Chapter 9

9

M y brain fogged on his words, my mind too distracted by his electrifying touch. Then, slowly, the meaning sank in, and I dropped my voice to a low whisper. "You serious?"

He gave a solemn nod.

I glanced around us. "That's why you brought us here? Wouldn't it have been better to stay on the busy—"

He slid his hand over my mouth to shut me up. Narrowing my eyes, I growled and tried to nip at his skin.

"Someone has been trying to sabotage the Court for months." He mouthed the words, and strangely, I could understand what he was trying to say. That meant he thought they were fae. The magical Sapphire drug. The silence in Saoirse's words. It was all connected. And now the culprits had followed us down the Royal Mile .

Lugh mouthed his next words. "This is my chance to stop them."

I decided not to point out that both of us were regrettably unarmed. He didn't have a spear, and I certainly didn't have a sword, since he'd hidden it from me . If we were being stalked by traitorous arseholes who wanted to tear him from his throne, then we would need a lot more than two pairs of fists.

Lugh took a step back, his eyes flashing with a kind of ferocity he hadn't yet shown me. I'd seen a range of expressions from him so far: boredom, cockiness, concern, amusement, and wickedness. But now he looked hellbent and fierce. I kind of liked it.

Too bad he didn't have a spear.

"You stay here," he mouthed, taking another step back and pointing down the close in the direction of the way we'd come.

My eyes widened in realisation. He hadn't brought us here to hide in wait for an attack. He'd brought us here so he could dump me next to the bins. Lugh wanted to go fight the stalkers by himself.

I shook my head and pointed at his cloak, where there was a glaringly obvious lack of a spear. Then I pointed at myself and mimed holding a sword before me. I was trying to remind him that I was a warrior. I was trained to fight, even if I didn't have my weapon of choice. I didn't need a sword to put up a good fight. But Lugh didn't know that. He thought I was a solitary fae who'd spent her entire life on her own, without access to coaches and training facilities.

"I'm your king," he hissed softly. Then he walked away and rounded the corner.

For a moment, all I could do was stare after him. He was risking his life, a second time, to keep me from getting hurt. I hadn't expected that from him. He was the King of Wraiths. He'd formed a secret Court, hidden from the rest of the fae world. He'd seemed so callous and uncaring. At first.

But that was because he was , I reminded myself. I had seen him at the Pack headquarters, with my own two eyes, asking for a cauldron that would help him steal the crown from Clark.

I was here to stop him. I was here as a spy, not as one of his subjects. He wouldn't be so eager to help me if he knew the truth.

My heart beat hard at the distant echo of his footsteps on the cobblestone. He suddenly stopped, and several more footsteps sounded through the close. Whoever had been following us now surrounded Lugh.

My heart lurched as a deafening silence filled the air.

He may have ordered me to stay here, but I wasn't actually his subject, so I could do whatever I damn well pleased. Besides, maybe I could finally get some answers. Everything that had happened so far seemed linked. So it only stood to reason that whatever Lugh had planned with the cauldron could have something to do with why these fae were trying to take him down.

Yeah. So helping him would be helping me. Not him .

At that, I gave myself a nod and pushed away from the stone wall. Creeping down the close, I kept my footsteps silent. I couldn't afford for them to hear me coming, not unless I wanted to be dragged out of the shadows and exposed for what I really was: a spy.

I followed the twists and bends until I came to a small square at the end of the close. Lugh stood in the center, surrounded by about a dozen armed fae. With a sharp gasp, I ducked into a doorway and peered around the side.

The fae were all clad in black, and their faces were obscured by hoods. I could only tell what they were by the way they held their bodies, the grace in their tiny movements, the magic that rippled like sound waves around their limbs. Every supernatural has a certain feel about them, and I could always recognise a fae.

Lugh crossed his arms over his chest, his black cloak billowing around his feet. "Ten of you. That's more than I thought."

One of the fae answered by cracking his knuckles.

"Is no one going to speak?" Lugh asked smoothly, his face transformed by that cruel apathy he'd shown me from the very first day. I was starting to realise that Lugh only looked bored when he was anything but. "At least tell me why you wish to kill me."

One fae strode forward from the rest. A tall, large female with a voice that sounded like rain on the wind. "We know who you are, and we appreciate your heritage. But we also know you've been searching for the cauldron. Why, Lugh?"

