Grave Ransom Read online

  Falin stared at me, and then he shook his head. He sank down into one of the overstuffed chairs. “Only you,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “You’ve put me in a terrible position.”

  “You? How does this have anything to do with you?” Me, yeah. I was in a bit of an ugly spot. But what did it have to do with him? “I’ve seen absolutely no connection to any fae or to Faerie in this case.”

  He frowned at me. “You. You’re the connection, Alex. You’re an independent in Winter’s territory, and an asset the queen still plans to exploit if she can. My job is to protect her interests, which means I really should take you into custody right now and drag you to Faerie until things cool off in the mortal realm.”

  I gaped at him. He just sat there, studying me. When he didn’t immediately follow through on those threats, I crossed the space and sank into one of the other chairs.

  “So . . .” I started, but I’d had a few too many shocks in the last few minutes, and my brain wasn’t coming up with anything clever to say.

  Falin leaned back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair again. It was starting to look rather mussed. He still wore that same pinched expression, and I decided it was worry mixed with exhaustion. He was my friend. But he was also the head of the FIB and the queen’s bloody hands. If she gave him a direct command, he couldn’t disobey.

  “How long before the queen is likely to hear about this?” I asked, because the silence was getting thick.

  “I’m not sure. The situation in Faerie is . . . tumultuous. She’s currently rather distracted by potential threats from other courts. She might not hear about what is happening here for a few days, if you’re lucky.”

  So he wasn’t going to act on his own. That was good.

  “I’m surprised you’re out here if it’s that bad,” I said, and he just looked at me. “Crap. You’re not working in Nekros, are you? You go off fighting her duels and whatever other dirty work she has and then head back here for supper, don’t you?”

  And with the way the doors to Faerie worked, as long as he got the timing right, he could spend days at a time in Faerie doing whatever the queen needed while only a few hours passed in the mortal realm. No wonder he’d looked so exhausted most nights. I’d foolishly thought that the queen had forgotten to lift the proclamation that forced him to live in my home. That he was working with the FIB in Nekros and the queen hadn’t questioned where he was living. But if he was in Faerie on court business regularly, she clearly was still sending him back each mortal night to keep an eye on her “asset.” Me.

  “Given the change in circumstance,” he said, after another silence stretched a little too long again, “it might be prudent if I stay on your side of the door for the next few days.”

  “I’m guessing you don’t mean in your office at FIB headquarters,” I said, sinking lower into my chair. He shook his head and I sighed. “So you’ll be what, my bodyguard? My keeper? My parole officer waiting for me to step over the line?”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “You’re right, it’s not.” I pushed up out of the chair. “Because if it were Caleb, or Malik, or any other independent fae who had wound up on the news, you wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  He didn’t stand when I did, which irritated me. It was hard to kick someone out who was still sitting.

  Instead, he very calmly, but a little too quietly, said, “You’re right. I wouldn’t be having this conversation. I wouldn’t be having it because I would have sent agents to pick him up and take him to Faerie. No questions asked. No options offered. But I try very hard to help you safeguard your freedom.”

  I faltered, my body already half turned so that I could storm to the door and tell him to leave. But he was right. I collapsed back into my seat, feeling like an ass. Falin usually pushed the limits of the queen’s rules for me when he could. I knew that for a fact. He was here offering me help and protection instead of doing what would ensure the best interests of the queen like he was supposed to, and I was acting like a jerk.

  “It’s been a really long day,” I said by way of apology.

  He nodded, dismissing my outburst. Forgiven and forgotten without even a word. Yeah, I felt like even more of an ass.

  “Are you planning to answer that phone?”

  I glanced down, as if I could have seen the phone in my back pocket through my own hips. It had more or less been singing my generic ringtone the entire time Falin had been in the room.

  When it was clear I wasn’t going to answer him or the phone, Falin said, “Why not turn it off then?”

  “I might miss something important. If Briar calls, I need to answer it or she might show up at the house again. Or Tamara could call with an emergency. I don’t know. It’s a cell phone. It feels wrong to have it off.”

  The look he gave me clearly said, But it’s okay to not answer it?

  “Maybe you should get a private personal line. One that doesn’t come up in a simple Internet search of your name.”

  “You mean one of those pay-in-advance unlisted phones? What do they call those in movies, burner phones? Yeah, that would be good. Next time I plan to become unexpectedly infamous, I’ll do that.”

  The phone started a new chorus of the song again. It really was getting annoying.

  “So why did the MCIB investigator decide to throw you to the news wolves and make you the obvious target for whoever is animating corpses?”

  I shook my head. “I was supposed to be her lead, and I didn’t pan out, apparently. So she found another way.”

  “This sounds like a healthy working relationship.”

  “Right? Maybe she’s crazy.” I leaned back in the chair and let my head rest on the back until I was staring at the ceiling. “She’s just going to love you joining the investigation. Not sure how I’ll explain that.”

  “She’s clearly already reached her own conclusions. I can play the concerned boyfriend.”

