Tiddly Jinx (25 page)

“You never have to do anything alone, Selene. I will always be with you.” He turned me around in his arms and splayed a hand over my stomach and warmth spread throughout me. I wasn’t showing yet and the baby was much too small to feel, but I would have bet money I could feel it in that moment. I felt complete and whole, family ties rooting me to exactly where I was—where I was meant to be.

“By tomorrow, all of this will just be fading memories from another bad day,” he said.

My head fell back against his shoulder.

“What are we going to do about Frost?” he asked after a couple of moments.

I took a deep breath. “If she doesn’t attack us, we’re going to let her go.”

The rise and fall of Cheney’s breath was soothing, lulling. “What changed your mind?”

That was an excellent question. One I had no intention of answering to him or to myself. Maybe I was punishing Corbin for his threat or maybe I wasn’t—it didn’t really matter what my motivations were. In the end all that mattered was doing the right thing even if it was for the wrong reason. “We’re not cold-blooded killers and we aren’t going to become them.”

“What about Corbin?”

“If Corbin wants her dead, then he can do it himself. I don’t want to be involved in a necromancer/vampire war.”

“He could retaliate.”

“So could I.” I swallowed back my anxiety and focused on the future. “Starting tomorrow it will be all wedding plans and elections.” I tried to force the enthusiasm to replace my nerves. “Let’s get married tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Cheney came around me so that he could see my face. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.” I kissed him. I wanted to be with Cheney; I loved him. Nothing had changed. I wasn’t scared to commit or settle down with him. Corbin’s proposition made me see that clearer than I ever had before. I was going to marry Cheney and he couldn’t stop me. If I had even an inkling of luck or the universe had a moment of goodwill left in it for me, then the bond with Corbin would be broken forever. “I’ll talk to Alana this morning to make sure she can have everything together and settled by then.”

He brushed a hair from my face and kissed me again. “Are you positive you want us to still run in the election? We can still walk away.”

“That’s one thing I am absolutely positive about. If they will have us, I don’t want to walk away. We can still do so much.”

“Our lives will belong to the public.”

“There are worse things than that. I’ll get used to it.”

He settled his lips against mine again in a long, languid kiss that eased every muscle throughout my body until I was basically goo. “I never thought our fight would end like this.”

I smiled, our noses still touching. “Like what?”

“With you embracing our happily ever after.” He kissed me again, this time with more purpose, and pulled me closer to him.

I LEFT SELENE SLEEPING in our bed. Something was still wrong, but she wasn’t talking about it. Picking a fight with her was probably not the smartest thing I could have done, but the pressure was mounting and time was running out with too many unsteady pieces still in play. Sebastian and Sy met me in my office.

“We have a problem,” I told him.

“Jessica?” Sebastian asked.

“Or the vampire?” Sy added.

“Both. You might as well add in Frost, too. Selene is overwhelmed. I don’t trust any of them not to turn on us tonight. We need a plan—” My office door swung open, and Tahlik swept into the room. “Knocking is customary, Tahlik.”

“Oh, we’re all family here.” He sat down.

“Family?” Sy smirked at him. “I didn’t think you knew the meaning of that word, Tahlik. We’re sort of in the middle of something here. Cheney doesn’t have time to have his ass kissed.”

“Yes, family.” Tahlik’s eye stayed trained on me. “That’s why I’m here. If it were just business, I wouldn’t be giving you this courtesy.”

“What courtesy is that?” I kept my voice flat, bordering on bored in case Tahlik was here on a fishing expedition.

“Very well, we will dispense with pleasantries and I will get right to the point. You and my daughter will not be participating in the election. You will step aside, the sooner the better. This afternoon would be fine.”

He knew. He had to know something. If I questioned him about what he knew, I would look guilty. Ambivalence was my only armor. I laughed softly. “I appreciate your advice, but Selene and I will make our own decisions. If that’s all…” I gestured to the door.

He smiled, but didn’t move. “I know everything. Selene went to the underworld. She brought back the Pole of Charon and now our world is threatened and you,
Cheney
, are covering it up for her. If you continue, I’ll have no choice but to expose both of you to the public.”

Sy got to him first, lifting him from the chair by the throat, silver eyes flashing. “
Never
threaten Selene in front of me if you value your life.”

“We could put him in the dungeon,” Sebastian said, sounding almost bored.

“Put him down,” I said, and Sy dropped him.

The threat didn’t wipe the smile from Tahlik’s smug face as a hand went to his throat. “I have contingencies set if I do not return home. It’s time you stepped aside.”

“Oh, this is bullshit.” Sy threw up his hands and paced away.

“And for whom am I stepping aside? You?”

“Well someone has to step in. Who better than me? I have an interest in keeping my daughter’s…indiscretions quiet and protecting her as much as I can.”

“Selene’s indiscretions?” I sighed. “Where are you getting your information from, Tahlik? You must hear how absurd this sounds. How would Selene even get to the underworld and back? It isn’t possible.”

“Usually that would be true, but if you, say, knew a necromancer, as I know you do, it could perhaps be done.”

He knew everything. We were betrayed. I stood up. “I will take this into consideration.” I gestured toward the door.

Tahlik stopped halfway there and turned around. “Though racial integration will have to end someday, I do hope you stay with my daughter. It is a great comfort to know you can look past her mixed-race shortcomings. She shouldn’t be left to raise a child on her own.”

My fist smashed into his nose, blood spattering down his face and smearing on my hand, but I didn’t stop there. The more I hit him, the better I felt. Too much tension had built up inside of me, and the release of pummeling this arrogant son of a bitch clouded all rational thought. I hit him again and again. Hands grabbed at me, trying to pull me back, but I continued to swing until an arm locked around my chest, dragging me away.

