Chapter 6

SIX

Staying in an Idrian hostel had its benefits. I was able to slink right through the front door without drawing so much as a side eye.

Might have been because the desk clerk was asleep and the only people in the lobby were slightly intoxicated gargoyles, but the lack of attention allowed me to focus on managing my instincts and all the brand new sensory input that came with being a fox .

I was still struggling with the realization that I was stuck in the body of a real, actual fox. A tiny, fluffy, white one with soft fur, a poofy tail, and dainty little paws that made no sound on the tile floor. I could hear the breathy murmurs from the dreaming clerk, a tiny little snore from one of the gargoyles, and the clicks and creaks and shifts of every other movement in the building. When the furnace rumbled to life, it sounded like a jet engine, and I cowered briefly, my ears drawing flat to my head.

And the smells—mold, mothballs, stale sweat, grease, pizza, pad Thai, pot smoke from under a doorway… The list went on, crowded with scents I knew and many I didn’t. For a moment, I turned and tucked my nose into my own fur to stop the onslaught.

How did shapeshifters do this all the time, day after day? For real shapeshifters, their sense of smell remained somewhat heightened, even in human form, and I was suddenly thankful that at least the magic hadn’t changed me that much. It would have been hard to hide this level of overwhelm every time I went out in public.

Eventually, though, I made it to our room, stood outside the door, and wondered… How could I convince Kes to open the door to a fox? It was past midnight, and I didn’t want to wake the kids. But I also didn’t want anyone else to see me, and I didn’t dare sleep outside. What if I changed back in the middle of the night and didn’t realize it until I woke up naked?

Worse yet, what if I never changed back?

Callum had actually seemed worried about that—suggested I might need help to change back. But I was betting that Kes could help me. She’d done it before, I just hated to ask after everything she’d been through.

I paused in front of the door, considering, and almost as if she’d heard me thinking too loudly, Kes opened it and stared down at me, her gray eyes huge in her pale face.

“Oh no,” she whispered. “Raine, I’m so sorry. I’d hoped this wouldn’t happen.”

A door slammed down the hall somewhere, and she jerked in alarm. “Get in here,” she hissed, standing aside and all but pulling me through the door.

Thankfully, the kids were asleep, so there was no one else to see as she crouched on the floor and regarded me in the dim light of a single lamp. “How did it happen?” Then she shook her head. “Of course you can’t answer. Do you want me to help you?”

I fixed my gaze on her, willing her to hear my reluctance. Of course I didn’t want to be a fox anymore. But I also didn’t want to hurt her. Didn’t want her to feel that she had to use her power this way. It wasn’t her fault, and I hated that she felt so much guilt over it.

“Don’t be silly.” Her gaze turned stern as her hand came to rest on my head, oddly comforting even in my current state. “At least this is one thing I can actually fix . You know it won’t last, but it’s better than nothing.”

I bent my head and shivered as I felt her magic come to life. The strange tug of her power began to wind its way through my body, pulling at my magic, loosening, stretching, taking …

And then I was back in my own body. Sprawled on the threadbare carpet, cold and shivering and gasping for breath, while Kes curled into a ball, her eyes shut tightly while her muscles spasmed and her fingers shook.

I scrambled to my feet, lurching drunkenly while I pulled my old clothes on, then grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Kes’s shoulders.

“Curse it all, Kes. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“You didn’t,” she managed to say between clenched teeth. “This will only take a moment.”

All I could do was sit beside her, leaning back against the side of the bunk bed and lending her the poor comfort of my presence. We’d been through worse—both of us—but we’d also hoped that part of our lives was over.

I was just going to have to be even more cautious. More controlled. Keep this magic even more tightly contained. Both for Kes’s sake and for mine.

It worried me that I’d lost control twice already, but at least the worst of my magic was still tightly leashed. If I was going to keep my job and find a way for us all to stay together, I needed to put my fear aside and move forward. Our very survival depended on my ability to stay focused on what was, not on everything I regretted.

As far as everyone in this town knew now, I was half water elemental, half shapeshifter. Our only hope was for me to convince them that they were right. Because if I slipped up even one more time… Our already dubious welcome would become a trial by fire—one that I doubted any of us had the power to survive.

My nerves were on edge when I finally walked into The Portal just before six the following evening. I’d tried to catch up on sleep, but the kids had been restless, and I wasn’t exactly feeling confident about whatever Faris had meant by “settle things.” Also, I’d found another backpack outside my door this morning. With my shoes and uniform clean and tucked neatly inside.

Maybe they were the same ones, maybe they were new, but either way, I didn’t love that my boss knew so much about me. And what had Callum told him about last night? Did he know about the shifting?

And most important of all, what had happened to the kitten?

This time, when I entered through the back door of the club, I was met by no more than a subdued hum. There were no strangely clad gargoyles, no dryads, and only a whisper of hushed voices from the front of the building. I peered into the kitchen, but it was empty except for two of the men who’d helped clean up the mess from the night before.

They were standing on the far side of the room, engaged in quiet conversation—Isaac and Kyle. Isaac had the amber eyes of a shapeshifter, and Kyle had to be a fire elemental, given the tiny flame that danced across his fingertips as he let out a short, unamused laugh.

Kyle suddenly paused and looked over at me. He shot Isaac a significant glance, and their conversation died.

“Hey.” Kyle greeted me with an emotionless nod.

“Raine.” Isaac matched his single syllable.

Both of them were watching me with a sort of reserved caution, and Kyle’s eyes were narrowed. Had they heard about what I’d done last night, or did they treat all newcomers with this sort of suspicion?

“I’m looking for Faris.”

“His office.” Kyle jerked his chin upward to indicate the second floor. “Top of the stairs, second door to the left.” He shot me a sly smirk and a wink. “He’s not alone in there, so make sure you knock.”

Well of course I would knock —given that I’m neither an idiot nor a barbarian.

“Thanks.” They continued to watch in silence as I left the kitchen, feeling oddly exposed with their eyes on my back.

The stairs creaked underfoot as I made my way up, but I heard nothing else until I was within a few steps of Faris’s door, when the low rumble of his voice filtered into the hall.

“… the last person I would have expected.”

A low-pitched female voice answered him. “You misjudge him. But he encourages it. Always has. I don’t think he would have survived otherwise…”

And that was about as much eavesdropping as I felt comfortable with, so I hurried forward to knock and was answered with a single gruff, “It’s open.”

I opened the door and stepped inside with a neutral expression. No need for Faris to know how on edge I was.

Directly across from the door was an enormous, scarred wooden desk. Faris sat behind it in what looked like an antique office chair, leaning back with his arms folded and a more welcoming expression than I’d expected.

Tucked in the back left corner of the room, a pair of cozy chairs flanked a small, round coffee table. In one of the chairs, an unfamiliar woman sat cross-legged, her hands wrapped around a stoneware mug.

She was tall and muscular, with brown skin, long dark hair, and a multitude of scars that spoke of a complicated history. One of her eyes was covered by a patch, while the other looked past me with an alert expression that suggested she was sensing me with something beyond normal vision.

“Hello, Raine.” Her voice was low and raspy. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Morghaine. Or Morgan. Or sometimes ‘You Impossible Dragon,’ depending on the day.”

Dragon? Just how many dragons were lurking around this place, anyway?

Morghaine must have sensed my unspoken curiosity, because she smiled slightly and tilted her head in my direction.

“If you’re wondering how so many dragons ended up so far from the enclave, it’s mostly my fault. I’m now mated to Faris, but in my former life I was seneschal to the shapeshifter court, and by extension to Queen Tairen. I was something of an unofficial aunt to Kira and her brothers, so I still occasionally meddle in their affairs from time to time.”

Aha. This was Faris’s mate. Suddenly Kira’s mention of a “family reunion” began to make sense…

“I understand you’ve already met Kira and Callum?”

I nodded in response to her question before I recalled that she might not be able to see me.

“We, uh… Yes. Kira seems very nice. And I did meet Callum.” If “meet” was the right word for all the suspicious glaring that had taken place between her nephew and myself over the last twenty-four hours.

“You don’t sound terribly impressed.” Thankfully, she sounded amused rather than upset, and Faris jumped in on my behalf.

“You know how Callum is. Doesn’t like anything he can’t predict or growl at until it goes away.”

This drew an answering laugh from Morghaine. “He just wants everyone to be safe, poor boy. It’s not his fault he was born into a family of dragons who find safety a dead bore.”

As fascinating as this was…

“Am I in trouble?” I asked bluntly.

Faris’s expression went studiously inscrutable. “Depends. We need to talk about this power of yours. And why you never mentioned that you’re an elemental.”

Nothing like a bit of interrogation on a lazy Saturday evening. But I wasn’t about to apologize for protecting my secrets.

“You didn’t ask about my magic,” I said coolly. “And anyway, as I’ve already told Seamus, I was raised by humans. No one taught me to use this power, so it’s not really a big part of my life.”

“So it has nothing to do with why you’re hiding from the courts?” From the way his eyebrow was raised, he already knew the answer, but I wasn’t willing to elaborate.

“As I said, not a big part of my life.”

Faris regarded me thoughtfully across the top of his desk. “It probably wouldn’t take long to narrow down who your real parents are,” he mused. “Elementals are mostly well-connected within their court, so it shouldn’t be hard to figure out where your people are from. Or why they didn’t raise you themselves.”

I drew in a single tense breath. Why was he suddenly so curious about my past? After all the talk of him providing a haven for people like me, why would he want so badly to find out who my parents were?

“I have no need to connect with my past,” I replied flatly. “And if your curiosity is for your own sake, perhaps I’ve made a mistake by coming here.”

The giant elemental cocked one eyebrow in my direction. “It was an offer, not a threat,” he said mildly. “But your caution is noted. Care to sit?” He indicated a chair on my side of the desk.

Oops. It seemed that after six months of running, I might be just a bit too much on edge. Interpreting everything as danger, when in fact it might be nothing more than garden variety kindness.

Continuing to stand would only highlight my paranoia and probably send the wrong message, so I sat. And tried to look properly chastised.

“Regarding yesterday, I have no complaints about your actions,” Faris told me. “I talked to Callum and Seamus, and you did well for your first day. What happened with Talia was not your fault. Not only that, but you probably helped us avoid a serious incident, which I appreciate. Until recently, we’ve maintained a peaceful relationship with humans here in Oklahoma City, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.” His brows lowered ominously, suggesting that not everything was running smoothly for the Lord of the Shadow Court.

“Problems?” I kept my tone casual, wondering whether he would actually tell me anything or shut down in the face of my curiosity.

Faris shrugged and grunted in irritation. “There have always been problems. Always someone with an agenda, a grievance, or a reason why the rules don’t apply to them. The names change, their goals change, but there is always someone who would benefit more from war than from peace.”

As I had all too many reasons to know. But most of the conflicts took place in the shadows, between Idrian factions, never publicly involving humans. A war between the two groups would be far too costly.

At least that’s what we’d always been told.

“You’re saying the peace is not as stable as we’ve been led to believe?”

“Yes and no,” Faris said wearily. “Yes, for the most part, we’ve been at peace for the past fifty years. But peace requires hard work and a hell of a lot of maintenance. Anytime you see a lack of conflict, that means there’s someone behind the scenes, putting out fires, stopping those conflicts before they happen. Trying desperately to keep each side safe from the other’s ignorance and prejudice.”

It was beginning to seem pretty clear that Faris was one of those people. That while he might wear the brand of a rebel, he was actually more of a peacemaker. Why else would he volunteer to host this Symposium?

“Are the courts a part of the solution or part of the problem?” I asked quietly.

His eyes shot straight to mine, as if they could pierce my armor and identify all of my secrets with no more than a look. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”

I sat in silence for a moment. Leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest.

“So… If you aren’t upset about last night, then why am I here?”

“Because…” He paused, tapping his fingers on his desk as he watched me carefully. “Right now, we’re doing everything we can to keep putting out those same fires. To build a better framework for preventing conflict between humans and Idrians. But someone is doing everything they can to stop us, and we don’t yet know who.”

Ah, yes. Callum had hinted as much last night. They had security breaches and information leaks, and I’d been a convenient target for his paranoia.

“Does someone still think it might be me?” I asked carefully, and felt a rush of relief when Faris shook his head.

“No. You’ve been cleared of suspicion. At least as far as I’m concerned.”

I still had a job. It was going to be okay. I hadn’t even realized how nervous I’d been until my whole body sagged into the chair.

“Thank you,” I said, with very real gratitude. “Is that all you needed me for?”

“Unfortunately not.”

I didn’t like the expression on his face. It looked like… regret.

“I spoke to Seamus.”

What had I told the shapeshifter?

“He said you don’t know how to use your elemental magic. That it broke free of your control in a moment of extreme stress.”

“Yes,” I admitted. “That’s true. I made a mistake, but I can be more careful in the future. It won’t happen again.”

“And at any other time, I would be willing to accept that,” Faris said heavily. “But right now, I can’t afford any additional instability. The Symposium is happening soon, and we’ve promised the delegates a safe location for this gathering.”

My fingers turned to ice and curled like claws around the arms of the chair.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying that if Talia chooses to tell anyone what happened, you become a liability.”

“I’m not a threat,” I argued desperately. “I’m just a homeless fugitive. I want to be able to eat and put a roof over my head, not involve myself in politics.”

“And I believe you,” Faris said. “But that doesn’t mean anyone else will.”

He shook his head, both hands now lying flat on the desk. “I don’t think you realize yet, Raine, just how unusual your ability is. You shouldn’t have been able to do what you did last night without practice. Maybe to someone with weaker magic, but not to the most powerful water elemental in North America.”

I swallowed, and tasted the harsh, bitter taint of regret. “I told you I didn’t mean to.”

“Doesn’t matter. Word will get out. You’re a force to be reckoned with, and you’re a complete unknown.” He met my gaze squarely. “You’re going to make all of the delegates very, very nervous.”

Kira said I’d painted a target on my back with that display of power, but I’d hoped she was exaggerating. Who could possibly care about the threat posed by a homeless waitress?

“What if I just stay out of sight?”

“And how do you plan to do that while working for me?” Faris pointed out.

I’d been so afraid he might say that. My heart began to thud uncomfortably in my chest. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you have a choice to make.”

It was obvious from his tone that I would be thrilled about exactly none of the options he was about to offer me.

“What choice?”

A glow sparked in Faris’s green eyes. “We need this Symposium, Raine. We need the courts to come together and forge an agreement. We need a system of justice that can be satisfied with no loss of life or destruction of property. That’s why I offered to serve as host for this gathering, and why I’ve granted my assistance to Callum to ensure that it can be held peacefully.”

That was all very well and good, but what did it have to do with me?

“You can’t keep working here at The Portal,” he continued, driving a spike of fear through my chest. “Not until after the Symposium is over. Normally I would tell them exactly where to put their objections, but I’ve been informed that I’m going to have to… What was it again?” He paused and glanced at Morghaine, one eyebrow raised.

“Play nice?” she suggested, smirking a little in his direction.

“Something like that.” He looked like he’d rather have his beard pulled out by the roots.

“So, where does that leave me?” I tried to keep my tone level, but I doubted I could fully conceal my anger and frustration. He said I still had a job, but he was putting me on hiatus for two weeks? We needed food. Clothes. And a long-term place to live. I couldn’t sit around for that long without a paycheck.

“Raine.” His green eyes met mine calmly. “I took you on, and that means I’m not going to just abandon you. There’s still a job opening, and it’ll pay you better than waiting tables.”

I heard the “but” at the end of that statement…

Faris seemed to stare straight through me. “It will be more dangerous, yes. But you would be helping to ensure that there will never be another Elayara.”

I stared back. Wondering exactly how much he knew and how much he’d only guessed.

Elayara, former queen of the fae, had been caught kidnapping other Idrians, stealing their magic, and transferring it into objects for the use of herself and her minions. She’d been stopped about eighteen months ago, and her actions repudiated by the Idrian community at large, but many of her victims had never been found, and no one on the outside had known the full extent of either her plan or her abilities.

“I came here to disappear,” I said softly. “All I ever wanted is to be invisible.”

“And in one sense, I’m sorry,” Faris said, and to my surprise, he actually sounded genuine. “But that’s not going to be possible anymore. Not unless you decide to run again.”

“I thought this was supposed to be a place of refuge from the courts,” I ground out. “That you were the one person who didn’t play their games. I came here for safety, and now you’re saying you’re going to throw me to the wolves?”

“Not the wolves,” Morghaine murmured from her corner, somehow sounding endlessly amused. “Just the dragons.”

Oh yes, that was so much better. They could barbecue me first and then eat me.

Then it hit me exactly what she’d said.

“That wasn’t rhetorical, was it?”

Faris shot his mate a wry look before answering. “No, it wasn’t. Callum and I have agreed that his team would be a far safer place for you. At least for the duration of the Symposium.”

My deer-in-the-headlights stare must have communicated exactly what I thought of that idea, because Faris sighed and looked at me as if I were a particularly recalcitrant toddler under his care.

“Look, at least talk to him. If you don’t want to do it, we can try to come up with another solution, but… I don’t know whether I can fully protect you from the consequences of last night. Working with Callum will make you more visible, but it also gives you more protection and more respect.”

I would have been all too happy to agree with his assessment… if I were normal. If I were any other Idrian.

But I wasn’t. None of us were, and that left us dancing on a tightrope no one around us could possibly understand. Working with Callum… I shuddered at the thought.

Faris leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms once more. “It’s your decision. As long as you understand you won’t be able to come back to work here until after the Symposium.”

Which meant no paycheck for at least two weeks. Which meant we would be out on the street at the end of that time. Barely hanging on until I could get paid.

But how could I agree to work for the king of the shifters?

More importantly, why would he even want me? They claimed I was unusually powerful, but surely his team was already full of frighteningly competent shifters. There was no reason for him to trust a total unknown unless…

Unless my very lack of connections was what made me ideal. Because then he could blackmail me into doing whatever he wanted. Had he basically manipulated Faris into this in order to acquire an employee who couldn’t say no?

“Raine?”

Morghaine spoke up, and when I looked over, I could see compassion written clearly across her face. Even without seeing my expression, she knew I was hesitating, and she even seemed to know why.

“I know you and my nephew didn’t get off to a great start.”

Understatement of the week.

“Callum can come across as cold and hard-hearted. Inflexible and suspicious of the world.”

“What she means,” Faris interpreted, “is that he’s rigid, impossible, bull-headed, and occasionally a pain-in-the-ass.”

That almost surprised a laugh out of me.

“Hush, you.” Morghaine shot her mate a look of fond exasperation. “My point is, that isn’t the whole truth of who Callum is. If you choose to give him a chance, I believe he might surprise you.”

If I chose…

The choice was mine. And either choice was a risk. If I said no, I risked being unable to even provide food for the people who mattered most. Risked making myself a target for anyone who decided I might be a threat.

But if I said yes? I would have to work with Callum-ro-Deverin. The greatest danger to my continued survival, and possibly the most suspicious man I’d ever met. I would have to deal with his glowering and paranoia on a daily basis, while somehow continuing to hide the rest of my secrets.

I was pretty sure the rule about keeping friends close and enemies closer was never meant to apply to dragons.

But in this case?

“Fine. I’ll talk to him.”

I would find out whether he was planning to blackmail me, and then make a decision. And while I was at it?

Maybe I could also find out what had happened to that kitten.

The answer just might make all the difference in the world.