Caspian bit back the smile.
“I won’t do more if you don’t return them.”
“You agree to help?”
“I agree to nothing.” The sun on his back helped warm Caspian while looking at Shea froze whatever hope he had of pulling this off. Even if he touched all of the ones Shea had brought, there’d be more tomorrow and the next day and the next. Until he had the Counter-Window, then the location of the Window would be revealed.
Could he hold out and still protect Lydia? He knew the answer and didn’t like it. The longer he waited, the less advantage he had. But he wasn’t ready.
He walked on; again he trailed his fingers over the mirrors, but this time he tried to focus on the grass and dirt beneath his bare feet and the breeze on his skin, the simple things that would keep him in the present. When he’d finished all the ones in the backyard, he shook his head and began to walk around the house to where more mirrors waited in the front yard.
Shea snarled and stalked after him. “You seem to like blondes. It would be a shame if something were to happen to her; she is so mortal.”
Caspian turned slowly. “Leave her alone. She isn’t part of this.”
“But she is. The time you spend with her is time not spent finding the Window. And I have just begun to realize how many mirrors there are in the world now. Last time I spent any time in the mortal world they were a novelty of the rich. Now everyone has them.”
“I’m not here for Lydia. I’m here for a job. This is my livelihood,” Caspian said.
“That is not my concern. There are bigger things at stake than your livelihood. Or life.”
“My job is important to me.” And so was his life and Lydia. He was going to have to deal to stop the hostilities and stop Shea from ruining his life. No matter where he went Shea would follow. He didn’t want the Greys making more trouble for Lydia.
“Help me and I’ll leave her alone,” Shea said.
Caspian shook his head. He didn’t want to be in a deal that said he was helping a Grey. The wording of a deal was everything. If he botched even one word, he wouldn’t live too long to regret it. It had to sound like he wanted to help, but without promising to hand the mirror over… and even then he was counting on Shea not adding clause after clause and binding him up so tight he had no wriggle room.
He found the words he wanted then spoke clearly and slowly so there could be no mistake. “I will find the Window.” Give the Grey what he wanted first. “In exchange call off your Greys and cease the petty pestering.”
Shea blinked, his pale eyes assessing. “I will stop harassing as long as you are helping. You will check every mirror I bring to you.”
“You will return them to where you found them—except the Window, should I find it.” Caspian waited for Shea to tighten the terms.
“You swear not to lie?”
That was a bit vague; he might need to lie to Shea at some point… actually, he could see himself definitely lying to Shea. An honesty clause was a bad idea. “I will tell you if I find a fairy-made mirror.”
His heart was beating a little too fast. He wanted this over. Already the deal was getting more complex than he wanted.
Shea grinned, cold and victorious. “If you fail to find the Window, Lydia’s soul is mine.”
There wasn’t a chance in hell he was agreeing to that. “I have a year and a day to find the mirror. Then you get
“No. One turn of the moon. Then your soul is mine.”
One month. Was that long enough? He hoped Dylis was as close as she claimed to getting the Counter- Window. That was a clever clause. Even if he failed to find the Window, Shea could use his soul to bribe his way back to Annwyn—assuming his father the Prince cared enough to let that happen. That was a gamble they were both taking.
“I accept.”
“A bargain is struck.” Shea inclined his head.
For a moment Caspian didn’t move. That was it.
There was no peal of thunder or flash of lightning. Just the cold surety that he’d made a deal with a banished fairy. If that didn’t get the attention of the Court, nothing he did would. He knew in his near future he would be called upon to attend. At least the deal had been reasonably favorable, while there was a time limit he hadn’t actually offered to hand the Window over to Shea once found. Before he could sigh with relief while in view of Shea, he turned and walked toward the house.
Chapter 12
Caspian appeared to be talking to someone out in the yard, but Lydia couldn’t see the other person or hear the conversation. This was just too weird. If not for the fairy peeking out of the window with her, she would have discounted everything Caspian had said. She almost had. That awful feeling that she’d slept with a stranger, a man she didn’t really know, and that he was delusional had filled her with dread.
That he was actually half-fairy and could see things she didn’t wasn’t much better. It was too far-fetched. And yet how else did she explain the mirrors, and the noises… even Caspian’s psychometry?
She glanced at Dylis, wanting to reach out and touch her to make sure she was there and not some kind of shared hallucination.
“You don’t have wings.”
Dylis turned her head and gave her a glare that was far more threatening than it should’ve been from someone her size. “Fairies don’t have wings; that was some dumb human’s idea.”
“Sorry.”
“Just because Caspian made me reveal myself doesn’t mean we are friends. I have a job to do. And so does he. If he screws up, we’re all in the river.”
“What river?”
Dylis hissed. “One problem at a time. I’m watching Shea to make sure he doesn’t do something shifty.”
They both went back to watching Caspian. Dylis stiffened next to her but said nothing. Then Caspian turned and walked toward the house, his lips pressed into a thin line. He walked into the kitchen and closed the door.
“I need something to eat.” He closed his eyes and kept his hands by his side, his fingers flexing and curling.
Lydia watched him for a moment.
Dylis snapped her fingers. “Food. He needs to ground himself after using all that magic.”
That got Lydia moving. Food she could do. In the freezer was a half-loaf of bread. She pulled out a couple of slices and shoved them into the toaster. While she was waiting she made two cups of coffee, then she remembered the fairy.
“Coffee, Dylis?”
“Tea, since you asked.”
What was she going to put that in? She looked through the cupboard and settled on a smallish teacup that was still far too big.
“A good deal?” Caspian asked, but he wasn’t speaking to her. He was talking to his fairy.
“Brilliant. I couldn’t have done better. Except for your soul you could be fairy.” Dylis sounded like a proud mother. Except she wasn’t Caspian’s mother. No, his father was fairy… which meant his mother was human. She looked at Dylis’s tiny size. How did that work?
“That probably won’t be a problem for long.”
“Don’t be like that. You’ll like Court.”
Caspian snorted.
