Traitor (5 page)

I knew my mouth gaped open. Words refused to come out coherently. Instead, it was a jumble of my thoughts all combined and expelled at once. “I…you…Chris? Alive? Healthy? Where?”

Everyone’s eyes were on Bob and I. Liam leaned over me, his hand gripping my shoulder. “It’s a trick,” Liam whispered in my ear. “You know you can never trust a Changeling. They’ve proven that.”

The old Changeling smiled widely at me. As his lips parted, they revealed his dirty, plaque-covered teeth. Two on the bottom were missing. He glanced at Liam long enough to give him a look of irritation, but quickly returned his smile and gaze to me. “I believe we should get to know one another first. My name is Dalbach and I’m Jamie’s personal attendant. You may have met her once or twice.”

Liam sucked in an angry breath. I chuckled in spite of myself, which probably made everyone question my sanity. I agreed with the wrinkled old faerie to placate him. Diplomacy was probably the best policy at the moment, but I’d make him earn any true answers. “I might know her. She’s only tried to kill me twice in the past six months.”

“You were friends as well, were you not?” Dalbach asked, eyeing me suspiciously. “What did you do to anger her so? There must be a reason she wants you dead.”

Again, it was Liam who responded to the goading. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, something that usually made me love him even more. Right now it just made it harder to talk to Dalbach. Liam leaned over me and I watched him carefully. He glared at the Changeling. “Did you ever think that maybe your boss has gone round the bend and believes you Changelings are better than humans and faeries alike?”

Anger burned behind his narrowed eyes like an insatiable flame. Seeing he was my Protector and boyfriend, I could understand why these comments were irritating to him. Right now he needed to get some thicker skin and have a better poker face, though.

Pushing Liam away in the kindest way manageable, I leaned forward toward Dalbach. “We haven’t seen eye-to-eye in the past, you’re right,” I said, nodding. “However, I hope you can understand that Ankou sentenced me to death after a Changeling not unlike yourself failed to steal me away. You already know this,” I motioned to myself as I gestured to my body, “because you know what I am. You know what I’m capable of.” To emphasize the point, I snapped my middle finger and thumb of my right hand together and then opened my palm to reveal a silvery blue ball of fire licking my fingertips. Its flames curled around the center of the blaze, and little blue embers rose from the tips of the flames. I held it toward Dalbach and he cringed away as best he could. I curled my fingers and pressed them against my palm slowly, and the fire died out. Wisps of silvery blue smoke snaking their way from between my fingers were all that remained in my closed fist.

I raised my eyebrows and plastered on an innocent smile. Dalbach shuddered slightly at the reminder of my capabilities. Still tied to the chair, it squealed as he pushed himself backward with his bare feet.

Tess winked in my direction, appreciative of my “conversational” skills. She had taught me her negotiating tactics over the past few months and I was now thankful to have retained her knowledge. Roslin was helping in my advancement in advanced faerie magic as well. Changelings were fairly incompetent in this area. If Dalbach knew anything about what I’d just done, he would have understood that the fire I held in my palm a moment ago did nothing but give light and heat to the one who controlled it. I still hadn’t mastered offensive magic.

Hadn’t tried was probably a better explanation. Usually I mastered crafts in one try. The magic was giving me more of a fit, but only because I balked at learning the trade. Roslin kept promising it was just like working out a muscle that had never been used before. I needed more firepower than your average person, even the ones on Ankou’s hit list, everyone kept telling me. It was true, but I just didn’t want to completely embrace the implications of everything. It was stupid to remain ignorant. I just didn’t want to admit how exceedingly different my life had become.

Not many people who went on Ankou’s hit list lasted very long. In fact, once Ankou wanted you for his own or dead, it was done. His ability to control death had perks like that. It also didn’t help that Memaw put him in his job as the Reaper by calling in a favor to Morgan le Fay, a powerful sorceress who fought beside Memaw on the side of the Changelings before Memaw realized how terrible they truly were. No one knew where Morgan le Fay had gone since then, not even the committee. I supposed being a powerful sorceress had advantages, too. Roslin and Rebecca certainly enjoyed the powers they possessed.

