Chapter 7

7

Ishuffled into the castle kitchen after my tutoring with Juno, exhausted yet knowing I still had hours to go before I got to sit again. Exhaustion meant nothing to the kitchen staff and even less to the king who’d ordered me to be there. I was running on fumes and trying my hardest not to let it show.

Maybe dying was a good alternative to living like a zombie.

Raelynn looked up as I walked in, her corkscrew curls covered in something green and gooey-looking. “What on earth is going on with you?” she barked out at once. The strawberry-blond Fae stared at me, her almond-shaped eyes slanted, and her pupils resembling a reptile’s.

Despite her rather brash attitude, I liked her. Or at least I liked her most of the time. Today I was too tired to like anyone, even myself.

“I had a rough day,” I grumbled, reaching out to exchange my school blazer for an apron. I hadn’t even had time to change my clothes. “Sorry.”

“Well, get yourself some freesia essence and get to work,” she snapped before turning her attention back to her workstation which was covered in some green goop. “His Majesty is entertaining another titled family this evening and needs a six-course meal this time. The girls and I are going out of our minds trying to get everything right for him and we only have a few more hours to prepare it. Care to join us and do your job or would you rather stare out the window mooning about nothing?”

Of course the king was entertaining again, and of course the staff were going crazy. Whatever King Tywin was up to, he certainly had a lot of guests in the castle these days and not a lot of free time. I was happy about it on one hand because it left him no room to wonder about my activities. On the other hand, that meant there were many more people for me to try and avoid.

“Here.” Raelynn drew a giant blade out of a butcher block and tossed it in the air, catching it by the steel and holding it out handle-first to me.

“I don’t trust myself with a knife,” I told her, walking up to the countertop. “Especially not right now.”

“I don’t care what you trust yourself with. I’m going to need these purple carrots diced before you move on to wash the jewelweed. And for God’s sake, Tavi, don’t crush the blossoms like you did the last time. Her Majesty noticed and she was not pleased.”

As it turned out, I definitely crushed the jewelweed today. I also sliced into my fingers a time or two, dropped a bowl of chocolate mousse into the sink by accident, and broke Raelynn’s favorite blue-and-yellow piece of crockery and totally forgot the words she’d taught me to fix it. Instead of mending the pieces together, I ended up transforming them into a swarm of crickets that promptly jumped out the open window.

She was not happy with me. My eyes blurred, burning, and no matter how I tried, I kept thinking about the spell I’d failed. How Juno stared at me with disappointment.

“You!”

I jerked up at Raelynn’s sharp tone. And when I looked over at the other woman, despite the goo on her nose and in her hair, her scowl made me cringe. She crooked a finger at me to beckon me closer.

“Yes?” The word ended up sounding like a grunt.

“Tavi girl, this is ridiculous,” Raelynn said as she pulled me into her office off the kitchen. She closed the door behind us and shut us in together. “It’s not like you to mess up this much. I’m going to need some answers because as you are, you are a liability and you are going to hurt yourself or someone else. I can’t take a chance on something else going wrong with you around.”

I tried to wave a hand and show her I was all right, and could have sworn I did. Until I looked down and realized my hand was still at my side. My muscles didn’t want to respond. Uh-oh. “School is wearing me out,” I told her plainly. “I’m tired. I haven’t even had any time to eat.” Or rest. Or do anything normal kids do.

Raelynn nodded knowingly and moved her hands to her hips, adopting her standard akimbo pose. “I understand. I do. My schooling felt like it would kill me before it was all said and done. I’ve been in your shoes, trust me. I think I handled it with a little more aplomb and certainly more grace, but not everyone is blessed with my reflexes.”

“What did you do to get through?” I needed to know. I was desperate. Any kind of secrets she had to share, I would take, because at this rate I was going to pass out from exhaustion and not stand again.

Raelynn stared at me for a long moment, her lips pursed, looking rather intimidating for someone who topped out at just under five feet, and then she sighed, blowing out a breath. “Okay, come on. Let me show you something. Something you’d best be keeping to yourself under penalty of sever repercussions from me and my favorite wooden spoon.”

Although the lilt of her accent made the words seem joking, I knew better. She’d definitely follow through if I didn’t zip my lip.

The pantry to the kitchen remained magically sealed at all times unless you knew the particular spell to open the lock. I did. I also would sneak in there from time to time to steal ingredients I wouldn’t be able to get down at the corner store, ingredients for the potion keeping me out of Kendrick’s sight. No matter where he went or what kind of black magic he tried to work, he wouldn’t be able to find me as long as I kept taking the potion.

Raelynn didn’t know I stole from the king’s supplies and I needed things to stay that way. She said the spell to the door, and magic twisted around us, the lock clicking open instantly. I stayed a step behind Raelynn with my face schooled into something neutral. Something to show her I definitely don’t come in here when you aren’t around.

She moved to a shelf and reached above her head with a short hop, grabbing a bag filled with fine white powder.

“Ah-ah!” she cautioned as I stepped closer. Not to grab but to see. “Hold your little horses there, girlie. You can’t have it all. I’m merely showing you what we’ve got to work with.”

Raelynn took a second smaller bag from the pocket of her apron and poured from the first into the second.

“What is this?” I asked her.

“This,” she replied, “is a very special powder made from the root of the Abrichxao plant. It’s found only on the northwest steppes of the Dasha plain in Faerie. The plant has to be harvested under the full moon light during the spring flood or else the properties are half the potency needed. Might as well not use it at all.” Once she had enough in the second bag, she re-tied the first and placed it back on the shelf.

“I’ve never heard of it before.”

