Outcast (Hunter: A Thieves Series Book 4) Read online

  Maybe it was easy for the young fertility god to see who belonged with whom, but adults needed to make their own choices no matter how dumb those choices were. Sometimes I wished they were normal kids who worried about teachers and seeing the next cool movie. “I’ll do what I can. Now go to bed.”

  Lee hugged me again and then they were off in their own world, closing us out.

  “You want to tell me what that was about?” Trent asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  A brow rose over his left eye as he studied me. “You don’t know what it was about? Or you don’t know if you want to tell me?”

  He knew me far too well. “The second one.”

  He sighed and pulled me into his arms. He kissed the top of my head. “It’s okay. Let’s go find something to eat and I’ll wait while you talk to the queen. You know you’re going to have to tell her, right? She’s not going to take no for an answer and she’s not madly in love with you.”

  I leaned into his strength and breathed him in. He’d spent a lot of time teaching me how to open my senses, and he smelled like home and safety to me. I held him for the longest time.

  * * * *

  I stared at the tiny ruby butterfly and it stared back at me. It sat atop the lamp shade. When I looked at it more closely, I could see an almost human face. And she stood on two spindly legs. Her arms were crossed over her torso and I could have sworn she was frowning at me.

  I had thought she was a decoration. The queen’s office seemed to be decorated in glorious jewel-toned butterflies. They’d been perfectly still as I’d paced and talked to myself. I probably wouldn’t have done that had I known the little fuckers hadn’t been bought at a craft store.

  I glanced back to where the other butterflies were still clinging to the curtains that framed the windows.

  That was when I noticed the tiny pixie—because I was pretty sure that’s what I was dealing with—was wielding a thumbtack like she was going to attack. Or maybe defend. It had to be rough to be so small and beautiful.

  The queen was a goddess, beloved of the High Priest. I’d heard that Fae creatures often visited the Council. I’d been kept far away from the tiniest of our citizens. It made me wonder why.

  “Hey, it’s cool. I’m not going to hurt you.” I was actually kind of fascinated. I dealt with supernatural creatures all the time, but they tended to be the ferocious kind. I rarely dealt with delicate, beautiful things.

  There was a squeaking sound, but I knew outrage when I heard it. And she held that thumbtack high. I guess it could sting a little.

  “My name is Kelsey,” I said. “You don’t have anything to fear from me.”

  My stomach growled because I hadn’t gotten that meal Trent had promised me. The kitchens had been far too busy with the tiny appetizers and the salads they were serving. Apparently Myrddin was a vegetarian.

  A whole bunch of wings were fluttering now, and I could feel their anxiety. They were definitely afraid of me. Could they sense my wolf? Wolves often tried to eat pretty much anything, and I’d heard stories of my dad getting in trouble with the pixies.

  “I’m not going to eat you. No matter how hungry I am,” I said. “I’m the Nex Apparatus.”

  That didn’t seem to make them any less anxious.

  “I protect people…and other things. Ask the deer herd.” I had a reputation for doing stupid shit because it was the right thing to do. I didn’t like being feared by butterflies. It was like puppies not liking me. Unacceptable. “Or all those people who were taking illegal drugs. Yep, I totally protected them. I went up against an angel from the Heaven plane a couple of months ago because he was killing innocent halflings. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She stared at me for a moment and then released the thumbtack. She took flight, her wings bringing her to my eye level. I stayed perfectly still because it was obvious she was making a big decision.

  And then I suddenly had a dozen gorgeous butterflies clinging to me. Their wings flapped but slowly, as though simply getting used to their new positions. The ruby red pixie who seemed to be their leader hovered in front of me. I held out a hand and she landed on my palm.

  “No eat.” She screamed the words for me to hear.

  “No eat,” I promised. “And I apologize for my dad. He should have been more polite.”

  I wondered how Little Lee viewed the pixies who hung around his mother and papa. My dad had been all wolf. I was certain he’d seen all the Fae creatures as a potential food source. I bet to Little Lee they were all potential co-conspirators.

  She took off and landed on my hair. I had a whole flock of butterflies clinging to me. It was cool. I admit I have a thing about small creatures trusting me. It makes me feel…worthy.

