Blood Kin (24 page)

“Bard?”

“The ring, the snake, I recognize them.”

“You do?” Rhys stood and rejoined us. “Gareth, do you know this man?”

“Sidhe,” I insisted and looked at Gareth. “How do you know him?”

“About forty years ago, this very bard was at our home. Don’t you remember, Rhys?”

Rhys studied the man’s battered face again, a look of concentration on his own. A slow shake of his head, then: “I’m not at all sure that I do.”

Gareth replied, “He came with the envoys one year. Gigi had come to Canada for the summer that year because of a heat wave in Texas. It was before you were born, Keira. I think that may have been when Gigi was buying more land, I can’t remember exactly, I was young—and honestly, I was busy chasing Megan.”

“And catching her.” Rhys poked Gareth in the side.

“Giving me a good excuse for not being able to remember every detail, but you should. Weren’t you there?”

Rhys thought a moment. “I honestly don’t remember him,” he said. “You sure it was me that saw him?”

“I guess it could’ve been Ianto,” Gareth said. “The bard sang for us a couple of times after the day’s meetings.”

“Probably Ianto, then,” said Rhys. “Tucker and I were pretty much relegated to being Gigi’s errand boys during that Summit—including during the entertainment. I don’t think I saw any of the bards.”

“Hello? Little sister here,” I interrupted. “Are you all telling me this Sidhe was someone involved with Gigi?”

“I don’t know if I’d use the word involved exactly,” Gareth said. “But yeah, I’m pretty damned sure this guy was in the entourage.”

“Whose entourage?”

“The Unseelie Court’s.”

I stepped back, stumbling over some trash. Rhys caught my arm. Pressure began to seep through my
shields, the power pushing past my defenses as I tried to catch my breath. That couldn’t be. I started to pant, fight against the pervasive thrum, to gather my wild thoughts, to push back the memories that threatened to escape. I couldn’t catch a breath, was suffocating, air, I needed—

The darkness of the caves surrounds me, the light of my small candle a pitiful measure against it. I make my way down the corridor, to my rooms, needing to hide. They’d been talking of me again, using words I didn’t understand. Sending representatives, my mother had said.

“Entourage,” Geraint said. “We did that before. So did our Unseelie brethren. Look where that got us. A sickly child with no magicks. The other one, Drystan’s son, what do you know of him?”

My mother whispered words I could barely hear. “He is strong.”

Geraint had snorted at her whispers. “So we are the losers in this arrangement, then.” My mother had mewled at this.

“You cannot know, Geraint. It is still early. She is young.”

“She is useless.”

“Keira, what is it?” Rhys put his arm around my waist. I came back to myself, to the present, with a gasp.

“Let’s get her out of here,” Gareth said. “We’ve seen enough.”

My entire body was shaking by the time they led me outside and into the fresh air. Gareth said something I didn’t catch to the police officers as we passed by. The men led me back to the bench where I’d sat before. Luckily, no one was sitting there. I sank down onto the seat, grateful for the support. Rhys sat next to me, keeping his arm around me.

“Was it the power?” Rhys asked, keeping his voice low and steady.

“No, not …” I leaned into him and buried my face in his shoulder. I didn’t want to remember, but the combination of the dead Sidhe’s power plus hearing that word, entourage, had triggered a memory I’d suppressed for decades.

“Vision?” Gareth prodded.

“No. Memory,” I answered, my voice muffled as I kept my face where it was. Rhys was slighter and shorter than Tucker, but his shoulders were plenty broad for me to use as an anchor. He tightened the hug and let me stay there for a few minutes. Neither man spoke as they let me compose myself.

“It hurt,” I said finally, raising my head and looking at them both. Gareth squatted next to the bench, a worried frown echoing that of Rhys.

“The power hurt you?” Gareth stood and sat next to me, his hand on my arm.

“No. It—when you spoke about the entourage, the Unseelie Court, I remembered something I’d overheard as a child.” I forced another deep breath. My heart raced every time my thoughts went back there. If I’d been human, I’d be in dire need of therapy. I’d never dealt with the emotions caused by my first seven years. Never wanted to. The events of these past several days kept dredging them up, though, calling up memories I’d kept buried successfully for most of my life.

“My mother and Geraint talking about an entourage, about Drystan’s son, about how …” Useless. Say it, Keira, how absolutely less than useless your own mother thought you.

