Chapter 3

THREE

“Who are you?”

The threatening baritone rippled through my chest, and, just as it had the last time, the weight of his stare roused every bit of rebellion in my soul. My chin tilted up as I held his gaze, refusing to back down in the face of his demand, even though I knew better. My brain was screaming for me to stop, but some other impulse was winning.

What was wrong with me?

“Maybe a better question is, what are you? And why are you here?”

I could barely breathe with those amber flames flickering in my head, let alone answer his questions. Thankfully, he couldn’t quite compel me, but the pressure of remaining that close, that defiant, was like having an elephant sit on my chest.

“Callum, for heaven’s sake, back off.” Kira sounded utterly exasperated. “That’s Raine, and she works here. She was just bringing food, and you cretins startled her.”

“All we did was stand up ,” the auburn-haired giant replied, his gaze still fierce as he glared at me. “And she could have stabbed you with that shard of glass.”

The accusation—and Kira’s defense of me—was enough to break through whatever compulsion demanded I meet him stare for stare.

“Actually, that was for you ,” I retorted, dropping my eyes and wincing as I glanced at my bleeding hand. “And him.” I jerked my head towards the man standing beside him—a tall, dark, and dangerous type with the slightly pointed ears of a part-fae. “I actually like Kira, so she was never in any danger.”

I heard a quick snort of laughter from the third man, who was still standing next to Kira. He was watching me curiously, but showed no sign of fear—only a hint of amusement from the smile tugging at his lips. His hair was a slightly darker shade of auburn than hers, and his smile looked oddly familiar…

Not important. I’d done enough damage, and now it was time to remove myself before I opened my mouth and said anything stupid.

Well, stupid- er .

So I lifted my chin again, took a deep breath and tried out a chagrined smile. “I apologize. It looked like you were about to attack me, so I thought…”

Well, no, I hadn’t thought . That was the problem. I’d spent so much of my captivity being tested, over and over again. Attacked without warning to test my reflexes. Pressed to the limit to calculate the changes to my body. To determine whether their experiments had worked. Trying to scare, startle, or stress my magic into making an appearance. I’d believed I was getting better, but something about the enclosed room and the sense of danger emanating from these men had triggered my instincts, and the instincts won.

“You did not, in fact, think ,” the massive shapeshifter—apparently named Callum—growled at me, echoing my own thoughts as he grasped my wrist and pulled it towards him to gaze down at my bleeding hand. We might be in agreement, but his words sounded more like an accusation. Or a threat. “That was a conditioned reaction, but we can figure out why after you stop bleeding all over the floor. First aid kit?”

That last was said over his shoulder, while he continued to grip my wrist as if holding me in place, that slightly unshaven jaw clenched in irritation. Yes, he was still stupidly gorgeous, and even more so up close, but now I really wanted to punch him right in that perfect jawline.

“Yes, we have one.” Kira informed him, her expression still mild and relaxed. “But you need to stop threatening the staff, Callum. This isn’t your court, so if you think there’s a problem with security, talk to me or Faris first.”

The two of them obviously had a somewhat close relationship, because Callum’s frown suddenly softened.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his free hand swiping down his face in a gesture of profound weariness. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have snapped.”

Well, color me shocked. The big guy knew how to apologize ?

“But if you haven’t noticed,” he added grimly, “there is definitely a problem.”

What he couldn’t do was let go of a subject before he’d talked it to death.

“I already told Faris we’ve had no success figuring out where our leaks are coming from. We clearly have security issues, and yet here we are, on the eve of the Symposium, and Faris has gone and hired a new employee. One with combat training, who smells like…” Those amber eyes glowed brighter for a moment as he regarded me. “I don’t know what she is,” he muttered, “and I don’t like not knowing.”

Drat shapeshifters anyway. My life would be a lot easier without their innate ability to identify magical races by smell.

“Sorry, but you can’t pick on Raine just because she’s new,” Kira pointed out. “Faris didn’t see any reason not to hire her, and you know he’s almost as paranoid as you are.”

