If I hadn’t have been with the others, I’d have assumed the small room was the entirety of the pub. Luka turned a tight corner at the far end of the room and vanished. When I caught up, I found myself walking down a set of lazily twisting stairs with nooks filled with yet more tables jutting off every ten or so steps. We emerged in an underground space with bare stone walls and yellow fae lights bouncing from the pale grey ceiling. The tables were placed unevenly through the large space, each of them unoccupied.

  I continued to follow the cougars through a series of interconnecting rooms, each on a different level, until we were what seemed to be three levels below ground. We stepped through a shimmering patch of air, and the sound hit me hard. The space was packed with people of varying ages and species. Bright blue lights streaked across the ceiling between static white alchemical lights. The space was simultaneously vibrant and dingy; it was quite a feat. The cougars nodded towards a set of stairs that would take us deeper still. I took that to mean that the hedgewitch would likely be down there.

  Rex walked close behind me, and the fox practically walked on my feet as we squeezed our way between people and tried to get to the set of stairs. A Sidhe threw a large beer glass over my head and hit an elf in the back of the head. The elf spun around and glared at me. I held up my hands and continued trying to get to the stairs. The elf moved with remarkable speed, given he had to push through a group of people to get to me. His small fist almost collided with my jaw, but I caught it and squeezed hard.

  “Your fight isn’t with me. Take it up with your Sidhe friend,” I said as I stared him down.

  He narrowed his eyes at me before he looked around me at the Sidhe. The elf gave a sharp nod and I released him. I wasn’t going to get sidetracked by a bar fight.

  19

  Rex and the fox remained close to me as we pushed past a pair of redcaps and walked around a group of magicians to finally make it to the shallow steps. The wood shifted a little too much beneath me as I walked down them. The stairs were shallow enough that I could pull myself out of the hole that would form should they break, but I didn’t want to heal a broken leg amidst all those criminals. The room at the end of the stairs had a high domed ceiling formed of brick and five large benches surrounded by chairs packed into the space. I had no idea whom I was looking for. Hedgewitches were usually attractive women, but that hardly narrowed it down.

  Rex placed his hand between my shoulder blades and pointed at a dark-haired woman in a long blood-red skirt in the west corner of the room. The woman appeared to be holding court with a small cluster of pretty, young people hanging off her every word while she preened. I went to march over to her, but Rex held me back.

  “Diplomacy, Dacian,” he growled in my ear.

  I hadn’t thought the day would come when I’d have to smile and play nice with hedgewitches. I pushed down the aggression and the desire to demand she give me what I wanted and focused on what my father had told me about business meetings. Putting a charismatic smile on my face, I channeled peaceful businesslike thoughts as I made my way over to Magda. She turned to face me when I reached the end of her table. Her violet eyes held mine as her red lips parted into a broad smile. She shooed the group away with a quick motion of her hand. The two younger men glared at me and muttered under their breath as they passed me. They were welcome to her.

  Rex moved to the left side of the table and sat down next to Magda, whereas I took the right side and left an empty seat between us. The fox hopped onto the table and sat tall with its piercing blue eyes fixed on the witch. I scooped him up and placed him on the seat next to me, on the far side from the witch. I didn’t need the fox making this difficult for me. Magda slowly ran her finger around the rim of her glass and smiled at me, a predatory gesture.

  “We’re here to discuss the Ceremonials,” I said as I leaned back in my chair.

  “You’re well-armed for a little talk,” she purred.

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “One blade is hardly well-armed.”

  She looked pointedly at Rex and then back to me.

  “He’s a good friend,” I said with a shrug.

  “He’s a guard dog,” she said with the edge of a growl, her eyes hardened.

  “The Ceremonials are becoming too much of a problem, wouldn’t you agree?” I pressed with a smile.

  She pursed her lips and sat a little taller. The sensual woman act slipped away, revealing a hard and calculating businesswoman. Everything about her sharpened, including her tone, which lost the soft purr she had used only moments before.

  “Yes, their legislation has gone too far. They insist that we pay ridiculous taxes on any products that we sell, we can’t gather at all, and they’ve limited us to one familiar,” she said before she knocked back the rest of her pale pink cocktail.

  Irritation formed sharp lines at the corners of her eyes and pinched her generous mouth before she caught herself and smoothed them out once more. I almost admired her ability to change between personas and facades so smoothly.

  “Hedgewitches only have a bond with one familiar. When you claim more than one, you steal it from another witch,” Rex said, his expression calm and relaxed.

  Magda sniffed and lifted her chin. “They’re still researching familiar bonds. That could be nothing more than an old myth. Anyway, some of those familiars aren’t worth much; they don’t last very long.”

  Her slow seductive motions were gradually being changed out for quick aggressive moves. She tapped the base of the cocktail glass with two sharp clicks while she looked around the room, her shoulders tense.

  I bit my tongue. Those familiars were living, breathing people. Witches like her were using them. They were draining their magic and tossing them aside like rotten meat.

