The Bitter Seed of Magic

Chapter Forty

I lifted my lips in an equally sardonic smile. ‘I hope you’re enjoying my hospitality?’

‘I believe I would enjoy it even more if you were to make it less restricting.’ Pinpricks of power flared for a second in his dark eyes and I had to stifle the urge to go to him.

‘That’s not something I’m prepared to do just yet,’ I said, in a reasonable tone, ignoring the nervous itch pricking down my spine. ‘First, I want to negotiate a deal.’

His lips quirked. ‘What if I do not wish to negotiate?’

‘Do you remember what I once said to you if you refused?

‘Yes.’ The word slipped like cool silk over my skin. Mesma. My pulse sped.

‘Same thing still applies, Malik: if you’re not willing to negotiate, then I will kill you.’ Always supposing I can, I added silently.

‘How could I forget such a promise, Genevieve?’ he said softly. ‘In truth, I was surprised to wake and discover myself not only undamaged, but also somewhat protected.’

My eyes flickered to his foot. The burn wound was gone. Briefly I wondered how he’d healed it without blood. And how hungry he might be. Still, not my problem—yet.

He carried on, ‘Threats lose their force if one does not intend to carry them through to their logical conclusion, Genevieve.’

‘Your death wasn’t the most logical conclusion … this time,’ I said in a flat voice, then added with a cheerful note, ‘Nothing personal, of course.’

‘No, I imagine it was not.’ He smiled, flashing fang. ‘Of course, with me gone there would be none to stand between the vampires and the fae.’

‘That was a consideration,’ I said drily. ‘But there’ll come a time when the fae no longer need your protection, Malik. Then I will make it personal.’

‘Ah, but then there would also be none to stand between your sweet blood and the Autarch.’

I strangled my instinctive terror before it could take hold. ‘I’ll take my chances.’

Something dangerous surfaced in the dark depths of his eyes. ‘Do not fool yourself that because the Autarch ignores you now he has forgotten you.’

‘Don’t worry, I hold no illusions about the Autarch,’ I said, ‘just as I no longer hold any illusions about you.’

He arched a brow. ‘I could order you to take down the Ward, Genevieve.’

‘You could, but to do that, I’d have to physically pass through it.’ I lifted my hands to indicate the silent, watchful trolls either side of me. ‘My friends here have been ordered not to let me.’

‘It seems I am destined to stay here in your bed then.’ He stretched, raising his hands above his head, and a darkness of a different kind swam in his eyes.

I stared, transfixed, as lean, hard muscle moved under his pale, perfect skin. Lust coiled in my stomach, need throbbed between my legs and images flashed in my mind about how pleasurable ‘staying in my bed’ could be. I curled my fingers into fists, digging my nails into my palms, and used the brief pain to drive him out of my head.

He sighed, the sound lancing like sharp sorrow into my heart. ‘Despite your assertion that you do not want me here.’

I wanted him, needed him, needed to go to him—

Two weighty hands descended on my shoulders, holding me in place. I blinked and took a shaky breath. I scrubbed my hands over my face. Damn vamp nearly had me that time. I let the two constables know that it was okay to let me go.

‘Maybe you should be more concerned about what you want than about what I don’t,’ I said, struggling to keep my voice level. ‘Now let’s see, what was it? Oh yes, “My value lies in being alive, uninjured, and not in the possession of a vampire”.’ I quoted his words back at him. ‘“By agreeing to keep me that way, you gain a powerful ally in the kelpie”.’ I smiled, baring my teeth. ‘Where do you suppose Tavish stands on me being in the possession of a witch?’

He stilled. ‘Why?’

‘One of them tried to kidnap me today.’

‘The attempt was not successful.’

‘Obviously not. But the next one will be. I’ve made sure of it.’

He moved, too fast to see, and was standing in the doorway, hands braced against the wooden jamb, staring at me, his gaze intense.

I took half a step back before I could stop myself, then gritted my teeth and put my foot where it had been. I stared back at him.

‘Explain, Genevieve.’

The order clamped round my mind like a steel trap and it took everything I had not to babble uncontrollably. Instead I forced myself to calmly tell him the whole story, along with Hugh’s proposal to flush Victoria Harrier out to get answers and enough evidence to get a search warrant to find the missing faelings. I left out one, small pertinent detail: that it wasn’t going to be me as the sacrificial kidnap victim, but my doppelgänger.

