Page 39 of Crown of the Fae King

“Everyone,” Wickham said, before our servers could get away. “This is Deb and Ranald Young,” he pointed to the couple on his right. “And this is Becca and Daniel Young. Ye’ll come to know which is which soon enough. Ye’ll notice they wear nametags to make it easier on us.”

We were poured water, and two bottles of wine were left on the table. The main course of fish and peas followed. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the deep-fried-World’s-End kind, and Wickham gave me a knowing look and a commiserating grimace, letting me know he felt the same. I was able to get the fish down without making a fuss, though, and dessert was compensation enough—a gorgeous, decadent little thing called Banoffee Pie.

“I could eat fish every night if it came with this.” I looked up and checked the nametag. Becca was wide-eyed and worried. I tried to backtrack. “I’m not saying the fish wasn’t good.” She nodded and scurried out. I turned to Wickham, who was trying not to laugh and failing badly. “You don’t think they’ll make us eat fish every night, do you?”

Wickham laughed so hard he had to leave the table.

17

I Can’t Have Nice Things

The following morning, we met in the war room after breakfast, which was a buffet-style feast. I realized if I kept eating like I had been the past few days, I’d grow out of my wardrobe in less than a month. I also reminded myself I no longer needed to store up calories for those days I couldn’t afford more than ramen noodles.

The study accommodated three small conference tables set in a U-shape. We all staked out our territory along the outer edges and sat facing the wall of maps. I sat on the far edge with my back to the wall. Kitchens sat on my left. Urban and Everly had the next table and faced the maps head on. Persi sat opposite me with another chair left beside her for Wickham, who stood before the center map with a long stick in his hand with a black rubber tip, like I remembered from school days.

The map itself was typical, with England at the center. Meridian lines were already prominent, with each line bowing more dramatically the further they moved away from Prime, to account for the curve of the earth.

“I’ve marked the cities where O’Ryan’s dogs have already struck. They do, indeed, lie close to the meridians, and ye were correct. Milan is very near the Ninth Meridian East. If his north-to-south, south-to-north pattern continues, he should still be on the down-sweep. I propose we test our theory, all credit to Lennon, of course. I don’t want to spook him, however, so even if we guess his next strike zone correctly, I don’t want him to know about it.”

Urban interrupted. “Which cities are next, then?”

“The French Island of Corsica, Sardinia,” Wickham dropped his pointer to North Africa. “And Tunisia.”

Persi gave her head of red curls a shake. “But surely there aren’t Muir witches on every island, in every country.”

Wickham’s expression hardened. “Ye’d be surprised how many there are. Been multiplyin’ like weeds for centuries, haven’t we? Bytwos,many of us.”

“Wait a minute.” Persi again. “If you’re now the Grandfather, don’t you have to keep track of them all?Usall—”

“Not if I can help it.” Wickham tapped on the map. “Any ideas?”

I raised my hand. “If we move out ahead of him, search these places and warn any witches to flee, won’t he suspect we’ve been there? He’ll know we know. And if we don’t warn them, I’d hate to think three more sets will have to die just to prove our theory.”

Kitchens shrugged. “But that’s just the point, lass. We arenae doin’ this to save the next set of witches, are we?” He directed his question to Wickham, who moved to the empty office chair and dropped into the seat.

“Nay. We’re not.” Wickham’s expression remained hard when he looked at me. “I should have been clear from the start. I must destroy the Fae bastard to protect my family and you lot, obviously. He threatened to come back for everyone at the weddin’, and I mean to make certain he never gets that chance. As far as I’m concerned, that takes precedence.”

I bit my lips together and told myself I should at least hear him out. Protecting his family, I could understand. But purposefully withholding information from people who might be hunted down and murdered by those monsters? I didn’t think I could be part of that.

Was I missing something?

Obviously, cracking the code to predicting where the monsters would strike next had been a rush. But it looked like no one would be saved because of it—at least not for a while. We were going to sit back and wait until people died so we could put another pin in the map…

I was walking out of the study before I realized I’d gotten to my feet. Apparently, my body didn’t need time to think things over. It just knew I had to get out of there. Behind me, I heard one of the men say, “I’ll go,” and I started running.

In fight or flight mode,I acted purely on instinct.

I took the stairs two at a time. With every step, I felt the weight of my jewelry tugging on me like a kid yanking on the tail of my shirt, reminding me that my compliance had already been bought and paid for.

Money didn't matter? More like,No price is too high. Whatever value you’ve placed on your honor, we can pay it.

Outside my bedroom door, I paused for only a second, listening for footsteps. When I heard nothing, I hurried inside and turned the lock.

I saw the wide bracelet for the manacle it was and ripped it off. All the jewelry, I peeled off and left in a pile on the dresser. I went to the closet and pulled out the smallest of the leather luggage--a small duffle bag. Neal's green suitcase had gone into a dumpster days ago, so I had no choice.

Ignoring the feel of the fabrics, I shuffled through hangers, looking for the least expensive stuff. I'd left Idaho with four outfits, and every scrap of them had been confiscated. It was only fair they be replaced, since they’d probably been added to the burn barrel in the backyard.

Jeans. Three t-shirts. A vest and a sweater. Underwear, socks, and a second bra. I tossed in a few toiletries, and because my Nikes were also missing, I took a pair of flats. I figured I'd earned the boots on my feet.

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