“I want to hear more about Severn’s past.”
Severn had so rarely spoken to me of his centuries-long life. Whenever I’d asked, he’d always shrugged it off in his dismissive fae way and simply told me the past was meant to be forgotten. I’d known his age and that he’d been born in central Europe, but that was all.
“That’s between you and him,” Jack said. “But before you spend too much more time with your husband, you might want to ask him more probing questions.”
I ignored that Jack repeatedly referred to Severn as my husband and latched onto something else he said. “So Iwillsee Severn again?”
Jack paused. “Probably. If you play your cards right.”
“So what, you kidnapped me to use me as leverage against him? Is that it? I assume it was your men who were stalking me in New York a few weeks ago?”
His head bobbed. “They worked for me. But you misunderstand, Mrs. Wilde—”
“Call me Willow. I think we left formality behind when youkidnappedme.”
He conceded this with another nod. “Willow,Idon’t want you. Look, my goal is to unite the werewolf packs, gain the same organizational strength as the fae courts, especially as politics are shifting within the Gifted Realm. Right now, Severn isn’t standing in my way of achieving my aims, so I don’t have any quarrels with him. Or with you.”
I blinked at him, not immediately understanding what he was trying to say.
“I’m afraid you’re just a pawn,” he explained. “I’m sorry to reduce you to that, but it’s true.”
“You kidnapped me for someone else,” I said at last.
He nodded slowly. “I did. And unfortunately, he’s a lot more ruthless than I am. I’m not sure which one has a more sordid past—him or your husband.”
“Black Ember,” I said quietly. There could be no one else behind my abduction. No one else would want to hurt Severn in such a personal way. When the demon horde had attacked Wilde Tower at the beginning of the summer, Severn had been certain Black Ember was behind it. But after his investigation, he and Locke had reluctantly accepted that it was, in fact, led by the rumored Werewolf King, whose motivations had been uncertain.
But Severn had been right.
Black Ember was behind it all along. The Werewolf King was only an intermediary.
Jack bobbed his foot again, anxious. “Black Ember is the regent of the Sun Court, based in Los Angeles. Neither he nor any member of his court can set foot in Wilde Tower without an invitation, so he came to me. Said if I managed to get ahold of the human girl that Severn had supposedly married, he’d finance my plans for an organized werewolf court: purchasing new territories, protection and safety measures, training. It doesn’t come cheap.”
My body melted into the leather seat as though all my strength had left my muscles. Outside, the clouds passed in a monotonous glob, cutting us off from the world.
I felt certain that Severn didn’t know this. He and Locke had no way of knowing that Jack Meruvis and Black Ember were working together in a temporary alliance. They hadn’t even been able to uncover the identity of the Werewolf King—naturally, they’d been looking for awerewolf, not a human.
Jack regarded me pityingly. “I try not to insert myself in fae rivalries, but unfortunately, when you married Severn, you did. I’m not trying to shirk blame, but if I hadn’t abducted you, Black Ember would have hired someone else to. Now you’re tangled up in all of it. Their rivalry goes back centuries. Black Ember’s been looking for leverage for a very long time. Until now, Severn has never had a weakness to exploit outside of attacking his tower, which is nearly impenetrable.”
“Henry and May,” I said, immediately regretting even invoking their names.
Jack shook his head as he looked out the airplane window. “Black Ember is a heartless bastard—trust me—but not even he would threaten kids. He’s been waiting for something else.Someoneelse. And then the news broke that the all-powerful Severn Wilde had taken a human wife.”
“Wereallyaren’t married,” I mumbled.
Jack raised his hands. “Look, it doesn’t matter to me if you are or if you aren’t. What matters is that Black Emberbelievesyou are. He’s had spies verify it.” At my questioning look, Jack looked a little embarrassed. “The city’s crows and pigeons. Black Ember can temporarily take over birds to see through their eyes. I guess he saw the two of you, uh, consummating the marriage on the roof of Wilde Tower.”
The blood drained from my face to think that Severn’s greatest enemy had been watching us screw on the rooftop.Watching Severn take my virginity.
Self-consciousness shuddered through me. No longer able to look Jack in the eyes, I said in a whisper, “What does he want from Severn?”
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Like I said, I try to stay out of fae messes. You were just a necessary piece, Willow. The deal is, I deliver you to Ember, I get my funding, we’re done.”
“You’re just as bad as them,” I said, curling my hand into a fist. As restrained as Jack’s mannerisms made him appear, he was still kidnapping a woman and delivering her to a monster.
“Yeah, well, maybe I am.” Jack Meruvis leaned forward, capturing my eyes with his blue ones. “We’ll be in LA in a few hours. Don’t worry, Black Ember isn’t there. He’s up in Canada at the moment dealing with other business. So try to get some rest. I know it won’t be easy. But if you want my advice, before you inevitablydoface Black Ember, you’ll want all the strength you can muster.”
He gave me a sad kind of smirk and then disappeared back to the rear cabin. One of the werewolves, the one he’d called Ulfur, stood guard at the door, sunglasses shielding his eyes.
