“That’s Lilith, my familiar,” Ezra said, taking a few steps forward. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ezra.”
“The curse-breaker! How marvelous. Freya shall be so jealous.” Nórr breathed out. He knelt and let Lilith smell his hand before she daintily rubbed her chin along his fingers, asking for scratches. He complied, gently scratching her chin and neck. “My father is here somewhere. Pop!”
Nórr shouting made Ezra jump, and Raum put a hand on his shoulder in sympathy. “Dad, could you not shout for Grandpa like that? He can hear you just fine.”
“Shouting is fun,” Nórr said with a sigh and a shake of his head in mock despair. “My son grew up to be so serious. What happened?”
Ezra ignored the banter and took a glance around the stacks, but no other fae magically appeared. He did have a question, though. “How did you get here so fast? Do you live by the campus?”
Nórr sent him a questioning glance with a bit of mischief, and he wondered what the Elder fae saw when he looked at Ezra.
“You can say we were nearby, that’s the most accurate,” Nórr said, and promptly changed the subject. “Saemund probably found something to read by now.”
Ezra looked to Raum who minutely shook his head once, and Ezra decided to ask about it again later.
Motion in the stacks drew his attention—a tall, lean man wearing a dark-blue leather jacket over a dark-gray cotton shirt and matching pants wandered out into the area around the table carrying a stack of books. He was more like Raum in appearance—they had the same musculature and height, whereas Nórr was slimmer and slinkier; and this fae’s hair was a honey gold that no human could possibly match except by magic. His eyes were different, though—these eyes were a rich, vibrant blue, nearly cobalt, a hue that was electric and drove home for Ezra that this person was not human, not in any way.
“You’re High Court Sidhe,” Ezra breathed out in awe. Raum had said as much, but to see the Elder fae in person was something of a miracle considering how very rare they were in these modern times.
The Elder fae stopped beside Ezra on his way to the table with his books and met Ezra’s gaze, and Ezra could have swornhe felt a brush of power from the fae before the other man gave him a quirky smile and a short nod.
“I am,” said the Elder fae, “and you’re the curse-breaker, with magic like that.”
“Oh,” Ezra finally clued in that he was being rude, blurting out about what species this newcomer was and staring so intently. “I’m sorry. I forget what’s rude and what’s okay to say out loud sometimes.”
“No harm done,” the sidhe replied. “I am Saemund.”
“Hi. Ezra.” Lilith meowed at their feet. “This is Lilith, my familiar.”
Saemund nodded once in greeting and gave Lilith a huge smile, taking care not to step on her with his leather boots in the same dark-blue color as his jacket.
Saemund was not dressed like a grandfather, nor did he look old enough to have a grown son, let alone grandchildren. Ezra was twenty-seven, and Saemund appeared to be about the same age, at least physically—if Saemund was truly an Elder fae, a High Court Sidhe, then he could be thousands of years old, and probably was, considering how old that particular fae species was compared to humanity.
“I really hope you can help me,” Ezra said as Saemund gently put his stack of books on the table, the two MERS soldiers watching him with some trepidation. The High Court Sidhe were more famous in recent months than they had been in hundreds of years, all thanks to an infamous member of their species becoming a serial killer in Boston. Not to equate that one anomaly with Saemund—the powers of the High Court Sidhe were as legendary as the people.
Nearly extinct, the High Court Sidhe were among the oldest and longest-lived species on the planet, their people rumored to be older than humanity as a whole. Thankfully, not all of themwere serial killers—just the one, so far, as the limited remainder were spread across the world living quiet lives.
“Nórr told me about the skull,” Saemund said absently, perusing the titles of the books already spread out on the table, humming to himself as he read an open page before Raum cleared his throat, making Saemund look up and blink, as if remembering he was talking to them. “And Freya likely told you about the Black Sea Elder fae with the blue magics. The Vila. She’s probably right.”
“I need to figure out how to destroy the artifact safely without blowing up myself or the city, or burying Edmonton in a massive blizzard,” Ezra said, slipping his hands in his pockets. “If it remains as it is, some government is going to use it as a weapon before too long.”
“I agree—humans do have a fondness for weapons of mass destruction,” Nórr said, crossing his arms and sending the MERS soldiers a sharp glance.
Harlan waved off Nórr's words with a simple gesture of his hand. “I can’t argue with the truth. Our Major is keeping a tight wrap on information, but we need to move as fast as we can before someone up the chain of command decides that destroying the skull isn’t in the government’s best interest.”
“Tell me everything,” Saemund said, leaning one hip on the table and staring at Ezra.
His gaze was intense, brighter than any summer sky, but Ezra found himself preferring whiskey brown with gold flecks.
Raum
Raum gesturedfor his father to follow him into the stacks as Ezra recounted everything to Saemund. Nórr followed, curious.
Once they were just out of sight and hearing, Raum turned to his father. “Dad, please tell me you didn’t teleport here with Grandpa.”
“Fine, I won’t tell you, but that’s silly,” Nórr said. “I clearly teleported here with him. Don’t worry, no one saw us, I dropped us in the mathematics reference section. Not a soul in sight.”
“I don’t want you or Grandpa getting kidnapped by some High Council magistrate because of rumors that High Court Sidhe with traveling powers are in Edmonton.” Raum stressed to his father. “Running from the High Council is why you and Mom are in Canada to begin with.”