My captor remained unconvinced.

“We promised the delegates a secure location,” he countered, eyes narrowed on me in an expression of disgruntled scrutiny. “And we barely got them to agree to this as it is. None of us can afford to lose this opportunity because of an unknown variable.”

Who was this guy? Clearly he had some sort of relationship with my new employer, along with a strong connection to the same mysterious “Symposium” they’d mentioned on the human news report.

Powerful, gorgeous, and paranoid. A lethal combination, and right now he was paying me way too much attention. He might look like a walking cologne ad, but I couldn’t afford for him to identify exactly what it was about me that raised his hackles.

His grip on my wrist was beginning to feel like a cage, so I yanked my hand back—more than ready to put some space between me and his evident frustration. To my surprise, he let go. Watched me step back, but didn’t make any further moves.

“I’ll get the kit,” the dark-haired male murmured, sharing a quick glance with Kira that suggested this must be Draven, the fiancé she’d mentioned earlier.

She gave him a brief nod before moving towards me, stepping between me and Callum with no fear in her eyes.

“Come sit down and we’ll take a look at that hand,” she said calmly, in a soothing tone that probably worked wonders on small children and nervous dogs.

It only made me more anxious to make my exit. I needed to get out of this room before I did anything else to annoy or attract the suspicion of the clearly irritated shapeshifter still looming too close for comfort.

“I should go get a broom,” I insisted. “And ask Irene to remake your order.”

“Don’t worry about the mess,” Kira scoffed. “You’re hurt. And if I know Irene, she probably hasn’t noticed how long you’ve been working. Have you taken a break yet?”

I hadn’t, but there was zero chance I was going to complain about it on my first day.

“There’s no need,” I began to protest, but the third man finally opened his mouth.

“Might as well give up and do what she says. She won’t quit until you do.” He offered me a lopsided smile, and honestly, it should have been patronizing, but it wasn’t.

“I’m Declan,” he told me, with a simple warmth that caused my annoyance to ebb and my tension to ease before I even realized what was happening. How did he do that? And why had I almost forgotten he was even in the room?

He was nearly as gorgeous as Callum—tall and auburn-haired with that weirdly familiar smile—and my brain finally decided they must be related about the same time Callum growled, “Sit.”

My entire body tried to rebel against that one-word command, but I somehow managed to throttle the impulse to punch him in the throat.

I needed to keep this job. Needed not to arouse any extra suspicion. So when I couldn’t think of a solid reason not to, I sat. But first, I stepped all the way around the table to put as much space between me and the annoying shapeshifter as possible. It might not help with these wayward inclinations towards glaring or stabbing, but hey, it was worth a try. Especially when the vantage point also allowed me to watch for whoever else might come through the door.

Kira pulled up a chair, sat next to me, grabbed my hand, and began dabbing off the blood with a napkin.

Callum just watched her, his gaze still sharp and fierce with suspicion.

“Be careful, Kira,” he warned. “You have no idea what she’s capable of.”

“But I do know what I’m capable of,” she retorted. “Just because you’ve moved up in the world doesn’t mean I answer to you, brother dear.”

I couldn’t quite hide my startled assessment of that endearment. Kira saw my expression, caught my eye, and winked.

“Yes, the grumpy giant over there is, in fact, my brother. Callum-ro-Deverin. Long on responsibility and paranoia, short on flexibility and humor. He’s officially been king of the shapeshifter court for all of a few months, and suddenly he thinks he can tell me what to do.”

He was what now ?

I’d just been trading glares with the king of the shapeshifters ?

The realization hit like a landslide, leaving me with no response except a strong desire to slap myself for near-criminal levels of idiocy.

The man I’d just considered punching was literally the last person in the world I should be antagonizing—a respected, influential leader, with thousands of shapeshifters at his beck and call. Lethal, intelligent, and professionally suspicious. More than capable of snapping my head off.