“Drystan’s son?” Rhys stiffened and pulled away from me. “Are you sure that’s what you heard, Keira?”

“Yeah, why?” I looked at my brother, puzzled by his reaction. Granted, I’d been practically bawling on him a moment ago, but I was sure that wasn’t why he was acting this way.

“Drystan is Gideon’s father’s name.”

“I
T TOTALLY IS NOT
,” I said hotly. “His father is named Tris—oh, bloody hells.” His name was Tristan. Drystan was—duh—the Welsh version of the same name. In Latin it was Drustanus. Name of a character in Arthurian legend who was a trickster, possible shapeshifter, and oh, my freaking insane world had done a leap into ridiculousness.

“Are you telling me that Gideon, my Gideon, the man I once—he’s half Sidhe? Like me?” Was everyone I knew Sidhe? Okay, not everyone—only the only two men I’d ever been in love with. Like that wasn’t more than enough.

“I can’t tell you that, sis, but I do know that someone named Drystan used to come visit Gigi and at some point, I learned that he was Gideon’s father. I never actually met him; neither did any of our brothers, as I recalled. Wasn’t all that curious, to tell the truth. I really was never interested in Gigi’s political machinations, but this—” Rhys motioned toward the building across the street, where the coroner’s van was pulling away. “This leads me to believe that something is going on and Gigi needs to know about it. What’s the likelihood that this unnamed Sidhe shows up in Vancouver the exact same time that the new Clan heir arrives? At first, I was ready to blow off the whole mystery Sidhe business as a fluke, but this … now?”

Clan heir. He meant me. Oh, crap. The clue bat smacked me upside the head. This wasn’t necessarily a weird Gigi thing, it could very well be a weird
me
thing. That Sidhe, the Unseelie bard, could have been here to find me. Why, I had no idea, but it couldn’t be for a good reason. The Seelie and Unseelie Courts had long since been, if not enemies exactly, then at least rivals. Battles fought for dominance filled legendary stories and songs. Not all of them were only stories. In fact, most of them were based on reality, only it was a reality known to few humans these days. I had to admit that in spite of my own gene pool, I’d been woefully ignorant of any of this until we’d studied Malory and Marlowe in high school. Bea was the one who had been excited about the stories and she did an extra credit paper. Helping her research, I’d run across names I vaguely recognized; Sidhe who still lived Underhill. But I didn’t mention it to Bea. She had enough to accept about my father’s family who lived right there in Hill Country. I wasn’t about to tell her I was a faery. Even researching the paper had become another set of memories to repress. Way to rock, Keira. Motivated suppression of childhood trauma was one thing. Disassociating something as mild as Bea’s high school paper? I was beginning to think I was definitely a better candidate for the loony bin than the heir to a lot of Clan responsibility.

“I think we need to call Gigi and get her down here sooner than later,” Rhys said. “Or we should hightail it out of here and go on up to the enclave. Can you get Liz back?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “But you’re right; much as I don’t want to involve Gigi, I think we have to.”

“Sensible girl.” Rhys patted my head.

“Not sensible, just hella freaked out,” I replied. “There
is so much about this whole thing that I don’t like. If this Sidhe came to find me, what was he doing here?” I waved my hand around, indicating the neighborhood. “Not likely to find me among the city’s homeless population. It’s not like we’re completely unfindable. I know a holding company is listed as our building’s owner, but I’m pretty sure that you can call directory assistance and get the phone number for the penthouse. We may be hidden, but we’re not
hiding
.”

“He’s a bard, aunt,” Gareth pointed out. “There’s a music festival. If he were lost, or even just happened by, it would be difficult for him to ignore the music. Or he might even have added it to his intended agenda. Music is what he is—was—and what he
did
.”

“Okay, makes sense,” I conceded. “That said, why’s he dead? It’s not exactly easy to kill one of them.”

“That, my dear sister,” Rhys said, “is precisely the point.”

“And that’s my job.” Gareth stood up. “I need to go do it. Rhys, why don’t you take Keira back to the condo and I’ll come there when I’ve checked in at the police station. I want to read the witness reports, check with Dr. Woo and see what’s what.”

“We should help you,” I protested.

