seat was still every bit as flowery and over the top as I remembered, a small island set aside from mainland Detroit, dotted with pretty buildings, many of which had been around since the late 1800s. Nothing ever changed here, an endlessly blooming bubble of flowers, trees, and shrubs, even in the frigid Michigan winters. Their king, Odell, was just as unchanging as the landscape—I was sure he was still just as much of a dickwad as ever.
Martina, Robin, and I drove across the bridge past the shining white columns of the bathhouse and the brick exterior of the aquarium where the water-types liked to hang out. We pulled up right in front of the sprawling glass conservatory with its tall, glittering central dome rising amid the long, low glass wings around it. We exited the car, pausing for a moment to take in our surroundings and try to get a feel for the magic around us. Fae magic was easy for me to parse, but I knew it took the others a little bit longer to sift through the layers. Currently, I could sense the usual wards, and the defensive magic that the guards by the front door were carrying. But nothing too sinister.
We all shared a glance and moved toward the entrance to the sparkling, ornate glass conservatory where Odell held court. Robin took the lead and I fell in behind her, beside Martina. Our princess didn’t need us to protect her front. And it made her seem more confident if she just strolled in like she was unconcerned. I hated these fucking games. Sometimes I almost forgot about all the power plays and subtle posturing that went on in the other courts. The fae were bad, but you should see the vampires. Those fuckers lived for making a production out of everything.
We were led through a maze of growing things and into the heart of the conservatory, the vaulted open space under the dome, where Odell and his court always gathered for meals and important shit. When we entered the room, I glanced around and clenched my teeth together. It was a good thing we hadn’t brought Sanka or Dusek to this meeting. There was no way either of them would have been able to remain as calm and unaffected as the three of us were currently pretending to be.
Odell sat on his stupid cushion at the head of a low table spread with every fae delicacy you could think of, all of it there just to make a show of how prosperous his court was so he could tempt Robin to join. A goblet of something dangled from his graceful, ring-bedecked fingers as he sat there in his expensive suit, as if he believed he truly was a king.
And beside him, kneeling on her own cushion, wearing a ridiculous ballgown and a blindfold over her eyes, was Ruya. The glittering collar around her throat, and the deceptively thin magic-reinforced chain that connected her to Odell’s free hand, would have had Sanka and Dusek murdering people and ruining all Robin’s future plans in an instant.
I raked my eyes over the witch, noting how thin she was. She had that starving look about her again, and it pissed me off. I had spent far too much time fattening her up for Odell to have her looking like a skeleton again. My wings buzzed in agitation, and I immediately flattened them to my back. It never helped matters to show the fae any emotion that they might use against you.
“Robin, my dear! So nice of you to pay us a visit,” Odell said, gifting Robin with a beatific smile on his handsome face, while completely ignoring me and Martina. “Come and have a seat.”
Robin arched one perfectly shaped red-gold brow at the man, one corner of her mouth lifting into a smile that was half seduction, and half wry acknowledgement of the game they played. “Odell,” she said as she sank down onto a cushion on the opposite side of the table, tucking her long legs to the side and smoothing a hand over her own immaculate charcoal gray pencil skirt.
She somehow managed to always walk the line between looking like a powerful business adversary and a sexy secretary at these sorts of meetings. I forced myself to keep a straight face. But great yetis, how I loved to watch people underestimate our princess just because she was a beautiful woman.
I took a seat to Robin’s left, Martina settling in on our princess’s right side. Robin gracefully poured herself a glass of wine, then gestured for me to help myself. Martina wrinkled her nose like she was watching us drink dog piss. Odell had an affinity for ingestible enchantments. The pixie dust and other magical drugs the fae liked to put in everything didn’t have much effect on me, since I was part fae. And Robin had enough magic in her being to burn it all off before it did more than give her a little bit of a buzz, like the fae themselves. But Martina would be high as a kite if she partook in the spread laid out before us.
“You really should come by and visit us at The Fox sometime, your majesty,” Robin said easily, as she sipped her overly-sweet fae wine. “We’ve just done some renovation.”
Her gold eyes watched the fae king like a predator with prey in sight.
Odell chuckled. “Is that so? I had heard there was some unfortunate damage to some old relic of a building when my people uplifted this poor witch from the ghettos. Was your little theater damaged? How regrettable.”
Uplifted. As if snatching Ruya and putting a collar on her was Odell saving her from the awful unaligned district. Funny how I didn’t think Ruya would call it that. Our witch was quiet and still, facing forward, back ramrod straight and shoulders tensed as if she was preparing for a fight to break out. Poor thing. She had no idea how boring these sorts of games really were.
Odell sipped his drink, then leaned forward to set his goblet aside, his blue eyes riveted on Robin, the covetous bastard. He only saw our princess a pawn. A potential possession that he could trot out to brag about. I knew he liked to acquire people. Just like a human with no magic and a tiny dick who had to have a collection of overpriced sports cars to compensate.
Robin would make a terrible possession. But I was content to let him find that out the hard way the first time he tried to control her, and his new pet ended up eating half his court.
