Page 7 of Magic Betrayed

Shane did not look comforted. “Whoever wants her doesn’t know exactly where she is yet, but they know she has links to the Shadow Court. They also have access to powerandlarge amounts of money, and they know how to avoid being caught by the courts. You’ll both need to be careful,” he added, “until I figure out who’s behind it.”

I somehow managed not to gape at him in shock.

Even when he’d helped us escape, Shane Isaacson had made it clear that he was doing it for his own reasons, and not because he cared about any of us. He wanted revenge on the fae, and we were a part of that revenge.

So why was he here? Why warn us, and why go to the trouble of hunting down whoever had set that bounty?

His shadowed gaze warned me against personal questions, but I was more confident now than I had been the last time I saw him. I was also far more willing to risk making people angry if it meant protecting those closest to me.

“What are you doing here, Shane?”

He didn’t answer.

“We both know you could have gotten me this information another way. A phone call, an anonymous note… heck, you probably could have kidnapped me on my way to work.”

He didn’t deny it.

“So what point is it you’re trying to make, and with whom?”

His glower intensified. “I don’t owe you any answers.”

“You’re right, you don’t. But quite frankly, I’ve earned my suspicions.”

Thanks to Blake, I no longer cherished any illusions about the safety of past associations. “Maybe you didn’t hear this part, but Blake tried to recruit me, right before he nearly killed fifty innocent people. And he did it by appealing to our shared history. Claiming that people like us should help each other because no one else would. And for a little while, I almost believed him. So let me ask again, Shane—why are you here? Why are you helping us?”

He smiled suddenly—a vicious, toothy expression. “You’ve grown up. Taken ownership of your power. Good for you.”

But I wasn’t going to let him distract me. “Not an answer.”

If anything, his posture stiffened even further, but at least he didn’t clam up completely.

“Those kids deserve better than to be locked up again.” Something uncomfortable entered his expression. “And your fae friend was just a pawn. She shouldn’t have to go back to that life if she doesn’t want to.”

I raised an eyebrow at him with skepticism. “Seems like I remember you saying you didn’t care, but this sounds an awful lot like you caring.”

To my surprise, he didn’t snap at me for suggesting it.

“One of the perks of working alone. I get to choose what I care about.”

So the bounty hunter wasn’t all bite. In fact, if I wasn’t much mistaken, there was probably a heart buried somewhere underneath all that leather and snarling.

“I appreciate it,” I told him honestly. “And if you find out anything else, I hope you’ll tell me. But there is clearly some kind of history between you and Kira, which makes me think you may not be precisely welcome here. I don’t want you putting yourself in danger for our sake.”

Something flashed across his face—a look of grief as deep and cold as the ocean—and it turned him into a man both haunted and broken. Somehow, I suspected that his reason for hating the fae was tied to his antipathy for Kira. But he wasn’t going to tell me, and if I kept asking, he would likely stop talking altogether.

Thanks, stupid hunch magic.

“Well, if that’s all then…”

The door behind me opened with possibly a bit more force than necessary, and I knew without looking that it wasn’t Seamus.

Nobody entered a room quite like Faris.

“Isaacson.”

I backed carefully out of the way, hoping the two of them weren’t about to start something with me in the middle.

“Lansgrave.” Shane didn’t look worried or threatened, but he did nod politely. Respectfully even. Seemed every Idrian with even a moderate amount of common sense knew better than to annoy my boss.

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