Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
T he soles of Lila’s boots skidded with her sudden stop. The stranger before her was tall and broad-chested, his shaggy walnut hair framing a lean face. He froze in place at her sudden appearance, knees bent and arms slightly spread, as if he were about to leap away rather than attack.
He was not threatening her—at least not yet—but he was in a location no one but a fae should tread.
Her fingers closed around the hilt of her gun, though she kept the weapon out of sight. Raising the tension between them would be foolish, and she might not win a fight. Shifters had power of their own, and energy hummed around this one like crackling static, raising the hair along her arms.
Wolf . And by the yellow cast of his eyes, a wolf about to shift to animal form. Her stomach fluttered, as if she could already feel fangs sliding into her flesh.
“Let me leave,” he said, raising one hand, palm out, as if to keep her away.
“Who are you?” Lila demanded, keeping her voice sharp.
The stranger took a slow step back, and Lila caught a flutter of cloth behind him. Someone else was there, behind the wolf, but there was no time to get a better look.
“Did Teegar bring a pet?” Ademar caught up with her and moved to her right, hemming the stranger in.
“No.” Her response was instant. The wolf wore stained jeans and mud-caked boots. “A captain’s servant would be clean.”
Before she’d stopped speaking, the stranger spun and lunged back the way he’d come, vanishing through the kitchen door. After a split second of shock, Lila sprinted after him. Werefolk were agile, but this one was lightning fast.
She burst into the kitchen, but the beast had vanished. Instead, there was a vampire crouched by an open window. The compact figure was half-hidden in the shadows, her presence more a feeling than a distinct physical form. As Lila turned her way, the vampire flowed into motion, one hand on the sill. In half a second, she would be gone.
And news of what had happened today would be loose in the world—Teegar, the sleeping spell, and her brother’s hiding place. Lila couldn’t allow that—not until she understood what battles Ademar was fighting.
“Stop!” she commanded.
The vampire bared her teeth. Lila raised her weapon and fired. The sound cracked the air, echoing off the bare surfaces of the kitchen. It took a moment to realize that she had missed.
Fangs and darkness hurtled toward Lila with a snarl.
A white streak crackled through the air, engulfing the vampire. Lila recognized Ademar’s magic, as unique to him as the sound of his voice. The moment it struck, the Undead dropped to the ground.
Slowly, Lila lowered her weapon, a tremor of delayed fright passing through her. The bullet had missed, but it had bought her brother time to summon a spell.
“Lila?” Ademar called .
“Fine.” Lila stumbled back, away from the vampire’s crumpled form.
Dark curls spread around the female, stark against her pale skin. Even unconscious, she looked deadly.
“I couldn’t let her leave,” Ademar said, echoing Lila’s earlier thought.
“No argument.”
A rumbling growl vibrated through Lila’s bones. She’d forgotten the shifter for the briefest moment. All she could see were the yellow eyes of the creature padding around the corner of the kitchen island. The beast had a dark gray coat shading to brown and paws the size of dinner plates. The second their eyes met, the wolf crouched, ready to spring.
In an instant, Ademar was between her and the beast, swinging his blade in a twisting motion surely meant to slash the creature’s throat. The wolf sprang backward, losing a tuft of fur. Ademar spun, coming in for a second attack. The fae steel hummed through the air, the sound almost sultry. With a snarl, the wolf feinted, letting Ademar’s stroke cleave the space between them. The moment Ademar stepped into the swing, his balance compromised, the wolf attacked.
Long fangs sliced into Ademar’s flesh. Bones crunched and her brother screamed, pain mixed with surprise. The wolf shook Ademar like a rat, toppling him from his feet. His sword spun away, useless, as blood splashed to the kitchen tiles, paler than human but still smelling of copper and meat. Flesh tore with a sickening sound, and Ademar screamed again, clearly in too much shock to fight back. Blood sprayed, then gushed, spattering the black and white tile of the kitchen floor.
Lila pulled the trigger of her weapon, but nothing happened. The fresh round hadn’t fed properly, leaving the chamber empty. Time slowed as the beast lifted its red muzzle and fixed her with rage-filled eyes. She was next.
Pure instinct took over, drawing power through her as if she’d touched a live electric wire. Pins and needles swept over her skin, tingling through her breastbone and upward to the bones of her skull. She didn’t use battle magic often, and she had to brace herself against the dizzying wave.
The wolf gathered itself, haunches tensing as it prepared to spring. She let the attack fly as the wolf’s paws left the floor. Her bolt was fainter than Ademar’s, but it worked. The spell twisted around the beast like a wind-blown scarf, binding it in a trail of light. The creature jerked as if electrocuted, jaws snapping on empty air. Then it fell heavily on its side, legs flailing as it blacked out. The wolf lay motionless but for one twitching paw.
Lila staggered back, her gaze fixed on her brother. Ademar was still but for the blood pooling around him in a steady flow.
“No!” cried a voice from behind her.
