Motor City Fae (11 page)

It took a moment to register. When it did, she gulped.

“Aidan Greene? The zillionaire?”

“I suppose, though that isn’t how he thinks of himself, you know.”

“Probably not,” she admitted, shaking her head. “Still, wow!” Then another thought occurred. “Does he know?”

Ric reached out and brushed a finger across her shirt, right over the location of her birthmark. “Not for certain. He knows as much as I did before I arrived on your doorstep tonight.”

“What does he think about the possibility?” It would be just her luck, to finally discover a family, then to have them disapprove of her, or worse, refuse to acknowledge her at all.

“He’s utterly delighted. He and Emery were close when they were young. The Fae aren’t a prolific lot, you understand. Kin are few and far between for most of us.”

There were so many questions she wanted, needed to ask, that she barely knew where to start. But there was one that had haunted her all her life, one question that had cast a dark shadow over her heart for as long as she could remember.

“Why did they give me up?” Her eyes were brimming with tears, she was so overwhelmed by the emotional onslaught of Ric’s revelations. “If I have relatives, why didn’t they come forward to claim me when my mother died?”

Ric’s heart broke to see Meagan’s pain. Without conscious thought, he gathered her into his arms, holding her close. “They didn’t know where you were. Emery’s shielding spell was powerful. We believe he cast it as he was dying, fueled it with the last of his energy. We knew he’d sent his wife into hiding, but we didn’t know where. It’s taken years to trace you to Detroit.”

“So how did you find me now?”

He sighed, leaning back against the back of the sofa, still holding her securely in his lap. He wasn’t going to examine too closely the reasons why he simply couldn’t seem to let her go. “A tedious mixture of magical seeking and old-fashioned human detective work. Magic does leave some signature—energy trails, more or less. Aidan has been searching for years, as he traveled around the country. A few years ago he picked up a trace of something familiar here in Detroit. My guess is he somehow came across one of your paintings, but not one that caught his attention directly, one that he could identify as Fae. That’s when he requested assignment as the guardian of the Detroit portal, so he could look for you here.”

“Underhill relocated their headquarters to Michigan fairly recently,” Meagan confirmed. “Hard to believe that such a huge corporation moved here because of little old me.”

“You underestimate your own importance, my lady.”

Ric couldn’t help but laugh at the sarcasm edging through the hurt and confusion in her voice. Even when her world was turned upside down, Meagan didn’t stay down for long.

She sat up so quickly she banged the top of her head on his chin. “Ow!” She rubbed her scalp while he massaged his jaw. “Did you call me ‘my lady’?”

He nodded carefully, not wanting to startle her more while she was still sitting in dangerous proximity to his crotch.

“Am I?”

He thought for a moment, making sure he was following the conversation correctly. “You’re asking if you inherited your father’s title?”

She nodded. “I mean, I was legally adopted. And I am female.”

“Believe me, I’ve noticed. And inheritance works somewhat differently at the Seelie Court. They don’t much care about human legalities. You are the eldest child of the eldest child. In fact, the only, for several generations, as far as I know. Therefore, you are in fact, my Lady Rose.”

“But what about Aidan?”

Ric shook his head. “Other side of the family. Aidan’s mother married Lord Green Oak. Her brother, Emery’s father, married Lady Rose.”

“So is Aidan a lord?”

“Yeah.”

“What about you?”

That gave him a laugh. “Not I, my dear. You see before you a humble bard.”

She smirked back at him. “Humble, my ass.”

He couldn’t help it, he reached behind her back and squeezed. “And a fine ass it is. But I mean it. I’m not noble, Meagan, not in any sense of the word. You outrank me by a mile.”

“Even though I’m only half elf.”

“Even though.”

Her gaze grew clouded again. “Can you tell me about my parents?”

“Not much,” he admitted. “I didn’t know your father well and never met your mother. I know her name was Linda Jameson and she was a pretty girl, tiny, like you, but with strawberry blond curls and blue eyes.”

She sighed and he went on. “I know your father loved her very much.” Where had that comment come from?

Ric was well known for his total disbelief on the subject.

