“Thank you, Councilman,” I took a deep breath, and tried to let go of the panic rising in my chest. I could talk big all I wanted, but it wouldn't change my worry for Bress. “If you would please keep a patrol looking for Bress, I would appreciate it.”
“Of course I will, Your Highness,” Murdock said. “I'll notify you immediately of any evidence we find.”
“Thank you,” I stood. “Now I need to return to Fairy. I have to report to King Raza and my father. I'll make sure the suvanis flowers get to you. I'll leave it to you to distribute them as you see fit.”
“Thank you, Princess Seren,” Murdock stood to escort us out. “We've just cleared the neighborhood this morning, so you should be fine to leave.”
We headed out of the Council House, a somber group of fairies, humans, and those of us in between. Oh, and Cat, we mustn't forget Cat. I suppose she was one of the betweens too, not exactly a puka, yet not a person. It was a quiet procession, each of us lost in our own thoughts. The only good news I'd taken from the meeting had been the fact that the Coven had agreed to lend its support on an even larger scale. Not only had General Soren come to my aid, but there were other witch teams currently on the look out for Moire. I didn't have high hopes for them finding her, though. Moire was with the elves now, and it seemed that elves were indeed good at hiding. Even when you knew exactly where to find them.
We reached the sidewalk and said goodbye to Murdock, and the few extinguishers who had escorted us out to our waiting vehicles. I hadn't seen Abby there, and that was exactly what I was thinking when I looked up and saw a fairy staring at me. He was across the street from us and appeared to be human. I wouldn't have even noticed him except I'd felt a strange sense that someone was watching me. I'd automatically switched my vision into aura mode, and analyzed the man with my psychic senses. He was glowing with magic.
I froze and was about to send my Guard over to him when he turned and ran.
“Seize him!” I pointed after the fleeing fairy, and my Guard leapt into action.
Only Killian, Tiernan, and Cat remained behind to guard me. We watched as the others chased after the stranger. They rounded a corner, and we waited anxiously for several minutes. Finally, my Guard returned empty handed. Well, almost empty handed. Conri held a scrap of material, torn from the man's clothing.
“Here, snake-psychic,” Conri gave the fabric to Killian. “See what you can make out of this.”
Killian didn't bother with a comeback, just snatched the material and closed his eyes. Then he made a disgusted face and tossed the fabric to the ground. Cat went forward and took a deep sniff. She looked up at me and whined.
“That was gross,” Killian made a disgusted face. “Whomever he is, he's Moire's lover.”
“Moire has a lover?” I was shocked.
“He's probably an elf,” Tiernan said.
“No, that much I could tell,” Killian shook his head. “This guy felt... shiny. I think he's a sidhe. And kinky. Really fucking kinky.”
“He's a she? You think he's a woman?” I blinked, momentarily forgetting the term for the most human-looking of the fey, and how it was pronounced “she”. They all stared at me until I caught my mistake. “Oh, right. Sorry. I'm not thinking straight.”
“We need to get back to Fairy,” Tiernan's stare was concerned. “I won't feel good about your safety until we're in Twilight again.”
“I agree,” Killian looked like he wished it were otherwise. “I'm going to stay in San Fran and do a little more investigating. I'll twilight over tomorrow. You should be able to get home by then, right?”
“Late tomorrow,” I said. “And I may be heading to Unseelie, so I don't know if I'll be in Twilight for long.”
“I'll scry you first then,” Killian leaned over and kissed my cheek. Then he smirked, “'Seize him'? When did you turn into the Queen of Hearts?”
“The line is 'Off with her head',” I huffed.
“You can save that for when we catch Moire,” Killian said as he walked away.
“Let's go,” Tiernan kept his eyes on Killian's departing figure. “I don't like it here.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Traveling in Fairy could be a pain in the butt, like literally. Most of the time it was done on foot or horseback. We twilight fey had the wonderful option of using twilight magic, but when Tiernan was with me, that option was useless. Tiernan may have defected to Twilight, but that didn't change his DNA. He was a seelie sidhe, nothing could change that. Which meant he couldn't use the In-Between like the rest of my Star's Guard. It was kind of a downer sometimes.
Every time we left Fairy, we had to leave a camp of men behind in Fairy, to care for the horses we couldn't take through to HR. This particular time, though, I'd left Fairy through the Between, and Tiernan had met up with me in HR. That meant I hadn't left any men behind. So it was a good thing that he had. Tiernan had journeyed to a rath with Bress and left a group of soldiers behind with their horses. It had been a long wait for them, and they were thrilled to see us. They weren't so happy to hear about Bress though. It looked as if I wasn't the only one who had grown fond of my cousin.
Several of the guards had ideas on what to do about Bress' disappearance, but I knew we had to let the Extinguishers handle the search for the time being. As much as I hated to even think it, we had more important issues to focus on. Like why Bress had been taken in the first place, and what Moire was planning to do with him and in general. Oh, and why the hell Danu had sided with that bitch.
“Anytime you want to let me know why you're betraying us, I'm listening,” I muttered to the empty air.
I'd been muttering like that, off and on, the entire day. I was riding Cat, in her horse form of course, through the Twilight Forest, heading home. I could have scried my father, and Raza for that matter, before I left HR, but I didn't feel right about it. I wanted to speak to them in person. Especially Raza, but that was for an entirely different reason. A reason that had my stomach in knots, and my stare seeking out Tiernan constantly. He met my eyes every time, as if he could feel my attention. By the time we stopped for the night, the tension between us was at a breaking point. I had barely made Cat comfortable before Tiernan was at my side.
“Can we speak privately?” Tiernan asked.
