Chapter 9

The carriage park and stables were the switch-over point for anyone headed into Old Town. There was even a clothing store a few doors away providing authentic wear for the older part of the territory. Exemptions were required if you planned on wearing anything that wasn’t from the era the noble houses preferred.

I’d made sure to get mine.

Ordell and Hemlock wore a combination of styles, so I wasn’t sure if they were simply trying to fly beneath the radar, but the vehicle he led me to wasn’t a contraption that could fly under any radar. It was a house on wheels, and the driver’s cabin was large enough to seat five of me.

This time I needed Ordell’s help to get into my seat. It was comfortably worn, the headrest a little too high, but I was able to adjust it, peeking back into the gloom of the main cabin where cushy seating and a small dining area and kitchenette were visible. They lived in this?

Ordell hauled himself into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut. “This is Betsy,” he said fondly. “Home.”

“All the time?”

“Mostly.” He shrugged. “Like I said before, we move around a lot.”

He started the engine, and Betsy purred to life. He patted the dash. “That’s my girl.”

I bit back a smile and settled in my seat as we backed out of the parking lot and onto the main road—a proper road with traffic lights and electric lampposts. Damn, it was good to be back to modern civilization where there were no silver woods and no wolves to chase me. But it would be a short reprieve, so I’d savor it.

“Where are we headed?”

“For a visit with an old friend.”

The streets werebusy this time of day, humans and other supernaturals out in force while the vampires slept. The files Micah had shown me had census information for this area. The humans outnumbered supernaturals here, and it made sense for them to. They provided the sustenance the vampires needed. But according to the Order files, there was a wide variety of minor supernaturals living here also, and not all were documented or registered in any way. The boundary between the two parts of town and around the territory kept conscripted human bloodlines in place, but the supernaturals that called this their home could come and go at will.

The streets were clean, the air crisp even though the clouds hung low. The people hurried along, heads down, hands tucked into pockets, woolly hats pulled low to ward off the chill. Every stoplight we slowed at, we were flanked by pink cheeks and watery eyes as humans went about their business, weaving by one another without a smile.

The world blurred by, and before long we were on a private road that led to an impressive wrought iron gate. The kind that had intercom access.

Ordell hurried to buzz us in and was back a moment later to roll us through the slowly opening gates and onto a gravel road bordered by evergreen trees.

“Your friend lives here?”

“Yes.” There was tension around his eyes and in the tight grip of his hands on the wheel.

A house came into view, a brownstone affair with pretty white gables and a steeply pitched roof. It was a house that was a blend of eras, a chimera of styles that sat smug and squat in the midst of evergreen woodland.

The front door flew open as we drew closer, and a woman with an abundance of dark waves stepped onto the porch. Ordell cut the engine but didn’t make a move to get out. Instead, he sat staring at the woman through the windshield.

She stared right back at him, a sad, almost wistful smile on her face.

My heart sank.

He loved this woman.

They were a thing or had been. There was no denying the connection even at a distance and through a sheet of glass.

I tapped his arm. “Ordell?”

He sucked in a breath. “Come, I’ll introduce you.”

The woman waited patiently, hands clasped in front of her in a seemingly relaxed pose, but her white knuckles gave her away.

I dropped back, allowing Ordell some space as we climbed the porch steps.

“You should have called,” she said.

“You would have told me not to come,” Ordell replied.

“Probably.” She looked at me for the first time and then fixed Ordell with a frown.

He sighed. “This is Miss Lighthart, the new chapter leader.”

“Oh.” Her frown cleared and she fixed me with a weak smile. “It’s good to meet you, Miss Lighthart.”

“Please, call me Orina.”

Her smile warmed a little. “Orina, then.” She looked to Ordell. “They’re in the schoolroom with Dash.”

What the fuck was going on here?

Ordell made to step around her, but she grabbed his hand, her expression suddenly fierce. “Remember our deal.”