Even his songs reflected the futility of love; he never sang romantic ballads. He tried to tell himself that he was only offering a platitude to comfort Meagan, but he couldn’t quite erase the chill that had run down his spine when he heard himself speak of love.

“Did she have a family?”

“Yes. Aidan has the details.”

“I have to know, Ric. Where do you fit into this? And why does it feel like there’s something more, something immediate, that you haven’t told me about?”

He sighed. She was way too perceptive. “Because there is,” he replied, answering her second question first.

“And I got involved as a friend of Aidan’s, but primarily because I was ordered to by my boss. A bard is something more than a musician in my world. I’m also—well, call me an agent, of sorts. The rank is knight, but I don’t usually get involved in actual combat. The nearest equivalent here would be intelligence operative, I suppose. The queen orders and I have no choice but to obey.”

“Queen?”

“Queen Llyris Astrella, Ruler of the Seelie Court. She’s a decent enough monarch, but watch yourself when you meet her. She is completely and totally ruthless in achieving her goals and only she knows for certain what those are.” The thought of Meagan being used by Llyris was making his skin crawl. He knew, down to his bones, that if worse came to worst, he’d break the geas that bound him to Llyris if she tried to hurt Meagan. Even though the gesture would probably cost him his life.

“Of course. I get to meet the queen of the fairies. Can this day get any weirder?” Her snicker was shaky, but genuine.

“Oh, probably.” Her resilience amazed him. He couldn’t resist a kiss, a quick smack on the lips. She didn’t turn away and he took that as an encouraging sign.

“So why, after all this time, were you suddenly sent to find me? You mentioned danger and I’m still getting this sense of, well, urgency, which doesn’t quite compute.”

“Because you are at risk. Llyris has enemies. There is political intrigue in every reality and Elfhame is no exception. You, like it or not, have inherited your father’s seat on the Seelie Council. That makes you a playing piece in a bitter, long-running chess match. Both factions would prefer that you end up on their side.”

“And Owen Ferris belongs to one of these factions?”

Ric growled. “Owain le Faire—aka Owen Ferris—is the leader of a group of radical racists. The Ku Klux Klan of elvenkind. He’d like nothing more than to seize control of the throne and break the compact that has kept peace between the worlds for the last thousand or more years.”

“And I’m somehow involved in this?”

“Yes.” This was the critical moment. Ric knew his magic was strong enough, he could compel her to believe him, force her to accompany him, but if he did, she would eventually find out and she might never trust him again.

And he didn’t think he could stand for that to happen. He grasped her shoulders, looked into her eyes. “You are in danger, Meagan. If Owain can’t control you, he means to kill you. The next in line for your house is one of his toadies. With you out of the way, he’ll control the council and take the throne. Then the gods help both our worlds.”

“Then why hasn’t he hurt me before now?”

Ric winced. “That’s my fault. He probably couldn’t find you either. But when he saw us at dinner last night, and saw your painting today, I’m sure he came to the same conclusions we did.”

“Last night?” She raised one eyebrow in accusatory question.

He nodded. “He saw us at the restaurant. That’s why I hustled you out the back. And why I left you in such a rush. I needed to report in, let my boss and Aidan know that Owain was here in Detroit.”

“Your boss, the queen.” She was shaking her head, obviously still astounded by the whole concept. He couldn’t blame her and he hoped she didn’t end up blaming him either.

“My boss, the queen. Are you ready to go meet her yet?” He tried to curb his impatience, but his foot tapped out a rapid beat on the wooden floor as he tried to hurry her along. Talking was important, but he also needed to get her somewhere safe.

“I—I don’t know. How do we get there?” He stopped tapping and groaned. The vulnerability in her eyes was ripping out his heart.

“There are portals scattered all over the world. The one for the Detroit area is at Aidan’s house.”

“Aidan. My cousin.”

Ric nodded. “He’s dying to know, by the way. We could stop there for a bit. Finish our conversation. Talk to Aidan.” He wondered why he hadn’t thought of that before. There were three days left before the council meeting. She’d be safe under the protection of himself and Aidan’s security force and she’d have time to acclimate, to ask her questions before being whisked through the portal to a whole other world.

The more he thought about it, the better it sounded.

