I sighed, taking pity on them. “It’s not over yet. Let me reach out to some of my contacts to see if I can get you an answer.”
It was a long shot, but I’d gotten lucky before.
“Thanks, Aileen,” Caroline said softly.
I could have told her she owed me one, but in reality, there was no way of telling who owed who anymore.
five
“Show our guests tothe kitchen so they can help themselves to refreshments,” I said.
If the other three were anything like Caroline, they were probably starving. I hadn’t seen a car, besides the one Caroline just drove up in, out there. That meant they’d probably come by foot to track Baran’s scent.
“They are not guests,” Connor informed me.
I shoved his side. “Show them anyway.”
It might have only been an illusion given the hearing of everyone present, but I wanted privacy for the call I was about to make.
Reluctantly, Connor went, ushering the three werewolves before him. Caroline hung back, raising her eyebrows at me. I flapped a hand at her in dismissal.
She shook her head but went.
Alone again, I sat at the base of the stairs and brought up my contact list. Finding the name I was searching for, I hit the call button and lifted the phone to my ear.
Internally, I begged Jerry to pick up.
It was a long shot. Jerry was my former boss and a troll. Not figuratively. He was an actual troll. The exact species of troll was something I’d never asked.
As a Fae, I knew he spent a lot of his free time at the barrow. I was praying last night wasn’t one of those times.
“It’s a little early in the day for you, isn’t it?” Jerry rumbled.
I released the breath I was holding. “Thank God.”
There was another rumble in my ear. This time of laughter. “If you missed me that much, Aileen girl, all you needed to do was call.”
“Last night the barrow fell,” I announced.
Silence crackled down the line.
“The party responsible?” Jerry asked.
Despite the lack of emotion in the question, I could sense how hard Jerry was clinging to his control. He probably had friends in the barrow. Family maybe. It was even possible some of his employees had been there. He gave a lot of the weaker Fae jobs so they could stay in the mortal world.
“Not officially but I found a trio of Luigseach on my property last night. They were hunting one of the barrow lord’s twins.”
Jerry snarled. “Muiredach.”
I paused, the power in that name unmistakable even over the phone. “Is thathisname?”
I didn’t need to specify who I meant. There was really only one person capable of engendering that much negative emotion in a Fae like Jerry. The High King of the Summer Lands. A ruler I knew only by reputation.
“Don’t you go repeating it either. Names in our world have power. I shouldn’t have spoken it.”
I made a noncommittal hum.
“I’ll have to warn my people to go underground,” Jerry continued. “If his agents are here, none of us are safe.”
