Page 86 of Crown of the Fae King

"Professor Carew vouched for you and your friends. Interesting…fellow.” He waited for my reaction, then seemed pleased by what he saw. If I blushed, I couldn't tell. “What do you know about him?”

“Not much. I’ve only seen him a few times. Some of his students told us about The Covenant and said we’d need his help to see it. They kind of bullied him into it.” I wasn’t going to give him an excuse to arrest my favorite professor.

O'Ryan studied me for another minute, then got to his feet. "Time to bargain. I won’t charge you or your friends right now if you promise you’ll keep an eye out, and an ear out, for that matter, for whatever your friends learn about Fae matters. And the next time we meet…and we will…you’ll gladly tell me everything.” He chewed his pretty lips for a second. “I realize it’s unfair to expect your brother and his uncles to discover much—what with all the Fae lore missing from the libraries—but if they got in to see The Covenant, they’re resourceful.”

I laughed. “You’re asking me to be a spy?”

His hair shook back and forth. “I’m not asking…love. Think on it.”

After he stepped out of the room, the tension eased, like someone had removed a sizzling pan from a hot stove. After giving my heart permission to go nuts if it needed to, my next instinct was to pray and thank God I wouldn’t be booked into jail. My secrets and my underwear were safe. And as I waited for someone to remember I was handcuffed to a table, I stared at my reflection in the mirror and wondered…just what made me look like spy material?

35

Papa Paparazzi

In England, one isn’t assigned a lawyer, but a solicitor. Our solicitor looked like a rat, with a pointy nose and a mustache of a few long dark hairs. The minute he walked in, I started craving ratatouille.

“Brooks,” he said, nodded, but remained standing. “Mr. Muir sent me.”

“That inspector might not be charging me!”

“Indeed, he has decided not to do so.” He straightened his tie, tried and failed to summon a smile, then shook his head. “Luckily, there have been similar burglaries in other cities. I’m sure he’s very busy.”

Inside, I was jumping up and down, shouting,No cavity searches! No cavity searches!But if I did it for real, Brooks might run away, and I needed him.

“The man insinuated there may be charges to come, so I’ve promised you’ll surrender to him if he asks for you. For now, you’re all free to go.” He stepped back and knocked on the door.

The two officers returned. The male unlocked my handcuffs and managed to look put out about it. The woman laid the clear bag with my belongings on the table, along with my coat. “If you’ll just break the seal and check the contents, please. Then you can sign that everything was in order. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

The male officer snorted, then stalked out.

“I was careful not to clank them about,” she said, as I pulled out the envelope with my jewelry. “Lovely things. I reckon my man’s going to need to step up his game.”

I looked through my purse. Nothing missing. Hank and my phone were where they needed to be. I really had nothing to complain about, but I felt a serious cry coming on.

“The press is out front,”Brooks explained as he led us out the back of the building. “Not every day there’s a heist at the Bodleian.”

He put us in a big black Bentley with darkened windows, then drove us out of town. My fellow criminals looked none the worse for wear. Brian, who sat on my left, gave me a friendly nudge. “Are ye all right?”

“Probably. Eventually. Yes.” For a few minutes, I savored the heat coming from both sides. “I take it you met the same inspector from Scotland Yard?”

“Wheesht.” Flann put a finger to his lips. “Not until we’re…home.”

We searched my coat for tracking devices, and I took out my wallet and ditched my purse, to be safe. I put my jewelry back on only after the brothers had given it a good once-over, despite the fact that the seal on the property bag hadn’t been tampered with.

We changed cars three times, ending up in London before Wickham joined the party. From there, he let our nervous solicitor go, then popped us to three other cities before we finally found ourselves inEngineering II,the second-floor room at Hope House devoid of most furniture and now designated for popping home.

I wasdisoriented and out of breath.

Everly jumped up from the corner chair and hurried to me, inspecting me from head to toe. “You all right?”

I nodded to keep from crying out loud.

She saw my tears but ignored them. “Come on. Everyone’s in the dining room. Alwyn’s fixed a welcome home dinner. Can’t disappoint him.”

“What would he have done if we hadn’t been released?”

She shrugged. “He would have forced Wickham to pop you out of jail…at least long enough to eat.”

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