  I took a deep breath. There had to be a way to deal with the wizard. What had they called him? The Magician of the Sword. I wondered if Excalibur could take the old dude down.

  The door opened and the queen walked in, pulling the tiara off her head and letting her auburn hair out of the bun she’d had it in. She held up a hand, letting me know she wasn’t ready to talk yet. Two servants strode into the queen’s beautifully decorated office. I’d been pacing the sitting area for almost an hour.

  A smile lit her face as she took me in. “Now that I didn’t expect. Arwyna, have you made a friend?”

  The ruby pixie flew off me, fluttering her wings until she landed on the queen’s shoulder. I could hear her squeaking but from this distance, I couldn’t make out the words her tiny mouth was forming.

  “Yes, she is nice and yes, if the goblins come for you and try to make you into pixie satay, she’ll defend you,” the queen said.

  As I didn’t even like goblins, I agreed. “That’s horrible.”

  “You can put it on the coffee table,” the queen said to the servants. Zoey kicked off her ridiculously high heels. “And please pour me a glass of the wine. It’s been a long night. And yes, it is terrible, but many Fae creatures view the pixies as delicacies. Arwyna’s family was decimated by a group of trolls. Only now are they recovering and only because they came here and gained strength from their good priest.”

  I felt all their wings fluttering as if in agreement. Or gratitude.

  “I’m glad they like you. They tend to be wary of predatory creatures, but they do have quite good instincts about who will hurt them.” She gestured to the silver platter in front of me. “And Kelsey, this is an apology for the ridiculously delicate appetizers they served this evening. Myrddin has very specific dietary habits and they don’t mesh well with wolf appetites. I had Albert whip something up for you. Trent is eating his in the kitchen so he won’t be pissy when you head off to bed.” She smiled at me. “I was glad to hear Lord Asshole gave him leave to spend the night.”

  “Me, too.” I had no idea where Gray was, and the idea of sleeping alone tonight held no appeal.

  The well-dressed servant pulled the tray open, revealing a big old juicy burger and fries. My stomach grumbled loudly, and I was deeply grateful when they placed a bottle of beer alongside the food. A sapphire blue pixie landed on the bottle, lapping at the condensation on the outside. I went with it, picking it up and taking a drink, careful not to jostle the winged creature too much.

  “Thank you both and please tell Albert how much I appreciated everything he did this evening.” The queen held the door open as the servants walked out. She closed the door behind them and then settled on the chaise across from me. She held out her hand and Arwyna gracefully landed in the center. “Your priest needs watching, little queen. Can you do that for me?”

  Arwyna flapped her wings, hovering over the queen’s hand, and then all the pixies flew away, ready to do their queen’s business.

  I watched them go. “Are they going to present themselves to Myrddin?”

  “They’re going to spy on Myrddin,” the queen said, nothing in her manner betraying an ounce of guilt. “The pixies love their good priest, but they understand my worries about the wizard. They�
��re excellent spies. Did you know that a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope?”

  “No.” I hadn’t come for a lesson in lexicon, but I did find the pixies interesting.

  “Yes, I find it fitting because they’re often excellent at seeing a situation from many different points of view. They’re also overlooked and ignored, so they tend to hear and see everything. Trust me, if you need intelligence, a pixie spy is an excellent way to go. I also have many brownies on staff.”

  It was good to know the queen had a network of Fae spies.

  “What do you know that I don’t?” The queen got down to business now that we were alone.

  I’d spent the last hour trying to figure out how to handle this meeting. I hate to admit it but the fact that she’d brought me a cheeseburger made me want to please her. She knew how to speak to my wolfy nature.

  She stared at me when I didn’t answer. “I’ve got a chocolate cake coming in twenty minutes.”

  I sighed and sat down. “I don’t like Myrddin.”

  “Join the club.” She held up the glass of Sauvignon Blanc in her hand before taking a short drink. “That man has some kind of hold over my husbands and I don’t like it. He’s been gone for a long time. I guess I’d convinced myself he wasn’t coming back. I’ve been panicked since I found out he was coming tonight. I think he sprang this on us so I wouldn’t have a chance to make a counter move.”

