CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

I left Pepper on the apartment stoop with Grace, ostensibly while I made sure Seanna was awake, but really to warn the dryads that Pepper was with me.

When I walked in, I found Alexios and Helia on the couch, huddled in urgent conversation, Alexios sounding upset, Helia trying to calm him.

I backed out quickly, but not before they saw me, Helia rising with, “Liv. Come in.”

“I should have knocked. Sorry.”

“No, we’re fine,” Helia said.

Alexios gave her a look that challenged that, and said, “Helia is tired. I’d like her to rest. You and I can speak.”

Helia shook her head. “I want—”

“No.”

She took her mate’s arm and squeezed it, murmuring, “This is important to me.”

His jaw worked, giving me a flash of the ancient fae behind his glamour, but he nodded and murmured, “I know, agapi mou.”

“I don’t actually need anything from you guys,” I said. “I’m just bringing Veronica to see Seanna. We’ll be fine, if she’s still under your influence.”

“She is,” Helia said. “But there is something more, is there not?”

“It can wait.”

“Might as well just tell her,” Alexios said. “She’s as stubborn as a mule, and she’ll tire herself more pestering you.”

“I brought someone who’d like to speak to you.”

I started to explain, but Helia cut in with, “The little lamia. We know the story. I was going to ask if we could see her.”

“I know you aren’t exactly fond of lamiae…”

“We were being rude earlier. Fae have prejudices, just as humans do, and we must remind ourselves of that and speak with more care. Please bring her up. We’d be delighted to meet her. There are refreshments in the kitchen. I’ll make her something.”

“I will make her something,” Alexios said firmly.

“A hot drink would be appreciated,” I said. “She has difficulty holding her glamour and regulating her temperature.”

“Poor thing,” Helia said. “She’s as damaged as the hound.”

“Best not say that in front of her,” Alexios said. “I think it would be rude.”

She made a face at him, and he squeezed her shoulder, gently steering her back to the couch. “Sit and play hostess. I’ll make hot tea for our guest.”

By the time I got back to Pepper, Veronica had arrived. We all went upstairs, where Helia greeted Pepper with, “My mate is fixing tea, so we may play proper hosts. And, as proper hosts, I will invite you to leave your glamour at the door, along with your jacket, and make yourself comfortable.”

Pepper smiled and thanked Helia, relaxing with obvious relief.

Veronica and I went into the bedroom, where Seanna was sleeping. I closed the door behind us. Then I told Veronica what I was looking for. At first she gave a start, and I think she was about to say that it wasn’t possible. Then she thought for a moment and said, “Yes, I suppose we should.”

Seanna was in a deep sleep and stayed that way as Veronica gently examined her. Three times Veronica said, “I’m not finding anything, Liv.” Three times I urged her to keep looking, suggesting new places.

Finally, she stopped, holding aside a lock of Seanna’s hair, and said, “Do you have—?” and I handed her the scissors I’d brought.

Veronica clipped a quarter-sized spot, trimming closer and closer, until only scalp remained. And there we saw what looked like a red birthmark. The mark of the sluagh.

We’d moved to an empty apartment now, Veronica and Grace and I, our voices lowered as we talked.

“You were right,” I said to Grace after we explained. “Seanna is soul-reft.”

Veronica shook her head. “Being marked doesn’t mean they’ve taken what passes for a soul. It means they will, on her death.”

“But they already have, in a way,” I said. “An advance on payment. Rose says Seanna changed around the time she hit puberty. She was always self-centered. Always more fae than most. But there was humanity in her…and then there wasn’t, and I bet if we lined up the exact date, it’d coincide with the time you guys made that deal with the sluagh.”

Veronica’s lips worked, silently calculating. Then she said, “Yes, it does.”

“So that’s how they got a mother for your Gwynn. Find a girl more fae than human. Mark her and take her nub of a conscience. Make her fully fae.”

“I wouldn’t say—” Grace began.