  “So, we’re in agreement that the Ceremonials need to be reminded of their place in the world,” I said with a smile.

  Magda’s bright smile returned.

  “And what is it you want me for?” she asked, the soft purr wrapping around her words once more.

  “They have two of my companions. I want them back.”

  “They’re being used in a key ritual later this month,” Rex added.

  He hadn’t told me that. I fought back the anger and kept my face calm and relaxed. Magda grinned and laughed.

  “So, you want to ruin their hard work and stop their ritual? I do like the sound of that.”

  She pushed her glass away and leaned back in her seat, a wild grin on her face.

  Ceremonials only did big magic workings. They prepared for their grand rituals for months. That was balanced by the fact that each successful ritual was a huge working. They usually tried to contact the gods to improve their status in the world. Fortunately, they tended to be pretty single-minded, and thus their rituals were all focused on improving their businesses and trying to convince the gods to give them real magic. If they chose to do a ritual to wipe out hedgewitches, for example, things could get very messy.

  “Yes, we’d like some help getting my companions free,” I said.

  I didn’t offer her something in return; she was going to demand it. If I offered her something, I’d look weak and she’d push for something bigger.

  “My fees will be decided at a later date,” she said.

  “There will be limits,” I said.

  “And my services are not for sale,” Rex added.

  “Neither is my fox,” I said.

  Magda sighed and threw her hands up.

  “Well, take all the good things off the table, why don’t you? Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find something,” she said with a wink.

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “Just to be absolutely clear… I have no interest in women.”

  She shook her head and adopted a look of absolute despair.

  “Well, then, I suppose I’ll just have to settle for a vial of your blood, then, won’t I?”

  I ground my teeth. That would give her the potential to control me. That was a huge price.

  “You can do better than that,” I said with as much charm as I could muster.

  “Nothing will be agreed upon until the companions in question are free. They must be healthy upon receipt,” Rex said as he stood.

  “Of course, darling, I wouldn’t dream of doing half a job,” she purred at him. “I’ll speak to my sisters, we’ll arrange a meeting tomorrow,” she said as she pushed a business card towards me.

  I handed her my phone number and moved around the table to Rex’s side. That hadn’t gone too badly. Now, we just had to find the cougars and see how things were going with the shadow walkers.

  Shadow appeared out of thin air and crashed onto the table next to me.

  Well, that answered that question.

  20

  “How’s that diplomacy going?” I asked Shadow as I offered him a hand to help him up.

  The magicians and witches that had been occupying that table had scooted up away from him and continued their conversation. Shadow growled at me and dug his claws into my hand as he braced against me to get up. I smirked, feeling a little victorious. It wasn’t often that I did something better than the cougars on these little excursions into the underworld.

  “Ronan isn’t very open to seeing sense this evening,” Shadow growled as he brushed himself off.

  “Let’s see if we can knock some sense into him, shall we?” Rex asked with a toothy grin.

  “After you,” Shadow said as he gestured back to the stairs.

  Ronan wasn’t hard to spot once we’d gotten up the stairs back into the main room. He was the lean dark-haired guy with a stool over his head shouting at Luka. To his credit, Luka appeared to be nonplussed by the situation. The pub patrons around the pair had moved away to give them some space, but otherwise didn’t pay them any attention. It clearly wasn’t unusual to have fights erupt down there.

  “What’s his problem?” I asked Shadow.

  “He hasn’t explained. He just blames Fein, and as Fein isn’t here, he’s taking it out on us,” Shadow said.

  “That’s got to get old,” I said.

  Shadow shrugged and said nothing. I stepped up next to Luka, who had moved to lean against a table and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Ronan, right? What’s the problem?” I asked.

  The shadow walker’s dark eyes met mine. “That cursed fucking elf stole our fucking magic!”

  “Your magic worked just fine when you dropped Shadow in the other room,” Rex said.

  Ronan threw the stool at Rex. The Cu Sidhe side-stepped it as though it were nothing and stared the shadow walker down. I thought I was supposed to be the undiplomatic one of the group.

  “Luka, did Fein steal his magic?” I asked.

  “No, he did not,” Luka said.

  “There you have it. Fein didn’t steal your magic. So. Let’s go into the quieter room and talk,” I said.

  The shadow walker was out of projectiles. He balled his fists tight at his sides, but gave a slow nod. Shadow led the way. I nudged Rex to go next. I didn’t quite know how his situation worked; could he kill Ronan without Fein’s permission? Had Fein given him permission to kill people if he felt the need? Could he twist it so that he could kill him in defence of me? Whatever the situation, it wasn’t worth the risk. They’d told me I needed this guy to help us get Keirn and Vyx back, so he was not going to be murdered by the pissed off Cu Sidhe.

  The quiet of the empty room outside the shimmering air felt strange and took a moment to adjust to. I turned to Ronan and made sure that I was between him and the three pissy shifters.

