Chapter 22
“Steep this for five minutes and drink it when you’re ready to go to bed.” Marley, who was perched on an ottoman, offered a sachet of herbs to Selene. “It will help you sleep and keep nightmares away.”
Selene took the sachet. “Thank you, Marley. I appreciate it.”
“If you need anything, ask.” Tim was sitting beside Selene on the couch. “We’ll do whatever we can.”
“Would you like to stay at our house tonight?” Marley asked. “We have a guest room and a pull-out. You and Allie are welcome if it’s . . . uncomfortable here.”
“I’ll ask Allie—” Selene began.
“I want to sleep in my room.” Allie was standing at the entrance to the living room. She looked a little pale but otherwise collected.
Marley flew over to her and ruffled her hair. “Are you sure, sweetie? Tim baked chocolate croissants this morning.”
“I sure did.” Tim waved at Allie. “Slumber party? We can stay up late and do face masks.”
Allie offered him a brief smile. “I appreciate it. I do. But I don’t want to run away from this. If I don’t sleep here tonight, I’m afraid I won’t ever want to come back.”
While Selene was proud of Allie’s bravery and maturity, her heart pinched as she wished for a world where something as simple as where Allison would sleep hadn’t become a painful, heavy decision.
“Whatever you want, Allie,” Marley told her. “The offer stands. We always love to see you.”
“Thank you.” Allie’s smile was stronger. “You guys are awesome.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie.” Tim winked at her.
“Auntie Sel, I’m gonna go lie down,” Allie said. “But I need to tell you about Natalie before I go upstairs.”
“What about Natalie?” Selene found herself sitting up straighter as an unpleasant prickling crept over her skin.
Allie frowned and rubbed her eyes. The poor girl was exhausted. “That’s what Josh and I were fighting about.”
The prickling became sharp thorns of fear as she remembered Allie’s anger, her tear-streaked face, and her red-tinged eyes—all before she knew anything about what happened with Daniel.
Marley shot a look at Tim, whose smile had vanished.
“Why would you and Josh fight about Natalie?” Selene had to unclench her jaw to ask the question.
“He broke his promise.” Allie huffed. “About the dagger. Remember when he said he wouldn’t tell Fen about it? Well, he did.”
Selene already knew that, but Fen hadn’t said anything about Natalie when he asked to see the dagger. What changed?
Allie began to gesture angrily as she spoke. “And because of Josh, Natalie is going to get in trouble.”
“What kind of dagger, Allie?” Marley’s voice was like the crack of a whip.
When Allie jumped at his sharp tone, Marley spoke again, more gently. “Can you describe it to me?”
Selene answered before Allie could. “It was silver. The hilt was inlaid with moonstones.”
“Oh fuck,” Tim blurted, then shot a glance at Allie. “Sorry.”
“This is bad.” Marley’s wings flapped with such speed that they buzzed as he hovered beside Allie. “This is very, very bad.”
Selene looked from Tim to Marley, frowning. “Do you . . . know about Natalie’s work?”
Marley nodded. The green vines that curled over his limbs were turning brown, withering. Did that mean he was upset? Afraid?
Tim saw it and jumped up, going to Marley and clasping his hand. “Don’t make yourself sick. Please.”
“What are we going to do?” Marley asked in a hushed voice.
Selene stood up and went to them. “I need you to slow down. What’s happening?”
It was hard to keep her voice calm when the two men were clearly panicking.
“Yeah.” Allie’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I’m mad at Josh for breaking his promise and making trouble for Natalie. But you guys are freaking out. I don’t get it.”
“We should sit down.” Tim guided Marley back to the ottoman, coaxing him to land, then dragged an armchair over so he could sit close enough to hold Marley’s hand.
Selene and Allie sat opposite them on the couch.
“Allie, I need you to tell me exactly, and I mean exactly, what Josh said to you about the dagger and Natalie,” Tim prompted.
Allie bit her lip. “Um, I’ll try. I was so mad. I hope I remember it right.”
Though her pulse was racing, Selene put her hand on Allie’s shoulder. “Take your time, Allie.”
“Josh and I were in the garden,” Allie told them. “And I was annoyed because I wanted to go home, and he kept stalling. Then he told me it was because—”
Allie cast a guilty look at Selene. “He said you hooked up with Fen, and we shouldn’t interrupt.”
Embarrassed, Selene cleared her throat. It was the sort of thing Marley and Tim would usually love to tease her about, but they were both stone faced.
“Go on, Allie,” Tim urged.
Allie nodded. “Bannock and Ewan showed up and said they needed to talk to Josh. So I walked around while they were talking, then Josh came back and asked how close Aunt Selene and Natalie are.”
