Lie Down with Dogs Page 10

  Old One? I glanced between them.

  “I have threatened you. Offend me again, and words will fail to suffice.” Diode picked his way to me on dry pockets of sand and swatted my bare leg. “Carry me to our rooms.”

  The old man gaped.

  “It’s all right.” I grunted as I lifted Diode, bringing him in front of my face and rubbing our noses together. “Who’s a cute widdle kitty cat? Who’s my special wittle boy?”

  His claws flexed. “I should have let the selkies take you.”

  “Eh, they would have given me back.” I addressed the small gathering. “It was nice to meet you all, and I’m glad we will part as friends.” I hated playing the game, but I rolled the dice and made my first promise using the power awaiting me in Faerie. “Once I am made queen, I will speak to the Morrigan on your behalf.”

  “You have our gratitude, Princess.” The old man bowed. “It will change nothing, but we appreciate the gesture.”

  “It can’t hurt to try.”

  He didn’t respond.

  Diode sank his claws into my arm. “We should be going.”

  With a tight nod to the pod, I braved the sizzling sands and began the walk back to our condo.

  Mai fell in step beside me. “Sorry.”

  “For what?” I jerked my chin toward the gray men. “You couldn’t have predicted that.”

  “Still.” She stared ahead. “We have to be more careful. You’re an Unseelie royal, and we can’t keep pretending you’re a neutral who’s welcome to crash all the parties like we used to. It’s dangerous.”

  I counted backward from ten before answering. I was doing that a lot lately.

  “My views haven’t changed.” I hadn’t changed. “I’m still me.”

  “I know that, but people who have never met you...” She shrugged. “All they hear is the title.”

  As much as I hated it, this was a wakeup call for me. We had escaped unscathed, thanks to a quirk of mine, but would I be so lucky the next time? Would my friends? She was right. I had to be more careful. Even if I had no special love or loyalty to my house, the others expected it from me.

  Walking into this situation with the gray men, I could have gotten myself killed or had to kill to protect myself, and it would have been my fault. I wasn’t on the clock. No official duty had brought me here. I was on my own time, and I was mingling freely the way I always did, a luxury I could no longer afford.

  “Princess?”

  I glanced over my shoulder and spotted a gray man, a teenager, and barely that. Thirteen if I had to guess. He was easy on the eyes, as they all were, but his movements were less fluid as though he was still growing into his height. Unlike the elder, he met my gaze and held it. He wasn’t afraid. I bet he thought he could take me if he had to.

  I liked him already.

  Despite Diode’s grumbling, I turned to face the boy. “You can call me Thierry.”

  His gaze plunged into the sand. “I can’t do that.”

  The kid was coiled tight and ready to burst. I quirked an eyebrow at him. “Do you need something?”

  “My great uncle—our pod elder—has a touch of foresight. It’s why we beached earlier than usual.” His cheeks reddened. “He wasn’t sure why we had to be here, only that we did.”

  “Okay.” Intersections of fate made my skin crawl. “What is it you need from me?”

  “Some of the others—my parents—worry he will think meeting you was the reason for his vision. He will think you were sent to us as a sign that better times are ahead for our pod, but please,” he begged. “Don’t mention us to the Morrigan.”

  Interesting. “Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?”

  A hard glint sparkled in his eyes. “If she thinks we asked for help, she’ll kill us in one fell swoop instead of picking us off one at a time.”

  My temper combusted in a scalding, choking blast of anger.

  That right there was the reason why the Unseelie mantle weighed on me. Seelie weren’t always sparkling rays of light. Just as Unseelie weren’t always as dark or sinister as their reputation intimated. Either might take exception to something another faction did and make their lives a living hell in payment for it, but this burned my biscuits.

  I didn’t expect cuddle time with the Morrigan. She wasn’t that kind of mother-in-law. Heck, she wasn’t that kind of mother. Her reputation was hard won, and she was proud of it. But now her notoriety was rubbing off on me, and I didn’t like it. It bred expectation. Doors that once opened to me were now slammed in my face. I got that. I understood. Mac’s legacy stuck me with baggage too.