  “He didn’t seem to like me,” I pointed out between bites. “He reacted to the fact that I’m a Hunter.”

  It didn’t bother Gray at all, but I seemed to freak out a lot of demons. Add to it that I’m the king’s Nex Apparatus or Death Machine, and I’m a one-stop demon-killing shop.

  “I’m not sure if that was about the fact that you’re a Hunter or that you’re Lee Owens child,” she said. “I’ve gone over it a million times in my head, that last time I spoke with Myrddin. I’m not sure why the guys haven’t thought about it except that influence I mentioned.”

  I was interested in this. I knew what had happened to my father, but not the specifics leading up to his death. “What happened that day?”

  She took a long drink and stood, walking over to the grand floor-to-ceiling windows. The white drapes looked blander without the jewel-colored pixies covering them, and I had to wonder if the queen hadn’t selected the curtains with the pixies in mind. The stark color made the creatures pop.

  Unlike her husband’s office, Zoey’s was cozy and feminine. She pushed the gauzy curtains aside and stared out over the city lights. “He spoke to me before he sent us out of the pocket world. It’s funny. That ballroom is in a pocket world. I can’t help but think if we’d stayed in the pocket world Nim created, your father would be here with us today.”

  “The pocket world?” I’d known something was wrong with the ballroom. Not wrong exactly, but off. It hadn’t felt like the rest of the penthouse.

  “Yes, Nimue can create spaces within our plane. Like the ballroom tonight,” the queen explained. “Sarah’s learned how to create them, too. We have a demon on staff who’s particularly good with them and he taught her. She basically finds the space between atoms and pulls that space together. At least that’s how she tried to explain it to me. I’m not great with science. All I know is she Hogwartsed the hell out of that place and I was happy because Danny and Dev were insistent we pull out all the stops. The man called at four this afternoon. Four. If it had been up to me, he would have shown up to a bag of chips and me in yoga pants.”

  I agreed with the queen but had to keep her on the task at hand. “What did he say to you that day?”

  Zoey shook her head. “Nope. I’ve gone as far as I’ll go without reciprocity. I want to know why you were afraid tonight. You were scared of Myrddin. Not for yourself but for my son. Does this have anything to do with why you were going to sign that contract with Nemcox?”

  Sometimes I wished the queen wasn’t so sharp. “Gray told me to beware the spawn. It was one of his prophecies.”

  I needed more information. It was great that the queen didn’t like Myrddin, but would she go to her husbands with the problem? The crown is twofold, Gray had warned me. I wasn’t sure what that meant. I worried it meant that I couldn’t trust anyone with a crown on their head, and hers was sitting on the table between us.

  But wouldn’t it be threefold? Although Quinn didn’t wear a crown. He had a place as the king’s adviser and he was officially the Fae’s High Priest, but there was no crown associated with either position. I hated the prophecy shit. It confused me mightily.

  “Merlin Satanspawn. Yes, that makes sense,” the queen mused. “Does Marcus know? What does he have to say about this?”

  I nodded. “Yes. When Gray starts spouting prophecy, I write it down and give it to Marcus and let the academics sort it out.”

  “I know. They give Danny a rundown when they think they have a few interpretations. I fall asleep when they start talking about prophecy.” The queen sat back down and placed her wine glass on the table between us. She leaned toward me. “Prophecy is for the academics of this world. You and I are not intellectuals who interpret the words of wise men to find our way. We trust our guts, and I’m going to trust you now. I know you were protecting my son. Nemcox threatened Lee. Danny figured out that much. We all let it go after Nemcox was killed. But it seems to me like the problem isn’t over. This is still about Lee.”

  I didn’t say a thing, but she was right. I tended to trust my gut.

  The queen sighed. “Stubborn girl. All right. Myrddin was disturbed to discover I’m a nexus point.”

  “Good for you.”

  “You have no idea what that is.”

  I shrugged. “I’m not good with Latin. It always seems pretentious to me.”