More security for Meagan was suddenly at the top of Ric’s priority list. Ric knew his boss. As soon as Ric presented Meagan, he’d be sent out on another mission, while Llyris kept Meagan sequestered at the palace. The longer he could keep her out of the queen’s clutches, the better.

In fact, Ric mused, Aidan could probably even be convinced to accompany them. After all, he’d have to show up for the council vote, anyway. If Aidan went along, Meagan would be more comfortable and have a personal ally at court. Then Ric wouldn’t have to worry about her every second. Aidan was about the only other individual Ric trusted with Meagan’s physical and emotional safety.

He looked over at Meagan and could practically see the wheels turning behind her clear green eyes. He wondered if she’d been considering any similar possibilities. She smiled thinly. “Well, hell. How long will I be gone?”

“I don’t know.” He honestly didn’t. “Time gets a bit weird when Llyris is involved.”

“What about my house, my art, my class, my cat?” He could tell that she was trying hard to restrain the faint undertone of hysteria that crept into her voice and he wanted nothing more than to promise her that everything would be all right. But he never made promises he wasn’t sure he could keep.

“Ric,” she asked, eyes wide. “Will I ever be able to come home?”

“You will and soon. On my life and soul, I promise that.” So much for not making promises. Much to his own surprise, he meant every word. He’d never yet broken a true vow and he wouldn’t this one. One way or another, Meagan Rose was going to be able to return home safely, or Ric would die trying to ensure it. “Aidan will make sure the house is taken care of, he can probably even find a replacement…” He saw her shudder, stressed the next words. “A
temporary
replacement to teach your class.”

“And Calculus?”

“We’ll take him with us. Aidan likes cats and they seem to make the transition between worlds particularly well.” Llyris hated the beasts, but he could call in enough favors with her to overcome that problem. He hadn’t been her agent for over six centuries without knowing where a few of the bodies were buried. Literally, in some cases.

“I’ve always thought cats were sort of out-of-thisworld.”

She pulled her hands from him and stood, squaring her shoulders and ignoring the tremor he could still see in her fingertips. Goddess, what a woman! “So, elf-boy, what do I pack to meet the queen?”

Getting Calc into his cat carrier proved to be easier than Meagan had expected. Ric seemed to have some natural affinity with even the crankiest of animals. Then again, assuming the story he’d told her was true, maybe he put a spell on the poor beast. She shivered and tossed her comfiest pair of jeans into her suitcase while Ric watched, his golden eyes intensely following her every move. She hoped like hell he hadn’t used some similar magic on her. She’d been acting out of character since the moment she’d smacked into him outside the co-op. If she was going to go nuts over a guy who claimed he was an elf, she’d at least like to think the insanity was her own and not something he’d invented.

As she packed her clothes, her thoughts whirled. It was as though her brain belonged to someone else. Maybe even several someone elses. Part of her mind was numb while another part raced. Yet another sat back and watched, making snarky comments and marveling at the improbability of the whole thing. She shouldn’t believe Ric’s explanation, of course. She had to admit, his story sounded insane. Elves didn’t exist. But she couldn’t seem to help believing him. In some weird, twisted way, it made sense, tied so many loose ends together in her world.

She’d never understood her dreams, with their fantasy settings and prophetic tendencies, but they’d always been a part of her, one she’d suppressed while her ruthlessly practical and staunchly Catholic parents had been alive.

They’d loved her unconditionally, but they’d never understood the wilder side of her nature. She knew they’d privately wondered if her mother had been a drug addict, if there was some small chemical imbalance that made Meagan different from the other girls at St. Francis School. When she’d channeled that restless energy into her art instead of her personal life they’d been relieved.

Now Ric was telling her that she’d been right to feel like she never quite fit, that her weirdness was inherited from her elven father and it was sort of scary how desperately she wanted to believe him.

She tried to tell herself that it was only her lust for Ric that made her want to believe him, but she wasn’t buying it. Every bit of intuition that she possessed, along with the evidence in front of her own eyes, since he hadn’t resumed the glamour and still sported the pointy ears, was telling her it was true. Looking at his oversized, almondshaped eyes, sharp cheekbones and long, pointed ears, it was pretty much impossible not to believe.