His throat bobbed. “I remember.”

She released him and gave me a nod, permission to follow him, no doubt.

The interior of the house was beautifully kept—warm redwood and gleaming cream accents with enough modern touches to elevate the space from austere to homey. There was no time to take in much detail because Ordell was a man on a mission, striding quickly up the stairs and down corridor after corridor until we came to a partially open door with a golden plaque fixed to it which said Schoolroom.

Here he took a breath. “Remember, no questions till after.” He opened the door, releasing the sound of a masculine voice reciting poetry.

Someone shrieked, “Uncle Odi!” Then three golden-haired children body slammed Ordell.

He let out a growl, scooping them up one by one until he had them hanging off his large frame and in fits of giggles as he tickled each one.

Infectious laughter swelled to fill the air as Ordell dropped to his knees, tamed by the children’s wrestling moves. There were two boys and a girl, all looking to be around ten or eleven years in age.

The other occupant of the room stood by a whiteboard covered in neat script, hands in the pockets of his navy pants, eyes dark with an undecipherable emotion. This must be Dash. He smiled stiffly at me. He was a tall, athletic guy, nowhere near as big as Hemlock or Ordell but handsome with a wide, generous mouth and sandy tousled hair.

“That’s enough, kids,” he said. “Let your uncle get a breath.”

The children climbed off Ordell reluctantly with a chorus of, “Oh, do we have to?”

“Yes, you do,” Dash said. “You have work to finish.”

“But Uncle Odi has been gone forever,” the girl whined. “Surely we can get a day off to visit with him.”

Dash’s mouth tightened. “If Uncle Odi had called to make arrangements, then we could have done so.”

“Oh, come on Dash,” Ordell said. “Half hour?”

Dash’s gaze went cold. “Not today, Ordell. Let’s talk outside.”

He held the door open, but Ordell lingered, his heart in his eyes as he looked down at the children, and oh my word…The children…with their white-gold hair and their hazel eyes and…Fuck…

“Please!” One of the boys grabbed hold of Ordell’s hand. “You promised to come back, and you were gone ages. You said we could play hunter.”

Dash’s jaw flexed. “Next time. Now back to your seat.” There was a definite edge of desperation to his tone now.

The boy looked torn, and Ordell ruffled his hair. “I’ll be back soon and we can play. I promise.” Dash exhaled sharply, a sound of impatience, and Ordell’s shoulders stiffened. “You best get your work done now.”

The boy joined his siblings behind a row of desks, and Ordell turned away, his eyes bright with a cacophony of emotions.

I followed the men into the corridor, then down the hall to the stairs where Dash finally spun on his heel to confront Ordell.

“We have an arrangement. You can’t just show up when you please.”

“I know. I’m sorry, I just…I’m sorry.” His shoulders drooped.

He’d instructed me not to ask questions till after, expected me to mind my business, but seeing him like this, so deflated, so…sad nudged the hidden darkness inside me. That sharp, wicked side that I preferred to keep suppressed. That voice that told me that Ordell could crush this guy. Grab him by the throat and shake sense into him. And words I had no right to say came spilling out.

“You can’t stop him from seeing his kids.”

Dash’s eyes flew wide, his nostrils flaring with each panicked breath. “You told her?”

Ordell growled, the sound one of conflict and displeasure. “I didn’t say a word.”

“He didn’t have to. One look at them and it’s obvious.”

Dash turned away, hands on hips, took three strides, then spun back toward us. “Dammit, Ordell.”

“She won’t tell anyone. She’s with the Order. The new chapter head.”

“Then she should know to keep her mouth shut about this.”

I had no idea how my being the chapter head fit into all this, and in hindsight I should have kept my mouth shut, but it was too late now.

Dash stepped into Ordell’s personal space, and the air crackled with power. “They’re mine.” His eyes narrowed. “I was here. I raised them. Nursed them through sickness, held them when they had nightmares. Me. Not you. Me.”