‘Of course,’ I said finally, ‘you could order me not to get kidnapped, but …’ I looked to the two troll constables standing stoically either side of me. ‘I’ve already agreed to the plan. It will go ahead with or without my cooperation. So you see, it’s going to be difficult for you to keep your valuable property safe when that happens. Especially if you’re still stuck in my bed.’

Malik folded his arms nonchalantly across his chest. ‘If you have already agreed to the plan, why are you here?’

‘Two reasons. The first is this.’ I held up Helen Crane’s note, or rather, the copy Hugh had given me.

Malik read it, then gave me his usual impassive stare. ‘Continue, Genevieve.’

‘Agree to help me with this, and I will give you my word that I won’t let the police use me as bait for Victoria Harrier. I will also give you my word I won’t try and kill you for a period of one year, or until the fertility curse is cracked, whichever comes first.’

‘An incentive to sweeten the deal.’ His mouth lifted in amusement. ‘How interesting. I could, of course, order you not to kill me.’

I folded the note and tucked it back in my jacket. ‘It’s always an option, but even if you did, sooner or later I’d find a way to get round it, or any other order you give me. Just like today,’ I finished pointedly.

‘It appears we have reached an impasse then, Genevieve.’ His expression closed off. ‘This is witch business. The Ancient Tenets agreed between the vampires and the witches prohibit me from becoming involved.’

‘Which brings me to the second reason.’ I held up another, longer letter, one of the ones I’d asked Juliet Martin to give me in exchange for my blood. ‘Dispensation from the Witches’ Council.’

He read it, then said, ‘It states that you as my proxy have agreed to your blood, of which I am named as owner, to be used in three specified spells. In return there will be no retribution for any action I have taken, or may take in the future in any endeavour involving witches that is deemed by the police to be beneficial to either their enquiries, or to the public good.’ He gave a half-smile. ‘“Actions I have taken” of course refers to the affair involving Mr October.’

I nodded.

Six months ago, one of the hot celebrity calendar vamps—Mr October—had been accused of murdering his girlfriend. His human dad had asked me to prove his son’s innocence. By the time the ashes had settled—the ashes being the remains of two ambitious vamps, one who had tortured Finn, and a rogue witch who’d been instrumental in causing the girlfriend’s death—Mr October had been cleared of all charges, and the case closed.

Only the girl’s real murderer was standing in front of me.

Malik had killed her to protect all the parties concerned, and he knew I could prove it. Human law doesn’t allow for extenuating circumstances when vamps murder humans, and the witches would be charging up their broomsticks for attack if they discovered they’d burned one of their own at the stake—never mind she’d richly deserved it—for a crime a vamp had actually committed.

Now if I wanted him dead, I didn’t need to do it myself, or worry he’d find some way to stop me. I could just do the whistle-blowing thing, and it would be the police, a.k.a. Hugh and his trusted, incorruptible colleagues, who would hold Malik’s life in their hands.

Malik looked at the two uniformed trolls, then inclined his head. ‘This is both dispensation and threat. I commend you, Genevieve.’

‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘DS Hugh Munro has the relevant “in the event of my death” letter, although at this point my death or otherwise is not part of the deal. If you agree to help, he will leave the letter unopened for one year. If you don’t, then these two constables will wait until dawn, then take you into custody, at which point DS Munro will open the letter and act accordingly.’

‘A year,’ he said, considering.

‘Yes.’

He nodded, shifting back slightly. ‘And how do you intend I should help you, Genevieve?’

‘Information, using your clout with Maxim to get him to talk, and back-up.’ I leaned towards him, baiting the trap, and breathed in his dark spice scent, certain now he would agree. ‘I’m open to all and any ideas so long as it helps find out what’s going on, and puts an end to it, hopefully with none of the good guys being badly injured or dead.’

‘Then it might be advisable not to waste any more time.’ He shot a hand out through the Ward, yanked me into the bedroom, kicked the door shut and slammed me against the wall in the same motion. He buried his face in the curve of my neck and inhaled deeply.