Page 15 of The Witch & the Grizzly

Crap.

Outwardly, of course, he wore the same interested smile as before.

“Good. My cost is that I will require you to talk to a… lesser fae in the area. Have them visit me. Of course, if you are interested, I can perhaps find another way to use your… enticing services.” She folded her arms, accentuating her bosom.

“Mm. It certainly sounds tempting,” he said, one eyebrow arched. “Though I’d be that you’d place a glamour on me should I take you up on your offer.”

“I thought so.” She gave him a toothy grin. “You are being cautious, and I respect you for that. But I will extract a price from you. As much as I’d enjoy it to be physical,” she said, eyes leering over his form, “I require a visitation from a lesser fae. I cannot be bothered to exert any of my magic toward them.”

He detected absolute truth in that statement, and another suspicion entered his mind. She wanted to preserve her magic. More than that – she needed her magic. Just in case… something happened. It made sense if she expected danger or an attack. After all, if the Unseelie locked Morgryn away, and she was considered a close ally of his, then she would want not to expend more magic than necessary. Of course, it might be an elaborate trap, too, but the potion was guiding him and his tongue.

He felt a little more in control, but his body language didn’t show it. Doubtless, she’d pick up on that. He didn’t know how old she was exactly, but she was far older than any mortal.

“I see. There is no reason to be wasteful. I don’t mind visiting and passing the word so long as it will not place me in any undue danger. Do we have an agreement?”

“We do,” she confirmed, nodding, reaching out a soft hand for him to shake. She did it daintily but firmly with a sense of power. “The name of the person you are looking for is Morgryn. He was the Unseelie king at the time. My, it would be most illustrious if a Highborn was responsible for your bloodline. It’s possible. Your magic is strong within you, innate. But it can also express itself in unusual ways in mortal offspring. I had a child once who was stronger than I but lived a far shorter life. But I digress. Morgryn signed the treaty. You may have heard that we were good friends once.”

Once.

Nathan noted this with caution.

“But some of the younger fae generation were disillusioned at the idea that they wouldn’t have the same freedom as the elder ones. Why should we be allowed to dally with mortals and get all these juicy deals, and they were not? So… there was a rebellion, a shifting of alliances in the court, and now the youth hold sway, and their leader is Aelund.”

Nathan pretended to look shocked. “Did they kill Morgryn?”

She shook her head grimly. “No. That was the idea. Exhausting as it is, we can be killed, and they wished him dead. But some argued that Morgryn had served the court well, and it would be a true injustice to kill one who had passion for our way of life. I was one of those voices. And now, he is locked away in a secret, inaccessible location, even for one such as you or for one like me. He should not be dead unless they sent daggers in the night without our knowing. But he is no longer… of influence.”

Again, her words had the ring of sincerity, and his magic let him know he was on the right track. Thank goodness for that.

“That is… unfortunate,” he said carefully. “I had hoped finding him would not be so challenging.” He did want to broach one more subject but didn’t know how to do it without revealing his whole hand. “Would it be worth my approaching this Aelund person, or is that extremely disrespectful?”

“Oh, he wouldn’t tell you anything,” Greer said, bitterness in her tone. “Him and his foolish lackeys. They’d destroy our realm with little thought to it.”

Oh ho!

Excitement shocked his system into high alert. “They would? I don’t understand. Why would they?”

“They ignore the reason we signed the treaty in the first place. It wasn’t to restrict them. It wasn’t because we did these things, and now we wanted to prevent them. It was because we were actively damaging our existence in the process.” She hissed the words, limbs trembling, and somehow, Nathan knew his own magic had gotten this confession. She didn’t seem to be too aware, however, and continued to stew in that anger. “Now we must watch it all go to ruin.”

Perhaps Nathan might be deviating from his mission here, but he saw an opportunity and just went for it.

“Is – wait.” He paused for dramatic effect, all wide-eyed, confused. “There’s been some weird stuff happening in my area recently. Is that – could it have anything to do with this?”

She glared at him, and for a moment, everything was frozen before her smile transformed into a smirk. “Oh, you tried too hard there.”

Shit.

“What do you mean?”

“I wasn’t born yesterday.” She flicked her hair. “I still require you to do what I requested you to do. But now I’m pretty sure you have a similar interest to mine. Perhaps you are searching for your long-lost relative, and what a lovely and moving tale it makes. But I also think you very much don’t wish for the desolation of your land.”

Shit, shit, SHIT.

“And if that was the truth of the matter?”

“You may have an ally. Who sent you, really?”

Morgryn had told him not to reveal him, but Nathan’s instincts told him to say it. Plus, he couldn’t sense any glamours pressing on him. “Morgryn.”

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