seventeen
Therewasaknockon the door early the next morning. Groggily, I pulled myself from bed and made my way to the front of Wisteria Cottage. Silas trailed silently behind me.
When I pulled the door open, I found Fenlon standing before me, several of his buddies flanking him. This was not the morning greeting crew I’d been planning on or hoping for.
“Good morning,” Fen said. “Or maybe not. You’re under arrest.”
“What the hell?” Silas stepped around me, his tree-trunk of an arm leaning against the doorframe. “For starters, you don’t have the power to arrest anyone, Fenlon. Second, what are you arresting her for?”
“Ido,actually, possessthat power now. I’ve been voted interim leader until we decide what to do about her.” Fenlon inclined his head toward me. “The votes came in yesterday. As the temporary leader of The Isle, I have the power to make an arrest.”
“It’s like a citizen’s arrest. It doesn’t mean anything.” Ranger X elbowed his way up to the front door. “Fen’s full of shit. He doesn’t have any real power.”
“If that’s true, and he doesn’t have any real power,” Silas said. “Can you arresthimfor disturbing our peace?”
Ranger X blew out a long, slow breath. “I hate to say it, but there is an old law that states if a council elects someone as interim leader of The Isle, they do have the power to make arrests.” X raised his hands. “It’s not real power. It’s one of those ancient laws that everyone knows is stupid, so no one bothered to overturn it. Nothing will stick, but—”
“Can someone tell me what he wants to arrest me for in the first place?” I was tired. I wanted to go back to bed. I didn’t have time for bravado and bogus arrests. “I haven’t had time to do anything lately besides sleep and train.”
“Along with a little devouring of spirits?” Fenlon suggested, like he might ask if I had cereal for breakfast. “Like the three fishermen whose bodies we discovered this morning?”
“We,” Ranger X scoffed. “You tapped into the Ranger Comm system and stole information.Wefound them. You didn’t do much of anything.”
“All three of them—dead.” Fenlon wasn’t deterred. “She needs to be stopped.”
“What makes you think I had anything to do with that?” I asked.
The idea was preposterous. I didn’t have time to kill people, let alone the energy to pull it off. Don’t get me started on the motive.
“They were discovered with markings on their arms.” Fenlon smiled. “The symbol of the Triune Queen, the Triskelion Sigil.”
“This doesn’t mean it’s the symbol of the Triune Queen,” I said. “The Harbinger of the Underworld has been known to use it too.”
“The fishermen weren’t just drowned. They were killed before they were thrown overboard. Stabbed—with a dagger just the size of yours. Which means, we’ll need your dagger for evidence,” Fenlon said, like he was the sheriff in an old western. “Come on guys, toss this place.”
“That’s not how this works.” Ranger X threw outhistree trunk of an arm. There was a forest of biceps blocking the door so Fenlon couldn’t enter. “Even if some lingering law gives you a trickle of power, it doesn’t give you power to forego due process.”
A silence fell then. Fenlon had delivered his news with a chipper excitement that churned my gut. Ranger X’s sails deflated. He’d obviously been running on anger and frustration, but as he looked at me now, I saw something more there. Regret. Discomfort.
“Youdoneed my dagger,” I whispered. “It’s okay. You can take it.”
“It’ll be easier to eliminate you as a suspect if we can test the blade,” Ranger X said. “The sooner we find the real murder weapon, the sooner we can get you off the hook.”
“I understand.” I disappeared into the bedroom, returned, handed over the dagger I’d just used in my dream to unlock the wards again. It was still damp. “Whatever you need, I’m willing to cooperate.”
“Then you can come with me,” Fenlon said. “We’ve got a nice little cell with your name on it.”
“Over my dead body,” Silas said. “You’ve got nothing on her. A symbol that might not even be related to her? A guess at the murder weapon which is absolutely wrong? Alessia is not going with you.”
“She has to,” Fenlon said. “That’s how it works. We can do a forty-eight-hour hold legally.”
“That’snothow this works,” Ranger X said. “I don’t care about the rules in your book. We do this our way.”
Ranger X didn’t need to expand. Fenlon’s face paled. There was a barely veiled threat hanging in the air. Apparently, even Ranger X found it appropriate to bend the written rules from time to time.
“She’s not a flight risk,” X continued. “She’s not dangerous. Silas will keep an eye on her while we test the dagger. There’s no evidence to arrest her.”
“Like I trust Silas?” Fenlon asked. “He’ll probably sneak her away.”
