Confessions of a Dangerous Fae (The Supernatural Spy Files Book 1) Page 10

Deciding not to go into detail about the whole clothing situation—particularly since I’d made up a few white lies involving her, I explained that Lugh and I had taken a field trip into town. When we’d reached the High Street, he’d noticed someone tracking us. Everything became a whirlwind after that.

  “I couldn’t see their faces,” I explained. “All of them were wearing cloaks and hoods and masks. One of them was a female fae. I think she was the leader. The others were male, I think. Not all of them spoke, so it was hard to tell.”

  Saoirse frowned. “You disobeyed his orders?”

  Bollocks. Maybe I should have left out that part. It was going to come back to bite me in the ass, wasn’t it?

  “I’m a warrior at heart,” I tried with a shrug. “Sometimes, my urge to fight takes over.”

  She cocked her head. “So, you rushed in to help him fight these ten traitors.”

  “I guess,” I said warily. “The important thing here is, who were they? Lugh didn’t seem surprised to see them. He even mentioned something about—”

  Saoirse pressed a finger to my lips. “Just in case.”

  I flicked my eyes down the hallway. The sorcerer wouldn’t be able to hear us, but the fae might, if they were really keen to listen in, but they were part of the warrior team.

  “Wait a minute,” I hissed. “You really think...?” I jerked my head down the hall, to indicate the two warriors keeping watch in the close.

  A second later, Saoirse whisked her phone from her back pocket and typed a note. She flashed the screen my way.

  Someone on the inside is working against us. We can’t be too careful.

  Frowning, I grabbed her phone and typed my own response.

  If you suspect one of them, why not take them off the warrior team?

  Sighing, she rolled her eyes and took back her phone. Another message.

  We have no proof either one is involved in anything.

  “Everything okay back there?” Axel called down the hallway.

  Saoirse tapped delete on her words and slid her phone out of view. Conversation over. At least I finally had one answer, though it didn’t really help my mission much. At the end of the day, whatever Warin and Boudica wanted to do to Lugh didn’t matter when the King himself was plotting to tear down my Court.

  Hell, maybe I’d been fighting on the wrong side tonight.

  When we stepped back into the living room, the sorcerer was packing up his things, his impressive tattoos shining against the glow from the lamp. Lugh was still out of it, his expression peaceful for once. “The wound is closed now, so he’s started to heal. Because of the magic involved, it might take him a little longer than usual to be back to his old self. Oh, and he’s half-awake, but probably not for long.” The sorcerer looked at me. “He was asking for you.”

  “Me?” I gargled.

  Saoirse smirked. “I’ll show Axel out and discuss with the others how to transport Lugh back to the castle safely. Be back in a moment.”

  She disappeared out the door before I could ask her to stay. Staring down at Lugh, I shifted on my feet. He didn’t look awake. His breathing was steady, exposed chest rising and falling. The deep gash in his stomach still looked bruised and raw, but it no longer spilled a river of blood on his skin.

  “You...aren’t good...at following orders,” he wheezed, his eyes still closed. “I asked for you. Why haven’t you come?”

  Wetting my lips, I crossed the room and sank to his side. My knees dug into the hardwood floor. “You looked asleep. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “You should not have helped me,” he whispered. “They could have killed you.”

  Yes, they could have. And they tried as hard as they could. Without my sword, I’d been pretty vulnerable. At the time, it had seemed like the only possible choice. Help Lugh fight his attackers. Don’t let him die by their hand. That strange desperation had churned through me, making me act without even thinking. But sitting on the other side of it now, I didn’t quite understand why I’d fought for his life.

  He was my enemy. I was here, in Edinburgh, to stop him from going up against my Queen.

  Now that he was safe and alive—even if a little worse for wear—that aching desperation inside of me had vanished, like the attackers into the night.

  My heart felt as sore as my bruised muscles.

  He cracked open his shadowy eyes and peered up at me. “You aren’t going to say anything?”