Lila spun, ready for another attack. A female stood in the doorway, her tall form clad in emerald and silver robes. Two figures—servants?—robed in gray stood beside her, their hands hidden in long sleeves and faces shadowed by deep hoods.
“Mother,” Lila said, her voice faint with disbelief. Lady Galeeta of House Fernblade was a creature of the High Court—not the aftermath of a bloody fight. “What are you?—?”
Before Lila could finish her question, Galeeta hitched up the hem of her skirts and ran toward Ademar. The moment she reached his side, she sank down, caressing his face even as her costly robes soaked in his blood.
Lila remembered her brother’s words: Lord Farras invited us to wait for him here . Was this who Ademar had meant by us ? It had to be. I won’t put my family in danger.
No, he’d sacrifice himself instead.
“My beautiful boy.” Galeeta’s voice cracked, though she said the words ever so softly.
Lila’s shock finally broke. The hard tile bruised her flesh as she fell to her knees beside her brother. His right leg was torn open, bone obscenely white against raw, glistening flesh. Her mother was already weaving a spell to stop the gushing blood, but the damage would take far more to heal.
Lila gulped, the lump in her throat suffocating. Ademar had fainted, his face chalky and damp with sweat. Grief sawed at her chest. “We need to get help.”
“There is none.” Her mother’s elegant features twisted with grief and anger. “We are alone here. Unprotected.”
Lila flinched at the words, or maybe it was the unfamiliar bitterness in her mother’s voice. With a visible effort, Galeeta drew herself up and signaled to the robed figures. The two servants straightened, like hounds ready to give chase.
“Take Ademar upstairs,” she ordered. “Quickly.”
They sprang forward, moving in eerie unison. Lila rose and backed away, reluctant to be near them. There was something unnatural in their movements that made her think of long-legged spiders.
Galeeta gestured toward the unconscious intruders sprawled on the floor. “When you’re done, remove those two. You don’t need to be gentle.”
Lila followed the procession to the upper level of the way station. Once Ademar was in his own room, the servants vanished to deal with the intruders as well as the unconscious guards. Lila took a seat in the room across from her brother’s, leaving her mother to work her healing magic on Ademar’s wound. That had beenminutes ago, and then the minutes had stretched into hours. The night slid by, time oddly elastic. Eventually, Lila rose to watch the heavy moon tangle in the branches of the forest beyond the windowpane.
It was impossible to know how long she stood there, fatigue and distress robbing her strength. She had left her apartment only a few hours ago, hoping to find Ademar buried in his work and forgetful of details like food and drink.
It had happened before. The vampires who’d frightened Sala might well have been collecting an unpaid bill. Her older sister had a tendency to panic whenever she had to deal with anyone but another fae. Lila had fielded a few such mini-dramas without complaint—it kept her in touch with family to a bearable degree. She loved them and missed them—missed the daily sense of belonging to a tribe, even if it drove her crazy—but she had no intention of vanishing down the House Fernblade rabbit hole, never to see her real life again.
So, yes, she’d expected to return home tonight in time for a midnight movie and bed. She hadn’t expected two sets of attackers in what should have been a safe space. Certainly not a fight that left her brother severely injured.
Lila yawned, exhausted despite the nervous energy coursing through her body. It had been months since she’d used real magic, and she’d lost her stamina. Ademar would say she was going soft.
She closed her eyes, imagining her brother’s frown as he said it. This time, anger rose instead of grief. She’d questioned Ademar’s actions when she’d first arrived, but now her loyalty was roused. Her brother had been wounded defending fae territory against a werewolf who couldn’t have entered the hidden way station by chance. Someone had sent it—him—and by the Abyss, she’d find out who was responsible.
She turned from the window, needing action. The house was perfectly silent. For a disoriented moment, she wondered if everyone else had left—or simply vanished like ghosts in an old fireside tale. Even her mother’s servants were nowhere in sight.
Lila crossed the hall to Ademar’s bedroom door and pressed her ear to the wood. There was no sound. A morbid fear seized her, and she pushed the door open, expecting the worst.
Ademar lay unmoving under the silken bedcovers, his hands limp at his sides. The regular rise and fall of his chest said he was asleep. A knot between Lila’s shoulder blades released, and she took another step across the thick wool carpet.
Light from the bedside lamp pooled around Ademar, leaving the rest of the large room in shadow. The black and white furnishings stood like phantoms, a discarded coat and empty mug the only signs of disorder.
Her brother was alone, which meant Galeeta must have slipped away unnoticed. Lila knew healing as well as her mother did, although she lacked the centuries of experience that made Galeeta an acknowledged master. So, Lila hovered by the bed, wanting to inspect his leg but afraid to disturb her mother’s healing work. The bleeding had clearly stopped, but a wound like that... Lila pressed her hand to her stomach, suddenly queasy. Her brother was light on his feet, a swordsman of exceptional ability. Was. Had been. She didn’t know how much to fear.
“I’m proud of you,” said her mother.
