Chapter 12
twelve
LIV
Callum said he was busy with Kat, so I headed to Merrily's house immediately after leaving the orchard. She would know who I needed to call about accessing enough of my money to pay the werewolves' debt. I didn't bother warning her that I was coming—she was always home.
"Hello?" Darius called out from the living room.
Guess he and Merrily were hanging out, like they often were.
"Hey!" I called out.
Darius met me in the foyer, his expression way too neutral. "I thought you were dealing with the wolves."
"I am. I just can't remember the name of the lady I need to call for help."
"We're busy," he said. "You could've just sent a message."
"I don't want to be alone right now, either."
Dare dragged me into a massive hug, squeezing the hell out of me before he set me back down. "There. You're not alone. We'll text you later."
"This is getting very suspicious, Darius."
"No, it's not."
"Yes, it is. What are you hiding?"
I stepped past him so I could get a look at Merrily, who was sitting on her favorite couch, as she often was.
I stopped where I was when I saw her dressed in a less-casual version of her usual lounge clothing. My forehead creased.
She bit her lip as she met my gaze, but released it quickly. The sensation probably triggered her magic a little.
I looked back at Dare.
He was shirtless and wearing a pair of joggers, which was normal for him.
"What's happening here?" I asked.
"We thought you were busy," Merrily said quickly.
The look I gave her was skeptical.
She sighed. "The Wraith reached out to me and asked if we could meet to talk about Grayson."
"The assassin, the Wraith?"
"Yup." Darius didn't look fazed by it.
"What do you know about the Wraith?" I asked.
"Nothing," Merrily admitted. "My people couldn't find anything. All we know is that someone sent me a text labeling themselves as the Wraith and asked if I can meet to discuss my 'fated mate situation'." She used air quotes around the last bit.
"They'll be here any minute, so scram." Darius shooed me toward the back door.
"You scram. I'm not going anywhere."
He didn't leave. Obviously.
There was a knock at the front door a few seconds later, and we all exchanged grimaces.
Some immortals were best to avoid if possible, even for extremely powerful fae. Something told me the Wraith was one of them.
"Sit next to me," Merrily said quietly. "Dare can sit across from the Wraith so we're more prepared if something goes wrong. I don't know how they know about fated mate bonds."
If I had to guess, I'd assume that Callum had decided to meddle in Merrily's situation too, since he was responsible for bringing Niall back into my life.
I wasn't going to say that, though. I was loyal to my best friend, even when he was an asshole.
I sat down next to Merrily, pulling a fidget spinner out of my pocket and twisting it in an attempt to keep my anxiety at bay.
It would be nice to have a mate. To hold his hand instead of fidgeting and pacing or straight-up panicking.
Callum was so different now that he had Kat. He actually seemed happy sometimes. Not just sarcastically, either. He smiled, from time to time.
Maybe making a bargain with Niall was a good idea for me. As unlikely as it was that he could be my mate, I needed to know if there was a connection there before I could make any other decisions on the matter.
Merrily and I both watched as a woman stepped out of the hallway and into the kitchen, in front of Darius. She was about my size—short and slim—but unlike me, she looked strong, and had some curves too.
Her grayish-white skin was covered in floral tattoos from her neck to her toes. Not the bargain kind, but actual ink tattoos that glittered with magic. I'd seen magic tattoos on occasion, but I'd never seen an immortal with that skin tone. It made me think something had happened to her.
Something deadly.
Her hair was a striking shade of gray that I'd never seen before.
It almost looked like it had been black before the color was leached out of it unevenly, leaving her with some pieces that were lighter gray and some that were darker.
Her lips were painted black, the eyeliner around her gray eyes was a sharp, thick cat-eye in the same shade, and her nails matched too.
Shadows moved around her constantly, the charcoal tendrils resembling ghostly fog or fire. She wore a simple black romper that was basically a skin-tight tank top connected to a pair of short, stretchy shorts.
The woman looked absolutely badass.
I needed to get one of those outfits.
Not that I'd ever in my life managed to look badass, but there was a first time for everything.
There definitely hadn't ever been pictures of her in the news. No one would forget a woman who looked like that. She was both ghostly and stunning at the same time. Wraith suited her. She didn't even need a real name.
Darius waved her toward one of Merrily's armchairs. The woman moved across the room so silently, I had to look down to make sure that her feet were touching the ground.
They were.
She sat perched on the edge of the chair, her gaze moving slowly, calculatedly, over each of us.
I got the feeling she was trying to decide what she would need to do to keep herself alive if we attacked her. Or maybe she was just considering how she'd kill each of us, if she had to.