  “Sure. You’re welcome,” I snarked. “I accept rewards in the form of swords, training, and unlocked doors.”

  I didn’t know how else to answer but to joke. Something needed to break the tension in the room, and this was all I had. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me, like he was seeing me for the very first time, and he wasn’t sure what he thought of the truth.

  “Done.” His eyes slid shut again.

  “That’s it?” I blinked down at him, wondering if I’d heard him right. “You aren’t going to scold me for disobeying orders?”

  And I was actually going to get some freedom? It was too good to be true.

  “Oh, I will definitely dole out some punishment for your disobedience,” he growled, a slight smile twisting up the corners of his lips. “But I’m waiting until I’m back at full strength for that.”

  A shiver went through me. In his state, I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. Probably more on the not side of things. Lugh didn’t seem like the kind of King to take disobedience very lightly. That said, he was smiling. Was that because he enjoyed the idea of making me pay?

  I shivered again.

  Something to worry about later. Saoirse had opened the door again, and Lugh had fallen silent. He shut his eyes and sighed, and that strange ached flittered through me again. Even though the wound was closed and his healing had begun, he was in pain.

  “We’re taking an Uber up to the castle,” Saoirse said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. “It should be here in five. We need to get him ready.”

  “An Uber?” I asked incredulously, rising to my feet. “Doesn’t the King of a bloody Court have a fleet of cars?”

  Clark certainly did. And a whole hidden garage that no one knew about, other than a few of her closest advisors, like me. I suspected Lugh had the same. If he didn’t, he needed to get on that, stat. Situations like this were precisely when secret transportation was necessary.

  “If we send for a castle car, word will spread fast that something has happened to him. We can take him through the back gate. No one will ever know a thing.”

  Unless, of course, Warin or Boudica out there were the traitors Saoirse feared they might be. Most members of the Court of Wraiths might never find out, but the fae they wanted to keep the information from certainly would—the attackers who had tried to kill Lugh tonight. She seemed to sense my thoughts, pursing her lips.

  “We have no other choice,” she said.

  “I’m just surprised there’s a back gate,” I tried, flicking my eyes at the door. If the warriors were the bad guys, I didn’t want to tip them off that we were on to them.

  “There’s a hidden tunnel that goes up through the cliff and through the northern battery. No one knows about it but Lugh, me, and the warrior team. And even then, not everyone knows exactly where the entrance is.”

  And now me. I filed that information away for later use. That could come in handy.

  A horn sounded outside. The taxi had arrived, and they must have offered double the rate, because the driver had reversed back into the close itself. Cars weren’t typically allowed on these streets. Together, the four of us hauled Lugh to his feet and lifted him out the door and into the backseat of the car.

  Saoirse turned to me and grasped my hands. “I’m sorry. There’s only room for one more. Will you be okay getting back to the castle with them?”

  I understood what she was doing. Not everyone knew the entrance to the hidden tunnels, and she wanted to take Lugh through it alone. That meant Warin and Boudica were not in on the secre
t, and she wanted to keep it that way.

  I squeezed her hands back and smiled. “I’ll be fine. These two have my back, and I have a sword now.”

  She gave me an uneasy nod and slid into the front seat, waving goodbye. As soon as the car pulled out of the close, I started back to the castle with the warriors, my heart thumping with every step I took.

  Even though no one had died here tonight, a heavy cloud of danger lurked over me. I still didn’t understand the full truth of what was going on here, but I didn’t need to. Whatever it was, it was pretty damn bad.

  I’d really stepped right into the path of danger, and I was going to get hit by it if I didn’t watch out. I glanced at the twin warriors. They were barely paying attention to me. This was my chance to leave, if I wanted.

  But instead, I kept my feet turned in the direction of Castle Hill.

  12

  A knock sounded on my door. Groaning, I twisted in the sheets to peer at the clock, expecting it to be bloody six in the morning. I was surprised when the display said it was ten. Huh. That was a first.

