t.

One little girl raised her hand as Sapphire finished up. “Why does Bowie have horns?” she asked.

Sapphire’s eyes went wide. The children, or at least some of the children, did recognize fae traits.

“I’m sorry,” the teacher said, stepping in front of Sapphire. “Elsa likes to play pretend, don’t you?”

Elsa scowled, but didn’t argue with her teacher, which led me to believe this wasn’t the first time they’d had words about Elsa and her “imagination.” I looked at the other kids. The faun children had dropped their eyes to the floor and the other kids were staring at them with animosity, like they knew what Elsa knew and felt the faun children should speak up.

“I think this is the perfect time to discuss my job at the census office,” I said, improvising. The teacher had had no problem with me talking to the class about my job, and I’d been a bit stumped to come up with a better way to get answers from the kids without stalking them on the playground.

“Yes,” the teacher said. “Go ahead.”

I explained the basic idea of what a census taker does, having only a vague idea of the actual job of such a person myself, then I asked each of the kids to write down for me where they’d lived in their lives and why they’d moved, as a sort of demonstration of a census taker’s job. It made sense to me, but the kids seemed a bit bored with it. I collected the papers when they were all done and stowed them away for later. Then I asked the kids to tell me where they’d most like to live. Surprisingly the large majority, even the fae kids, said Hogwarts. Since the school day was about done, we were shooed out of the classroom before I could discuss Harry Potter with them.

“Wow,” Sapphire said, as we walked away from the school. “Those kids didn’t miss anything. I need to get back to Frank and tell him what happened.”

“Elsa wasn’t the only one who saw the horns,” I said. “Did you feel the tension in that room?”

Sapphire nodded. “I noticed the other kids glaring at the faun kids, like they either saw the horns or somehow sensed those kids were different. It must be really hard for fae kids in public schools with humans.”

“Yeah. And if the kids can sense or see the differences, it’s not too crazy to assume that some adults can see it, too. What if that’s why those fae kids were kidnapped? For some sort of crazy research project or fantastic collection?”

Sapphire shuddered. “Maybe. But we still haven’t discovered evidence of humans being aware of the fae. Even Evelyn didn’t know Buddy was a troll, right? And she was married to him.”

We stood at the bus stop in a contemplative silence. “You’re still coming to the flea market with me and Harvey, tomorrow, right?” I asked. “I don’t think he’s going to be much help since he’s new to it all and not terribly crazy about kitsch.”

She frowned as the bus pulled up. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry.”

I almost laughed, but I understood that she wasn’t joking. She’d just pegged my relationship with Harvey as doomed. “It’s fine,” I said, sitting next to her on the nearly empty bus. “Maybe he’ll learn to love it.”

She forced a cheery smile and nodded. “Of course.”

My phone rang, and I pulled it out with a grateful sigh. I loved Sapphire, but she could be hypercritical, and I wasn’t in any mood to be critical of Harvey. He was my first adult boyfriend and it would work out between us, because it had to. I had to prove to myself and my mother that I could commit for the long-term. What that might mean, marriage and kids, made my heart pound a bit too fast, so I pushed those thoughts away and answered my phone.

“There’s another missing kid,” Frost said. “I need you to come with me to talk to the parents.”

“Of course,” I said. “I’m on the bus now. Where should I go?”

He groaned. “The bus takes forever. Get off at the next stop and we’ll ride over there together.”

“I don’t want to ride your bike again,” I said, but I was already pulling the cord for the next stop. My curiosity outweighed my dislike of his bike.

“Where will you be?”

“Corner of Bern and Wilmington,” I said, standing as the bus pulled to a stop. I waved to Sapphire and she gave me a huge grin and waved back, mouthing have fun, like I was a kid going to school. “Right in front of the courthouse.”

“I’ll be there in three minutes,” Frost said, and hung up without another word.

He roared up on his bike two and a half minutes later, and handed me a helmet. “Why are you including me, again?” I was in a mood to needle him. “I thought you didn’t like a partner, thought you were the pre-eminent investigator for the fae.”

He looked away, shrugged. “I’ve had problems in the past. Some fae don’t like werewolves, but most of them understood I was their best option. These more recent transplants, though, it’s like they’re afraid of me. I don’t understand why. They call me because they’re desperate, but they cringe when I show up at their door. I get the feeling they’re keeping things from me.”

“Weird.” I climbed onto the back of his bike and held onto his hips, his strong, hard hips, and tried not to think about how much I wanted to run my hands up and feel his hard abs. It was just biology, a physical attraction controlled by nature, not my conscious mind, but I still felt a bit guilty and forced myself not to lean against Frost, not to hold on tighter, as he pulled away from the curb and into traffic, picking up speed and causing my heart to race with fear and adrenaline.

He drove about twenty city blocks. I counted, to stop thinking about his muscular shoulders and how good he smelled. Then he pulled up in front of a building with bars on the windows in a mediocre-bad neighborhood, just a few blocks from where the ten-year-old fairy had gone missing. Three women in colorful gypsy skirts and holding tambourines, sang on the corner, their sweet, lilting folk song easing my nerves a bit. I dropped a dollar in the straw hat in front of them, to thank them for the moment of peace. They smiled at me and continued singing.

Frost watched me, his expression warm and thoughtful, and I gestured at the building just to get him to stop looking at me. “Shall we?”

He led the way inside and up six flights of stairs to the third floor.

A small, pale man, who smelled of chocolate and had pointy ears, opened the door, his expression grim. Though he was a brownie, I didn’t think flirting with him to get information would be the right way to go. Brownies weren’t the sharpest scissors in the school supply closet, but they were loyal to their spouses and their families. “Hello, Mr. Fernwort,” Frost said. “I’ve brought my friend, Clarinda, with me to speak to you about your missing daughter.”

“Please come in,” Mr. Fernwort said. “And call me Lolly.”

He led us inside and gestured for us to sit on his couch. A plate of double chocolate cookies sat on the coffee table.

“I’m sorry I don’t have better to offer. If I’d known I’d be entertaining a fairy princess today, I could have baked something special.”

I looked at Frost, not understanding why he’d share my identity, but he frowned and shook his head. He hadn’t told Lolly I was a princess.

“How…How do you know who I am?”

“Word has spread since your mother took the throne,” Lolly said. “And all of us who’ve come to the Non have known we might find you here. Those who’ve seen you rave about your beauty and grace, and so I thought it might be you when I saw you and I knew it was you when Mr. Frost said your name.”

I glared at Frost, because his calling me Clarinda had been deliberate, likely a test. Frost just shrugged and smirked. God, I hated him sometimes.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m the fairy princess, but I’ve been helping Frost investigate some of his cases. He asked me to come along today in the capacity of an investigator. I’d like it if you’d think of me as a private eye and not a princess.”

Lolly nodded and lifted the plate of cookies. Frost and I both took one and munched as Lolly told us about his daughter, Lulu. She was twelve and gregarious, always happy and energetic. He showed us a picture of a girl in pigtails who looked much younger than twelve, her blue eyes bright and twinkling with mischief, her smile wide and open.

“How did she feel about moving to the Non?” I asked. “Did she miss her friends in Rubalia?”

Lolly frowned. “She makes friends everywhere she goes. We weren’t here two days, before she had a gang of kids following her around everywhere she went.”

That wasn’t exactly what I’d asked. “And your wife? Is she handling the move well?”

Lolly’s shoulders tensed. “My wife has got nothing to do with this. I’m asking you to look for my little girl.”

I was taken aback by the anger in his voice, the warning in his words. “I’m not trying to be nosy, Lolly. Several fae children have gone missing in the past couple of weeks and one of them actually ran away and joined a gang. I’m just trying to cover all my bases. If your wife is unhappy here and Lulu thought she might be able to help her by joining up with a gang that promised her money or stability that could point us in a different direction and help us to find your daughter more quickly.”

Lolly’s face turned a bit red and his gaze narrowed. I’d hit a nerve. “My wife stayed behind in Rubalia,” he said. “Lulu is happy here with me. She wouldn’t run away and she wouldn’t join no gang.”

“Can I ask why you left Rubalia?” I asked. “Frost and I were there recently and we noticed that the forest between the faun and fairy realms had grown in size and was full of dark shadows.”

“No,” Lolly said. “You can’t ask why we left. We left and we’re done with Rubalia. I just want you to find my daughter.”

“Can you give me a list of the names of her friends and how we might contact them?”

Lolly nodded and left the room. I looked at Frost’s grim expression, and I sighed. “He wants us to find his daughter,” I said in a low voice. “As long as he doesn’t have to talk about Rubalia? What if he’s holding the key to this case?”

“That’s his choice,” Frost said. “You can try pushing him, but wait until I’ve gotten the names of Lulu’s friends.”

“Deal,” I said, as Lolly walked back into the room with a notebook and a pen. He sat and bent his head to scribble on the pad. His hand shook as he wrote and I wished I could offer him comfort, instead of being the hard ass who demanded answers. Hopefully, the comfort I’d offer him would be his daughter returned to him safely.

I ate another cookie as Lolly wrote, but Frost sat stone-still, his gaze distant. He was onto something, I could just feel it.

“That’s all I know,” Lolly said, handing the paper to Frost.

“I don’t think that’s true,” I said, making my tone as hard as I could manage. “I think there’s a great deal about the shadows in Rubalia that you aren’t telling us.”

Lolly just glared at me, his mouth a firm line.

“Keeping secrets could mean you will never see your daughter again. All the missing kids have been fae and their disappearances could be related something that happened in Rubalia.”

“I don’t know anything that will help you find my daughter,” he said. “Just do your job and bring her back to me.”

“We’ll do everything in our power to return your daughter to you, Lolly.” Frost stood and put a warm hand on my shoulder. I took the hint and rose to my feet beside him. “Call us if you think of anything else that might be helpful.”

Lolly escorted us out and we stood in the hallway. Frost looked over the list Lolly had given him and shook his head. “All he gave us was a list of first names, what are we supposed to do with this?”

“Start at the playground?”

“Yeah, okay. There’s a big one two blocks east.”

I waited to ask my question until we were on the street and heading in the direction of the playground. “You figured something out back there, what was it?”

He looked at me eyebrows raised.

“I make a living reading people. Don’t look so surprised, you might hurt my feelings.”

He shrugged. “I thought that was one of your rules, no feelings allowed.”

I knew he was goading me to get me off the subject, but his words still caused me a twinge of pain. “What did you figure out?”

“I haven’t figured out anything, yet,” he said. “But something didn’t smell right back there. I only smelled Lolly and he didn’t smell like any other brownie I’ve ever met. He smelled like …”

“The shadows in the forest?” I asked, taking a wild but not unfounded guess.

He swallowed hard and nodded. “I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure, but that bartender in Rubalia told us people touched by the shadows acted different. What if Lolly was acting different and that’s why his wife stayed behind? Or what if his daughter hadn’t wanted to be around a father who acted odd and had been crashing somewhere else for a while to avoid him?”

“You think she’s been missing longer than he said?”

“Maybe. Or maybe she’d still been checking in with him, even though she didn’t live there. He doesn’t strike me as a dangerous brownie, but whatever the shadows did to him may have changed that.”

“Did you smell the shadows on the other parents?”

“No. But I might have missed it. I hadn’t been exposed to the shadows when I spoke to them.”

The playground was a bit run-down, and out of date, rusted metal and creaky swings, but it was full of kids. The younger ones played on the jungle gym, the older ones played basketball or sat on the grass whispering secrets.

“Let me go first,” I said, putting a hand of Frost’s chest and shoving him back. He gave me an amused smirk, but let me do my thing.

I went over to a group of girls sitting in the shade of a neighboring building. All of them looked about Lulu’s age with smooth skin, shiny hair, and bright, but wary eyes. One of them looked as though she might be a unicorn maiden and another was almost certainly a dryad. The humans with them seemed a bit awed by their beauty and lilting voices. “Hi,” I said. “I’m giving out free make-overs to promote my cosmetic line. Would you girls be interested in helping me out?”

“You sure it’s free,” asked one of the human girls. Her skin was a gorgeous mocha shade, and she squinted up at me since the sun was behind my back.

“All free,” I said. “In fact, you’d be helping me if you showed your mothers how pretty you look and convinced them to buy some of my make-up.”

“My mother won’t like it if I wear make-up,” the unicorn maiden said.

“Just wash it off before you go home,” another girl said.

“Okay,” she said, her voice soft with nerves. “I’ll volunteer to go first, then. I’ve been dying to try make-up.” And, just like that, I was in.

An hour later, I found Frost in a pick-up game of basketball with a group of boys, two trolls and an ogre among them. Frost didn’t see me approach, and I just watched him for several long moments, enjoying the grace and ease with which he moved and the bright smile that lit his eyes. One of the smaller boys tried to knock the ball out of his hands and Frost laughed, letting the ball fall as though the boy really had been strong enough to get it away from a full-grown werewolf.

Frost noticed me then and waved goodbye to the kids, before jogging over and wrapping me up in a sweaty hug. I laughed in surprise at his unusual gesture. “Just think you should be as sweaty as me,” he said when he released me. His smile grew wider. “You sure took a long time over there. You get anything useful?”

“I thought it was time to change tack and yes, I did get some useful information,” I said. “Let’s go back to your office and I’ll fill you in.”

He nodded and we started back toward the apartment building and his bike. “You didn’t complain about me rubbing my sweat all over you,” he said.

I couldn’t help the smile that rose to my lips. My pretty shirt was streaked with dampness from his sweaty body and, even though it should have bothered me, I was enjoying his good mood too much to be annoyed. “Oh, Frost, don’t you know by now that I don’t complain, I get even.”

His eyes widened a bit. “I’d like to see you try. You don’t stand a chance against my wolf senses and quick reflexes.”

I laughed because he had no idea what he was up against. “Challenge accepted.”

“Lulu has actually been missing for a week. The girls said Lulu was afraid of her dad, just as you suspected, Frost. She was crashing on the couch at a friend’s place. She told the friend’s mother that her dad had hit her. She also said that he’d kicked her out, or I don’t think the friend’s mother would have let her stay.” I filled Vin and Frost in on what the girls at the park had told me, once we were all back at his office. Vin had hurried over as soon as I’d called her and got there so quickly that Frost still glistened with sweat.

“So she was crashing somewhere else. Did you get the name of the friend?”

I nodded. “I got even better. One of the girls texted her and she came over, said she’d been the one to tell Lolly that Lulu had gone missing. She thought he had something to do with her vanishing, until he freaked out and got totally upset that his daughter was missing.”

“Doesn’t prove he didn’t have something to do with it,” Vin said.

“No. But another girl wandered over and said she’d heard one of the guys had seen Lulu go off with a woman the night she vanished.”

“Could he describe her?” Frost asked.

I shook my head. “No one’s seen him for a couple of days, but I got his name and his address.”

“Why didn’t we try to find him while we were there?” Frost asked, already rising to go after the boy.

“Because his name is Rodney Elder and he went missing the day after she did.”

Frost dropped back down into his seat and Vin swore. “That can’t be a coincidence,” she said.

“No. But was it coincidence that the kid who saw Lulu taken also happened to be fae? And why did Lolly wait so long to call Frost? The whole thing smells a bit like a set-up.”

“A set-up?” Vin asked. “Who are they trying to set up?”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Frost said. “It’s more likely that they meant to get Rodney and took Lulu by mistake. Or that it’s just coincidence he saw her get taken.”

“Or they killed Rodney so he couldn’t point the finger at the woman who took Lulu,” I said.

“I still say it’s a set-up,” Vin said. “Lolly’s been infected by the shadows and he could be working with the kidnappers to lead us in the wrong direction or into a trap.”

“That seems like a pretty elaborate scheme,” I said. “They’d have to be watching us and to have predicted we’d be going after them.”

“Right. Because it’s so hard to predict that Frost, the only PI who works with the fae, would be called in, and then ask his trusty sidekick for help,” Vin said.

“Sidekick?” I said with a gasp. “I’m no one’s sidekick.”

“I’m not buying it as a trap, Vin,” Frost said. “But if this is a set-up, what are they after?”

Vin and I looked at each other and then back at Frost. “That’s the question we have to answer before they get it,” I said.

Vin nodded. “Yeah, I’ll see what I can dig up. I’m going to talk to Mercury right now, maybe he’s heard something.”

Vin left, and I stood. “What sort of progress are you making on the mess with your club?” Frost asked.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure what I can do. I’m heading over there now to help with the clean-up, and I’m going to have to go shopping to replace my stolen equipment.”

“Didn’t you have insurance?”

I nodded, feeling overwhelmed. “Property insurance and liability insurance, but neither of those covers stolen items inside the restaurant.”

“Could your liability insurance help with the lawsuit the mayor’s got against you?”

I perked up a bit. “Maybe,” I said. “I’ll look into it. Thanks.”

“I’ve got one of my agents working on your case full-time, but it’s like Neil just disappeared. We can’t find him, and we can’t find any way to connect him to the mayor.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “It was a long shot anyway.”

He frowned. “Why do you say that like you’re done? We’ll keep looking for Neil and we’ll set this right.”

“And even if we find him?” I asked. “He’s not going to pay for my missing equipment, and he’s probably already fenced it by now. I can’t afford to replace everything, especially now that the restaurant’s closed, and I can’t afford a lawyer to fight the lawsuit.”

“I have a lawyer friend who would love to help. He could use the attention he’d get from a case involving the mayor, and he’s very motivated for you to win. He’ll even do it pro bono.”

I stared at him, not taking the card he slid across his desk, not believing it could be so simple. “He’d do it for free? What would I owe him?”

“Not a thing.”

I got that the guy might gain some fame from taking my case, but it still seemed like too much. “What will I owe you?”

Frost’s jaw tightened and his glare was so angry that I had to fight the urge to shrink back into myself. “Nothing, Chloe. Some people in this world do things for people because they like them and want to see them succeed.”

“I’m not that likeable,” I said, because I didn’t buy it. Frost and I had achieved a relationship somewhere in the ballpark of friendship, but we were hardly besties. He had to have an ulterior motive.

Something in his gaze softened, and I found I preferred his anger. This warm, affectionate look made my chest ache and made me want…But I wouldn’t think about that. Then the soft look was gone, as though he sensed my dislike of his softening. “No,” he said. “You’re not that likeable, but I like the mayor less than I like you, and this is a good opportunity for my friend.” He opened his desk drawer and tossed me an envelope. “And this is because I appreciate your help and think you should be compensated for it.”

I opened the envelope and found a wad of cash inside. I didn’t make any attempt to count it, before I tossed it back to him. “Take it out of what I owe you for helping me find Buddy.”

Anger fired Frost’s eyes to a molten gold. “Fine. But consider us even, now. I will pay you for any work you do from this point forward.”

“Fine,” I said, wishing I had counted the money to be sure our deal was fair. I didn’t want his charity or his pity. I stood and walked out without looking back. “See you later.”

“You will,” he said, his voice more wolf than human, a sound that made goose bumps rise on my skin.

CHAPTER TEN

Most people aren’t bad, they just convince themselves they’re much better than they actually are. –Chloe Frangipani

If you let a man into your heart, he will destroy you. He might not mean to, but he will all the same. – Althea Frangipani

I found Harvey outside my door when I got back from the club. I was tired and dirty from cleaning until three in the morning, because I didn’t want to leave until I’d felt like I’d done everything I could to make things right. I’d spent two hours scouring the books for more money, money that the club just didn’t have. Money I didn’t have. I could manage to continue paying my employees while the club was closed, but that’s all I could do, and I could just barely do that. Pierson had insisted on not taking a salary, but he had rent to pay and a gourmand’s love of expensive food, and I couldn’t not pay him. I’d agreed to stop his arguing, but he’d find his usual deposit in his bank account when he looked.

“How long have you been waiting?” I asked. Harvey looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes, his skin a bit pale.

“An hour,” he said. “I just needed to see you. It’s been a rough day.”

I went to him and wrapped my arms around him, wanting to comfort him in any way I could. I wished I could heal emotional wounds the way I could physical ones. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“I figured you were at the club,” he said, stroking my hair. “I’m just lucky you didn’t decide to go out dancing tonight.”

I had considered it. Dancing was my favorite way to relieve stress, but I’d wanted to get some sleep because flea market Saturday always started early. Not that I could afford to buy anything at the flea market, but I could still go and look, and help Harvey and Sapphire find some fun pieces. “I think I’m the lucky one,” I said. “It’s good to see you.”

I unlocked the door and led him in. He shut and locked the door behind himself and grabbed my waist, lifting and spinning me and pressing me hard against the door. “I’ve missed touching you,” he said. He kissed my jaw and moved his lips down my neck, pressing hot kisses, until he reached my collarbone. He rubbed his soft lips against my flesh and sighed.

“You’ve had a rough day,” I said. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Talking’s not what I need.” He lifted his head and met my lips with a hard kiss, forcing my mouth open in a way that was rough, but lit me up like a firecracker and sent good feelings sparking through my body. After the stress and the worry of the past couple of days, his rough, primal need was just what I needed. It made me unable to think, all I could do was feel and he made me feel so good.

“Do you want to go to your bed?” He asked, his voice rough.

“No,” I said. “I just want you to keep doing what you’re doing.”

He moaned with satisfaction and helped me out of my clothes without lowering my feet back to the floor.

Later, when we lay in my bed, spent and satisfied, the morning sun peeking in at us, I couldn’t fall asleep. I needed him to confide in me, to share his problems with me, as he’d just shared his body. I couldn’t be the only one to give in this relationship. “What happened today?” I asked.

He pulled me against him, my body spooned inside of his, his arms strong and warm around me. “A young girl, a prostitute was killed. I could have saved her if I’d just looked a little harder, worked a little longer. I’d been so close, and she’s dead because I dropped the ball.”

“Because you took a day off to help me and Frost?”

His body tensed just a bit. “No, it wasn’t about the day off. I missed something I should have seen.”

“You’re only human,” I said. “You can’t save everyone.”

“Maybe. But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier.”

I laced my fingers through his, wishing I could ease his pain and knowing it wasn’t in my power.

Instead, I turned in his arms and wrapped myself as tightly around him as he was wrapped around me. I held on to him, until the sun rose and his breathing evened and deepened.

Harvey smiled at me as he stumbled into the kitchen later that morning, sleepy and gloriously rumpled in his low-slung jeans, his chest bare. “You made me breakfast.”

“No,” I said. “In the cause of total honesty, I have to admit I don’t cook. I don’t like it and I don’t do it. This is from Poinsettia. I just put it in the oven to keep it warm.”

“Looks good to me.” He walked over and gave me a peck on the cheek, before sitting down with a plate of food. “So, I take it you like to get an early start.”

I’d already eaten, but I sat down across from him anyway. “Yep, but since it’s your first day I decided to let you sleep in.”

He looked at the digital display over the stove that read 7:30. “This is sleeping in?”

“I usually arrive with Sapphire right when they open at seven. It’s our thing. She agreed to be more lenient since you’re going with us.”

“How nice,” he said. “I’m not sure I’ll be much good on only a couple hours of sleep. I’ll probably just buy whatever you tell me to.”

“That’s the plan. You about done? We need to get going.” I could feel the tingles in my body already from the excitement of what we might find and the need to find it before anyone else.

He chuckled, stuffed in one more piece of bacon, and stood. “Sure. You think I could take a shower first?”

I nodded, though I didn’t like it. The flea market waited for no man or woman, no matter how clean or unclean.

He must have seen something on my face, because he laughed and swiped my lips with his. “I’ll be quick.”

Sapphire yawned as we approached the gate to the flea market. She’d dragged Knuffington along and he looked wan and weary. “Late night, kids?” I asked. We’d all met at the bus stop closest to the flea market grounds, and I sort of missed having alone time to chat with Sapphire.

Sapphire blushed. “Um, yeah, we stayed up watching a really long movie.”

“Really,” I said, unable to resist calling her out. “What did you see?”

“Would you look at that,” she said after an uncomfortable pause. “There’s a huge long line for the funnel cakes already.”

“Funnel cakes?” Harvey asked.

“Breakfast,” I explained.

“The perfect breakfast,” Sapphire said. “But I’m not waiting in that line. We’ll miss all the best stuff.”

“Want to head to Bea’s booth first?” I asked.

Sapphire nodded and we led the way through the crowds and the dust to our favorite seller’s booth.

“Hi, ladies,” Bea said, her voice scratchy from her three pack a day habit. She was old enough to be a grandma, but hipper than me by a long shot. Not because she could smoke me under the table, but because she dressed like a fifties goddess and always looked more like an aging model than a grandma. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show.”

“The fellas here made us late,” Sapphire said with a smirk at Knuffington. “They needed their beauty sleep.”

Knuffington leaned over and whispered something in her ear that made her blush, and Harvey laughed. “It’s handsome sleep, and yeah I need all of it I can get.”

Bea batted her lashes at Harvey and Knuffington. “You two get any more handsome, and we’ll have a riot on our hands.”

“Don’t stroke their egos,” I said. “They think enough of themselves as it is.”

“Oh, it wasn’t their egos I was thinking of stroking,” Bea said. She turned to walk farther into her booth. “Give me a sec, ladies, I’ve got something set aside for you two.”

To my amusement, Harvey paled and Knuffington looked a bit uncomfortable. “She make you two nervous,” I asked in a low voice.

“I’m pretty sure she’s more than I can handle,” Harvey said.

“Oh, sugar, I am more than the two of you together could handle, but you’d love every moment.” She laughed at the shocked looks on the two men’s faces and lugged out the most exquisite chest of drawers I’d ever seen. It was tall and narrow and had a black and white painted silhouette of a woman in a poodle skirt with a cute ponytail. I was speechless.

“Oh, Clarinda,” Sapphire said, her voice breathy. “You have to get that. It would go perfectly in your new place.”

There are no words for how badly I wanted that dresser. No words. But I didn’t have the two-hundred dollars Bea wanted for it and, even if I did, I couldn’t justify spending it with the club closed down. “No, Sapphire, you should have it. I can see how much you love it.” Truly, she had the same look on her face as she’d had the first time she’d seen Knuffington.

“I don’t have any room and I already have a fabulous dresser.”

That’s right, she did, the one with the book covers painted across the drawers. “I just …” I knew if I told her I couldn’t afford it, she’d buy it for me, and I refused to be anyone’s charity case. “It’s great, Bea,” I said. “But it’s just not my taste.”

Sapphire started to protest, but I shot her a glare that shut her up. “Oh, Clarinda,” Sapphire whispered in my ear as we walked away. “You can’t afford it, can you? It’s going to be torture for you to be here. You should let me buy it for you.”

“No,” I said, a bit more harshly than I’d intended. “We’re here to shop for a few pieces to liven up Harvey’s place and, unless you want that dresser …?” I looked at Harvey, a question in my eyes, and he shook his head.

“No,” he said. “It’s not my style either. Don’t they have masculine kitsch anywhere?” So we spent the rest of the morning traipsing around the flea market and eating funnel cakes. We found a clock and a cookie jar for Harvey, both of which I’m pretty sure he bought just to humor me.

We were on our way to the exit when Harvey grabbed my hand and pulled me back toward Bea’s booth. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“I saw how much you wanted that dresser. If it’s still here, I’ll buy it for you.”

The gesture was kind, but I knew Harvey wasn’t so well off that a two hundred dollar dresser wouldn’t make a dent in his finances. I was disappointed that I couldn’t afford it, but at the end of the day, it was just a thing, and I’d find an even better dresser when I was flush. “That’s really sweet,” I said. “But I don’t want you to buy it for me.”

That had come out all wrong, too blunt, and the hurt look that flashed across his face let me know I’d made a misstep.

“I really appreciate the offer, but it’s too much, Harvey. I’d feel terrible about you spending that much money on me.”

“Right,” Harvey said. “But you let Frost buy you a ridiculous clock and pay for your lawyer.”

I stopped and faced him, confused and hurt. “Frost gave me that clock as a housewarming gift. And I don’t have a lawyer, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He studied my face for a long moment. “I saw it in his office when you two went to Rubalia. He had a bill from some lawyer, and the letter attached said it was in regards to your case.”

I didn’t know who to be madder at, all I knew was that I was furious. “I don’t know anything about that, Harvey. Frost gave me the card of a lawyer, but he said the guy would take my case pro bono. If I’d known he’d paid the guy, I wouldn’t have even taken the card.”

He didn’t look convinced. He’d known me for how many years and he thought I was lying to him, that I had something going on with Frost behind his back? Anger warmed me and blocked out the crowded flea market and its happy noises. All I could was the whooshing of my increased blood pressure and all I could see was Harvey.

“Why don’t you just ask me what you really want to know, Harvey? Am I having sex with him in exchange for him paying for my lawyer and buying me kitsch? Maybe if I stop by his office and offer to blow him right now, he’ll buy me that dresser.”

“Chloe, that’s not what I meant. I—”

“You what? Think I’ve got something going on with Frost behind your back. You think I’m a cheater and a liar?”

His jaw tensed, and I saw his own anger rise. “At least give me a chance to explain myself. You’ve been putting me off for two years, and we never discussed being exclusive, so yeah, I wondered if there might be something between you two.”

“Right,” I said, barely hearing anything he was saying. “If that’s the case, why didn’t you just ask me? Why didn’t you have that talk about us being exclusive before you fucked me against the door?”

Sapphire tugged at my elbow, trying to drag me away, and I saw a crowd had gathered around us. I was only too happy to go. I didn’t do drama. I didn’t do emotional scenes. I wasn’t that girl and I wasn’t about to let Harvey make me that girl.

“Chloe—” But before Harvey could say anymore, a security guard stepped in front of him and started asking questions. Sapphire pulled me away.

“Shit,” I said, once we were outside the gates. “I should wait for him.”

“No,” Sapphire said. “You should cool down. Let’s go out for lunch like we usually do on flea market Saturdays, and you can call him once you’re calm.”

What she said made too much sense to ignore. As much as I wanted to have it out with both Harvey and Frost, it would likely end in me saying something I regretted and could never take back. I sent Harvey a quick text to let him know I’d left with Sapphire and would see him later. He didn’t respond and I felt a bit bad. I hoped he hadn’t been pulled in by security or, worse, banned from the flea market. The idea of banishment from my favorite place on earth had me hurrying Sapphire along to the bus stop and downtown to our favorite fifties style diner. I ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and a milk shake, might as well drown my irritation and anger with fattening food, and Sapphire ordered a grilled cheese and a milk shake.

“Tell me I overreacted,” I said, once I’d gotten a few bites of burger into me and Sapphire had finished gloating about her kitschy finds.

“You overreacted,” she said, much to my annoyance. “You took your own insecurities, which are ridiculous by the way, and put them on Harvey. You expected him to be judging you, because you judge yourself.”

“No, I –”

“Your mother fucked with your head for almost two decades and convinced you that there’s something wrong with you, and it simply isn’t true.” I’d never seen Sapphire so angry before, and I’d never heard her say fuck. “You are the most loyal, honest, hardworking person I know, and the only thing wrong with you when it comes to your love life is that you’re a bit of a pessimist about romance and you haven’t met the right guy, yet.” She gave me a hard look. “Or you have met the right guy and you keep pushing him away.”

“What? I’m not pushing Harvey away.”

“I’m not talking about Harvey.” She sighed and shook her head. “I like him, but he’s going to have to accept you for who you are, all the parts of you, or he’s never going to be the right guy for you.”

“He accepts me.” But I doubted the words even as I spoke them. Harvey supported me as a business owner and he supported Ephemeral, when many had not, but he hadn’t yet accepted my fae side or my need to work with Frost to help the fae. “I might have overreacted,” I said, changing the subject. “But he was wrong to accuse me of having feelings for Frost.”

Sapphire frowned. “He was wrong to get so defensive and act like an idiot at the flea market. Only good, happy things should ever happen at the flea market. But is he wrong about you having feelings for Frost?”

Shock roared through me. I was physically attracted to Frost, but that’s where it ended. That’s where it had to end, because Frost and I were too combustible and we drove each other crazy on a daily basis. “You want to talk about someone never being able to accept me for who I am, look at Frost. He hates Ephemeral and everything it stands for, and he thinks I’m little more than an idiot who can’t keep it in my pants.” Even as I said the words, I knew they weren’t true. Frost may have felt that way about me in the beginning, but he’d shown me nothing but respect. He rarely agreed with me, but he didn’t disrespect me.

Sapphire laughed and took a long swallow of her milkshake. “If he hates your club, why is he paying a lawyer to help you save it? If he thinks you’re an idiot, why did he ask for your help with those missing kids? I’m not saying Frost doesn’t have some baggage, lack manners, and need to work on basic hygiene, shaving more than once a week and cutting his hair more than once every three months would be nice, but I think the two of you could be really good for each other.”

“And you don’t think Harvey is good for me?” I asked without really meaning to. Who I dated was my business, but Sapphire was my best friend, and I cared about her opinion.

“I think you will both betray your true selves trying to make the other happy, and that’s not a healthy relationship.”

“No,” I said. “No. I like Harvey and I can make this work. He’s a good man, and I can be a good girlfriend.”

She sighed and took my hand in hers. I hated the pity in her eyes. “Oh, honey,” she said. “You don’t have to prove anything to me or anyone else. We all know how loyal you are to those you care about. Part of being a good girlfriend is knowing when to walk away.”

“Maybe, but it’s not time to walk away, yet. Harvey and I are just getting started.”

She shrugged. “Whatever you feel is right, Clarinda. You always do the right thing.”

Her words were a weight on my shoulders, heavy and unwelcome. Life was easier when people expected nothing from me. When all I had to worry about was keeping Ephemeral afloat. “I’m going to lose my club,” I said, tears rising unbidden to my eyes. My worry over Ephemeral was like a dead weight in my gut, always there and always impossible to forget.

“You should let Frost help you.”

“No. I won’t take his money. If I’m going to save my club, I’ll do it on my own.”

“Why?” she asked, heat rising in her eyes. “So that you can claim to be independent, not to need anyone? Frost wants to help you and you should let him.”

“And what will I owe him?” I asked. “When he wants me to pay him back, what will he demand of me?” I wouldn’t speak those words, wouldn’t reveal that weakness to anyone but Sapphire, because she’d understand. She knew that no one ever did anything for free. She’d learned that lesson over and over again. Her past was even darker than mine.

She shook her head. “You give so much to so many, Clarinda, yet you can’t accept it when someone tries to give something to you.”

“I don’t give anyone anything for free, either.”

“Right.” She snorted. “I understand you’re paying all of your employees while Ephemeral’s closed. I suppose you want something in return for that.”

“No, of course not.”

“And when you gave Roddy a raise, right after you found out he was having a baby, that’s just pure coincidence, right?”

“Yes. He deserved that raise.” I was starting to feel a bit like I was under attack, but to throw my hands up and surrender would convince Sapphire she was right.

“And when you put your life on hold to find Buddy?”

“I owed him for saving my life,” I said. “And looking for him only caused more trouble.”

“He was angry, Clarinda. Give him time, and he’ll see that you saved him.”

I couldn’t comprehend her words. I hadn’t saved, Buddy. I’d been the reason his wife was killed. Buddy was just being held by the rebels. They would have let him go eventually. If I’d stayed out of it, he would have come home to his happy wife and everything would have been better.

