"Kiema, how did you know that it was Smoke talking to you and not Taryk?" I asked as we watched the camera footage of Scarlet's memories again. Scarlet had gone off with the twins to do some hugging and holding. I couldn't blame any of them. "Smoke was talking to me in my head. Not really full thoughts like they would have been with Taryk, but more just grunts with cue words.""And that's not Taryk how?" Lukas asked with a smile. Taryk laughed, flipped him off. Kiema smiled. "I don't know. I just knew it wasn't actually Taryk talking to me.""Do you think he, being Smoke in this instance, knew what you wanted?"Kiema nodded. "Yeah. He knew he was hurting Scarlet and he was sorry, but he didn't know how to stop moving." She grimaced. I turned to Taryk. "Did you feel like you were in a battle with Smoke? Like wrestling for control?"He tipped his head to the side. Ran a hand over his bald pate. "Kinda. It was like he jumped to the front, like when I call him to cha

I was getting very frustrated. It was almost mid-morning and no one was yet up and around. How could these people be so lazy that they didn't start their days until the noon sun had already crested the sky?"Idiots infantile," I muttered again as I searched through the cool box that held the food. Or was supposed to hold the food. Taryk had told me last night before I went to my stone form that the ‘fridge' was next to the conference room and to help myself. Except for a wash of cold air, there was nothing to be had. Unless he thought I ate coated metal and glass for meals. Except for the brief burst of magic from one of the Directs, the night had been peaceful. I had run the Direct off and nothing else had bothered my new domicile. I'd forgotten how exciting it was to keep watch. To know I guarded the inhabitants with nothing but my magic, my wits, and my cunning. And just my luck, these inhabitants were bâtards paresseux. While we were in Faery, they had seemed noble and h

"While we're all ruminating on that lovely scene, we do still have a more immediate problem," Taryk said. "Rent boy," Lukas said. Taryk nodded. "Yeah, he's got no more power of his own. But that can mean he's even more hateful now. We'll need to watch our backs for a while.""Do we think he was the only one Hellion linked?" I asked. We all stood around in silence. Saint cleared his throat. "I guess we'll find out if one of them pops up at our door.""Let's get him out of here before everyone else starts showing up for the tribunal," Taryk said. "We don't need him sharing any plans with anyone who might still be around from IS."A whisper of magic floated over my skin. I tuned into the sensation, listened. "And that needs to be now. I think the Faeries are here."Everyone turned to look at me."What?" I rubbed my hands over my arms."How could you possibly know that, honey?" Saint asked.I shrugged. "Um, I'm walking around with enough power to be a nuclear bomb

I wiped at the tears that streamed down my face. Swimming, indeed. "Goddess Kiema, greetings from Faery," Queen Arasne said as she came to a smooth stop in front of me. She was dressed in battle gear from head to toe. Braids pulled her hair up and away from her face to have it fall in a long line down her back. Under the bright lights, I could see what looked like silver threaded through the strands. Interesting."Greetings, Queen Arasne. Welcome to Azica." I bowed to her. She returned the gesture. "If you could point us to our lodgings, we will begin training with you. Many of our younger recruits are quite anxious to begin." She rolled her eyes. "Youth...always rushing headlong into danger."I smiled. "I think that's a trait of most men as well."Arasne snorted softly. "Indeed. I put the call out to my people. We've had record breaking enrollment for recruits. Graysten is quite beside himself on how to train so many in so short a time.""Well, I'm the only one

A distant bell rang somewhere in the building, stopping whatever it was I was going to say. I looked around the room. "What was that?"Saint's brow furrowed. "The building doorbell for lack of a better term. It goes off if the door doesn't open within a certain amount of time after being rung the first time." He looked down at his nakedness. Looked back up at me. One eyebrow raised. "Little help, please?"I smiled and dressed him with a thought. I gave Ransom a shirt as well since he'd sacrificed his own to cover my ass on the frantic run to the warehouse. We all left the fifth level and went to the elevator. Ransom pulled his phone from his pocket. After he tapped a couple buttons, he lifted the phone up and out from his body. "Hello. We're coming down. Who are you?" he asked. I shifted to look into the screen. A small group of men were waiting near the front business entrance door. The man in the front of the group jumped when Ransom's voice filtered out. He looked