“You can’t,” he said bluntly. “It’s one thing to have you at the scene as investigators, but another thing entirely to have you at the police station. You’d need actual ID for that and frankly, although I’m sure we could get it, we could not get it immediately. Even if we could, I don’t think it’s wise. You’ve been through a lot, Keira, and you need to rest. You’ve not slept, am I right?”

“I have,” I protested.

“But you got hit with some weird power whammy,”
Gareth said. “You look tired—exhausted. Go back to the condo and get some rest. Tell the rest of your group what’s been going on. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Gareth, there’s one more thing,” Rhys said. “Daffyd, Seelie Sidhe cousin on Keira’s side. He’s gone missing … sort of.”

“Sort of how?”

Rhys quickly explained.

“Damn it, Rhys,” Gareth said. “I’m not fond of coincidence and the fact that a member of the Seelie Court is here in town at the same time one from the Unseelie is found murdered—well, it bears looking into. I’ll be asking him a few questions myself.”

“Once we find him,” I said. “He’s been gone a while.”

“I don’t like this,” said Gareth. “Two High Court Sidhe in Vancouver at the same time. Both on opposite sides, rivals. Both wandering the city alone.”

“Keira, do you think Daffyd could have something to do with the death of this other Sidhe?” Rhys asked.

I thought about Rhys’ question a moment. Could he? I had only known of him for a few days. He’d been watching me for decades.

“It’s possible,” I said. “He seems a quiet, gentle type, but he did kill someone—a human man. On my behalf.”

Gareth’s eyebrows raised. “Here?”

“No, at the Wild Moon, in Texas,” I said. “Long story short, the man was trying to kill my best friend. Daffyd took him so neither I nor Tucker had to.” Daffyd had killed other humans, too, in order to survive. No reason to bring that up to Gareth right now.

“Ah. Interesting.” Gareth checked his watch. “It’s getting late,” he said. “Nearly ten. I think I’ll come back to the condo with you instead of going to the station. I’ll have
Officer Dean fax me the statements and coroner’s report there. I’d like to talk to your vampire—the Unseelie Sidhe one, see if he can shed any light on this.”

“T
HEY’RE NOT
here?” Rhys’s voice was getting louder. “Tucker, what the—” We’d arrived at the condo to find Adam and Niko gone. “Did you not think to keep them here?”

“I told you both this before about Daffyd, and I will say it again.” Tucker spoke calmly. “I am not their keeper. Adam and Niko are both adult beings fully capable of taking care of themselves—like Daffyd. If they want to wander about the city, why on earth should I care to stop them?”

“That’s not the problem,” I butted in. “There’s a new situation.” I quickly explained.

Tucker let out a breath with a whoosh. “Damn it, you three, why in all the hells didn’t you call me? They only left about half an hour ago. If you’d used your brains—and your cells—I’d have kept them here.”

Fuck. He was right. We’d all failed. “Damn it, I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t think. How stupid can three people be … including a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”

“Now, Keira, that’s unfair,” Tucker said. “Gareth had no way of knowing. Nor did you all,” he admitted. “Sorry back at you. I overreacted.”

“Did they say where they were going?”

Tucker shook his head. “No idea. They said they wanted to wander about some and that they’d be back.” He gave me a solemn look. “Keira, no doubt they wanted time alone—to talk. After everything Adam told us, and Niko’s past, there’s a lot there to work out. I’d have done the same in Niko’s place.”

My brother, as per usual, was more than right. “Yeah, I suppose,” I agreed. “I just wish that they were here, in light of what we’ve found.”

“Speaking of calling—we can always call Adam on
his
cell phone and see where they are. Tell them what’s going on. I’d like them both in on this, too.” Tucker, at least, was thinking now.

“Why don’t we all calm down and have something to eat,” Gareth said, playing the voice of reason. “I don’t know about you all, but I’m starving. Is there any food in this place?”

“Tons,” said Rhys. “I had groceries delivered earlier. Help yourself. I’m going to go shower. Would someone brew up some coffee?”

“I’ll do that,” said Tucker. “Keira, you look wiped. Why don’t you go rest for a while? Gareth can call his headquarters while I put together some food and then we’ll eat and figure out what to do next. There’s no sense going off half-crazy trying to find Daffyd again—or even asking Niko and Adam to—we haven’t exactly gotten anywhere with that.”

“I could always call Daffyd in as a person of interest,” Gareth said. “Get the PD to help look for him.”