She was clearly very powerful, but there was no way she could take out even one of us without dying in the process. An assassin wouldn't bother attacking during the day, anyway. She'd use the shadows to kill us at night, when we weren't expecting it, if she wanted us dead.
Of course, the wards around Rumor would fall with us, which didn't make us ideal targets.
"Callum Frost told Grayson Darke to research fated mates," the Wraith said, not bothering with greetings as she looked straight at Merrily.
"I work with Gray. We hunted fae and even tried to bargain for the information, but it took time to find someone who would tell us.
Now that Grayson has figured out what the connection is, he's planning to abduct you as soon as he gets things settled in the Shadow District. "
Merrily went still.
"Why are you here, then?" Darius drawled.
The Wraith flashed him a look that couldn't have been anything other than irritation.
"I'm aware that abducting Death without warning could cause a war.
Consider this your warning. The demons have no desire to fight with you.
When Grayson takes Death, he takes her as a fated mate. Not as an enemy to the fae."
She rose to her feet smoothly, apparently done with the conversation
Darius rose to his too, his body position casual, but his eyes holding enough of a warning to make me go still too. "No."
The Wraith scoffed. "It wasn't a question."
"No. Darke can't just take her. Merrily's magic is very particular. If he abducts her, she'll suffer even more than she already does."
"Grayson doesn't care about the semantics right now. He learned the truth yesterday, and he's handling some problems on our side of the city today. He'll take her as soon as he can. She'll have to figure out how to deal with him when he does."
"Fine. If she goes to the Shadow District, I go too," Dare said bluntly.
The Wraith's shadows grew thicker, darker, and more substantial. "This isn't a negotiation, Scorch."
Darius opened his mouth to disagree, but her shadows engulfed her entirely, hiding her from our sight.
When the shadows dissipated, she was gone.
I gaped at the empty place where she had been standing.
Darius and Merrily stared too.
"Did she just transport through shadows?" My voice came out far more strangled than I intended it to.
"Of course not." Merrily's voice was strained. "That's not possible."
"She did, though." Dare's grimace was deep.
"If she wants to kill us, we're fucked," I said bluntly.
Merrily let out a quiet breath. "She still needs us alive to power the city's wards. It would be too dangerous to tie them to a demon. Technically, she was doing us a favor by warning us."
"What do you want us to do here, Mer?" Darius asked.
"I don't know." She leaned back against the couch a little more, her gaze focusing on something above my shoulder.
He was her fated mate. He could give her peace, and I obviously understood the draw of that.
Considering her magic was literal death, he was also the only person who would ever be able to touch her intimately without risking their life.
"If you're going to let him abduct you, you've got to figure out a way to convince the Wraith to bargain with me while you're there," Darius told Mer.
He was trying to lighten the mood, and I'd play along.
"Why? She's fucking terrifying," I said, gesturing to the place she had been.
"She's the first interesting thing I've seen in this city in decades."
"He's also turned on by things that scare him," Merrily said with a sigh.
"Go ahead. Talk about me like I'm not here." Darius kicked back on the couch, his arms behind his head as he rested against the cushions.
I let out a long breath and stood up. "I have to do a handstand again. Fuck my magic."
"Amen." Darius lifted a fist toward me. I lifted mine back, for a feigned fist bump. Merrily did too.
I went over to the nearest wall and kicked my legs up in a handstand.
"We're going to have to try to come up with a plan as far as what to do about Darke," Darius said. "We'll think of something good."
"We could abduct him before he gets the chance to come for Mer," I pointed out.
Both of them suddenly looked very intrigued.
"That. Let's do that," Darius declared.
"I'll think about it. It would probably lead to war if I abducted him. Or another rebellion, at the very least. The Shadow District would fall apart for good," Merrily pointed out, her intrigue fading.
"He can't be that important," Darius countered.
"Tell me you don't pay attention in Cabinet meetings without telling me you don't pay attention in Cabinet meetings," I drawled. "Mer's right, we'd start a war, and the Shadow District is too much of a mess to survive losing him. We need a better plan."
"I'll keep thinking about it. What did you decide about Niall?" Merrily looked at me. "Are you going to ask him to make a bargain with you?"
"It seems like the best call. I think I'm going to try."
"Finally," Darius feigned relief. "Unlike Jonah, we actually want that bastard in our family."
The way Merrily smiled told me she agreed.
"You'll need to come up with something he really wants. Niall isn't just going to play along," Dare warned.
I knew that.
And I had a plan.
The beginning of a plan, at least.