  I looked over at him and frowned. He shrugged, but there was the smallest teasing smile at the edge of his lips. That was way too dangerous of a topic to touch, so I let it drop.

  We sat without speaking for a few minutes, the only sound the incessant singing of my phone. Finally, Falin stood and headed toward the door.

  “Dinner should be laid out by now, are you coming down?”

  The muffin I’d eaten earlier was still a leaden weight rolling around my twisting stomach. I knew I needed to eat. I’d been in enough shit-hitting-the-fan situations to know you grabbed food when it was available because you might be running for your life later and not have time. But I didn’t feel up to it yet.

  “You go ahead.”

  He paused, the door half open, and turned back to me. His expression was serious again, any hint of teasing or amusement gone. “You won’t leave the castle without me tomorrow, right?”

  I nodded, fishing the still-singing phone from my pocket and searching the settings. I’d read something once about a do-not-disturb feature that would only ring if particular numbers called . . .

  “Alex,” Falin said, still standing in the open door. “I’m serious. This hidden folded space is probably safe enough, but if you leave, I should be with you. If the situation gets too bad, I’ll have no choice but to take you to Faerie. I know you want to avoid that.”

  I did. I held up my hands in mock surrender, but I was very serious when I said, “I won’t leave without you.” Then I thought about something else. “Do you not want me to go to the house alone either? I mean, the wards will warn us if anyone tries to break in.” And would stop most people meaning us ill will, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think wards were impossible to get around. They’d definitely be a deterrent, though.

  “Hang out in an empty house alone on the same night your name gets splashed all over the news? Probably not the best plan.”

  Maybe true,
but a totally sucky turn of events. I needed to go back to the house and spend some time on my computer now that my eyes had improved enough to focus on the screen.

  “It’s only been, what, an hour? The news didn’t flash my address, so it would take a little while to figure out where I live. And that’s even assuming the necromancer saw the broadcast.”

  Falin just frowned at me, the skepticism clear on his face. I frowned back. Yes, the broadcast made me a target if the witch wanted revenge for losing his walking dead, but I doubted he’d come after me tonight.

  The thoughts must have been clear on my face, because after a moment Falin sighed and offered me a compromise. “I have some work to do that would benefit from electricity and a reliable Internet signal as well. Let’s go eat. After dinner we can both go to the house.”

  Which was probably the best I could hope for.

  • • •

  Dinner was awkward, to say the least. Holly and Caleb joined us soon after we reached the dining room. Once the topic of the news report had been discussed to death, it then became this awkward elephant in the room that continued to shadow the mood of dinner but that no one was actively talking about. I choked down as much of my food as I could, but my stomach felt knotted too tight to eat a full meal.

  Falin and I left before Rianna and Desmond even made it to the table.

  It was actually more comfortable once it was only Falin and me again, despite the fact that he was the one who could decide at any moment the danger had gotten too high and drag me to Faerie for my own protection. Maybe it was because he didn’t waste time asking me how I thought this would affect Tongues for the Dead or what I would do if the necromancer tracked me down. He just walked with me back to the house and silently pulled out his laptop as I hooked up my own. He had my back, and for now, that was enough.

  We worked in amiable silence for several hours. I spent my time searching for information about the walking dead and necromancy. Most of it was useless fiction or folklore. I did find a couple of press releases from the MCIB, though most dealt with ghouls, which weren’t the type of dead thing we had here. I found very little information on necromancy, as animating corpses was illegal, so what I could find that sounded legitimate was vague at best.

  In the immediate aftermath of the Magical Awakening, grave magic had been viewed as no better than necromancy, but the key differences had eventually led to the legalization of grave magic while necromancy was condemned. The biggest deciding factor was likely that grave magic was a wyrd magic, and like any other wyrd magic, the users couldn’t avoid using it. The magic wasn’t learned, it wasn’t a choice. It could be directed, but it still had to be used. So, the OMIH had taken the grave witches in, given us a strict legal and moral code to follow, and certified us to practice. Necromancy, on the other hand, was a purely witch magic. It had to be learned and practiced to have a chance at results. Teaching it was illegal, as was practicing on corpses—human or animal. Of course, being illegal didn’t mean it never cropped up, but it did mean that no practical information on how it worked was available online. Not anywhere I knew how to get to anyway.

  I poked around the Dead Club Forums a little, but again, I couldn’t find anything that shed light on what we might be dealing with. Maybe Briar and the MCIB had some top-secret research banks that would provide more information than the general public could access? I dug out my phone, considering calling her, but a glance at the display told me I’d been online a lot longer than I’d thought. It was late. Too late to call with anything short of an emergency, and even if she did answer, I shouldn’t start a new line of research tonight. Who knew what tomorrow would hold? I needed sleep to let my body and my magic recover from the overuse I’d been asking of them the last few days.

  “I’m heading back to the castle,” I said, standing. Falin closed his laptop, turning, and I frowned at him. “You can keep working. I can make it back alone.”

  “I’m done anyway.”

  I shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  We packed up and turned off the lights, heading back to the castle. Falin walked me all the way to my room and even opened the outer door for me.

