Tiarnán shared a look with Deirdre before focusing on Patrick. “Tell me about Zachary Myers.”
“He’s a mage who practices blood magic. He’s been working with Ethan for years.”
“You have fought him before?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Then you know what to expect.”
Patrick snorted. “About as well as anyone was able to predict the Thirty-Day War. We said we’d try our best to find your Summer Lady. Me knowing who took her for sure doesn’t really change the playing field, because we need to figure out how to find her. Ethan and his mercenaries have spent the past two decades on the run. Finding them is a challenge for intelligence agencies. It’s going to be worse for us.”
“You made a promise.”
“Yeah, we did,” Jono said. “We promised we’d try.”
The rest of the drive home was made in tense silence, all of Jono’s questions for Patrick tumbling through his mind, unwilling to speak them within hearing distance of the fae. Tiarnán seemed content to let the silence settle, but his demeanor changed once they finally pulled up in front of the Chelsea townhouse some time later.
Two men stood on the pavement in front of the stoop. Jono immediately recognized Gerard and Keith, and it seemed Tiarnán did as well judging by the faint widening of his eyes. The limo pulled to a smooth stop, and Patrick shoved open the door before Deirdre could reach for it. Jono followed him out, nodding at Gerard.
The Mustang braked to a halt behind the limo, and the dwarf got out. Patrick went to inspect the vehicle, muttering under his breath about magic and the car’s paint job. Jono stepped out of the way as first Deirdre, then Tiarnán, exited the limo.
“Lord of Ivy and Gold,” Gerard said in a tone of voice Jono was familiar with from Patrick. It was very much afuck you, only with different syllables.
“You two know each other?” Patrick asked from the driver’s side of the Mustang.
“I was not aware you knew—” Tiarnán began.
Gerard cut him off. “It’s not your business how I know Patrick.”
Tiarnán swept his gaze over everyone before turning to duck back into the limo. “Sage is excused from her casework until further notice. I hope you keep our bargain, Jonothon.”
“Not one to break my word,” Jono replied.
Tiarnán said nothing to that, merely let Deirdre join him in the limo and close the door. The dwarf took the front passenger-side seat, and once his door was shut, the driver pulled away. Jono watched them leave until the limo turned the corner and disappeared from sight.
“Do I want to know what you two were doing with that asshole?” Gerard asked with a frown.
“Politics.”
“Dog and pony shows are a bitch,” Keith said with a knowing nod. “It’s freezing. How about we yell at each other upstairs?”
“How about everyone get in the car and we head over to Marek’s place?” Patrick countered.
Jono nodded and walked back to the Mustang. This wasn’t a conversation they needed to have out in the open where anyone could hear it.
9
“Where’s Marek?”Patrick demanded as he stepped inside the apartment. The mansion the Tempest pack lived in on the Upper East Side was split up into a couple different apartments, but Marek’s was the one they always hung out in.
“Nice to see you, too,” Emma said, rolling her eyes.
Patrick paused long enough to take off his shoes so he didn’t track snow and dirt into the home. Wade was on the couch in flannel pants and a T-shirt, holding a plate piled high with cinnamon rolls. He crammed one into his mouth and said something that Patrick couldn’t understand.
“No one is going to take that plate away, so slow down and chew,” Jono admonished.
“It looks like he has enough to share,” Keith said.
Wade flipped them off and took another big bite. Patrick flopped down on the couch beside him and conjured up a mageglobe. He cast a silence ward, filling the breadth of the apartment with static.
