Gloria walked out carrying a tray with a pitcher of orange juice and three glasses. Belatedly, I saw the fourth tiny glass for Finn, and I smiled up at the poodle shifter, grateful that she’d heard us from the kitchen. Trying to appear casual, I resituated Finn’s table and chair closer to me. As Gloria removed my coffee mug and Finn’s tea cup, I introduced her, not surprised when neither did more than give her a cursory glance.
From one corner of my eye I caught sight of Sebastian’s dark form lounging in the shadows of the dining room doorway. Dorn spotted him, too, his eyes narrowing slightly as he scanned the rest of the windows and doorways.
“I’ll take it from here, Gloria. Thank you.” She dipped her head, catching my eye briefly before turning back to the house. She would be keeping an eye and both ears on us, I knew. Sarah and Michael likely already were. Looking out toward the stables, I was mildly surprised that the horse shifters and Rand weren’t making their way across the yard. Despite not having heard the two approach, I knew I was well-protected from nearly every quarter, though I was pretty sure I didn’t need said protection for whatever this was.
I reached out and poured two glasses of juice, sliding one of them over to Arella. Raising my brow at Dorn, I waited for his response. He gave a slight shake of his head and then went back to watching the area around us. He must be on bodyguard duty for this visit. I filled Finn’s small glass and set it in front of him. He looked relaxed, so I took my cue from him.
“Was that you I saw in the water this morning?” I asked, taking a sip of my juice.
She pursed her lips and nodded. I waited, but she didn’t say anything more. Okay, then. This was going to be quite the one-sided conversation. I tried to gauge her. She didn’t seem angry, she seemed . . . worried. Or maybe just timid. For a second, I wished Tess was out here with us. She could draw almost anyone out of their shell. Since it was just me, I decided to be more direct.
“So is this simply a friendly introductory visit, since we weren’t properly introduced this morning?”
She looked back at Dorn, who nodded to her encouragingly. When she spoke, her words were not only heavily accented, but halting, as if speaking were difficult for her. “My people need your help. The pixies,” she glanced fleetingly at Finn, “you help them, yes?”
In spite of the accent, her voice was soft, hardly louder than a whisper. I had to focus hard to catch each word.
“What kind of help?”
She frowned, lowering her eyes. “Our children, they go missing. They were . . . taken.” She slapped the table, looking frustrated. When she raised her eyes back to mine, there were anguished tears in them. “Stolen.”
What? I thought back to the conversation with the water fae this morning. The king had mentioned problems with fertility and other issues, but he’d said nothing about stolen children.
“I don’t understand.”
Arella looked torn. “My king, he is too proud to ask for help. I am not.”
I recalled Olen’s urgency this morning. No wonder he’d been in such a hurry to get back to the water. “What happened and when? Do you have any idea who took them? How many have gone missing?”
Arella motioned impatiently to Dorn. “Three,” he answered. “I’m sorry, but my queen still has some difficulty with this way of speaking.” The woman’s eyes remained on my face as Dorn spoke. “It happened two days ago. The incident was made to look like the children had wandered too close to the shoreline and . . .” he trailed off at Arella’s broken sob. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure you can figure out the rest. There was blood. From the scent of it, it was one of the children’s blood, but there wasn’t enough of it to account for an alligator or other predator. You must realize that our young are trained from a very early age to avoid areas where predators are known to dwell. We have several safe areas along the banks, both within and just outside your protection, that are heavily patrolled. We are vigilant in keeping it clear of anything large enough to be a threat to our young and our youngest are never unsupervised. These children were old enough to go for short periods without supervision. They know the dangers. All three have accompanied our adults out to the ocean more than once, to acclimate their systems to the sea water. We have no idea who could have taken them without leaving some sign behind. Our warriors have scoured the entire area and found nothing. There were no scents other than those of the children. The king still searches.”
That must have been the urgent matter he had to leave to attend to. Why hadn’t he said anything to us then? My throat tight, I asked, “How old were—are the children?”
It was Arella who answered. “Two are four years old. The third child, Kylen, is almost six. He is my sister’s child.”
My heart skipped a beat. That was so young, for all of them. But how could I possibly help? Especially in the water? I could barely do more than dog paddle. When Sam and I used to kayak, I was never without a life jacket, just for that reason alone. Now Sam? She could swim like she was born to the water. Tess was a pretty good swimmer, too.
Arella tapped Dorn’s hand, moving her fingers so rapidly, I could