  “Door-to-door service? Don’t you think this is a little bit of an overreaction?”

  Falin only smiled. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Then he turned and walked away. On the plus side, at least he hadn’t insisted on standing watch while I slept. Shaking my head, I stepped into my room, shutting the door behind me by shoving it with my foot.

  I’d just knelt to greet PC when I realized I wasn’t alone.

  I didn’t scream, but it was a near thing. I did jump, but I knew the figure standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed over his chest. Knew him intimately.

  “You startled me,” I said, straightening and trying not to look flustered.

  “Guilty conscience?” Death asked it with a smile, his voice light, but it still struck me as a real question.

  “Long day.”

  He nodded toward the door. “What was that about?”

  I set the laptop down on a small end table. “The case I’m working got dangerous, so now I have a babysitter.” I shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but the look on Death’s face was equal parts concern for me, and what I guessed was distaste for Falin. Annoyance bubbled up in me at his jealousy. After all, I had no idea where he went or with whom, but I wasn’t jealous. He visited when he could, which usually wasn’t often, and I couldn’t even contact him. Oh, but he had a freaking tracking spell on me—a fact we mostly glossed over and that I force-categorized under “a good thing” as it allowed him to find me since I couldn’t locate him. And yet he was judging who was watching my back when he wasn’t around?

  “Did you find out something new about the ghosts navigating the bodies?” I asked, hearing the edge in my own voice.

  “I didn’t come to talk about your case,” he said, stepping toward me. The smoldering grin he shot me normally would have weakened my knees, but today I wasn’t feeling it.

  “I’m tired,” I said, stepping around the arms that reached for me.

  “What happened today? Are you okay?”

  I whirled around to face him. “What, because I don’t want to have sex whenever you decide to come around, something must be wrong?” If I had slapped him, he couldn’t have looked more surprised. Or hurt. I took a deep breath. “That was uncalled for,” I said, forcing my features to soften, to convey the apology I wasn’t saying. “Like I said, it was a long day.”

  “Want to talk about it?” He stepped toward me again, more tentatively, as if I were some delicate creature that might fall apart if he was too aggressive. I was feeling rather fragile at the moment, so maybe he wasn’t completely wrong.

  I met him halfway, accepting the embrace and the chaste kiss he offered. But when I stepped back to gaze up into those worried hazel eyes, I said, “I actually don’t want to talk about it right now. I’m honestly exhausted.”

  “Okay, but I’m here until I get called away again. May I hold you at least?”

  I nodded. I was emotionally and physically over this day, but being held sounded nice. I led him to my bedroom and then quickly changed into the pajamas laid out on my nightstand.

  True to his word, he held me, but less true to mine, I found myself talking.

  “I saw animal ghosts today. And an animal soul collector. He looked like a giant raven.” A yawn forced my jaw to crack open. Death didn’t say anything, just stroked my hair with one hand as he held me close. I found myself telling him about the clearing, about what I’d seen. And about what I’d done. He was my closest friend. My confidant. It felt right to share with him my fears, my self-revulsion, and my concerns about Briar’s little bait plan. He didn’t interrupt but murmured soft, mostly nonsensical sounds of comfort. Listening, and letting me get it all out. I’d barely finished the story when he k
issed me, his irises spinning with a kaleidoscope of colors.

  “You have to go,” I whispered.

  He nodded and kissed me again.

  “You should rest,” he whispered. Then he was gone.

  Chapter 17

  I woke to the sound of sirens.

  It was still dark outside my window, and I was alone in my bed aside from my dog. PC stood on the pillow beside my head, his ears pressed against his head as he whined about the sound. A light flashed on my dresser, and I scrambled out of bed, stumbling across the room to find the source of the light and sound.

  The small glass orb Caleb had given me proved to be the source of both. Yesterday, when Briar had been at the door, the sphere had glowed a soft yellow. I was guessing flashing and blaring sirens were not indications of anything good.

  In the hallway, I discovered I wasn’t the only one who’d been startled awake by the ward alarms. It was like a small flash mob of people holding blinking orbs had formed in the castle foyer. The sound that had been obnoxious and startling in my room was deafening when combined with three other wailing spheres.

  “You all had to bring them with you, didn’t you?” Caleb yelled above the din. Out of Falin, Rianna, Holly, him, and me, Caleb was the only one who wasn’t clutching a madly flashing glass ball. Of course, he and Holly shared a suite of rooms, so they probably only had the one between them.

  Caleb walked over to each of us in turn, touching the spheres we held and muttering under his breath. Magic snapped in the air, and one by one, the orbs fell silent, though they kept flashing, the eerie red light bathing the gray stone of the castle.

  “Does this mean someone attacked the wards on the house?” I asked, once only the hollow after-echo of the sirens remained.

  Caleb shook his head. “An attack on the wards would get an alarm and orange flashing. Red means someone made it through.”

  We all turned in the direction of the castle door, as if we could see through it and over the distance of the folded space to the house beyond.