I might not know much about shapeshifter politics, but I did know that their court only respected power. The strongest among them always held the most authority, which meant that they had always and forever been ruled by… dragons.

For most of the past fifty years, their court had been led by the queen of the dragons—Tairen-li-Corva. But after she became personally involved in the downfall of the fae queen, Elayara Elduvar, the other courts had demanded a change in leadership to maintain balance. Once Tairen stepped down to make way for a new dragon queen, the shapeshifter court had chosen to crown her son as their new king.

Shane had mentioned the upheaval in shapeshifter politics after my escape, but I’d been too busy trying to survive to pay much attention. So while I technically knew the shapeshifter court had recently come under new management, I hadn’t known his name until now.

Callum-ro-Deverin. My newest adversary and first on my list of people to avoid. He might be wildly good-looking, but he was also the one person on Earth who possessed both the innate ability to determine exactly what I was and the authority to do something very permanent about it.

Add to this that the woman currently holding my injured hand was basically a princess.

As if oblivious to my reaction, Kira added, “And in case the family resemblance wasn’t obvious enough, Declan is also my brother. But I’d say it’s pretty clear he got all the chill in the family.”

While Callum got all the glaring, squinty-eyed suspicion.

“I’m her favorite,” Declan murmured with a grin and a wink. “At least, that’s what she claims whenever I see her. Personally, I’m convinced she likes Ryker better than me. And”—he shot a strangely pointed glance at his brother—“I’m also convinced that no one in this room is a threat to Kira. Or the Symposium.”

The two dragons shared an oddly intense stare, a frown pulling at Callum’s lips while an easy smile tugged at Declan’s.

After a few more moments, Declan shrugged, and before things could get any more awkward, Draven returned with the first aid kit.

Kira insisted on fussing, and inspected my cut for glass shards before washing and cleaning it thoroughly. Which I probably didn’t need. I’d healed faster than normal for several years now, but since I had no idea which part of my magic provided that bonus, I didn’t want anyone in this room to know about it.

While she worked, Callum and Draven carried on a softly worded conversation. Their words might not have been audible to human ears, but I was well able to pick them up, even over the muffled roar from the club.

Much to my annoyance.

“What does anyone know about her?” That was Callum.

“Not much,” Draven admitted. “Faris gave me a rundown before he left. Said she’s a refugee from somewhere. Was up front about the fact she’s hiding from someone, and her fight response suggests that someone wasn’t pleasant. Apparently, the courts are involved, but we don’t know how.”

“Assassin?” Callum again. The king of paranoia seemed determined to accuse me of something .

“That was Faris’s first question,” Draven acknowledged. “But I’ve never heard of her, and I know pretty much everyone else in the business.”

Kira’s half-fae fiancé was an assassin ? Who in all the heck were these people?

“Apparently, she stole a car,” Draven continued. “Also, Nico went to where she’s staying, and it seems there are kids involved.”

Fury cut through me like a knife. If they tried to use the kids against me… I knew I hadn’t managed to hide my reaction when Kira glanced up at me with a question in her eyes.

“Did that hurt?”

“No,” I assured her, bottling up that anger for later—saving it for the ones who deserved it. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“You’re safe here.” The brother sitting across from me—Declan—spoke up quietly. “I know my family can be a lot, but as long as you mean no harm to anyone under their protection, they would never hurt you.”

“Forgive me if I don’t trust quite that easily.” My tone was flat and cool, but Declan only smiled.

“I don’t blame you. But I thought you should know.”

Kira squeezed some antibacterial ointment onto my palm, then covered it with gauze and began to wrap it in a soft, stretchy bandage. “Just don’t get it wet, and you should be fine.”

I nodded and pushed to my feet. “I’d better get back out there.”

“So should I, actually,” she confessed with a grimace. “My friendly neighborhood gargoyle is probably up to his eyeballs in trouble by now. Reorganizing the liquor supply or trespassing in Irene’s kitchen… the possibilities are endless.”

