Page 6 of The Witch & the Grizzly

Ah. Nathan straightened, his attention sharpening. If this was the reason Professor Umber wanted to meet with him, it made a lot more sense. But how did they think they’d be able to stop the chaos of the Unseelie Court when no one before had made a dent in their forces? For every Unseelie deal that Nathan unraveled, another two or three popped up to take its place and bring further corruption and misery to the region. He’d had to deal with restless spirits chasing after him and crazed monsters and trees transformed into flesh-eating horrors.

It was all in a day’s work for him, really. He half expected his career to end with an Unseelie clubbing him over the head in a back alley somewhere.

“Okay, let me try to summarize for you, Nathan,” Z’Hana said. “You know we have been experiencing realm bleeds. You know the Unseelie are making too many deals and are butchering the barrier between our world and their world in the process, right?”

Nathan nodded. “Yes, that’s about thirty percent of my jobs with the Supernatural Division I’m in right now.” He turned to Morgryn. “My boss is hella pissed at you lot.”

“I’m sure,” Morgryn replied with a mocking bow.

“Morgryn here is one of the former kings of the Unseelie Court,” Z’Hana said. “He was actually the one who signed the treaty of separation in the first place. Then he got betrayed by the other Unseelie and was sealed away for around a decade, as I understand it. We released him, and now he’s trying to pull some political strings in the Court, not get backstabbed again, and bring back all the members still trying to make deals. He wants to make a new binding treaty. We can apparently help.”

Nathan blinked a few times. When he called his boss tonight, he was going to have a lot of shit to tell him. “Okay. And… you trust this Morgryn? You definitely don’t think he’s stringing you along because he has some ulterior motive that is probably not going to end well for any of us?”

“Oh, he has ulterior motives, for sure. The only thing I am utterly certain of is that he wants to stop the meddling as much as we do since it will destroy his realm, and he doesn’t much like ours.”

“Right,” Nathan said. “I can’t say I’m so willing to trust something like him, but I guess I’ll wait to see what the full arrangement is.”

“Indeed,” Morgryn said. “I think that’s the first sensible thing you’ve said since you got here. Maybe there is something between your ears after all.”

Just before Nathan could retort sarcastically or angrily (or both), he heard footsteps echoing up the narrow stairwell behind them. The climbing seemed to last forever until two more figures emerged into the tower room.

It was Professor Umber, tall and broad and with his sweeping robes and a young person, undoubtedly a student. She was redheaded, and a shock of recognition hit Nathan as he examined her amber eyes.

I’ve seen those eyes before.

Those same eyes were locked onto his, and there was a faint flicker of recognition in them. It seemed like she was asking the same question he was. Have we met before?

He continued to stare at her as Professor Umber cleared his throat and said, “I’ve bought the student you asked for. She’s more or less up to date. And… I see a certain person who didn’t turn up to the 2:30 meeting is now here instead.” Umber sounded annoyed, and Nathan had the distinct impression that the other three individuals in the room were also pissed off at him.

Whatever. He wanted to talk to the newcomer and ask if they’d met. She kept looking at him, too. Maybe she –

“Oh crap,” she said. “We have met, haven’t we?”

“Yeah?” he asked eagerly.

“Uh… later,” she said. “Let’s do what the professors want first.”

He nodded, intrigued. Whatever it was, the professors wanted, he couldn’t wait for it to be over so he could get that redhead in a corner by herself and find out why she seemed familiar.

Chapter Three – Eva

What the actual fricking frick? she thought, studiously avoiding eye contact with the handsome man.

It’s him. He’s…

She pushed the thoughts away, tried to rein in her emotions and the brief stirring of butterflies in her stomach, and tried her best to pay attention to what the professors wanted.

The creature she knew to be Morgryn, the Unseelie king, said, “If I may have your name, fair one.”

“Eva Gallagher,” she said. Not sure of the proper protocol, she chose to curtsy for the Unseelie. “I was told you were looking for someone able to mix and enchant potions.”

“Indeed,” Morgryn said. “Sadly, it’s not an ability I possess, though I have a few others.”

“You’re being so much nicer to her than me!” the handsome man cried. Eva’s gaze flickered to him and his broad body and intense green eyes. He seemed indignant.

“She’s being far more polite than you were, so I offer her the same,” Morgryn replied. “She’s also not trying to transform and attack me like you were.”

“To be fair,” Eva supplied, “I can’t actually transform.”

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