Raelynn tsked. “No, you wouldn’t. Your teachers don’t want you knowing about this one. It isn’t going to be taught in any kind of herbalism or botany class because it can be quite addictive.” Memories of her own time in school, apparently, had her chuckling before handing the bag off to me. “This is going to help with your performance and clarity. Think of it as a magical mental boost.”

So Faerie steroids, basically. Although a part of me hesitated, wondering about the benefits—and the side effects—of taking something to help my performance, my hand reached out automatically to take the bag from my boss.

“How do I work with this?” I asked.

She held the bag out, then hesitated. “Listen to me carefully, Tavi, because this is important. Are you listening?” I nearly expected her to grab my chin. “No more than two teaspoons a week. And you have to spread out those two teaspoons across the seven days. Mix it with food, water, whatever you fancy. You should be good to go as long as you spread it out.” She clapped me on the back hard. It was her way. “But you have to spread it out and certainly no more than two teaspoons. If you take any more, you run the risk of some serious side effects and chemical dependency.”

We left the pantry with her warning echoing in my ears.

“So don’t go overboard,” she finished. “Got it?”

* * *

Bronwen and I took to the streets for our first patrol later that night. We chose to stick to our human forms, feeling it would be less conspicuous despite the snow. Two girls walking along and catching up with school gossip and such would be better than two crows continually circling.

She cast a spell around us to keep the cold from affecting our limbs and I had to say I was grateful for her magic. I wasn’t sure I could cast a spell for light at this point, and those were the first things they taught at school.

“Try to keep up,” she said with a small chuckle. “You’re dragging your feet and leaving a trail.”

I did my best to answer her smile for smile, failing miserably.

“I know this seems like the wrong time to say this, but I’m happy we had a chance to reconnect.” Bronwen shivered. For show. Her spell definitely kept the worst of the winter wind at bay. “Too many years went by when we couldn’t see each other. I wasn’t sure we would ever see each other again.”

“I know. I’m happy too,” I agreed with a nod. It never hurt to have another friend in your corner.

Bronwen and I had met during our childhood when her mother, part of the Alderidge pack, brought her to the park where I used to play. I didn’t know then that she was a halfling like me, or that the reason behind her disappearance was anything other than a normal household move. Her mother thought it would be better for Bronwen to be away from the pack and brought up in Faerie.

“What do you think about these murders?” she asked. “I mean, your honest opinion. Scary, right?”

The word fell hard between us and now it was my turn to shiver. “I’m no stranger to murder,” I answered carefully, “but it seems like this is too big of a coincidence.”

She turned moon-wide eyes at me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it feels like whatever trouble I had in the mortal realm has followed me here. You remember me telling you about my last semester at school?”

It was better to be honest with her, I decided. She knew what I was, and she had just as much to lose if found out. Well, maybe not just as much, but enough so that I knew I could trust her to keep what I said between us. Selene also knew about the difficult circumstances surrounding my arrival here. I had nothing to fear from the members of the Claw & Fang.

At least, I didn’t think so.

“I mean, I understand you being worried about how the murdered Fae share a resemblance to you. But it stops there,” Bronwen told me above the crunch of our boots through the snow. “You have nothing to worry about. None of this is your fault.”

Did I not have to worry? Somehow, I didn’t feel as confident as Bronwen on the matter.

We passed another couple walking the street and fell silent, not wanting anyone else to overhear us. I nodded briefly to them in acknowledgment before we continued on.

“You’re saying you don’t think this is a terrible but random occurrence?”

“I’m saying I think there’s more to this than Selene told us,” I stated. “It’s clearly a half-shifter doing the dirty deed, I have no doubt about what she said there. It’s impossible to mimic or imitate the depth and trajectory of a real wolf paw. And no one else has the power to overthrow a full-blood Fae, unless it was another Fae, but their magicked claws wouldn’t be able to do the damage like we saw. Not to mention the sheer viciousness of the attacks.”

Bronwen muttered her agreement. “It still doesn’t make sense why a half-shifter would do it, though. Most of us have come here to escape a bad situation. It’s no secret that our kind, no matter what half we are, are hunted. We aren’t supposed to be alive. Why would someone take the time to make it into Faerie only to throw it away and risk exposure?”

No, it didn’t make any sense to me either. Unless someone from Kendrick’s pack managed to infiltrate this world—a very big assumption, because the alarms would be raised—then it had to be one of us. The Claw & Fang had members across the land, so there might be a stranger in our midst.

Still, I couldn’t figure out a motive.

Not surprising. I was so tired it took me double the time to remember how to tie my shoes. Just raising a fork to my mouth took effort these days.

“Hey.” Bronwen caught me by the arm to slow my strides. “Do you smell something?”

I stopped beside her and closed my eyes, drawing in a deep breath and trying to pinpoint what she sensed. My spine went rigid as I sniffed.

Unfortunately, I did smell something. The coppery stench of fresh blood. A fresh kill.

Our eyes met. “What are the odds,” I said slowly, “that on our first night on patrol we find the very thing we’re supposed to be patrolling against?”

She’d gone pale. “I’d say the odds are pretty damn good.”

We broke into a jog and followed the scent, bolting around the side of a building and into a back alleyway filled with flowers even in the dead of winter. Their soft blue blooms did nothing to dispel the very obvious aura of death hanging like a black cloud in the air.

Bronwen and I didn’t care about our footsteps, visible in the snow. We didn’t care about the panicked cries escaping our throats as we approached the dead body. Well, my friend’spanicked cries. I hated how unaffected I felt, how numb everything inside of me was despite the Fae woman’s red hair spilling around her head. I was more focused on the blood seeping from her empty shoulders. Her arms had been yanked clean out of their sockets.