Chapter One
Whenforcedtochoosebetween theft and murder, Seraphina Blair hadn’t hesitated. She had no stomach for bloodshed. She was barely a thief, her skills more suited for conning and manipulation. But she had not been given the choice to "do nothing."
Presently, she was crouched in Alderman Kieran North’s bedchamber with only a shitty map drawn onto her arm as a guide. She’d rather be anywhere else in Unity than here, pressing her luck while a powerful fae slumbered inches away. It wasn’t a moral objection so much as the risk involved with burglarizing a high-profile fae when she had very little idea of what she was doing. If she were caught, she doubted even her trusty fallback of charm and/or sex would be enough to keep North from pressing charges.
Or Cole from retaliating once he learned she’d failed.
Sera had only ever seen North from a distance, enough to note his fair skin and taller than average stature, even considering the lankier proportions of the fae. Rumors and whispers spoke ofNorth as some callous monster, a man of no humor, incapable of so much as a smile. This deep in the faery Winter Court, Sera found the description poetically fitting. She stole a glance to ensure he was still asleep.
Wow, even in the serenity of sleep his countenance looked almost… bored.
She pushed further into the chamber, past the way-too-large-for-one person mass of cushions and pillows centered in the way-too-large-for-a-small-family bedchamber. Despite the near frigid temperature, not all of him was covered by the thin, satiny blanket. A bare arm and exposed shoulder, both of his legs stretched from a triangle of covers that, she guessed, hid the final unclothed inches.
Divine above, she understood Winter Fae needed cold, but she could barely feel her fingers anymore. After the trek through the snow and chilly breeze of the Winter Court—despite the pleasant summer that warmed the rest of the city—and the climb up North’s mansion using metal fixtures that threatened frostbite even through gloves, her muscles felt brittle enough to shatter.
North had something important to her boss and it was up to her and the crudely sketched map on her forearm to find it before she was discovered. A Charm with special powers that her boss desperately needed, or he wouldn’t have offered her such a promising reward.
After a puff of breath failed to warm her palms, she lifted the sleeve of her coat and angled her arm and neck so she could reread the sketch of the estate. Her jagged lines were… difficult to decipher in the best of lighting. Here the only light was an odd glow coming from smooth rock-like structures she couldn’t name.
Fae homes were not built the same as the rest of Unity. Her apartment in Demon Row wasn’t piping freezing air into the atmosphere. Her childhood home in the Fells had a single room,a living area, and a tiny storage space that acted as water closet. Her bed had been a single mattress that she shared with her brother, untilthatgot awkward, and he started sleeping on their dining table. There hadn’t been a need for anything as fancy as a ‘hallway’ let alone labyrinths of near identical passages and several floors and multiple rooms all for one person.
Tragically, this wasn’t the time to stop and admire the architectural nuances, though she had lost several minutes examining the construction of the window she’d climbed through. North kept very little staff—almost none—and so getting this far had been the easy part. Yet, even while she was itching to look over a blueprint of the building, the grandeur and waste of space was not lost on her.
Sera angled closer to one of the glowing rock-things, lifted her sleeve again, and squinted to make out the ink on her forearm. She wished it were a piece of paper so she could crumble the stupid drawing into a tiny ball and toss it at the wall.
Cole said he’d been here before. Claimed he knew the layout. Knew where the valuables would be kept. She had already X’ed the first four places he’d told her to search, which left the master bedchamber. The master bedchamber that held a very powerful fae, both politically and physically.
Her nerves were starting to fray. Frustration heightened her awareness of every mild discomfort or minor sensation so her body responded like it was an active threat. She was cold. Annoyed. Angry. All she had to do was find one stupid necklace and then all of this would be over.
Well, find itandget out without getting caught.
“I came from… there,” she mouthed, needing to ground herself by spelling it out, “so now…” She created a trail with her finger, trying to locate the door that was supposed to be past the large square—that she now knew was the bed—and past the wardrobe and…
Sera scrubbed at her arm, smudging the ink. There was no fucking door aside from the one she came through. No second door anywhere. Maybe this was the wrong room. Maybe North had several bedchambers that he rotated between like one changed undergarments. Or maybe it was invisible, some fae material that rendered it hidden from view. Her eyes tracked from one corner to the other, guesstimating the room to be… eight hundred square feet. Her map didn’t include dimensions, but if she could recall the outside layout of the house in relation to where she currently stood, maybe she could determine—
She sucked down a scream. Even if she could recall the exact shape of the outside, her stupid obsession with numbers and building things wouldn’t help her suddenly know if there was a secret room.
Did Cole expect her to go poking into every inch of the house?
Fuck Cole. Fuck this mission. Fuck this ‘one more job and you’re done’ bullshit that was likely a lie anyway. Cole could go fuck himself. She should poison his food. Killhimwhile he slept. Murder didn’t sound so bad when she thought of it like that.
No. Sera, it’s not just about you. And besides, what hope did a human have against a fae?
Doing her utmost to growl ‘silently,’ Sera rose to her full height to attempt to get her bearings.
Her heart hammered as she recalled the words slithering through her ears.
“You’re my good little deviant, aren’t you? You’ll get in and out without an issue, gorgeous, I know you can. Steal it or slit his throat while he sleeps, I don’t care how you do it. But you get me my Charm and I’ll give you what you want.”
She hated the oily timbre of his voice, hated how she had once found him charming.
“And remember, darling, you can’t fuck this up for me, got it? I need that Charm.” His hand brushed over her skin and shedid her best to hide the shiver of unease that followed. He took her chin in his long fingers, jerking her head to meet his eyes. “Remember what’s at stake here, pet. Cause I know who’s door I’m knocking on should you think you can use this as a reason to run.” His lips had dipped near her skin, but stopped before reaching her. She’d swallowed down bile and thanked him for the opportunity.
Cole was convinced that North had stolen the Weylain Charm when he banished Cole from the Winter Court. Sera understood very little of fae politics, being a lowly human, but banishment was ‘bad’ and Cole was bitter. He hated North to the point of violent outbursts at the mere mention of his name. Sera had once used the word ‘north,’ as in the direction, and Cole had smashed a chair against a wall.
Sera glanced at the bed to make sure ‘his lordship’ still slept soundly, only…
“Looking for someone?” A voice, chilly as the air from behind her.
