CHAPTER ONE
BLAKE
“Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Blake Beckett. I was born of the human realm to Colleen and Darren Beckett. I’m the new member of your coven.”
Four pairs of eyes glared back at me like I’d just told them the world was a giant wedge of cheese. There was Maeve – her beauty radiant even through the crackled marks my spirit magic made across her face. Her three witch boyfriends glowered at me, all fire and brimstone and “burn the outsider.” At least the red-haired one had gone to the garden with the babies – he was more ready than the others to run me through with a blade.
Just my luck, therewerea ton of swords hanging conveniently above my head, should any of the others feel the desire.
It would be a damn shame, especially since I hadn’t had a curry yet.
“Colleen and Darren?” The one they called Corbin asked, his breath throaty from the sleeping draught the guards had forced down him. He scrambled upright, his dark eyes swimming with pain and confusion. That was good. Confusion was better thananger. When these witches were angry, they also got stabby. “But…the murder suicide…”
I waved a hand. “Is that Daigh covered it up? Very classy. Make it a bloodbath – that’s the Unseelie way.”
Corbin’s eyes widened. “What are you saying?”
“Daigh took me from my parents before their coven sealed off the gateway. That’s how he managed to get me through – and even then, it cost him much of his power for many years. That’s why I hadn’t been able to leaveTir Na Noguntil recently.”
“Haven’t been able to leave, or didn’t want to leave?” demanded the particularly stabby blonde one with arms like tree trunks. I think was Arnold.
I spied a door on the far wall and started inching my way toward it. Better to be close to an escape route should this conversation continue in an ‘eviscerate Blake’ direction. Although with Daigh’s fae prowling around outside the castle walls, I was probably safer insidewith the stabby witches.
“Oh, sure,” I said breezily, meeting Maeve’s eyes and trying to plant the thought in her head that I was trustworthy, that I was telling the truth. Now that she knew what I could do, I wasn’t sure she’d trust her thoughts. “I justloveliving in a world that’s only five miles square, where the weather never changes, the food will poison me if I eat it, and the inhabitants are like horny teenagers cooped up indoors with nothing to do, only they have magic and a penchant for sticking sharp things into their pet human for shits and giggles. Why would Ieverwant to leave?”
“You’ve come through the gateway twice before,” Maeve pointed out in that measured tone of hers. “Once when you took Connor and once when you accosted me in Jane’s bathroom.”
“Even when Daigh was strong enough to send a human through the gateway again, he didn’t want to send me in case I ran away as soon as my feet hit home soil.” I scuffed the edge ofthe salt circle with my boot. “Turns out he was right, but I had to pretend he wasn’t. It took me years to earn Daigh’s total trust so he’d send me through.”
Now was probably not the time to tell them I had to betray my adopted cousin to get the King’s approval finally. I continued:
“Daigh gave me that assignment and I could not refuse it. While the sprites were collecting Connor, I was trying to figure out how to get a message to you. I was going to plant something in the red-haired one’s dreams, but you popped out from behind the wall and clobbered me before I had a chance. That’s why I came back the second time.”
“What assignment were you on then?” Maeve demanded.
“Nothing. I knocked out one of the Far Darrigs assigned to the next mission and used a glamour to take his place. That’s why I couldn’t stay in the bathroom and chat. I had to get back before they noticed I was out of formation.”
“Glamour is fae magic,” Arnold spat. “Humans can’t do that.”
“You can if you’ve spent twenty-one years learning from the fae.” My eyes bore into Maeve’s. “Your coven didn’t exactly leave any colour TVs or magazines or record players for me to enjoy in my prison. I didn’t have anything else todobutpractice magic.”
“He is really powerful,” Maeve said to the others. “I’ve read about all kinds of spirit magic in one of Corbin’s books, but Blake can do stuff beyond even that. He can speak inside your head and?—”
“Yeah, while he wastorturingyou,” Arnold growled.
“Arthur,” Maeve warned.
His name was Arthur. I probably wouldn’t remember that.
“Wait,what?” Corbin glared at me.
I held up my hands. “I didn’t torture her. She needed to wake up. All I did was influence her dream to make her see something she wouldn’t want to face. It’s nothing Maeve can’t do herself.”
“Sure.” Maeve ran her hand through her short hair. A streak of pink slashed across her forehead – the color making her hazel eyes appear as rippling pools of deep water. “I crossed through the gateway in my dream, and pulled the guys through after me, but you took things frominside my head.I heard your voice. The book says that only the most powerful spirit users can do that.”
“Exactly,” I sighed. “And Maeve is the Priestess and has no idea what she’s capable of, so now you’ve got two of the most powerful spirit users in your coven. You should be dancing a jig, not interrogating me. Especially since we don’t have time for any of this. The gateway is weakened and Daigh’s fae will be swarming through as fast as they can.” I pointed out the window in the direction of the sidhe. From this vantage point, I could see the castle gardens – bursting with bright flowers and weird statues – stretching down to a small wood. “The first thing we should do is fix that. We have to?—”
“There’s nowe,” Arnold – no,Arthur– shot at me. “What you’re telling us is ludicrous. It’s?—”
