“So what exactly is he doing here withyou, then?” I challenged. “Convenient that he’s throwing himself in front of you, isn’t it?”
Ben and Lee exchanged a soulful look.
“It’s a long story,” Ben finally said, fidgeting with his hands. “I…I don’t love telling all of it. But we’re here because somethinghorrible is happening at this hotel, and—” He halted to study me in confusion. “Surely you must’ve known that by now?”
I pressed my lips into a thin line, frustrated by the disadvantage of being in the dark. What good was their information when they could make anything up to paint themselves in the best light?
“We only just arrived before you decided to jump me,” I snapped.
“You were obviously eager to follow,” Ben said. “You fled those hunters, and I helped you escape. They never would have made it through the door after you found me.” The edge in his earnest tone made me falter, especially when I noticed the muted pain in his eyes.
I was tempted to ask more about how he and Lee found each other. About how the hell a glamour fairy and a… Well, whatever Lee was. A professional model? An accountant to purveyors of rare artifacts?
“Are there really other fairies being held prisoner here?” I asked instead.
“You really don't know?” Confusion and a slow, dawning horror clouded Ben's face. He shared a look with Lee at length. “Unfortunately, yes. We were searching for captives in the storage room when I sensed your magic. You’re sure there weren’t others being transported with you?”
“I wasn’t—”
A nearbythumpmade me flinch. I turned to the other door, Ben’s question forgotten.
“What was that?” I asked.
Too quickly, Ben blocked my line of sight. “Nothing to worry about. You still need to get your energy back. If you follow me to the other room, we can get you a warm meal. When did you last eat?”
I flitted aside, fixated on the door. My pulse kicked up as a muffled, desperate groan came through.
“Jon?” I called. There came another, much louderthump, and I turned accusingly toward Ben and Lee. “What have you done to them? Open the door—now!”
Lee scoffed. “Not happening.”
“Fine.” I rolled my shoulders and raised my hands toward the door, inadvertently aiming at Ben. “I’ll splinter it with ice. Unless you want to go the same way, I suggest you move.”
I expected him to meet my threat with another attempt to knock me out, or worse, for him to take control of me with his glamour. But he looked strangely defeated.
“Open the door,” he told Lee.
“Benny—”
“Please. Maybe she needs to see how vulnerable her captors really are before she believes us.”
To my astonishment, Lee complied with his request, albeit reluctantly. With a sigh, he pulled the door open.
Light spilled into a spacious walk-in closet, revealing rows of formal gowns, more suits than I could count… And Jon and Cliff, seated back-to-back on the ground, bound and gagged. Their movements were laced with grogginess. Squinting through the light, they spotted me and straightened.
I covered a gasp with my frigid fingers, ice on the verge of bursting from a flare of rage. As I darted into the closet, I couldn’t shake the image of how they had been restrained in Veloria: gnarled vines twisting around them like snakes, flowers blossoming at their brows like cursed crowns. We’d barely made it out with our lives the last time we were outmatched. This time, I didn’t have a gemstone to save us with.
Jon leaned toward me desperately, zip ties straining against his weight from where his wrists were secured against Cliff’s. His eyes swam with relief as he drank me in.
“I’m sorry,” I croaked, scanning the boys for injuries. Other than a few bruises peeking out from underneath clothing, they appeared to be intact. Thank thestarsthat the snake bite marring the base of Jon’s neck didn’t appear to be venomous.
This was my fault. I had gotten them into this mess.
Still studying the boys’ restraints for any weakness I could leverage, I raised my voice toward Ben and Lee, forcing a diplomatic tone. “You didn’t kill them even though you could have. So, clearly you’re willing to hear them out, aren’t you?”
I received no immediate answer, but Jon and Cliff’s eyes went wide at something behind me. An unnatural rush of power surged from the bedroom, making my hair flutter off my face. A strange taste filled my mouth, like spice and bitterness.
“I was going to kill them for you,” a sultry female voice replied. “But I thought it’d be more fitting to giveyouthe honor of the final blow after whatever these bastards put you through.”