I wished things were different, because I could really use his advice about the club right now, but they weren’t different and I’d never be able to make up for all of the ways I’d hurt him.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Life is not like a box of chocolates, it’s like a box of thumbtacks. You never know just how bad it’s going to hurt. –Chloe Frangipani

You are my daughter, which means you are the strongest person you know. –Althea Frangipani

I checked my phone after we left the diner, and found five apologetic texts and one apologetic voice mail from Harvey. It should have made me feel better, but it didn’t. I called him, but I was sent straight to voice mail, so I figured he was at work. I left him a message, apologizing for overreacting and asking him to come over later. Then I headed to Frost’s office to have it out with him.

“Oh, good,” Frost said, looking up at me when I walked in. “I was just about to call you. We need to go have a talk with the dragon.”

I sat down hard in the chair in front of his desk. “What? I thought you never wanted to go see him with me again.”

“I don’t. But Knuffington said he’d have the answers we need, and no one else is being forthcoming.”

I nodded, my annoyance with him forgotten. “He’s going to want something.”

He met my gaze, his expression grim. “And unfortunately I don’t have anything he wants. I won’t let him do anything to you that you don’t agree to.”

“I know,” I said. “But what if he asks for something that seems harmless to us, when it’s anything but?”

“Good question.” He stood and walked out without another word. I caught up to him in the hall.

“So you’ve got a plan?” I asked. I knew Frost well enough to know he didn’t do anything without a plan.

“Nope. I’m going to let the wolf lead, so you best do everything I tell you to do.”

“Or what?” I intended to sound derisive, but the wolf was scary enough to make my question sound just a touch fearful.

“Or I’ll kill every person in the room. Except you.”

“Oh.” That’s the best I had. “I promise to do what you say.”

“Huh,” he said, looking back at me over his shoulder. “I like the sound of that.”

“Yeah, well don’t get used to it. I’m only going along with it this time because the dragon scares the shit out of me.”

“Ah, Clarinda Frangipani, the fairy princess,” the gatekeeper dragon said. His blonde curls had been brushed to a fluffy nimbus that circled his sharp-angled face and made him look less pretty and more bizarre than the last time we’d seen him. He was wearing a shiny, purple suit and a ridiculous checkered cravat to match. “Didn’t I tell you not to bring your wolf the next time you came to see me?”

“She’s mine,” Frost said. “I go where she goes.”

I gave Frost a sharp look, but he ignored my gaze, and kept his eyes on the dragon, who frowned so deep I could have sworn I saw wrinkles forming.

“You dare to claim the fairy princess as your own? Do you have any idea of the trouble that will bring down on your head?”

“I’m aware,” Frost said through gritted teeth. “I make the claim all the same.”

“Well, then,” the gatekeeper said. “Since I am unwilling to challenge your claim, why don’t you tell me what you want so I can deny your request and get on with my day?”

Frost looked at me, his eyebrows raised, his expression thorough arrogance and cold grace. I wasn’t sure what to make of this side of him. I looked at the gatekeeper, goosebumps rising on my skin as I remembered the last time we’d been there and how he’d treasured the taste of my blood. “I need to know what happened during the last great war in Rubalia, when the nightmare realm began to cross over. What are the creatures like, and what do they want?”

The gatekeeper nodded. “Interesting. You are not the first to come to me with these questions, but you are the first I might give an answer. If you can fulfill my request of you.”

“I’ll try,” I said.

“Since I’ve tasted you, Clarinda Frangipani, I’ve had a hankering for the taste of royal blood, nothing else suits me. But, since your wolf has publicly claimed you, I may no longer drink from you. So I want you to bring me your cousin, or her blood.”

“My cousin?” I asked, hoping we weren’t going to have to go back to Rubalia.

The gatekeeper nodded. “Yes. Your mother had an uncle who moved to the Non a decade before the two of you did. He had two daughters and three granddaughters. Find me one of them and bring them to me, and I’ll answer your question.”

“Do you have a name?”

“Yes.” The gatekeeper’s smile was twisted and sickly sweet. “Your great-uncle’s name was Thomas Peppercorn, but I don’t know the married names of his daughters, assuming they married, or his granddaughters. That is up to you and your wolf to figure out.”

I sighed. We so didn’t have time for this, but we didn’t have much choice. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Frost grabbed my elbow and pulled me out of there before I could suggest he just take my blood again.

“What the hell was that about back there?” I asked. “What does it mean that you claimed me?”

He shrugged without looking at me and started walking. “It was necessary.”

“Right,” I said. “We’re going to my place.”

Frost stopped in his tracks and turned to face me. “What?”

“I followed your rules when we faced the gatekeeper, now you’re going to follow mine. I want to talk to you where there won’t be anyone listening in.”

“Fine.” He marched to his bike and motioned me to get on the back.

My phone rang just as I was about to get on behind him. “Hi,” I said, answering it and turning away from Frost.

“Where are you?” Harvey said. “I’ve got a couple of hours free and I’d like to take you out and apologize for my behavior earlier.”

“I’d love that,” I said. “I can be ready in half an hour.”

“I’ll pick you up.”

I hung up to find Frost scowling at me. “You’re going out with him tonight?”

“He is my boyfriend.”

Frost nodded at the back of his bike. “Get on.”

So I got on and tried to keep my distance as he sped us back to my apartment.

Hieronymus was waiting for me at my door. “Shit,” I said. “Is today our day?”

“Just as every other Saturday is our day,” Hieronymus said. “Would you like me to come back later?”

“Could you?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “I can’t just pop back over to Rubalia and wait for a more convenient time for us to spar. Our time is now. You come with me or I report your negligence to your mother.”

“Okay,” I said. “Can you just give me ten minutes? I need to talk to Frost.”

“You have five,” Hieronymus said, annoyance radiating off him in waves. I didn’t know what he had to be so uptight about.

Inside, Frost paced in front of the couch. “I thought you were going shopping for kitsch with Sapphire this morning,” he said. “This place doesn’t look like you at all.”

“Yeah, well,” I said. “I didn’t find anything I liked.”

Frost narrowed his eyes at me, but he didn’t challenge my claim.

“What did you mean when you said I was yours?” I asked.

He found the rug fascinating. “It’s just my way of protecting you. If I say I claim you, the gatekeeper can’t take your blood or fuck you without starting a war with me and my pack.”

“You don’t have a pack.” I’m not sure why that stuck out to me above the rest, but there you go.

“As far as he’s concerned I do.”

“I’m not a possession.”

“I know you aren’t, but that’s how dragons think of women. I’m as much—” He stopped himself with a curse.

“You’re as much what?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that now the gatekeeper, and all of the other fae who might want to come after you, know that they’d be fighting me as well.”

“Really?” I asked. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“Because you’re a paranoid pessimist?” he asked with a smirk.

“Lucky for you,” I said. “I don’t have time to beat the answer out of you, so moving right along, I need you to not pay that lawyer friend of yours to take my case.”

“Fuck,” he said, not even attempting to deny my accusation. “How’d you find out about that?”

“It doesn’t matter. I know, and I want it to end now.”

“It was Harvey, wasn’t it? He saw the papers on my desk when he took over for me.”

“It doesn’t matter. I—”

A knock at the door interrupted me.

“Hieronymus, just give me a minute,” I shouted. I faced Frost again. “I’m not a charity case and I’m not your—”

“Chloe? What’s going on?” Harvey stood in my doorway, flowers in hand. I could only imagine what he thought, seeing Hieronymus at my door and Frost in my apartment.

“You’re early,” I said, both annoyed and desperately trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. Then it occurred to me that I didn’t need a reasonable explanation, I wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“Hello, Harvey,” Frost said. “Chloe was just telling me off for paying for her lawyer and then lying about it. She’ll probably refuse my help, like she always does, and lose her club. I wonder how she heard about the lawyer in the first place. Do you have any idea?”

“Frost—” I started, meaning to tell him to let me handle it.

“Why are you paying for a lawyer for her anyway?” Harvey asked. “What kind of friend does that?”

Frost shook his head. “In case you’re wondering, I’m rooting for you, man. I think you’re a good guy and you could be good for her. But if you don’t stop being blinded by jealousy and allow her the independence she needs, you’re going to lose her. And if you keep wasting time fighting with her, when you could be loving her, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought.” Frost brushed past Harvey and out the door. “And I’m the kind of friend who doesn’t want to see her lose the club she’s worked so hard to achieve. I would think even the least decent kind of friend would do that much.”

Then he walked out, leaving me alone with Harvey. Harvey’s shoulders slumped. I was already tired of the jealous routine. I was with him and, though I might be a lot of things, I wasn’t a cheater. That he doubted me, hurt, but it also made me furious. My boyfriend should be the last person to doubt me.

“Thank you for the flowers, Harvey, but you should probably go. When I agreed to dinner, I forgot that I already had a training session with Hieronymus planned.”

“Hieronymus?” he asked, looking dazed.

“Yes, my mother sends him once a week to teach me how to fight like a warrior and behave like a princess.”

He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “That’s an interesting combination. Who are you expected to fight? Maids who leave a pea between your mattresses?”

It occurred to me that, though Harvey and I had seen each other regularly for the past two years, he didn’t know me at all. “I’ll be expected to fight anyone who threatens my mother or the kingdom she rules. If there’s a war, I’ll be expected to battle on the front lines.”

“Don’t they worry about their princess being killed?” His smile faded a fraction, and doubt rose in his eyes.

“A fairy princess who can be killed so easily is of no use to her people,” I said, reciting what Hieronymus had told me. “Only the strongest, tested by fire and blood, can rule over the fairies.”

Harvey took one step back, his face paling just a bit, before he straightened his shoulders, walked across the room, and handed me the flowers he brought. “I really am sorry about earlier. I don’t want to fight with you.”

I leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “I’m sorry, too. What you were asking, for me to explain my relationship with Frost, wasn’t totally unreasonable, I just took it the worst possible way. Still, you need to trust me. I’m going to be working with Frost a lot.”

“I’ll try,” he said. “When can I see you again?”

“Call me tomorrow? I’m sorry to miss dinner, but Hieronymus is not going to be patient enough to allow me to go out even for a quick bite.”

Harvey nodded and left, and Hieronymus and I headed downtown to a gym where no one seemed to notice that we didn’t fight like humans. I was pretty sure the owner was a troll, but he could have been a fighter who’d gotten hit in the face and ears too many times.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Fighting is easy. It’s the getting along and forgiving that’s hard. –Chloe Frangipani

All these hippies and god-lovers keep talking about forgiveness like it’s a good thing. It’s not good, it’s a weakness. I don’t forgive. –Althea Frangipani

The call woke me in the middle of the night. “Hello?” I asked, my voice groggy and sleep-filled.

“It’s all clear,” Mary-Beth said. I checked the clock. It was four in the morning, so I’d gotten about three hours of sleep after my training session with Hieronymus.

“He worked late tonight.”

“He was working on something for you,” she said, a hint of disapproval in her tone. “I had to keep making excuses about why I was working so late.”

“Thank you. I’ll be right there.” I dressed as quickly as I could, not bothering with make-up or brushing my hair. Then I took a cab I couldn’t afford across town to Frost’s office.

Mary-Beth, the grandmotherly private investigator, let me in with a frown. “I’m too old for this,” she said.

“Oh, Mary-Beth.” I patted her shoulder and gave her a mock-sympathetic look. “The day you’re too old for this is the day you’re dead. But you go ahead home, and I’ll lock up.”

She eyed me for a long moment, like she wasn’t sure she trusted me with her boss’s office. Or maybe it was her own desk she was worried about. Finally, exhaustion won out, and she nodded. “Okay, but I won’t keep your secret if you take it too far.”

“No dog poop, got it,” I said, barely containing my laughter.

Mary-Beth wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Good night, Chloe.”

“Good night.”

And I set to work.

The next time I was awoken, it was by a loud knocking at my bedroom door. “Chloe,” Frost roared. “I know you’re in there.”

I burrowed down under my covers and plotted how I was going to kill Mercury. Between his “job” and spending time with his daughter, I hardly ever saw him, but he must have just happened to be home to let Frost in. That had to be the worst kind of luck. “I’m not alone, Frost,” I said. “You should probably go and avoid an uncomfortable moment.”

“If I could smell anything over the damn perfume that sprayed out of my desk drawer this morning.” Frost opened my door and walked in. “I’d know if you were lying, but I’ll just have to take my chances.”

I wrapped the blanket around myself and sat up straight in bed, the mischievous look in his eyes making me nervous. “The perfume was me getting you back for the sweaty hug, Frost. If you do anything now, I’ll have to take it as an escalation.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. “The perfume was the escalation. Do you know how long it’s going to take for me to get the smell out of my clothes and skin? Not to mention my desk. And you just had to choose the most god-awful smelling stuff you could find.”

“I thought it smelled nice.” I got even more nervous as he stalked toward my bed.

“You’re a terrible liar.” His smile ticked up, going a bit wicked. “Did you work everything out with Harvey?”

“Yes.” I tried to sound more confident than I felt. “He apologized for acting jealous, and I apologized for getting so angry at him when he did.”

“You got angry at him? Last night it seemed like you felt bad about being caught with me.”

“Well, it wasn’t the best situation, considering he was already jealous of you, but I was angry, too. He doesn’t have a right to tell me who I can spend time with.”

“Why was he already jealous of me?”

I was so not going to tell Frost about my fight with Harvey at the flea market. I didn’t want to give him any more reasons to be angry at Harvey, and I was more than a little embarrassed about the whole thing. “He was being irrational. It’s not a big deal, and we’ve worked it out.”

“Good,” he said. “But I think we need to put that to the test.” He pulled out a large glass bottle from behind his back.

“What? No. Come on, I only sprayed your—”

But it was too late, Frost had already pushed the button, spritzing my comforter with men’s cologne. I knew it wasn’t his own, because werewolves were notorious for hating artificial scents, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t want my room to smell like cheap men’s cologne.

I vaulted out of the bed and jumped onto Frost’s back as he turned and started for my closet. “Not the clothes you maniacal, furry beast.”

“Well, this is just all kinds of amusing.”

I turned my head to see Mercury in the doorway to my room, leaning against the jamb and watching us with a smirk.

“Get over here and help me, you idiot,” I yelled, clinging to Frost as he tried to peel me off. “The smell is going to start drifting into your room any minute.”

Mercury shrugged. “It’s worth it. Seriously, I’d pay money to see this.”

Frost gave up on trying to get me off his back and marched to the closet like I wasn’t even there.

I wrapped my hands over his eyes, but that didn’t slow him down. “This is the worst prank ever,” I said. “The whole point of a prank is that it’s surprising and you’re not quite sure who did it.”

“Then you failed,” Frost said. “I could smell your scent all over my office before I opened the drawer. And Mary Beth is smart enough to answer when I ask her a question.”

I gasped. “The traitor.”

“She knows where her bread is buttered.” Frost pushed down the button and started spraying blindly as he stepped into my closet. My hands over his eyes meant that as much wall space as clothing got sprayed, but he was thorough in his revenge. I’d have to wash everything I owned. Since most of it was dry-clean only and I was broke, I figured I’d be smelling like an unsophisticated teenage boy for a while.

His job done, Frost walked back, blind, and dumped me on the bed, giving it a few more spritzes for good measure. “At least it doesn’t smell like sex in here anymore,” he said, his nose scrunched in distaste.

“I hate you,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Good.” He looked unruffled and unrepentant, as I lay on my bed in a tank top and shorts with bed head and morning breath. “Then maybe you’ll let me pay for your lawyer.”

“I wouldn’t take a red dime from you, you mouth-breathing, degenerate werewolf.”

“Cent,” Mercury said, still standing in the door.

I sat up and glared at him.

He took a step back, his hands in the air. “Whoa, I was just trying to help you out. It’s red cent, not red dime.”

“Get. Out,” I said.

Mercury didn’t even flinch, damn him. He just smiled and strolled away like my wrath was amusing.

I turned my glare on Frost. “You, too. Get out.”

Instead, he sat down on the edge of my bed, somber and unafraid of me or my glare. “Chloe, what do I have to do to get you to let me pay for your lawyer? You can pay me back when the club re-opens.”

I sighed and gave in, not because I wanted to, but because I had employees who were depending on me getting us all out of this mess. “Fine. I’ll accept your generous offer, but I’m still going to get you back for this.” I gestured to indicate my soiled, stinky room. “And I will pay you back for the lawyer.”

He stood. “I better go before I lose my sense of smell completely.”

“Good. Go. Leave me to die of clogged olfactory…um, stinky cologne overload.”

He looked back at me and smirked. “Good one.”

“Oh, and I’ll let you investigate Neil,” I said. “Just out of the goodness of my heart.”

He sighed and took up Mercury’s vacated spot in the doorway. “It’s like he’s vanished into thin air,” he said. “And I’ve found nothing to connect him to the mayor, but I’ll keep trying.”

“What about my cousin?”

“We’re still looking. I should have something by the end of the day tomorrow, so be ready to go on a road trip.”

“As long as we aren’t going to Rubalia.”

He nodded his agreement.

I spent the day trying to get the smell of cologne out of my duvet and my clothes, but the damn stuff was persistent. I also tried to come up with a way to get Frost back, but so far I was coming up blank. I had a meeting with the lawyer he’d hired for me, and I had to admit the guy seemed to know what he was doing.

I met Vin in the evening at a little sports bar for dinner before we headed back to my place for a lesson in rebellion history, such as it were. The rebels kept better historical records than the rest of the fae, but not by much.

“Your boyfriend’s a dick,” I said over a plate of fried shrimp.

Vin smiled and nodded. “Yes, he does. And he really knows how to use it.”

“Eww,” I said, almost gagging on my shrimp, which would have been a real shame considering how delicious those little suckers are. “No, I said he is a dick.”

“Oh,” she said. “Sorry, I just hear the word dick and boyfriend in the same sentence and get a little carried away.”

I could see she was having fun with me and not at all serious. “What are you so happy about?”

“Mercury and I are matched.” She added an uncharacteristic squee.

“Wow, it’s a shame you couldn’t be matched to someone who’s not a dick.”

She grinned. “And he is so very good with his—”

“Okay, enough. This calls for a celebration! We should get everyone out with us for some food and booze and –”

“Are you trying to avoid your lesson in rebellion history?” she asked, pushing a lock of long hair behind one of her adorable, tiny little ears.

“No, Vin,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m trying to avoid everything. Missing kids, losing my club, the fact your boyfriend’s a dick, all of it needs to be wiped from my mind.”

“Good enough for me. I’ll call everyone.”

And everyone arrived, except Harvey, who had to work. I had drinks with my friends and patted Mercury and Vin on the back, wishing them every kind of misery, as we unromantic types are prone to do. Around ten-thirty, my thoughts turned to Buddy for some reason. Maybe it was because we were in a sports bar, or maybe it was because it had been too long since I’d seen him, but I missed my best friend with a soul deep ache. I wondered how his daughter was, how much she’d grown, and how his club was doing without his wife, Evelyn, to keep his books.

In a boozy, buzzy haze I walked out of the bar and into the warm night. The street was crowded with people who’d come out to smoke or chat or head home. I loved the night in Sarsaparilla, it was so alive, so vibrant. A woman rushed into an alley and emptied her guts in a smelly, effusive flow. So trashy. I dropped a dollar in the guitar case of a man outside the bar. He was playing an old Phil Och’s anti-war song, which seemed oddly fitting as I went off to try to make peace with my ex-best friend.

“Where you going?” Frost asked, stepping out behind me. Count on him to know I’d left. He’d never let me walk anywhere alone at night.

“To see Buddy,” I said. “Probably to get a drink thrown in my face.”

“I’ll come with you. Wipe the booze off your face.”

“Your funeral,” I said. “I’m sure he hates you, too.”

“It’ll do him good to tell me so,” Frost said. “He gave me the cold shoulder at Evelyn’s funeral.”

That stopped me. “You were there?”

He nodded.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“You didn’t need me by your side.” He looked at me and something like admiration lit his eyes. “I figured you wanted your space.”

“I would have liked to have you by my side,” I said in a low voice, hating to admit a weakness, but needing him to know the truth.

He nodded, and we walked the five blocks to Buddy’s sports bar in silence. It was a comfortable silence, and I realized I was glad to have Frost with me. Maybe we were friends after all.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Humility is unattractive on most people. –Chloe Frangipani

Admitting you are wrong is unnecessary if you are always right. –Althea Frangipani

I’d have turned around as soon as I saw the warm light from Buddy’s club if Frost hadn’t been there. But Frost was there, and I wouldn’t back down from any challenge while he was watching.

I swallowed hard and marched into that loud bar, over-hot from so many bodies in such close proximity, all of them shouting at televisions and players who’d never hear a word they said. Buddy was behind the counter, telling a story to a handful of rapt listeners. I was glad to see him happy and well, looking like himself. And that was enough.

I turned to walk out of there, and Frost turned with me, not questioning me, not giving me a look to suggest I was a coward.

“Chloe,” Buddy’s shout carried over the crowd. I couldn’t tell if it was an angry shout or a welcoming one. Frost gripped my shoulders and turned me to see Buddy making his way through the crowd. He barreled into me and wrapped his arms so tight around me, I almost couldn’t breathe. “Let’s go in the back,” he said, low in my ear. “The wolf can stay here.”

He let me go and looked at Frost. “Drinks are on me,” Buddy said. “I’ll bring your Chloe back to you in less than an hour.”

“You’re Chloe?” I asked, when we were in Buddy’s office, the door closed behind us. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“It’s in the way he looks at you,” Buddy said. “And the gatekeeper is a bigger gossip than a brownie in a brothel.”

“Yeah, well, the gatekeeper won’t tell me anything,” I said wanting to keep up the banter as long as I could, because I was scared of what Buddy would say when we got serious. “And I don’t belong to Frost, he just said that to keep the gatekeeper from drinking my blood again.”

Buddy gave me a long look. “You might not belong to him, but he already belongs to you, whether you admit it or not.”

I stared at Buddy, and realized our falling out was the safer topic. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorrier than I can ever say about Evelyn and…I’m just so sorry.”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry for pushing you away, Chloe. I understand why you did what you did, and I’ve found I can be grateful to you for trying to help me.” He paused and looked away with an expression I knew well.

“It’s me, Buddy. Lay it all on the table. I deserve whatever you hit me with.”

He looked up at me, tears glimmering in his eyes. “I just miss her so damn bad. I know you didn’t kill her, that the very last thing you wanted was for her to die, but I can’t stop feeling that if you’d just left everything alone, she’d still be alive.”

A lump formed in my throat and tears rose to my own eyes. “I feel the same way. Every day, Buddy. Every day I wish I could go back and do something differently.”

He stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t do that, Chloe. Don’t blame yourself.”

I smiled through my tears, but it was a wry smile. “You just said that you blame me.”

“I don’t blame you,” he said. “I just…I just…I should have told you what was going on. If I’d explained everything, hell if I’d even explained half of everything, to you and to Evelyn, she still might be alive.”

“You can’t do that,” I said. “You have to accept that you did the best you could with the information you had at the time.”

He gave me a wry smile. “I would say the same to you. What I’m trying to say and doing it very badly, is that when I got home and found out she was dead, I wanted someone other than myself to blame and you were there, blaming yourself. I was so angry and, even after my rational brain took over and I knew you weren’t to blame, I was still angry. I’ve been waiting for the anger to fade, but then you showed up here. I miss you, Chloe, and I want you back in my life. I just need you to understand that a part of me is still angry. You’ll have to forgive me if I lash out at you again.”

I took a moment to digest all of that. “So you mostly forgive me, but you apologize in advance in case you hate on me again.”

He nodded. “Yes, you put it much better than me. Can you accept that? Do you still want to be friends with a crazy, miserable, over-worked, old troll?”

“You didn’t look miserable behind the bar tonight.”

He nodded. “The bar has saved me. I’ve always fed off the energy here. And my beautiful daughter, Sunshine. She is light and beauty and joy.”

“And late night feedings, poopy diapers, and inexplicable bouts of screaming.”

He nodded, chuckling. “And then she looks at me with trust and joy, and it’s all worth it.”

I smiled, something in my chest cracking and re-forming. “I always knew you’d be a wonderful father.” I was so grateful to have him back in my life.

He pulled out his phone and showed me a million pictures and invited me to visit her some time. I’d just started to tell him about my club, when Frost knocked on the door.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt,” he said. “But we’ve got another missing kid.”

“A missing kid?” Buddy asked, his craggy features deepening.

“Fae kids, recently migrated to the Non, have been going missing the past two weeks. We’re not sure if they’re running away, joining gangs, or being kidnapped. You heard anything?”

“No,” Buddy said. “But I’ve been a bit busy with a baby and a bar. Why don’t you let me come along and see what I can do?”

“We appreciate that,” Frost said. “But there’s nothing you can do. Chloe?” He gave me a look that I supposed meant wrap this up and let’s go.

“They’re calling you, not the police,” Buddy said. “Which means they don’t trust humans. I’m closer to Rubalia than either one of you, and I’m better at reading people than the both of you put together. I’ve got a decade behind a bar top’s experience.”

Frost shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, but I’m willing to try anything at this point. It’s up to Chloe.”

And how could I say no to Buddy after he’d just forgiven me for getting his wife killed. “I think he should come.” Buddy might not be a detective, but his presence had always calmed me and he might just see something we couldn’t.

So the three of us got a cab into the heart of downtown, the same neighborhood where the first kids had vanished. Buddy walked with us into a shabby, but clean one-bedroom apartment and greeted the elderly pixie who offered us tea and a seat on her floral couch.

“Thank you for coming out so late,” she said. “My granddaughter is always home by midnight and when she didn’t show …”

“We’re happy to do anything we can to help,” Frost said. He looked at me and shook his head, which I took to mean either the woman didn’t smell like the shadows or not to drink the tea in case she poisoned it. “Can you tell us a little bit about your granddaughter? Where are her parents?”

She sighed and dropped her gaze to her hands. “They didn’t want to leave Rubalia, but Livvy and I, we felt that something dark and dangerous was twisting the very land beneath our feet, and we chose to leave before it was too late.”

The woman had missed her calling as a poet. “And how did her parents take it when you told them you were leaving?” I asked.

“Oh, they were furious. They raged and they screamed. But they hadn’t been themselves for several days, and we ignored them.”

“The shadows had changed them,” I said, taking a chance that she’d reveal something if she thought we already knew.

Her eyes widened in surprise, before she took a sip of tea to giver herself a moment. “Yes,” she said. “The shadows started creeping in from the nightmare realm as soon as that woman killed the fairy king and took over.” She looked at me and gasped. “I’m so sorry, child. No offense to you, but I have never cared for your mother.”

“None taken,” I said. “Do you know what the inhabitants of the nightmare realm are like? Could they be coming into the Non, too?”

“I don’t know,” the woman said. “I heard that they’d tried to take over Rubalia during the last war, but only those who’d seen them knew what they were like, and those who had seen them didn’t talk about them. Those who had seen them returned home, much changed.”

“Like Livvy’s parents?”

She shook her head. “Nothing so drastic. More like what you humans would call PTSD.”

“How long have you lived here?” Buddy asked, his expression guarded.

The old woman looked up at him and it appeared to Chloe that her eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, and her smile drooped. “Long enough to know that I don’t have to talk to trolls who aren’t investigators.”

“How do you know I’m not an investigator?” Buddy asked. I wished I had asked Hieronymus or Vin some questions about how the different species of Rubalia got along, but they had both seemed more interested in teaching me how not to piss anyone off and how to keep myself from owing some fae a life-long debt.

Frost waved Buddy off. “He’s here as a friend,” Frost said. “To help us find your granddaughter, and his question is a good one. How long have you and Livvy been in the Non?”

“Ten days,” the old woman said. “But I’ve lived in the Non before, if you’re wondering how I’ve heard of PTSD. I was a huge fan of the Grateful Dead in the seventies, and I followed them around for two years.”

I bit my lip to keep from smiling at the image of this old woman as a Grateful Dead groupie. I wondered if she might know Petra, another aging pixy who’d stayed with me for a week, but decided it wasn’t a good time to ask.

“Did your granddaughter have friends here?” Frost asked. “How are you two financially?”

He held up a hand when the woman looked as though she might be mad. “I ask only because at least one of the missing kids we’ve been looking for ran off to try to find another source of income for her family.”

The old woman shook her head. “Livvy’s quiet, but people are drawn to her. She looks young for eighteen, and she’s very sweet, so people tend to look out for her. We didn’t bring any money with us, but the gatekeeper gave us a loan and set us up with this place, so we’ve been doing alright. Now that Livvy’s got a job as a waitress, she’s been making good money in tips.”

“Where does she work?” I asked.

“Bedazzled,” the old woman said. She held up a hand at the look I gave her. Bedazzled was a strip club, though it was one of the classier ones. “I know what you’re thinking, but Livvy was only waiting tables, and she was making good money.”

“But the patrons there,” I said. “They tend to be somewhat handsy and, though Bedazzled doesn’t have the roughest crowd, I’m sure there are some rude, mouthy guys who might harass a young, innocent girl like Livvy.”

The old woman nodded. “I had the same concerns, but like I said people get protective of Livvy. She knows how to take care of herself, but she also has the bouncers, the bartender, and her boss ready to rip off heads if anyone causes her any trouble.”

I nodded. It wasn’t ideal, but Livvy was eighteen, and it sounded as though her grandmother had a good handle on what her job was like.

“Does she have any friends outside of work?” Frost asked. “What does she do in her off hours?”

“She wants to be a dancer,” the old woman said. She must have caught the look on my face, because she quickly added. “Not an exotic dancer, an actual dancer. She’s quite good, and she’d been checking out dance studios in her free time. Yesterday was her first day as a dance instructor in exchange for lessons at a studio about five blocks from here. She hasn’t had time for much else.”

I felt sad for the girl who was such a hard worker and had so much going for her. Frost made a note of the dance studio’s address and we headed to Bedazzled.

“What did you think?” I asked Buddy as soon as we got outside.

“She’s an elitist bitch, but I don’t think she lied about anything,” he said without meeting my eyes.

“What was the deal with that anyway?” I asked, as Frost flagged down a cab and we climbed inside.

Buddy shrugged. “Pixies have always thought they’re better than everyone else.” I figured there was more to the story, but the cab driver was already looking at us suspiciously, so I didn’t question Buddy farther.

“Did you see the lawyer today?” Frost asked.

“I did,” I said. “He was nice enough to fit me in, but he only had a few questions. He asked if I had security footage from Ephemeral and I told him I’d get him everything I could. He said the burden of proof is on the mayor, and he doesn’t think the mayor’s got a leg to stand on.”

“Do you keep the footage that far back?” Frost asked. “I didn’t see anything on what you gave me from the night you were robbed, it was almost like someone had tampered with it.”

“I had them installed the last time we had a jealous husband threatening us, even though he didn’t take it all the way to court. I keep everything from up to three months back, just in case. Unless, you think someone might have tampered with the older footage? I keep it in my office, but …”

Frost shrugged. “Maybe, but no one’s good enough to plant images of your employee having sex with the mayor’s wife in the club if it never happened. So, I’m with the lawyer, the mayor’s got nothing.”

“Nothing except an opportunity to smear the reputation of my club. It doesn’t have to be true for people to buy into it.”

“You’re being sued, Chloe?” Buddy asked.

I nodded and used the last three minutes of our cab ride to fill Buddy in as much as I could.

Buddy swore as we stood in front of Bedazzled. “I’d heard your club was closed, but I thought it was some minor issue with the health department. If I’d had any idea—”

“It’s okay,” I said, placing a hand on his arm. “There’s nothing you could have done anyway.”

“We’ll see about that,” Buddy said. “I’ve got friends in all kinds of places.”

“Please,” I said. “I don’t want you to go to any trouble, you’ve got enough on your plate and—”

“Let’s just focus on this case for now,” Frost said, as he led us into the club.

I don’t hate strip clubs. I would never work in one myself, but if you want to work in one or you enjoy being a patron in one, I respect that choice as long as you are respectful to those working there. Still, being a woman, dressed for a party, and walking into the crowd of loud, rough people, all thinking any woman there is theirs to ogle, is not the most comfortable feeling. Luckily, Frost stopped to talk to the bouncer before I had to step farther into the club.

“Yeah,” the big guy, who looked like he should be in a superhero movie, said. “I know Livvy. Good girl. She went home a couple of hours ago.”

“Did she go with anyone?” Frost asked.

The bouncer nodded. “Yeah, she finishes her shift at the same time as Nate. He’s a bouncer, too. He always gives her a lift home.”

“She didn’t make it home,” Frost said. “Can you give me Nate’s information?”

The bouncer nodded and pulled out his phone. He gave Frost what he needed, his concern for Livvy evident.

“Shit,” Frost said. “I’d really hoped we’d find her here working an extra shift. We should call Harvey in case we need back up with this Nate.”

“He said he’s working a major case,” I said.

Frost nodded. “He’ll send us whoever’s available.” He put the phone to his ear and spoke to Harvey.

“Come on,” Frost said. “He’ll meet us there.”

I tried to be glad that I was about to see Harvey and not wonder if he might have lied to me about the seriousness of his case in order to avoid me. I’d given him a lot of new information about me, and I could understand him needing some space to process it. I just wished he’d been honest with me.

Nate’s place was only a few blocks from the apartment Livvy shared with her grandmother, but it was significantly nicer. Nate made decent money as a bouncer, or he had a good second job.

We took the elevator up three floors to Nate’s apartment and met Harvey and a tall, blonde woman in a police uniform. “Ready?” Harvey asked.

Frost nodded, and Harvey banged on the door. “Open up. Police,” he yelled, just like they do on T.V.

When nothing happened, he knocked again. After several long moments, a short guy, as wide with muscles as he was tall, came to the door in only boxers, running a hand through his thick dark hair. “What?” he asked, his face and his voice only half-awake.

“We’re looking for a missing teenager and we heard you were the last person to see her.”

Nate’s eyes popped and he was wide awake. “Who’s missing?”

“Livvy Greenleaves,” Frost said. “She works with you at the club.”

“Shit,” Nate said, nothing but concern on his face. “I dropped her at her place …” he looked at his wrist, realized he wasn’t wearing a watch and looked back over his shoulder to check a clock somewhere in his apartment. “Over two hours ago. I watched her walk into the building. Fuck. I told her to let me walk her to her door, but she said she’d be fine. She swore it was a safe building.”

“Mr. Lager we’re going to have to search your apartment,” Harvey said.

Nate grimaced. “You’re wasting your time, man. You should be out there looking for her.”

“I assure you,” Harvey said. “If we had any idea where to start looking for her, we’d do it. Please, step aside.”

Nate moved out of the way, and gestured for them to enter. “By all means, search away. But you should be searching the apartments of the assholes who’ve been hassling her.”

“Her mother said everyone likes her,” I said. The officers and Frost ignored us and walked into the apartment.

“Yeah,” Nate said, his expression softening. “She’s a hard girl not to like. There were a couple of creeps in her building, though, middle-aged guys, who liked her a little too much, if you know what I mean. That’s why I wanted to walk her to her door, but she swore they weren’t anything she couldn’t handle, said the building was safe and all she’d have to do is scream for someone to come running right away. Damn it,” he said, his voice a growl. “I knew it was wrong. I knew I should go with her, but she’d just been complaining about everyone treating her like a kid and I wanted to show her I didn’t see her that way. She’s tough, you know, capable of taking care of herself. I wanted her to know I saw that in her.”

“You like her.”