  The difference being my father’s legacy challenged me. His standard gave me a rung to grasp, a name to live up to. I didn’t want to be Black Dog’s Daughter. I wanted to be Marshal Thackeray, the best marshal in my region. I wanted to outshine my father on my own merits. All the Morrigan’s name lent me was grief. Fear was as easy to inspire as pain was to inflict. I could hurt people. I could kill them. I was good at it, and God knew some days I craved it. But I wanted to be my best self, not my worst.

  My tone was calm, even. “What does the Morrigan have against the gray men?”

  The youth rocked back on his heels. “My great uncle, he stole something from her. And then he lost it.”

  I frowned. “What could he have taken that would piss her off enough to murder an entire pod?”

  “My great aunt...” His voice blended with the churning sea. “She was the Morrigan’s daughter, and no one has seen her in centuries.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Back in my room, I collapsed face-first onto my bed with a groan. The mattress dipped when Mai sat, and I rolled against her. Seconds later, Diode strolled up my spine. I grunted as vertebrae popped under his hefty weight.

  When he reached my head, he leapt onto the pillow. Batting aside the tangles obscuring my face, he peered at me. “What does the selkie elder running away with the Morrigan’s daughter mean for you?”

  I would have ignored him if he hadn’t placed a persuasive paw—claws out—on my hand.

  “Back this train up.” Mai shoved me onto my side. “Why do I get the feeling you two already knew about this?”

  Guilt welled in me. “Back in Faerie, Rook confided in me that he has a missing half-sister.”

  She jabbed a finger in Diode’s face. “You told the cat before you told me?”

  He batted her hand—claws in. “The cat was in the room when the confession was made.”

  “Why does it mean anything?” She threw up her hands. “I get why Rook would want to know where his sister went, she’s family, but if she’s missing here too... I don’t know. Will telling him change anything?”

  “No.” I exhaled. “It won’t.”

  She patted my thigh. “What’s with the face?”

  Diode rumbled thoughtfully. “She was going to use the sister’s location as leverage with Rook.”

  Mai popped my leg. “Smart.”

  “It was an inkling.” And that was being generous. “Not a fully formed plan.”

  “It was a good inkling,” Diode allowed.

  I closed my eyes. “Yeah, well, my twenty-four-karat leverage over Rook just turned copper.”

  I felt green thinking about it. Information on his sister would have been invaluable.

  Mai palmed my forehead and peeled open my right eye. “So they ran away together, the Morrigan found them, and she started picking selkies off for revenge?”

  “It looks that way.” The selkies had chosen the wrong nest to rob. “The Morrigan is unique among the fae. She’s allowed to cross realms regularly to collect tithes. She could have made any number of side trips. The conclave must have eyes on her, but only the higher-ups would know about it.”

  “You are a higher-up.” She pointed at the ceiling. “You’re a princess.”

  “A princess of Faerie,” Diode interjected. “At worst, Thierry ranks as a junior marshal. At best, she is viewed as a visiting dignitary seeking asylum. She poses
a security risk, actually, now that her loyalties will be seen as lying with House Unseelie and not with the conclave or its neutral views.”

  Hearing that, my molars were in real danger of being ground into powder.

  “So what she doesn’t already know, they aren’t inclined to tell her,” Mai surmised.

  “Exactly.” I sat up and crossed my legs. “Whatever the Morrigan is doing, I can’t interfere with it. Yet.”

  There would be plenty of time for confrontations later. One hundred years of endless days filled with politicking awaited me. Until then, the blood she shed was on my hands.

  “I don’t like this.” Diode leapt to the floor, reared up on the windowsill and gazed out at the shore. “We should not be here when the gray men are here. The Morrigan hasn’t struck yet, or even your title wouldn’t have protected you. We should leave before she attacks, before she finds her next victim.”

  “What do you propose?” I hated tossing the idea out there. “Do we go home?”

  “That would be the wisest course of action.” Diode tipped his head.

