Page 57 of Alec

“A good suggestion. Sleep well, Master.” Clagden carried the mortal away.

Bodach followed, and watched his servant drive off with the bookkeeper. The changeling had been testing him, perhaps in hopes of uncovering a weakness. He suspected that it hadn’t been his idea, but something his lover had convinced him to do. Jean must have sensed the enormity of his power while he’d been amusing himself at the gallery. She might only be half-vampire, but the demonic blood that ran through her veins would still render her insatiable.

As soon as Clagden drove out of sight he returned to the dungeons, reinforcing the wards as he did to keep his location cloaked. On his blank viewing scroll he watched Clagden carry the bookkeeper inside his lover’s gallery, where he put her back in her office. He then went into Jean’s office, where she rushed into his arms.

All a ruse, Bodach thought, and tapped the image to add sound to the window.

“He threatened me,” Jean was saying. “I do not want him to burn down my gallery with me inside it. I was only trying to free you from your service to him.”

“I only offered to be his servant to get close to him,” Clagden assured her. “I only kissed his hand. Among my kind, an oath to a new master is meaningless without bloodshed.”

The halfling didn’t appear convinced. “Regardless, it’s reckless to keep pressing him. He’s not a fool, either. We should flee to Ireland now.”

“All I need is a little more time,” Clagden assured her. “Once I find the seat of his power I can destroy it and render him defenseless. Then I’ll force him to transfer his wealth to us before I slay him.”

Jean twisted a lock of her shining blonde hair around her finger. “It’s too dangerous. You never should have chosen a freak like this one. I’ve heard so many terrible tales about him.”

“They’re silly stories that our kind make up because he’s different from them,” her lover assured her. “You saw how he was tonight. He may be clever, but in the end all he cares about is his own pleasure. He doesn’t even realize he’s being set up.”

Bodach waved a hand over the scroll, silencing Jean and erasing the image. Of course, he should have guessed that Clagden had other reasons for approaching him, but the dilemma of finding and retrieving his treasure occupied all of his thoughts lately. He hadn’t gotten what he’d wanted out of him yet, either.

If he found his treasure today he could use it to assume rule over Elphyne. Once installed as king, he would send an army of hunter-warriors to track down and exterminate Clagden, Jean and all the other Fae-blooded miscreants in the mortal realm.

Bodach went into the spell trap a short time later in his butterfly guise and flew into the stables. Although he expected to find the loving couple frozen in the throes, the hayloft proved empty. Alighting atop a hay bale, he had the sense that he was being watched, and looked up to see the shining black eyes of two creatures clinging to the rafters.

Bats had warm blood, so the spell trap’s magic had ignored them—or perhaps they had been in the old barn since the stronghold had been enchanted. Why had he never considered using bats?

The hay bale under him lifted and tossed itself across the loft, rolling off the edge. He flew up to the rafters, lighting next to the pair of bats. Both creatures crept closer to him, obviously intent on devouring him. Shifting out of his guise for a few moments, he quickly cast a spell over the bats to enslave them.

Find whatever attacked me, he told his bespelled creatures, and bring it to me.

Olivia stopped to look over her shoulder, and gasped when she saw ice forming over the inside panel of the passage door.

“Dinnae stop,” Alec said. “Time, ’tis no’ our ally.”

They had to make their way single file through the narrow spaces, which the torch she carried barely illuminated. Yet as they went deeper into the stronghold’s warren of secret passages she saw no signs of the beetles, just as Alec had predicted. He stopped now and then, looking out through tiny holes in the stone walls before shaking his head and urging her along with him.

Olivia knew they were probably the only two people in the castle who hadn’t been frozen, and wondered if they should be putting such faith into what she’d been told in a dream. In the real world she’d never do such a crazy thing. They were likely going to fail and be trapped like everyone else. As Alec stopped again to check a spy hole her fear grew overwhelming, and she curled her arms around his waist to give him a back hug.

“What’s this now?” he asked, turning and looking down at her.

“I love you, Alec.” She wasn’t sorry for telling him her last secret. “You don’t have to say it back. I just...love you, and if we don’t make it–”

“We shall prevail,” he said, and put his mouth on hers.

The kiss Alec gave her made Olivia’s head spin, and all her fear dwindled. She wished he could hold her forever like this, his strong arms keeping her safe. The taste of his mouth reminded her of being naked with him, entwined together in passion. He was everything she had ever wanted, and she was going to fight whatever she had to in order to have a chance at a life with him.

He didn’t say he loves you, too, Mae’s ghost sneered. He’s just using you because you spread your legs for him, you slut.

“Come back to me,” Alec said, startling her.

Olivia had realized she’d drawn back from him, ending the kiss. “I’m sorry.”

“’Tis time the Gods gave us balance for what we’ve suffered in life,” he said, touching her cheek. “Now come. The hall outside, ’tis clear, and we need but cross it to enter the tower stairs.”

Olivia nodded and held his hand tightly as he moved aside the panel and stepped out into the outer passage with her. On the stone walls and floors she saw thin scrolls of snow that the beetles had left behind as they’d crawled around, but no sign of the bugs. Alec looked from one side to the other before he led her to the first step of the staircase leading up into the tower.

A faint whirring sound came from one end of the passage but started to grow louder.

“It’s in there,” he told her, nocking an arrow onto his bow.