He met my gaze head on. “Yeah, I do. I’ve been working up the nerve for a while to ask her out. Reggie, that’s the owner of Bedazzled, he doesn’t like staff dating, but I was willing to risk it for her.”

The guy seemed to be genuinely distraught, and I hoped we could get Livvy back to him, so they could have that date. First dates are the best, when everything’s shiny and new and the whole romantic future is before you. Before you get to know the other person’s shortcomings and they start to annoy you, or, worse, the other way around. “We’re doing everything we can to bring her home,” I said.

“I hope so,” Nate said. Frost and Harvey and the blonde police officer pushed past Nate and into the hall.

“Nate says there were a couple of guys in Livvy’s building who’ve been coming on to her.”

“What are their names?” Harvey asked.

Harvey took down what details Nate could provide and thanked him. After Nate shut the door, Harvey turned to face us. “We can’t go waking everyone up in the middle of the night. I’ll go over, talk to the super, and narrow down our possibilities before I start knocking on doors.”

“Do you have time for that?” I asked. “I thought you were in the middle of a case.”

“I’ve got a couple hours,” Harvey said. “I was actually headed to your place when Frost called.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling like an insecure idiot. “What can we do while you’re talking to the super?”

“Go home,” Harvey said. “Get some sleep. If we don’t find anything tonight, we’ll need your help in the morning to canvass the neighborhood.”

“Of course,” I said. Harvey and blondie left, and I stared at Frost and Buddy for a long moment. “I don’t think sleep’s an option.”

Frost clapped me on the shoulder. “You need it. Thanks for your help tonight. I feel like we’re getting closer.”

“Only if these cases are connected,” I said.

“I think they are,” Buddy said, his voice reminding me of how uncharacteristically quiet he’d been until that moment. “If they weren’t, human kids would be going missing, too.”

“Maybe it’s coincidence.”

“Maybe,” Buddy said, but he didn’t look convinced.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Life without surprises would be awfully boring, but I would prefer only good surprises. –Chloe Frangipani

The only kind of surprises I like are gifts. –Althea Frangipani

Mercury sat on the couch, the television making his face glow blue, his expression grim, not even a smile to match the canned laugh track. “Hey,” I said, dropping onto the couch next to him. I had no idea what he was watching, it had been so long since I’d sat and watched T.V., but it looked pretty mindless and the acting was terrible. “What’s up?”

He shrugged like a surly teenager.

I patted him on the knee and stood. “Good talk.”

“Vin and I had a fight.”

I sat back down. “You two always fight,” I said. “You told me you loved the make-up sex, and didn’t you guys just get matched yesterday?”

He nodded. “I want her to move in with me, but she says she can’t live with a drug dealer.”

I raised my eyebrows and waited. Mercury was posing as a drug dealer for the rebellion to try and find out why the drugs were still flowing into the Non, even though the Fairy King, who we believed initiated the drug trade, was dead. He also tried to keep stupid humans from taking the drug and getting killed. That was more difficult because there was no way to tell which humans would be killed by the drug, which develop a magical power, and which wouldn’t change at all. Still, he’d managed to keep the people who were obviously already in bad health from taking the drug, and I believed he’d saved some lives.

His shoulders slumped. “That wasn’t what she said exactly. She’s worried that moving in with me might blow my cover, since some people know she’s working for the rebellion.”

“I think that ship sailed when you two got matched.”

“That’s what I said, but she keeps insisting it isn’t safe.”

“And you think she’s got some other reason for not agreeing to move in?”

His grip on the remote tightened so that his knuckles went white, and I was afraid he’d crush the small plastic device. “She still doesn’t trust me. Hell, I don’t trust me. And I’m sick of selling this disgusting drug. I’m sick of living in this limbo. I want an honest job. I want to start a life with her.”

“I thought the rebellion was your life.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said. “When there was a genocidal king on the throne of the fairy kingdom. Now that he’s gone, what the hell are we doing? Missella can’t even explain why the rebellion is still going, why you’re still being groomed as a figurehead.”

“In case my mother and grandfather go to war?” I shared his doubts, but I wanted to play devil’s advocate and see if he could come up some answers I couldn’t.

“And what will the rebels do?” he asked. “I agree that the drug needs to be stopped and its source found, but everything else I just don’t get. If these shadows are really from the nightmare realm, we all need to band together to fight them, not work against each other.”

“And does Vin know how you feel?”

He nodded. “She just gets all defensive and says we should trust Missella. It’s like she’s not even thinking for herself anymore.”

“That doesn’t sound like Vin,” I said. “Are you sure there isn’t something else going on?”

“I’m certain there is something else going on. But she still doesn’t really trust me, so she won’t tell me.”

I studied his hurt expression and the weariness in his eyes in the blue light of the screen. He and Vin had weathered a lot, but she was going to lose him if she kept pushing him away. Eventually, he’d say enough is enough, just like she had when he’d refused to take a single night off from the rebellion to take her on a date. “Then you wait until she does. Don’t give up on her.”

He scowled up at me. “It’s not like I have a choice. We’re matched.”

I clasped my hands together in front of my heart. “That is the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, well, I’m saving the romance for her.”

I laughed at the grumpy expression on his face, confident that he would wait for her and work it out. I headed back to my bedroom and pulled on a pair of comfy PJ pants and a backless sleep top. Then I released my wings. It felt so good to stretch them out, like they’d been cramped under my skin all day. Now that I knew about the wings, it was hard not to think about them, to sense them there under my skin, throbbing to be free.

I admired the wings in my three-way mirror, they sparkled and shimmered under the lights in my closet. They were the most beautiful part of me, and I hated that I had to hide them for so much of the day. With a sigh, I turned off the lights and crawled into bed.

“There is no record of any middle-aged men living in the apartment building where Sunny lived,” Harvey said to me and Frost, the next day in Frost’s office.

“Really?” I asked. “No middle-aged men in the whole building? How is that possible?”

Harvey shrugged. “There are only ten units and the super prefers to rent to elderly people, figures they’ll be less trouble.”

“Okay, so is it possible the men were older and Nate misunderstood?” I asked.

“We can go talk to the folks in the building, talk to Livvy’s friends, but I doubt Livvy would make a mistake like that, or that Nate would misunderstand. He seems pretty smitten with her.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his use of the word smitten. “So let’s go talk to some people.”

“Actually,” Frost said. “I’ve got an address for your cousin. The sooner we track her down, the sooner we can get some answers from the gatekeeper.”

“The gatekeeper?” Harvey asked, looking confused. Behind the confusion was anger, and I knew he felt like he’d been left out again.

I explained the gatekeeper and what he wanted.

“Are you talking about Benny the Dragon?” he asked.

I looked at Frost. “You’re kidding, right?”

Frost shook his head, rubbing his jaw in thought. “Nope, that’s what the humans call him. I’m pretty sure he gave himself that name because he thought it would get him more respect. I don’t like involving him, but middle-aged men who don’t actually live where they pretend they do, shadows changing people, kids vanishing into thin air…it all reeks of Rubalia, and I have a gut feeling it’s all connected back to this nightmare realm. We need answers from the gatekeeper. He’s got a finger in everything. Which means we need to find your cousin.”

“I’ve let headquarters know what Nate told us,” Harvey said. “They’ll get some people out canvassing the building and the street, but they won’t know to ask the right questions.”

“Shit,” I said, rapidly running through our options. “I’ll call Vin and Mercury and Buddy. They can talk to people and maybe get answers the police can’t.

Harvey nodded. “Good. I’d oversee the whole thing, but I’ve got to be somewhere.”

“That’s okay.” I pulled out my phone and dialed Vin. “They’ll take care of it.”

Harvey stepped back. “In that case, I should get back to work. Call me when you’re back in town, Chloe.”

“Sure,” I said, but I was distracted. Vin answered the phone, and I didn’t notice Harvey walk out.

“You know,” Frost said. “It wouldn’t kill you to let the guy feel useful once in a while.” We were in a rental car, since I refused to ride to Texas on the back of his motorcycle. I was driving, something I hadn’t done in years, and it felt better than I’d expected. The cool leather of the steering wheel in my hands, the speed, the easy maneuvering. Fun.

Vin, Mercury, and Buddy had all agreed to go talk to Livvy’s neighbors and friends, and we were off to find my long-lost cousin. It all felt like a bit of a wild goose chase to me, but it was better than doing nothing.

“Are you talking to your imaginary friends again?”

“No,” he said, with a heavy sigh. “I’m talking about you and Harvey. As a human, he’s probably feeling a bit inadequate next to you and your superpowers.”

“Oh, believe me,” I said. “He is not the least bit inadequate.” Yes, I knew I was deflecting and, no, I didn’t care. I focused on the landscape of the panhandle and wondered if I might catch sight of a gator or a deer on the roadside. Or a gator eating a deer.

“Funny,” Frost said, jolting me out of my reverie. “I’m pretty sure Harvey wants to be more than just a bed toy to you. He needs to feel like you need him, like he has something to offer.”

Now he was just annoying me. Didn’t I have enough troubles without him critiquing my love life? “What’s with the interest in my love life? Why don’t we talk about yours, instead? Ye of the invisible mate.” I knew Frost had a mate, or so he’d led me to believe, but I’d never seen her.

“I don’t need any help with my love life,” he said, a bit of a growl in his voice. I was glad I wasn’t the only one annoyed. “Men like to feel needed.”

I sighed. This conversation was really impinging on my enjoyment of driving. Something I hadn’t done in three years, since I rarely left Sarsaparilla and used public transportation in the city. “We called him as back-up when we went to talk to Nate.”

“Something we could have called any officer to do.” He shook his head. “I don’t even know why I bother.”

“Because you want to see me happy,” I said in a sing-song voice. I suspected he actually just wanted to help Harvey out. I was pretty sure he liked him better than me.

“Yes,” he said, his tone deadly serious. It shocked me so much, I almost drove off the road, but I managed to right the car before any damage was done. “I want you to be happy, Chloe. I think Harvey can make you happy, but only if you stop pushing him away.”

Shit, what was wrong with me? “I’m doing the best I can. I just…I…Losing my club and all this shit with the missing kids and my mother and the rebellion and a grumpy Mercury, I just…I don’t even know how to help myself. How do I let him help me?”

“Tell him how you feel for starters. Let him get to know you, all of you.”

I couldn’t explain why that thought made my heart seize in my chest, but I suspected Frost was right. “Yeah? Is that how your mate won you over?”

He shook his head, his fond smile so sweet it made me ache. I’d never been on the receiving end of such fond affection. “No. I’m a bit of a masochist, I guess. It’s her spiky, unpleasant side that really gets me going.”

I chuckled at his surprising declaration. “You like it rough, huh?”

He smiled and shook his head. “No. I love it rough.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I hate mirrors. I prefer to judge my outside by my inside. –Chloe Frangipani

Of course looks matter. We are all judged first by our appearance. –Althea Frangipani

“Wow,” my cousin, Sandra, said. She sat on her living room couch wearing a shimmery tank top and ripped jeans, her spiky purple hair and lip ring the perfect accessories for her outfit. I was a bit jealous of her delicate facial bones that made her hair, piercings, and trashy clothes such a statement. She pressed a hand to her heart. “I’m so honored that you want me to be the maiden who gets fed to the dragon, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I have an appointment at the salon.” Her attitude, however, left a lot to be desired. It contrasted with the peaceful vibe of the living room, all light colors and modern décor with lush, green plants covering every available surface.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “You must not have heard the part about missing kids. Kids, Sandy. Don’t you want to help them?”

“Don’t call me Sandy,” she said. “You don’t even know me, had no interest in knowing me, until you needed something from me.”

“Everything okay out here?” A man, tall and lean and dark, with wild dark hair that stuck out all over his head, stepped into the living room, wearing boxers and nothing else. He looked at me and Frost and smiled. “Hey, y’all, I’m Brace. What’s all the yelling about?”

“I’m Frost,” Frost said, rising to his feet to shake Brace’s hand. “And this is Sandra’s cousin, Chloe.”

“Family?” Brace asked, his whole body going tense. He eyed Sandra. “What did I tell you about letting family in?”

“Didn’t know she was family until they were already inside,” Sandra said. “I’ve never met them before. The gatekeeper sent them my way.”

Brace nodded and sat on the arm of the chair Sandra was in. “Oh, well, alright then,” he said. “Sandra’s family here in Houston is a pack of wild, crazy good-for-nothing—”

“Enough,” Sandra said. “They aren’t interested in me or my family. They just want to feed me to the gatekeeper in exchange for answers.”

The accusing look Brace threw my way made me feel a tiny bit bad. “Answers that might lead us to some missing kids,” I said. “Fae kids.”

“Huh.” Brace rubbed his chin and looked at me and Frost for a long moment, his eyes such a vivid green I wondered if they were colored contacts. “What exactly does Benny want?”

“You know him?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Yeah, everyone knows him. I did some work for him back in the nineties.”

I really wanted to ask him what kind of work he’d done for the gatekeeper when he couldn’t have been more than a kid, but I figured that would be going too far.

Brace gave me a smug look, like he knew what I was wondering. “So, what’s he want from Sandra?”

“Her blood,” Frost said. “He’s already had Chloe’s, and he wants something new.”

Sandra shook her head. “And what happens when he tastes my blood and realizes I’m a half-blood?” she asked. “I don’t have any physical fairy traits, so I figure I’m more human than fae.”

“I’m a half-blood, too,” I said. “He seemed to like the novelty.”

“Great. And what if he decides he wants more of me?”

“He won’t touch you if Brace says you belong to him.”

Brace groaned and shook his head. “I’m not facing Benny again, man. I was lucky to get away with my life the last time. There’s a bit of bad blood between us.”

“Thanks a lot,” Sandra said.

“When I wanted to claim you, you refused. Now you’re mad at me, because I won’t?”

“You wanted to marry me,” Sandra said, marry sounding like a bad word. “They’re just saying you have to claim me to keep the dragon from eating me.”

Brace stretched his arms above his head and stood, his boxers dropping almost obscenely low on his lithe hips. “What does it matter? You aren’t going to do it, anyway.” He strolled out of the living room into what looked like a kitchen and started opening cupboards and banging pots around.

“It’s the principle!” Sandra yelled at him.

“I’m making eggs,” Brace answered. “Y’all like eggs?”

“Sounds good,” Frost yelled back. “In fact, I’ll help.” He stood and left the room like it was on fire. The coward.

“Fucking cowards, both of them,” Sandra said.

I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of me, and Sandra gave me a real smile in response.

“How long you two been together?” Sandra asked.

“Oh, we’re not together,” I said, not sure if I should admit this to a woman who might soon have reason to rat me out to Benny the dragon. “He just claimed me to satisfy the gatekeeper. Benny wanted…more from me than I was willing to give.”

“I can imagine,” she said, running a hand through her spiky hair. “Now, tell me about these kids and why I should give a shit.”

I told her what I knew and what it all might imply about the nightmare realm creeping into Rubalia and, possibly, into the Non. She listened and nodded, but didn’t answer. Brace hollered for us to come into the kitchen and have some eggs and fresh baked bread.

“He’s such a fucking housewife,” she said. “I’ve tried to break up with him three times, but his damn bread is too good to give up.”

“Not to mention the sex,” Brace said, striding into the room, an apron covering his bare chest. “Quit whining and come eat.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sandra said.

We had scrambled eggs and fresh baked bread for a late dinner. After we were all done, Sandra cleared the plates, and I followed her to the sink to help.

“I’m heading to work, babe,” Brace said and disappeared into the back of the house.

“What’s he do?” I asked, wondering who started work at nine at night.

“He’s a DJ at my club. And he has a day job with a landscaping company.”

“Your club?”

“Sure,” she said. “I manage a night club in downtown Houston. Why do you look like that?”

“I own a night club in Sarsaparilla. Or I did.” I told her all about Ephemeral as we finished cleaning up and returned to the living room with glasses of wine. Frost was on a phone call to Mary Beth to see how things were going at the office.

“That’s a sweet idea for a club,” Sandra said. She looked thoughtful. “I’ll give Benny my blood. But I want something in return.”

“Okay,” I said, exhaustion starting to weigh me down. “Hit me.”

“See y’all later,” Brace said as he left.

“Bye, sugar,” Sandra called after him.

“I want a job, a good job, in Sarsaparilla for me and Brace. He loves to DJ and I want to manage a club. Most of all, we want to get the hell away from my mooching family. Somewhere too far for their rusted out Chevy to get.”

“Will you take my word?” I asked. “I know a few club owners, and I’m sure I can get you something soon, but not tonight. You can crash at my place as long as Brace cooks.” I’d put up with quite a lot in exchange for good food.

She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll take your word, but we have to leave as soon as Brace gets back. Let me go get us packed.”

I sat up straighter. “You’re just going to leave your house?”

“It’s a rental,” she said, standing and heading for the bedrooms. “And if we can disappear without my family knowing, it’ll be totally worth it.”

Frost sauntered over and sat down on the couch next to me. “Can’t quite believe you just invited your doppelganger to live with you.”

“She doesn’t look anything like me,” I said. “And it’ll be worth it if we get the information from the gatekeeper.”

He smirked. “I hope you’re right. For your sake. I’m pretty sure I’ll be amused either way.” He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes.

“Thanks for the support.”

He opened one eye. “Glad you finally noticed.” He stretched out an arm and motioned for me. “We should try to get some sleep. It’s going to be a long night.”

I ignored his invitation and laid down on the other end of the couch, my head on a throw pillow. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, since I’m pretty much nocturnal, but I was out, somewhere between a thought and a worry, not long after my head hit the pillow.

I was awakened by the most horrific screeching and my first thought was there must be a fire. I tried to sit up, but was restrained by an arm wrapped around me like a vise. “Pretend to sleep,” Frost whispered in my ear, and I realized that my pillow had been replaced by his hard chest.

Before I could contemplate that change, the screeching turned into yelling and I decided to follow his advice. “You can’t just leave us with nothing,” a raspy, old voice yelled. “We’re your family.”

“How’d you know we were leaving anyway?” Sandra asked. It sounded like they were in the kitchen.

A long silence followed, interrupted only by someone clearing their throat repeatedly.

A gasp and something metallic hit something else metallic. “You bugged my place again?”

“Well, now, don’t get angry. We didn’t mean nothing by it. There’s just nothing good on T.V. in the summer,” a male voice said.

“This,” Sandra said, the words spit out between what sounded like clenched teeth. “This is exactly why I’m leaving. I am not your source of entertainment. I am not your nanny for all of your little spoiled brats. I am not your loan officer that you never, ever, ever pay back. And I am sure as all hell glad I’m only related to you on my father’s side, unlike Bobby here who’s related doubly.”

Another gasp. “How dare you,” the raspy voice said. “We fed and clothed and took care of you after your mother abandoned you. The very least you can do is help us out now and then.”

“Help you out?” Sandra asked. “Help you out? I’ve all but supported you for the last three years.”

“Hey, Babe,” Brace said. The sound of a door closing echoed. “I see the leeches have stopped by.”

“You,” the raspy voice said, in a tone worthy of an evil witch in a Disney movie. “Stay out of this.”

“Brace, we’re leaving,” Sandra said. “I’ve got your stuff packed and in the truck.”

“You can’t leave,” the raspy voice shrieked.

A gunshot rang out and the whole house went silent. “That’s our cue,” Frost said. “Let’s head out.”

Together we leapt from the couch and headed for the front door. Sandra and Brace came barreling out after us a moment later, a pistol in Sandra’s hand.

“Please tell me you didn’t kill anyone,” I said.

“I should have,” she said with a scowl. “But I just punctuated my point. Get in the car. We’ll follow.”

Frost and I hopped into the car, Frost in the driver’s seat, as Sandra’s family, looking a bit like cartoon caricatures of rednecks, burst onto the porch. An old woman and five obese, mean-looking men. “We know where you’re going and we’ll find you,” the old woman, owner of the raspy voice, shouted. Frost gunned the engine, and we sped off into the night.

“They’ve never worked for a damn thing in their lives,” Sandra said over breakfast at a diner where we stopped four hours later. “They won’t make the effort to come find me.”

Frost, his eyes sleepy after letting me drive and getting in a nap, took a sip of his coffee, only to choke and spray it all over the table. He narrowed his eyes at me, but I gave him my most innocent face, as though I hadn’t slipped salt into his coffee when he’d gone to the bathroom.

“I know it was you,” he said, a growl in his voice.

“But you can’t prove it,” I said. “Hence, it being an effective prank.”

He shook his head, got up, and ordered another cup of coffee from the waitress at the counter.

“Sorry, about Frost,” I said. “He’s picky about his coffee.” Since both Sandra and Brace had seen me dump salt in his coffee, she chuckled. “You were saying we should be safe from your crazy family?”

“I don’t know,” Brace said, his eyelids at half-mast, the food falling off his fork half-way to his mouth. The poor guy had worked all night and then had to go on the run. He had to be dog-tired, but he hadn’t complained, at least not to me. “They might make the effort to track you down if it means they can avoid getting jobs.”

Sandra shook her head, drumming her nails on the table, clearly still revved by adrenaline. “No, they won’t even know where to look. Though maybe we should see if the gatekeeper will give us new identities while we’re there.”

“Good idea, babe,” Brace said. His shoved his plate forward, dropped his head onto the table and started to snore.

Sandra looked at him and rubbed his neck. “He’s been working two jobs to help me keep those assholes off my back. He’s exhausted.”

“Can he sleep in the car?” I asked.

She shook her head. “He’s got this weird thing where he can’t sleep in a moving vehicle.”

“We can all get some sleep when we get to my place,” I said. “We’ll go talk to the gatekeeper this afternoon.”

She nodded, and we finished our breakfast in silence.

“I sure hope whatever the gatekeeper has is worth all of this,” I said, once we were back in our rental car.

“Worth meeting your cousin and saving her from her crazy family,” Frost asked.

“Ask me that after she’s been living with me for a month.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

You can’t choose your family, but you can choose to cut them out of your life when necessary. –Chloe Frangipani

If you think you can escape your family, you’re crazy. The moment you get away, will be the moment you wish you could go back. –Althea Frangipani

“Welcome,” the gatekeeper said. Sandra hadn’t wanted Brace to go near Benny the dragon, but Brace claimed he needed to be there to protect her. Truly, my cousin was a lucky woman to have found a man that would put up with her family, leave town with her without question, and face down a dragon. “It’s so lovely to see you all here together, I’m tempted to lock you up and keep you.” Benny’s eyes narrowed. “Especially you, Brace. I believe you owe me.”

“Sandra belongs to me,” Brace said. “Whatever you take from her fulfills my debt to you.”

Benny inclined his head. “Perhaps I will agree to that, Brace, but we will have to see first what she has to offer and what you are willing to allow her to give.”

“Enough posturing,” Sandra said. “I’m sure your dick is the biggest, Benny. Just tell me what you want from me.”

Benny steepled his fingers under his chin. “You know what I always loved best about Christmas when I was a boy?”

“They don’t celebrate Christmas in Rubalia,” Brace muttered. I looked at him, more convinced than ever that he was fae and dying to know what kind.

Benny narrowed his eyes. “As I was saying. What I loved best about Christmas was the anticipation. It was always so much better than the reality.” He looked us over, his gaze like filthy fingers creeping over my skin. I fought a shudder and he laughed as though he’d sensed it and enjoyed my discomfort. “So I’d like to prolong the anticipation. Have tea with me in my private quarters.”

Both Brace and Sandra shot me looks that said I would owe them big time, and Frost had gone as still and tense as a statue next to me. “Lead the way,” I said, forcing a smile.

Benny stood and clapped his hands together like a giddy kid. “Let’s go,” he said. “I so rarely have company, especially not company with royal blood. The royals are such snobs.”

He led us through an ornately carved door, his bodyguards fanning out behind him as he strode down an ivory white hall wide enough for three full-grown men to stand shoulder to shoulder. The hallway opened into an enormous ballroom with works of art and portraits hung over every inch of the wall space. The room’s ceiling rose three stories high and there was no way it fit into the house we’d entered. There was some sort of magic there.

Benny walked us past a grand piano and toward the third door in the room. Brace stuck his hands out to his side and shook his head. “Do you think I’m a complete idiot, Benny? I remember where the third door leads.”

Benny shrugged and backed away from the door. “It was worth a try. You four would have been so entertaining. I don’t suppose you’ll go through the fifth door with me, either?”

“Nope,” Brace said. “Why don’t you play for us? We know how you love an audience.”

Benny tapped his chin again. “Grand idea.” We followed him to the piano and sat in the chairs arranged around it.

Benny sighed, cracked his knuckles and shifted into a ten-foot tall dragon. I leapt to my feet and Frost jumped in front of me, already shoving a hand behind him to push me back.

“It’s okay,” Brace said, grabbing Sandra’s wrist and pulling her back down into her seat.

Frost kept backing me up until Benny the dragon sat down on the massive piano bench. The room was so large that I hadn’t realized how big the piano and bench were until the dragon sat down and began to play.

“Autonomy,” I whispered and gripped Frost’s hand, my heart still racing, my body pretty sure I’d already been burned by dragon flame and was dead.

“Nice trick,” Frost muttered. He didn’t let go of my hand as we sat back down and watched a dragon, so purple it was almost black, with teeth as large as my hand and a barbed tail, play Mozart.

The music was well-played and gorgeous, but I couldn’t quite fight the impulse I had to run for my life, or to stop my thoughts from running to all the things we needed to be doing to find those missing kids.

The bodyguards passed around tea cakes as Benny started a more upbeat, recent tune. I wondered how long this torture would go on as I munched on the most delicious petit four I’d ever had.

Benny the dragon played five more songs before he shifted back to a, very naked, human form. Most of the shifters I’d ever known were quite fit in their human form, but Benny, without clothes to cover him, was rather soft and squishy and surprisingly not well-endowed for a man who could shift into a huge dragon. I felt embarrassed to be looking at him, but Benny stood before us as proud and confident as though he had the body of a god.

“You may clap now and tell me how amazing I am,” he said, without a hint of sarcasm or amusement.

So, facing a naked shape-shifting dragon, we clapped and hooted and praised him. He took his bows, nude, and then accepted a robe from one of his bodyguards and slid into it.

“Now,” Benny said, clapping his hands again. “Let’s go back to my throne room and spill some fairy-human blood.” He licked his lips. Sandra shuddered, and Brace wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Benny took and drank Sandra’s blood just as he had mine. “Now that’s delicious,” he said, smacking his lips. “There’s nothing quite like royal blood, and the mixtures from you two is like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. Are you both sure you belong to the men with you? I could offer you everything you ever wanted.”

“I just want the information you promised me,” I said.

“And new identities for me and Brace,” Sandra said.

Benny snapped his fingers, still looking a bit woozy from his blood intake. “Make it happen,” he said to his guards.

“While we wait,” Benny said. “Allow me to detail the benefits package I offer to each of my concubines, just in case you change your mind. You would get a three-hundred dollar a week shopping allowance. You would never have to cook or clean or work again. And I would occasionally allow you to drink of my blood.”

“And what would that do for us?” I asked, curious in spite of myself.

“Ah,” he said. “Looks as though you have competition, wolf-man. It’s because you’ve seen my naked body, isn’t it?” He gave me a wink and a leer.

“You’re irresistible,” I said, sarcasm seeping through, despite my best effort. Frost’s grip on my elbow tightened, as though he were prepared to yank me out of the path of dragon fire. “What does your blood do?”

“Sharpens your weak senses, helps you to heal faster, allows you to carry my babies to full-term.”

I threw up in my mouth a little and Sandra shuddered. “Wow, tempting,” I said. “But I think I’ll stick with Frost. I enjoy working for my own money.”

“Ah,” Benny said. “An independent woman. Pity. How about you, Sandra?”

Luckily, the bodyguards walked back into the room at that moment. We took our hard-won rewards and ran.

“We’ve got another missing kid,” Frost said, once we were back out on the street. As impatient to get away from Benny as we were, none of us had been able to resist checking our phones as soon as we were outside. “Do you think you two can find your own way back to Chloe’s place?” he asked Brace and Sandra.

“Sure, man,” Brace said. “You folks go do what you need to do.”

“Let’s go,” Frost said, taking my arm and leading me away. I probably should have protested his alpha-male pushiness, but I wanted to go with him. “The place is in the brewery district, so we should take the bus.”

“Another teenager?”

“No,” he said, his expression tight. “A toddler.”

“That’s definitely not a runaway. Are you sure it’s related to the others?”

“Nope,” he said. “And that’s why I think you should go in to talk to the parents alone. If there’s any chance they’ll be more open with you, we should take it.”

My heart ached already for the poor parents and I wasn’t sure I was ready to hold full responsibility for finding their child. Still, I agreed with Frost that we might get more without him around. He was a man, and a werewolf. Even if they held no animosity toward werewolves, they might feel more comfortable talking to someone of the same general species. “Okay. Any pointers?”

“Nope,” he said, frustration obvious. “Nothing I’ve been doing has been getting us anywhere. We need a new tactic.”

I thought I was prepared. I had a list of questions to ask, and I had reviewed the details of the other cases. I was ready for anything, except tears. And there were copious tears.

The young, elven parents were glassy-eyed and frantic, shoving pictures of their little boy at me and begging me to find him. “Please,” I said for the third time. “I understand you’re upset, but I need you to tell me what happened.” I handed them both more tissues and gave them time to collect themselves. Looking at the pictures of the chubby three-year-old and hearing their desperate sobs were making it hard for me to focus. My own eyes were damp and the urgency I felt to find that little boy threatened to overwhelm any rational thought.

“Where were you when Herbert disappeared?” I asked.

“We were home,” Mrs. Elderwood said. “My husband and I had just bought a computer and we were trying to figure the darn thing out so we could look for better jobs. It got to be late before we realized it. Herbert is potty training, so we went in to check that he hadn’t had an accident, but he was gone.”

“Could I see Herbert’s room?”

Unlike the other fae we’d visited over the last couple of weeks, the Elderwoods were somehow able to afford a two bedroom apartment. Herbert had a room about the size of my current walk-in closet with toys and books scattered on the floor and a small mattress in the corner.

“This is where he slept?”

The Elderwoods nodded. I went to the window and looked out. We were five stories up and there was no fire escape or balcony anywhere near his room. “Was the window locked?”

“The lock is broken,” Mr. Elderwood said, his voice choked.

“Have you called the police?”

They shook their heads. “When we arrived the gatekeeper told us to call Frost if we had any problems. He said the human police couldn’t help with fae issues.”

They were probably right, since I didn’t think a human could have scaled that wall, but I didn’t want to take any chances. “The police have access to databases Frost doesn’t,” I said. “They can dust for fingerprints and find a suspect much quicker than we can. You should call them.”

“If you think it’s best,” Mrs. Elderwood said. “I’ll do anything.” She left the room and I followed her out.

“How long have you been in the Non?” I asked, while we sat at the kitchen table and waited for the police.

“Rocky’s been here a few months,” Mrs. Elderwood said. “He came over first to get a good job and a decent place before Herbert and I came over. We don’t trust daycare, so I stay home with Herbert, but if I’d worked maybe we could have found a better, safer place sooner.” The tears started up again and I patted Mrs. Elderwood’s shoulder. I needed her to calm down so I could ask my final questions before the human cops arrived.

“Why did you leave Rubalia?”

Mr. Elderwood looked away. “The fairy king, no offense princess, he burned down a village right next to ours. Said all the people in it were rebels, but we knew them. They were just like us, just trying to take care of their families. They weren’t rebels.”

“And were things better with my mother in control?” I looked at Mrs. Elderwood, but she too averted her gaze.

“Yes,” she said. “Much better.”

Great, so no one wanted to talk to the princess, either. “I was in Rubalia recently, and I heard talk of people changing. I saw shadows in the forest and some claimed the shadows were from the nightmare realm, that they were seeping into people and changing them.”

“I didn’t see any of that,” Mrs. Elderwood said, still not looking at me. The police arrived and I wasn’t able to push them any further. I relayed what they’d told me, minus the fae stuff, to the human police and went outside to find Frost.

He was leaning against the brick wall of the building, tapping his foot to the guitar and tambourine music flowing down the street from a couple of buskers on the corner. He didn’t see me right away, and I studied his face for several long moments. He looked easy, a slight smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

“A song you like?” I asked, stepping closer.

He met my gaze slowly, like he was waking up from a dream. “My mother used to sing me to sleep with this song when I was a boy.” He spoke just above a whisper, as though he was being respectful, reverent of the music.

“It’s pretty,” I said in the same low voice. “Do you talk to her often?”

“Who?”

“Your mother.”

He shook his head and something closed off in his face, in his eyes. “How’d it go in there?”

I shrugged and told him what I’d found out. “They are as wary of speaking to the princess as they are of speaking to you, maybe more so.” I hated to admit that I might be hindering rather than helping the case. “Interesting that they said Benny the dragon told them to contact you if they had any trouble.”

He shrugged. “I figured word was being spread by someone. Why do you have that look on your face?”

“Because Benny the dragon is a bit angry with you at the moment, right? And if they’d called the police first they might be closer to answers. What if Benny’s helping the kidnapper?”

“By directing the fae to me for help? Nice to know what you really think of my skill as a private investigator.”

“The fae aren’t going to be really comfortable until they learn to assimilate,” I said, trying to work it out in my head. “Benny gives them jobs and apartments amongst the humans, but sends them to you for their problems? Something just doesn’t make sense. He should tell them to go to the police first and you second.”

Frost shrugged. “Maybe Benny doesn’t like humans. I think you’re overanalyzing the situation. And it’s not like I’d keep the police out of it if I thought they’d help.”

I nodded, because what he said made sense, but I couldn’t stop the itch at the base of my spine that suggested I was missing something. “But then why are they afraid of you?”

“Let’s go back to my office and check out the information Benny gave us. Maybe we’ll find some answers.”

My phone rang as we were getting on the bus. “Hey, Harvey,” I said, trying to sound cheerful and not wrung out and worried.

“Hey, babe. Can I take you to dinner, tonight?”

My stomach growled and Frost shot me a look. With his wolfy hearing he had caught Harvey’s invite. “Go,” he said. “I can look over this alone.”

But I didn’t want him to look it over alone. I wanted to be the second pair of eyes that might catch something he missed, put to good use some of the nonsense I’d been learning from Vin and Hieronymus. “I’m actually working the case with Frost,” I said. “But we’d love your help. Maybe we could get take-out at Frost’s office and look over what we’ve got.”

“Sure,” Harvey said, with no hint of disappointment in his voice. In fact, he sounded downright thrilled. “I’d love to help. I’ll be right over, and I’ll bring food. What do you want? Thai? Subs? Pizza?”

“Sounds good,” Frost said, a bit of a growl in his voice.

“Just bring yourself,” I said, not wanting Harvey to have to hit ten different restaurants on his way to Frost’s. The image of him hiking down the city streets with loads of take-out in his arms made me giggle, and I suspected I was getting punchy. “We’ll order something from the office.”

I hung up and looked at Frost. “That okay?”

“Sure,” he said. “But it’s not very romantic for you. I could have done this alone.”

“Don’t you know me at all?” I asked. “I don’t believe in romance.”

“Right,” he said with a grin. “How could I forget?” He paused. “I got a call while you were in with the Elderwoods. My people found Neil.”

“Where is he? And why aren’t we headed there now?” I asked.

