CHAPTER EIGHT
Another week passed. There were no more dreams or crime scenes, not a single development that would help us find Oliver. I became more determined than ever to arrange a meeting with Lucifer. But when I still didn’t hear back from Lyari, I decided to take Laurie’s advice.
On Saturday morning, I sent her another text and went to Adam’s.
I found him, Gil, and Seth in the bay. Adam sat on the couch, his arms resting on the cushions behind him.
Gil and Seth sparred on the mat, both of them only wearing basketball shorts, their torsos gleaming with sweat.
They circled each other, and Adam’s usual rock music played from an ancient radio on the shelf.
Seth was bouncing on his feet, and as I set my bag down next to the couch, I bit my lip to hide a smile.
“Hey, Adam,” I said, raising my chin at the vampire. I glanced around his empty shop. “You know, I’ve been curious about something. Do you ever, like, have any actual customers?”
“I don’t know, Fortuna. Do you ever get anyone’s order right at the bar?” Adam deadpanned, never taking his gaze off the fighters in front of him.
Gil and Seth hooted. My eyes narrowed at Adam, but my lips twitched. “Pissing off the person who handles your coffee every day. I thought vampires were supposed to be smart. You know, considering the fact you’ve literally had a thousand years to evolve.”
“Less talking, more cutting,” Gil drawled, his dyed hair glinting in the light. “Or do you not care about learning how to defend yourself anymore, doll face?”
Seth walked off the mat, his bare feet slapping on the concrete.
He took a towel off the couch and slung it around his neck.
While I removed my jacket and shoes, stripping down to the absorbent tank top I was wearing and a dark pair of yoga pants—black was best whenever I trained at Adam’s, since it hid the bloodstains from any humans who walked in—the two of them talked about areas Seth needed improvement. Which was, unfortunately, all of them.
Despite his supernatural speed and strength, Seth was no fighter.
That didn’t stop him from trying, and it didn’t stop us from teaching him.
A storm was coming, and we all knew it. Seth was one of our own now.
The thought of him not being able to protect himself was unacceptable.
Even Adam had taken to treating him like a little brother.
Once I’d set my shoes off to the side and done a few warm-ups, I took my sword from the weapons rack. I’d been keeping it here since I came so often. As I lowered the blade and adjusted my grip, I noticed how it seemed lighter. I was getting stronger.
The thought sent a surge of pride through me, and fresh resolve.
I grabbed a second sword before turning to Gil and joining him on the mat, all the bright lights of the shop shining down on us.
I handed it to him without a word. A whisper of apprehension went through me, but I kept it from my expression as I lifted my chin and got into position, readying myself.
Sparring with Gil was different to sparring with Adam.
Months ago, I’d asked Gil to teach me more about my Nightmare abilities.
He had held true to that agreement with far more enthusiasm than I liked.
When we fought, he didn’t just go for my jugular—Gil went for my heart, too.
Once or twice, he might have taken it too far.
He’d brought up the day I’d killed Collith, and all the people I had killed at the black market.
Those were memories I tried not to think about, or at least, I’d used to.
Gil didn’t exactly give me much choice in the matter.
To teach me control, he told me, he had to bring me to the brink of losing it.
As our eyes met across the mat, I gathered a quiet breath and released it slowly through my nose. I searched for the place inside myself that no one else could access. A hideaway full of glittering water and birdsong. A scene with open skies and a swaying, creaking fishing boat.
So when Gil asked, “How’s your hunt for the Beast going?” I gave him no response.
And when he came for me, I reacted entirely on instinct.
“Make sure there’s a bend in your elbow,” Adam instructed from the couch. He watched us for another moment before adding, “You’re developing a habit of withdrawing your arm to prepare for the thrust. Fortuna, you’re not focused. This is beginner shit.”
“Sorry,” I muttered, correcting my stance.
Gil smirked. “How embarrassing.”
My eyes narrowed at him. Without warning, I swung my sword. Gil blocked the assault, but it was close, and he knew it—surprise flashed in his expression. My chest heaved as I said, “Remember when I asked for your opinion? Oh, wait, that didn’t happen.”
In an expert movement, he swung his arm around, using so much strength that I was forced to follow it. Our blades separated with a hard, hollow sound. Gil stepped away and began to circle me. “Still ruled by your emotions, I see,” he remarked.
