“No, it’s not him,” Cassie said, standing from her spell making and joining them in the center of the room. “Maria agrees with me. That man has the magic on him, but he isn’t the person we’re looking for.” She sat down next to Nessa.
Nessa wanted to ask how Cassie knew that. Sidhe magic wasn’t as distinct. If you cast a spell, you didn’t leave pieces behind on other people.
“I agree; I couldn’t get anything from him that would make it him either,” Devin added. Nessa forgot that he could go into the minds of any of the sidhe. It wasn’t exactly easy to do with a fully conscious sidhe, but Liam had been passed out earlier.
That made things a bit better. Nessa didn’t have to worry about telling Liam no, but they still didn’t have much to go on to find the witch sidhe.
“So what do we do? The witch sidhe knows Liam,” Nessa added, trying to get a grasp of the situation.
“No, the witch sidhe touched Liam,” Cassie corrected. “To leave a spell residue as he had, the witch sidhe had to have touched Liam, not necessarily know him.”
“Touched?” Devin asked, to clarify exactly what Cassie was saying.
“Yes, touched,” Maria said as she entered the room. “Liam touched the witch sidhe, or the sidhe touched him. Either way, they had to have come in contact with each other to leave a magical residue.”
“And since the witch sidhe trace in the village is all gone now …” Turner added, not finishing his sentence.
Devin nodded to Turner, who smiled in return. Nessa hated when they did their best friend guy thing, where they could think the same thing without talking.
“And for the rest of us?” Nessa asked. They were definitely planning something.
“There’s only one place left to look,” Devin told the group. “The palace. Our witch sidhe is a noble, either from here or from another city. If they were a commoner, we would have found at least a trace of something in the village. The only way we could have found nothing was if they didn’t hang out in the village. They must be in the palace.”
“Or someone who works in the palace,” Nessa added, trying to remind Devin of their last assassins.
“No. This time it has to be a noble,” Turner replied. “If they came outside the palace at all in the last twenty-four hours we would have caught a scent. All the workers do leave to their own homes, correct?”
Nessa nodded. None of the workers lived in the palace. Turner was right, but Nessa hated what that meant. A noble sidhe had gone way against laws and reached out to another night human clan to train in witch magic. It was bad enough when she had to contend with sidhe magic and those wanting to kill her, but this was in a league of its own. Why did they even have laws if the nobles were going to pick and choose which ones they would follow?
“At least the sidhe we are looking for has a crush on you,” Cassie reminded Nessa, pulling Nessa from her thoughts.
Nessa cringed. That was even scarier. So far the only two dates she had ever gone on in her life made her even surer she didn’t want to end up with anyone but Devin. He was the only person that ever truly saw her for who she really was. What if the unknown witch sidhe had some way to get Nessa to be his?
“If we want to find this sidhe, we need you guys to search inside the palace.” Devin looked between Maria and Turner. Maria slowly nodded.
“It was one thing to walk around the village, but I can’t leave Cassie alone outside the palace walls while I search with Turner,” Maria explained.
“Then we take you both inside,” Devin replied. He was already planning several steps ahead, as usual.
Nessa wanted to protest. It was hard enough to sneak Cassie and Maria in when they had before, and it was a risk each time. The sidhe wouldn’t take well to finding out a witch was in the village, let alone two. Nessa hated placing them both in danger.
Cassie must have caught Nessa’s concern and smiled at her. “No one will know we’re there,” she told Nessa. “Maria is the best at covering us up.”
Nessa looked to Maria. She didn’t seem as confident as Cassie, but she nodded anyway.
“Why don’t we just bring Liam out here and search his mind to see who he touched since he’s been here?” Nessa suggested.
She didn’t care how fine they were going to be within the walls of the palace again; she didn’t want to chance it if they didn’t have to. Her dates had only reminded her how backward the sidhe still were. She was beginning to see the truth. Even as queen, she didn’t have too much power. There was no way she would be able to save them if it came down to them being discovered. She was shocked when the mob of sidhe wanted to go get Devin.
‘Are they in danger?’ Devin asked silently.
‘I don’t know. I just get this feeling that we should be careful with them. I thought the sidhe were ready to change, but I see that maybe they really aren’t,’ Nessa replied.
Her grandfather had told Devin to change the sidhe, but Nessa doubted it was possible. Even the younger sidhe seemed set in their ways. Maybe there were some things that couldn’t change. The noble sidhe seemed like they could be one of those things.
“Do you think Liam would come here?” Devin asked for everyone to now hear.
“What do you mean?” Nessa replied. She was still worrying about what would happen if Cassie and Maria were found out.
“If you asked him to come here, would he?” Devin explained.
Nessa shrugged. She had no clue. She hadn’t seen the older sidhe in years before he showed up the other day. When they were kids, she knew him better, but now he was more of a stranger than anything. She wanted to be able to trust him as she had when she was little, but she wasn’t sure of anyone anymore after finding her brother’s best friend and her former fiancé had been trying to kill her for weeks before she returned to the village. Nothing in the sidhe world was as she remembered it, and Liam could just be another one of those cases. He was genuine in his interest, but he was as he always was to her: just a friend.