“Oh fuck,” Tim said again. He didn’t bother apologizing this time.
“I told him you’re really close, and then he said that Natalie was selling illegal weapons like the dagger and that she’d broken Avondale’s laws by doing it and that Fen was going to have to deal with it. That’s when I started yelling at him for breaking his promise, and we got into a big fight.”
“Call Arachne,” Marley told Tim. “Her place is across from Natalie’s. She’ll know if anything has happened yet. Maybe Nat got out in time.”
Got out? Selene watched their exchange with increasing alarm. What the hell did that mean?
Tim nodded, pulled out his phone, and went into the front hall.
“Why are you so worried?” Allie’s knee bounced with nerves. “I get that Natalie’s in trouble, but won’t she just have to pay a fine or something?”
Marley shook his head. “I wish that were the case.”
“Natalie gave me the impression that her real work was a big secret,” Selene said. “How do you know about it?”
“I help her,” Marley replied. “There are many ways paranormals can abuse humans, but one is to foster an addiction to magical substances, in the same way a human could become dependent on heroin or opioids. Rehabilitation from a magical addiction is difficult and extremely painful, but I make medicinal compounds that assist in the process. I provide them to Natalie when she has a client who is in that situation.”
“That’s amazing, Marley,” Selene said. She was also glad to know Natalie had allies in Avondale, despite her work falling on the wrong side of the town’s laws.
He gave her a sad smile. “Thank you. I wouldn’t risk doing it if I didn’t believe it was important and necessary.”
“That means you could be in trouble too?” Selene asked.
“I will be if Fenris finds out I’m involved,” Marley replied. “But Natalie won’t give up any of her associates. And Fen won’t—”
He broke off, casting an uneasy look at Allie.
“Go ahead,” Selene told him, ignoring the spike of dread in her gut. She needed to know everything about what kind of trouble Natalie was in, and Allie had been through too much to be shielded from the ways the world could be awful any longer.
After a brief nod, Marley continued. “He won’t torture Natalie to get information.”
Selene sucked in a sharp breath. She hadn’t been expecting that. “Oh god.”
“Fen isn’t cruel,” Marley tried to reassure Selene. “That kind of punishment isn’t his way or in his nature.”
Selene appreciated his kind tone, and she could tell he was being sincere, but she was reeling from the fact that the word torture had entered the conversation at all.
Tim walked back into the room, his expression drawn. “They took her. Tonight.”
Marley buried his face in his hands.
“Who took her?” Selene asked Tim. She was almost certain she already knew the answer, but she didn’t want to believe it.
“Fenris and his guard,” Tim answered, his voice full of grief. “It’s over.”
“Oh, Natalie,” Marley said from behind his hands.
Tim went to Marley and put his arms around him.
Images from the last several hours flashed through Selene’s mind.
Gabriel and Kipp showing up at the diner.
Fen’s abrupt departure.
“I wanted to explain what’s happened.”
That’s why Fen had come to the house.
He was going to tell her about Natalie. But what was he going to say?
Whatever it was had to be upsetting enough that Fen hadn’t been willing to reveal it while Selene was suffering the aftermath of Daniel’s attack. Yet the ramifications of Natalie’s actions were serious enough that Fenris had left Selene with Tim and Marley because he had to enforce Avondale’s law.
Allie’s voice broke the silence. “What’s going to happen to Natalie?”
Marley lifted his face from his hands. Tears coursed down his cheeks. “They’re going to execute her.”
Selene didn’t mean to laugh, but she did. The sound split the room like a rifle report.
“You’re joking.” She stared at Marley. “They . . . they can’t.”
Fen had kept Natalie’s crime from her because the news would be upsetting. He was trying to be kind. That made sense. This, she couldn’t believe. This was pure insanity.
Tim shook his head. “They can. And they will.”
“But”—Selene’s voice listed toward shrill—“she’s helping people.”
“She is,” Tim replied. “But that’s not how Fen will see it. To him, what she does is traffic in weapons that are a threat to his pack. Have you seen her storeroom? It’s an arsenal.”
Allie leaned into Selene, her voice shaky. “Fen won’t really do that. He wouldn’t hurt Natalie. She’s a good person.”
Selene knew what went unspoken was “not like Daniel.” It was exactly what she was thinking. Killing Daniel was justified. But this . . .
“When you say ‘they’re going to execute her,’ is there some kind of paranormal court that’s going to be convened to sentence Natalie?”
Tim and Marley snuck glances at each other.
Selene let out a frustrated growl. “Oh, just tell me.”
“The decision is Fen’s,” Marley said.
“So he could stop it.” Selene was speaking more to herself than to the others, but Tim’s expression became mortified.