  It was also a little unnerving when the door didn’t fly open and when the pounding didn’t hammer its way into my brain. Instead, I had to slowly climb from the bed, pad across the cold floor, and crack open the door myself, blanket wrapped tight around my shoulders like a cape.

  Lugh stood on the other side, looking a little worse for wear. His midnight hair fell into eyes that were lined in red. His black shirt was rumpled, and he wore a loose pair of joggers, probably to keep his trousers from rubbing against the wound.

  Still, the sight of him somehow pierced me to my very core.

  “I’d like to speak with you,” he said quietly. “Would you come to my quarters in half an hour?”

  I arched a brow. Well...this was unexpected. “That sounds like a question. Not a command.”

  “That’s because it is a question.” He peered down at me, eyes soft and searching for something in mine. “You can say no, but I hope you won’t.”

  And with that, he spun on his heels and vanished down the hallway.

  Obviously, I wasn’t going to turn down a chance to speak privately with Lugh in a place where our words couldn’t be overheard. Plus...his fancy case-enclosed spear would be there with him. Maybe I could finally get some answers about that...and all those books, too.

  First, I had a stop to make.

  The door to my room had been left unlocked, and no one was waiting in the hallway to chaperone me around the castle, which meant...maybe Lugh hadn’t been delirious when he’d agreed to let me have a little more freedom.

  Now that I’d saved his ass, he trusted me, at least a little more than he had before. Time to use that to my advantage and ignore the twinge of guilt in my heart because of it.

  I owed him nothing. Not as long as he worked against my Queen, my friend.

  I still had the note full of numbers for Clark. If she could figure out my code, she’d learn that there was a new court in town, led by the traitor who wanted to find that mysterious cauldron. That was all I could manage to fit on the note in number form.

  This time, I didn’t risk heading into the courtyard. I bustled through the Great Hall, thankful for the quiet emptiness that filled the expansive space. It was between breakfast and lunch, and no fae roamed the rows of tables. Outside, on the balcony, I waited for the raven.

  Clark would know what to do with this information. She’d always done the right thing before. I trusted she would do it again now. I hoped she would understand that the fae of this court were not all bad, even if some were. I barely knew them, but Saoirse and Imogen—even if she had a penchant for thievery—had proven to me that most of the fae here just wanted a safe, happy life.

  At some point, if things continued like this, Clark would no doubt feel forced to bring her warriors here, to take arms against the self-proclaimed King of the Wraiths. I just hoped no innocents got caught in the crossfire.

  The raven finally spotted me and dropped onto the wrought-iron railing. With a shaky breath, I handed it the parchment and watched it soar away into the clouds. That was it then. If Clark could translate my code, she would understand what we were up against. And she would be waiting for my next note, the one that would tell her what he planned to do to take her throne.

  As I turned to go, a flash of red at the bottom of the cliffs caught my eye. Frowning, I leaned over the railing to peer down at it. Even with my fae sight, it was difficult to make out what it was. A vague figure. A person, human, fae, or otherwise. Someone with blazing red hair.

  Warin, I couldn’t help but think. Saoirse had mentioned a secret tunnel through the cliff, and he was down there now, looking for it.

  Heart thumping, I pushed back into the Great Hall and headed toward Lugh’s quarters. None of this concerned me, I tried to tell myself. Nothing I could say or do would make a difference.

  I was more nervous than I had expected when I approached The Royal Palace. Last time I’d been here, Lugh hadn’t been home and I’d had Imogen to keep me company. Now, it would just be me and him and the questions I longed to ask.

  He opened the door before I knocked and motioned me inside. Swallowing hard, I followed him down the hallway and into the rooms he’d set up as his home. There were far more rooms than this inside The Royal Palace, but they were empty for now. For the first time, I couldn’t help but wonder how lonely he was in here by himself.

  “Sit.” He motioned at the sofa, once again covered in books.

