Page 44 of The Succubus's Song

“Okay, okay.” Mara nodded slowly, wiping furiously at her eyes. “We need to get to Calum, now.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Pippa grinned, brandishing another dirk from the harness strapped around her chest. “Do you know the closest portal?”

Mara shook her head as she stalked towards the street. “We need to go to Emmett first.”

Pippa nodded, extending her arm out. “Lead the way.”

Mara evaporated on the wind, and Pippa followed suit, disappearing in the mid-morning sky. Mara’s feelings were as blurry and congested as the landscape that blurred beneath them. She was speeding as fast as her magic would allow to get to the library.

I will destroy every living baobhan sith if they harm a hair on his head. Mara was startled by the strength of her vengeance, but she quickly realized she meant it.

She’d do it.

Please don’t let us be too late. Mara prayed to every force she could think of and threw in a few more of the mortal deities as well, for good luck.

When the steps of the university library came into view, Mara materialized and hit the stairs at a run without missing a step. Pippa was on her heels as Mara threw open the door to the library and sped through the shelves.

Power and magic were flying off Mara at sporadic intervals, causing books to violently fall off their shelves in her wake. Lightbulbs exploded and more than one bust collapsed in pieces. Pippa apologized profusely to each person they passed, but Mara had a one-track mind.

By the time they reached Emmett’s office, the library looked like a war zone, and Mara practically ripped the door off its hinges.

I’ll apologize for it later. Her mind was consumed with thoughts of Finley. She couldn’t ever remember anything in her long life that had affected her this way.

“Hey, what the hell—” Emmett took his glasses off and jumped up from his desk at the intrusion, his confusion turning to shock when he saw Mara in front of him.

“I’m sorry about this,” Pippa squeaked, peeking out from behind Mara’s body, a bashful grin on her face. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Mara made note of the fact that Pippa looked downright giddy at the sight of Emmett.

Emmett rolled up his shirtsleeves and crossed his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow while he waited for an explanation.

“Alice has Finley,” Mara snapped, all the words rushing out of her at once. In the presence of one of her oldest friends, her fear began to show through the cracks of her anger.

Mara’s voice started to shake as she spoke. “He’s g-gone, Emmett. My sister has him. She said we have three days to show up at the manor with Calum to give them permission to h-hunt in Edinburgh, or…” Mara trailed off and hastily wiped at her eyes.

“Or they’ll kill him,” Pippa filled in quietly, her fingers twitching again and running over the handles of her dirks.

Emmett immediately went to Mara and wrapped her in a tight hug. She dissolved into a puddle of sobs, her tears staining his wool vest.

“I can’t live through it again,” she hiccupped. “Do you hear me? I could hardly survive it the first time. They have Finley. I don’t know how to breathe. I can’t think… What is wrong with me?” Mara pulled away from Emmett and looked up at him through teary eyes.

Emmett studied her face for a moment before letting out a long sigh, letting go of her and motioning towards the chairs. He helped Mara take a seat, and Pippa sat across from Mara, offering her cousin her hand to squeeze.

Emmett leaned against his desk and pinched his brow, shaking his head. “I wasn’t sure if I was right, but this proves it.”

“Proves what?” Mara stuttered. “We need to go to Faerie and get Calum. This doesn’t prove anything.”

“It does,” Emmett sighed, turning around and grabbing a thick stack of files from his desk. All the pages were tabbed and underlined, and he handed the heavy folder to Mara.

Mara started to flip through all the papers and excerpts that Emmett had compiled, but she couldn’t make sense of them. The tension was thick in the room, and Mara got anxious as she sensed Emmett waiting for her to come to the same realization he had.

This doesn’t make any sense. Mara flipped through one of the journal articles. It’s all ancient studies on baobhan sith and…their similarities to fae…

“Holy fuck,” Pippa gasped from where she had been reading over Mara’s shoulder. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth as she sank back into her chair.

“You really think…” Pippa looked up at Emmett with an almost reverent expression, and Emmett only nodded in response. He was chewing on one of the temples of his glasses, like the entire situation was making him more nervous than Mara.

“Emmett!” Mara jumped to her feet and dropped the files in a heap on the floor. “Just fucking tell me! I can’t see straight. This is not the time to play ‘guess the research objective’!”

Emmett took a deep breath. “Sit down.”

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