“Yuki-onna,” Odell said coldly, snapping me out of my daydreams of blood and terror. “Do you find something amusing?”
I gave him a brittle smile. “Just recalling old times, your majesty.”
Odell’s right eyelid twitched. “Joss asks about you often,” he said with a cold, cutting smile. “Though I’m afraid he’s not able to visit just now, since he’s busy strengthening our ties to the vampires.” He pitched his voice low, as if he was sad for the man. “He really is set on making amends for his foolishness.”
Decades later, and the fae were still punishing my ex-lover for daring to fuck a guy who broke their stupid rules. But if Odell thought I gave a shit, he was wrong. He could whore Joss out to the vampires all he wanted, for all I cared. The guy was an idiot with no loyalty. “Darn,” I said flatly.
Robin cut a glance between me and Odell, then helped herself to a blood orange, her long, sharp fingernails sinking into the skin, careless of the blood-red juice that dripped onto her plate. “Let’s not play games, Odell. You know I’m no good at them. I have little use for politics where I’m from.”
Lies. Robin was the best there was at games. But she leaned into his assumption that the poor bumpkin shifter was just so uncultured because she chose to live outside the reach of the syndicate and the questionable “protection” it offered.
Odell turned his attention to his own food, using his left hand to reach for a piece of bread. The chain tying him to Ruya tightened, jerking at the collar around her throat. The silent witch let out a strangled noise and lifted her hands to grip the collar as it dug into her pale flesh.
“Oops,” Odell said, his voice dripping fake contrition. “I almost forgot you were there, pet.”
Robin didn’t look impressed. She gave Odell a bland look that said, “I just told you I wasn’t playing games today.”
“Oh, but this is why you’re here, isn’t it?” the fae king said to Robin as he buttered his bread. “To get your little crippled healer back?” He shrugged. “Though why you’d go to all the trouble, I have no idea. Her powers are weak, and she’s stubborn and ungrateful. Wouldn’t you rather just leave her with me than owe me a favor?”
Robin ate her orange, wiping red juice off her chin in a calculated, unladylike gesture that reminded everyone who could see her of a beast eating raw meat. “I came because I have some information I thought you would want to hear, my darling fae friend. I know how much you value knowledge pertaining to our dear emperor.”
Odell’s eye narrowed. He was a power-hungry bastard. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he’d love to become emperor of the syndicate himself one day. “And how would an unaligned—no matter how lovely—know anything of note about our emperor?”
Robin just shrugged one elegant shoulder, her eyes still trained right on Odell. On her prey. “Being an outcast sometimes comes with certain benefits, you know. One of them being that no one would accuse the emperor of favoritism among the syndicate groups if he…dallied…with a nobody.”
Martina let out a breath that was almost a scoffing sound, but she kept her eyes on the ceiling, as if examining the purple flowering vine above us was. We both knew Robin hadn’t fucked the emperor. For one thing, the guy—if he even was a guy—was reclusive and secretive to protect himself from assassination. And for another…if Robin ever got close enough to fuck the emperor, she’d find a far better use for her time—like gutting him instead.
But Odell didn’t know that. All he saw was a powerful, beautiful shifter woman who somehow managed to thrive outside the rule of the syndicate. It had to be maddening to him. And now he thought he knew why. He probably assumed that Robin’s fuckbuddy the emperor was keeping her safe. I had no clue what this info she had about the emperor was—if it even existed at all. All I knew was that in the end, Odell wouldn’t take her offer. Ruya and her power were too valuable a possession, and he wouldn’t want to appear desperate. That’s why I was the backup plan. Well, either me or Martina. But probably me.
I glanced at Ruya. The poor woman was absolutely radiating misery. Why was she so upset? Clearly, we’d get her out of here. Did she have no faith in Robin and our court?
I flicked my eyes to Martina, and the chupacabra gave me a miniscule shrug. She could see it too. Was the witch in pain? Had they beaten her? Left injuries somewhere we couldn’t see? Physical violence wasn’t really Odell’s style, though. Not that the asshole couldn't be violent when he was in a snit, but he was usually more for mental torture. I forced my attention back to Robin and Odell, before the fae could catch me staring and worrying.
“I do like gossip as much as the next fae,” Odell was saying. “But I’m afraid hearsay from an unaligned isn’t really enough to convince me to let go of this treasure.” He tugged at Ruya’s collar again, making the witch pitch sideways before once again falling back into her rigid up right posture.
Funny how just moments ago he was going on about how weak her healing abilities were. Now she was suddenly a valuable commodity? I glanced sideways at Robin to see if she had realized what I just did. Odell had no idea how powerful Ruya was. He was guessing. The witch had somehow managed to keep her powers dampened this whole time. Maybe that was why she was so on edge.
“Oh, well,” Robin said with a dismissive wave. “Worth a try, I suppose.” She lifted her wine in a toast. “This really is a superb vintage, Odell. We should visit more often.”
As if we were done here and she was getting ready to say her goodbyes.