  “Has anyone ever told you about these marvellous inventions called bookcases?” I said, smirking as I strolled through the mess. “They have shelves and everything. It helps keep these things from crowding the floor, your sofas, your bed.”

  He ran a tired hand down his face, but I swore I saw the glimmer of a smile. “Bookcases are permanent.”

  “And these aren’t?” That surprised me. He obviously loved reading. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have collected about a million different books.

  He waved his hands at the stacks dismissively. “I cycle through the collections often enough that I don’t want to get attached to how they look in my bedroom.”

  My heart slowed. What a strange way of putting it.

  “You do mean your books, right?” I glanced around. “Or do you have visitors here often?”

  And by visitors, I obviously meant...visitors.

  The pain in his expression vanished, replaced now by a cocky ease. “If I did, no one would ever know.” He leaned back, lacing his hands behind his head. “I could roar in pleasure as she screamed out my name, and not a single soul would hear but the two of us.”

  A tremor went through me, and a mental image sprang into my mind that I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to shake. Lugh above me, nipping my ear and roaring in pleasure. My entire face felt as hot as the sun on the longest summer day.

  Blimey, I needed to get a grip.

  Clearing my throat, I settled into the armchair, picked up a book on the witch trials, and began to idly flip through it. “Why’d you call me in here, Lugh? I know it wasn’t to discuss your fondness for cycling through books. And lovers.”

  He leaned back in the chair opposite mine, regarding me carefully. “You call me Lugh. Not King.”

  Heat once again flooded my face. I hadn’t even noticed. That was probably something I needed to stop if I wanted him to take me seriously.

  “It’s taking me some time to get used to using that kind of title,” I said honestly. Even before Clark became Queen, it was always Prince or Master to the male who had been in charge of the Court. I hardly ever called her Queen now either. It was just Clark. That was how we both liked it.

  “Be careful,” he warned. “I personally don’t mind the relaxed approach to titles, but many here would consider it an insult to my authority.”

  I arched a brow. “Wait a minute. You actually don’t mind? And here I thought most royals liked to insist on titles, particularly one who has kind of made himself his own
king of his own made-up court. Respect and all that.”

  “I am not your normal King.”

  Something I was quickly realising myself. He wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met in fact. That said, I still had no idea what, exactly, he was like. Lugh was an enigma. A puzzle. One I was desperate to solve.

  I snapped the book shut. “You still haven’t told me why you asked me to come here.”

  He raked a hand through his raven hair and sighed. “I wanted to thank you for what you did last night. If you hadn’t fought by my side, I might have died. If you hadn’t called Saoirse, I could have bled out on the cobblestones. I owe you, Moira.”

  I shrugged, acting all nonchalant, but I couldn’t ignore the frantic beating of my heart. “I was actually the one who owed you. For all the help in the vaults.”

  He gave a quick shake of his head. “I was the one who forced you to do the trial, so the help I gave you there did not create a debt that you owed.”

  I mean, he had a point...I was just surprised that he saw it that way, too.

  I leaned forward and braced my elbows on my knees. “So, what are you saying?”

  His lips quirked. “I haven’t forgotten what you asked for. A sword, training, and unlocked doors.”

  I sat up a little straighter in the chair. I’d wondered if he’d been too delirious, too out of it to remember promising me those things. He’d left my door unlocked this morning, but I could hardly believe that meant he’d finally put a sword in my hands.

  “Your doors will no longer be locked, and you won’t require a chaperone through the grounds.” His dark eyes roamed across my body. “You’re strong. You’ll make a good warrior with a little training. That said, I think we both know you’ve had some before now. I saw the way you fought. An untrained fae would not have been able to do what you did with a simple metal sign.”

  I cleared my throat. Of course he would have noticed. Regardless of what innate abilities I might have, it took years of experience to train one’s body to move as instinctively as mine did in a fight. Especially when I hadn’t even had my sword.