Lugh squinted at the fae, but his expression showed no recognition. "You must be mistaken."

The female tsked. "A liar, too. That can only mean one thing. You're searching for the cauldron to stop us from bringing back your creator."

Frowning, I cocked my head. Bring back his creator?

Lugh's entire body went stiff, and his voice dropped to a growl. "Don't speak of her."

The fae let out a little laugh and drew a gold-edged sword from her back. "You and your constant ‘don't speak of this' and ‘don't speak of that.' So paranoid. It must be a terrible way to live, hiding everything from everyone. I guess that means we'll be doing you a favour. Just think of it like this. We're putting you out of your misery."

My eyes flicked from Lugh's stone-cold face to the warriors drawing their weapons. He was completely surrounded with no spear to keep him company. I didn't need to be a druid to know how this fight would end.

The female swung her sword at Lugh's head. He dropped low to the ground, grunting as he rolled to the left. The female scrabbled toward him. She slashed her blade toward his head, but he shifted left just in time, and the steel rang as it hit the stone ground.

Gritting my teeth, I cast my gaze around me for anything that would help. I spotted a metal sign, displaying a flat for rent in the building above. Not ideal, but it would do. I yanked it off the wall and charged.

The warrior nearest me didn't see me coming. I slammed the sign into the back of his head, and he crumpled to the ground without a word. But that was pretty much it for the element of surprise. I'd caught the attention of the others now, and they were all staring at me with bulging eyes. I couldn't see the rest of their faces, hidden by their black masks.

Except Lugh. He just looked furious.

"Moira," he growled. "Get out of here. Now. "

I spun the sign in my hand and shrugged. "Nope. I owe you one."

The female fae whirled on her feet to face me. Her entire face was obscured by a black cloth. Not even her eyes were visible. Damn. She must be someone that Lugh knew. From the castle, perhaps? Maybe I'd met her, too. All I had to go on was her voice, which I didn't recognise, but that was easy enough to change. A little warble here, a low growl there. Easy peasy .

Her laughter echoed through the close. "The new recruit. What do you think you're going to do with that sign, love?"

Ugh, I hated it when people called me ‘love' in such a patronising tone.

"Lots of things. First, I think I'll slam it against that pretty little head of yours," I snapped.

Her sword trembled in her hands, and it was my turn to laugh. She was getting blinding mad. Good. The madder I got ‘em, the more mistakes they'd make.

"Your choice," she hissed before turning to face her fellow traitors. "Kill the king. Don't spare the girl."

With that, everyone sprang into motion.

Another attacker rushed toward me, sword held high. Before he could reach me, I hurled the sign at his head. It smacked right into his face, knocking him to the ground. As he fell, I reached for his sword, but it seemed to vanish into thin air, along with the guy I'd just hit.

Bollocks. They had some sort of sorcerer spell to get them out of here fast.

I didn't know what Lugh was doing, but I didn't dare look. The next warrior was running toward me.

Skidding across the cobblestones, I flew toward the sign and grabbed it from the ground. But I didn't make it in time. The warrior reached me first. He wrapped his hand around my shirt and yanked me away from the sign.

But that meant he couldn't use his sword. I whirled on him and slammed my fist right into his nose. He let go, giving me just enough time to grab my sign again. I shoved it right into his already bleeding nose and watched him crumple to the ground.

Three down...seven to go?

I turned to see Lugh had three more fallen fae around his feet, vanishing into the nothingness, but the female was bearing down on him. She'd slashed him with her sword, and blood oozed out of several wounds on his arms and chest.

With my sign held tight in my hands, I thundered across the close. But before I could reach Lugh, two pairs of hands latched onto me. They grabbed my arms and yanked me back, while another snatched away my sign.

Chest heaving, I ripped out of their grip. The three fae closed in around me. They were unarmed. So far. They'd been too busy grabbing me to unsheathe their swords. One held my new favourite weapon of choice—the sign—but he tossed it across the alley before I could try to get it back for myself.

It fell with a clatter. Up above us, I heard the unmistakable sound of gasps as the humans peered out their windows at the fight below.

Great. Human onlookers, probably scared out of their ever-loving minds. That was definitely going to help the situation.

I bounced on my toes. "You lot just going to stand there staring at me?"

"No." They drew their swords in unison.