“I suppose,” the fae syndicate leader said slowly, as if he was reluctant to offer any compromise. “I could be persuaded to take your offer.” He smiled, slow and dangerous, his eyes raking over Robin’s lean, supple body. “If you offered to sweeten the deal?”
Martina and Robin didn’t react, even though I was pretty sure we all knew what he meant. Robin simply raised one eyebrow at the fae before her. “Are you propositioning me, Odell?”
Fuck. She couldn’t be actually considering his offer? I shifted uncomfortably with a very un-fae-like emotion. I was not going to let that bastard put his hands on my princess.
Odell’s cold blue eyes flicked over to me, catching my twitch of anger. Then he returned his full attention to Robin. I glanced around the room. Ruya had her hands fisted in the front of her skirt, over her thighs. And her chest was rising and falling a bit more rapidly. I wished I could tell her it would all be okay.
A stupid wish. Why the fuck did I care if the weird witch was a little freaked out?
Odell was watching Robin, one elegant brow raised, his fae magic moving through his aura, all compulsion and allure. He’d get her into his bed, and then into his court.
At least, that’s what he thought. Robin had other ideas. For a moment there, I saw all her thoughts laid bare. No one else would notice. They didn’t know her as well as I did. But I saw the moment Robin stopped to consider whether she should just kill Odell right now. For one brief, shivery moment, the idiot’s life hung from a delicate thread. Then Robin blinked.
“I’m sorry, Odell,” she said with all the grace a woman could possibly muster when turning down an invitation like that. “Unfortunately, I’m not that kind of girl.”
I swallowed my need to laugh. Even if Robin wanted to whore herself out, she couldn’t. It would make people question things. Like her identity. Like who she had been before. Like what had happened to her that might make her hate the syndicate, rather than support it the way she pretended to do.
Odell sighed. “Oh, well,” he said, echoing Robin’s earlier words to him. “Worth a try, I suppose.”
Then his eyes fell on me. Fuck. He had seen how I reacted to his offer toward Robin. He probably had a hunch about our relationship and wanted to use that to do as much emotional damage as possible. To soothe his wounded ego after Robin’s rejection.
It’s kind of what we were hoping for, actually.
“How about this, then,” he said in a reasonable, friendly tone of voice, with a smile that didn’t reach his cold eyes. “I will trade you. The information you offered and your stolen fae assassin for the witch.” He nodded toward Ruya. “It’s really not fair to me, with how unique she is. But I know how you women like to stick together. Solidarity and all. And far be it from me to withhold my generosity after all the times you’ve assisted my court, Robin dear.”
Ruya was trembling. Robin made a face, as if she was thinking, as if she really had to consider Odell’s offer. As if it was tearing her up inside to choose between her lover and the witch. She opened her mouth to speak, but Ruya shot to her feet.
“No!” The witch said, her movements so quick that her chain was wrenched from Odell’s surprised fingers. “I won’t go with them.”
Odell raised a brow at the witch. “Oh? Have you suddenly had a change of heart, pet?”
Ruya lifted her chin a notch, in that way she did when she was bracing herself against something unpleasant or frightening. “Yes. You’re right. They kidnapped me. They used me. I was never anything more than a tool to them, someone to be coddled and manipulated. And I hated it.” She turned to face Robin’s general direction to get her meaning across. “I hate you. I won’t be your possession. You all disgust me. Even in a collar, I prefer the fae to a bunch of low-life, unaligned beasts!”
Her hands were fisted at her sides, and she was trembling.
Damn it. She was ruining everything. The stupid, bleeding-heart twit. I knew exactly what she was doing. She thought she was saving Robin the guilt of having to choose between Ruya and me. I was going to kick her ass the next chance I got.
Fucking witches. Always ruined everything.
Odell smiled at us like he had just won some great prize. “Well. It seems my new friend has finally decided to cooperate. I’m sorry, Robin. I suppose you’ll have to find yourself another healer.” And with that, he waved his guards forward to escort us out. I don’t know if Odell thought having Ruya cooperate was more valuable than having Robin in his court, or if he thought maybe this was only the first round of the game. At the moment, I didn’t care. This had all been a colossal waste of time.
“Oh, no worries,” Robin said lightly as she gracefully stood and straightened her skirt and blouse. “I didn’t really want her anyway.” She shrugged. “I did feel a bit responsible for her wellbeing, but I’ll be glad to be free of the burden. I can’t begrudge my fae friends this valuable new court member. Especially since she has made her wishes to remain with you so clear.”
Then Robin nodded to Odell, turned, and headed for the door.
I glared at Ruya. “Maybe try feeding your people something that isn’t laced with your nasty magic, Odell. The witch looks like a fucking skeleton.”
Ruya’s chin went up another notch. She was pissed at me. Good. Maybe her anger would keep her alive until we figured out some other way to get her out of here.
Too bad storming the place wasn’t an option right now. Robin couldn’t come into her full power fast enough for me. Once the dragon was of age, we would burn this entire city to the ground, and the syndicate assholes wouldn’t even see it coming.