Page 50 of Rise of the Melody
His lips tilted up. “Bit cheeky for a lass in your predicament.”
I glared because he was right. I should shut up. But that was hard for me.
“Are you working for the mayor?” I asked. “His little spy?”
“I know nothing of the mayor. I work for myself.”
He didn’t know Bryant? My brain reeled. Why was this rando druid from Scotland after me?
“So, what do you want from me?” I asked.
He took a step closer, his face twisting with some kind of dark emotion. “I want you to pay for what your mother did, Colette.”
My mouth popped open, my whole body feeling cold. “What? Those are rumors. My mom wouldn’t have done anything like?—”
“I was there.” His mouth clamped shut and he breathed hard through his nose. My mind whirled and I couldn’t follow.
“There?” was all I could manage.
He remained freakishly calm on the outside. “I was there that night. On the boat at Wee Skye Island.” He got closer to my face. “I was there when your mother began to sing, and the next thing I remember was waking up from her trance in bloody H’trae.”
I shook my head, thoroughly baffled. H’trae? As in, the prison-scape land in Faerie?
“Wait,” I whispered as thoughts pummeled me. “Youwere there when everyone went missing?”
“Aye,” he growled. “Are we both speakin’ English?”
“And you ended up…in Faerie?”
“Aye. Are ya finished being an echo?” His face and voice showed that he was thoroughly pissed. I felt like I’d fallen into a mass of fog and couldn’t see anything clearly.
“But…who are you?” I whispered.
His eyes locked on mine, and I felt his hate for me as he said, “I’m Zar MacCray.”
He may as well have whacked me with a fallen branch because I felt dizzy and had to close my eyes. What I saw in my mind was the picture of the MacCray family on the mantle. The little boy. “You’re the mayor’s son.”
“The mayor?” He gave a dry laugh. “How ‘bout that.” And it didn’t sound like he held a ton of love for his dad either. Bryant MacCray’s son. Holy crap. Shock poured over me like an ice bath.
“Have you talked to him?” I asked. “Does he know you’re alive?”
“No.”
Ooh, it sounded like he’d saidno-ah.
Focus, Letty!Why hadn’t he contacted his own father, yet? None of this made sense.
I tried to wiggle again. “Can we please talk about this? For real? Without me in this binding? I promise I won’t try to get away. Not that I could. You’ve proven how powerful you are. Congratulations.” His scowl made me clamp my mouth shut.
At that moment, CooShee came rambling through the brush and I almost cried out in relief. He stopped next to Zar and looked up at me. Then he let out a little whine.
“Fine,” Zar said with a sigh.
The magic fell from my body and I sagged for a second before rubbing my arms and moving my legs. My limbs felt numb. I wanted to scream for CooShee to attack him, but something odd was happening. The harbinger hound moved closer to Zar’s side, sitting like he often sat beside me.
And Zar laid a hand on its head.
The two of them watched me expectantly.