Lila spun. Galeeta stood in the doorway, one hand on the frame as if she needed support. Like all the Fernblade fae, her face was elegantly sculpted, with gray eyes and light gold hair. Healing drained the practitioner in a way other magic did not. Dark circles rimmed her eyes, stark against the unusual pallor of her skin.
“What did I do?” Lila asked, almost startled. Galeeta rarely praised anyone, much less her wayward daughter.
“You struck down the wolf. I didn’t think you had the courage for that.” The words were quiet, suitable for a sickroom, but they still had the sting of a two-edged compliment.
“I trained in combat,” Lila replied. “I served my time, like everyone else.”
“A few years in the auxiliary guard is one thing. Real combat is another matter.” Galeeta swept forward, taking the chair next to Ademar’s bed. The lamplight shimmered on her gown’s silver trim. “You showed your true colors tonight. You’re one of the family, after all.”
Lila flinched inside, but the pain quickly flared to anger. “Just because I choose to live in the city instead of the palace doesn’t change the fact that I love my family.”
Galeeta gave a dismissive shrug. “I never know what to expect from you, daughter.”
It was an old, old argument about obedience and duty. She’d moved away to escape the conversation, and she wasn’t about to resume it now. “Expect that I’ll sit by your side tonight and keep you company.”
“Very well.” Galeeta studied her sleeping son. “You literally snatched him from the jaws of death. I hope I can save his life.”
“How bad is the injury?”
“Time alone will tell, but he heals well. Only one scar from that duel with Lord Patrus. Otherwise, he is perfect.”
“Nonsense. He is entirely perfect. The best of brothers.” Lila had almost forgotten the duel between Ademar and the spiteful lordling. Patrus had learned the hard way that when Lila said no, she meant it. Her only regret was not skewering him herself.
“Immortals bear unhealed wounds forever,” Galeeta said softly. “I hope with all my heart this fresh injury mends.”
Emotion quickened Lila’s breath—a wave of something between protectiveness and rage. The wolf had much to answer for, sneaking in where he didn’t belong. What had he and the vampire been doing here? Spying? Thieving?
“Where’s Father?” she asked. “He needs to know about this.”
“He wasn’t able to come,” Galeeta replied. “I’ll tell you about that later.”
That wasn’t unusual—as close as they were, her parents pursued very different interests. They had been a love match and remained that way through five children and as many centuries. Gareth and Galeeta. Galeeta and Gareth. Together when it counted, but very much their own independent personalities .
“But you’ll contact him?” Lila persisted.
“Absolutely,” Galeeta said lightly. “Just as soon as I can.”
Lila drew closer to the bed, her fingers trailing along the edge of the silken comforter. Ademar remained still, only his slow, steady breath showing he was anything but an effigy. She reached out, aching to touch her brother, to draw reassurance from the warmth of his skin. Galeeta seized her wrist, but softened the gesture by folding Lila’s hand in her own.
“He needs to sleep.” Galeeta caught her lip in her teeth, an oddly vulnerable expression.
Lila squeezed her mother’s hand. “Perhaps you should, too.”
Her mother’s thin slice of a smile spoke volumes. “These are complicated times. Sleep is a luxury I haven’t enjoyed much lately.”
“I have questions. A lot of them.” Lila met her mother’s clear gaze. “And not just about that wolf. Who or what are those guards of yours? And why was Ademar the one waiting for Lord Teegar?”
Galeeta paused, clearly choosing her words. “Trust me, your brother was doing his duty.”
“Is that all you’re going to say? He bespelled a captain of the Royal Guard.”
Raising her free hand, Galeeta brushed her fingers over Lila’s cheek. “I promise to tell you everything I know, but first I need you to do something for me.”
Lila hesitated, torn between the desire to help and her instinctive caution. Since she’d arrived, four people had been left unconscious. A sensible person would leave. “What do you need?”
Her mother slipped a hand into the pouch at her waist and drew out a plastic fob that looked incongruous against the silk and gems of her robe. “First, beware of using magic in the underground levels of this building. The area is warded against intruders, and most spells will not work or will work in an unpredictable fashion. Some might trigger a dangerous counterattack.”
Lila digested this in silence, unease knotting the muscles in her back. “And that fob?”
“It opens the doors confining our unexpected guests. There is also a key code I will give you. The doors lock automatically, so you do not need either to close them again.”
Lila remained still, unsure how to react. She’d been a guard and made her share of arrests, but those had been partygoers with a skinful of wine. This was something far darker. “You have cells here? In a way station?”
Her mother’s gaze strayed from Lila to Ademar and back. “Find out what the wolf was doing here. We may as well get answers before we make the beast pay for hurting your brother.”
The air in the room seemed to thicken as Lila studied her brother’s still figure. The scar on his cheek was livid against his extreme pallor. In her mind’s eye, she saw fangs rending flesh all over again. Bright blood spilled on the black and white floor.
Before she formed a conscious thought, Lila grasped the fob.