“He’s in Sarsaparilla, but his circumstances seem to have improved quite a bit. Someone paid him a lot of money and he’s been laying low. He moved to a new, much nicer apartment, but the place wasn’t rented in his name. We nabbed him because he’s finally emerged and started working again, reconnected with one of the people we asked to call if they heard from him.”

“Who rented him the apartment?”

“Hieronymus Le Fleur.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I’ve learned it’s safest not to trust anyone. Especially not my family. –Chloe Frangipani

However it might seem, I always have your best interests at heart, dear. –Althea Frangipani to Chloe Frangipani

I took a deep breath and tried to clear my vision of the red that had settled there. “My mother paid Neil to destroy my club?”

Frost held my face and brought his close, enclosing us in our own little world. “Just breathe. We’ll talk to Neil in the morning, and we’ll get him to admit that he trashed your club in exchange for money.”

“Then we’ll go talk to my mother and find out why the hell she destroyed my club.”

Seeing that I’d calmed a bit, he let go of my face and leaned back. “If that’s what you want, but I think you might have more success getting answers from Hieronymus.”

“He might not have the answers.”

Frost shrugged and stood as the bus slowed for our stop. “But we should start with him, so we don’t have to go back to Rubalia. I’d prefer not to take any more time away from the case.”

“I don’t have any way to contact him,” I said. “He’s coming back on Saturday to train me.”

“Three days. Can you wait three days? It will give us time to prove a financial link between Hieronymus and Neil, and for Neil to explain that link. He’ll also have to explain why he stopped working for you so suddenly. I’ve tipped the police off to where he is, since he’s a suspect in the theft.”

I sighed and followed him off the bus. “He’ll just say he saw that the club had been closed by the health department and he found another job.”

“He’s going to have to explain where he got all the money.”

“And why would my mother pay for an apartment for him? Why not just pay him cash?”

“It never hurts to have ears in the Non, I would imagine,” Frost said. “Maybe she’s got him doing some spying for her.”

“Maybe,” I said, considering it. “But who would they be spying on?”

“Any one of the fae who’ve recently immigrated to the Non. Really, the options are endless.”

We walked into his office, only two of his employees still hard at work, and went back to his inner office. “Send Officer Harvey back to see us when he gets here,” Frost said.

“Got it boss,” a young guy said, without looking up.

Frost shut the door and sat down next to me at one of the two chairs in front of his desk, so we could look at the files together.

“It’s a journal,” I said, pulling out the slim notebook. “Is it Benny’s?”

Frost shook his head. “Benny’s been in the Non for fifty years. He wouldn’t have a first-hand account of the war. This was probably brought over by someone who migrated after the war.”

I flipped through the book. Only about half of the hundred pages were covered with writing. “And this is all he had?”

“Probably not. But it’s likely the most relevant and the most concise. Benny is many things, but he’s not a liar and he doesn’t renege on his deals.”

“He just might omit certain convenient details,” I said, remembering that I’d given my blood to Benny in exchange for information about Buddy, only to find that he’d given me the most basic information – Buddy’s Rubalian identity and the clan he’d grown up in.

“Let’s find out,” Frost said. “We’ll take turns reading it.”

Frost read ten pages aloud, revealing only what we’d found in Rubalia – dark shadows and people acting strangely -- before Harvey arrived with food. He’d only gotten Thai, and Frost seemed happy enough with that. We took a break for dinner and started reading again as soon as we were done eating.

“Wow,” Harvey said, when we’d finished. “Do you suppose it happened as quickly as he said it did?”

“Yes, I do,” I said. I felt a bit shell-shocked. The land of nightmares didn’t possess monsters in the sense I’d imagined, but something infinitely more frightening, beautiful, suave, and alluring. People who twisted and turned everything they touched. Like the vampires of fiction, they could only walk in the shadows, shadows that belonged to them, that they used to suck their victims dry, to put them in their thrall and control them. The writer wasn’t sure how they’d traveled to Rubalia, but he knew they’d arrived less than a month after the shadows first appeared. And they’d been beaten back at great loss of life to the people of Rubalia.

“There’s nothing here about them taking children,” Frost said. “But clearly their last attempt to take over Rubalia failed, so maybe they’re trying something new.”

“You think they’re crossing over to the Non?” Harvey asked, his hands fisting. “And taking our children?”

I loved his possessive and protective attitude toward the fae in the Non. “Maybe not directly,” I said. “But they could have twisted someone in Rubalia to their will.”

“Right,” Frost said. “We need to go back to the Elderwoods’ and see if I can pick up a scent of shadows to track. I didn’t scent anything outside their door or their building, but maybe we can find something in the vicinity.”

“I’ve got an early morning,” Harvey said. “So I’ll leave you to it.”

“I’ll walk you out.” I stood with him.

He took my hand tight in his and we walked out together. In the hall, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me hard. “I miss you,” he said. “I want to take you out, but I’m not sure we’ll ever get the chance.”

“I don’t need fancy dates,” I said. “I just need you. Thank you for understanding my hectic schedule.” He kissed me again and it spawned an idea. “Why don’t you stay at my place? I’ll crawl into bed with you when I’m done here.”

“That sounds like the best idea I’ve heard all day,” he said, taking the extra key I handed him. When Mercury moved in, I’d had several copies made. Harvey gave me one last kiss and was gone.

I headed back into the office and found Frost changed, his demeanor tense, his expression grim. “Done saying goodbye to Romeo?”

“Yes,” I said, ignoring his grumpiness. “Let’s go track the kidnapper.”

We walked around the building three times with no luck. We didn’t want to go upstairs and bother the Elderwoods again, and we figured the kidnapper had to have started on the ground outside the building. But we found nothing.

“Unless this shadow can walk through walls or fly, I don’t know how they got to that room,” Frost said.

“Maybe there are just too many other smells layered over the shadow scent.”

He shook his head, his body tense with anger and frustration. “The shadow scent is unmistakable and, unless the Elderwoods lied about when the kid was kidnapped, I should be able to catch a whiff.”

“So the shadow has to be a fae who can fly, unless you know fae who can walk through walls.”

“No,” he said. “Flying fae it is.”

“Or the Elderwoods lied. Want to talk them, again?”

“No. We’ll stop by tomorrow. Let’s go home and get some sleep.”

Though I was exhausted, I was also wired and restless. It had been too long since I’d been out dancing, since I’d blown off the stress in my favorite way, but I had a gorgeous man in my bed waiting for me. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll see you home. We’ll take my bike.”

I was in no mood to wait for the bus, so I didn’t argue about riding on the back of his motorcycle to my place. I managed to keep some space between us and kept my thoughts on my boyfriend and not on the way Frost’s muscles rippled under his shirt.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said, when he pulled up outside my building.

He gave me a smile and watched until I was inside, standing beside the doorman. I rode the elevator up and stepped out into what could only be described as the seventh level of hell.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Nothing ruins a good plan so much as someone else’s good plan. –Chloe Frangipani

It’s better not to plan anything. That way you’re never disappointed. –Althea Frangipani

Sandra and Brace stood at one end of my living room and the old lady and five burly cousins we’d seen in Houston stood at the other. They were all screaming, except for Brace who seemed to be meditating, and weapons had already been drawn. Sandra had a butcher knife from my kitchen and the old lady had what looked like a BB gun. One of the cousins had a switch blade and another had a baseball bat. My condo was the largest I’d ever lived in, but all of those angry people in it made it look tiny.

“Enough,” I shouted. No one acknowledged me. So I marched in between them, held up my hands, and tried again. Still nothing. The shouting continued as though I wasn’t even there. In one last ditch effort I shouted, “Police!” and everyone, Sandra, the old woman, and the five cousins, hit the floor.

They hit the floor and didn’t move. Didn’t make a sound. I wondered if they’d all fainted at the mere mention of police. I met Brace’s brown eyes over the still bodies and he shook his head. “They’re fine. I put them under a sleep spell. Didn’t mean to put Sandra under, though.”

“A sleep spell?” I asked. “What are you?” My inquiry probably wasn’t polite or well-timed, but I’d been wondering for a while and it just came out.

He shrugged. “I honestly have no idea, but maybe we could talk about it later? Can you help me drag her family out of here?”

“Won’t they just come back?”

He shook his head. “I used an extra strength sleep spell. If it worked properly they won’t remember anything before three hours ago. So, if we remove the tracker they put on Sandra’s truck, they shouldn’t remember where we live.”

“Wow,” I said. “Neat trick. What were they all fighting about anyway?”

“The usual.” He walked over and grabbed the feet of the old lady. I grabbed her wrists. “They want Sandra to give them money, especially after they saw the swanky place we’re living.” We lifted the old lady and started carrying her to the door. “Sandra says we don’t owe them anything and then everyone starts screaming.”

We put the old lady down, opened the door and carried her to the elevator. It was early enough that we might run into someone, so we propped her up on her feet between us. “Where are we taking her?”

“I’m hoping her car is parked in the garage on the bottom level,” he said. “Otherwise, we might have some explaining to do to the doorman.”

Grandma slipped a bit on her feet and I had to use all of my strength to right her.

“Maybe we can get him to help us move the bodies.”

The elevator landed on the bottom level and we stepped out. We hobbled over to the nearest wall and leaned Grandma against it. “I’ll go look for her car,” Brace said. He pulled Grandma’s keys from her purse and took off at a run.

A rusted out heap of a truck spun around the corner a moment later. We squeezed Grandma into the passenger seat and parked the truck in the closest open spot to the elevator. “I got the tracker they put on our truck,” Brace said, when he’d rejoined me. “We’ll put it on some other car after we get them all out of our hair.”

“Good plan,” I said. “Let’s go get the others.”

“Thanks for your help, Chloe. I’d say this qualifies as going above and beyond.”

“Sure. And what about you? Is her family always like this?”

He sighed. “They’ve gotten worse since Chloe made manager at the club. They feel she owes them for taking her in after her father died and her mother disappeared.”

“How old was she when that happened?”

“Thirteen,” he said, with a scowl. “And they made sure she earned her keep. She cooked and cleaned for them, and she waited tables to make money to help them out. She left as soon as she turned eighteen and could afford a place of her own.”

There was such pride and love in his face when he spoke of her. “How did you meet?”

He smiled. “I was DJing at the club where she was bartending. I saw her and I just had to know her. As soon as I knew her, I loved her. I never looked back.”

The elevator arrived at my floor and dinged. We stepped out into the hallway. “No doubts once you met her family the first time?”

He grinned. “Not a single fucking one. I love her for her, and her family can’t touch that. Never have and never will. She tried to push me away, saying if I got mixed up with her they’d never leave me alone either, but I stuck around and, eventually, she got that I wasn’t walking away.”

Back in my condo, I took the wrists of the smallest cousin and Brace took the ankles. We lifted, but the main bulk of the man didn’t move. “Try again,” Brace said. “Give it everything you’ve got.”

I dropped the oaf’s wrists, shook out my arms, took a deep breath, and lifted when Brace did. We managed to lift the cousin about a millimeter off the floor and make it two steps with him, before my arms gave out and he hit the floor. “We’re going to need some help,” I said. “Let me see who’s here.”

I knocked on Mercury’s door and roused Mercury and Vin, sleepy and naked, to help us. I went found my own room empty. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket to see a text message from him.

Harvey: Too much shouting at your place. I went home to sleep. See you tomorrow.

I shook off my disappointment. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to get a restful sleep, but his text had seemed curt to my own exhausted brain, and I was annoyed that he’d gotten annoyed about something out of my control. So I sent him a text back that may have sounded grumpier than I intended, but I was grumpy and I wished I’d just gone out dancing.

Me: Sorry you couldn’t sleep at my place. See you around.

That was the problem with letting more people into my life, I ended up sending grumpy texts I’d probably later regret and moving the comatose bodies of leeching rednecks when I could be enjoying a night of dancing or more carnal pleasures. The upside, I thought as I dialed Frost’s number and he answered, was that I could recruit my other friends into my problems.

Frost showed up as we were trying to get the next largest cousin out the door of the condo. With the help of Vin and Mercury, we’d gotten the smallest cousin downstairs and into their rust bucket, but the next largest cousin was considerably heavier and my arms were starting to shake.

“Need a hand?” Frost asked with a smirk. He was dressed in dark jeans and a button-down blue shirt that made his amber eyes glow. He’d even put a little product in his hair to keep it from flopping into his eyes. The bastard had been on his way out for the night when I’d called.

“’Thanks for coming over,” I said. “I hope your mate won’t mind us tearing you away from your plans.” Yes, I was fishing, but there’s nothing wrong with being curious about the social life of the man I’d spent most of my hours with over the past week.

Frost grinned, his jaw clicking in a way that I thought meant he might be trying not to laugh. “She’s very understanding.”

“Good.” I imagined his mate as a supermodel who spent hours on her hair and make-up and fainted at the sight of blood. “Grab a limb and help us out here.”

Frost eyed the cousin. “He’s not dead, right?”

“No, smartass,” I said. “He’s not dead, which I’m sure you already know since you can hear his heart beating with your freaky wolf ears. Get over here and help us.”

Frost chuckled, pushed me and Mercury out of the way, slid between the cousin’s legs and grabbed his knees, lifting his mass several feet off the floor. He and Vin and Brace maneuvered the cousin through the door and to the elevator at a fast pace.

“That’s what I call help,” Brace said with a hoot. “Thanks, man.”

An hour later, we had all of the hillbillies loaded in the rust bucket and Brace was driving them out of town, taking the tracker with him to place under some other car and lead them as far away from him and Sandra as possible.

Mercury and Vin stumbled back to bed, and I found myself alone with Frost in my living room. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and his hair had flopped out of its styled precision, making him look even more delicious. If I liked that sort of thing, which I didn’t. “Thanks for your help.”

“Sure,” he said, starting for the door.

“Are you going to meet your mate?”

He stopped and turned, his gaze intense. “No. I’m not meeting anyone.”

“But you’re going out? Dancing?”

His lips curved up in the hint of a smile. “I’d invite you to join, but I’d imagine Harvey is waiting for you.”

“No,” I said, biting back a scowl. “He needed to get some sleep.”

He took a step back. “Chloe, I’d love to go dancing with you, but you’re with Harvey and the way we end up dancing whenever we get together …”

“You’re right,” I said. “Bad idea. I’ll just…I’ll get some sleep and see you in the morning to go talk to the Elderwoods.”

“Good night, Chloe.” He left without a look back.

I got a glass of milk and went back to my room, intending to go to sleep. Only I couldn’t seem to settle down. I paced and stretched. I stripped to my panties and let my wings fly free, planning to go to sleep, but I just lay in bed with my eyes wide open. The knock at my door was the sweetest sound I’d heard in a long, long time.

“Come in,” I yelled, pulling the comforter up over my breasts as I sat up in bed.

The door opened and Sandra walked in. “Do you want to tell me what the hell …?” She stopped and gasped. “Are those real?”

I nodded.

She made a sound somewhere between a whimper and a curse. “Can I touch them?”

I nodded again and she came over and sat down on the bed next to me.

“They’re so soft,” she said. “Can you fly with them?”

“Only if I shift to bug size,” I said. “You don’t have wings?”

She shook her head. “Just a tattoo of them on my back.”

I smiled, both at the wonder on her face and the joy I was about to give her. “Take off your shirt.”

She hopped off the bed, hands raised. “Look you’re gorgeous, but I’m not into girls and I’ve got a fia—a boyfriend.”

“A fiancé, huh? When are you going to tell him you want to marry him?”

She sighed. “When I’m convinced my crazy family is out of our lives for good. Can you tell me why I was asleep on the couch out there? I can’t find Brace anywhere and he’s not answering his phone.”

I explained what had happened. When I was done, she sat back down on my bed and shook her head. “I swear, every day I discover something new about Brace. He’s crazy magical, but all he wants to do is play music.”

“What is he?”

She shrugged, unoffended. “No fucking clue. He lived in Rubalia until he was ten, but his parents said he was adopted and nothing like them. Nothing at all.”

“Wow, and they never told him where he’d come from?”

“I’ve never met them, but they sound a bit crazy to me. They told him he came from the shadows.”

My heart stopped and I fought the urge to warn Sandra to stay away from Brace. Wherever he’d come from, he loved her with all of his heart and he’d proven himself to be nothing but a good guy. She had to be right and his adoptive parents were just crazy. No way was he from the nightmare realm. “Weird,” I said. “Now, take off your shirt.”

“Chloe …”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said with a playful sneer. “I just want to see your tattoo.”

Sandra took off her shirt and displayed a tattoo that filled most of her back and was as intricate and carefully drawn as mine.

I wished my wings back into my back and showed her my own tattoo.

She gasped and I turned to see her face aglow with hope. “How?”

“You just wish them out of your skin,” I said, popping my wings back out.

She closed her eyes and wings, smaller than mine but vibrantly colored with every hue of the rainbow, unfurled slowly from her back.

She twisted her head to look over her shoulder and tears spilled down her cheeks. “Oh, my god, I have wings.”

“And you can shift,” I said.

So Sandra and I spent the next hour shifting into different sizes and animals, and ended up on the floor in a heap laughing when she transformed into a bunny and I transformed into a tiger. Like me, she got the hang of shifting almost immediately. “Well, this is a sight,” Brace said from the doorway.

I’d pulled on an oversized, backless sleep shirt, but Sandra was still topless and I could only imagine what he thought we were doing. But, when I looked at his face, I saw only happiness reflecting Sandra’s own joy.

Sandra wiped her eyes and stood, turning her back to him. “Babe, I’ve got wings.”

He stepped toward her, his gaze reverent. “They’re amazing,” he said. “Are they real?”

She nodded. “I’ve always had them. I just needed to learn how to release them from the tattoo.”

“Astounding,” Brace said, grinning. “This calls for a celebration. Let’s get dressed and go party.”

Sandra and I agreed to Brace’s plan and we decided to go wings out. We decorated out faces with sparkly makeup and left our hair long and free, so that we’d look like two women dressing like fairies for the night and not actual fairies. I lent Sandra one of my back-less dresses and took her and Brace out to one of my favorite clubs, where we danced until dawn.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The original fairy tales never ended happily. –Chloe Frangipani

You make your own happy ending, and you never let anyone take it from you. –Althea Frangipani

“I don’t get it,” Frost said, as we left the Elderwoods’ apartment and started toward his bike. “How does someone take a child and leave no scent?”

“I just saw Brace put seven people to sleep for three hours by chanting a few words,” I said. “Anything’s possible.”

“You really think he’s from the nightmare realm?” He swung his leg over the bike. He froze suddenly and put both feet back on the pavement.

“You got something?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “Just stick with me.”

I followed him down two blocks and over five before he stopped in front of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. The door he stopped in front of was locked. “This is where it stops,” Frost said. “We should get the police here.”

“And how do you explain why you think they should check out this warehouse?” I asked, as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket.

“Anonymous tip,” he said. He dialed and put the phone to his ear. We walked back down a block as he talked on the phone. I yawned and stretched my arms over my head. I’d had fun last night, but I’d only gotten about an hour of sleep and was having a hard time staying alert. I sat down on a pallet in the alleyway and waited.

“The private eye business isn’t as glamourous as I thought it’d be,” I said, after he hung up.

He chuckled and sat down on the pallet next to me. “No? You wanted gun fights and car chases?”

“I just thought it would more clues and less waiting, less running around with no direction.”

He sighed. “It can be a frustrating job, but if we find these kids, it’ll be worth it.”

My phone rang as we waited, and I answered when I saw it was Harvey. “Hey,” I said, not sure how I felt about him walking out on the chaos in my apartment the night before. “How’s it going?”

“Good. Sorry I bailed last night. Who were all of those people?”

“Thieves,” I said. “They were arguing about how to split the take, but they must have figured it out, because by the time I arrived all my shit was gone.”

“Really?” Harvey said. “They were acting like they lived there and Mercury was there, so I thought…Fuck, was Mercury in on it?”

It made me feel so much better to pull one over on Harvey and get a rise out of him. “I’m kidding. My cousin Sandra and her fiancé are living with me for a bit, and her family decided to show up and try to talk her into supporting them.”

“Wow, that’s rough,” he said, but he sounded distracted. “Have lunch with me today?”

“I’d love to. But I have a meeting with my lawyer this afternoon for a deposition to officially state that the mayor is full of shit.”

“Right. I heard that Dale and the mayor’s wife have moved in together.”

“No,” I said, truly shocked. I was sure the mayor’s wife would drop Dale as soon as things got real. “That should help my case.”

“I hope so,” he said. “How about a late dinner tonight? I’ll pick you up at nine?”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you then.” Two police cars pulled up as I hung up with Harvey.

“We’ll check out the place first,” one of the officers said to Frost. “Once we’ve cleared it, you can come in and look around.”

“Thanks, Hugh,” Frost said, with a smile and a pat on the back for the young officer.

So we sat back down on the pallet and waited some more while police officers broke down the door and eased into the building. My heart started to pound with adrenaline and hope that we might find the missing kids, alive and well.

Less than half an hour later, the officers returned. “It looks like someone’s been squatting in there,” Hugh said. “But no sign of the kids. I can let you have a look around, but then we need to close the place back up.”

Frost and I stood and made our way into the building, my disappointment weighing heavy on my shoulders. I was so sure we’d found them, but there was nothing. It was just a big, empty warehouse with a bright glowing circle on the far wall.

“Holy shit,” I said, making my way toward the light. “It’s a portal.”

“The scent trail ends at the wall,” Frost said. “They took them through there.”

“Let’s go.” I leapt toward the portal.

Frost grabbed my arm and pulled me back so hard I landed on my ass on the concrete floor. “We have no idea where that leads,” he said. “We can’t just go in there unprepared.”

“No. I won’t accept that. We can’t give up, now, or they’ll get away.”

“The gatekeeper will know where this portal goes,” he said. “We’ll talk to him and we’ll get more weapons and then we’ll go.”

“And how long will that take? How far will they have taken the kids? We can’t risk it.”

He knelt on the floor in front of me and put both his hands on my shoulders. “And we won’t be able to help them at all if we’re dead. You have a deposition this afternoon to save your club. If we cross over, you’ll probably miss it and risk losing this lawsuit.”

I nodded, doing my best to appear meek and submissive, but I was quite the opposite. We didn’t have any other leads, we didn’t have any other solid clues and this portal might lead us straight to the kidnappers. I wasn’t going to just walk away from that. I let Frost help me to my feet, but as soon as he let go, I spun and leapt for the portal with everything I had.

I landed in a small cottage, on a floor made of what appeared to be gingerbread. I looked around at the walls, covered with oversized candy and came eye to eye with a familiar fairy.

“Chloe, what the hell are you doing?” Frost asked, landing next to me. The shift took him before he could say another word, and he transformed into a wolf.

I looked back up at the fairy facing me. “Hieronymus,” I said. “Where are the children?”

“Princess,” Hieronymus said, his eyes narrowing. “I might ask you the same question.”

Frost growled and Hieronymus took a step back. “Really?” I said. “Because several fae kids have gone missing from the Non and our investigation led us right to you.”

Hieronymus sighed. “Children have been going missing from Rubalia, as well. I followed their trail here, but if you are not the kidnapper, then this is not only another dead end, but likely a trap. One we should leave immediately.”

The last words were hardly out of his mouth before a third portal opened and dark, smoky creatures, cold and precise, came pouring into our gingerbread house.

“Go, go, go,” Hieronymus shouted, pushing us toward the portal from which we’d come, but I wasn’t ready to leave. I wanted some answers. I also wasn’t stupid, or eager to take on six dark, scaly monsters, so I turned and leaped toward the portal, but something grabbed me in mid-air and pulled me back down to the ground.

Luckily, the floor of the gingerbread house didn’t just look like the sweet, springy treat, it also felt like it. The floor cracked under my impact, but I felt fine. I leapt to my feet to see Hieronymus had his sword out and was fighting two of the shadowy creatures, and Frost had already dispatched one and was fighting another. That left two monsters for me, and I had no weapons. Zero, zilch, nada.

I sighed and faced the creatures. They stood upright on two legs, but they had dragon heads just like Benny’s, scaly with goat-like eyes that did that creepy double blink thing caused by the nictitating membrane. Unlike Benny, though, their bodies looked human and were heavily muscled. My two opponents were female, but just as heavily muscled as the men. They crouched into fighting stances, which was weird, because I’m pretty sure they could have taken me out much quicker if they’d just charged and bitten me a couple of times. Their heads seemed far too big for their bodies and, though they seemed well-balanced, I wondered if I might have a shot of throwing them off and toppling them onto those huge noggins. It was worth a shot.

“How about we play a game,” I said. “I get one answer for every punch I land?”

I ducked as both women growled and rushed me. I was right, the large heads made them a bit clumsy, and I was able to roll out of their path. I leapt to my feet and spun, kicking the one closest to me with a low hit to the kidneys. The woman, already off balance from finding her prey had rolled away, hit the floor.

I didn’t have a chance to cheer at my accomplishment, however, because she was on her feet again in a matter of seconds and both of the women came at me together, again. They weren’t fighting fair at all.

“If you can get to the portal,” Hieronymus yelled. “Do it.”

I dodged the women’s snapping snouts, ducked down low and ran at them in a crouch, taking them both off their feet and to the floor. I looked for Frost and saw him still fighting his dragon humanoid. Hieronymus was down to one, but he was bleeding heavily on his face and his back. The portal was only a leap away, but if I left, the two dragons I was fighting would go help their friends with Hieronymus and Frost.

I spun and faced the two dragon women, wishing I had a weapon, any weapon. They were getting to their feet slowly and I took the opportunity to kick their supporting legs out in quick succession, knocking them back down. I managed a direct hit to a knee and one of them squawked and fell back, clutching the injured joint. The other one was coming for me, but I used my fairy warrior skills to slip under her snapping jaw and throw a hard uppercut to her stomach. She grunted, but moved faster than I expected and snapped my right shoulder in her jaw.

Pain exploded and I saw stars as warm blood flowed from the wound. Her teeth had pierced my skin and she was digging in, getting ready to rip out my shoulder, I imagined. I braced for the pain, but it never came. Her teeth were still in my flesh, but her jaw had stopped working.

“Go to the portal, now?” Hieronymus said as he eased the jaw of the dragon woman open and removed it from my shoulder. He’d dispatched his own opponent and cut the head off mine before she could rip my shoulder off.

Frost stood by my side, his fur matted with blood. His opponent was also down. Our last remaining dragon woman, the one whose knee I’d bashed, got to her feet, not putting weight on the leg I’d hit, growled, and leapt through the portal she’d entered by.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll go back through the portal, but you’re coming with us, Hieronymus. You’ve got some explaining to do.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Pain is a part of life. You don’t want to feel pain anymore? Die.—Chloe frangipani

Pain is a lesson in discipline and determination. You learn to live through pain, you can live through anything. – Althea Frangipani

“Ow, fuck, it hurts,” Frost said. He’d shifted back as soon as we’d crossed over and his wounds had healed partially from the shift, but he had a bad bite on his leg that was bleeding everywhere.

“Quit being a baby,” I said. My shoulder was on fire and dripping blood as freely as his leg. I knelt in front of him, careful not to look up at the very naked package dangling just over my head, and placed my hands over the wound. My head spun a bit as I leaned over and pushed my healing power into the large gash, searching the wound and healing it as I went.

“Ow, damn,” Frost said. “If this didn’t hurt so bad, I’d really enjoy the sight of you on your knees like this.”

“Fuck you,” I said, but the words came out funny, and my vision went fuzzy around the edges.

“Clarinda, I really don’t think—” Hieronymus said at the same time Frost said, “Hey, Chloe you—”

I didn’t get to hear what they said, because everything went dark and I fell over.

I woke up on the cold concrete floor with two male faces peering down at me. Hieronymus looked rather pale and Frost still appeared to be naked. I felt as though I had awakened after a restful sleep and my shoulder didn’t hurt, so I suspected Hieronymus had healed me. Which probably explained why he was pale, that and the blood still dripping from a gash on his head.

I eased myself into a sitting position, but there were no more stars and everything felt great. “Nice work,” I said to Hieronymus. Then I placed my hands over the gash on his head and had it healed before he could finish saying, “Princess, I really don’t think you should be healing me in your condition.”

His face regained some of its usual color. I stood and turned my attention to his back. The gash there was actually pretty shallow and had stopped bleeding, but I healed him up anyway. All done, I made the mistake of glancing at Frost who stood, with everything just hanging out like naked was his natural and preferred state. My gaze got caught on his body, on his firm, ripply muscles and his scars, and I wondered where he’d gotten a particularly gnarly one I’d never noticed before that started on his hip and ran down to midway on his thigh. Then my eyes, just naturally of course, landed on his impressive boy bits and then shot back to his face before he noticed how my eyes had wandered, of their own accord, over his body. The smug smile on his face suggested he’d noticed.

I scowled at him, but he just kept smiling. “You can touch if you want.”

“Gah,” I said. “Enough of the sexual innuendos. Can we focus on how we’re going to get out of here with you naked, and all three of us bloody, in the middle of the fucking day?”

Frost’s jaw clicked and his smile vanished. “It’s not the middle of the day anymore, sweetheart. It’s about midnight our time.”

My heart stuttered at the tender look on his face and the way his voice went all rumbly over the word, sweetheart, which may have made my brain operate a bit slower than normal. “Okay, well, the darkness will help, but I still think it would be better if you had some clothes.”

“Chloe,” Frost said, his voice gentle. “You missed your deposition.”

My chest went cold, and I thought for a moment I might be having a heart attack. “It’s okay,” I said, taking in deep breaths of air. “I can just reschedule, right?”

Neither Frost nor Hieronymus said anything. I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and saw ten missed calls. “Shit. Fuck.” I put the phone to my ear, my heart pounding so loud I had trouble hearing everything my lawyer was saying, but I did hear the words contempt of court, the mayor’s lawyer fees, and reschedule.

I hung up and swallowed hard. “It’s okay,” I said. “He convinced them not to hold me in contempt of court, but I have to pay the mayor’s lawyer fees for the day, as well as pay the court reporter’s fee for the deposition. They’ve rescheduled for next month.”

“Next month?” Frost asked. “Delaying a decision might be the best possible outcome for your club, especially if Dale and the mayor’s wife stay together. Hard to call it prostitution when they’re living together.”

I took in several deep breaths. I couldn’t afford the fees, but I’d figure something out. I had to. “Okay, you’re right. It will be okay. Right now, we just need to concentrate on getting us all out of here. Why don’t I run out and get some clothes for Frost.”

“I’ve got it covered,” Mercury said, strolling in with a bag in his hand.

He tossed the bag at Frost and met my eyes. “Your boy’s worried about you, Frangipani. His buddies on the force told him you two just vanished this morning, and you were supposed to meet him for dinner.”

“Right.” I checked my phone again, but there were no texts or phone calls from Harvey. If he was so worried why hadn’t he called?

“He came by the condo,” Mercury said, as though he’d heard my thoughts. “We all came here to look for you and Frost and saw the portal. I told him you’d be back when you got back. He had to go in to work, but he wants you to call when you can.”

I walked away from the others and dialed Harvey. “Chloe?” he asked, his voice groggy with sleep. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Harvey. I’m sorry I missed dinner.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “Mercury said time moves differently in Rubalia. Did you find the kids?”

Time did move differently in Rubalia, but the fight couldn’t have lasted more than half an hour, so there had to be something even weirder about the gingerbread house for the difference to be that drastic. “No. But I think we’re getting closer.”

He yawned. “Sorry.”

“No, you go back to sleep,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’m glad you’re okay, Chloe. Goodnight.”

I hung up and rejoined the others, relieved to find Frost dressed. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“I think so.” I looked at Hieronymus. “We need to talk, about several things, but I’m starving and all of the restaurants are closed, so why don’t we go back to my place?”

Everyone agreed and we shared a cab back to my condo.

I stepped into a wonderland. My jaw dropped at the beauty before me. I walked the condo, only to find that every room, every wall, every piece of furniture had touches of kitsch added to it. Not only that, but the amazing dresser from the flea market was in my bedroom. If I hadn’t already guessed, the note attached to the dresser made it clear who had kitsch-bombed my home.

To: Clarinda

The dresser is a house-warming gift. The other kitsch is yours, I just put it in its proper place. I love you.

Sapphire

I pulled my phone out to call her, only to be reminded that it was one in the morning, so she’d probably be sleeping. I blew a kiss to the dresser and returned to the guys in the living room.

“Sapphire?” Frost asked.

“Uh-huh.” I was a bit dazed, still awed by the beauty of my home.

“It looks good.”

“It looks like a harpy’s nest,” Hieronymus said with a sneer.

“Good,” I said, ignoring the sneer with a wide grin. “Who’s hungry?”

Both men raised their hands, so I headed to the kitchen.

“Need help?” Frost asked, following me.

“No,” I said. “Go put your feet up. I’ve got this.”

I’m not much of a cook, even on the best of days, but I can make spaghetti with sauce from a jar. I’ve lived on little more for months at a time, when I was putting myself through business school tending bar. I cooked up the food and set everything out on the table.

“Hope this hits the spot,” I said to the guys, who’d been talking in hushed voices while I cooked. I’d let my wings out as soon as we’d walked into my condo, as had Hieronymus, his own shirt back-less, but in a less obvious way than mine.

“Looks fine, princess,” Hieronymus said, taking a small bite.

Frost just grunted around a huge bite and gave me a thumbs up.

“I’m sorry,” Frost said when he’d cleared his plate. Hieronymus and I were only a third of the way through our meals. “I’m always starving after a shift. And that spaghetti was delicious. I should ask for you to cook for me more often.”

“Do you need more to eat? I can’t actually make anything else, but I’ve got plenty of noodles and sauce.”

“Thanks,” he said. “But I’m full.”

“Good. Then Hieronymus can tell us why he paid Neil to rob and trash my club.”

As I’d hoped, Hieronymus was taken off guard by the question. He stuffed more noodles into his mouth to buy some time.

“We know you did it,” I said. “Frost found proof that you paid for Neil’s brand-new apartment.”

Hieronymus swallowed hard and straightened. “I was following orders.”

“From my mother?”

“Yes. I think you should talk to her.”

“I’m trying to save myself a trip to Rubalia. She doesn’t seem to appreciate my visits. Why did she ask you to destroy my club?”

“I’m not at will to say.”

“So you know why, but you aren’t going to tell me?”

“That’s correct,” Hieronymus said.

I gnawed on my bottom lip and considered my options. I’d been agreeing to do everything my mother asked in order to keep my friends safe, but it had been several months since they’d been in any danger. The fairies who were after them had moved on and the fae in Rubalia had bigger problems, like the encroaching land of nightmares. I could go to my mother and demand answers, but I doubted she’d give them to me until I’d backed her into a corner. “Fine,” I said, doing my best to stay calm and not reveal my anger at the audacity of my mother and Hieronymus to go after my club, my baby.

“Then I’ll move out tomorrow,” I said. “I’ll move in with Frost.” I looked at him, a question in my eyes, and he nodded his agreement. “I won’t be having any more lessons with you Hieronymus, and I want it publicly declared to whomever wants to listen that I’m denouncing my role as princess.”

“Princess, I—”

“Oops,” I said. “I don’t think you were listening. I’m denouncing my role as princess, which means you can no longer call me princess. In fact, after you leave here tonight, I never want to see you or my mother again.”