Tahlik didn’t move on the floor and Sy didn’t make a move to help him. “I’m glad you did that. If he called her his daughter one more time, I would have done it myself.”

I shook Sebastian off of me and wiped the blood off my hands. “Get him out of my sight.”

“Where? We can detain him until we have a plan.” Sebastian frowned at Tahlik’s unmoving form. “I don’t know how much time that will buy him or what sort of contingency he has set up.”

There was a knock on the door before it opened again, hitting Tahlik with a soft
thump
. Selene glanced down then stopped. “Oh my God, what happened?” She knelt down beside him, feeling his pulse. “Cheney?”

“Tahlik knows. He came here to threaten us and demand we step down.”

She looked at Tahlik with a mixture of sympathy he didn’t deserve and disappointment, but not shock or hurt. “But what happened to him?”

“He went too far,” I told her, and she nodded.

“We’re trying to figure out how to stop him from talking,” Sy said. “He won’t hurt you again.”

Tahlik stirred and Selene helped him to his feet, then stuck her head out into the hallway and called for two guards. “Take him to a doctor, please.”

“You are going to regret this,” Tahlik said as the guards walked him out of the room. “I will make each of you pay.”

“Why did you let him go?” Sy asked.

Selene rolled her eyes and shook her head. “No. I’m done. No more games, no more manipulations, and no more deals. If he tells everyone, so be it. I deserve it. I’m willing to accept responsibility for my own actions.”

“He won’t talk if the two of you step down. He wants to be Erlking,” Sy said. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: who cares about the fae? They’re needy and ungrateful. Walk away”

Selene looked at me and I shrugged. “I was ready to walk away earlier. I don’t mind doing it now. Walking away doesn’t have to mean giving up, though. Sebastian can run against him.”

She looked at Sebastian and Sebastian looked back at her. They were as different as different can be, but when everything else was taken away they were both just idealists at the core. They were the last two people who would ever give up on a cause.

“Sometimes you have to know when to walk away,” Sebastian said. “Nothing is worth dying over.”

Selene closed her eyes and took my hand. “I want to continue on as we are. He’s not going to chase me away again.”

My heart broke looking at her determined, lovely face. “Once the people find out what happened they will want justice. Don’t you understand what that means?”

She nodded, her eyes soft. “I’ll accept it.” She wiped the back of her hand across her nose. “We have to come clean before Tahlik can. It will take any leverage he has over us away.”

“But how did he know?” Sebastian asked. “Someone had to have told him, and frankly there aren’t many of us who know exactly what happened.”

Selene shook her head. “I have to go talk to Alana—if you still want to marry me.”

I kissed her forehead. “I never wanted to marry you more.”

She nodded. “I will come back when I’m done with Alana and we can make our announcement.”

“Okay.” Had Selene been panicked or upset or even wishy-washy about this decision I could have argued with her. But she was serene, and looked more at peace now than she had in days.

“You can’t let her do this,” Sy said once she’d left the room.

“I agree,” Sebastian said. “We need to find out who has been talking and put an end to it.”

“What good would it do?” I asked. “Whoever it is was only telling the truth—a truth that is obviously weighing heavily on Selene’s conscience or she wouldn’t be so willing to confess. Did you see how relaxed she was when she left?” I shook my head. “Maybe she’s right. I’ve seen her escape more tight situations than any one person ever should. If anyone can come through this unscathed, it’s her.”

“Not this time.” The worry lacing Sy’s voice was tangible. “I told you what was at stake. She can’t charm them. They will end her and probably all of us for helping.” Sy paced. “There has to be a way to stop this or change her mind, and that way is going to start with finding out who betrayed us. I’ll talk to the vampire. Sebastian, you talk to Jessica, and Cheney, try to talk to Frost. They are our three most likely suspects.”

“And you really think they will just confess?” Sebastian rolled his eyes.

“No. I expect you to be persuasive.” Sy said.

“If we are going to do this, then Sebastian and I will talk to Corbin, Frost, and Jessica. You follow Tahlik. It won’t do us any good to question anyone if he beats us to the punch.”

“Fine,” Sy said, sounding very much like Selene when she wasn’t fine at all. “But do whatever it takes to resolve this. More than just lives could be lost if you fail.” He left us with his final cryptic statement still hanging in the air.

“What does that mean?” Sebastian asked.

I blew out a breath, and raised my hands in a half-hearted shrug. “Apparently their whole family is a beacon of mystery and trouble. Let’s talk to Jessica first. If she seems like herself we could use her lie-detecting abilities on the others.”

Sebastian led the way to the coven’s quarters. We found Jessica sitting on a couch flipping disinterestedly through a book. All the girls were in the room, but none of them were talking. They looked tired and nervous. When Sebastian and I walked in everyone looked up, and Katrina even rose to her feet as if she could not bear to sit still for another moment.

“Do you need us?” Devin asked.

I smiled at them, hoping to ease the tension a little. “No. I believe we have everything in hand. Right now it’s more about waiting. Selene might need your help. She wants to have the wedding tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow seems rather soon,” Leslie said with a frown on her normally happy face. “Why did she move it up?”

I decided to deflect that question as best I could. “How are you all doing? Are you getting enough rest? Do you need anything?” I asked.

“Ugh.” Katrina flopped back down on the couch. “This wait is killing me. Even the Real Housewives couldn’t take my mind off of this. Unless you can make time move faster, there’s nothing you can do to help.”

“Actually, we could use Jessica’s help with something,” Sebastian said.

Jessica looked up from the book, her eyes guarded. “With what?”

“We had a problem come up this morning and we need to interview someone. We were wondering if you could…”

The cold, withdrawn expression on her face was definitely foreign, but we had also been the ones who had imprisoned her, so it wasn’t altogether unexpected. “If I could tell you if the person is lying.”