Page 34 of Bound
I nod. “But the Oracle is not. It’s a lowbrow, sleazy dive. And not somewhere I would take three Fae lords to show them a good time.”
“Not that they would know that,” Horan says, tracking right along. “They would go wherever in a human city with an appropriate guide.”
“Which leaves Ralf because I highly fucking doubt Jarrah is familiar with the area,” Caine adds.
Damn.
The weight of that sits like lead on my shoulders.
Ralf is high up. Not the top of the top. But damn close.
A low rap tune blares into the silence and I turn in place. “What the hell?”
Caine raises one hand as he digs in the pocket of his black slacks. “My bad, my bad.” He pulls a sleek black phone free and makes a sound of delight as he answers it. “Cat. So glad you called. We may have—” He cuts off, his brows furrowing. “Wait. Let me put you on speaker.”
He pulls the phone away and holds it out. “Say that again,” he prompts.
Tanner exhales. “Just got a call from local,” he says. “They found a Fae male in the landfill on the edge of town.”
Ice washes through me. I snatch the phone and walk into the conference room. Horan and Caine follow, closing the door. “What?” I hiss.
“They are transporting the body to the coroner now, but one of the remaining emissaries will have to identify him.”
My hand tightens around the phone until it cracks. “Fuck.”
“There’s more,” he says. Caine and Horan shuffle closer. “They carved the dude up like a fucking ritual made flesh. Sigils, weavings … Something.” There is a pause. “They marked him up with a spell so advanced that no one we have can identify it.”
Magick?
My eyes raise to Caine and Horan, and I can see the same thought flickering through their eyes.
The councilman is human. He wouldn’t be able to work magick on a Fae.
“Anything else?” I grind out.
“Yeah,” T says. “They found a piece of oilskin in his mouth. The language looks Celtic. Probably older. But Markus could read enough of it from the picture the locals sent over.”
“And?”
He sighs. “It’s a warning, Gage.” The ice of his words freezes my fire. “To stop looking for the others, or we will find all of them just like they found this one. Including the girl.”
No need to ask which one.
Amoret.
If we keep looking for her brother, what was done to the Fae male will be done to her.
And I refuse to let that happen.
I pause outside Amoret’s door, steeling my resolve.
Staying at the suite is over. I can’t protect her here. Not as well as I need to. And if the sick fuck that took her brother knows where she is …
They will come for her. Wena. Vish. All of them.
It is more than the warning. Kidnappers do not negotiate. Not like what is in the human movies. And ones that are capable of working such an arcane ritual that none of our experts know what it is?
I don’t know their end game.