Gargoyle…

“Is he wearing a…” I hesitated.

“Clearly, you’ve already met Hugh,” Kira acknowledged with a grin as we headed towards the door. “He works for me at my bookstore. Spends most of his time watching period dramas and loving my cat with every fiber of his grinchy little heart.”

We had to skirt around the remains of the shattered plate and fallen sandwiches, and I winced as I contemplated the ruined food. “I’ll get the broom and clean this up,” I promised, but Kira shook her head.

“I’ll take care of it,” she reassured me. “Don’t want you hurting that hand again. Just ask Irene to remake the order.”

I didn’t like feeling as if I’d caused more problems than I’d solved. But I also didn’t feel like it would be wise to argue any more on my first day, so I nodded and turned to follow Kira as she stepped through the door into the club.

Within half a second, the sound went from a muffled drone to an all out roar. I was better prepared this time—my sensitivity to loud noises was a nuisance, but I could usually handle it as long as I knew what to expect—so I managed not to wince.

At least not until a fresh blast of sound echoed even above the din of the voices and the music—a concussive blow that blasted the front door open, slamming it into the wall behind it with a crunch of broken glass.

I dropped into a defensive stance again, taking a step back to anchor myself against the wall of the club. To my dismay, I bumped instead into a wall of steel abs and dragon-sized annoyance, and found my balance steadied by a powerfully muscled forearm in an all-too-familiar dark shirt.

Almost as soon as his fingers brushed my side, I felt a buzz of warmth and energy that shot straight to my chest. And when I glanced up, I saw my own confusion mirrored in Callum’s eyes for a brief moment.

We were standing much too close. My pulse was pounding in my ears, and I could feel a flush spreading across my cheeks. Callum’s grip was steady, but not threatening, even though his gaze held caution, questions, and a lingering hint of suspicion.

But the moment ended as quickly as it had begun. The dragon released me, lowered his hand and stepped back, and then our attention was completely claimed by the woman who had just stepped through the ruined front door.

She had to be at least seven feet tall, with brown skin, dark hair, and eyes bluer than the ocean. One of her hands was wrapped around the neck of a man whose dark uniform suggested he was probably the club’s bouncer, dragging him behind her with seeming effortlessness as she strode forward at the center of a swirling whirlpool. Shards of broken glass crunched beneath her feet while water whipped at the air, somehow wreathing her body in constant motion and stirring her dark hair into a wild cloud.

The crowd panicked and immediately fled towards the margins of the room, where they huddled silently, as if unwilling to attract the newcomer’s attention. Drinks toppled off tables, glasses shattered, and the music stopped. Faris was still nowhere to be seen, and behind the bar, Seamus was looking both furious and a little wary.

Whoever this woman was, she seemed to inspire terror in every other Idrian in the room. The man dangling from her grip was beginning to turn color, but no one stepped forward to help him—as if all of them were waiting for someone else to intervene.

Someone else wasn’t coming.

“Where is the traitor?” the woman demanded, in a resonant voice that echoed with power. She glared around the room, as if expecting to find this “traitor” huddled under one of the tables. “Hiding behind your people , Faris?” Her voice rose, pulsating with fury and frustration.

I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t stand there in silence and watch her choke some poor man to death. I knew it was stupid to speak up. Knew I shouldn’t get involved, but her abuse of power provoked a surge of rage that I simply could not ignore.

My mouth opened, and I took a single step towards her, but before I could voice my defiance, someone else spoke up from beside me.

“Faris isn’t here, Talia.”

I watched in surprise as the king of the shifters moved forward to confront the newcomer. His arms crossed over his chest in a deceptively mild pose, but I could see the clenched muscles of his jaw and the flash of anger in his eyes.

“But neither should you be trespassing in his city at this time—not without an invitation. The Symposium doesn’t begin for another two weeks, so would you care to tell me what you’re doing here, breaking the peace and causing a disturbance at a neutral place of business?”

