Chapter 7 #2
She didn’t say anything until we were in her Subaru, but as she backed out onto Main, she threw me a significant glance. “Pretty sure I know who ratted you out, but I don’t want to make accusations until I have proof.”
Okay, that wasn’t weirdly cryptic or anything.
“Friend or foe?” Surely she could tell me that much.
“Hard to be sure.” She glanced left before taking a right on Robinson. “But I don’t think this is a trap. Monique is probably exactly who she claims to be.”
My hunch magic had been silent, but I agreed with her assessment. Monique was clearly just a desperate mom who wanted her son back.
We took Robinson all the way to Twenty-first and made a left, into the quiet streets of Mesta Park. The homes here were a mix of remodeled and run down, many of them nearly a century old.
Our destination was near the corner of Twenty-first and Lee—a small, gray and white bungalow with a red door, a porch swing, and perfectly manicured flowerbeds. The porch light was on, and Monique stood there waiting for us.
“Not a trap,” I mumbled under my breath. “Definitely not a trap.”
“And if it is a trap,” Kira said coolly, “they will very shortly wish they’d never been born.”
I glanced back, but the darkness hid her expression.
“You sound like you’re hoping there will be a fight.”
She let out a very dragonish-sounding growl. “Okay, maybe a little. I’m worried, and I don’t like being worried, so I wouldn’t mind letting off a little steam. A nice fae ambush would really hit the spot right about now.”
Yep, that was dragons for you.
“How about we do this all calm and peaceful-like, and then we’ll take the next flight out to Colorado? I’ll tell Callum his court is being mean to me, and you can beat up as many fae as you want.”
“Deal,” she said, holding up a fist for me to bump.
I obliged, then turned to open my door, and let out a deeply embarrassing shriek.
Right outside my window was a pair of glowing golden eyes.
Well, at least that solved the mystery of who’d given my name to Monique.
I opened my door a little more forcefully than necessary and grumbled to myself when Shane Isaacson somehow managed to dodge without looking remotely awkward or put out.
“So, I have you to thank for this?”
“You’re welcome.” Shane’s voice was deep and velvety smooth, even with his goblin fangs in evidence, and he sounded not even slightly penitent.
On the other side of the car, Kira stepped out and shut her door, but hovered in the street without saying anything. If I’d known Shane was involved, I probably wouldn’t have asked her along. This thing between them was far too painful to deliberately subject her to his icy behavior.
“How did you get mixed up in this?”
“Monique was friends with… my mother.” Shane’s gaze very noticeably did not stray to Kira. “They both enjoyed gardening, and I believe they bonded over the hazards of raising teenage boys.”
“Did you know Jeremiah?”
Shane shook his head. “I’ve been away for too many years. He was just a baby when I was…”
Taken by the fae.
But still, I guessed that some part of him saw his mother in Monique and couldn’t suppress the desire to ensure that their story was not the same as his.
I was relieved, at least, to know that it was Shane who’d sent Monique to find me. It meant that I could officially stop worrying about this being a trap.
So I took one step closer and lowered my voice. “Do you believe her?”
The golden glow in Shane’s eyes intensified, and I saw the tips of his fangs as he let out a tiny huff of frustration.
“She’s a good mom, and she’s telling the truth as she knows it. Other than that, it’s up to you to find out.”
Monique’s mom instincts insisted someone had taken her son, and I knew better than to discount those. Which meant that Jeremiah was probably actually missing, and if magic had been used in his kidnapping…
I didn’t like the implications of that at all.
So, my first concern had to be figuring out whether magic was indeed involved. And if it was?
A cold, greasy feeling of dread spread from my chest towards my limbs as I fought to stay free of my own memories.
Idrians kidnapping humans.
I would not allow it to happen again. And not only because of my own ugly past.
If history was repeating itself—and if it became widely known—this incident could all too easily fan the flames of unrest between Idrians and humans in this city.
People would be hurt. People I cared about.
And I would do everything in my power to prevent that—even investigate a potential crime that made me feel like throwing up.
I turned towards the porch before looking back over my shoulder at Shane. “Are you here for the introduction or here to help?”
He took a long, uncomfortable pause—as if he didn’t want to answer—and my hunch magic supplied the rest.
“Kes asked you to watch my back.”
“Keep your siren magic to yourself, Kendrick,” he growled at me.