“Clarinda, you don’t understand—”

“Oh,” I said. “I understand perfectly. My mother is trying to control my life, but she isn’t willing to let me in on any of her little secrets and political machinations. I’m willing to play along to a certain extent, to live in the condo she chooses and wear the clothes she thinks appropriate, but I won't give up my club and I won’t allow her to dictate my friends.”

“What do you want?” Hieronymus asked, giving up arguing with me way too easily, in my opinion.

“I want my club back. I want Neil to confess to robbing my place and making sure I failed the inspection.”

Hieronymus nodded and stood. “I understand.”

“Wait,” Frost said. “The missing kids in Rubalia. Do you have any idea who’s taking them?”

Hieronymus sat back down. “None, I’m afraid. They are of varying ages and varying species. The one thing they have in common is an uncanny level of magical ability. Judging by what we saw tonight, I am certain the nightmare realm is involved, but I don’t know in what capacity.”

“You don’t think they’re kidnapping the kids directly?”

Hieronymus sighed. “The denizens of the nightmare realm are magically rather weak. They can only cross through our magical barriers when they are perforated, and even then, it is the shadows who arrive first. A barely sentient, parasitic life form that attaches onto whatever fae it can and takes them over, feeding off their magic and making their personality a bit darker. Once the shadows have paved the way, so to speak, the other beings of the realm can cross over. Those dragons we saw tonight were the first humanoid creatures from the realm I’ve seen, and the shadows cannot manipulate people to the extent of being able to force them to kidnap children. The nightmare realm is assisting the kidnapper in some way, but the kidnapper is of our realm.”

“But Benny is a dragon,” I said. “And he lives in the Non. You’re saying he’s from the nightmare realm?”

Hieronymus nodded. “He crossed over and chose not to leave. Once they are over, it is difficult to force them back. That’s why we keep our magic walls so strong. But, with the change in regime and so many fae leaving Rubalia, the walls are weak, the barriers becoming more porous by the day.”

“And can those in the nightmare realm cross over to the Non?” Frost asked.

Hieronymus nodded. “Yes, of course, with little trouble.”

“So it’s possible,” he said. “That someone from the nightmare realm could have crossed over ahead of his or her brethren and begun the kidnapping.”

“Yes,” Hieronymus said. “I suppose it is. It’s just…the magic signature I found at the scene of one of the kidnappings was fae, not a nightmare signature.”

“Okay, that’s helpful,” Frost said. “Thank you.”

“One more question,” I asked. “I have a friend who might be the orphaned child of nightmare realm denizens. Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

“No,” Hieronymus said. “But I don’t claim to know everything that happens in Rubalia.”

“Right,” I said. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”

“Yes,” Hieronymus said. “I suppose it is.” He stood and left.

I just stared at Frost for a long moment, taking in what Hieronymus had said. He stared back. I assumed he was thinking about the case, but he didn’t let me into his thoughts.

“Do you think I made a mistake?” I asked. “Do you think he could have helped us with the case?”

He shook his head. “He needs to be looking for the missing kids in Rubalia. And I think you have to stop worrying about everyone else and do what’s right for you. Is Harvey going to be okay with you staying with me?”

“I don’t know.” I hadn’t considered Harvey in all of this. “I don’t think we’re at a place in our relationship where living together is a good idea, though. And I don’t have any other options.”

“It’s a shame to leave all this kitsch behind, again.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking around at all of it. I hopped up onto the couch and took down the hula clock, which was quickly becoming my favorite piece. “We’ll take this one with us.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The books and movies and fairy tales suggest love is simple. But real-life love is hard work, it’s fitting your life with someone else’s even if they are your complete opposite.—Chloe Frangipani

Love is a delusion and a curse. –Althea Frangipani

I was awoken by the smell of coffee and a werewolf staring at me, his amber eyes molten and his smirk deadly. “You snore,” Frost said.

I sat up in bed, grabbed the coffee, and took a nice, long sip. “You stare like a creeper. What the hell are you doing in my room?”

His smirk grew smirkier. “Just wondering how you slept.”

I smirked back. He’d short-sheeted my bed, which was slightly annoying, but easily fixed. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of letting him know he’d bothered me. “Great. What’s the plan for today?”

He smiled, like he knew I was changing the subject on purpose, then he got serious. “Now that we know about the kids in Rubalia having extra-strength magic, I want to go back and talk to the parents again.”

I nodded. “Yeah, okay, just let me get dressed.”

“You want to shower, too?” he asked. “You smell like shadows.”

“You say the sweetest things,” I said to his retreating back. “I thought you loved the way I smell.”

I’d meant it as a joke, a faux-flirting, because the idea of Frost loving anything about me seemed so farfetched. He stopped in the door and turned and the look on his face, like he was hungry for wicked things, slowed my heart and made goosebumps rise on my skin, made something tighten deep in my belly. He drew in a long sniff, which should have been creepy but only made me blush when I remembered that wolves could scent arousal. “Chloe,” he said my name like a prayer. “I do love the way you smell. I hate the way the smell of shadows covers your scent.”

I blinked and he was gone, leaving me to wonder if I’d imagined the whole interaction.

We started with the parents of the first girl who’d gone missing, Abby Fernwood, the one who’d joined a gang and been killed. Her mother was a frail, too-thin faun in her late thirties. “No,” she said, when Frost asked if her daughter had super-supernatural abilities. “Her only extra ability, if you could call it that, was her charm. She loved people, loved life, and could charm you with just a smile. From a block away she could flirt with just a look. She had more boyfriends than she knew what to do with.”

Each of the other kids who’d gone missing, though, did have extra-supernatural abilities, strengths far beyond what ordinary fae of their species should have, but it was the Elderwoods, parents of three-year-old Herbert, whose response was the most surprising.

“Yes,” Mrs. Elderwood said. “Even though he was so young, he could already do things…Things that frightened us.”

“What sorts of things?” I asked.

“When he got angry …” Mr. Elderwood said. “He lashed out with magic and it was…very powerful. He nearly severed his mother’s–”

“Fresne,” Mrs. Elderwood said. “It was fine. I’m fine.”

I didn’t know a great deal about elves, my mother had always seemed to feel they were a lesser species, their magic weak. She’d told me their magic was mostly about creation and cleaning. “I’ve never heard of elves with such magic,” I said.

“Yes,” Mr. Elderwood said. “It is quite common for elves to have a weak defensive magic, able to create shields and the sort. It is less common, but not rare, for elves to have an even weaker offensive magic. Herbert’s magic was more than we’d ever heard any elf to possess, it was part…part of the reason we left Rubalia. We hoped his magic would be nulled to some degree in the Non.”

A few of the other parents had told us the same thing, that they’d feared what would become of their children in Rubalia once word of their strong magic got out. Apparently, the fairy king had often seen fit to cage such fae, to make sure they didn’t hurt anyone with their magic. Or so he claimed, anyway. I suspected he was just jealous of their magic.

“Did anyone else know what Herbert could do?” Frost asked.

Mrs. Elderwood lowered her head. “My mother and sister were there when Herbert hurt me. He wanted another cupcake and got angry when I said no. He didn’t mean to hurt me, but he lashed out without even knowing what he was doing. My mother was appalled and said it was because my father had been infected with shadows. She made a bit of a fuss, telling everyone in the village about Herbert and insisting he should be caged. Fresne left immediately and we followed later. Luckily, Herbert is cute enough that my mother had trouble convincing others that he was dangerous, especially when I denied that he had ever hurt me.”

I nodded and tried not to reveal my shock. Could the curse of the shadows be passed on through the generations and produce a new kind of magic in the descendants of the first affected? It might not matter if it was true if enough people believed in it.

“Thank you,” Frost said, getting to his feet. “We’ll be in touch.”

I stood with Frost. “Do you think it will help you find him?” Mr. Elderwood asked.

“We are doing everything we can,” Frost said, his expression and his tone tense. “The information you’ve provided has been extremely helpful.”

My phone and Frost’s rang simultaneously as we stepped onto the sidewalk outside the Elderwoods’ building. We took a couple of steps away from each other and answered.

“Hi, Harvey,” I said.

“Frangipani,” Harvey said. “Go to lunch with me today?”

I glanced over at Frost, wondering what his call was about. Nothing good, judging by the expression on his face. Still, if I was going to give this thing with Harvey a shot, I had to make a real effort. “Yeah, sure. I’ll meet you in an hour at Gray’s Goose?”

“Good. I’ll see you there.”

Frost hung up about the same time I did. “Got another missing kid,” he said. “I’m heading over to talk to the parents in an hour, but I thought we should drop in on Knuff and ask him about the shadows being passed down the line.”

“Shit,” I said. “I’ve just made plans for lunch with Harvey.”

“That’s good, you should go. You two need to make time for each other.”

“But the missing kid.”

“No, I got it. Can you come with me to talk to Knuff?”

“I think he’s the wrong one to ask. We should go see Brace.”

“Yeah, I heard of it,” Brace said. He was lounging on the couch in my condo, looking like he’d just woken up, wearing only boxers and a sleepy half-smile. “Some folks say that’s what happened to me, that shadows had twisted my family line. Pretty much any kid who had strange or extra-strong powers could claim an ancestor who’d been twisted by shadows. The problem with me was I didn’t have traits of any of the fae in Rubalia and no family history.”

“So the fae keep records of ancestors twisted by shadows, but no records of the war?”

He shrugged. “It’s not records exactly, more like an oral history passed down. I never believed it, to be honest.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“People change, they do stupid shit, that’s life. Blaming it on the shadows was just an excuse. No one wants to admit they made a bad choice or became an asshole of their own free will.”

“So you don’t believe the shadows can twist people?” Frost asked.

“I’ve never seen it happen,” Brace said. “But even it does, there’s no way in hell it happened to all the people claiming it. It’s an excuse to give in to their less ethical inclinations.”

“Do you?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t crossing a line. “Give in to your less ethical inclinations?”

His smile widened. “If I did, Sandra’s entire human family would be buried in a shallow grave.”

The way he said it gave me chills, and I fought the urge to ask him if that’s what he’d done to Sandra’s family when he’d driven them out of town.

He laughed. “You should see the look on your faces. Do you think I’m a complete moron? I’ve finally gotten rid of Sandra’s family for a while, I’m not going to risk jail.”

I shook my head. Brace was a cheery, chill guy, but I was certain I never wanted to cross him.

“It’s good to see you, Frangipani,” Harvey said, over BBQ sandwiches at Gray’s Goose. “How’s your case been going?”

I laid everything out for him, trying not to reveal too much of the fae stuff he might not be ready for. Then I told him about my mother and my decision to move in with Frost.

He almost choked on the swallow of sweetened iced tea he’d just taken. He stared at me for a long moment, taking several deep breaths. “I understand that you got upset when I got jealous before,” he said. “But I think anyone would feel a bit upset about you moving in with—”

“A friend?” I asked, ready to get righteously indignant. He had a right to be uncomfortable with the arrangement, but I’d already explained that I didn’t have any other choices.

“A male friend,” he said. “I’m not crazy, Chloe. No guy would be okay with this.”

I sighed, ready to concede his point.

“Move in with me,” he said.

It was my turn to choke, but I did so less gracefully, and on my own spit. “No,” I managed to get out, once I’d stopped coughing. “That’s a terrible idea.”

He nodded, his smile small. “I’d agree if you had any other options, but you don’t. We’d be moving in together out of necessity, not because we’re taking our relationship to the next level.”

Resisting the urge to punch him, I stood and left the table, storming out the door and across the street to a small, shaded park. I paced across the green grass and back three times before Harvey jogged up to me.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked before he could say a word. “You barely know me, you’ve barely accepted that I’m not human, and you think you’re ready for the next step?”

“I’ve wanted you for two years, Chloe,” he said, his frustration making his words crackle. “I’m ready for whatever you’re willing to give.”

I sort of lost it then. I kept pacing, but I started muttering to myself about men and how easily they confused lust for love, and attraction for a relationship.

He grabbed my shoulders and stopped me. “I know you, Chloe. I want to know you better.”

I rolled my eyes, but he ignored me and continued. “I admit I was thrown by the fairy thing, but I’m getting used to it. You’re still the same strong, beautiful, brilliant woman I’ve wanted for years. Come live with me until you get things worked out with your mother.”

I threw my hands up and shook my head. “Sapphire is my favorite person in the world and she and I almost killed each other when we first moved in together. Why ruin what we have?”

“You and Sapphire worked it out and so will we. If we’re meant to be together we can make it work.”

“I think this is a terrible idea.”

“Please, Chloe. I hardly get to see you at all, if we lived together we’d have a chance to really get to know each other.”

The pleading and hope in his eyes convinced me I’d be the worst girlfriend ever and living up to all of my mother’s predictions about me if I turned him down. “Fine,” I said. “But I want it noted that I’m opposed to this idea.”

“Agreed.”

“Leaving me already?” Frost asked. He stood in the doorway to his guest room, where I stood by the bed, packing. I was exhausted after a training session with Vin and really just wanted to curl up in bed. “Did your mother give in?”

“Harvey asked me to move in with him,” I said, unable to hide my scowl.

Frost did a horrible job of hiding his smile. “Aren’t you supposed to look happy about it?”

“No,” I said, lugging my suitcase toward the door. “I think it’s a terrible idea.”

“Chloe,” he said, serious. “It doesn’t make you a bad person to say no, and there is not one rule book for relationships. You should do what feels right for you.”

“How did it go with the missing kid?”

He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “A ten-year-old boy this time, but otherwise the same as the others. We can talk about it tomorrow. Go enjoy your time with Harvey tonight.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Always trust your instincts. –Chloe Frangipani

Never make decisions based on emotion. –Althea Frangipani

The cab dropped me in front of Harvey’s one-level bungalow an hour later. He lived farther out of the city than I’d remembered, on an established tree-lined street. He was in the cul-de-sac, with forest behind. He might as well be living in the country. I sighed and determined to make the best of the situation. I liked Harvey, I really did, and I needed to make every effort to make it work between us.

Harvey answered the door in a t-shirt, jeans, and bare feet. He looked good casual, deliciously good. I dropped my suitcase and stepped into his arms, deciding to focus on what I knew worked between us. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his face down to mine. He groaned and lifted me, his hands kneading my ass. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he carried me inside and dropped onto the couch with me on his lap.

I was glad I’d chosen to wear a dress, as Harvey pushed it up to my hips, and slid his hand into my panties. I made short work of the button and zipper on his jeans and, in just a moment, he’d slid into me. The feel of him, the motion of our hips like a well-practiced dance, cleared my mind of all thoughts and worries. I stopped wondering what if and lost myself to the moment.

He shoved my dress up to my shoulders and took one of my bare nipples into his mouth. I moaned and arched back, rolling myself against him and finding the friction I needed. “So good,” I murmured. “You feel so good.”

“We’re so good together. I don’t think I’ll ever stop wanting you.” He moved his attention to my other nipple, pushing a hand between us and applying a pressure that, mixed with the pleasure of him inside me and his mouth on me, made me lose it and fly over the edge into a body-tingling release.

He followed me a moment later. “Hello,” he said, once we’d both caught our breath. “If every evening with you starts like this, I may never let you leave.”

The words were spoken lightly, but I tensed in his arms and climbed off him, adjusting my dress as I stood. Harvey went into the bathroom to clean up. I sat down on the couch and saw that the T.V. was on and college football was playing, the volume low enough that I hadn’t noticed it until that moment.

Harvey returned and sat down next to me, turning up the volume on the T.V. “I’ll show you where you can put your stuff as soon as this play is over,” he said. I stared at him, then at the T.V. I found sports boring, and rarely watched T.V., so I pulled out my phone and checked my emails. Nothing from the police or the health inspector saying my club had been cleared and was okay to re-open. But there was a quick note from Pierson saying he and my other employees were spreading the word that the club would reopen and that the mayor’s case was erroneous. I almost missed the last email because his address looked so much like spam: Dmanhard. He said that he and the mayor’s wife were getting married as soon as the divorce was final, and I should look for a save the date in the mail.

“Holy shit,” I breathed. Harvey shot me a look, but returned his attention to the screen so quickly, I knew better than to try to tell him what I’d just seen. Instead, I stood and walked around his small house. The kitsch I’d helped him buy was on the top of the refrigerator and both his furnishings and the few paintings on his wall were mainstream, contemporary. The place was clean, the single bedroom cozy.

“You can put your stuff in the dresser or the closet,” Harvey said, his eyes still on the screen. “I cleared two drawers and half the closet for you.”

I grabbed my bag from the porch, where I’d dropped it in my haste to be in Harvey’s arms, and headed back to the bedroom. There was a large, king-sized bed, with a grey duvet, cherry nightstands on either side of the bed, and an oak dresser. The night stands were large and bulky, the dresser was sleek and modern, and the bed was rustic. It was a hodge-podge of a room and I should be the last person to judge hodge-podge, but it was all so boring. The painting over the bed was of an abstract that wasn’t half bad, but wasn’t half good either. My heart sank a bit as I realized Harvey had no taste. I sighed. I could fix that.

I found the two drawers he’d emptied for me and put my stuff in them, then hung my dresses, slacks, and blouses in the closet. I’d taken a few of the things Hieronymus had bought me. They were too pretty not to and my mother would never know. I put my toiletries in the small en-suite bathroom, stuffing them in next to the toilet paper. Clearly, Harvey had never lived with a woman before, since he hadn’t thought to clear space for me under the sink.

I strolled back to the living room and Harvey smiled up at me. “Did you find a place for everything?” he asked.

I sat down on the couch next to him. “Yes. Thank you for making space for me. Hopefully, this will only be temporary, but—”

The commercial on the television ended and his attention shot back to the screen as the football game started back up. “Sorry, babe, we’ll talk as soon as this is over.”

Now, I’m not one for watching sports, I’m not really much for sitting still long enough to watch much of anything on T.V., but I can be understanding and empathetic. I can sort of see how football could be so thrilling and important that…Nope, not really. Still, I was dependent on Harvey’s hospitality, though I couldn’t help considering throwing a tantrum, re-packing my stuff, and heading back to Frost’s place, because come on, I was asking for five minutes of his time. Five minutes. So, I did the only mature thing I could come up with in my state of annoyance. I grabbed the remote from his hand and turned off the T.V.

The play of emotions over his face was quite something to see. Shock, annoyance, anger, and then something in his expression softened. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m being rude. This is a big moment, you moving in with me, and I should give you my full attention, right?”

The way he took my hand and the soft caring look on his face, scared me. I was so not ready for this level of commitment and intimacy. “You know what,” I said. “I just wanted to thank you for doing me this favor and letting me crash here for a few days.”

Then, before he could say anything else, I flicked the T.V. back on, threw the remote at him, and ran for the kitchen. I opened the door to the refrigerator just to have something to do, but as I bent over and peered inside, seeing deli meat and cheese, fresh strawberries and tomatoes, my stomach growled.

“Now that’s a sight in my kitchen I could get used to,” Harvey said.

I slammed the refrigerator door and spun around. I liked Harvey, I really did, and I thought we were making good progress with our relationship, but I wasn’t ready to be a fixture in anyone’s kitchen. “I shouldn’t have interrupted your game,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

He took two steps closer to me, as though he were approaching a skittish animal. Clearly, he thought I was afraid, but I wasn’t afraid of anything. “No,” he said, in a gentle voice. “You were right. It was rude of me to ignore you. But I’m not ignoring you, now. You must be starving, what can I get you for dinner?”

“I can fix myself a sandwich, Harvey. You can go back to your game.”

He smiled and shook his head. “No. You sit and I’ll make you a sandwich. Please, I want to take care of you.”

That stunned me stupid. No one had ever wanted to take care of me before, at least not when I wasn’t in danger and in need of protection. I took a seat in one of the mismatched chairs around his small, rustic kitchen table. “I guess you’re more familiar with the flea market than I realized,” I said.

“What?” He looked at me over his shoulder the rest of him still in the fridge.

“Never mind,” I said, distracted by the delectable rear view he presented to me. It was too bad relationships couldn’t be just about sex. Sex was easy and so, so much fun.

I sat back and enjoyed watching him move around the kitchen. He smiled as he set a plate, with a ham sandwich and strawberries, in front of me. “It’s good to have you here, Chloe. Now what did you mean about the flea market?”

I took a bite of my sandwich and enjoyed the flavors and textures. “You make a good sandwich,” I said. I swept my hand over his kitchen furniture. “Nothing matches. So I figured you got all of your furniture at the flea market.”

His eyes widened just a bit and he gave me a blank look. “It’s furniture,” he said. “It’s all made of wood. It all just matches automatically, right?”

I bit back a laugh and shook my head. “No. There are styles of furniture, clean lined modern or rustic or …” I trailed off when he kept giving me a blank look. “It’s okay. You have a very nice home.”

“I just picked what I liked. I never thought about it matching.” He shook his head and looked around his kitchen. “This is some conspiracy by the furniture makers to sell more stuff, isn’t it?”

I did laugh then, long and hard. And it felt good. “How about we don’t worry about the furniture and, after I finish this sandwich, I help you hang that kitsch we bought you at the flea market last weekend?”

He frowned and avoided eye contact. “I did hang it,” he said. “It just isn’t me. I’m sorry. I think you should figure out where you like it and then you can enjoy it while you’re here.”

And suddenly, my stay had been shortened. The tinge of disappointment mixed in with my relief surprised me. “Why don’t we look at it together,” I said. “We’ll just hang the pieces you feel most comfortable with.”

“Yeah, okay.” He got to his feet and took my plate to the sink. “I’ll go get it.”

In the end, I convinced him to tolerate three of the five pieces and we put them in spots that even he had to admit looked good. I understand that not everyone loves kitsch, but if he’s really considering a future with me, he’s going to have get on board at least a little bit. Because I’m not giving it up.

On Saturday, I got up early and met Sapphire for breakfast before we hit the flea markets. “Thank you so much for making my condo beautiful,” I said.

“Of course.” Knuffington had stayed home this time, and it was good to see Sapphire alone. “I should have done it right after you moved in, but work has been crazy hectic.”

“Yeah? What’s going on? The genes getting out of hand? Mutating and partying all night?”

“Hardy har,” she said. “No, it’s this side project I’ve been working on. We’ve got a new theory that I’m actually excited about. We’re thinking that humans might not have any genetic anomaly that prevents them from seeing the fae traits, but that the fae traits exist on a spectrum of magic that is invisible to humans.”

“Like ultraviolet?” I asked, skeptical. Faun horns looked like just another physical body part to me.

“Exactly,” she said, getting excited. “Don’t you see what this could mean? The fae wouldn’t have to use glamours anymore.”

“Those that bother with them, anyway. You should talk to my cousin Sandra. She’s half human, so maybe you could test your theory on her.”

She shook her head. “If you’ve got even a drop of fae blood in you, you’ll see the traits.”

“No,” I said. “That can’t be right. There’s got to be tons of humans who have a drop of fae blood and don’t know it. Wouldn’t they all be yelling about the freaky creatures they see?”

“That’s the most amazing part. They do see the traits when they’re kids, but the adults around them tell them it’s all in their imagination until they convince themselves it’s true and they learn to ignore what they see. They stop seeing it.”

“They develop the inability to see the magical traits?” This all sounded way hokey to me, but it was good to see Sapphire so excited.

“Sort of,” she said. “But it’s more like they see it, their brain says they can’t be seeing it and ignores the weird traits, so they don’t acknowledge them. It all happens so fast they don’t even realize it happened.”

“That’s…um, amazing,” I said, forcing a smile. I was pretty sure Sapphire had gone crazy if she really believed this stuff.

“I know,” she said with a sweet smile. “It sounds crazy and it probably is crazy, but it just feels like we’re getting closer. And that’s exciting.”

I might have asked her what the point of it all was, why she cared to find out why humans didn’t recognize the fae, but I knew better. For Sapphire, the answer was the point. It was all that really mattered to her. “Then I’m excited for you,” I said. “You know I’ve never understood your work.”

She smiled and folded her napkin next to her plate. “Let’s go get some more kitsch for your place,” she said, clapping her hands together. “I hate that you’re not living with me anymore, but I’m so excited to have all that extra space for storing kitsch.”

I couldn’t bear to tell Sapphire that I’d left the condo she’d decorated for me. “I don’t have any money, Sapphire, but I’ll help find stuff for you.”

“Right, and I’ll have to store more of my older pieces at your place to make room for my new stuff. So we all win.”

My phone rang as we stood. I silenced it, because nothing interfered with Flea Market Saturday. When it rang again, I turned it off without even looking at it.

“Please, Chloe,” Sapphire said. “It could be about the missing kids.”

“It wasn’t Frost. It was a number I didn’t recognize.” The day before, I’d slept until the late afternoon, catching up on all the sleep I’d been missing that week. In the evening, Frost had filled me in on the latest missing child, but there’d been nothing else for us to do, so I’d gone liquor shopping with Pierson to re-stock the club.

“Okay, good.” She linked her arm through mine, and we were off for our favorite kind of shopping.

We were at Bea’s booth, debating whether or not a person can ever have too many kitschy clocks, when I heard my name.

I spun around to see Frost. “Chloe,” he said, a bit breathless, as though he’d been racing around looking for me. “I’m sorry to interrupt your flea market day, but I need you. Buddy needs you.”

“Buddy?”

“His daughter’s been kidnapped.”

Next to me, Sapphire gasped, but I was too stunned to make a sound. “But she’s a baby,” I said. “There’s no way to know if she had strong powers or not.”

He gripped my shoulders and met my gaze, his expression so soft, I almost cried. “I don’t need you to help me figure out why she was taken right now. I just need you to come with me. Buddy needs his best friend.”

“Yes, of course.” I gave Sapphire’s hand a squeeze, but didn’t need to say anything. She waved me off and told me to hurry. Frost and I raced through the flea market grounds and back to his car.

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I turned off my phone, because…well, it’s our tradition and I never thought …”

“No,” he said. “You couldn’t have known. I just got the call a couple of hours ago. Buddy’s sister said she tried to call you earlier, but—”

“No,” I said, thinking of all the ways I’d failed my best friend, the man who’d saved my life. “Oh, no. I didn’t recognize the number so I didn’t answer.”

“It’s okay, Chloe. You couldn’t have known. And it’s not too late to help him. We will find that baby.”

For the first time, I really looked at Frost and saw the lines of worry around his mouth and eyes, the tense set of his jaw. “You’ve been to visit her, haven’t you?” This one was personal for him and not just because he’d been the one to find Evelyn’s dead body.

“A couple of times,” he said. “Buddy was speaking to me, though he wasn’t exactly friendly. I wanted to take her the gifts you couldn’t and check in with her like I knew you wished you could.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know.” He looked a bit lost. “I was going to, but every time I brought up Buddy or the baby, your expression closed. I didn’t want to cause you any more pain.”

“I’m glad she’s had you.”

The taxi stopped in front of Buddy’s sister’s building and we got out. Frost paid the driver and faced me. “She’s lucky to have you, too, Chloe. You didn’t do anything wrong by not answering your phone. You’re allowed to have a morning off.”

“Tell that to the baby who’s scared and facing who knows what kind of horrors and darkness. Ask her if it’s okay that I took the morning off.”

“She’d understand, too.”

I glared at him, until he shook his head. “Fine. Let’s just go talk to Buddy and his sister. They wouldn’t tell me anything until I had you with me.”

“What? Why? They don’t think this has anything to do with me or my mother, do they?” I wondered if kidnapping Buddy’s baby was something my mother would do to get back at me and I wished, not for the first time, that I knew her better.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Do you think she could be behind this?”

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure she would do something more obvious. She’d want me to know who was responsible.”

“Makes sense.” He looked more sure than I felt, trusting me when I was doubting everything.

Together, we walked inside and up the stairs to the small apartment Buddy had shared with his sister since he’d gotten back from Rubalia. I wondered why they hadn’t all moved into the much bigger place Buddy had shared with Evelyn.

“He couldn’t bear to be in his old place without her,” Frost said, as though he’d read my mind. “He and his sister are looking for a bigger place. Buddy wants somewhere safe for the baby, but far from his condo with Evelyn. Somewhere close to the bar, but in a good school district. He’s been having a tough time finding the perfect place.”

“A tough time moving on,” I guessed.

Frost nodded and knocked on the door. Buddy answered it right away, his face drawn with worry. “They took my baby, Chloe. The rebels took my baby.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Friends that are like family are a gift beyond price. – Chloe Frangipani

Choose your friends wisely. They will always want more than you can give. –Althea Frangipani

I wrapped my arms around Buddy and squeezed him tight. “We’re going to find her,” I said.

He let out one sob against my shoulder before pulling me inside and giving me a seat at his small kitchen table. Frost closed the door behind us and sat down at the table with Buddy’s sister, May, Buddy, and me. “Tell us exactly what happened,” Frost said.

“I had her with me at the market down the street,” May said. “Buddy was trying to find a parking space and then he was going to join us inside. The market doesn’t have its own lot, so you have to find parking on the street and—”

“Yes,” I said, placing my hand over May’s to try and calm her. “I know the place. Parking is impossible. What happened?”

May bit back a sob. “I looked away for just a moment to grab some more apples and, when I turned back to the cart, she was gone.”

“Did you see who took her?”

“No,” Buddy said. “But I did. I saw him race out of the market with my daughter. I recognized him as one of the rebels who held me hostage.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “Why would the rebels want to kidnap children?”

“Maybe they want to use their super powers,” Frost said. He put a hand on Buddy’s shoulder. “We aren’t sure that some of them haven’t run away, but all of the missing kids have obvious and superior magic. Did Sunshine have any signs of greater powers?”

Buddy shook his head. “She’s too young to be sure, but she did seem fascinated by May’s diamond necklace the other day. All trolls have an affinity for diamonds. You think her kidnapping may be related to the other disappearances?”

“I don’t know,” Frost said. “But it looks like Vin and Chloe will be taking a trip to see the rebels in Rubalia.”

“I want to go, too,” Buddy said.

“No,” Frost and I said together.

Buddy’s jaw tightened and he sat up straighter, anger replacing the worry and fear on his face. “She is my daughter and I have every right to go with you and help you to find her.”

“And if Missella has an answer you don’t like?” I asked. “You can’t beat anyone up. You going to be able to keep your emotions in check?”

“Not everyone can be as emotionless and cold as you, Chloe, but I’ll do my best,” Buddy said.

His words were like a slap in the face. A slap that pricked my skin and bled into my body, freezing me and ripping through me all the way down. Buddy knew me best, and he saw me as cold and emotionless? Had I been conditioned by my mother, with all her physical and verbal smack-downs, to hide my emotions so well that even my best friend believed I had none?

“Chloe?” Frost said. “What do you think?” I blinked and found everyone staring at me, waiting, like I’d been asked a question.

I swallowed and straightened my shoulders. Buddy’s baby didn’t have time for me to break down. “I’m sorry. My ice heart must have gotten in the way of my ability to hear. Could you repeat the question?”

“Chloe, don’t throw one of your little princess tantrums just because I stated the truth,” Buddy said.

I ignored him and looked hard at Frost, begging him with my eyes to change the subject.

“I said that Buddy’s presence, his obvious distress, might convince Missella to tell us the truth. She’s not typically inclined to honesty, from what I understand of her.”

“Unless she’s behind the whole thing,” I said. “In which case, Buddy could get us all killed.”

Buddy groaned. “I think I know how to conduct myself—”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Frost said. “She’s all about gathering the support of the people. Kidnapping their children is hardly likely to win her any supporters. I think it’s more likely she knows something that could lead us to the kidnappers, and Buddy might convince her to talk.”

What he said made sense. “Fine. Buddy can come with us. I’ll check in with Vin, find out what time works best for her, and let you know when and where to meet us.”

Buddy nodded. “I’ll wait for your call.”

I stood and left without another look at him.

“He didn’t mean it,” Frost said, once we were back on the street. “He’s out of his mind with worry. He would have said anything to strike a nerve, to convince you to let him go to see Missella.”

“Maybe he’s right.” I hated the pity in Frost’s eyes. “Not that I care. I’m just killing time until I get my club back.”

Frost laughed, but it was a sound void of humor. “Your problem, Chloe, has never been that you don’t care. It’s that you care too much. You hide it well, but I can see through your pretense of hardness. You spend so much time caring for everyone else, that you forget to take care of yourself, and you refuse to let anyone take care of you.”

Anger lit me up. How dare he make me out to sound like some sort of saint? Some sort of pathetic martyr. I wanted to rage at him, but I was afraid that would only prove his point. “I’m going to call Vin and find out when she can meet us,” I said. “You can head back to your office. I’ll find my own way home.”

“Chloe, you know I have to see you home.”

And that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. “You think I care too much?” I asked. “Maybe you care too much, Frost. You act like it’s your job to keep me and everyone else safe. Like there’s something wrong with me for refusing to take your help. Maybe there’s something wrong with you, for refusing to believe that I can take care of myself. That I don’t need help.”

To my complete annoyance, he didn’t get mad. “I know you’re strong and tough, Chloe. I know you can handle yourself. I’ve never doubted that. But I’m a werewolf. I’m a teensy bit stronger than you and it…it calms my wolf to see you safe.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling pretty darn full of myself. “It’s your wolf that wants to see me safe? It’s your wolf that’s worried about me? Well, tell your wolf to back down. It’s the middle of the fucking day, in a pretty decent neighborhood, in a city I know like the back of my hand. I’ll. Be. Fine.”

“Chloe—”

I stepped up to him until we were toe to toe and nose to nose. “Middle of the fucking day, Frost. Leave me the hell alone.”

He threw his hands up, irritation plain on his face. Finally, I’d gotten to him. “Fine,” he said. “Just let me know when you’re back from Rubalia so we can talk about what Missella said.”

“Fine.” I turned my back on him and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I dialed Vin and put the phone to my ear.

Vin answered on the third ring, and I filled her in on what Buddy had said.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I get what you’re saying, but if Missella knew anything at all, she’d tell us. She wants to help the people of Rubalia, not hurt them.”

“Maybe so,” I said. “But she should at least be able to tell us more about the guy Buddy saw running off with his baby.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I was supposed to go out with Mercury tonight, our first real date since we moved to the Non, and now I’m going to have to cancel. I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Since one of Vin’s major problems with Mercury had been that he’d cancelled all of their dates to work for the rebellion, she meant he’d enjoy her cancelling far too much. “I’m sorry,” I said. “If there were any other way …”

“No, I know. Meet me at the fountain in the city center in two hours.”

“I’ll be there,” I said.

A hand clapped me on the shoulder and anger flared in me like a torch. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” I asked as I spun, expecting to see Frost, but finding a shorter, bulkier man who looked a bit familiar.

“Nope,” he said. “That’s why they call me the…um, the not-quitter,” he said, not releasing my shoulder.

“Wow, they are really original,” I said. “Would you please remove your hand from my shoulder, before I remove it from your body?”

“Sorry,” he said, appearing to be sincere. “My boss wants to see you, so I can’t let you go.”

I twisted out of his grip and leapt back, getting my fists up into a fighting position. “Who’s your boss?”

“You don’t remember me?” The guy pouted just a bit.

And then I did. Shit. “Benny the dragon.”

He smiled and nodded. “I told him you’d remember me. I felt we had a connection. It’s why I insisted on bringing you in myself.”

I looked around, hoping that our “conversation” would have drawn some attention. Then a second goon stepped out of a small silver car, and I knew there was going to be pain.