  “Never let it be said I was incapable of making wise decisions.” Even when they sucked. “We go home.”

  Mai flopped backwards and flailed her arms. “Could fate not kick us in the balls this once?”

  “We have balls?” I glanced between my legs. “Weird. I never even knew they were there.”

  She snorted until I grabbed one of her legs and lifted it. “Whose are bigger?”

  “Size doesn’t matter.” Her squeak pierced my ears. “It’s the swing in your schling that counts.”

  The door shattered, and my guards burst into the room, swords drawn and teeth flashing.

  Mai startled, twisting and flopping onto the carpet on all fours.

  Righty grasped the situation first. “I assume you’re well?”

  “There was screaming.” Lefty was slower to read the signs. “Why was there screaming?”

  “I didn’t scream. I squeaked. Big difference.” Mai stood and straightened her top. “Thierry conducted a surprise anatomy lesson on me. She caught me off-guard, that’s all.”

  Both men raised their eyebrows, or tried to. Righty had the motion down, but Lefty’s did a tiny upward twitch, which might have been the most expression I had ever seen on him.

  “We’re leaving Daytona,” I told them.

  They nodded in concert and left, shutting the door behind them.

  I sat there, gazing through the window at the glittering waves. “I wish I had more time.” I rested my elbow on my knee and my chin in my palm. “I want to talk to the old man again.”

  Diode dropped his front paws onto the floor, sounding heavier than he had earlier. “That is inadvisable.”

  “I’ll do it,” Mai volunteered.

  “If it’s too dangerous for me, it’s too dangerous for you.”

  “I’ll take one of your guards.”

  “Not an option.” I shook my head. “I’m not risking you for my own curiosity.”

  She blocked my view. “Will the information help you with Rook?”

  “I don’t know.” There were too many variables. “Maybe.”

  She dusted her hands. “Good enough for me.”

  “You’re worth more to me than any maybe.” I went to my feet. “You’re worth more than anything that elder can tell me. Without Rook’s sister in the flesh, the information’s value is questionable at best.”

  “Look, there’s too much history between the selkies and the Morrigan and the Morrigan and you for him to confide more than he already has. But I—” she fluffed her hair, “—spent all morning with them. They liked me until you came along—no offense—and I can win them over again. Even if I can’t get information direct from the source, I bet I can get the young one to talk. I’ll use the bikini.”

  Lord help them. “The magic bikini?”

  “Nope.” She tugged the chain-mail cover-up over her head, retied her strings and plumped her breasts. “How do I look?”

  “Like you couldn’t afford the entire roll of tinfoil so you tore the corners off a sheet.”

  Eyes narrowed, she snatched my pillow off the bed and walloped me in the face until her nails poked holes in the case and down stuffing leaked into the air and into my mouth.

  “Truce.” I spat out a feather.

  Pausing with the limp case held over her head, she considered the flurries swirling through the room and lowered her weapon. “I accept your surrender.” She walked over and pressed the deflated pillow into my hands. “Don’t sweat it, Tee. I’ve got this.”

  Too late for that. Beads were forming on my spine the longer her plan pinged around in my head.

  “One more thing.” She backed into the hall, doorknob in hand. “Make me a promise.”

  “Sure.” I drew out the word. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Promise me while I’m gone that you’ll have some fun.” She winked. “Do something reckless.”

  “I thought the whole point of you going to meet the selkies was for me to avoid being reckless?”

  Pointer and thumb held an inch apart, she narrowed her eyes. “Just a splash of recklessness.”

  Expecting the worst, I inhaled then exhaled slowly. “Tell me what I’ve gotten myself into.”

  “I want you to get your ass downstairs and float in that lazy river until I fish you out of it.”

  Swimming. Danger all around us, and she wanted me to go tubing. “Why?”

  “This was supposed to be your big send-off, Tee. You and me, sand and sun and surf. A big, fun week of...big, fun things.” She went serious on me. “Instead, we got a phone stalker, some freaky guy with a god complex, sulky selkies, and to top it all off, we ran straight into the one thing I wanted to get you away from most. Your new family.” Her fingertips drummed the doorframe. “This whole trip has sucked ass so far. It’s okay. You can say it.”