“I don’t do it on purpose,” I snapped. “Why not just tell me the truth yourself?”
Perhaps because Shane Isaacson, feared mercenary, would not want anyone finding out that his weak point was a fragile half-fae woman currently being hunted by the most dangerous bounty hunters in the country.
And also because he would rather be watching out for Kes instead of babysitting me.
“I’m fine,” I informed him dryly. “Kes didn’t know Kira would be coming with me. You can go back to keeping an eye on her, and we’ll handle this.”
The look he shot me was swift and questioning.
“No, you haven’t been spotted. Kes has no idea you’ve been watching our place.”
He wanted to ask how I knew, but feared he wouldn’t like the answer.
“She’s too trusting,” he finally muttered. “Too unaware of her surroundings. And she freezes in the face of danger. She needs a bodyguard, and Ethan is more of a liability than a help.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“Make a deal with me?” I suggested.
His silence indicated he was at least willing to listen.
“I need a favor. I’ve been getting recruitment offers from mercenary guilds, and they’re causing problems for Faris. If you can put the word out that I’m not for sale—at any price—I’ll convince Kes that she needs a bodyguard.”
His arms crossed, and he looked down at me, eyes narrowed. “Not just any bodyguard, Kendrick.”
“Fine. I’ll see how she feels about letting you protect her.” I gave him back stare for stare. “That’s all I can promise you, Shane. I won’t take away her right to choose—even to choose danger if that’s what she wants—and you shouldn’t either.”
After a few moments, he nodded. “Fair. I’ll see to it that you’re taken off the market. And you’ll inform me immediately when Kes makes her decision.”
It was not a question.
“I will inform you,” I said with a sigh, digging out my phone and unlocking it before holding it out. “Here, go ahead and send yourself a text. Congratulations, you’re only the”—I counted silently in my head—“eighth person to have my contact info.”
He didn’t take my phone, but looked slightly uncomfortable as he pulled out his own device.
“I already have your number,” he confessed, right before my phone buzzed with a text.
My mouth dropped open. “Kes did not give you my phone number.”
“No, she didn’t.” His expression had gone very deliberately blank.
“Then how did you get it?” We didn’t have any other mutual friends who would just hand over my information like that.
He paused for a moment, then muttered, “Magic.” He looked dead serious too, so I just rolled my eyes. I had no idea what goblin magic was actually capable of, but even considering they were good with tech, stealing phone numbers seemed like a stretch.
“Fine, whatever. Don’t tell me.” Though I was definitely going to pursue this at a later date. “Go stake out the apartment. Kira and I have got this.”
He unbent far enough to throw Kira a quick glance, then waved at Monique before walking away into the darkness. Back to his lonely vigil. I wondered how many hours he’d slept in the last week. How long he could keep this up before he collapsed.
How long before he and Kes were willing to publicly admit to this… whatever was happening between them.
“Sometimes I wonder if he’ll ever forgive me,” Kira murmured.
Kira was one of the kindest, fiercest, most loving people I knew, and the rift between her and Shane had to be a bleeding wound in her heart.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I told her firmly. “The fae killed his mom. Not you.”
“But if it weren’t for me…”
“Look, I know that’s how he sees it,” I insisted. “But that’s his pain talking. You were an abandoned kid trying to survive, and he’s wrong to blame you.”
“I know,” Kira whispered, staring after him in the darkness. “But I can’t fix it. I feel like we could be friends. Family, even. But he doesn’t want that, and there’s nothing I can do.”
And nothing was harder for Kira than feeling helpless. She needed to be busy. Active. Fixing or helping.
But sometimes hearts couldn’t be fixed or helped. Only waited for.
“I’m sorry. I wish I could make it better.”
She shook her head. “We can make it better. If not for Shane, then at least for Jeremiah. Let’s make sure he comes home safely, and that no more kids are stolen from their moms. No more parents have to wait up night after night wondering if their kids are okay.
And no more monsters like Elayara or Blake get to ruin lives and break families without consequences. ”
It was the same mission I’d chosen for myself when I’d decided to embrace the magic I’d been given. Only now, I liked to think I was stronger. Wiser.
And I wasn’t doing it alone.
Hopefully that meant Jeremiah had a fighting chance—to survive and make it home, before this world broke him the exact same way it had broken me.