I spun and made a dash for the door to Buddy’s apartment building, screaming his name at the top of my lungs. I was jerked back by my hair and pulled so hard I fell flat on my back, my head hitting the pavement with a sickening thud. Six goons bent over, looked at me, and said, “Oops.”

Strong arms lifted me into the air, making my stomach spin. Something warm was oozing out of my skull, and I hoped it wasn’t my brain.

“You made her bleed, you idiot,” someone said.

I felt myself land on something hard that smelled like leather, my head bouncing against something even harder, before darkness took over. A blissful, pain-free darkness.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Men believe their greater brawn means they can get whatever they want by force. Women learned long ago that it’s much easier to manipulate someone with sweet words and seduction. –Chloe Frangipani

Men’s brains are located firmly in their pants. Manipulate the dick, you manipulate the man attached to it. –Althea Frangipani

The first thing I felt when I woke up was pain, and the first thing I saw was Benny the dragon’s face. I knew two things right away, if I was dead, I’d been sent to Hell and, dead or alive, I was in deep shit. I tried to move my hands to make sure I was still clothed, but they were above my head, shackled. I tried to peer down at my body, but my head exploded and my vision went black.

“Try not to move,” Benny said. “I’m sorry for what my men did, but I assure you it was an accident. My staff healer will be in shortly to ease your pain.”

“Right,” I said. “And what do I have to do to earn this grace?”

Benny feigned shock. “Do? Are you suggesting I’m going to manipulate you by preventing your healing?”

“Yep,” I said. “And my head is killing me, so can we get this over with?”

Benny laughed, the sound of his joy grating on my damaged brain like nails on a chalkboard, making bile burn in my throat. “That is why I love you, Chloe, there is no beating around the bush with you.”

I really hoped he meant he loved me in a platonic way, otherwise this was going to get really ugly really fast. When crazy men decided they loved you, it was never followed by flowers and fine dining. It was usually followed by blood and pain, and not the consensual kind. I knew, I’d seen the movies. “So what do you want, Benny?”

“I want you, Clarinda, to be my queen. I want the two of us to rule the Non together. At first, I thought you were a threat, I planned to destroy you, fuck you, and kill you slowly.”

“How charming,” I said.

“But I couldn’t destroy you. I told every fae who came through my door that you are the fairy princess, because I expected them to fear and hate you. Instead, they love you. They came to your meeting and they accepted your help with their missing children. You are more than just delicious blood and a pretty face. You have something I need.”

“Sanity?”

“Humanity,” he said. “Say you’ll be my queen, say you’ll rule the Non with me, and I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted.”

“Okay,” I said. “Sounds good to me. I’m sick of my mother dictating my every move and you’re one fine piece of dragon ass, so let’s do this.” What was I supposed to say? I’m not a complete idiot.

Benny smiled. “I’m so pleased. I’ll send the healer back to fix you up and then we’ll consummate our partnership…with blood.”

Was it weird that I was glad he didn’t say ‘with sex’? Nope, I didn’t think so. “I look forward to it,” I said, simpering with what I thought was a seductive look, but since I was seeing three of Benny, I couldn’t be sure.

“And just to be sure you’re telling the truth,” he said. “I’m going to need you to sign a contract in blood stating that you are now working for me.”

Well, hell, so much for seduction and submission. Blood contracts was the first thing Hieronymus had taught me about. When a fae signed a blood contract, they would be under a magical bondage that wouldn’t cease until they completed the contractual task, period, or promise. In other words, even if I didn’t want to partner with Benny, I’d be mentally and physically incapable of escaping him. “No,” I said, holding my head up as well as I could, considering it weighed more than a bowling ball and my arms were restrained above it.

Benny smiled and leaned back. “So no to the healer then, as well? I’m sort of glad you said that. I’ll have such fun breaking you.”

With that, he leaned in, pushed a long, lethal claw through his finger and drew it down the length of my arm. I hissed at the pain, but it was really nothing compared to the pounding in my head. He bent over and licked the blood from my arm, humming as he worked.

When he looked up again, his eyes were glazed, his expression euphoric, and I recognized a possible escape route. I knew better than to take it right then, because I wasn’t sure which of the three Bennys to aim at, but as soon as I could see and think clearly, the moment after he took my blood would be the moment to attack. In the meantime, I decided to play it as weak as possible.

“Please no,” I said, slurring my words as much as possible. “Don’t hurt me anymore.”

He pressed a kiss to my lips and pulled himself away from me with a groan. “How much you hurt is up to you.”

Then he left me, alone in a dark room, with an aching head and nothing to think about except pain. When I got out of there, I was really going to make him pay. I had to believe I would get out of there, because there was no point thinking of the alternatives.

I fell in and out of sleep, until there was a knock from across the room. Daylight had begun to seep in through a window high in the wall and I could just make out a very young girl, carrying in a tray of food. “Hi, sugar. I’m Amy.” She placed the tray on a small table next to the cot on which I lay. “He won’t kill you, you know,” she said in a low voice, as she reached up and unlocked my cuffs.

“What?” I asked, as I lowered my arms and rubbed my aching wrists. My arms felt stiff and sore from being over my head for so long. At least I was now only seeing one of the girl before me, though my head still ached like someone was pounding nails into it.

“He won’t hurt you, because he knows your mother would destroy his business and kill him.”

“I’m surprised he thinks her capable of that.” Amy looked at my wrists and rubbed them, healing them as she went. I hid my surprise that someone so young worked as his healer. “He seems to have an ego the size of Florida.”

She smiled. “He is quite the showman. But he is not a complete idiot. He is also not such a bad guy. You could choose much worse to partner with.”

She placed the tray on my lap and lifted a spoonful of broth to my lips. The scent of food made my stomach twist with revulsion. I clamped my lips shut and shook my head. Shaking my head made the room spin, and I shut my eyes tight.

“Oh, dear. You’re worse than he said. I should have insisted he let me look at you.” She put a hand to my head, and I felt better almost instantly. “Don’t tell him I helped you.”

“You have a light touch,” I said. “But you aren’t a fairy.”

She lifted another spoonful of broth to my lips. This time, I ate. “No,” she said. “I’m a human with a gift.”

I almost choked on my broth. “That’s impossible. You must have some fae blood.”

She smiled. “Benjamin has tasted my blood. I am a pure human.”

“Wow. I thought you were just a myth.”

She fed me another spoonful of broth. “My family thought I was a freak. They were afraid of me and kicked me out. Benjamin took me in, gave me a home. He saved me.”

Oh. Oh, wow. The look in her eyes when she spoke of him suggested not what I’d first thought, that she was in love with him, but that she worshipped him the way cultists worship their leader. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I needed to get out of there.

“You should let me go,” I said.

Her head snapped up, but there was no surprise on her face. “As I said, Benjamin is not stupid. There are three trolls outside your door, and they are looking forward to your escape attempt.”

Three trolls? I could take the girl and one troll, but not three trolls, not without a weapon. I sighed and resigned myself to letting Amy feed me.

She chatted about some of the shows Benny had taken her to see. Apparently, he loved the theater and tourist shows put on by the people of Sarsaparilla. Since Amy was the only one on his staff who enjoyed shows, she was the lucky one who got to go with him. I was sure all of the goons on his staff appreciated her sacrifice.

While she chatted, I pocketed the fork that was on the tray. I hoped she wouldn’t get into too much trouble.

She got to the door before she looked back over her shoulder and gave me a small smile. “You should trust, Benjamin,” she said. “He only has your best interests in mind.”

“Okay.” I forced a big smile. “I’ll try to be open-minded.”

She nodded and left. I was all alone again. On the plus side, I was no longer shackled, but the door was locked, with I didn’t know how many guards on the other side. I stood, happy to find the room didn’t spin and, while I didn’t feel one hundred percent, I felt ready to fight.

I banged on the door. “What?” growled a voice on the other side.

“I have to pee,” I said in my sweetest and quietest voice. My heart pounded and my hands shook with anticipation. I was pretty sure I’d only get one shot to escape, and I didn’t want to waste it.

“What?” the goon asked.

“I have to pee,” I whispered.

The door swung open and the goon glared down at me.

I didn’t want to hurt him too badly. I knew he was just doing his job and I didn’t know if he was a bad person. I also didn’t have a lot of options if I wanted to put him down and keep him down. Hieronymus had hinted that there were ways I could sort of reverse my healing powers to hurt someone, but he’d wanted me to learn to fight physically before I learned to fight with my magic.

I was only going to get one shot, and trolls have tough skin. As soon as he ducked his head in the door, I shoved up with the fork and hit him in the eye. He crumpled like a house of cards, screeching in pain. Trolls were strong, but they were huge babies about any sort of pain. I pulled the fork out and stood over the screeching man.

“I’m really sorry,” I said, but you’re going to have shut up. I bent over and squeezed my hands around his massive throat to get him to be quiet. He bucked and screeched louder, and my hands kept slipping off his massive neck. I was running out of time and he was not going gently into that good sleep.

“Fine,” I said. “Have it your way.” I leapt to my feet and ran down the hallway, not encountering another guard until I reached the next doorway at the end of a long hall.

“Princess?” the guard said. “What the fuck?”

I kicked him and, judging by the way he hit the ground and grabbed his knee, he was human.

I leapt over him and grabbed the doorknob, but the door didn’t open. The sound of feet slapping the ground and yelling behind me hurried me along as I bent over the guard and started searching him for a key to the door. He grabbed me around the knees with one strong arm and brought me down on top of him so hard he let out a loud grunt of pain. “Didn’t think that one through,” he muttered.

“Give me the key.” I punched him hard right between his legs, and his eyes crossed and got teary.

“That was low,” he gasped. “But you really don’t want to go through that door.”

“Why don’t I believe you?” I finally found the keys in his front pocket. I leapt to my feet again, and started trying keys in the door.

The shouts were getting louder behind me, and I fumbled the next key. “Shit.”

“Princess,” the man on the floor said, his voice gaspy. He swept his legs toward me, but he totally telegraphed the move, and I leapt over them. The lock clicked and I pushed open the door, not daring to look back. I stepped inside and slammed the door behind me, ready to keep running.

The six men and women, two of them with dragon heads, seated around a conference table stopped me. As did the fairy wings that sprouted from my back. I’d just stepped into Rubalia.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Intelligence is relative. –Chloe Frangipani

You’re either with me or against me. If you’re against me, you’re an idiot. –Althea Frangipani

One of the dragon heads growled and I forced an innocent smile. “Oops, wrong room,” I said. I shoved back through the door I’d just entered and found myself face-to-face with the human guard I’d just punched in the groin. Behind him were three more guards, all trolls.

“Sorry,” I said. “I got lost on my way to the bathroom.”

I tried to look sweet and innocent, but I knew I had to woman up. If I went back to my cell, I wouldn’t be given another chance like this to escape. I had to work with what I had.

Moving with fairy speed, I kicked the human in the knee I’d already hurt and jammed my fork into the eye of the troll directly behind him. The other two trolls, slow to realize what had just happened, stared at their howling friends for a moment too long. I yanked the fork out of the troll’s eye and spun around and up, hitting the next troll in the throat with the side of my hand and stabbing the last troll in the eye with the fork.

Unfortunately, my hit to the throat wasn’t hard enough to injure, just to piss off, and my fork missed the eye of the last troll by about an inch. Gripping my fork hard, I tried to leap over the troll on the ground and away from the other two pissed off trolls, but one of them grabbed me by the waist as I tried to flee.

Using my fairy skills, I shifted to tiny and flew up above their heads, wondering why I hadn’t thought to go tiny sooner. I remembered why when I soared away and made the mistake of looking down. The ground was about two miles down. I swallowed hard and tried to focus my gaze on the wall ahead of me and not think about death by falling. Unfortunately, batting my wings about a hundred times didn’t get me very far and they caught up to me in about two troll steps. I dodged their attempts to catch me, getting a bit winded and thinking I might need to add flying to my exercise regimen.

Timing it as well as I could, I shifted to human and dropped, kicking out hard with both legs. I hit one troll right in the temple and he went down hard. The other, I hit in the nose. He looked stunned for a moment, but there was no gush of blood and he recovered almost immediately.

He tried to grab me, but I leapt out of his reach and ran. I raced down the long hallway, the troll lumbering after me, and looked for a door. Any door. There were none. The hallway seemed to go on and on. I raced past the door to my room, still open, and wondered why there weren’t more guards coming for me. I ran until my lungs gave out, and I figured the hall must be enchanted, because no hallway in the history of hallways had ever been as long as this hellish hallway seemed to be.

I was about to stop running and just let the troll have me, when I saw an ornate door. It was ajar. I ran hard for it, pushed it open and fell inside.

“You haven’t seen her, huh?” A familiar voice asked. I looked up and saw Frost, Buddy, Vin, Sandra, and Brace facing off against about ten burly trolls and Benny the dragon.

The troll who’d been chasing me stormed through the door, grabbed me around the waist and shouted, “I got her, boss.”

Benny cleared his throat and shifted on his feet. “Put her down, Gerald,” Benny said. “Her friends have arrived to take her home, and we’re going to allow them to do so. I will not keep the princess here against her will any longer and incur the anger of her mother and her fairy troops.”

Even I felt a little disappointed by that anticlimactic ending as the trolls around Benny sighed and pouted. I guess Benny decided there were now too many witnesses for plausible deniability if my mother accused him of kidnapping me.

“I apologize for the misunderstanding,” Benny said. “I invited Clarinda here to discuss a business opportunity. I lied about her whereabouts because I wanted to give her more time to come to a decision.” He looked at me. “Have you come to a decision, my princess?”

“Answer’s still no, Benny.” I walked over to stand next to Frost and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. It felt so good to be among friends again, I may have turned my head and breathed in his scent. Damn, he still smelled good.

“Ah, well,” Benny said. “Take some time to consider. I think you will find that I have more to offer than your mother. I will allow you to live your life as you choose, as long as you are loyal to me. She won’t make the same concessions.”

“Sorry, Benny,” I said. “Still no.”

“We’re leaving now, Benny,” Frost said. He pulled me toward a door on the other side of the room and stopped. “We will require an escort out.”

“Of course,” Benny said, his tone condescending. “Gerald, show them the way.”

Gerald led us through a maze of doors and hallways, giant rooms, and small rooms, until we were back out on the street in front of Benny’s house. He disappeared back inside without a word to us.

I tried to step away from Frost, but he wouldn’t let me go. “Sorry it took us so long to get to you,” he said. “We got lost.”

“I can see how,” I said. “But I believe it was me who came to you.”

“Brace said he knew how to sneak in,” Buddy said, throwing Brace a glare. Brace just shrugged. “But he was doing a pretty good job of sweet talking them into letting you go.”

“I’m pretty sure the magic shield he threw up helped, too,” Sandra said, patting her boy on the back. Brace put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.

“So we saved you,” Frost said. “Again.”

“Pretty sure I saved myself,” I said, smirking up at him. “But thanks for trying. Since Brace is here, I’m guessing he and Vin have already been to see Missella?”

“Yeah,” Frost said, his expression darkening. “We’ll discuss it at the office. Vin’s waiting for us there.”

Vin stood and ran to me as soon as I walked in. She threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. “Ah, Vin,” I said. “I didn’t think you really liked me.”

“Of course I like you,” she said. “That’s why I went to see Missella alone, when Buddy called and said you’d been taken by Benny’s goons.”

I looked at Buddy and he shrugged. “I heard you holler my name, so I ran to the window in time to see you getting thrown in the car by two massive trolls. I thought they were Benny’s but I called Frost and had him run the plates to confirm.”

“Because there was no rush or anything,” I said, taking a seat in front of Frost’s desk and throwing my feet up on it.

Frost walked by and shoved my feet back to the floor. “I called in a favor and had the plates run in less than an hour. If we’d gone to the wrong place, we’d have lost a lot more time than that.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, but I couldn’t stop grinning. “Good thing they didn’t want me dead.”

Frost shrugged, but his expression hardened, belying his attempt to be casual. “If they’d wanted you dead, there wouldn’t be much we could do.”

I turned to Vin. “What did Missella say?”

“First, I want to hear how these guys rescued you from Benny the dragon,” she said.

“I rescued myself.” I ignored the protests and snorts from the guys and filled Vin in on what had happened.

“And he just let you go?” she asked, eyes wide. “Why?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, but it would be a lot of bodies to disappear. And, if word got to my mother, he’d be in deep shit. Plus, he seems to really want me to join up with him. He said something about us ruling the city together.”

“The obvious explanation,” Brace said. “Is that he realized he was outmanned.”

Frost nodded his agreement, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Sure he did. What did Missella say?”

Vin shook her head. “She recognized the guy from the description Buddy gave me. He really needs to tame those wild curls and hide his tats if he wants to pursue a career as a criminal.”

“Did she order him to kidnap my daughter?” Buddy asked, his voice tight.

“No,” Vin said. “She claims he left the rebellion and moved to the Non two months ago. Last time she talked to him, he was going to see Benny and get set up with a new identity and a job. Said he wanted to make some cash and gain some real power in the world. She says he was lazy and looking for a quick and easy buck.”

“Do you believe her?” I asked.

Vin shrugged. “She made it clear to me that she had enough ‘children’ to babysit without kidnapping literal children. I tried not to take it personally, but either way it makes sense. She wants a peaceful and safe Rubalia. I don’t doubt she’d like to rule Rubalia in some form, but she’s all about keeping a squeaky clean image and kidnapping kids would certainly tarnish her reputation.”

“Could she give you a name? An address?”

“His name’s Ward Boulder, and he was living in the apartment building next to Buddy’s the last time he went to see Missella.”

“What did he see her about?” I asked as I stood, ready to go get the guy.

Vin chuckled. “Life in the Non wasn’t as profitable as he’d hoped, and he wanted his old job back. Missella told him she didn’t have any openings, but to give her his address and she’d be in touch if anything opened up. She had a feeling he’d get into some sort of trouble and wanted to cover her own ass.”

“Smart woman,” I said.

Vin nodded. “She didn’t get to be the rebellion leader without watching her back.”

“Okay,” Frost said, stepping up next to me. “Chloe and I are going to try to nab this guy. The rest of you can find something else to do until we’re in touch.”

“That bastard took my daughter, and I’m going to be the one to bring him in,” Buddy said.

“Nope,” Frost said. “You aren’t in the right emotional state to be of any help. You go home to your sister and wait to hear from us.”

“I can’t just sit around and wait anymore,” Buddy said. “I’m going to lose my mind.”

“I could ask Brace to put you to sleep,” Frost said. Brace nodded, and both men looked at Buddy.

“No,” Buddy said. “I’ll go. Just…give me a minute with Chloe first.”

Frost nodded and ushered everyone out of his office.

“Buddy,” I said. “I promise I’m going to do everything I can to find your daughter. I won’t let you down again.”

Buddy gripped my shoulders in his hands. “I know you won’t, because you never have before. What I said to you earlier was wrong, and it was untrue. I know you have a heart as big as the world beating in your chest, and I’m sorry I ever suggested otherwise. I’m just so worried about my baby …” he broke off as tears filled his eyes. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him against me.

“I know I can seem cold sometimes.”

He pulled away and looked me in the eyes. “No. You hide it well, but I know you care. Go find my daughter, and keep yourself safe.”

I gave him one more hug. “Try to hold it together. I’ll call you the second we find out anything.”

He nodded, and I headed out to join Frost. I found him on the phone and realized I didn’t have mine. I waited while he talked.

“That was Harvey,” he said, after he’d hung up. “He’s interested in working for me.”

“What?” My first reaction was to reject the idea. The work I did with Frost was separate from my relationship with Harvey, and I didn’t like the idea of them merging.

“Yeah, I guess he’s been thinking about it for a while. He feels constrained by his department’s refusal to admit the existence of supernatural creatures and events. Says he could solve more cases if his boss would accept that a victim’s wounds matched up to a werewolf’s bite, for example.”

“What did you tell him?” I could understand Harvey’s reasoning, and I thought he’d make a great PI, but I was pretty sure Frost wouldn’t want to work with him.

Frost shrugged. “How would you feel about it?”

“Me?”

“I admit I was opposed to you partnering with me in the beginning but, with more fae moving into the Non, I think we’re going to be working together more and more often. You might have to work with him on occasion. Would you be okay with that?”

“You’re the one who’ll have to see with him every day. You’ve made it clear you think he’s good for me, but I got the impression you didn’t like him.”

He didn’t meet my eyes. “I like him fine. I think he’d be a good addition to the firm, especially with Howie gone and more jobs landing on my desk every day.”

“Then hire him,” I said. “It’ll be fine.” But all I could think was that now Harvey would be even more firmly in my circle and, when things went bad between us, every aspect of my life would suffer. I told myself things wouldn’t go bad, but in my heart I suspected they would.

“Okay.”

“What did you tell him about me?” I asked.

He headed for the street level, and I followed. “About you? He already knows you help me with cases sometimes.”

“No,” I said. “About me being missing. Wasn’t he worried?”

“Chloe,” he said, his tone gentle. “You were gone for eighteen hours. He didn’t realize there was a problem.”

“But I was gone over night. Didn’t he wonder where I was?”

He shrugged. “You’re a night owl. He probably figured you’d gone out. You both work crazy weird hours, so I doubt he worried about it.”

“Oh,” I said. “Do you know where my phone is? He’s probably going to try to call me any time now.”

“You dropped it on the street when the goons grabbed you. It was totally smashed. We’ll get you a new one after we nab Ward.”

I nodded and climbed on behind him, not even bothering to protest about riding the bike.

“Just one more thing,” he said. “I’m going to make sure you get home safe every single fucking time from now on.”

I really had nothing to say to that. So I kept my mouth shut.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Want to disappear? Act completely ordinary.—Chloe Frangipani

To be seen is to live. –Althea Frangipani

I heard the shouts and the groans before I put my key in the lock and let myself into Harvey’s place. I knew exactly what was going on, because I’d heard the same sounds before. At Buddy’s sports bar. It was Sunday night football and Harvey had invited people over. There’s a reason I didn’t open a sports bar and it’s not because I’m a girly girl who hates beer, it’s because sports bore me to tears. To tears. I don’t understand the point of them, though I do think the male obsession with balls is hilarious.

There are plenty of women who love sports just as much as men do, and I fully support my sisters in all of their pursuits, but I also find their obsession with balls hilarious.

“He fumbled the ball,” someone shouted and everyone groaned. I stepped inside, adding an s to the word ball and imagining an entirely different scene. Did that mean I had the mentality of a twelve-year old boy? Probably. Did I care? Nope. It made me smile and gave me a mental image to get me through the night. I stepped inside and saw my living room filled with fifteen people, all focused on Harvey’s obscenely large television. I waved to Frost, and he sped away on his bike as soon as he saw I was safely inside.

Don’t get me wrong, I love people. I love the social scene, every kind of social scene. I don’t love football, but I could work with that. Surely, there would be someone in that group who liked to chat during the game. I looked at all the eyes glued to the T.V., no one making a sound, and thought I might have more trouble than usual finding someone to talk to. Which was actually fine, because I was exhausted and defeated, and I just wanted to soak in the tub, have sex with Harvey, and go to sleep.

After being concussed, kidnapped, and getting my hopes up about finding the ex-rebel who’d kidnapped Buddy’s baby, only to learn that he’d moved and left no forwarding address, I was needing some comfort and some sleep. Especially since I had to meet Frost at six A.M. the next morning. We’d tracked down Ward’s ex-girlfriend and she said he was a health nut, who went running around Fortune’s Lake every morning at the crack of dawn.

A loud shout erupted from the group in the living room and people started jumping up and down and high-fiving. I decided I’d try to catch Harvey later and headed back to his en-suite bathroom.

He knocked on the door just as I was settling into the tub. “Hey, sugar,” he said, his voice going a bit raspy as he took me in, naked in his tub. “Why didn’t you come say hello?”

“I’m just not in much of a party mood,” I said. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“You wouldn’t be interrupting,” he said. “I haven’t seen you since yesterday, come out and sit with me.”

A shout from the living room erupted, and he looked back that way, longing in his eyes.

I laughed at his expression. “Go ahead and enjoy your party,” I said. “I’m going to enjoy my bath.”

He looked at me and sighed. “Okay, but I’d really like you to join us. I want you to get to know my friends.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m not an anti-social person, normally, Harvey, you know that. I’m just not a fan of football and I’ve had a really long day. I just want to soak in the tub for an hour, and then I’ll come out and meet everyone.”

“I’m just asking to spend a little time with my girlfriend,” he said, his expression serious. “I’m proud of you and I want to show you off to everyone. In an hour, the game will be over and everyone will have left.” This time, he didn’t take his eyes off me when a loud groan resounded from the living room.

I didn’t want a heavy conversation. I didn’t want to analyze our relationship…again. I just wanted to enjoy my bath and have sex with him after all of his friends left. I didn’t think that made me a bad girlfriend, but what did I know about being a girlfriend. “Okay, give me ten minutes,” I said. “I’ll be out, and I’ll be the life of the party.”

He sighed. “You don’t have to be the life of the party, Chloe. You just have to make an effort.”

I was pretty sure that wanting to deck him right then made me the worst kind of girlfriend. Every impulse in my body was screaming at me to pull back, to run away, but the whole point of this relationship was to prove I could be loyal and stick with him through the good and bad, right? I couldn’t just back down because I’d had a rough day. A relationship was work, right? It was compromise, right? Sure, it would have been nice if he’d asked me how I was or at least pretended to care what I wanted, but maybe he’d had a bad day, and maybe he’d missed me. Nope, I really couldn’t find a reasonable excuse for his pushiness. “This is me making an effort, Harvey,” I said, the venom in my tone surprising even me. I’d tried, I really had, but I just couldn’t pretend anymore. I stood up out of my heavenly bath, and grabbed a towel, wrapping it quickly around me. “Let’s go party.”

“Chloe,” he said, a mixture of concern for my sanity and surprise mixing on his face. “It’s okay, you can finish your bath.”

“Oh, no,” I said. “You want the perfect little girlfriend. You want me to be on whenever you want to me to be on. So let’s go do this. I’d hate to disappoint you, Harvey.” I stepped out of the bath, realizing I was behaving irrationally and not able to make myself care. “I bet you would all love some football treats for your little party, right?” I pulled a dress over my head without underwear and without bothering to fix my hair. It probably still had blood in it, since I hadn’t had a chance to wash it, yet. I’d changed clothes before we’d gone after Ward, but I’d just pulled my bloody hair into a ponytail, rather than taking the time for a shower. “I’ll just hop into the kitchen and put on an apron and get started on them right away.”

“Chloe,” he said, anger starting to rise on his face. “I didn’t ask you to cook for us, I just asked you to come sit with us.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, making my voice robotic. “I will obey your commands to the letter. Right now.” I noticed Harvey’s hands curl into fists and I knew I should stop, but I just kept going. “Can I let my wings out, or does that make you uncomfortable?”

“Chloe,” he said, but his anger faded just a bit to be replaced by a tinge of nervousness at the idea of me parading my wings in front of all of his people. “I just want to be with you. I missed you.”

I ran out of steam right about then and started to feel bad about just how far overboard I’d gone. “I missed you, too, Harvey, but I’m not lying about the bad day I had. I was planning to wait until you’d finished your party to spend time with you. I’m not a football fan.”

He nodded. “You don’t have to stay out there long, just come meet everyone and sit with me for a bit. Then you can come back here and go to bed.”

Was he listening to me at all? “Great,” I said. “But I’ll probably want to wash the blood out of my hair, first.”

“What?” he asked. But I’d already moved past him and out into the living room, riding the dark high of my righteous anger. On some level, I understood that he didn’t know what I’d been through and that he was just asking me to spend some time with him, but I couldn’t help feeling that what I wanted and needed didn’t really matter to him.

“How did you get blood in your hair?” Harvey asked in a low voice, his breath hot on my neck, as he stepped up behind me so close his front touched my back.

“Hi, Harvey’s friends,” I said. “I’m Harvey’s girlfriend, Chloe. It’s so great to meet you all.” I flashed them my widest smile and squeezed in between two of them on the couch.

Harvey still stood at the outside of the group, looking a bit bewildered and worried.

“Hey, I’m Ashley,” the woman next to me said, offering her hand. “I work with Harvey, but he’s never mentioned you. What do you do?”

I took her hand and shook it. “I own Ephemeral.”

“Oh, my god, I love that place,” Ashley said.

“All the ladies love it, all their men hate it,” said the man on my left. He looked older and grumpier than the rest of the crowd.

I smiled at him, ready to charm him, but someone shouted, “Game’s back on,” before I could. I looked to the T.V. to see that half-time had just ended. Of course, Harvey waited until half-time to come find me. The shouts and the boos we’d heard from the bathroom must have been about the half-time show or everyone betting on the outcome of the game.

I tried to watch the game, but after ten minutes, I was ready to gouge out my own eyes, just to have something to do.

“Hey, is that blood in your hair?” Ashley asked, at the next commercial break. Blood dries a lighter brown than my chocolate brown hair, so it probably looked stiff and crunchy.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to act casual. “It was nothing, you know how head wounds bleed.”

“Yeah,” she said, but she looked uncomfortable. “You’re okay now though.”

“Yep,” I said. “I was so excited to see the game that I forgot all about it.” I could feel Harvey’s eyes boring into the side of my face, but I ignored him.

“Oh, I know, this might be the best game of the season. How do you feel about the dolphins’ chances for the season?”

I was not so anti-football that I didn’t know that she was talking about Florida’s football team and not about actual dolphins, but that’s pretty much all I knew. “Oh, look,” I said. “The game’s back on.”

“You’re a lot nicer than I’d thought you’d be,” my grumpy couch mate said, as he left. “But you’re still a home wrecker.”

Harvey shut the door behind the grumpy guy, the last to leave after the end of the game. “Huh,” I said. “So your co-workers didn’t know you were dating the owner of Ephemeral? Guess you’re going to get ridden pretty hard at the office about omitting that little detail.”

“Chloe, what the hell was all of that?” he asked, sounding pissy. I got what he was upset about, but I was so not in the mood for another fight.

“I believe the words you’re looking for are, I’m sorry for guilt-tripping you into coming to my party. Please allow me to take you back to the bath where I will bathe you and worship you and fuck you senseless until we both fall into a coma-like sleep.”

I’d expected that to end the conversation. Sex has always been a showstopper for me in the past, but Harvey’s face didn’t lose its grim expression. “What happened to your head?”

“It’s nothing,” I said, because I knew that telling him more would lead to a discussion that would take far longer than I had the energy for. “I’m completely fine.”

The look on his face, the defeat and the sadness, twisted something in my chest. “Please. Tell me what happened,” he said.

So I told him, and his expression grew grimmer and grimmer with each word I spoke. If I didn’t know and trust him, if I was some criminal on the street facing his wrath, I’d be terrified. But I wasn’t terrified, I was just sad, because I felt the divide between us growing.

“Why didn’t Frost call me as soon as he realized you were kidnapped?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I wasn’t there. But if I had to guess, I’d say he knew you were working and didn’t see any reason to bother you. He had plenty of help and there was nothing you could have done.”

His expression somehow grew darker, and I realized, too late, that I’d said the wrong thing. “I couldn’t help? Because I’m not a werewolf, or a troll, or a magical fairy? I couldn’t help because I’m just human?”

“No, I—”

“I’m trained to protect people, Chloe.” His voice was calm as he took my hands in his. “It’s what I do every fucking day, but because I’m just a human I’d be useless in the attempt to save you?”

“It wasn’t my call to make, Harvey. I don’t know what Frost was thinking.”

He dropped my hands and rubbed his face. “What are you thinking? If the situation had been reversed, if you’d had to go in there to save Buddy, would you have called me to help? Or would you have figured I had nothing to offer?”

I wanted to lie, but he deserved an honest answer. I was asking him to accept a lot, about me, about my world, in a very short amount of time. “I don’t know,” I said. “I want this to work between us, and I feel like you need to be eased into the fae and their myriad problems. I’m worried that if you had to go up against a dragon, a literal fucking dragon, you’d either get hurt or decide that I was too much. That dating a fairy faun half breed who makes enemies of dragons is too much for you.”

His expression softened and he leaned in and took my hands again. “I care about you, Chloe. What you are or who your enemies are doesn’t matter.”

I lifted his hands to my mouth and pressed kisses to his knuckles. I let my wings out of my skin and loved the way his eyes widened before he smiled at the sight of them. He was learning to accept my wings, maybe he could accept everything else. “None of that stuff is just going to go away,” I said. “Getting to know me is getting to know the fairy princess of Rubalia, and it seems there’s always going to be someone wanting something from me.”

The hard set of his expression made it clear he wasn’t going to be deterred. He wasn’t going to accept that there were parts of my life, parts of me, he couldn’t have. “And I will protect you. I will be by your side any time you’re in trouble.”

Something caught in my throat and my head started pounding from lack of sleep and frustration, both sexual and mental. “Please tell me you aren’t considering taking the job with Frost because you want to be closer to me. Please tell me you aren’t trying to get closer to my trouble.”

His jaw ticked. “Are you saying you don’t want me involved, Chloe, because I can’t be with someone who’s constantly pushing me away. Who won’t let me help when she needs help.”

I just stared at him. Shocked and bewildered. “Look,” I said. “I’m really trying here, Harvey. I was against the idea of moving in with you, but I’m here. I am never going to be an easy girlfriend and I’m always going to have my own life, my own…autonomy. I just can’t let you dictate what I do or who I do it with.”

He threw his hands up. “I’m not asking to dictate anything. I just want you to let me in.”

I nodded, too tired to fight anymore. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll try.” I wasn’t lying. I wanted Harvey, and I wanted to make our relationship work, but I needed my space and he didn’t seem to understand personal boundaries. I shelved those thoughts, because I was too tired to fight anymore.

I let Harvey bathe me and then we cuddled up together in his big bed, but I felt lonely and sad for no reason I could name. We didn’t have sex, and we didn’t talk. He curled around me and fell asleep, while I lay awake and tried to figure out why I felt farther away from him than I ever had before.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

I’ve trained myself to be able to read people pretty well, but I don’t think I’ll ever understand them. –Chloe Frangipani

Understanding people is only about figuring out what they want most and manipulating that desire. –Althea Frangipani

“You look like shit,” Frost said the next morning as I stepped onto the trail that wound around the lake. He sat on a bench, looking fresh and bright-eyed, in running shorts and a t-shirt that molded to his body.

“Fuck you.” I took the coffee he offered and sat down next to him. “Any sign of our suspect?”

“Not yet.” He leaned back on the bench, scanning the path, not saying another word.

I stared at the trail, glad Frost hadn’t decided we should jog along it looking for Ward. I was way too tired for that. “Why didn’t you call Harvey when I was kidnapped?” I asked, unable to stand the silence any longer.

“Ah,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I understand now why you look like you didn’t get any sleep last night. I didn’t call Harvey because he’s a human. I’d never ask a human to go up against a dragon. He’d be insane to even think of doing such a thing. He’s blinded by love.”

“Love?” I asked, sputtering on my coffee. “He does not love me. He cares about me and he was worried, that’s all.”

“Okay.” He smirked.

“Okay? That’s all you have to say?”

“Yep,” he said. “Harvey’s used to being able to protect pretty women like you, and it’s going to be hard for him to accept that you are more likely to protect him. That you are more capable of taking care of yourself than he is.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, hating that he made so much sense. “So you think our relationship is doomed.”