  Tell the truth? Or lie convincingly? “It hasn’t sucked ass.”

  Mai wasn’t fooled. “I picked this hotel especially for you, because of that lazy river. The least you can do to thank me for my considerateness is to make a few relaxing laps—while you’re actually conscious.”

  I must have had water in my ears. “You picked this hotel?”

  Her face blanched.

  “Gotta go.” She ducked out of my room. “Bye.”

  The door slammed behind her.

  I pointed after her. “She lied to me.”

  The whiskers on Diode’s face flexed. “It appears so.”

  Why that little grrr. “Guys, I don’t care who, but someone go keep tabs on her.”

  After stomping into the bathroom, I snatched my slightly damp beach towel off the counter and stormed past Diode into the living room. I had one hand wrapping the doorknob when he and Righty caught up to me.

  The cat stepped forward. “Where are you going?”

  “For a swim.”

  Condos were to my bank account as permanent markers were to toddlers: forever out of reach.

  When Mai said her brother-in-law’s skulk owned a condo, I pictured a fancy hotel-like property people visited once or twice a year for vacation. The lack of personal items was explained away by a commercial I saw once mentioning how you chose your week and then were assigned your room.

  A quick visit to Google on my cell set me straight and made me feel like an idiot. Mai said condo, but I heard timeshare. I was embarrassed by how easily she had wielded my ignorance against me.

  While nursing my injured pride, I stashed all my necessities in my locker, then snagged a jumbo inner tube from the attendant and headed for the submerged stairs. Lefty had gone with Mai, and boy had he look thrilled to be loaned to my Seelie bestie. I took the delegation as confirmation that Righty had more seniority and therefore also had his choice of charges.

  Technically, as a conclave employee, Mai was neutral. It was a job requirement. But Lefty didn’t want to hear that. He seemed content nursing his anger, so who was I to dump a bucket
of ice-cold truth over his hot head?

  After flinging my tube in the pool, I waded into the water and belly-flopped onto the float with a grunt.

  Righty was nearby. I was getting good at sensing him. Once I rounded the bend, I heard startled gasps and spotted two humans staggering from where he must have knocked them out of his way. He stuck near the pool’s edge, following my trek around the watery loops and bends while I studied my reflection.

  I decided I didn’t look like a sucker.

  Not that it stopped people from treating me like one.

  Shaking off my weird mood, I closed my eyes against the girl I saw in the water, the one whose mouth sagged at the corners and who sported dark smudges under her eyes.

  Mai knew me better than anyone. Well, almost anyone. If I had to be duped, at least it had been by a worthy opponent and one who kept my best interests at heart. My ignorance wasn’t her fault.

  I don’t know how long I drifted like that, allowing my mind to wander, before Righty materialized nearly on top of me.

  “We need to go.” His voice grated near my ear. “I sense old magic here.”

  My mouth went dry. “The Morrigan?”

  “No.” His grip steadied the inner tube while I climbed off. “Something else.”

  I inhaled on reflex but came up empty. “Our fae friend?”

  Being slapped with an eviction notice from the conclave must have pissed him off.

  “It’s difficult to explain.”

  “Try.” I grabbed for him, but my hand closed over air. “Mai’s still out there.”

  “Mai is at the bar.” He clamped down on my arm. “Daire is watching her.”

  Jerk better protect her too, if he knew what was good for him.

  Righty led me to the steps, hauled me out of the pool and flung my inner tube toward a lifeguard station. He barreled through alarmed humans, who quickly locked their glares on me as though I had pushed them out of my way. It wasn’t until my arm started throbbing that I realized he had never let go. For Righty to hurt me meant he was on autopilot. He had one mission: protect his ward.

  He jerked me forward. “There she is.”

  “Mai,” I called.

  She spun on her barstool, both arms waving in the air as she swayed to music. “Hey to you too.”