Between Memaw and her friend cursing Ankou, and me thwarting the Changeling he sent to kidnap me in order to exact revenge on Memaw, Ankou ended up having a pretty rough couple of centuries. If it hadn’t been me he was trying to kidnap, I might have felt bad for the guy for at least five minutes.

Well, probably not.

Dalbach pulled me out of my minor reverie. “Just because you possess abilities, Bridger, do not think you cannot be taken. We know your weaknesses as well,” he said, eyeing each person in the room, his eyes finally coming to a rest on Liam.

I refused to be intimidated, although I was instantly worried that he might know I wasn’t immortal. My face remained expressionless, a true mask of apathy for the conversation. Memaw would be proud. “There aren’t many weaknesses when you’re immortal, friend,” I said, proud of how blasé it came across as the words slipped off my tongue effortlessly.

“You are correct in that,
friend
.” Dalbach made clear how he felt about the words I had chosen to address him by spitting them back with venomous sarcasm. “However, Liam standing here breathing bears evidence that you are not what you claim to be. Ankou will be most interested to know that your gentleman friend is still intact after the last meeting the two of them had. He was certain he’d seen the last of him when you arrived in that black jacket of yours.”

I turned away from the repulsive Changeling as he began to cackle. Liam looked at me with confusion, completely nonplussed by the conversation. I saw Liam’s innocence flash in those deep blue eyes of his, and it sparked a fire in the pit of my stomach that roiled within me. Dalbach wasn’t going to sit here and toss out sordid hints about Liam dying. “I doubt Ankou is worried about one Changeling going missing,” I spat at Dalbach.

While the fire still burned within, I was angry with myself for allowing him to get under my skin. I shook my head in frustration in an attempt to clear Dalbach’s simpering grin from my mind’s eye.

It was impossible. Even when I tried to not think about Liam dying, the images came. Liam’s body floating like a rag doll in midair still haunted me both while awake and asleep, and Dalbach had managed to throw the thought back in my face. It felt like a hot iron pressed against my chest.

The muscles tightened in my legs and propelled me from my seat. I grabbed Liam’s hand and spoke while rounding on Dalbach. “Tess, I think Dalbach would like to go back to his quarters. Desmond, do you think you would mind – “ I didn’t even get to finish the sentence before Desmond leapt forward, excited for a chance to manhandle the creature.

“Sure thing, boss!” Desmond laughed out loud as he sauntered forward like a lion gloating over his kill. He called out with his usual swagger to everyone not in the kitchen, but his eyes never left Dalbach. “Guys, millie up! This will be a good bit of fun,” he motioned them forward to follow him. “Come on, gather ’round! We’ll all take turns.”

Dalbach shrunk back into the wooden chair, trying to disappear. The iron kept him firmly stuck with us, much to his chagrin. He grimaced in anticipation to the pain that Desmond and the guys would undoubtedly inflict, but then focused on me once more. I turned my back on him even as he opened his mouth to speak. “Ankou won’t be worried about me, that much is certain. Jamie will wonder, though,” Dalbach called to me as Liam and I reached the swinging doors, about to exit the kitchen. It rooted me to where I stood. The last thing we needed was for Jamie to show up on our doorstep or worse, on my mom’s.

Letting go of Liam’s hand was harder than I thought it would be. It wasn’t because I was clinging to it, but because Liam was cutting off the circulation in my hand as he reacted to Dalbach’s words. At least the boy could keep his retorts to himself once in a while. I massaged my hand after finally stealing it back from Liam and willed the blood to return to the tips of my tingling fingers. “What are you proposing, Changeling?” I asked, balling my hands into fists. It felt like it was inevitable that whatever the Changeling was going to offer, it was going to be a bad idea that I wouldn’t turn down.

“I could go to Jamie, just to check in, of course,” Dalbach stalled. Desmond still stood there, holding the back of Dalbach’s chair in the air. Desmond seemed put out that he wasn’t allowed to do anything to Dalbach yet, but I could tell he was waiting on my go-ahead. The anticipation shone brightly in his eyes and his fingers twitched each time I moved my lips. He was definitely ready to do Dalbach in.

Dalbach, on the other hand, acted as though he didn’t have a care in the world. “I could find out what’s going on and report back to you. Find out how your brother is doing and where the others might be located.” He shrugged at the end, giving the entire speech the air of inconsequentiality. He was obviously experienced at playing mind games.