Ordell closed his eyes. “I know. I know. I’m sorry. It’s the rising year, and I…I needed to see them just in case…”

Dash seemed to deflate. “The rising…of course. Dammit, man.” He exhaled and ran a hand down his face. “Come for lunch. The last weekend of the month. Bring Hem and…” He looked over at me. “And…”

“Miss Lighthart,” Ordell provided.

“Yes.” He gave me a quick smile. “The children should get to know you too.” He reached out to grasp Ordell’s shoulder. “I made you a promise, and I won’t break it, but this…you showing up spontaneously, it doesn’t help any of us.”

Ordell looked him dead in the eyes. “It won’t happen again.”

Dash walked us to the front door where the woman waited. “Bella, we’ll see Ordell and Miss Lighthart at the end of the month.”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “We’ll see you then.”

Ordell didn’t speak until we were back on the main road. “You have questions.”

“I do, but the only answers I need are ones that explain how I’m related to this situation.”

“To explain that, I’ll need to give you a little background.”

“Okay…”

Silence stretched for long moments. “Bella was a fling. A passing-through thing. I’m always so careful. I came back eighteen months later to find her married to Dash with triplets. My triplets.”

“She didn’t tell you? Didn’t call?”

“I never left my number. But when I saw them, I knew I had to be a part of their lives. But my life…I’m a hunter. I have too many enemies. People who would do anything to get back at me, to use me, blackmail me. We decided it was safer if the children remained unaware of my true relationship to them. So now, I’m Dash’s old friend. The fun Uncle Odi who visits a few times a year, except…It’s been over a year since my last visit.”

“And the whole ‘call first’ thing?”

“Dash is mageri. He never exhibited the level of power required to be drafted to any official positions in the city, but he does host influential figures from time to time. It’s best no one see me with the children, or they might put two and two together as you did.”

“It’s a little hard not to.”

“I know, but Dash doesn’t see it because as far as he’s concerned, they’re his kids. And I get it. I understand.”

“You know, they’ll realize once they get a little older and understand genetics a bit better.”

“I know that too. But by that time, they’ll be under the official protection of the mageri council. Once they hit puberty, they’ll have their official documents as Dash’s registered progeny.”

“But they have no magic.”

“Bella is a faeblood. Something I wasn’t aware of when we had our tryst.”

There were half-blood fae and there were faebloods, humans with a teeny touch of fae blood in their bloodlines. Not enough to necessarily give them any power or abilities but enough to classify them as supernatural.

“Okay, I get the background, but how do I fit in? You said Padma knows? Why?”

“When I found out about the triplets, I wanted to ensure they were thoroughly protected. Dash has influence and power, but we agreed that there should be a plan B if anything were to go awry.”

“You mean if anyone found out the triplets were yours?”

“Yes. So, I made an arrangement with the head of the Dracul chapter house to act as guardian of the triplets in my absence.”

“Padma didn’t tell me.”

“She probably expected me to brief you personally since I’m here.”

“But you weren’t going to, were you?”

“With it being a rising year, and the fact I’ll be staying in Dracul territory for a while, it didn’t seem too important.” He threw a quick glance my way. “But now you know…It’s best you know.”

He took a right at the traffic lights, his jaw flexing as if he was chewing something over. I waited for him to continue, but instead he lapsed deeper into silence.

I guessed he was done on the topic. “I’m sorry today was cut short for you.”

He looked over with a small smile, an echo of the sunshine ones of earlier. “Me too, Orina. Me too.” His attention dropped back to the road. “But I know something that will cheer me up.” He took a left at the intersection onto a narrow street lined with shops. A supermarket, a coffee shop, a bookstore, and right on the corner an ice cream parlor. “Do you like ice cream, Orina?”

I gave him an incredulous look. “Do suckers live in sewers?”

He grinned, a full-blown Ordell grin that made my stomach erupt with butterflies. “I’m buying.”