“Well, come on then. Time to see the witch.” I squared my shoulders. “Let’s get this over with so that we can move on to the next name on thelist.”
With a nod, Lugh set off across the lawn. I strode by his side, enhancing my fae vision to better see in the dark. When we approached the castle, a figure whispered out of the darkness. A woman, clad in a pale white dress, her face painted with red lines. She looked like something straight out of a horror film, and even though I knew what she was, a flicker of unease went through me at the ghoulishsight.
“King Lugh of the Court of Wraiths.” She sniffed and levelled her gleaming red eyes on me. “Random, no-name fae. Why are you trespassing on myterritory?”
Lugh narrowed his eyes, prickling at her words. “This is not your territory. Last time I checked, this castle belonged to the city of Edinburgh. Not a lone sorcerer with an ego twice the size of herbrain.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Human designations do not concern me. Supernatural ones do. And as far as the supernatural world is concerned, this castle ismine.”
Lugh took a step closer to her, anger rippling off his body in waves. “As the ruler of this supernatural community,I—”
“Ha!” She held up a hand, cutting him off. “You are no true ruler. You lead your Court in secret, hidden from the Morrigan’seyes.”
“Alright, we get it. You want to work this castle. Whatever.” I placed a warning hand on Lugh’s arm before he blabbed that the Morrigan knew about his Court and that she was totally fine with it. “We’re not here aboutthat.”
She arched a drawn brow. “Then, why are youhere?”
“We need to ask you about yourSapphire.”
She coughed, then laughed, and then laughed even harder. Her tinkling sound echoed off the looming stone walls. “If you think you are going to break down the inhibitions of this fae…” She jerked a thumb at Lugh. “You’re going to be sorely disappointed. He has a stick up his arse. Surely a pretty fae like you could find someone more interesting.” She arched that brow of hers again. “I would be happy to hook you up withone.”
Lugh growled, and every hair on my arm stood on end. The sorcerer’s eyes widened, though not in fear. Almost, as though, in understanding. She choked out another laugh. “Oh my. You two are mates. I don’t know how I missed it at first, but now that I’ve seenit…”
“You can tell?” I asked, just as Lugh shouted. “Enough!”
The sorcerer pressed her lips together. “I see now why you want thatSapphire.”
I tightened my grip on Lugh’s arm to keep him from shouting anything else. “Listen, we’re not actually looking to buy any from you tonight. There’s a rumour going around that a fae is hooked on the stuff. We were hoping to find out who it was, so that we can helphim.”
The words came out of my mouth, unheeded. I hadn’t planned any of this, but I was quickly realising that she wouldn’t care one bit that we were in trouble. Hell, she’d probably find the entire thing amusing. If we were going to get her to give up her client list, it would have to be for some otherreason.
“Surely you aren’t suggesting that I would allow one of my clients to turn into a magic addict,” she said, her voice going sharp. “Particularly not a fae. I don’t deal with yourkind.”
“You were ready to sell it to me two seconds ago,” I said flatly. “So, I think you might deal with them more often than you’d like toadmit.”
She pursed her lips, regarding me carefully. “You’re observant. I like that. And you stand up to the wraith. I also likethat.”
Lugh let out another growl of irritation, but we both ignored him. “We just want to know if you’ve sold to any other fae lately, and if you have, what their names were. Then, we’ll be on our way and leave your territory in your hands. You won’t find us hereagain.”
She sniffed. “Fine. But you might be disappointed when you hear my answer. I’ve only sold to one fae recently, and he didn’t look like the addict type. In fact, I’m fairly certain the Sapphire wasn’t meant for him atall.”
My heart thumped, ears perking up at herwords.
“Tell us his name,” Lugh said in a lowvoice.
“Quentin Something,” she said. “He wanted me to meet him at his house, or so he said. It was a flat in Old Town, above a pub called A Knight’s End. I assumed it was a front at the time, but I didn’t ask. Every fae in the city lives in your castle,right?”
“Right,” Lugh growled, twisting toward me. “That’s the samepub.”
“I thought your team investigated the pub,” I whispered, aware that the sorcerer was keenly listening in to every word we said. “No long-termtenants.”
“He must have obscured the truth somehow,” he said. “We asked Kyle to hack the booking server, but he must not be an officialguest.”
A chill swept down my spine. So, hehadbeen there the entire time. That meant he could have been watching and listening when I’d popped into the pub that night to question the owner. Had he seen me rendezvous with the team outside in thestreets?
Unease churned through me. Pressing my lips together, I looked up to meet Lugh’s concerned gaze. “I think he knew. The whole thing, I think it was some kind oftrick.”
Lugh gave a slow nod. “He must have been there. He might have even followed you back to the castle thatnight.”