“If she dates him a little bit, would that help?” Cassie suggested. Nessa stared at Cassie in shock. What was she suggesting? “If you don’t know if he is safe or not and if we don’t know if he even knows anything about the witch sidhe, maybe Nessa should date him a bit and see what he knows. At least she should be able to tell if he’s trustworthy.”
Devin was nodding along with Cassie, and Nessa couldn’t stop her mouth from dropping open. Was he seriously considering allowing her date Liam? She had felt his jealousy before. Would dating him really be a smart thing to do?
‘I can hold it together if it keeps everyone safe and lets us find the witch sidhe,’ Devin told her, reading her thoughts again.
Nessa raised her eyebrows at him. She wasn’t about to believe that, even if he said it with confidence. She could still sense a hint of jealousy behind his words. It made Nessa kind of happy to have him jealous, but it wouldn’t help when dealing with Liam. They needed Devin completely on his game to make any plan work, and she wasn’t too sure they were making a safe plan.
Devin stood in the shadows, watching Nessa on another date. He had done this all before. Once, another time, he had watched the girl he thought he was meant to be with fall in love with another man. He hated to sit by and watch it happen again. He didn’t worry about the first two dates—those two sidhe were idiots—because they knew nothing about Nessa and didn’t stand a chance. They were quite lucky she didn’t end up hurting them. This time was much harder. The previous time he had gone to her when her anger came across the bond, and he wanted to protect her from hurting the sidhe. This time he felt no anger. She was very relaxed. When Liam reached over and tugged on one of Nessa’s curls, Devin could feel the jealousy bloom inside him. This was a real test of his control.
‘Does he know anything?’ Devin asked mentally, interrupting Nessa and Liam’s conversation.
‘I don’t think so,’ Nessa replied, her smile only faltering a little when Devin intruded into her mind.
He didn
’t need to be asking; he had heard the conversation himself as he hid close enough. He had been asking just to disrupt the laughs they were having.
Devin hated feeling the emotion of jealousy. He had been trained from early on how to compartmentalize everything in his life. He wanted to do just that, but it was close to impossible with Nessa. She was the one thing he couldn’t control his emotions over. He hated to not be in control.
‘I think he doesn’t know anything, but it would be best to have him talk to Keaton,’ Nessa suggested as she smiled and laughed again at whatever Liam was telling her.
It was probably true. Nessa and Devin weren’t the best ones to be judging Liam’s character. Nessa had experienced several close friends, and even her brother, turn on her in the past few months. Devin himself was too jealous to give an accurate assessment. They needed to be sure. If Devin let his desire to off the sidhe chasing his Nessa, then they would give the real witch sidhe a chance to act. Devin doubted the witch sidhe was Liam, but they did need to be sure, and even more they needed to know who he had touched since he came into the village.
‘Can you get him to come to the outcast camp?’ Devin asked.
Keaton had remained in the camp or out at Devin’s project, not venturing into the village since he had been restored to his old looks. He worried that someone in his family would notice him and bring him back to the palace. After many years in the outcast camp, Keaton no longer considered himself a Ferguson, and didn’t want anything to do with the clan politics and plotting.
‘I think I can,’ Nessa replied.
Devin nodded from the shadows, and he was sure she had seen.
‘Keep watch over her,’ Devin told Ronan, who was lounging on his seat in the courtyard.
‘Always,’ Ronan answered, not moving from his spot, yet completely alert to the situation.
Devin gave one last look to Nessa and regrettably left her alone with the sidhe that was obviously pining for her. He hated to walk away, but they needed to find the witch sidhe. It would have been nice to be able to set everything aside and figure things out with Nessa, but no one was safe enough yet to do so.
Devin walked over to the nearest tree and placed his hand upon it. He willed himself to where his clinic and lab were being put together. Stepping into the clearing he couldn’t help but grin. Mori was on the roof installing some sort of equipment Devin guessed were solar panels. A dearg-dul night human that would burn up in sunlight was using it to power a building for another night human clan. It was a bit ironic.
Devin walked into the building and found Keaton unpacking a box.
“That other one got here on his own,” Keaton said, pointing to the roof.
Devin nodded. That sounded like Mori. He was always a bit too excited about anything tech related to sit by and wait for someone to pick him up.
“I need to take you back. We aren’t sure on Liam. He might know more than we suspect, but we need you to use your talents to find out,” Devin told Keaton as Jackson entered with more boxes.
“Taking away my help?” Jackson asked, sweat gleaming on his semi-bald head.
“Sorry, man, but I need to use his sidhe abilities a bit,” Devin replied, heading toward the doorway Jackson had just entered.
“It shouldn’t take long,” Keaton told Jackson. “I’ll be back to help in no time.”
Devin looked between the two men and shrugged. Keaton wouldn’t even step outside the forest a short while ago, but unpacking all the tech stuff that Jackson had brought with him didn’t seem to bother Keaton in the least.
“A little enthusiastic about this?” Devin asked as they walked back into the woods.
Keaton shrugged. “That Mori guy is really smart.”