His city? There were those words again. Just how much power did Faris have?

“Invitation or no invitation, I will have answers,” Talia spat, the water around her swirling faster as if it were an echo of her rage. “I’ve been ignored long enough. The fae have denied me, the dragons responsible have isolated themselves, and Faris has refused to answer my messages, so here I am. And I will disrupt whatever I please until I receive an explanation. Tell me what has happened to my people .”

She might as well have shoved a mountain with her pinkie. The only sign of a reaction from Callum was a single raised eyebrow.

“I can’t tell what’s worse,” he returned coolly. “That you accuse us of hiding something of this magnitude, or that you think you can come here and sling your power around without consequences.” His voice dripped with disdain. “Have you forgotten who Faris is and what he is capable of? Are you that eager to limp home, licking your wounds and presenting a vulnerable front to your enemies?”

The water swirling around the newcomer suddenly turned to ice, and before I could take a breath, a thousand crystalline shards hung poised in the air.

Pointed right at Callum. And by extension, at me, Kira, and Declan.

Plus seventy or eighty other people who might easily become collateral damage if these two powerful Idrians chose to engage one another with their full strength.

Draven, I suddenly realized, was nowhere in sight.

And Callum had taken another step forward. Drawing Talia’s attention. Making himself the largest target.

“You were warned that all matters relating to Elayara’s crimes would have to wait until the Symposium,” he said coldly, “and my patience is not without limits. Either release Oliver and begin this conversation again, or I can promise that you won’t enjoy the consequences.”

Despite how annoyed I might be with him personally, part of me was silently cheering him on. I kind of hoped he would grow wings and claws right there and slap down the water elemental like swatting a fly.

But at the same time, part of my magic cringed from the tone of threat in his voice. Not because I feared him—no, this was that part of me that knew instinctively how to convince. Persuade. Entice. Even how to lie.

I didn’t know exactly what to call it, but I hated it. I’d sworn never to use it. But I’d possessed this strange power for long enough now that I also knew better than to ignore it when it gave me a warning.

Talia was not going to respond well to threats. She was frustrated. Filled with righteous fury. She felt confident she could defeat everyone in the room, and she was not in a mood that cared about collateral damage.

But what good did this knowledge do me? Without the magic buried deep at my core, I was little better than a gnat hovering at the edge of a hurricane. I knew nothing of Idrian political spats, still less the extent of the forces that warred within this room.

And yet, for some reason, a thread of power continued to tug at the edges of my awareness, as if trying to get my attention. My eyes seemed drawn to those glittering shards of ice, as if unable to look away, and my fingers twitched, as if yearning to touch each fractured blade.

I shoved away the impulse and clenched my hands around the hem of my shirt. There were already too many magical heavyweights in this room, and none of them were likely to welcome my interference.

Thankfully, while I’d been distracted by my wayward impulses, everyone else in the club had responded to the heightening tension without any need for direction. Almost as if they’d practiced responding to powerful supernatural threats.

Seamus had eased out from behind the bar, and with Kira’s help, began herding the customers out one by one through the kitchen door. They all appeared more resigned now than frightened, and I saw Seamus shrug as if to say “what can you do?” Even the band slipped out behind them, followed by Kira’s brother, Declan, who was looking decidedly ashen.

It was only the shifter king who did not fall back or slink away through the kitchen. His shoulders were relaxed, and his whole body radiated a sense of peaceful superiority, as if no part of him were threatened by the outraged elemental.

Was he that certain of his invulnerability? As far as I knew, dragons had no particular advantages in their human form. Oh, they were stronger and faster, and healed quickly even from devastating injuries, but they could be sliced and diced just like anyone else.

“Talia.” Callum’s voice was deep and resonant. “None of us have any desire to be at war, but make no mistake—if you start this, we will finish it.”

