The Darkest Edge of Dawn

My entire brow rose, and my gaze went to Pendaran. Orin’s sister was dead and this is how he tells the poor guy? Guess leadership and empathy didn’t go hand in hand here in nymph territory.

“Orin,” I began, allowing the sympathy I felt into my tone. I’d had a twin. I knew what it was like to lose your other half. I’d never get over Connor’s death. Never. And I knew that, after the shock wore off, Orin was in for a lifetime of grieving where Daya was concerned.

Hank took over when I failed to expand on the sentence I’d started. “Did your sister have a second place outside of the Grove or maybe a friend she stayed with sometimes?”

Orin’s glassy gaze went from me to the ground where he stared intently at the grass cradling his bare feet. A tear slid down and hung off his chin before he sniffed and swiped it with the back of his hand. “No.” His answer was barely audible.

“Was she seeing anyone?” Hank asked.

Orin’s eyes closed slowly. His face went a shade paler. The air in the courtyard flared from grief to fear, and panic. Underlying it all, I detected a faint wisp of aura gathering. It pricked the hairs on the back of my neck. I glanced around and my gaze found Pendaran. His nostrils flared slightly. His arms were crossed over his chest, legs braced apart. “Answer the question,” he said.

What seemed like a simple command came across as a power-laced demand that echoed soft and deadly through the courtyard.

Orin dropped to his knees, head bowed so low his forehead touched the grass, trembling like a leaf in a windstorm. “Yes, Sire, she was involved with someone. I’m sorry. She asked me to keep her secret, and I did. I’m so sorry.”

The guy’s anxiety didn’t sit well with me. I’d learned a lot about the nymphs and their culture through the years, but being ruled through fear was not one of them. I shifted my attention back to the Druid. “Is having friends outside the Kinfolk a crime?”

“No.” His gaze leveled at me. “Cavorting outside of the Grove is not a crime. However”—he turned back to Orin—“lying is. If Orin has lied or withheld knowledge of a broken law, I have no other choice but to punish him. He knows this. It has been our way since before you humans started drawing on cave walls with sticks.”

I returned the arrogant smirk that accompanied Pendaran’s words with one of my own, only making it way more obvious than he had. Subtle, I was not.

“If Orin is too afraid to speak,” Hank said, “then it’s quite possible more of your Kinfolk will die … because whoever killed her is not going to stop.”

Well, that was just great. He just told the Druid King and everyone here that Daya had been murdered. What the hell was he doing?

My heart pounded, low and deep, so deep it felt as though the entire grove pulsated. No. It wasn’t me. Was it the henge? The Druid King? Feeding off one another? I didn’t know. Hell, I didn’t care.

Pendaran’s stance remained the same, but somehow he seemed to have stilled even more, going absolutely quiet; the only movement was the shimmering wave within his irises.

Please don’t shift. Please don’t shift.

I didn’t realize my hand rested on my weapon until my fingers flexed around the hilt. Pendaran finally pulled his ancient gaze off Hank and turned to the courtyard as a whole. “Orin will do service.” His eyes found mine. “That is the best I can offer.”

Great. Wonderful. The pulse in the courtyard dimmed, but not entirely. I turned my attention to the prone nymph, wanting to get this over with so we could get the hell out of there. “Orin?”

“Forgive me, my lord,” he mumbled before looking up at us, his Adam’s apple bobbing with a hard swallow. “Daya was sharing an apartment … in Underground … with someone.” He paused. “A jinn.”

The shockwave that swept over the courtyard left everything in its wake motionless and dead quiet, so silent that the pulse was gone and the distant sounds of the city trickled back into the bereft space. A jinn. Jesus, no wonder Orin was terrified! A nymph going outside of her own kind wasn’t unheard of, but going over to a completely different world, a Charbydon? A jinn? Yeah. This was bad.

“Where, Orin? Where did they meet?” Hank’s soothing tone invaded the space like it was the most natural thing in the world, creating a faint but calming shift in the volatile atmosphere.

“They kept an apartment somewhere near Underground. That’s all I know.” He sniffed. “She was a good person. If the jinn found out … Dear Dagda, they killed her, didn’t they?”

“I don’t think this has anything to do with the jinn,” I said. And I prayed to God it didn’t. I pulled out a card with my contact info and handed it to Orin. “In case you remember anything else.”

“I expect her body to be returned to us immediately,” the Druid said.

I flinched inside, thinking about the hand I’d severed, though it was no worse than the rest of her. “We’ll see that you have it by morning.”

“You have one week,” Pendaran announced. “One week to find Daya’s killer.”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Seven days or we seek retribution from the jinn.”

A disbelieving half snort, half laugh sprang from my mouth. “Seriously? Because I didn’t peg you for an idiot.”

The nymphs fled the courtyard in a blur of gossamer and bare feet, disappearing into the darkness and mist, and leaving me with the sudden realization I’d said that thought out loud.

Shit.

The eerie abalone glow passed through the Druid’s eyes again. I swallowed as he unfolded his arms and stepped off the dais, striding slowly forward. Toward me. My stomach dropped to the bottom of my gut. Hank cleared his throat, and I cast a quick glance to my right to see his hands clamped behind his back, and his attention on the ground in front of him, a small grin tugging the corner of his mouth.

Well, apparently my partner wasn’t too worried I was about to be dragon flambé.

Pendaran stopped in front of me, forcing me to crane my neck. The guy was tall. “You seem to understand very little about the Kinfolk, Detective. And even less about etiquette … off-world or human.”

My lips twisted into a cynical smile, and I bit off the smart-ass reply on the edge of my tongue because, quite frankly, I couldn’t argue with that assessment. I gave a quick, indifferent shrug. “That may be so. But you’re well aware how tense the city is right now. If you go storming into Underground, an Elysian pointing the finger at the entire jinn tribe, that’s it … it’s game over. For all of us.”

He crossed his large arms over his chest, jaw set and freakish eyes turning hard like cold, polished stone. “One week.”

The finality in that imperious tone made my teeth clench hard as I tried to maintain control and prevent another outburst. But, damn, how I wanted to wipe that overbearing superiority off his face. “Then we expect complete and total cooperation. That means no contact with the jinn from you or any of your Kinfolk while we investigate. None.”

“Done.”

After Pendaran’s ultimatum, Orin led us to Daya’s apartment in the Grove, where we found squat. Not a single shred of evidence. With every step back toward the gate, my mood plummeted. I was still riled by Hank’s comment earlier, and the Druid’s unyielding manner. Then my cell rang. The number on the display only made things worse. “What?”

“Oh, good. Listen, Charlie, I need you to pick up some toothpaste, a can of diced tomatoes, and garlic—not the powder stuff, the whole head. Oh, and can you get a few pounds of meat for Brim?”

“Rex. I am working right now.”

“So? What do you think I’ve been doing all day? Who do you think does the laundry and the cleaning and the cooking? Revenants can’t just point a finger and say ‘presto’ and everything is clean.” A loud sigh blew through the phone speaker. “What time will you be home?”

I closed my eyes. Deep breath, Charlie. “I have no clue.”

“Well, just an idea. So I can have dinner ready …”

I rolled my eyes and tossed up an annoyed hand, plucking a time out of thin air. “Six forty-seven.”