  “It means I don’t have a particular fate,” the queen explained. “The way the washer women described it, I’m a blank space on the page. The washer women are also known as banshees. They’re deeply connected to fate. You think prophets are obnoxious, you should meet those three. They sing.”

  I could only imagine. “Fate’s real?”

  “Apparently for some people. Every now and then, a nexus point pops up to keep things interesting,” she continued. “I change the fate of the people around me. My choices change the way the world goes.”

  That seemed like a handy trick. “Could you stand near Gray and make him less stubborn about Trent?”

  The queen laughed, her face bright. “There’s a reason I love you, Kelsey. You are unimpressable. I can’t stand people who kiss my ass.” She sobered a bit. “Myrddin can’t influence me. He couldn’t influence your father, either. Or Bris. The fact that Devinshea has an ancient god residing in his body threw Myrddin for a loop. He tried very hard to turn Danny against Bris.”

  I’d met the fertility god who lived in Quinn’s body several times. He seemed kind and wise. I didn’t understand how all of it worked, but I knew that despite the fact that they shared one superhot body, they were separate entities and Bris could keep certain things from his host. He could also influence his host, and that would likely bother the wizard. “Why couldn’t he influence my dad?”

  “Maybe it was his unique nature, or perhaps Myrddin has trouble with wolves. He didn’t have an effect on Neil, either. Zack was a different story, but he’s had Daniel’s blood. That could be the problem or Zack is simply very attached to Daniel and used to following his lead on almost everything. Nevertheless, no one influenced Lee. He was the single most stubborn wolf I’ve ever met. He was also the most loyal. He didn’t like Myrddin the minute he met the man, and he definitely didn’t like the way Danny and Dev acted around him.” She took a long breath and seemed to try to gain control of her emotions. “Myrddin is the one who insisted we leave the pocket world. Danny had been ill and was healing and Myrddin claimed being fully on the Earth plane would help him. He’d spent the days before we left locked up, with Nemcox as his focus.”

  “His focus?”

  The queen nod
ded. “Myrddin has some prophecy powers, but they’re not his greatest strength. He requires a focus, and that means a demon since an angel wouldn’t touch him. He holed up with Nemcox for days before we left. When he showed up again, he ordered us to go and he told me I had to look past my grief. At the time I didn’t know what he was talking about. Lee was dead ten minutes later. Nemcox is the one who gave up our position.”

  I’d known Nemcox had been the one to call the old Council down on the queen. The old Council head had been the one to murder my father. Pieces of the puzzle were slipping into place. Nemcox had claimed the wizard was his master. “Myrddin knew my father was going to die. That doesn’t mean he knew it because of some prophecy power. He could have known it because Nemcox told him what he was going to do.”

  “And that’s why he placed the mantle of Arthur in Zack’s hands ready to use on Daniel when the trouble began,” Zoey said with a frown. “I’ve been foolish. I didn’t want to believe it but he set us up perfectly. He ensured that Daniel would be able to get away and that Devinshea and I would be taken. He had to allow Nemcox out of the pocket world. There’s no cell service in the pocket world. Or perhaps he knew some magical form of communication. Louis knew exactly where and when we would be reentering the Earth plane. Myrddin insisted on us leaving quickly. It would have been better for us to wait until day, but he sent us out in the middle of the night.”

  Because the king could daywalk and the other vamps couldn’t. Why would anyone want him to give up that advantage unless they were planning to ambush the king? “Like the ballroom tonight, there were only a few ways to get in and out?”

  “Yes,” she agreed. “We had to wait until Nim opened the veil, so to speak, though once it was opened, we could move through from our side at any time. I thought he’d spent days in prophesy but all he’d done was plan my kidnapping and how to ensure Danny got away. But why? Why kill Lee? Why give me up to the Council?”

  It was time to follow my gut. The queen loved her son. She would do anything to protect him, even keep a secret from her husbands. “I think he did spend that time in prophesy, but not the one you think. Nemcox told me that Myrddin had seen his own demise and there were only two creatures on the planet who could kill him. He told me one of them was only a baby and Myrddin had sent the child and his mother to another plane, and they had no hope of ever returning.”