Elijah narrowed his eyes. “Why are you telling me all this?”
“The Garm have killed many innocents over the centuries. But now they know … the children were born twenty-six years ago, all to human parents. They’ve killed three of the seven already. And I know this for a fact because my adoptive father, William Payne, was Eirik’s second-in-command until Eirik was killed last year. Now William is the leader of The Garm, and I’m one of his soldiers.”
She tasted the coppery tang of fear, and her stomach flipped as Elijah said hoarsely, “You think I’m fae, so you’re going to kill me.”
“No.” Echo leaned over him, so close their faces almost touched, but she wanted him to see the sincerity in her eyes. “The fae cannot die on Faerie. But here on Earth, they can be injured or killed by pure iron. William gave me the handcuffs you’re wearing and sent me here to uncover whether you are fae. The fact that the iron affects you proves it. But I’m not here to hand you over to William. I’m here to convince you to help me, and in exchange, I’ll help keep you alive.”
“You’re crazy,” he muttered.
“I recently discovered I am nothing but a tool of vengeance for William. That everything I’ve ever been told are lies. I need your help to protect someone from him, and then I need your help to bring him down. And in doing so bring down The Garm, which would keep you and the other fae-borne safe from them.”
Elijah chuckled, shaking his head. “I can’t believe this.”
“In return, I will take you to a known fae-borne. She’s a psychic. And rumor has it she knows everything about you all. She can give you the answers you need and teach you how to use and control your gifts.”
“I don’t need a mentor.” He strained against the cuffs. “I need you to let me go. And if you do so of your own free will, I will forget about this and leave without meting out retribution. I think that’s a fair deal, considering the circumstances, love. I’d take it.”
Growing exponentially frustrated by his stubborn refusal to believe, Echo had to take a couple of deep breaths. “Elijah, you are in danger. Not just from The Garm. There are others. A coven, a powerful coven, who, if they discover you are fae, will take you away from everything you love and kill you to open the gate. They’ll kill your friends, your family, if they stand in the way.”
“It can’t be that hard to whittle a stake,” Elijah murmured. “And I’m good at everything. I could probably whittle ten stakesin ten seconds. That would be a gruesome end, but I can’t say it would be an undeserving one. I wonder if there’s a timber yard nearby …”
“Fine.” Enraged but not stupid, Echo reached over him and uncuffed one hand. His arm fell limply above his head. She reached for the other and unlatched it.
To her shock, there was a blur of movement, and she found herself pinned beneath Elijah. Panic suffused her, and she tried to move, but it was like having an entire apartment building sitting on top of her. Echo had never encountered this kind of strength before. And this was when he was weakened from iron.
Holy crap.
He straddled her, his face flushed, green eyes sparking with rage. He bent his head toward her, his lips almost brushing hers. “If I ever see you again, vampire, I will rip out your fucking heart with my bare hands. Understood?”
Echo glowered up at him but nodded.
His anger banked slightly as he eased from her, but then his attention caught on his wrists. Holding her down easily with one hand, he studied the inflamed wounds there. “What the bloody hell?”
“It’s the iron. You react to it like a wolf to silver or a vampire to a stake.”
Uncertainty flickered in his expression, and he swallowed hard.
“Elijah … I’m not lying.”
His eyes returned to hers. Denial hardened his features. “If this leaves a scar, you better hope I never see you again, love.”
And then her hair whipped around her face as if a gust of wind had blown through the room. The weight holding her down was gone. Echo sat up.
Elijah was gone.
“Holy shit,” she whispered, pressing a hand to her forehead.
Eirik hadn’t lied.
The fae were stronger and faster than she could have ever imagined.
3
For the first time,Elijah cursed his inability to get truly bloody drunk. He needed a distraction. A numbing, blissful distraction from the fact that he’d been held hostage by a crazy vampire with crazy notions about what he was.
And scarred by the handcuffs she’d used on him.
He examined the healed burn around his left wrist. It had taken less than half an hour after he’d left Echo behind in that shitty hotel room for the wounds to heal. But he was left permanently marked by the iron.