I gave him a cold smile. “Am I?”
In an instant, I rolled down his blade in an anti-clockwise direction, raising my own to shorten its reach.
As I came out of the spin, the tip of my sword scraped across Gil’s chest. I didn’t give him a chance to recover before I spun again.
The vampire rushed to block my second assault, and his features sharpened with concentration.
We both knew I could’ve done far more damage if I’d wanted.
Gil didn’t taunt me again. We kept going, one minute stretching into two. Every once in a while, Adam called out a correction, but Gil’s attention only shifted from our fight when someone behind me said, “My lady? Are you all right?”
I lowered my sword, breathing hard, and looked over my shoulder at Lyari. “Oh, good. You’re here.”
“I need more caffeine,” Adam said abruptly. He finally got up from the couch and headed for the door, muttering as he passed, “Better get some from Bea’s while it’s still safe to drink.”
“We’ll come with you,” Gil declared. He took my weapon without comment and strolled off the mat. He hung up our swords, then slung his arm over Seth’s narrow shoulders. “I’ve a hankering for some greasy food. Did Gretchen add fish and chips to the menu yet? She promised she would.”
Seth murmured something back, and the door hinges squealed as they left. I watched Lyari scan the room, searching for an immediate threat.
“He really loves the sound of his own voice, doesn’t he?
” I asked dryly. Still trying to come down from training, I went over to the couch and rummaged through my bag.
I said over my shoulder, “I have an update. Multiple updates, actually. We found out that Oliver is being controlled, and he has been this whole time. I’ll give you three guesses who’s doing it.
All of the victims are connected, like we thought—the Dark Prince has been looking for something, Lyari. Olorel’s grave.”
My fingers closed around the water bottle I’d been looking for.
As I took a drink, I faced the faerie and saw that her nostrils were flaring.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and unlocked the screen, then showed it to me.
“‘Danger,’” she said flatly. “‘Life or death.’ That’s what your message said. ”
I raised my eyebrows, twisting the cap back on the water bottle. “Isn’t it?”
Lyari let out a long breath through her nose. “I don’t have time for this, Your Majesty.”
“Why not?” I challenged as she turned away. I tossed the bottle onto the couch and hurried after her, my voice slicing through the music that was still playing. “Are you back at the Unseelie Court—is that it? Or maybe you’re running errands for him again.”
Lyari stopped. She swung back around and closed the distance between us, then shoved her face in mine. “Never,” she hissed.
Satisfaction blazed through me, and suddenly I knew exactly how Laurie had felt so long ago, when he’d goaded Collith at the Unseelie Court by proposing to me. The words he’d said that day echoed through my memory. “There you are,” I said.
“What do you want from me?” Lyari demanded, pulling back. “Do you not understand how terrible it is to be here? I am no longer fit to be your Right Hand!”
She tried to hide her pain, but some of it slipped into her voice.
I felt an answering ache in my own chest. This wasn’t just about her transition.
I knew that she blamed herself for Finn’s death, just as I did.
For the first time, I looked at Lyari and realized why I’d always been drawn to her.
From the very beginning, even after she’d struck me, she had stood out from others.
We were different in so many ways, and yet, the one thing we shared made those differences insignificant.
We were afraid.
We both hid it well, me behind my bravado or my hate, and Lyari behind her uniform or her honor. Each of us terrified that we were broken or lacking in some way. Love terrified us most of all. But without it, we’d get lost in the dark. We’d become the very things we feared.
“I want you to come home,” I told Lyari firmly. “If not for your sake, then for mine. Emma has been asking where you are incessantly. She misses you.”
“She does?”
I smiled at her, softening. “Of course she does. We all do.”
“I … miss all of you, as well.” Lyari’s posture was stiff as she said it. For a second, I thought about hugging her, but I quickly dismissed the idea. I reached for a towel instead.
“There was another reason I reached out,” I said as I began to dry myself off. I forced myself to meet Lyari’s gaze again. “I was hoping you still have a connection to him, or a way to contact his people.”
“Why?” she asked instantly. Just as I had an Unseelie Queen mask, Lyari had a Guardian face, and she wore it now. She didn’t ask who I was talking about—the two of us had never played stupid games like that. It was one of the reasons I liked her so much.