“Didn’t say that,” he said, still not looking at me. “I think I heard relief in your voice, though, that you might be given an out. I’d bet Harvey is sensing it, too.”

“So our relationship is doomed, and it’s my fault?” I said, my hackles raised, because he was right. I had felt relieved at the idea of me and Harvey being over. My life was so much simpler when all I had to worry about was appreciating a fine body and taking it to bed. Maybe I really wasn’t cut out for relationships.

“Didn’t say that either.” He got to his feet. “There’s our suspect.”

I looked down the trail the way Frost was facing and saw Ward jogging toward us. It wasn’t our job to arrest suspects and interrogate them, but since the human cops didn’t and couldn’t understand the case the way we could, we didn’t have many other options. Frost let out a low growl and his hand went furry and sprouted claws.

As soon as Ward was close enough, I stepped in front of him and smiled. Maybe it was the bags under my eyes, but he didn’t smile back. He turned and started to run away. Except Frost was waiting for him and grabbed him by the neck, flashing his wolfy paw at him. “You can come easily or you can come hard. It’s your choice.”

“I always choose to come hard,” I said, low enough for only Frost’s wolfy hearing to catch. Frost’s lips twitched, but he gave no other sign of having heard me.

“Right,” Ward said. “What are you going to do? Kill me and lose the chance to get your answers.”

“Hard it is,” Frost said, winking at me.

I pulled my Taser out of my purse and hit Ward with a knock-out voltage. Ward went limp and Frost threw him over his shoulder, hurrying off the path and to the car he’d dug up somewhere. He threw Ward in the back seat, muttering something about heat stroke to an old man who looked at us sideways. I jumped into the passenger seat.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

“We scare the answers out of him,” Frost said. “I’ve got my place all set up.”

As it turns out, Frost wasn’t kidding. He’d cleared all of the furniture out of his guest room and lined the floor and walls with plastic. He also had a table set with scary-looking pointy objects lined up next to a bowl of water.

“Wow,” I said, looking around. “This room isn’t overkill at all.”

Frost snorted. “You learned that in interrogation school? Fear is as effective as pain in getting people to talk. You play bad cop and I’ll play good.”

“What?” I asked, staring at him, sure I’d heard wrong.

“You’re the brains and I’m the muscle. Torture is scarier than death. You cause the pain, I cause the death.” He winked at me. “Unless you have any objections.”

“No,” I said, because his plan made sense. I rolled my shoulders and shook out my arms. “I’m ready.”

Frost grinned and something like pride sparked on his face. “Use the anger you have about him taking Buddy’s daughter.”

I nodded and Frost slapped Ward until his eyes popped open. He looked around the room and laughed. “Bit of overkill don’t you think, man?” he asked.

“No,” I said in a sweet, lilting voice. “I like to have plenty of room to work and my work can get really, really messy.”

Ward’s gaze shot to me like he hadn’t even seen me in the room. He gave me a cocky grin, but his face paled just a shade. “Well, hello, beautiful. I can imagine we’d have fun getting messy together.”

I picked up the largest, deadliest looking tool I could find on the table, a meat tenderizer. It wasn’t as intimidating as the butcher knife, but I thought his imagination, his fear of how I might use the tenderizer, might scare him more. “Sounds good to me, big boy. I just can’t wait to use this on your balls.”

Ward winced and Frost took a step forward. “At least give him a chance to answer our questions before you start hurting him.

I dropped the tenderizer on the table and pouted. “You promised I could hurt him.”

“Oh, you can hurt him all you want, but let’s get our answers first. Remember, the deal is the quicker he answers the less pain you cause.”

I picked up the cheese grater and grinned at Ward, who was trying to curl his upper body over his groin. “I hope you make this difficult.”

Ward scrunched up his nose, his curls bobbing. “Why do the chicks always go after the balls first?”

Frost winced in sympathy. “I’d hate to be you man. She’s got a lot of anger.”

I shot Frost a glare, trying to keep up appearances. “Answer my questions and maybe I’ll leave your balls intact,” I said. “You were seen kidnapping Buddy Baumgarten’s daughter two days ago. Where is she?”

Ward shook his head. “You’ve got the wrong guy. I don’t know nothing about no kidnapped kid.”

The poor grammar of that sentence would make anyone’s head spin, and I wasn’t in the mood for it. I grabbed Ward’s right hand, which was tied to the back of the chair behind him and rubbed his knuckles over the cheese grater twice. “Want to try that again?” I asked. “We know you left Missella’s rebellion last month. If you don’t want to answer our questions, maybe I should just drag you in front of my mother, Queen Althea Frangipani, and let you answer her questions about your work with the rebellion.” I let my wings fly free before I stepped in front of him again.

“No,” Ward said, his eyes watering from the sharp pain of the cheese grater against his knuckles. “I don’t know where the kid is. I just took her and handed her off.”

“I need names, Ward,” I said, hitting the grater against the heel of my opposite hand.

“I don’t have names.”

I looked at Frost and he gave me a small nod. I dropped the cheese grater on the table and picked up the meat tenderizer. “Then I guess I only have one use left for you.”

“Chloe,” Frost said. “Give the guy a chance to change his tune. How did he pick up a job from no one and deliver a baby to no one?”

“Not my problem,” I said. “You told me I would get to have some fun if he didn’t give us answers, and I’m going to have some fun.”

I stepped between Ward’s legs. They were tied by the ankles to the chair legs. Ward’s eyes went a little wild. “Aren’t you going to stop her, man?”

Frost shrugged. “I like my balls right where they are.”

I smiled at Ward and raised the meat tenderizer in one hand while I cupped his cheek with the other. “It will only hurt for a few minutes before you pass out. They all pass out…eventually.”

“Benny,” Ward said. “Benny the dragon asked me to take the kid.”

I took two steps back, the wind knocked out of me. It didn’t make sense. Why would Benny want to kidnap kids from Rubalia and the Non? I glanced over at Frost, but he revealed no emotion.

“Where is she?” I asked, my heartbeat pounding right out of my chest with hope.

Ward shrugged. “She’s probably dead by now.” He grinned at me and Frost, his eyes glittering with some craziness I hadn’t seen until that moment. “Benny’s got it all figured out. He’s going to have all the magic and all the power, and he’s going to rule the Non.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked, fear causing me to shake just a bit. They couldn’t have killed that sweet, sweet baby.

“It means I’m done talking.” Ward said. “I’ve told you everything I know.”

I believed him, so I turned to look at Frost. He nodded and we left the plastic-covered room together.

“Benny?” I asked. “What does Benny want with the kids? And how are the shadows connected?”

“Maybe they aren’t,” Frost said.

“But the dragon-headed women in the gingerbread house…Aw, shit. How did we not put it together before?”

“Because it doesn’t make sense,” Frost said. “Benny was one of the dragons expelled from the nightmare realm and everything I’ve ever seen or heard about him would suggest he has no connections with any of the other dragons, that there is only animosity between them all.”

“So maybe Ward’s lying,” I said, ready to go back into the plastic-covered room and beat some answers out of him.

“No,” Frost said. “I believe him, and I believe we’ll lose Buddy’s daughter if we don’t move now.”

“Move where?” I asked. “Where would he have taken them?”

“We need Brace,” Frost said.

Half an hour later we were bumping along a pot-hole filled driveway toward a pillared farmhouse. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

“No,” Brace said, “but you wanted my best guess and this is what I’ve got.”

Frost parked Sandra’s truck halfway down the driveway and we got out and walked the last half-mile to the house. I’m not sure how likely it was that me, Buddy, Frost, Brace, Sandra, Mercury, Vin, and Harvey would be able to sneak up on anyone, but I was happy to try. I was happy to do anything if it meant we had a chance of saving Buddy’s daughter.

Frost and Harvey had guns, I had a sword, Brace and Buddy had their fae gifts, and Sandra had a slingshot that she claimed to be pretty darn good with. Frost had been determined that Harvey should be kept out of our search for Benny, but I argued we needed to have a human police officer present to arrest Benny or confirm we acted in self-defense if we killed Benny. It was a weak reason, but Frost gave in, claiming that if Harvey wanted to get himself killed that was his choice. I explained to Harvey the danger he was up against, but he insisted he could handle it. I prayed that he could, because I was pretty sure Frost was right and Harvey should have stayed home, but I was also pretty sure that if I didn’t include Harvey our relationship truly would be doomed.

After an hour of searching the farmhouse, the two barns, and a couple of outhouses, it was clear that no one was home.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” I said to Sandra, who was driving, and Vin, who was sitting between us in the cab of the truck, as we headed back toward the city. The guys were sitting in the bed. “What does Benny hope to gain by kidnapping these kids?”

Sandra shrugged. “According to Brace and Mercury, very little is known about dragons. The fae were reluctant to let them stay in Rubalia and encouraged them to move to the Non. The dragons who stayed in Rubalia hid what they were. Many of them, like Benny, went to the Non, where they felt they were more likely to be able to assimilate. Because the fae pushed them away, no one really knows what they are capable of, except that they can shift between dragon and human forms, and they can’t breathe fire.”

“Okay,” I said, considering what she said. “We know Benny wants to have more power in the Non, but why now?”

Vin cleared her throat. “Maybe because there are more fae in the Non, now? Or maybe it has to do with you. He kidnapped you for that very reason, right?”

“Right,” I said, the wheels turning in my head. “And if he wants to become more powerful and I’m not willing to help him, how else can he get power? Maybe he thinks the kids will work for him? Help him to overpower anyone who challenges him?”

“It makes sense,” Sandra said. “He could use the kids to make himself powerful enough to rule over the fae and the humans, in theory, and they could help protect him if anyone in Rubalia has a problem with what he’s doing. The fae in Rubalia claim not to care about the fae in the Non, but they wouldn’t want a dragon ruling the Non, either.”

“Okay,” I said. “Assuming this is all true, he’d keep the kids alive, but Ward said Sunshine was probably already dead. There has to be something else going on. He must be using the kids for something, now, and as far as I know he’s under no threat from the Rubalians. He’s either using them to consolidate his power or he’s using them to show the humans they should fear him. Since, we haven’t seen him throwing his weight around, I’m betting on him getting ready, getting himself into position for a power play. What would he need to do, first?”

“Control the portals,” Vin said. “Shit. I didn’t even think twice about this, but …”

“What?” I asked, when she bit her lip and stopped, lost in thought.

“One of the kids I talked to last week, he said his uncle was supposed to be coming over to the Non, but when he went to the portal to look for him, the portal was gone. I’ve never heard of a portal just disappearing, so I thought the kid was confused or pulling my chain. But what if he was right? What if Benny is closing the portals? That way he could have full control of who enters and leaves the Non and prevent anyone from interfering with his plan, whatever it might be.”

Sandra nodded. “Assuming it’s possible, he’ll at least want to try to control the portals in Sarsaparilla, since he’s got a lot of pull and power here. There are less powerful gatekeepers in several other cities around the country, but I doubt Benny sees them as a real threat, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to go much farther right now.”

“So we need to search all of the portals in the city. The kids might not be there, but we might find something that will get us closer,” I said. “Or we can track down the one portal he isn’t planning to close and find a trail back to the kids. He can only have so many hiding places, right?”

“Great idea,” Vin said. “Except that only the gatekeeper knows where all of the portals in the city are.”

“Only the gatekeeper and Brace,” Sandra said with a sly smile.

“Well, that’s convenient,” I said.

“All of Benny’s team knows the location of the portals,” Sandra said. “We’re just lucky to have Brace on our side.”

As it turned out, the city had twenty-five portals, so after we got back to Frost’s office, we split up into teams of two. Harvey wanted to be on my team, but since he was a human and I was still a fledgling warrior, it just made more sense to put him with the troll with impermeable skin and to pair me up with the werewolf. Harvey was enough of a man and a cop to accept that arrangement without too much complaint, but he didn’t look too happy about it.

Frost and I started on the North side of town, at a small boutique clothing store. The woman behind the counter sniffed as we walked in, clearly annoyed at having customers step into her shop so close to closing time. We headed straight to the back of the store to the ladies’ dressing room where Brace said we’d find the portal. We stepped inside and found nothing.

“Um, can I help you?” The sales clerk asked as we stepped out and headed into the second fitting room. “Did you want to try something on, because—?”

“No thanks,” I said, as we inspected the second fitting room and came up empty, again.

We stepped out and Frost shot the woman his most charming smile. “Sorry to take up your time,” he said. “My wife thought she’d left her sunglasses in one of your dressing rooms.”

The clerk blushed and tittered like she’d been touched by a rock star. “Of course. We haven’t found any sunglasses today, but if you’d like to leave your number, I can give you a call if they turn up.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Frost said. I was already half-way to the door and Frost followed me onto the street, ignoring the clerk’s requests for him to visit again.

“Your wife?” I asked. “You could have at least made it slightly believable.”

He just smirked. “The next portal is three blocks south. Why don’t we walk?”

I fell into step beside him. “Whatever Benny is doing, he’s succeeding in closing the portals,” I said.

Frost’s phone beeped and he pulled it out of his back pocket. I was impressed by his ability to read and walk, then type out a quick reply. Reading and walking always made me a bit dizzy. “The others found only closed portals as well,” he said.

“Shit.” I walked faster. “Do you think we’re already too late? Do you think he’s killing these kids to get the portals closed?”

Frost didn’t respond, and my heart pounded with fear.

The next portal was at the back of a deli, inside the employee only section. Luckily, the small shop was packed and no one noticed us walk through the heavy door into the back.

“Can I help you?” asked a man weighing meat.

“Nope,” Frost said. He looked at me and I nodded. No portal. “Thought this was the bathroom. Sorry.”

Frost’s phone rang as we were making our way through the crowd of people needing a meal. “Yeah,” he said, the phone to his ear. “Okay. We can be there in ten.”

He hung up and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the deli and onto the sidewalk. “Brace recognized one of Benny’s goons hanging around the subway portal,” he said. “They want back-up in case Benny’s there with the kids.”

He broke into a run toward his motorcycle, and I kept pace.

We met Brace, Sandra, Mercury, and Vin a block from the subway entrance. We walked the block together, eyes open for Benny or his goons, but saw only the typical pedestrians. The subway was no longer operational, if it had ever been. A failed attempt at public transportation for the city. The entrance was gated and padlocked, but the lock was routinely broken by vagrants or fae leaving or entering the portal. The lock was broken that day, as Brace slid the gate open and we tiptoed down the stairs. Below, we heard only silence, not even the movement of the homeless or the skitter of rats. My heart pounded with tension.

At the bottom of the stairs, the tunnel was pitch black and chilly. “The portal should be right here,” Brace said, walking over to a cement wall and tapping it. There was nothing there and no sign of Benny or his goons. “Sorry, guys looks like—”

The ringing of Frost’s phone broke the silence and made me jump. “Shit,” he said. “Rookie mistake. Sorry.” He pulled it out and answered it. “Buddy? What? Where? Yeah, we’ll be there.”

“They’re at the mall,” he said, shoving his phone back in his pocket. “’Benny and his goons are on the stage closest to the portal and putting on some sort of magic show. They’ve got the kids.”

“Are they insane?” I asked.

“Yes,” Brace said. “And they’re not above hurting someone to get that portal closed.”

We raced back up the stairs. The mall was on the outskirts of the city, which meant it would take us at least fifteen minutes to get there. Frost and I started to run for his bike.

“Wait,” Brace shouted. We stopped and spun to face him. “I’ve got a better way.” We ran back to him. “I think I can teleport us all to the mall.”

“You think?” I asked. I’d never heard of any fae capable of teleportation, but Brace wasn’t any fae.

“I’m pretty sure,” he said. “I’ve never moved this many people, but it’s worth a try. It’ll knock me out completely, so I’ll be useless when we get there.”

“What’s the worst case scenario here?” Frost asked.

“Um, some of you don’t make it and get stuck in the in-between, we land on something that is painful, we land in something that is painful, we land halfway in something that effectively bisects our bodies—”

“Let’s not focus on the negative, here,” Mercury said. “Aim for the parking area farthest from the mall entrance and let’s just hope there’s nothing there.”

We all joined hands and closed our eyes. My body immediately shrieked with pain and then I felt like I was on fire, the wind filling my ears so I could feel nothing else, flames licking at my skin. It was a relief to land on my ass on hard concrete. I looked around and saw all of my friends were with us and we were all whole. Brace let out a long whoosh of relief and then got up and danced a victory jig. “I did it. I really did it. I never thought that would actually work.”

“Good to know, man.” Mercury slapped him on the back. “Let’s get into the mall.”

We took off at a run and I tried to ignore the fact that my body felt slow and sluggish, my heart beating sort of sideways. If my organs had been rearranged during teleportation, I’d worry about it later.

A huge crowd had gathered around Benny, his thugs, and the six children on stage. Two of the kids I’d never seen before, but I recognized Brianna Foxglove, Lulu Fernwort, Livvy Greenleaves, and Herbert Elderwood. “My junior magicians will now perform an explosive light show for your viewing pleasure,” Benny said, grandstanding like a true showman.

“What is he going to do?” I asked no one in particular.

“I don’t know,” Harvey answered, moving to stand next to me. “But I think we better shut it down.”

Harvey pushed his way through the crowd as the six kids on stage linked hands. A goon stepped onto the stage and knelt down next to the sixth kid, Buddy’s daughter in his arms. Buddy lunged for the stage, but Mercury grabbed him and held him back. “Use your head, man,” he said. “You can’t take them all on yourself.”

Harvey stepped onto the stage and raised his badge. “Police,” he said. I noticed three more police officers making their way through the crowd and realized that Harvey had called for human back-up. “This program is unauthorized. I need you to shut it down now.”

Benny grinned at the crowd. “Not everyone understands the gift I’m about to bestow on humanity.” He nodded toward his goons and two of them rushed Harvey and knocked him off the stage and into the crowd below. I’m pretty sure the people below broke his fall, but it was about five feet from the edge of the stage to the floor below, and Harvey was buried beneath about four-hundred pounds of goon.

The other officers drew their guns and shouted at Benny to freeze. Benny just grinned. He knew they wouldn’t risk shooting him while he was surrounded by a crowd of innocent humans. “We are running short of time,” Benny said, his voice booming over the shouts of the police, the skin of his body rippling with scales. “Let the true magic begin.” He took the hand of the child closest to him, and I knew we had to move. We’d started making our way toward the stage as soon as Harvey fell, and Brace had stayed back, chanting. Two of Benny’s goons dropped to the floor, asleep, but Benny and the kids, even the goons closest to him were unaffected by Brace’s magic. Benny must have some sort of magical shield in place. We were going to have to fight.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

People are simple, it’s life that’s complicated.—Chloe Frangipani

Your problem, Clarinda, is that you give people too many chances to let you down. –Althea Frangipani to Chloe Frangipani, age eight

Hieronymus had taught me the weaknesses of just about every species of fae, but no one knew the weaknesses of dragons. Despite their large size and potential for violence, they had avoided confrontation with the fae in Rubalia and no one had been brave enough, or cared enough, to ask them how they fought. I pulled my sword and leapt onto the stage.

“Miss, please drop the weapon,” one of the police officers behind me shouted. I had to choose between doing as I was told or, possibly, being shot. I chose to drop the sword, and Benny smiled at me.

“Hello, princess,” he said. My friends climbed onto the stage behind me, but were smart enough not to draw their weapons. “Have you decided to join me?”

“No. I’m going to stop you.”

Benny frowned. “I’m sorry, but it’s too late. The power of these children is flowing into me, giving me the strength I need to close the portal from my side. In just a few seconds I will unleash this power and no one will be able to stop me.”

“And what happens to the children?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Those who survive will work with me to embrace a new day, where I am the one and only ruler of the Non and the fae in Rubalia cannot touch me.” Mercury and Vin were approaching Benny from the back of the stage. They’d silently taken out two goons and motioned for me to keep Benny talking.

I widened my eyes. “You’re going to kill children in front of a human audience and you think they’re going to let you rule anything? You think they’re going to let you live?”

Before Benny could answer, Buddy’s daughter started to scream and twist in the goon’s arms. The goon held her firm, but sweat broke out across his forehead and his face twisted in pain every time the baby moved. The connection between Benny and the children glowed a metallic green and wherever it touched the goon, his skin smoked.

Buddy, unable to resist the screams of his daughter, lunged for her, his arms out, ready to grab her.

“No,” I shouted. I had no idea what would happen to Buddy or the children if he broke that connection, but I didn’t think it would be good. Buddy didn’t hear my warning or he didn’t care. He reached out and punched the goon holding his daughter hard in the face. The goon fell back and, when he did, little Herbert Elderwood lost his grip on Sunshine’s hand. The chain was broken and the other children started screaming and gasping. Buddy jumped on the goon and pulled his baby from his arms. Once Buddy had Sunshine, he leapt off the stage and pushed his way through the crowd of people, leaving us to deal with whatever mess he’d caused.

Benny roared and started to shift into a dragon. The police yelled at him to stop and the crowd screamed and ran. “Not yet, Benny, it’s too soon,” a small mousey man, who looked like an elf, said. He leaped onto the stage and tried to get close to Benny, but Benny swatted and knocked him back off the stage.

The kids next to Benny writhed and agony creased their faces. Herbert Elderwood’s skin started to go gray and his eyes drained of color. Whatever was happening had to be stopped or he was going to die. There was a good chance he’d die anyway. I met the eyes of Mercury and Vin over the heads of the children and mimed running towards the kids. Mercury and Vin nodded. I looked at Frost, his eyes already on me and he said. “On my count.” Then he met Vin and Mercury’s eyes, showed them three fingers and made a fist.

“One,” he said, raising one finger. “Two,” he said, raising a second finger. “Three.” He raised the third finger and the four of us moved. We raced at the kids, hitting them at stomach level and pushing them away from the child next to them and their connection to Benny.

I fell on the floor on top of Livvy Greenleaves, whose eyes were bloodshot and glassy and whose skin was clammy. I didn’t know how much of a chance she had to survive, but I knew I was a better healer than a fighter and, if the only thing I could do was heal those children, I was going to do it.

“Cover me,” I shouted to Frost, who’d managed to hit two children and separate them as he moved. He pursed his lips, like he wanted to argue, then he nodded.

I pushed my senses under Livvy’s skin and searched until I found the rot in her, the shadows replacing the power and energy she’d once had. She didn’t need to be put back together, she needed her essence, her energy, back. I couldn’t get her essence back from Benny, and I didn’t know if there was enough of the woman left to save.

In the end, it didn’t matter, because I had to try to give her something to keep her alive until we could figure out how to save her in the long term. I focused my healing force on the blackness seeping into her, the death threatening to pull her under, and I imbued it with a little bit of my own essence and energy, plucked from a spot near my heart. I pushed what I could into her, and watched in my mind’s eye as the blackness receded and her internal workings brightened. When I looked at her outer shell, I saw her color had improved and her breathing had become regular. She was still unconscious, but she was going to live.

I moved next to Herbert Elderwood and took in his grey skin and sightless eyes. I felt tears well, as I realized I was too late. I should have started with him. Frost laid a hand on my shoulder. “He was gone before we broke the connection,” he said. “There was nothing you could have done.”

“Buddy’s daughter?” I asked, thinking she must be at least as bad off as Herbert and would need my help.

“They’re gone,” Frost said. He nodded toward Brianna Foxglove, also grey, but awake and twisting in pain. “Focus on the ones here, but be careful not to give too much of yourself.”

Behind us Benny roared and guns exploded. I realized the fighting had been going on for a while, but I’d been lost in a healing daze and hadn’t heard it. I watched as Benny, in full dragon form, rose to the rafters of the mall, broke through the skylight and flew away.

The sun was setting as I finished doing what I could for the last kid, a teenage boy whose name I didn’t know. Ambulances showed up and carted all of the kids away to the hospital. I doubted human doctors would be able to heal them, and they’d find that these kids had traits they’d never seen in any one else before, but there was little I could do to prevent the paramedics from hauling the kids off, and the fae in the Non didn’t exactly have a hospital of their own. Somehow, Frost had convinced the paramedics not to take the kids until I’d done what I could for them.

I stood and looked at my surroundings to see broken glass around us and my friends limping toward me. Mercury appeared to have a broken leg, and Vin was bleeding from the head. Harvey was walking like his entire body was bruised and Brace and Sandra had visible bruises on their faces and arms.

“Benny flew away, but his goons stayed and fought,” Frost said. “They were trying to take the children. They were all arrested, even the trolls. Apparently even troll skin can’t withstand enough volts from a Taser.”

“Think you can heal us?” Mercury asked, when he and Vin were close enough.

“Sure.” I took a step toward him and my world went sideways. I realized I wasn’t seeing any color. Everything was black and white. I tripped on the floor, and then I was falling.

“I told you not to push yourself too hard,” Frost said, as he caught me and lifted me in his arms.

“What does she need?” Harvey asked. He sounded like he was far away, through a tunnel. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears and it sounded sluggish and oozy. I’m pretty sure Frost sniffed me.

“She’s dying” Frost said. “She needs her mother. Unless any of you knows a healer?”

“Not my mother,” I said, not sure that anyone could understand me with the way my words were slurring. I had to try, though, because even through the thick fog that had fallen over me I knew I didn’t want to ask my mother for anything. I didn’t want to owe her anything. “Take me to Benny’s. He has a human healer on staff.”

“She’s out of her mind,” someone said.

“Maybe not,” Frost said. Dear Frost. He would take my side. “Between Benny and her mother, I’m not really sure who’s the bigger monster. Anyone have any better ideas?”

We were moving, but I couldn’t open my eyes to see where we were going. “I know someone. I’ll take you to him.” I’m pretty sure that was Buddy’s voice and if he said he knew someone, I trusted him. Buddy knew a lot of people. Except that Buddy had left with his daughter. I must be hallucinating. I tried to fight against the darkness, to argue for my friends not to listen to the Buddy impersonator, but the darkness was so strong. It pulled me under.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

I’m not perfect, and neither is anybody else. If they can forgive me, I can forgive them. –Chloe Frangipani

A lady does not surround herself with people below her station. –Althea Frangipani

“I’m sorry, man,” a voice high above me said. “That’s the best I can do. If I give her anymore, I’ll be worse off than she is now.”

“She’s not even conscious,” Buddy said, his voice a bit closer. “Can’t you give her a little more?”

I tried to open my eyes, to speak, to tell them I was awake, but I couldn’t do anything.

“Give her a few days, man, and she’ll probably be fine. At least she’s not in danger of dying anymore.”

“Can you take the energy from someone else?” Frost asked.

Silence reigned for several long moments and I wondered if I’d slipped back into unconsciousness. “I don’t know, man. I’ve never heard of anyone doing it.”

“Can we try?” Frost asked. “I’ll push my energy into you and you push it into her.”

“I don’t know—”

Frost growled low in his throat and somebody whimpered. “Okay, let’s try it,” the healer said, his voice breaking just a touch.

I felt a hand on my chest and then light exploded behind my eyelids. Heat flowed into my torso and through every part of my body until I felt like I was burning from the inside out. “Holy shit,” I said, sitting up and pushing the healer’s hand off me. I sucked in long, slow breaths until I could breathe normally, then I glared at Frost. “Do you walk around with that much energy all the time?”

His eyes darkened a smidge. “That was just a taste. You know what we did?”

I nodded. Just a taste? Wow. I felt a bit like what a cocaine addict must feel when they get a hit, everything seemed brighter and sharper and I couldn’t sit still. I leapt to my feet. “Wow. When we used you to heal me, I didn’t get anything like this.”

My eyes almost fell out of my head when Frost’s cheeks tinged pink. “I was worried about you. I may have pushed harder than I intended.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, thanks.”

“Isn’t anyone going to thank me,” the healer said. “I’m pretty sure his energy fried my brain on its way to you.”

I focused on the healer for the first time. He was a scruffy guy, his hair too long and his five-o-clock shadow more like a five day shadow. His eyes were bloodshot, his t-shirt was stained and holey, and he looked familiar.

“Him?’ I asked, spinning on Buddy. “I was dying and you brought me to this…this…stoner pervert.”

“I’m not a pervert,” Jimmy said, his voice just as whiney as I remembered. I’d worked with him in the early days of my career as a bar back at Buddy’s place. Jimmy’d been one of the bartenders and he’d tried to cop a feel every time I came near him.

“He’s the only healer I know,” Buddy said. “The only decent healer other than you.”

I glared at Buddy for a long moment, before I turned my killing gaze on Jimmy. “Your fae?”

“Why is that such a crazy idea?” Jimmy asked. “You always thought you were better than me.”

“Because I don’t smoke while I’m on the job, and I don’t touch anyone who doesn’t want to be touched? I am better than you.”

Buddy stepped between us. “He’s a quarter fairy. The healing ability is strong in him for some reason.”

“You know,” Jimmy said. “I did just save your life. You could at least say thank you.”

I leaned around Buddy. “Why? I’m sure he’s paying you.”

“You are such a bitch,” Jimmy said. “You’ve always—”

“That’s enough,” Frost said. He grabbed my arm and started dragging me from the room, a room I now realized must be Jimmy’s living room. It was surprisingly neat and clean, with rather high-end looking furniture. “Let’s go, Chloe.”

I dug my heels in because…well, just on principle. Energy was pinging around my insides and sparking me into action. I wanted to do something, anything. My preferences would be fighting or sex, and I didn’t see Harvey anywhere. “He called me a bitch,” I said. “Aren’t you going to defend my honor, or at least step aside while I defend my own honor?”

“You called him a stoner pervert,” Frost said. “You’re even. Save that energy for Benny, we need to find out what he’s done with the rest of the kids.”

“That’s right,” I said. “Where’s Harvey, Mercury, Vin, Brace, and Sandra?” Then I remembered the last time I’d seen them, they were all hurt. “Did Jimmy heal them?”

“Harvey’s fine,” Frost said. “He stayed until we knew you’d be okay, but then he took off to see if he could get some information about where Benny might have gone. He hoped someone was tracking him.” He led me out the door and into the hall outside Jimmy’s apartment. “The others are okay. Mercury has a broken leg and Vin has a concussion, but Sandra and Brace are good enough to meet us at Benny’s as soon as I call them.”

I jerked my hand free of Frost’s and jumped in front of him. “I can heal them! I have so much energy, now. Let’s go.” I started down the hall and decided to take the stairs to the street level. Frost followed behind me, chuckling.

Outside, the sky had darkened and a heavy rain fell. I started down the street, letting the rain cool my skin, still heated from the influx of Frost’s energy. I walked about ten steps, Frost following me without saying a word, when I realized I had no idea where we were. The street was lined with trees and the sidewalk ended about a foot away in a grassy field. Past the field were stand-alone houses. “Where the hell are we?” I asked, spinning around to face Frost.

He gave me the biggest, most heart-stopping grin, his hair wet, the rain running down the planes of his face, making me want to catch them with my tongue. I mean, making me want to find a dry place to get us out of the rain. “We’re in the suburbs.”

I looked around and shuddered. The suburbs. I hated the suburbs. Granted, I happened to be currently living in the suburbs, but that was temporary. Right now, I needed to be in the city, close to Benny and my friends. “Where’s your bike?”

I didn’t think it was possible, but Frost’s grin widened. “We can’t ride in the rain. We’ll take a cab.”

“A cab? From the suburbs? I can’t afford that.”

Buddy stepped up behind Frost. “I think whatever you did back there fried her brain.”

“No,” Frost said. “She’s just a little drunk on the wolf. I’ve seen it before.”

Frost bent at the waist and threw me over his shoulder, one hand planted firmly on my ass to hold me in place. “Stop groping me and put me down, you big, furry beast,” I shouted.

Frost dropped me into the back of a cab and slid in next to me. Buddy sat in the back with us, so that Frost’s body was in full contact with mine. Which made me uncomfortable because I really hated him at the moment. “Where are you taking me?”

“To see Benny.”

“No, I need to heal Mercury and Vin.”

“No,” Frost said. “You need your energy to face Benny. He’s not going to be happy with you.”

That shut me up for a moment. Fighting a big, angry dragon overwhelmed even my super-charged brain. “How are we going to fight him?”

“We are going to try to avoid fighting him,” Frost said. “But Brace has your sword.”

“Oh, that’s good,” I said, not feeling the least bit confident.

“We’re pretty sure Benny’s injured,” Buddy said. “According to Harvey, Benny encountered some officers outside the mall and they got a few more shots at him and made contact. I think he lost his shield when we broke his connection to the kids.”

“And we took out a few of his goons,” Frost said. “Ten of them were arrested.”

“Great,” I said, my energy waning just a bit at the prospect that faced us. “Then this should be a piece of cake.”

Benny wasn’t at his house, at least not where we could see him. Frost had called Harvey, but Harvey said his colleagues had lost sight of Benny over the river. So, we’d met Brace, Sandra, and Hieronymus at the gatekeeper’s abode. Hieronymus had heard rumors of Benny’s public display even in Rubalia and come to help us out. “He’s got to be somewhere nursing his wounds,” I said to the solitary goon at the door. “We just want to talk to him. To find out where the kids are.”

The goon studied us with a lackadaisical expression, not unlike Jimmy’s resting expression. I wondered if the goon was also a pot head. Finally, he shrugged. “I don’t actually know where he is. He’s with his healer, but I don’t know where she lives.”

“The human?”

The goon nodded. “Yeah. You know her?”

“Sort of. Do you have any idea where the kids are?”

The goon stared out at the street. “I’m down with what Benny wants to do, but I never liked him taking those kids.”

“A little boy died at the mall today,” I said, surprised that the goon was talking to us at all. I was even more surprised when his face paled and his eyes went glassy.

“Which one?”

“A three-year-old boy,” I said. “Herbert Elderwood.”

He dropped his head and cleared his throat. “It’s not right,” he said. “And now that’s how the humans will see him. As a monster that kills children. They’ll want to kill us all.”

“The more children we save,” I said. “The more sympathy we’ll get from the humans.”

The goon nodded. “Yeah. I want to help, but I don’t know where the kids are. I just know that he was hiding them in Rubalia.”

“Through one of the doors in his house?” Brace asked.

“There’s a portal there, yeah,” the goon said. “I’ve seen him take children from there.”

“Can you show us?” I asked.

“Come with me,” the goon said. He spun on his heel and led us inside.

I fell into step next to Hieronymus. “How are things going on your side of the investigation?”

“Like you, we figured out that someone is closing portals, but we didn’t know who or how. Once I heard about the incident here, I stopped at your condo to see what you’d found and Mercury filled me in. I’ve never heard of the kind of magic that Benny uses, and it is especially cruel to use children to perform it. He will have to be shut down.”

“What do you mean ‘shut down’?”

“He is not of our realm in any sense of the word. He is from the nightmare realm and he is living in the Non. In all senses, the laws of Rubalia do not apply to him. His cohorts in Rubalia will be punished by our laws, but the humans in the Non will not be able to punish him or cage him. I’m afraid that job will fall to you.”

“Fall to me? You mean you expect me to put a leash on the big dragon?” I was certain I’d misunderstood him.

He nodded. “Yes, or kill him. He must not be allowed to continue to wreak havoc and give humans a bad impression of the fae.”

The goon was leading us through a maze of hallways and doors, and I hoped he was taking us where he’d said he would, because I didn’t have a clue how to get out of there. I looked behind me at Sandra, Brace, and Frost. “Any of you heard anything about the human response to the dragon in the mall.”

