Finally, Finvarra nodded. Kyla gave him her eat-shit-and-die smile and sauntered away, still naked. Within a few steps, she’d turned wolf once more, trotting away from the crime scene and in the direction of wolf territory.
Evie sighed. “Any luck finding the unseelie guard who betrayed them?”
“He has gone into hiding. But it’s only a matter of time. You will keep me updated.” He nodded at Nelson, then turned and stalked away.
Evie’s eyes met mine, and we both let out a slow breath. I rolled my shoulders. “Charming son of a bitch, isn’t he?”
Evie smirked. “Believe it or not, but he can be.”
Nelson sighed. “Any issues if we scrape up the pleatix and take it into evidence?”
“No,” I said. “The only power left in it is almost like a shadow.”
“In that case, take the photos with you. Evie, I’ll get the pleatix to you tomorrow. Meredith, the phone will take a little longer since it’s human tech and our guys will want to look at it first. Get in touch if you learn anything.”
Evie nodded. Five minutes later, we were in her car since she’d insisted on picking me up earlier. I clicked my buckle into place. “Where to now?”
“We’re going to go talk to Nereus. Hopefully, he’ll also let us poke around a little. Kyla knew that’s where we were headed, and she’ll meet us there.”
I nodded and stretched out my legs. Evie was silent, but I could practically feel her chewing on something.
She slid me a look, and I narrowed my eyes at her.
“What?”
“Just wondering what’s going on with you and Vas.” She held up one hand. “You can tell me to butt out if you want, but he’s a great guy, and I just… I want to see you both happy.”
“I know he’s a great guy. That’s not why…”
She stared at me, and I sighed. “Imagine you did something so bad, it still wakes you up in the middle of the night. Imagine you were attempting to handle it, to move on with your life, and you were doing an okay job. Then imagine the demon you’d been secretly crushing on only has to look at you to know everything you did.”
“The fact that he’s still chasing after you would suggest your secret hasn’t put him off.”
I shrugged. “He’s not chasing after me anymore. He made that clear.” And I didn’t care. Nope, I didn’t care one little bit.
“He’s got his hands full hunting for Daimonion. But if you think he’s giving up on you, you’re wrong. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about paranormals, it’s that they know how to play the long game.”
* * *
Meredith
Nereus lived in Hope Valley, where most of the fae in the Triangle lived. It was once the first country club community in the area, but the neighborhood became popular with the high fae during the Decade of Despair. Something about the sprawling homes and amount of land available appealed to the fae, and they began moving in to the abandoned houses, slowly driving out the few humans who’d remained.
The sprawling mansion Nereus and Ilayda called home was more tasteful than most of the houses in the area. The fae—particularly the light fae—seemed to continually add extra wings, turrets, and columns until each home was more ostentatious than the last.
Ilayda and Nereus’s house featured a huge front lawn surrounded by manicured hedges, carefully cultivated flowers, and tidy shrubs. The gated entrance was open, and we drove through, taking in the tennis court to our right and the Olympic-sized swimming pool behind it.
Guards had been planted at the end of the driveway, but they obviously had been warned we were coming. Kyla waited for us near the front door, back in human form and, thankfully, no longer naked.
“Nereus?” Evie asked one of the guards, and he gestured for us to enter the house.
Okay, then.
The ceilings were so high, it felt a little like entering a museum. And yet, someone had added personal touches. Souvenirs, paintings, knickknacks. We followed more silent pointing into the living room, where Nereus was sitting.
Like most unseelie, Nereus was beautiful. But he seemed more human than many unseelie I’d seen—maybe because of the way he held himself, as if he was barely keeping it together.
He sat on a large sofa, staring blindly at a vase of flowers which someone had placed on the coffee table in front of him. In the kitchen, the staff spoke in hushed voices, and the rest of the house was crawling with guards.