Talia’s fingers curled into claws. “Taking the rebel’s side publicly now, are you?” She let out a burst of cynical laughter. “Well, you don’t scare me, little lizard . I’ve been queen for longer than you’ve been alive, and I know you won’t shift here. Your precious principles prevent it, so there is nothing you can do to stop me.”

Well, that was just ducky. Of course she would turn out to be the freaking elemental queen .

Somehow, even in the midst of my shock, I found a moment to reflect on the irony of having come this far to escape the power of the courts, only to wind up here—embroiled in a violent confrontation with not one, but two of the most powerful Idrian leaders in the country.

Clearly, the only disaster my day now lacked was an invasion of inebriated gremlins. Or possibly fae lawyers. Hard to tell which would be worse.

I was overtaken by a helpless, panicky impulse to laugh, but that impulse died when Callum actually laughed, and the sound shot a chill down my spine.

“ Nothing I can do ?” He sounded genuinely amused. “Do you honestly believe I spent fifteen years as my mother’s last line of defense and never once trained outside of dragon form?”

Nope. No one believed that, and definitely not as we watched him staring down the elemental queen—all of that carefully leashed power focused on a single target.

The shards of ice began to shiver in response, but it was a shiver of anticipation rather than fear.

And in the doorway behind Talia, a dark shape materialized in the shadows.

It took a moment for me to recognize Draven, because he’d changed a great deal in the last few minutes. Now, dark-feathered wings sprang from his shoulders, and the pair of daggers in his hands sparked with lightning that danced over the muscles of his forearms. I had no idea what he was, but he appeared ready and willing to kill, and Talia seemed unaware of his lurking presence.

Over the next few moments, time slowed to a crawl as the confrontation played out in my mind. Even with the crowd gone, someone was likely to die. The Portal would be reduced to splinters. No one would be able to keep the humans from finding out, and with the local government already on edge because of this mysterious Symposium, tensions would rise.

The tug of magic in my mind grew stronger. Bolder. Screaming at me to release it. I shoved it back again.

I would not be ruled by a power that did not belong to me. Would not give in to its whispers. My mind and my body were my own. After everything they’d tried to do to me, I’d won, and I would not surrender now.

As I fought that silent battle, the floor beneath my feet seemed to tremble and the shards of ice shivered in the air. The tension in the room thickened, squeezing the breath from my body, until suddenly everything went dark.

But in the midst of that darkness… a sparkling cloud of fractured color and light filled my mind. Beautiful. Scintillating. Trembling with power and fury. It called to me, hovering just out of reach but begging me to touch.

But that cloud was death. I dared not touch it while it still quivered with rage. If only I could calm it. Take away the danger. I reached out and tugged it towards me, gently, slowly, coaxing it like a feral kitten.

At first it resisted, but I tugged harder, and then suddenly, it was mine. The cloud surged towards me, flowed around me, all of its sharp and dangerous edges gone as it capered like an eager puppy, brushing against my mind and soothing my anxiety.

It was so calm… so beautiful… I could have stayed in that place forever, but a single familiar voice split the silence.

“Raine, stop!”

Wait, what?

It took a few moments to realize that everything had gone dark because I’d squeezed my eyes shut. Another second or two to pry them open, only to discover that literally everyone in the room was staring at me in shock. And yet another handful of seconds to fully grasp what I was seeing.

The quivering cloud of ice shards was gone. Instead, a swirl of water wreathed my body, flowing in a never-ending spiral of crystalline clarity and joyous exuberance.

It was mine, and it was beautiful, and my jaw dropped in dismay as I looked up and met the stares around me.

Callum, Kira, and Seamus… but they were not the only ones wearing shocked expressions.

Faris stood just in front of the bar—a towering thundercloud of outrage as he surveyed the room, looking for a target.

His glowing green eyes met mine for only a moment before they settled on the elemental queen, but she seemed oblivious to his arrival.

She was too busy gaping at me, her fingers twitching furiously as water dripped from her hair and her eyes promised murder.

More specifically, my murder.

Well, crap.