  “What’s the problem with your magic?” I asked.

  Ronan lifted his chin and composed himself.

  “We, the shadow walkers, have been cut off from our network. We only have small threads of magic.”

  “And this happened when?” I asked.

  “Three days ago.”

  “Why didn’t you go to Fein?” Luka demanded.

  “I thought he was responsible!” Ronan said throwing his hands up.

  I held my hand up.

  “The cougars have said Fein didn’t do it. I believe them. Who else could have done this?” I asked.

  “The Ceremonials,” Rex said.

  Finally, something I could work with. I felt bad for the guy having lost his magic, but if I could use it to get Keirn back, then it wasn’t such a bad thing.

  Ronan leveled a glare at Rex.

  “There were rumours about the Ceremonials having stolen one of the magic orbs. It must have been the shadow orb,” Rex said.

  Luka stepped away to speak to someone on the phone. The shadow walker relaxed some.

  “And what is it you want with me, anyway?” Ronan asked, a thicker accent coming through now.

  “Help getting my people back,” I said.

  Something about him struck me as being the type to be loyal to his fellows. His eyes sparked, and he smiled.

  “From the Ceremonials?” he asked.

  “Yea.”

  “And you’ll help us get our orb back if we help you?” he asked.

  I glanced back at Rex and Shadow. They gave me nothing.

  “Yes, we’ll help you with your orb,” I said.

  I had no idea what that would entail, but that was for a later time.

  “Fein has confirmed that the Ceremonials took the shadow orb,” Luka said.

  “Did he know that before he sent us down here?” I asked.

  Luka smirked. That fucking elf and his damn games.

  “I’ll speak to my people; I’ll be in touch,” Ronan said.

  “Keep this quiet,” I said.

  Ronan gave me a sharp smile. “This isn’t my first time, tattooist.”

  With that, he slipped into the shadows and left. Keirn’s fox huffed at my feet. It had puffed itself up, I assume to look bigger and more ferocious. It looked like an adorable ball of fur with bright blue eyes. It was less scary than usual, which was saying something.

  “What now?” I asked the shifters.

  “Go home, make sure you have plenty of supplies to defend yourself,” Rex said.

  “And what are you going to do?” I asked.

  “Keep digging,” Luka said.

  “Go home, Dacian,” Rex growled when I prepared to argue my case.

  I rolled my jaw and let it slide. Getting into a fight with Rex wasn’t going to help the situation, as much as it might have made me feel a bit better in that moment. We had made some progress. I clung onto that thought as I made my way back through all of the rooms. We were a step closer to getting Keirn and Vyx back.

  21

  Keirn’s fox paced around the living room with me. It was still partially fluffed up and looked particularly cute and nonthreatening. I sighed and pulled out my phone. I hadn’t spoken to my father in a while; maybe he would be able to calm my nerves some. I needed to do something.

  The fox hopped into my lap as I leaned back on the sofa and waited for my father to pick up. It would be morning there, but he had always been an early riser.

  “Dacian, how’re things?” he answered, his tone distracted.

  “Am I interrupting something?”

  “No, no, I’m just trying get to grips with these new fire stones. How’re things in Prague?”

  I shrugged and tried to think what to say.

  “They’ve been worse. The tattooing business is quiet. How’re things there?”

  “Good, they’re good. I’m taking the week off work to catch up on paperwork. Your Isaiah made quite a splash at the winter ball with his hound last night. He’s becoming a hot commodity. Caiden’s looking out for him, though, don’t worry.”

  My stomach twisted. So Isaiah had officially come out as being with Caiden. I was happy for him. It sounded as though he was making a good life for himself. Still, it stung.

  “That’s great. He’s a talented weaver, he deserves success.”

  “Do much for your birthday?”

  I held back my groan. I’d completely forgotten it had even been my birthday. It had always been a quiet day, but I’d been so wrapped up finding Keirn I hadn’t even thought about it.

  “Not really, just something quiet with friends.”

  Father made a noise somewhere between a groan and a growl.

  “I don’t know why these fire elementals insist on making simple things complicated. These fire stones were supposed to make life easier.”

  I smiled. My father was a very talented weaver and politician, but sometimes technology and such got away from him.

  “Do you have it the right way up?” I asked.

  Silence for a long beat before a triumphant sound.

  “I did not have it the right way up… why don’t they mark it?”

  “They do,” I said with a laugh.

  I could see my father peering at the small white stone in my mind’s eye.

  “So, when are you bringing your elf to come and meet me?”

  I squeezed my eyes shut.

  “I don’t know, spring maybe.”

  “My cottage in Cassis is free next month, do you want to take Keirn out there?”

  More than anything. The ‘cottage,’ as he called it, was a beautiful villa on the seafront of the small French town of Cassis. It was a place of peace and beauty.

  “Yea, I’d love that, thanks.”

  “I’ll make a note of it. Are you going to marry him?”

  I laughed. “We haven’t been together that long!”