Saoirse made a strangled, horrified sound that told Wade whoever this fae was, she was a problem, one they couldn’t get tied up in. He tightened his arm around Saoirse’s waist and decided it was time for them to get the hell out of there.
He spat dragon fire at the fae, which was met by a blast of seawater that created a swirl of deadly steam Wade didn’t stick around to experience. He hauled Saoirse with him to the side wall and punched his way through it with enough strength it damaged the support beam overhead. Pieces of the ceiling rained down behind them as the wall collapsed. He dragged Saoirse out of the holding room, through magic that made the fire opal ring shine like the light in a lighthouse. They ended up in an adjacent dining room, the open-plan kitchen beyond it empty.
Wade opened up his awareness, primed to find treasure, and took Saoirse with him. Shouting echoed through the house, and the walls glowed with magic that chased them up the stairs. A pair of fae stood at the landing up top, actual swords in hand instead of guns. Wade wasted no time in spitting fire at them hot enough to melt the metal and turn the fae into scorch marks.
“Whatareyou?” Saoirse gasped out in shock.
“Dragon!” a vicious voice cried out from the first floor.
“She’s not wrong,” Wade said as he practically carried Saoirse with him down a hallway. “Who was that other dragon?”
“Caoránach? She’s an Oilliphéist.”
“A what now?”
“Mundane humans would call her a sea serpent.” Saoirse shuddered. “She’s probably the threat that’s been in the harbor and the ocean.”
“Oh man, I think I saw one of those on a flight to Ireland once. She must be the god, not Niall. I really don’t want to know what they’ve been doing for him to carry that much of her scent with him.” He’d gotten it wrong when it came to what Niall was—still an asshole though—but he’d been right that the problem was a god of some sort. “I don’t know what a sea serpent gets out of owning land though.”
“Niall’s been taking hostages, going after people with magic and power. She has a hunger.”
Wade swore. “She canstayhungry.”
Magic pulsed in the walls around them, and Saoirse let out a pained sound before the fire opal ring sparked with its own magic to counter whatever was being thrown at them. The magic slid right off Wade, useless against him, but he didn’t want to put Saoirse at risk any more than she already was.
He paused for half a second to swing her up in his arms, her arms going around his neck as she tucked herself close. Wade spun on his heels and belched out dragon fire in the hallway behind them, setting the space on fire to slow down their pursuers. The scent of the ocean was getting stronger, which meant the sea serpent goddess was probably closing the distance between them. But Wade had one more floor to get to, his awareness of treasure snagging on that salt-iron beacon above.
The staircase at the end of the hallway wasn’t guarded at the bottom, but he knew better than to run up it full tilt. He spat more dragon fire ahead of them as a precaution, which was a good thing, because the hail of bullets melted in the heat. Saoirse turned her face away from the fire, holding on tight to Wade as he burned his way up to the third floor.
Fire kindled on the wall, breaking through magic as he ran down the hallway to his right. He didn’t see a stairwell leading up, but there was an outline in the ceiling about half the size of a regular door, completely covered in wards that burned bright in defense to their presence.
“Hold on,” Wade said as he set Saoirse on her feet again. She leaned against the wall to get out of his way.
Wade jumped, using his strength to launch himself straight up and break through the ceiling entrance with both fists. The door shattered upward from the force of his hit, the spell embedded in it cleaving away in bright lines that hissed andsparked in midair before fading away. He caught the edge of the opening in one hand, hung there for a second, before landing back on the floor with a heavy thump.
Steam exploded from down the hall, and Wade wasted no time in picking up Saoirse and tossing her up through the broken-open entrance above them. Wade followed after her, nearly cracking the floor with the force of his jump. He landed in a tiny space that passed as an attic. He had to duck his head to keep it from hitting the ceiling, but that was fine. He needed to crouch before the iron safe anyway.
Saoirse came up behind him, her heartbeat loud in his ears, quick like a rabbit’s. “Is that where he’s kept my skin?”
Wade flexed his fingers, talons curving away from the nailbed. “Yeah.”
That salt-iron tug was bright in his awareness, treasure waiting to be stolen. Only he’d never keep what was in the safe because it didn’t belong to him. It belonged to Saoirse, and he was determined to give it back to her before the sea serpent made it to the attic.
“She’s coming,” Saoirse breathed in fear. “How are we going to get out?”
“I have a plan,” Wade muttered.
First, he needed to break through the safe and all the spells and wards wrapped around it. Iron didn’t hurt him, and neither did the magic Niall had set into it. He wondered how any of the fae managed to touch the thing.
Wade placed his talons against the seam of the door and sank them into metal with brute strength, shifting mass a bit to force them through. Saoirse made a surprised sound and scrambled back a few steps. He didn’t have time to apologize for making her uncomfortable. Wade used that part of him that could negate magic in breaking through everything laid into the iron safe ashe wrenched the door off its hinges and away from the frame itself.
Inside lay some jewelry that reeked of magic, a scepter made out of bone that smelled like a grave, and draped in the back was a soft-looking pile of sealskin that was the whole reason for the mess Riordan and his clan were in. Wade snatched up the sealskin first and tossed it to Saoirse. She caught it lightning quick, flinging it over her shoulders. It shifted as it spun through the air, turning into a cute little cropped leather jacket that she hugged to her body with a ragged sob.
Wade dragged everything else in the safe into that internal pocket where his mass resided as opposed to the ones in his jeans. He didn’t know what any of it did, but he knew better than to leave it for Niall to keep. If it was locked up in a magical safe, then Niall thought they were important, and that meant Wade was adding them to his hoard.
“Come on,” Wade said as he stood. “We have to go.”
“Where?” Saoirse pointed at the broken entrance. “That’s the only way out.”
