When they reached the sitting room, Davina still lay where they had left her, pale, fragile, and impossibly still.
The stranger stopped in the doorway, his expression shifting from curiosity to something almost sorrowful. “I know this energy,” he murmured.
Lucy frowned. “You recognise her?”
He nodded slowly, stepping closer. “Not her exactly, but her kind. I can feel the echo of her aura.” He crouched beside Davina, his long fingers hovering just above her skin, tracing invisible lines through the air.
A faint shimmer followed his movements, the air rippling like disturbed water.
Byron watched him carefully. “Who are you?”
The man looked up, his dark eyes warm but weary. “My name is Jared,” he said simply. “I belong to the Kynar.”
Barnaby raised an eyebrow. “The Kynar?”
“Yes,” Jared said. “We are the perfect balance between what others fear and what they worship.”
Sam snorted quietly. “Bit of a boring name for such a dramatic mix.”
Jared’s lips curved into a small grin. “I didn’t choose it. Clearly, our ancestors had very little imagination.”
Jared turned serious again. He placed one hand lightly on Davina’s forehead, another over her heart. His expression grew distant, as if listening to something far away.
After a long pause, he whispered, “She’s trapped deep inside. Her spirit has been locked beneath a binding spell so strong it’s begun to merge with her essence.”
He opened his eyes and looked at Lucy. “We should talk.”
They guided him into the kitchen, the faint scent of tea leaves grounding the strange energy that still hung in the air.
Mary, ever the host even amid chaos, motioned toward the kettle. “Would you like some tea?”
Jared shook his head politely. “No tea, thank you. But a glass would be appreciated.”
He reached into the inner pocket of his coat and drew out a glass container filled with shimmering blue liquid. He opened it carefully, poured it into the glass, and took a slow sip. The room filled with the faint scent of berries.
Barnaby, who had been quietly scanning Jared’s energy signature with his tablet, finally couldn’t help himself. “What is that?” he blurted out. “That drink. What does it do?”
Jared chuckled softly. “As one who carries both light and dark within, I must support balance. This elixir keeps me sane. Without it, the two halves of me would tear each other apart.”
Barnaby’s eyes widened. “Fascinating. That must have taken centuries of trials and magical theory to perfect, testing, refining, all the variables of—”
Jared interrupted with a smirk. “It’s blueberry juice.”
Barnaby blinked. “Wait, what?”
Jared took another calm sip. “Yes. Blueberries. Very grounding.”
Jared set his glass down, his tone returning to its calm authority. “Now, back to the matter at hand.”
Lucy straightened. “You know she’s a dark Fae?”
“I do,” Jared replied. “And you want me to bring her back to reality, to unbind what holds her.”
“Yes,” Lucy said, her voice firm.
Jared studied her for a moment. “What were her crimes?”
Lucy hesitated. “I… don’t know. She’s never said. I didn’t even know what she was until tonight.”
