Page 1047 of One More Kiss

“He was lucky I’d brought a coil of rope with me. I’d planned to lower myself down the side of the crater to get to some rare plants, ones that only grow in that spot. It’s dangerous, and honestly I shouldn’t have gone on my own. But my sister was busy and I didn’t trust anyone else. So I took my rope, planning to tie it to a tree at the top while I went down with the other end tied around my waist. Actually, I was more worried about getting back up.”

I frowned. “It’s weird that there’s a crater in the swamp.”

“It’s not. But the path to get to the crater skirts around the edge of the swamp before you start climbing. Fin was lucky I even went that way. There’s a safer path, but the swamp track is quicker.”

“So you found him and saved him.”

“Yep. It wasn’t easy. He kept flailing about, not believing me that it was making it worse. I think he thought his Fae magic made him invincible, but Mother Nature answers to no-one. By the time I got close enough to be able to throw the rope to him, he was up to his neck. I thought I was going to be too late. But I got him out, then helped him get back to the Midnight gate. It’s not that far from the crater, but you’d never know it was there unless you knew it was there. It looks like any other rock formation.”

I already knew this, and I knew to avoid the swamp. I just didn’t know the full extent of why. Quicksand. I made a mental note to never take that short cut. “So then what?”

“He went through the gate and I thought that was the last of it.” She smiled. “About a month later I was back in the same place, at the crater, when this beautiful man appeared. Arundir. He’d come to thank me for saving his First. He meant Fin. He’s independent of the palace hierarchy and undertakes special missions for the prince. I found out all that later.”

“And how did you get pregnant? I can’t imagine meeting someone like that and then, what? Having sex with them?”

“We fell in love. At least, I did. I’d meet Arun at the crater in our special spot. He’d bring food and drink from Faerie Land, the like of which I’d never seen before. One thing led to another and he seduced me. I imagined going to Faerie Land to live with him.” She shrugged. “Maybe I was just a conquest to him. Once we’d done the deed he lost interest. I went back every week but he never came back. Even after I found out I was pregnant, not that he had any way of knowing that. But I was young and foolish. I kept on hoping.”

I wondered if that was what had happened to my mother too. A conquest for a Fae dirt bag. Except, he had found out she was pregnant and he’d come back to kidnap the child. He just didn’t realize there were two of us.

It took him six years though. It would have been around the same time Clara had her baby. It was almost like he came for Clara’s baby but got my twin sister instead. Which was crazy talk. And if it had been Clara’s daughter he’d been after, wouldn’t he have realized he had the wrong kid, what with the age difference?

Problems for later, I had to get moving. “It’s time. I’ll be back by dawn, all going well.”

“Be careful.” Clara smiled. “I consider you a friend, not just my bodyguard. I wouldn’t want to lose you, especially now that we’ve been shot at together.”

Something warm and fuzzy settled deep inside me and I smiled back. “I will. And for what it’s worth, I consider you my friend too.”

I slipped out of the room and into the hall.

Getting out of HQ was relatively easy. There was a new sentry on patrol but I avoided him. He was guarding against people coming in, not the ones who were leaving.

I left by the window, bracing myself against the momentary dizziness from the iron frame, and retraced my steps from the other night. I stuck to the shadows, hugging them close around me. A few times I thought I felt eyes on me. That buzzing tingle of being watched. I couldn’t see anyone and I’d been careful.

Good one, Liandra. Way to go, with your over active imagination. But even as I laughed at myself, the feeling of being watched wouldn’t leave me.

I turned a sharp left down the alley behind the bar. In a Deja vu moment of panic, I sprinted as soon as I got around the corner. I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being followed. Reaching the chain link fence, I leaped up as high as I could. I pulled myself up to halfway, my feet swinging uselessly beneath me, and stopped to scan the other side where the shooter had been earlier. It was risky coming back here, but the short cut to the train line was worth the chance. Besides, it was unlikely the shooter was still hanging around. They were more likely to be watching Hunter HQ, and I’d probably snuck out right under their nose. Probably.

A noise behind me made me jerk around. There was movement at the entry to the alley way. A flash of something, then it was gone. Someone had followed me, and they were just as good at hiding as I was.

I froze, using my shadow magic to keep myself hidden. My shoulders burned as I hung in place. Maybe I should invest in some converse, something easier to climb in. This was the third time in two days that I’d had to climb this fence, and it wasn’t getting any easier to wedge my boots into the chain links.

Nah, I’d just do more chin ups and get better at holding my own body weight.

Something, or someone, latched onto my ankle and I kicked out, trying to dislodge them. Points to me, I didn’t squeal this time. Even though the someone was invisible. I started to get dragged downward, my arms going to full stretch.

I jerked and kicked. It had to be a person using some kind of invisibility spell. And people felt pain. I wasn’t going down without hurting them as much as I could.

It didn’t matter how much I fought though. In the end, gravity always wins.

I decided to go with it and make my stand on the ground. I’d be able to get to my weapons, my knives, and make my attacker regret going after me.

We landed with a thud. I spun around putting my back to the fence. I wasn’t having a repeat of the up close and personal I’d had with Jett. Once was more than enough and I’d learned my lesson.

My attacker had disappeared by the time I’d turned around. I assumed they’d used a cloaking spell. I had the feeling that if I ran I’d find out exactly where they were, but for now we were at a stand-off.

“What do you want?” No harm in asking, right?

I gathered my shadow magic to me, then pushed it outwards, hoping to unveil them. In theory it should work. Once we were both hidden in my shadows I’d be able to see them, my magic cancelling out the other magic.

It worked.

I gasped, as the man who’d grabbed me came into focus.

He was beautiful. Cool, aloof, and blond. He was wearing a sleeveless green tunic which show cased muscular arms and a slim, lithe body. With the green tights it should have looked ridiculous. But it didn’t. He was gorgeous in a way that didn’t belong in this world.

And I’d seen him before. He was the Fae who’d been shooting at us, the one from the security footage.

“Fin.”

He nodded, once, showing no surprise that I knew his name. “Liandra. I’ve come to take you home.”

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