“So, uh, you still want that room?” he called after me. “If not, I need the keysback!”
I answered by slamming the door in his face. Who has time for good manners when you have a realm to save frompsychopaths?
Now, where had those Cauldron Tossers gone? I whipped my head back and forth, glaring down one end of the street to the next. Nothing. Not even a dark silhouette melting into distant shadows. The fae could have gone anywhere in this city, and by the time I found them, they’d already have Lugh. If they didn’talready.
I had only one choice. Well, I had two, but one was never going to happen. I could either forget about all this and go back home, liked I’d planned to originally. Or I could return to the castle and warnLugh.
The castle twinkled in the distance. Clenching my hands, I wentback.
* * *
Lugh was nowhereto be found inside the palace, and Uisnech was just as scarce. The guardhouse at the gate had been empty, which was a pretty ominous development, and I had no idea which rooms the twins lived in. So, I found myself pounding on the only other fae’s door I knew well enough to disturb in the middle of thenight.
Imogen cracked open her door about a centimetre, her pink hair a curtain around her face. Sleepy eyes peered out at me. “Moira? Why are you knocking on my door at...?” She glanced behind her. “ThreeAM?!”
“I need your help,” I hissed, all too aware of the many ears around the castle, not that any of them would be awake right now. “There’s been a plot against theKing.”
That woke herup.
Eyes suddenly alert, she flicked her gaze around the hallway behind me as if the plotters would appear there at any moment. “Plot against the King? How do you know? What’shappening?”
“Can I come in?” I asked impatiently. “I really don’t want to discuss this outhere.”
Even though there were few safe places to speak inside the castle, the rooms were at least warded enough that my voice wouldn’t carry down the hallway. If our enemies were lurking right outside the door, sure, they’d hear every word. But if they decided to lurk outside this door, I’d show them my bloodyblade.
Imogen opened the door wider, and I rushed inside. Her room was slightly larger than mine had been, with a similar bed, desk, and bedside table. But everything else had been transformed by pink. She had a fuzzy pink rug spread across the hardwood. Her bedspread was covered in pink flowers. Even her table lamp had been garnished with a pinkshade.
“It has to do with my power,” she said chagrined. “I’m highly-attuned to colour. It communicates with me. Pink is the only thing that shuts itup.”
“Pinkshuts it up?” I asked, whirling to take in the very bright display ofcolour.
She nodded sagely. “You would think brown or black, right? But black is probably the loudest, and brown is one of those that kind of seeps into yourskin.”
“I...” In any other circumstance, I would want to sit down and quiz her on this very unique skill of hers. But I didn’t really have time for that. “There’s been a plot against the King, and someone has taken him. A lot of someonesactually.”
“Does this have something to do with the attack earliertonight?”
Had that really been tonight? I shook my head. So much had happened since then, it felt likedays.
“Yeah, it was the same fae,” I said quickly. “And I need your help. There was no one at the guardhouse when I came in, and I have no idea where Warin, Boudica, or the other warriorslive.”
She blinked at me, and then smiled. “You want me to find them foryou.”
“Or you could just tell me where they are.” Before I could finish my sentence, my phone trilled. Sucking in a sharp breath, I slammed it onto my ear without looking at the callername.
“Hey, Moira.” Kyle’s easy voice slid over the line. Damn. My shoulders slumped. For a second there, I’d thought it wasLugh.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Imogen slip over to the door. I twisted toward her, and she pointed at the hallway and mouthed something about the warriors. She was going to go find them for me. I gave her a thumbs up and returned to mycall.
“So, I ran those faces through CCTV, and I got a few hits,” hesaid.
Hope bloomed in my chest. “Are you serious? My god, Kyle. You’re alifesaver.”
“Don’t get too excited,” he cut in. “We’ve got three faces, yeah? Well, I got their identities, but there are five known residences onfile.”
My hope got quickly squashed by the big bug known as reality. “Five.”
While I couldn’t deny Kyle had done great work and had finally dropped some leads on top of my head, five locations was four too many. The enemy wanted to murder Lugh. Tonight. And no telling what they would do with Saoirse now that they no longer needed herprophecies.
