“Sang-hee!” Medea shouted.
“Medea?”
“Oh, fuck! Sang-hee, you're alive.”
I stepped into the room just after Tiernan to find Medea unstrapping a Kumiho woman from an operating table. A rolling cart to one side held an assortment of surgical instruments, but what was the most troubling was the sideboard full of Bunsen burners heating glass beakers of strange liquids. Acrid smells came from the concoctions.
“You found me,” Sang-hee whispered as she sat up, then wobbled.
“I've got you.” Medea steadied her.
“I think he drugged me,” Sang-hee said. “I don't know what he could have given me that would have worked this well. I . . .” She frowned at us. “There are a lot of people here.”
“You're important, baby girl,” Medea said. “Those are the Royals of Fairy. Almost all of them. Even the Undergrounds guy who isn't a real king is here.”
“Hey!” Daxon growled.
Sang-hee blinked at us. “The Royals of Fairy came to save me?”
“We're here to help your people,” I said. “Are you all right, Sang-hee?”
“Yes. Thank you, Your Majesty. Uh . . .”
“Yes?”
“Is my cat okay? That bastard didn't hurt Seulgi, did he?”
Medea started laughing and pulled the Kumiho into a hug. “No. Seulgi is fine. Ha-eun has him.”
“Thank the Goddess,” Sang-hee declared.
I grinned at that. I liked a woman who had her priorities in order.
Chapter Eighteen
“The Pearl Thief got away,” Nassar said as he came downstairs.
“No!” my husbands and I shouted together.
“Yeah, sorry. He must have used Air Magic. Even your boy with the smeller couldn't find him.” Nassar jerked his thumb at Desmond.
“No, we're not exclaiming over his escape. We mean, don't call him that,” Killian said, setting down a beaker. “We've already dealt with a pearl thief, and he nearly destroyed the world.”
“Oh. Right. That, uh, wishing pearl thingy.”
“Yes,” I said. “Where's Alex?”
“He's upstairs, poking around,” Desmond said, then sniffed the air. “I don't smell any other humans down here. It was only him.”
“Grab something with his scent on it,” Daxon said. “In case you need a refresher.”
“Yup.” Desmond headed upstairs. “Clothing is best.”
“At least there are a lot of things he's touched here,” I said, looking around at everything.
“Yeah, but I don't understand half of what I see when I touch them,” Killian said.
“Neither do I,” Alexis added. “It's beyond me. I've never felt so stupid.”