Must have been why he and Jamie got along.

Looking at the floor, I stole a sideways glance toward Tess. I could tell by her body language that she didn’t want to be excited about what the Changeling had said, but was also having a hard time reining herself in. The desire to have her son back in her arms was too strong for to deny. Her lips were pursed and her eyes were turned upward as she tried not to cry. She steadied her frame with one hand against the kitchen counter, the other covering her heart. I only watched her for a moment, but she knew what I was doing and turned away to hide her grief from the rest of us. The old floor creaked under the shifting of her weight.

I couldn’t invade her privacy any longer. Instead, I looked at Liam for advice.

Liam’s eyes always told me what he was thinking. When we first met, it was his eye-crinkling smile that made me fall in love with him. Right now his blue eyes were dark and endless; the pain he usually hid so well was there on the surface for everyone to see. He caught me looking at him and turned on his heel just as his mother had, but instead of staying here with me, he stormed out of the room. As he left he muttered, “You can never trust a bloody Changeling. If you’re going to listen to the thing, you might as well put a Santa hat on it and call it Randal.” The front door slammed moments later, and I knew he was would be gone for a while.

I looked back and forth between Tess and Desmond. “Put a Santa hat on who and call him what?”

Desmond laughed. “He means if you’re going to listen to this
thing
,” he said as he dropped the Changeling, chair and all, onto the floor, “that you’re beyond crazy. It’s Irish slang. He’s being nice and not putting it in a way you’d understand.”

With another look toward the chair, Desmond took the tip of his shoe and tipped the chair on its back and turned to leave the kitchen, all the while talking to Dalbach. “Looks like you’ve lived to see another day, Changeling. Not sure why Ashlyn cares so much about something that has ruined her family, but I hope she’s right about letting you take up oxygen.”

Dalbach’s teeth chattered as the chair rattled to a stop on its side, and he cursed under his breath. “Human, you’re lucky I’m tied to this chair.”

Whipping around, Desmond got on all fours to look Dalbach in the eye. Cocking his head to the side, he whispered, “I reckon you’d have worn out your welcome already and Tess would have been sweeping you up with your nasty little friend had Ashlyn not taken an interest in you. When she tires of you, I’ll be the last thing you see before you go up in a puff of smoke and dust.” Standing up, he kicked the leg of the chair, spinning Dalbach like a top where he laid. Following Liam out of the kitchen, he grabbed Issac by his bicep and yanked him out as well. He kicked a chair on his way out. The chair skittered across the floor, coming to a rest right in front of Dalbach’s impassive face. “Let’s go, guys. If they want to rabbit on with the Changeling, let them. There’s nothing important happening here.”

It was only Tess and I left with Dalbach now. Tess was still reeling from the idea of retrieving Aiden. Holding onto those words like a life raft to her chest, she crawled on all fours over to Dalbach. She sat the chair upright and dusted him off in the process. If she was trying to make up for everything he’d gone through since winding up in our company, I doubted dusting off his stained, raggedy clothes was going to cut it. Her wide eyes were bright with unshed tears as she focused her everything on the shriveled faery in front of her. She spoke with a passion that I’d never heard before. “Do you really think you can find Aiden?”

Dalbach sucked on his bottom lip, one snaggled tooth emerging from the top row of centuries-old teeth. “I think I could find out his general whereabouts, yes,” he stalled. “Neamar is a large place, much larger than this human realm. Ankou never tells any of his workers everything; this allows him to work even when there is a traitor in the midst,” he eyed Tess and me seriously. “Which, if I’m not mistaken, is what you’re asking me to do. Become a traitor. Perhaps you aren’t aware of this, but there are much worse things that can happen to a Changeling than being turned to dust.”

Tess straightened Dalbach’s sackcloth vest he was wearing. His nose wrinkled up from the touch and he eyed Tess disdainfully. “I like stealing children. This human realm is much nicer than Neamar, so I will do Ankou’s bidding and stay here as much as possible. I have no desire to be imprisoned there forever.”

I’d never seen Tess so entranced before. The way she was grasping at anything for the opportunity to have her son back was heartbreaking. “Dalbach, we won’t tell a soul, will we, Ashlyn?” She looked at me with pleading eyes.