Devin chuckled. It wasn’t Jackson he was going back to help, but Mori—he had a way like that. Most people could easily overlook the mousy dearg-dul, and many didn’t even see the small guy as he hid behind computers almost all of the time, but if you got the chance to speak to him, he could probably persuade you to do just about anything he asked. There was too much logic in him to keep you from counter-arguing.
Devin and Keaton instantly appeared in the outcast camp before making their way into Devin’s home.
“You know, if I could control the trees a bit better in regards to who could come and go through them, it would be useful to just keep a tree in my house,” Devin told Keaton.
“You can control the trees that well,” Keaton replied, shaking his head. “Who do you think made all the trees in the palace travel-proof?”
Devin hadn’t thought too much about that. He assumed that someone a long time ago had done that to keep it safe. It was been one of the first things he would have done when building a palace.
“You still don’t understand all of what you can do,” Keaton told him as they moved back into the main living space. “You can do anything. If you don’t want a tree to let someone travel through it, you just tell it. You do know you and Nessa are perfect for each other. You see the sidhe world much clearer than she does, but you are still almost as innocent as her. You wonder why you feel what you do with her, and I’ll tell you. Fate brought you guys together because you are much alike, yet complement each other perfectly.”
Devin stared hard at Keaton. The man was used to seeing other people’s secrets, so Devin was sure he had a great grasp of the situation, but Devin had yet to think of it that way. Did he compliment Nessa? Keaton saw Devin’s inability to do things in the sidhe world as innocence, while Devin saw it as a failure. He never saw himself as being a compliment to Nessa, but more of a hindrance now that the sidhe wouldn’t even look at him because he wasn’t one of them.
Cassie looked up from her corner as they entered.
“I think I almost have it,” she told Devin. “I need a little more blood from you, but I think it should work. Well, at least I hope it does.” Cassie shrugged.
Should work was a lot closer than the old man telling Devin the bond could never be broken.
Devin walked over and poked his finger with the knife sitting beside Cassie. He dropped his blood onto the clean plate she was holding. He had no idea how someone that young was going to do what the old, all-powerful king said couldn’t be done. She was more than he ever expected her to be.
Nessa stood outside the outcast camp which was now a village. She was unsure if she was doing the right thing in bringing Liam there. Devin had gone to lengths to hide the village from everyone when he built it. All the sidhe knew at this point was that Devin was living with the outcasts. Not a single normal sidhe that wasn’t within Devin’s circle of trust knew what was hidden behind the illusion he set up around his new village. Was bringing Liam in worth it? If he knew the witch sidhe, he would be telling everyone about the camp. For the time being everyone thought that Devin was still working on getting a grasp on his abilities. Nessa could see otherwise. Devin still hesitated, but he was much more in tune than he would admit. Nessa paused outside the illusion with Liam.
“Your bonded sidhe …” she began, but was unsure how to ask him.
“Why would I be looking to marry you if I already love her?” he finished the question for her.
That was exactly what had been bothering Nessa. It made no sense to her, and part of her hesitation to let him in on the secret of the outcasts was that she was still unable to understand why he was even pursuing her.
“Lele has been part of my family as long as I can remember. My father brought her home, and she just kind of fit with everyone. I do love her, and that’s why I could bond to her, but it isn’t the kind of love you think it is. I love her like my own sister. She’s as close as family as she can get, but she still didn’t have a family herself. Without a bloodline, she couldn’t be protected. They were going to force her to move to the outcasts. We couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let that happen. So I bonded with her. The trading of blood made her one of my family. I did it to protect her, but I don’t love her romantically.”
; Liam’s explanation was perfect. Was it too perfect, though? Nessa had been overly trusting when she had returned to the village. Was she making the same mistake now? Was she trusting him when she shouldn’t? Was she believing him when she shouldn’t? Liam stared back at her. His deep brown eyes were clear and hopeful. She wanted to believe he wasn’t lying to her.
“What I’m going to show you, you have to promise to keep a secret,” Nessa told him. She moved through the illusion and stood on the other side. Liam was in the normal part of the village, and he couldn’t see what Nessa could now see. He moved to stand beside her, but Nessa placed a hand on his chest to stop him. She really hoped Devin was correct in trusting that they could bring Liam into the outcast camp. “Promise.”
Liam’s eyes questioned her, but he replied, “Promise.”
Nessa looked hard one last time at her old friend. She had had a crush on him when she was little but felt none of that now. He was just an old friend to her. Everything she felt was for the day human that stood hidden in his own doorway. He was watching her, and that made Nessa feel safe. If Devin had doubts about Liam, he would have never let him into the village. One thing Nessa knew would always be true: no matter what, Devin would protect her and these people. Too bad he couldn’t see that he truly was the king the sidhe were waiting for.
Liam stepped through the illusion, and froze in place when he saw the changes Devin had made. The rundown shacks Liam had been expecting were gone. Keaton stepped out of the shadows he had been standing in with Devin, even though Devin remained hidden.
“Welcome,” Keaton called to Nessa and Liam. “In order to stay here and not be bounced back outside the barrier, I need to ask you a few questions.”