Page 28 of Shield of Fire

I snorted softly. “The fae council are not above breaking a rule or two themselves.”

He laughed. “No, they are not, but that is beside the point.”

Because as far as most governing bodies were concerned, the rules only applied when it suited them. “When were they going to inform me—and more importantly, Cynwrig—of this decision?”

“I believe an official invitation to appear before the council tomorrow morning has been issued, which is when you would have received your first task as the council’s deeded hunter.” He paused. “Please do not forewarn him, as in truth, I should not have said anything.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes. Now, tell me what my first hunting task is.”

“They’ve arranged the list of missing relics in threat level, and then alphabetized it for simplicity’s sake. Borrhás’s Horn is first up.”

“There’s no relic belonging to a god or goddess starting with A?”

“There’s a number, but their relics are considered benign.”

“I’m thinking no relic of power could ever be considered benign if it got into the wrong hands.”

“I tend to agree, but the vote went against me.” I could almost see him shrug. “They believe that, as it’s likely the hoard has been broken up with the intent of selling them separately, this is a logical method.”

“The hoard hasn’t been broken up.” Not if what I’d seen in the Eye so far was anything to go by.

“If the shield and its rubies are out there, other items will be.”

I guess that was certainly true. I just had to hope they weren’t in the hands of psychos.

It was well past the morning’s peak, so it didn’t take us all that long to get to the shopping center. As the driver hustled around to open the rear passenger door, Mathi said, “I shall pick you up tomorrow at nine.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Council meeting? Assignment of duties? That thing we were just talking about?”

“Ah, yeah, sorry.” I paused. “Will Cynwrig be at the meeting?”

“That I don’t know, but I certainly hope so. It will be a sight to behold.”

I couldn’t help grinning at the relish in his voice. “You are an evil man, Mathi Dhar-Val.”

“When it comes to that man and your affections, very definitely.”

“You had my affections. You rejected them.”

“I did not. I merely explored their limits and went too far.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“You will. And make sure you get some sleep and some food before you do anything else.”

I nodded and climbed out. As his car swept back into the traffic, I tugged up my coat’s hood to keep the still-falling snow out of my hair, then shoved my hands into my pockets and headed across the road. The shopping center was surprisingly busy, but thankfully, the public restroom wasn’t, so I managed to clean up the worst of the blood and grime before anyone came in to give me the side-eye. Then I headed out to get a new phone and replacement SIM.

It took forever, and by then, I was practically shaking with exhaustion and hunger. I tackled the latter first and headed for a favorite café for brunch, ordering a large coffee and breakfast pancakes with the lot—bacon, eggs, and maple syrup. And couldn’t help grinning as I picked up my knife and fork and hoed in. Lugh would have been horrified that I’d “polluted” a decent breakfast option with pancakes.

The SIM had been activated by the time I got home, so I went online—a far easier option than trying to ring or even going in person and standing in line for hours—to arrange replacements for my lost bank cards and driver’s license. Then connected to the cloud and began downloading all my stored data.

While that happened, I fell into bed and slept like the dead.

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