Page 36 of Tragic Ink
“Does anyone else know about Ethan? About the permanentaspect?”
“Just Aelwyn,” I saidquietly.
Rhys didn’t answer, but his expression was thoughtful anddark.
“What?” Iprompted.
“I think it’s obvious our guy is using your tattoos to get to you. He won’t come directly at you, though. And I think we need to try to figure out why. It could be that he knows about your true ability. That he feels you’re enough of a threat to play itcareful.”
I nodded. “But what is his end game? What does he really want fromme?”
“I don’t know yet.” Rhys yanked the key out of the ignition and reached for his door handle. “Come on. Let’s go inside and see if we can find someanswers.”
He got out of the truck, and I followed, looking around at the nondescript building. No signage or markers were displayed. The handful of buildings in this area served as mostly storage facilities for local business and delivery companies. I couldn’t understand who or what could possibly help ushere.
“What are we doing here?” Iasked.
“Meeting a friend,” he said. I gave him a pointed look at his vague answer, and he sighed. “A friend who works for theCourt.”
I scowled up at the two-story building where it rose in front of us, blocking the sunlight. “If that’s true, I don’t have any friends inthere.”
Rhys ignored that, trudging on ahead toward thedoor.
In the end, I followed. Maybe I didn’t have any friends on the Court, but if Rhys did, it couldn’t hurt to try to get them on my side. Especially when Ada came sniffing around again for another piece of ink and found me all closedup.
Inside, I stayed close as we wound our way through the halls. No one else was around, though I could hear machinery running somewhere deeper in the building. Rhys seemed to know where he was headed, and I wasn’t about to tell him differently, so I let him lead. Ten minutes later, we’d found a receptionist of sorts. A tall, broad-shouldered man with white hair and black, leather gloves greeted us with a simple nod before herding us into a small conference room with a scarred table and four wooden chairs. No windows. No otherequipment.
Rhys immediately sat, stretching his legs out and slinging his arm over the adjacent chair. Relaxed. I might have paced if there had been room. “Relax, Gwen. No one is going to mess withyou.”
I spun, irritated that he’d read me so easily. “Easy for you to say,” I muttered. “That guy looked more like a hit man than asecretary.”
Rhys smiled in amusement. “He’s neither. Calm down. He’s just adriver.”
“A driver forwhom?”
Before Rhys could answer, the door opened, and an old man with silver hair strode in. My muscles tensed as recognition dawned. I’d seen him before, always at a distance. Aelwyn hadn’t been close with him, though she’d visited with him from time to time over the years, and she’d always described him as stern, so I’d steered clear. But this close, I could feel the aura around him that spoke of his age. Elsmed Fairchild was a member of the Court. He was also the oldest living fae I’d ever met. And between my own blurred line with the law and those piercing blue eyes he now fixed on me, he was intimidating ashell.
“Miss Facharro,” he said in a clipped and vaguely polite tone. He gestured to a chair. “Please. Sit. Rhys, good to see you,son.”
I lifted a brow at Rhys andsat.
“Good to see you too, sir,” Rhys said, leaning forward and folding his hands together on the scuffedtabletop.
Elsmed sat too, somehow folding his long body into the small chair. I wondered at the way he let more of his true height show. Way too tall to pass for human. Did he add glamour only when he was out in public? Or was he only letting it all show now to scare me onpurpose?
If so, it wasworking.
If Rhys had asked me the member of the Court I least wanted to be put in a room with, it would have been Elsmed. The man was rumored to have a gift for mind reading. And that was the last thing I needed now. My eyes narrowed as I recalled Rhys imploring me to be honest today. Was this why? Because he knew I’d have no choice but to admit what I’ddone.
My mouth wentdry.
“Your messages said you had new information about Aelwyn’s case,” Elsmedsaid.
Rhysnodded.
“Tell me what you know,” Elsmedsaid.
I shot Rhys a look, absolutely not okay with sharing everything with a man that, for all I knew, was the fae behind the attacks. But Rhys ignored me, clearly more trusting of this guy, and began laying it all out. “We know Aelwyn was killed by a fae. So were Fred andBetsy.”
