“I had to bury thirty-seven guards! Many were disfigured, and one was beheaded like an animal!”
“Didn’t most of them shoot each other?” I said, then covered my mouth. “I mean, if this really happened.”
“She admits it!”
“She admits nothing,” said Mike, “except that she knows Saudis have a bad habit of shooting each other.”
“Please,” interrupted Lady Birdsong. “Mike, if you could give us your version of events.”
“Well, Luna and I heard that one of her family members and his daughter had been kidnapped in Saudi Arabia. We arrived here, met up with my old squad mate, Manny, and started searching.
“Luckily, we found Logan and his daughter on the street. Logan was badly injured, so we raced to the US Embassy to get him medical assistance. The embassy, under orders from Mr. Jonathan, refused us sanctuary. That’s when you showed up and offered us sanctuary here.”
I just smiled, happy that Mike was a much better liar than I was, and that he was on my side.
“Which story sounds more believable to you, Lady Birdsong?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” interrupted Manny. “I kinda like the story with the magic unicorn.”
“Djinni!” snapped Prince Abdul.
“Unicorn, genie, same fucking difference,” said Manny with a sneer.
Prince Abdul jumped up and lunged at Manny, who sidestepped with ease. “I’ll see you all beheaded in Riyadh Square!”
“Please, Prince Abdul,” said Lady Birdsong in a tone that brought the prince up short. “If you attack one of our guests, the consequences will be most dire.”
“Dire consequences? I’ll show you dire consequences. My country has billions of dollars in reserves and an ocean of oil. We pledge to drop the price of oil so low that those North Sea wells you are so proud of will be worthless!”
“Economic warfare, Prince Abdul? That doesn’t seem like a diplomatic solution,” said the British ambassador. “I urge you to reconsider. This is a reckless action to have over a missing lamp.”
“It’s not a lamp, it’s an ancient glass vessel,” Prince Abdul said. He switched to Arabic and continued speaking. From the expressions of Lady Birdsong, Mike, and Manny, he wasn’t saying nice things.
“Well, if you’d be so kind as to provide a description of your missing item, we’ll put a notice on the embassy bulletin board,” offered the ambassador. “However, I can assure you that neither I nor Lady Birdsong are aware of such an item here in the embassy.”
Prince Abdul spat on the floor. “No one will enter or exit this accursed embassy until my property is returned and these criminals prosecuted under Saudi law.”
“You’ve made you point clear, Prince Abdul,” said the ambassador. “If you wish to threaten us, I’m afraid further discussion is useless. We will be sending a strongly worded message to your king. Perhaps he will be more amenable to a diplomatic solution.”
Prince Abdul stormed out, followed by Mr. Jonathan.
As he passed, he said in Fae, “Have a care, little wolf. With you stuck in here, all kinds of bad things can happen to your friends and family.”
My claws were out and halfway to his throat when Mike grabbed my arm. Mike let out a tiny grunt at the effort required to hold me back.
“Don’t do it, Luna,” he said. “Attacking him here will give them an excuse to demand you be exiled from the embassy.”
Mr. Jonathan smirked. I reached out with my left hand, faster than even Mike could intercept. Instead of clawing his face off, I grabbed his fancy silk tie, pulling it tight enough to choke.
“Can’t you do something?” I asked Mike. “Pray the asshole away?”
“Not without causing a diplomatic incident.”
One deep breath, then my shoulders slumped. Mike was right, as usual.
“Sorry, Mr. Jonathan,” I said in English. “Your tie was crooked, so I wanted to straighten it for you.”
I popped a single claw, not to slice the possessed human, but to slice his tie. The silk parted under my touch and the tie slid from Jonathan’s collar.
Jonathan took a deep breath and glared at me, baring his teeth.
“Oh look, your tie came apart. Wait a sec, I’m sure I can fix it.”
I made a slip-knot in the tie, turning it into a silken garrote. “Here, just let me get this around your neck and you’ll be all set.”
“No, thank you,” he said, stepping back quickly. “You keep it.” He raced out the door to catch up to his pet human.
The door slammed and their footsteps receded.
I sat down at the conference table and placed Jonathan’s tie in front of me.
“You two spoke Fae so quickly that I understood very little,” said Lady Birdsong.
I ignored her subtle question and said, “Could I trouble you for a sheet of linen paper?”
“Linen? Of course, we have some here.”
“Would it be possible for you to send a package via diplomatic pouch?”
Lady Birdsong leaned back and gave me the royal equivalent of Manny’s ‘what’s in it for me?’ look.
“The embassy cannot be party to the smuggling of artifacts, however acquired,” she said mildly.
“I don’t plan on smuggling artifacts, just a note and a souvenir.” I nodded to the tie.
Again with the look. Time to bargain. I reached into my invisible purse and pulled the genie bottle out. It made a solid thunk when I set it on the table. The crimson glass glittered and sparkled under the fluorescent lights.
Lady Birdsong licked her lips, unable to tear her gaze from the bottle. Her hand reached out, as if controlled by an external force. “With this, I could—”
I reached out quickly and moved the bottle a precise five inches beyond her reach.
That seemed to break her enchantment. “I believe you will find this particular bottle empty,” I said. “No genie, no three wishes, no games. It’s worthless.”
She looked disappointed. “Even without the genie, the bottle itself is priceless. The knowledge of their construction has been lost.”
Until Mason figured out how
