Page 3 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen
I ram my hands in my jacket’s pockets to keep from flipping the stranger off. “I’m here as a favor to him. But if you don’t want me around…” I move to leave, unimpressed by his attitude, his Londoner accent scraping my ears.
He raises a hand in my direction. “Wait. I trust Nick, so I’ll trust his judgment on this.”
Typical boy club stuff. Ugh.
“You better.” I walk all the way into his bubble, relishing the way his pupils dilate, and the bob of his Adam’s apple.
A good look at him tells me he’s in love, the soft glow of his mortal heart about as obvious as his wedding band. And it’s a strong bond, too. But there’s something else lurking underneath this love. Indelible pain. The unexpected depths of his sorrow soften me up to his rude behavior, and I pull down my hood.
He shifts uncomfortably from side to side, no longer irate. “Are you meant to protect me, or distract them?”
I throw him a knowing wink. “I excel at both.”
He swallows hard. “Do you have the talisman?”
I reach inside my cleavage and unveil a long golden chain, tugging on it until the Aurelian talisman slips from my neck and dangles in the space between us. The polished piece of engraved metal is opalescent under the night sky, its very own light shining from within.
Even though it’s a priceless artifact, the man’s gaze is glued to me. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? A Fae?”
I chuckle darkly in the affirmative before passing him the necklace, and he staggers. “Wow,” he breathes with a sudden, reverent head tilt. “I didn’t believe your lot still walked this earth until just now.” He works the chain around his neck. “I’ve been raised in the city, despite my heritage. You have to forgive me.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re so beautiful…” he trails off dreamily, his eyes glazing over.
I rein back my lure, trying to spare him the conflicting onslaught of lust, but he’s a mortal man without any magic to shield himself. He’s bound to go a little nuts in my presence. “Let’s not get carried away. Where are they being kept?” I clip.
“Err— Right.” He clears his throat. “I’ll take you there now.”
He leads me to a boat beached on the muddy riverbank. The engine growls to life, and the sharp scent of burnt gas clogs the air as he steers upriver, past the Ness Islands and under the Holm Mills Bridge.
He’s in over his head, and we both know it. Still, I can’t begrudge a thirty-something mortal on some idealistic crusade. Most of them would rather sell the talisman on the black market, not borrow it to save captive witches.
"They're being held in a barn off the river. There are cameras everywhere—hence the talisman," he explains, stopping near a steep, grassy cliff. "You should wait in the boat."
“How chivalrous… How did you plan to break in?”
A grim line drags his features down. “I have the code.”
“And what if it’s been changed since you acquired it?”
“That's where this comes in handy.” He slips a slug shotgun from a hole in the boat’s hull meant for fishing poles. By Eros, this man looks ready to barrel through an organized crime operation all by himself.
My eyes narrow. “Easy there, big guy. How did you hear about this place?”
“The man who runs it… I’ve been investigating him for a decade.”
“You’re a police officer?”
“I was.” His gaze darts to the ground for an instant. “I got kicked out for not following protocol. The man who owns this place, he’s into all sorts of trade, but he’s particularly interested in witches, and he finally managed to get his hands on a couple.”
The dark circles under his eyes, the sunken shape of his cheeks beneath the beard, are telltale signs that he hasn’t been eating or sleeping enough.
I try to stay out of other people’s affairs as a rule, but this is different. “What does she look like? The one you’re looking for?” I ask.
“They took her to punish me. My daughter.” He slides a picture out of his wallet and presents it to me.
The frayed edges somehow make the freckled, redheaded girl look even younger. She must be about ten years old. Her toothy grin reminds me of my goddaughter Maxine at that age, and my stomach cramps.