“Unruffle your feathers, old friend,” Veronica said. “Liv is correct. The difference is that fae are accustomed to the lack of what one might call humanity. Seanna was not prepared for that. We failed to see what had happened and therefore failed to help her. We abandoned her, as much—and as unwittingly—as we did her son.”

“I’m not laying blame,” I said. “I’m saying this is what we have, and we need to deal with it. The sluagh marked Seanna and took her conscience, which left her vulnerable to their control. She became their marionette, fully open to their manipulation. They could set up her encounter with Patrick. They could convince her to get pregnant, claiming it was a way to blackmail him. They obviously have the power to make sure one time was enough to get her knocked up. They fulfilled their bargain with you by stealing one of your own.”

“Stealing her from under our very noses,” Grace muttered. “You were right, Veronica. We should never have made that deal. Damn Walter and Ida for talking me into it. If I had cast my vote with yours—”

“The motion would still have passed. As Liv says, this is not the time for blame. It’s the time for fixing our mistakes. We’re going to need to keep Seanna here longer. If she’s marked—”

“Yes, yes, I know.” Grace grumbled under her breath but said, “Letting her go wouldn’t be right.” She glared at me. “See? I do know right from wrong.”

I was about to comment when my cell phone rang. It was Gabriel.

I answered and said, “Hey, yeah, sorry I haven’t come home yet. I’m chasing down a few things.”

“I presumed that, and I wouldn’t bother you, but Ricky thought you should know this immediately.” Even if I don’t agree, his tone added. “Pamela has been taken to the hospital.”

“What?” I shifted the phone to my other ear and moved into the next room. “Is she okay?”

His pause told me she wasn’t.

“Is it serious?” I said. “Was she attacked again?”

“I don’t know. She was found unconscious in the shower. When the prison medical staff couldn’t revive her, she was rushed to the hospital, where they are still assessing her condition.”

“Has she regained consciousness?”

“No. There’s no outward sign of injury and no evidence of a stroke or heart attack. They’re assessing. That’s all we know at this point.”

He paused. Waiting to see if I wanted to go to the hospital. He would never suggest it, because that might imply an obligation that he didn’t believe I should feel.

“I should go see her,” I said.

“The hospital has agreed to keep us informed. I will gladly take you, but if you mean you should, as in—”

“I’d like to,” I said. “I’d rather get answers than wait for them.”

“Understood. However, you should consider…” He trailed off.

“Should consider what, Gabriel?”

“Nothing. You’re right. This is both efficient and productive. I’ll pick you up as soon as you’re ready.”

I dreaded telling Gabriel about Seanna. Fortunately, I was able to avoid it for now—he was preoccupied, deciding whether he should tell me something. Finally, he said, “About the last time Pamela was injured…”

“When she was stabbed by another inmate.”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “After the fact, I conducted basic inquiries into the matter, which led me to believe…it may not have unfolded as she claimed.”

“She wasn’t actually attacked.”

“No, it does seem she was.”

“But she staged it, didn’t she?”

“I believe so,” he said. “Pamela has no history of altercations with other inmates, and she very deliberately provoked one known to be unstable and to possess a makeshift blade. She allowed the attack to progress just far enough to require hospitalization and then handily pinned the other woman.”

“Damn.”

“Pamela may not appear an intimidating adversary, but, unlike Todd, she has not avoided trouble in prison through the use of natural charm. She learned several forms of martial arts early in her incarceration.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean I’m surprised she could stop her attacker. I’m expressing admiration for one hell of a scheme. That takes some serious nerve.”

“Yes, my mother could take lessons from yours, and I’ll join you in unwilling but genuine admiration.”

“And the reason you’re telling me this now is that you think she’s pulling the same stunt?”

He drove in silence for a minute before saying, carefully, “That seems the obvious answer. That instead of risking further injury, she’s ingested something to cause the loss of consciousness.”

“Something given to her by her fae sycophants.”

“I hadn’t thought of that, but it would explain why the doctors are baffled. What I don’t understand is her goal. You two are, arguably, on the best terms you have ever been, with no recent altercations.”

“She must want something else.”

He shook his head. “There is an angle here, and it does involve you. I simply don’t see it yet.”