I stopped working but kept a hand on my rake just in case.
“What do you want?”
His gaze was narrowed, his expression fierce. “Come with me.”
I gave him an Ethan-esque eyebrow arching. “You may ask me, and I will accept or decline. But you do not dictate where I do or do not go.”
His lip curled. “She wishes to see you again.”
Claudia wanted to talk to me? “Why?”
“She does not share her motivations with us,” he said. “Nevertheless, we understand there has been a falling out of sorts.”
“Between her and Dominic?”
He nodded. “You will see her. I believe you will find it…enlightening.”
He gestured toward a black SUV that pulled up to the curb in front of the House. Two fairies already filled the front seats. It was odd to see a mercenary fairy driving a car, probably because I imagined them in different times, perhaps standing in an ancient keep, bow and arrows at the ready.
“I know where she lives. I can drive myself.”
“She is not there.”
“What? I thought she couldn’t leave the tower.”
“She cannot—not without cost,” he said. “She wanted fresh air and believed the matter worth the risk.”
I looked back at him. “What’s your name?”
He looked confused. “My name?”
“You want me to go with you. I’d like to know your name.”
He looked vaguely uncomfortable. “My name is Aeren.”
“I’m Merit.”
“The car, please, Merit.”
But I shook my head. I’d well learned my lesson about running off alone with supernaturals. “I appreciate your invitation, but you have your procedures, and I have mine. Give me a moment?”
He didn’t look happy about the request, but he acceded. I ran back to the House but found Ethan’s office empty. Malik, however, was in his, straightening files disturbed by the police. He looked up when I darkened his door. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Claudia, the fairy queen, wants to talk to me about Dominic. Apparently they had a falling out. I think I need to go. There’s a connection between her and Tate that I need to figure out, and they aren’t going to wait around.”
“As per usual, this could be a trap,” he said.
“Par for the course,” I agreed. “That’s why I’m telling you.”
“Your instinct says to follow this through?”
I appreciated the question. “It does. But let everyone know. You can plan a rescue mission if necessary.”
“You have your phone?”
I assured him I did. My due diligence addressed, I ran back to the car again and cast a final glance at the House behind me.
The car smelled of flowers and grass, and I wondered if Claudia had ridden in it. We didn’t drive toward the park, but toward the lake. The driver steered the car into a public parking lot, and the man in the passenger seat hopped out of the car and opened my door.
“Take that path,” he said, pointing to a sidewalk that led closer to the lake. “She awaits you there. Alone.”
Claudia was waiting for me, and without guards. Dangerous or not, this certainly bore investigating.
I walked closer to the lake, huddling into my jacket as the wind picked up, icier as I neared the water. The lake was bounded by a long sidewalk. It was usually filled with runners and bikers on pleasant days. But tonight, in the dark and chill, it was empty. A lone figure stood in one of the low stone circles that offered seating along the path.
It was Claudia, in a long brocade dress with pointed sleeves, and a voluminous velvet cape long enough to pool on the ground. The hem was dirty, and the hood was pulled over her head, but tendrils of strawberry blond escaped.
“You wanted to meet me?” I asked, stepping inside the circle as a hundred Irish and Scots women might have done in older days to seek an audience with the fairy queen.
She lowered her hood, her hair gleaming in the moonlight. “It is time to tell the truth,” she said.
I thanked God my instincts had been right.
“He was strong,” she said, and I assumed she meant Dominic. “A messenger. A man of right and justice and willpower. I was a queen, with legions at my command. The union between us was powerful. It was righteous.”
“You were in love?”
“Fae care not for love,” she defensively said. “We understand desire.” Her expression darkened. “We are not cowards, but nor do we involve ourselves in the adjudication of others. We are brave, but we do not fight battles for the sake of the fight. Dominic began killing more often. Fighting more often. Humans