“Magical stunt gone wrong,” Sandra said. “They’re saying Benny’s wanted for kidnapping and child endangerment, possibly murder, but everyone seems to believe he’s a human with a dragon suit. No one is suggesting he’s actually a dragon.”

“Okay,” I said, a tiny bit relieved. “I doubt everyone actually believes that, but okay. Did the humans at the show really see a dragon?”

Sandra shrugged. “He wasn’t glamoured and the humans were there to see something fantastical, so I don’t know how they couldn’t have seen him. Someone took a cell phone video and the eyewitnesses they talked to said they saw a dragon, but—”

“Here it is,” the goon said, swinging a door wide open. As I stepped inside the large, sunny room, I hoped that Sapphire and her boss got a chance to talk to those people who’d been in the audience to find out what they’d actually seen.

“I’ll wait for you outside,” the goon said, holding the door open for all of us. “I’m not permitted to enter Rubalia.” Once everyone was in, I looked around the formal dining room. I stepped to a large, bay window and looked out onto a backyard full of kids, playing tag and swinging, and climbing on the playset.

“Do you recognize them?” I asked, looking between Frost and Hieronymus.

“I recognize Rodney Elder,” Frost said.

Hieronymus nodded. “That’s most of the missing from our side. Three are absent, but perhaps they are playing somewhere else.”

There were no adults around, no half-dragon people, no one to stop us as we collected the kids and took them out of there. Frost, Sandra, Brace and I took Rodney back to the Non, and Hieronymus took the others back to their homes in Rubalia. He claimed he didn’t know who owned the home where they’d been kept and he suspected we’d never know. He was certain that whoever had been helping Benny in Rubalia was long gone, because they’d heard what happened to Benny and they’d fled. Five of the fifteen kids who’d gone missing from Rubalia were not at the house and the other kids said they’d been killed during Benny’s portal-closing spells. We were missing two from our side who hadn’t survived.

We spent the rest of the day returning children to ecstatic parents and breaking the news to other parents that their kids would never be coming home. We made sure the police had been notified of the kids who’d returned home, but since we had no proof that the others were dead, we told them nothing about the kids still unaccounted for. Frost saw me back to Harvey’s house.

I unlocked the door to let myself in and waved at Frost, mentally groaning at the sound of shouting inside. Another game night? Wasn’t Harvey exhausted? I stepped into Harvey’s living room to find him yelling at three men and one woman, all of them dressed in lace and satin, the style of fairies in Rubalia. The man at the center of the shouting match, a tall, lanky man with an aquiline bone structure and a regal bearing, was a cousin I’d met when my mother had killed her father and taken over his throne.

Nobody seemed to notice my arrival and I considered tiptoeing back to my bedroom and avoiding the whole scene, but I figured they’d find me eventually.

“Hi, y’all,” I said, with a wave and a smile. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

Everyone froze and stared at me. Harvey could hardly meet my eyes and a stone sunk in my gut. I knew, I just knew that he’d had enough. That he’d found the final straw and whatever we’d had, whatever we might have had was done.

My cousin swallowed hard and returned my smile. “I am your cousin, Oakenwood, and I am here on behalf of your mother. She was quite impressed with how you found the missing children and she would like you to come with me to see her in Rubalia.”

“Why didn’t she send Hieronymus?” I asked. “I just saw him a couple of hours ago.”

“Hieronymus is otherwise disposed and she felt that…in light of the dragon still being at large, she wants you to be accompanied by guards.”

I nodded. “So why were you in the middle of a shouting match with my …?” The look on Harvey’s face stopped me and I knew better than to hold on to him when he had already let me go. “Friend? Why were you two fighting?”

“He broke into my place, Chloe,” Harvey said. “He and his guards were waiting on my couch, like they owned the place. I didn’t know that they were related to you. I almost shot them.”

“I am royalty,” Oakenwood said. “These are my guards. We have the right to enter the princess’s home and make sure it is safe and that she is well-protected. We have found this place and this human lacking. You must return to your condo.”

So that’s what this was about. Oakenwood had said Harvey was incapable of keeping me safe. And Harvey had agreed with him. He’d argued until his face turned red, but I could see from the defeat in his shoulders and the way he wouldn’t meet my eyes that he agreed with my cousin. Maybe he’d come to the same conclusion at the mall, when I’d almost died.

“I’ll meet you outside,” I said. “Give me a few minutes alone to talk to Harvey?”

Oakenwood nodded, and he and his entourage left. They stood outside on the front lawn, looking out of place and uncomfortable. I might have laughed if I didn’t want to cry.

“Chloe,” Harvey said. “I—”

“I wish I had said yes to you the first time you asked me out,” I said, not wanting to hear any speeches about how much he cared about me, blah, blah, blah. “It probably would have ended the same, but at least I could have had a couple of years with you. We could have had a chance to get to know each other.”

He reached for me, but dropped his hand at the last minute. “It’s my fault. You told me you were a princess, but I didn’t really get it. Didn’t understand what it would mean until today. Until I saw you save those kids while I just stood there helpless. I couldn’t even keep those trolls away from you. Brace had to create a shield around you. You almost died and I couldn’t do a damn thing.”

“That’s the moment you understood I was a princess?”

He shook his head. “No. Yes. It was just the moment I realized I’d never do anything but hold you back. You aren’t going to give up helping the fae, putting your life on the line, and just be a club owner are you?”

“No,” I said, a bit sad at the realization that I could never just be a club owner again.

“I hated watching you come so close to dying, and I know that you would do it again, that you should do it again. I’ll have to watch that again, while I know I can’t be there for you in any way that matters and you…you have—”

I interpreted his glance out the window and spoke for him. “I have difficult relatives,” I said. “I get it, Harvey. Maybe someday when things are less hectic, when things settle down, we can try again.”

“Maybe,” he said, but I’m pretty sure we both knew that was an empty promise.

I started toward the door and he stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. “The boss wants me to head up a task force specializing in the supernatural.”

I stopped. “I knew not everyone would believe it was a magic trick.”

He snorted. “If anything good comes out of this, it’ll be that the police, at least, believe in the supernatural. I’m going to need your help, though, yours and Frost’s.”

“Of course,” I said. “So you’re not leaving the force?”

“No. They need me. I’m the only cop who didn’t lose my lunch or pass out when they suggested the dragon was a real threat to the city.”

I leaned in and kissed his cheek. “We’ll get him when I get back.”

“About that,” he said. “What portal are they using? In case I have to send someone after you?”

I poked my head out the front door. “Hey, fairy fellas,” I yelled. “Where we headed?”

“To your club,” Oakenwood said. “If we ever get to leave.”

“No, what portal are we leaving from?”

“We built a portal at your club,” Oakenwood said.

“Huh,” I said, looking at Harvey and raising my eyebrows. “Do you think that means I’m getting my club back?”

“I hope so,” he said. “The husbands in this city have been getting complacent since Ephemeral shut its doors.”

I hugged him and left with Oakenwood.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Sometimes, when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. –Chloe Frangipani

Parents push their children because they love them. They only want their kids to be the best they can be. –Althea Frangipani

I walked up to Ephemeral and saw Frost leaning against the door. He looked calm and casual, but his eyes were dark amber, and I knew he was ready for a fight. “Harvey?” I said when I was standing in front of him.

“Yeah, he didn’t want you going over alone, and I agreed.”

I nodded, unlocked the door to my club, and let us all in. I wasn’t going to fight with Frost, because I wasn’t stupid enough to want to face my mother alone. Besides, we’d sort of become the Rubalia team, and it would be weird to go there without him. “Okay,” I said. “So we’re at my club, where to now?”

“Your office,” Oakenwood said, glaring at Frost. He didn’t say anything about the werewolf joining us, but then he didn’t have to. His feelings on the matter were clear from his expression.

I led the way up to my office and almost caused everyone behind me to stumble back down the stairs when I froze in the doorway and then took a step back. There was a portal behind my desk, a spinning blue vortex right behind my desk chair. I was definitely going to have to rearrange my office or risk accidently tipping into Rubalia.

Frost put his hands on my shoulder and gave me a small shove. I stepped into the office and moved to make room for everyone else. “There’s a portal in my office,” I said. I know Oakwood had already told me that, but it still blew my synapses a bit to actually see it.

“Your mother is waiting for you,” Oakenwood said. Without another word, he walked to the portal and disappeared. The guards who’d been by his side gestured for me and Frost to step through the portal.

“Any last words?” I asked Frost.

“Don’t agree to anything your mother asks until we’ve had a chance to discuss it.”

I just stared at him. “You mean we have to come back to the Non to discuss it and then go back to my mother to give her my answer?”

“She can wait.”

“I am capable of making decisions on my own,” I said. “I’ve been doing it a long time.”

“And I’m saying you don’t have to do it anymore.” He stepped through the portal before I could argue with him.

I followed him through, glad I’d worn a backless dress and boots until the chilly air of a fall night hit me and pain lanced through my wings. “Ahhh,” I said.

“We should all shift to wolf form to protect our wings,” Oakenwood said, his face drawn, likely from the same pain I was feeling. “It will also prevent Frost from standing out as a werewolf.”

I didn’t have to be asked twice. I wished myself a wolf, and I became a wolf. Immediately, the pain vanished, and I felt comfortable and warm. The two guards shifted as soon as they crossed over, and I finally looked at our surroundings. We were on a dirt path in the middle of a field sprinkled with wildflowers. The portal shimmered, even in the dark of night, just to the side of the path.

The other wolves took off at a run, and I figured it’d be smart to follow. We reached the fairy castle, its dainty towers coming into view over a hill, in what felt like less than an hour. Oakenwood, the guards, and I shifted back to our fairy selves and Frost stayed close to my side as we made our way to a room I’d never visited before. A small, cozy room with delicate, wooden furniture and colorful flower arrangements. My mother stood by a window looking out over the meadowlands and the forest beyond.

“Hello, daughter,” she said, her voice raspy. “Oakenwood, you and the guards may leave.” She turned and faced us, her face pale and drawn. “I don’t suppose the wolf will leave with them?”

Frost growled and took a step closer to me, but my mother kept her eyes on mine.

“No,” I said. “Frost will stay with me and hear what you have to say.”

My mother gestured for us to sit. When I remained standing, she frowned and stepped to the middle of the room. “You must fight me every step of the way, mustn’t you, Daughter? I’m surprised you didn’t try to bring your human lover with you. He wouldn’t have survived the crossing, but he seems stubborn enough to try it.”

“He’s stubborn,” I said. “Not an idiot. What did you bring me here to tell me, Mother?”

She sighed. “Rubalia is under attack, and my father weakened our people so much that we are probably going to lose this battle. The creatures from the land of nightmares have long wanted to live in our lush, green world, and it seems they will finally get their wish.”

I sank down onto a chair that appeared too delicate to hold me. “Surely there must be something you can do?”

She smiled and sat down next to me, taking my hands in hers. It softened me, that motherly touch. “Are you pretending to care about me, now, Daughter? To care about Rubalia? After caring about only yourself for so many years, it must be difficult even to pretend you give a moment of your energy to thinking of me.”

And there was the knife to the chest. Frost growled, but I waved him away. I was tougher than I used to be. I’d seen my mother kill her father, and I’d long learned a guilt trip when I heard one. “What do you want?”

“I want you to be the obedient, caring daughter I need. I want you to help the humans to capture Benny, and then I want you to return him to Rubalia.”

I pulled my hand from her grasp. She wasn’t asking me for anything I didn’t already know needed to be done, but something wasn’t adding up. “And if I kill him?”

Disapproval bloomed on her face. “You must not kill him, dear. He has the secret to closing portals. We can create portals, as we created the portal in your office, but we don’t know how to destroy them. With Benny’s secret, I believe we can close the leaks between the realm of nightmares and Rubalia and stop them from moving in.”

I considered her words for a long moment. “At the risk of the lives of more children?”

Her cheeks reddened. “Thousands more children will die if we do not close the portals.” She dropped my hands and took a deep breath. She leaned back in her seat and smoothed her robes. “But, of course, every precaution will be taken to be sure no children will be harmed.”

I didn’t believe her, but I had no way to prove she was lying. I would just have to make sure Missella was aware of what she was doing and could ensure the veracity of her claim. “And how will I capture Benny? I have no magic that will stop him, and I can’t fight him in his dragon form.”

“It is a problem,” she said. “My father and the faun king wanted nothing to do with the dragons, so we know very little about how to stop them.” She pulled a rope from a pocket in her robes and handed it to me. “I believe if you can get this around his neck, it will prevent him from shifting into his dragon form and then you can fight him. You will need a strong cage to hold him and transport him to me, something that will keep him from using his magic to escape.”

“Amber,” I said. The myths about iron causing the fae pain were false, but amber was our kryptonite. It obstructed our magic and weakened us. “Will it work on a creature from the realm of nightmares?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, but I have no better ideas.”

“Great.” But I knew I would try. The other options, of leaving Benny free in the Non or allowing him to be caught and studied by the humans, weren’t acceptable alternatives. “And what about Ephemeral? Why is there a portal in it?”

“I will make sure Neil is revealed as the saboteur and that your club is restored to you,” she said. “In exchange, I want you to return to your condo and take over as the gatekeeper.”

I shot out of my seat, not sure what to make of any of what she’d just said, but sure I didn’t like it. “Convenient that you can offer back to me what I already had in exchange for me doing more for you than I was already doing.”

“Dear,” she said, her expression innocent. “You wouldn’t be helping me, you’d be helping the refugees from Rubalia. You will be my face and voice in the Non, you will behave as royalty and make sure the fae are representing Rubalia in a good way. It won’t be long before more humans are aware of us, and I want them to think well of us. I don’t want to give them any reason to come to Rubalia and wipe us out with their guns and their bombs.”

And she had me, because I wanted to help the refugees anyway. “Why not just close off all of the portals between the Non and Rubalia?”

“Are you ready to give up your life in the Non?”

“No.”

“And I’m not ready to cut you off from Rubalia.”

I knew there was more to it, but I also knew she was unlikely to tell me the truth. So I let it go, for the moment. “I will act as the gatekeeper, and I will bring you Benny.”

“Good.” She smiled, her face regaining some color. She’d been worried I’d say no. Maybe she really did believe me selfish and self-centered. “I will make sure you have the money and lawyers you need to defeat the mayor in his case against your club. I won’t have bad things said about the princess of Rubalia.” She looked at Frost, as though she were sending him a silent message, and he nodded. “I would prefer you changed your club into a normal martini bar, but I don’t suppose—”

“No,” I said. “Absolutely not.”

“Then you may go and fly safely under the goodwill of Rubalia.”

“What the hell was that?” Frost asked when we were back in my office. He’d shifted and was naked, but he didn’t seem to care. “You agreed not to answer her until we’d had a chance to discuss it.”

I shrugged and tried not to let my eyes wander. “Would you like to go back and tell her I’ve changed my mind?”

He paced, his muscles rippling as he moved. “You can’t take on being the gatekeeper and run Ephemeral. How are you going to have time for that? How are you going to be able to help anyone when you’re stretched thin?”

“I can get more help,” I said, realizing as I spoke that I wanted this responsibility. I’d seen the way the refugees from Rubalia lived, and I wanted to help them. I wanted to be able to guide them toward better lives in the Non. “Mercury can’t keep dealing drugs forever, and he’s going to be looking for a legitimate job. And Pierson’s ready for more responsibility. Maybe Sandra can work here, too.”

“You want this.” He paused in his pacing to study me.

I nodded.

“Fine. I’ll do whatever I can to help you. But going after Benny with a rope that might be magic and might restrain him is insanity.”

“And what’s the other option?” My eyes drifted south on his body of their own wicked volition. “Can you please put some clothes on? I can’t talk to you like this.”

He looked down at his body like he’d forgotten he was naked. When his eyes met mine, again, his smirk suggested dirty thoughts. “Why? Does it make you think of all the things you want to do to my body, all the ways I could give you pleasure?”

“No,” I said, way too quickly. “It’s just distracting.”

“Okay, I don’t want you to be distracted right now.” His tone suggested he’d like to distract me at another time. But he bent and started pulling on clothes from the pile he’d left behind when we’d crossed over.

Once he was clothed, he faced me. “Better?”

“Yes, thank you,” I lied, because his body really was a pleasure to behold.

He smiled like he knew my thoughts. “The other option would be to let Benny be Benny’s problem. We are not responsible for every supernatural creature who causes problems in the Non.”

“And if we do nothing? If he decides he wants to take back his job as gatekeeper? If the humans dissect him and decide the fae are dangerous to humans and should all be caged? If he goes rogue and starts killing people? Starts killing people we care about?”

He growled. “I’m aware of all of these possibilities, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s suicide to try to take him out.”

“You’re right.” I dragged my chair around to the opposite wall, putting it farther from the portal. “Help me move my desk?”

He grunted, but he helped me move the desk. He basically moved the desk himself. “So you’re not going to go after him?”

“Nah.” I sat and threw my feet up on my desk, leaning my chair back on two legs. “You’re right. We should just let the human police deal with the big, bad dragon. I’m sure they’ll just unleash a nuclear bomb on him and everything will be peachy.”

He rolled his eyes. “Your reverse psychology is not going to work on me.”

I shrugged. “I don’t care if it does or not. I’m going to embrace your philosophy and just ignore whatever problems in my life are too dangerous to confront.”

He pulled a chair over in front of my desk and dropped into it. “Benny is not your problem. If he’s anyone’s problem, he’s your mother’s. Just because the humans find out the dragon is really a dragon, there’s no reason for them to suspect anyone else of being fae.”

“Hmm, but what about the kids who went to the hospital? You don’t think anyone noticed they aren’t quite human?”

He shrugged. “Their parents picked them up before the humans could get a good look at them. They took them to Jimmy.”

“Ugh. Jimmy. I really hate that guy.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I got that. Speaking of which, you should probably go home and get some sleep. I’ll talk to Brace about how we can take out Benny.”

“I thought you were against going after him.”

“I am.” He pushed to his feet. “But you aren’t going to back down are you?”

“Nope.”

He didn’t flinch. “So we’re going after him. I’ll take you to Harvey’s.”

I stood. “Um, no, just take me to the condo.” I wasn’t ready to tell Frost I’d broken up with Harvey. I wasn’t ready for his lack of surprise, wasn’t ready to prove him right about me. “I want to fix Mercury’s leg and Vin’s concussion.”

He studied me for a long moment, and I was almost positive he didn’t believe me. Then he shook his head and motioned for me to follow him. “We’ll take the bike.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Showdowns are always more fun in the movies. –Chloe Frangipani

If you can, avoid confrontation. Smile sweetly and use manipulation or subterfuge to get what you want. –Althea Frangipani

“Are you sure this is going to work?” I asked. Brace was crouched next to me in Benny’s throne room. We were waiting for him to return. I was pretty sure he wasn’t coming back, since none of his goons were there, but Brace figured he wouldn’t leave it. We’d been waiting for two hours already, with no sign of Benny and my stomach was starting to grumble.

I’d healed Mercury and Vin, and they were on the other side of the room, crouching below the windows, so we wouldn’t be seen from the outside. Frost, Harvey, Buddy, Brace, and Sandra were outside to deal with whatever goons Benny might have with him. Harvey had insisted on joining us, saying he, as a human representative of law enforcement, needed to see Benny removed from the Non. I argued against him being there, as did everyone else, but Harvey was nothing if not stubborn.

If Benny entered his house through the portal from Rubalia, we’d all be in trouble, but the general consensus was that he knew better than to risk going to Rubalia when the fairy queen was gunning for him.

“Nope,” Brace said.

I gripped the ‘magic’ rope in my hands and tried to ignore my hunger and the cramps in my legs from crouching for so long. We’d woven bits of amber into the rope where we could, but I had a bad feeling our half pound of amber wouldn’t be enough to slow a dragon. Unfortunately, we’d had no luck finding a cage constructed of amber, and we didn’t have the time or the resources to build one. My first order of business as gatekeeper would be to build such a cage and install it at the club. Since amber could only be found in the Non, my mother would be able to offer no help with that task.

It was starting to get dark when Benny, with two goons on either side of him, stepped into his throne room and right into the loop of rope we’d laid out on the hardwood floor. I yanked hard and he hit the floor on his ass, the rope tight around his left ankle. Brace stood and started chanting his sleeping spell, while Mercury and Vin jumped in to keep the goons occupied until Brace’s spell worked.

I walked over to Benny and pointed my sword at his throat. “Sorry, Benny, you’re going to have to come with us. It’d be best for everyone if you came willingly.”

Benny smiled at me from the floor, his skin rippling until his neck was covered in scales from his shoulders to his chin. The fucking rope didn’t work on him. The scales meant stabbing him in the neck wouldn’t do him too much damage. If I got a good swing, I might be able to separate his head from his shoulders. The very thought made me nauseous. I’d decapitated a dragon person before, but I knew Benny, and he wasn’t actively trying to kill me. Plus, I was supposed to keep him alive to save Rubalia.

I repositioned my sword and my grip until I would be capable of a killing blow, but Benny took that moment to barrel to his feet and into me, pushing me back into the seat of the throne with him straddling me. “It’s too bad you chose to fight me,” he said, curling his body over mine and baring sharp teeth. “We could have been amazing together.”

He pressed his teeth to my neck, and I braced myself because I didn’t think there would be anything gentle or erotic about his bite. His teeth broke through my skin too quickly for me to shift and slide out of his grasp. I shoved against him, but he might as well have been made of stone, because in my awkward position, I couldn’t get the leverage I needed to move him. I wondered why none of my friends had come to save me, when he swallowed and lapped my skin with his tongue.

I had enough time to shudder, before he was gone. I leapt to my feet, ready to fight, and saw Mercury, Frost, and Buddy sitting on Benny. Two goons were laid out on the floor, dead or unconscious, and a third was fighting Brace and Sandra, but staggering. Harvey stood at the window, scanning the street for trouble.

“Well,” I said, wiping the blood off my neck. I didn’t feel any more blood pumping out, so I figured the wounds were superficial. “That was easy.”

We used the useless rope to tie up Benny and started dragging him toward the portal in his house. “You are an idiot if you think you can hold me,” he said. “I’m a dragon and I am slave to no one. I will escape, I will come for each of you, and I will kill you slowly. One. By. One.”

“Can’t someone shut him up?” Harvey asked.

“Nah,” Buddy said. “Let him talk. His delusions are amusing.”

Benny growled. “Just for that, troll, I’m going to start with your baby. I’m going to—”

Buddy punched Benny in the face one, two, three times until he was out. I guess his ‘delusions’ were no longer amusing to Buddy. “Fucking dragons,” Buddy said, as we resumed our trek through the maze of Benny’s house.

We reached the door to Rubalia and stopped. “Okay,” I said. “As much as I hate to ask, I can’t drag Benny through Rubalia on my own and Frost goes wolfy over there, so I’m going to need some volunteers to go with me.”

“Isn’t Hieronymus going to meet us over there?” Frost asked.

I shrugged. “He’s going to try, but I’m not sure that he expected us so soon.”

“Well, I’ll—” Sandra started.

Three men and two women, all with dragon heads, stormed into the room and roared at us. It was quite effective as a scare tactic. Harvey had been at the back of our small group, since he couldn’t travel to Rubalia, and one of the dragon heads picked him up and threw him across the room. He hit the wall with a sickening crack and went limp.

I watched him slide to the floor, sure he was dead, and I saw red. I gripped my sword tight and charged the dragon who’d hurt Harvey. I swung the sword like it was a part of me and hit the dragon woman so hard in the neck that I severed her ungainly head from her body. Blood sprayed me, and she fell in a heap at my feet.

Two of the other dragons roared and ran at me, claws out. I was dead. I knew it, but I wouldn’t go down without causing them some pain. The first one hit me hard and knocked me to the ground. I rolled, looking for the second one, while the one who’d hit me tried to regain his balance. Gunshots exploded and both of the dragon people hit the floor with red blooms on their chests. The rat-a-tat from a gun continued and I got to my feet and stood to see Sandra, a gun in her hand, face pale and her whole body shaking. There were no more dragon people left, so I went to my cousin and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

“I’ve never killed anyone before,” she said.

“You saved my life,” I said. “Maybe saved all of our lives. I owe you.”

I passed the shaking Sandra to Brace’s capable arms and ran to Harvey’s limp body. Frost joined me, looking at me over my ex-lover’s body. I saw Harvey’s chest rise and fall and let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “He’s still alive, but it’s going to take a lot out of me to save him.”

“Do it,” Frost said. “I’ll take Benny to Rubalia alone if I have to.”

I gave him a look that suggested he was insane, and he laughed. “I’ll take Mercury or Vin with me. Just do what you have to do for your man.”

I nodded and bent over Harvey. I ran my hands over his body, assessing his injuries. He had a fracture in his spine and three broken ribs, as well as head trauma. It would take almost all I had to heal him. I pushed my healing energy into him and eased the bruising and swelling in his head, knitted up the fracture in his spine. I could feel that I was reaching the end of my energy and I knew Harvey would forgive me for not fixing his ribs. I could fix the ribs after we’d survived Rubalia. On another day, I probably could have fixed his ribs and had enough healing energy to heal three more people, but it seemed I was still drained from healing the kids Benny had almost killed, despite the energy boost I’d gotten from Frost.

I rose out of my healing trance and faced Frost. “I’ve left him with three broken ribs, but I think he’ll understand.”

“Yeah,” Harvey said, wincing as he sat up. “I’ll live. Go get the dragon home.”

We left a shaken Sandra and Brace to watch over Harvey and make sure he got home okay. I promised I’d stop by and heal him up when we got back. Then Frost, Mercury, Vin, and I crossed through the portal to hand Benny over to my mother.

Unfortunately, the house we entered, the house where we’d found the children, wasn’t empty. The dragons who’d been keeping the kids were nowhere to be seen, but a family of brownies were having what appeared to be lunch in the dining room.

“That is a private portal, and it may not be used without our permission,” a tall, thin brownie said standing and facing us.

I wobbled on my feet, still feeling drained after healing Harvey, and Frost shifted into a werewolf, causing the brownies to shriek and leap to the other side of the table.

“We’ll just be on our way then,” said Mercury, tossing Benny over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. In human form, Benny was a small guy, compared to Frost and Mercury, but I knew he wasn’t light, because I’d help drag him to the portal.

I followed Mercury and Vin out of the house. Frost came last, growling at the brownies, in case they decided to give chase. I wanted to ask them why they’d allowed their portal to be used for kidnapped children, but I didn’t have the energy to fight them if they changed their minds about being afraid of Frost. Besides, I figured they were my mother’s problem.

Mercury made it across the yard and several yards down a dirt road before he grunted and dropped Benny on the ground. Benny stirred and groaned, but didn’t wake up. I sat down next to him because it looked like a really comfy spot, and I was so, so tired.

Mercury looked from me to Benny and back again. “This is not good. Do you have any way to contact Hieronymus?”

I shook my head. “No. Not unless you know smoke signals. Then you could make Morse code and maybe he’d see it.” I was hilarious, and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Vin glanced back at the house and frowned. “Those brownies are outside and they’re watching us. We need to get out of here.”

“Horses,” I said, tipping to the side a bit and resting my upper body on Benny. “We need horses.”

Mercury huffed, and bent and lifted Benny over his shoulder again. Vin gave me a hand up and supported me as we walked behind Mercury. My legs felt like jelly, and I just wanted to lay down somewhere and go to sleep.

“We’ll get you to sleep just as soon as we can, midge,” Vin said, and I realized I’d spoken aloud.

“Did you just call me a bug?”

“It’s a term of endearment,” Vin said.

“Huh,” I said. “Because you find bugs cute?”

“I don’t know,” Vin said. “It’s just something we say.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t say it if you don’t know why you say it.”

Vin sighed, but said nothing more. We trudged on in silence, stopping every fifty yards or so to give Mercury a break.

I’m pretty sure Vin was dragging me and my wings were frostbitten when we finally saw a sign of life. A brownie in a cart pulled by two horses. Mercury hailed him and he gave us a ride to the fairy castle, which turned out to be only about five miles away. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep, because I don’t remember most of the trip. Vin helped me out of the cart and started shouting orders like she was the queen.

“Get us Hieronymus, and get this dragon in a cage.”

Hieronymus arrived moments later and echoed Vin’s order to get the dragon to the dungeon. Benny had woken up by that point and was using every curse word I’ve ever heard and some I hadn’t. Hieronymus took one look at me and got angry.

“What have you allowed to happen to the princess?” he asked Vin.

“It wasn’t—” I said.

“She’s just tired from healing her boyfriend,” Vin said. “Can she get a nap and some food?”

“Food,” I said. “Food first.”

“You should not have allowed her to overtax herself healing a human,” Hieronymus said, making the word human sound like a swear word.

“It was her choice,” Vin said. “Don’t blame—”

“Can I get some food before I pass out?” I asked. Frost growled to back me up, and I patted him on the head. He was a good dog.

Hieronymus led me to a huge room with a banquet table that could seat about a hundred people and fed me and my friends whatever we asked for. Being royalty wasn’t so bad. After I’d eaten, I felt more like myself and decided I’d rather nap in my own bed. Hieronymus assured me that my mother would restore my club to me as soon as she could. I told him I’d start playing gatekeeper once my club was opened, so she’d best hurry up.

Hieronymus nodded and gave us horses to take us to the nearest portal, which was still in the night club in the faun village. Somehow, Benny and his minions hadn’t managed to close that one, yet.

“And I’m naked again,” Frost said, as soon as we landed in the DJ booth of the packed night club. I managed to avert my eyes before I saw his man bits…again. But the DJ, who happened to be a woman that night, had no such qualms.

“Well, hello, handsome,” she said, running her eyes over Frost. “I have to work for another hour, but if you hang around you could help me get off.”

I rolled my eyes at her cheesy pick-up line, but I had to admit I was impressed by her confidence. Judging by the crowd on the dance floor, it was well past closing time for any clothing stores in the area, and I doubted they had jeans and a t-shirt in Frost’s size in the club’s lost and found box.

“Let’s make a human shield,” I said. “I’ll walk in front, Vin will cover the back, and you, Mercury, block the side.”

Mercury looked like he might want to argue about his match covering Frost’s very nice back side, but she narrowed her eyes at him, and he let it go. “And what do we do once we’re on the street?” he asked. “I don’t think we can get a cab for a naked guy.”

“Who do we know who has a car?” I asked.

“Harvey,” Frost said, and Mercury and Vin nodded their heads.

“No, he’s got broken ribs,” I said, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “Let’s call Sandra.”

We got Frost through the club and managed to cover him in a dark alleyway outside until Sandra’s truck pulled up. Frost and I got in the cab and Mercury and Vin cuddled in the bed.

“Here, cover that thing up,” Sandra said, throwing Frost a towel.

“You couldn’t bring me pants?” he asked.

Sandra smirked. “You get what you get wolf boy.”

Frost shook his head.

“Where to first?” Sandra said. “Mercury and Vin are coming home with me, so you want me to take you to Harvey’s, Chloe?”

I cleared my throat and looked out the window. I was way too tired for this conversation, but it didn’t look like I had any choice. It might seem petty, but I didn’t want to return to the condo until I knew my mother had cleared my club, and I couldn’t go to Harvey’s because we’d just broken up. But I also didn’t want to ask Frost if I could crash with him yet again.

“Take Chloe to Harvey’s, first,” Frost said. “I want to see her home safe.”

I couldn’t help the snort that escaped as Sandra revved the engine and put the truck in gear. “No,” I said. “Harvey and I broke up. I can’t stay there.”

“So you’ll stay with me,” Frost said, like it was a foregone conclusion.

“I could just stay at the condo,” I said. “I don’t want to impose on you.”

“No,” Frost said. “I know people like your mother. If she thinks you need her or have conceded to her wishes even the tiniest bit, she will keep pushing to see if she can get more from you. I’d like for you to stay with me.”

Sandra steered in the direction of Frost’s place, and I gave up arguing. I’d have to go to Harvey’s to get my stuff and to heal his broken ribs, but I needed sleep first.

No one spoke on the short trip to Frost’s apartment. We thanked Sandra for the ride, said good night to Mercury and Vin, and headed in.

“I like having you here,” Frost said, once the door was closed behind us.

My head spun around like that little girl’s in the Exorcist. “Are you feeling okay?”

He gave me one of his genuine smiles, the heart stopping variety. “I’m feeling great. You okay about your break up with Harvey?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It was a lot for him to take in, me being a fairy and a faun and a princess and the owner of a club that a lot of his buddies hate.”

Frost dropped his keys on the kitchen counter and pulled two bottles of water from the fridge. He handed me one and leaned against the counter. “He’s a good man and I hoped you two might work together, but I think he needs a submissive woman. A delicate flower he can protect. You will never be that woman.”

I studied him for a moment. “You’re right. I don’t know why I didn’t see it.”

“Lust is blind.”

My stomach dropped. “It was more than lust. I like Harvey as a person. I always have.” I shook my head. “But you still think that’s all I am. Lust.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I always manage to say the wrong thing around you, when what I want to say is that I think you’re amazing. I feel lucky to have you in my life.”

I blinked a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating, but he just smiled.

“Do you need clothes for bed?” he asked.

I nodded and he left the kitchen, returning moments later with a t-shirt and sweat pants.

“Leah left these here,” he said. “They should fit you.”

“Thanks.” He nodded and started back toward his room. “Wait,” I said, because I still hadn’t figured him out and I really wanted to understand him. “I know I don’t always show it, but I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Everything you do for me.”

He swallowed hard and stared at the wall for a long moment, before he returned his gaze to me. “It has been and always will be my pleasure, Chloe.” Then he left, closing his door behind him. I smiled and wondered how Frost and I had become friends, when I’d been so certain a couple of weeks ago that we’d never do more than barely tolerate one another. I headed to bed, leaving that question for another day.

Tomorrow I’d get my club back, start learning how to be the gatekeeper and how to help the fae refugees. For that night, I’d sleep and I’d breathe easy in the space between.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Want to find out what the future holds for Chloe and her friends? Visit my website to find out when the next book in this series will be out: http://www.KatharineSadler.com/

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katharine Sadler lives with her husband in North Carolina. She’s been writing since she was ten and has wanted to be a writer even longer. When she’s not writing or otherwise gainfully occupied, she reads like it’s an addiction, exercises, skis whenever she gets the chance, and adds more books to her Amazon wish list.

OTHER WORKS BY KATHARINE SADLER

The Reapers (5 book series)

The Reaping (Reapers 1)

On a White Horse (Reapers 1.5)

The Revolt (Reapers 2)

The Rift (Reapers 3)

Switch (Reapers 3.5)

The Resonance (Reapers 4)

Dying Dreams (Trilogy)

Dying Dreams (Dying Dreams 1)

Dying Innocence (Dying Dreams 2)

Fairy Files (7 book series)

Fairy on the Rocks (Fairy Files 1)

Pink Princess Fairytini (Fairy Files 2)

I’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

You can chat with me at:

www.KatharineSadler.com

www.Facebook.com/KatharineGSadler

www.Twitter.com/KatharineSadler

www.pinterest.com/AuthorKSadler

If you’d like to learn more about the kitsch Chloe and Sapphire love or see samples of the sorts of clothes Sapphire prefers, check out my pinterest pages (link above).

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

OJW Conversion -

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR