31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Timmy fixed his beady eyes on me; not for a moment did he doubt his seer. ‘Leave us,' he said to Fred. Fred didn't look happy but he pulled back a few meters.

‘The future,' Timmy breathed. ‘What can you tell me about it?'

‘Not a damn thing,' I said firmly. ‘Unless you want us to fuck it all up.'

He looked at me reproachfully, ‘Such language from a lady's mouth.'

‘What makes you think I'm a lady?' I shot back. I wasn't a lady, I was a goddamned Queen, and he could take his priggish attitude and shove it where the sun didn't shine. He could hardly throw stones since he was running an illegal gang and extorting protection money from people.

‘She's a Queen,' Candice asserted eagerly. ‘Queen Lucy of all the werewolves. '

‘Is she now?' Timmy looked fascinated; he was re-assessing me in the light of this new information. ‘And what precisely would make a Queen step back in time?'

I contemplated lying but Esme's honesty-first policy was contagious. ‘A theft,' I admitted. ‘Of something I need to get back.'

‘Isn't that interesting?' Timmy pursed his lips. ‘I have a problem not dissimilar to yours, so it seems like fate is trying to bring us together, my wolfy ruler. Someone took something of mine and I need to know who snatched it from me. The only problem,' he continued, ‘is the only witness to the theft was my horse.'

I blinked. Ok-ay. ‘Seek out a piper,' I offered weakly, without admitting that I was one.

He snorted. ‘Obviously I've already tried that. They are, by their nature, elusive pricks. The pipers hide their talents – deny their talents. The last one I thought I'd found ended up not being a piper at all, just a useless brethren.'

I bristled inwardly at the description. Greg Manners had been far from useless, even when he'd ‘just' been brethren.

Timmy grimaced as he continued. ‘Shame he had to die before I accepted his word that he really couldn't help me.'

Yikes.

‘Candice thinks you can help me.' His eyes were hard and unyielding. ‘You'll come with me to my lands tomorrow.' He wasn't issuing an invitation. To emphasise the unspoken threat, he lightly caressed the handle of the mace.

‘As I said,' I picked my words carefully, ‘something of mine has been stolen. My return to this time was for a specific reason and my mission is time sensitive. I cannot help you tomorrow – but I can come back later.'

Timmy snorted. ‘You will not return, of that I am sure. No, Queen Lucy, you must come with me tomorrow.'

I sighed. This was going to get messy. When I glanced at Greg he read my intentions and his stance shifted to that of a fighter. I turned back to meet Timmy's eyes. ‘No,' I said firmly.

‘No?' The ogre seemed genuinely taken aback that someone could dare refuse him. He give a whistle and several men stepped out of the crowd to surround us.

I recognised their liquid movements: werewolves. One of them was the biggest man I'd seen, especially in these times when poor nutrition stunted growth; he looked like he could snap us in half like a twig. Plus the theft of the orb hadn't happened yet and these wolves around me had full access to their air magic. Worse still, the witches' curse had happened and I didn't have the Great Pack to come to my aid, to convince them to roll over and show me their bellies .

More ogres stepped out behind the werewolves and these ones weren't being shy about their maces: they were brandishing them aggressively. This was about to get even messier than I'd anticipated.

I held up a hand before the situation deteriorated further. ‘I can't come with you to your estate,' I said firmly, ‘but maybe I can help in another way. Let's you and I talk privately.'

I had an idea; although it felt a little crazy, it was better than being forced to miss the theft I'd travelled back in time to prevent.

Timmy hesitated for a beat but Candice gave him an encouraging nod; she had seen what would happen at the meeting and she was weirdly eager for it to take place.

‘Stay here,' I ordered Greg and Torrance, as if they had any choice.

I followed Timmy out of the vast space into a small room just off the ballroom. Even though he closed the door, we could still hear the music and the laughter. The lack of soundproofing was reassuring: if the ogre had intended to kill me, he would have taken me further away where his guests wouldn't hear my dying screams.

Unless he doesn't care if they hear, Esme said pointedly.

Do you think we're about to die? I asked her, exasperated .

Of course not! she snorted.

Then hush and let me concentrate. He's a wily prick and he needs my full attention.

I refocused on the man in front of me. ‘Do you have any animals here?' I asked briskly.

He raised an eyebrow at the odd question but went to the door, opened it and peered out. ‘Get me Aristotle,' he ordered gruffly to whoever was on the other side.

We waited for Aristotle's arrival in uncomfortable silence but luckily we weren't kept waiting long. There was a quiet knock on the door. ‘Come,' Krieg called gruffly. The door opened hesitantly and in came a male servant with the green skin of a dryad carrying a white bird in a large, ornate metal cage.

‘Hello, fuckers,' the bird said then made a rude noise. The servant blanched, like he might be held responsible for the bird's uncouth language.

I blinked in surprise. I hadn't used my piping skills, the servant had clearly heard the bird swearing and, by the exasperation on his face, so had Timmy. Whatever Aristotle was, he was magical. ‘Hello,' I said finally. ‘Nice to meet you, Aristotle.'

‘Nice to meet your ass, too,' the bird squawked back, hopping to and fro on his perch. ‘Let me out of the cage?' His tone was entreating and a little pathetic. My heart twanged.

‘No,' Timmy said firmly. ‘As you can see, he's a caladrius.'

I had no idea what a caladrius was but I did my best to hide my ignorance. ‘I didn't anticipate you bringing a creature that can talk out loud,' I admitted.

‘Does it matter?'

‘I'm not sure,' I said finally. ‘We'll find out, I guess.'

I closed my eyes and concentrated, reaching into the well of piping magic that existed within me, pulling it upwards until it filled my every cell and vibrated with magic. Then I reached out to Timmy and did my best to pass him my magic, to tie him not just to the caladrius but to all animals.

I was trying to give him my ability to pipe – but not to allow him to pipe humans. I didn't want him to be able to take away people's free will; he was a crime lord so I couldn't exactly rely on him to exercise his moral code. Or maybe I could, but his moral code would be vastly different to mine.

It was the only thing that I could think of that would result in him releasing us. We were literally running against the clock because the theft would happen tomorrow and I had to be there to stop it. If Krieg needed to speak to his damned horse, I'd make sure he could. Maybe then he'd let us go and we could stop the thief from taking the orb.

I accepted that the werewolves had lost their air powers for a couple of centuries – that couldn't be undone – but if I could grab the orb from the past and bring it back to the present, voilà. Air powers for all wolves, the restoration of the link to the Great Pack for Nina and proper access to the Great Pack without werewolves' souls being sacrificed.

Was I nervous about giving Krieg any extra power? Yes. Could I think of something else to do? No. So Krieg was going to learn piping but I'd keep it to animals, if I could.

When I was done with the complex magic, I was exhausted and not even sure if I'd done it properly – or at all. I'd fumbled through the whole thing and besides, I'd never heard of people passing on their piping skills even temporarily. But I'd been made into a piper by a freaking magical elven dagger called Glimmer so the normal rules didn't seem to apply to me.

I opened my eyes. ‘Try and speak to the bird but in your head, not with words out loud. You might need to hum a little tune first to get the power working.'

Timmy Krieg was staring at me wide-eyed. ‘What have you done to me? Did you make me a piper?'

I shook my head. ‘Not a full one. I gave you the ability to speak to animals, but I don't know whether it will be permanent or not. It might only be temporary. If it is, you need to get to your estate pronto to speak to your horse.'

Timmy licked his lips and hummed a soft ditty that I didn't recognise. As the song fell silent on his lips, his eyes widened even more and he stared at his magical, dove-like bird with his mouth hanging open.

He closed it with a snap and turned to me. ‘Fine. You can go, but you'll take my man Langston with you. If your magics are gone by the time I reach the estate, Langston will bring you back to me kicking and screaming. Are we clear, Your Majesty?'

‘As crystal,' I replied. ‘We're done here?'

‘We're done.'

I hesitated. ‘Can I ask a question?' I figured I might as well; after all, this Krieg was dead and gone in my time so if I offended him it wouldn't really matter.

He raised an eyebrow, reaching up a hand and tugged on one of his horns. ‘Ask. I might not answer.'

There was humour in his voice so I decided to go for it. ‘Have you heard of an organisation called the Domini?'

He grimaced. ‘Well, that's a damned shame. I hoped that the bastards would be disbanded in the future, but if you're here sniffing after them then I guess The Order is still going.'

‘The Order?' I asked. The name tugged at something in my memory: I'd heard the phrase before and it was important, but I couldn't for the life of me remember where I'd heard it.

‘That's what we call ourselves,' he explained.

We . My stomach dopped. Timmy Krieg was Domini .

Esme and I concentrated and hastily shifted our hands to show sharp claws. The ogre waved at me casually. ‘Don't get your legs into twisted hose,' he said. ‘I'm not going to attack you now. I might need you if this piping magic fades again.'

‘But otherwise you'd kill me?' I asked drily.

‘No, not for now.' He frowned. ‘I grow weary of The Order's yoke. I am not a man to be dictated to.'

‘Do you know who runs it?'

He looked at me for a long moment before barking a laugh. ‘Why not?' he murmured to himself. ‘I believe it is run by an immortal. Over the years I have sought to identify the leaders – surreptitiously, of course.'

‘To become one?' I asked.

‘To kill and replace one,' he said honestly. ‘There are only nine seats at the table. To lead The Order, you have to sit at the table – and right now it's full.'

‘What makes you think it is run by an immortal?'

‘Because for as long as I've heard, it has been led by V.'

‘V?'

‘His sole designation. We're all given letters. I'm K.'

‘K for Krieg?' I asked.

He snorted. ‘No. The last K's surname was Fielding.'

‘How do you know that?'

‘Because I killed him.'

Of course he did. ‘What else can you tell me about the leader besides the fact he's called V?'

‘Nothing else. He's a murderous bastard, but no doubt you got that already.'

I had. A chill was sweeping through me. Voltaire had tried to warn me against investigating the Domini – was that because he was the ruler? He was immortal, after all. Could the V be for Voltaire?

I licked my dry lips and looked at the man who served my enemies. ‘Is there a way to tell if someone is Domini?'

‘Like what?' he demanded.

‘Like … a badge or a tattoo.' Secret societies loved insignia, right?

‘Sorry, love, we aren't as obvious as that. You want to find us, you're going to have to work harder.'

‘I'm not afraid of hard work.'

‘Good for you. I like a woman with stamina.' His gaze was turning flirtatious. ‘You'd forget your wolfie mate in no time at all with me between your thighs.'

‘No,' I said firmly, waving my still-clawed hands. ‘I wouldn't.'

Krieg sighed lustily. ‘What a woman.'

‘You'll find your own woman, no doubt.' I paused as inspiration struck. ‘Candice is a strong woman,' I said half to myself, parroting the other seer's words. I thought of how eager she'd been for Timmy and me to have this conversation. Was it for this?

He blinked. ‘Candice? We grew up on the streets together.'

She'll be perfect for him. Well, who was I to say no to fate? I'd seen the look in her eyes when she'd turned to him and I could be honest about that. ‘She doesn't feel sisterly towards you.'

‘Huh.' He sat back in the chair. ‘Well then.' He tapped his lip thoughtfully.

Oh boy. What was I doing, playing matchmaker in the past? I hoped this was what Victoria had meant; if not, I really was going to screw things up! Why couldn't seers just be clearer?

‘I'll take my leave,' I stood abruptly. ‘Thank you for your hospitality.' I managed to say it without any sarcasm.

As I went out of the room, Krieg still had a thoughtful expression on his face. The knot in my stomach told me that I had probably just pushed him and Candice together.

High King Robert Krieg owed me more than he knew: without me, he would never have been born.