‘I know why the Emperor wants me – sort of, anyway,’ I said. ‘But why would his werewolves kidnap the ambassador’s wife, her kid, and the zoo employee?’
‘I don’t know, Genny. But right now, why doesn’t matter. Let’s see if we can find them first, then we can worry about that.’ She hurried over to Dessa, and I fished my phone out to check my messages. Nothing from Tavish, which was odd considering he’d said he’d got into the Emperor’s website, and I’d sent him the pictures of the gold coin. I left an update then checked the rest.
Most could be left till later, but Katie wanted me to call, urgently.
I phoned the Spellcrackers’ office private line. ‘Hey, hon,’ I said, ‘how’s things?’
‘Where are you, Gen?’ Finn said sharply. ‘We need to talk.’
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Surprise at unexpectedly hearing Finn’s voice flipped straight into anger. He was supposed to be back in the Fair Lands. But since he was here, and wanted to talk, he could start with an explanation.
‘What the hell were you doing answering my personal texts, Finn?’
‘You know why, Gen,’ he said, exasperated. ‘You can’t go seeing the sucker out in public.’
‘That’s my decision, not yours.’
‘Yeah, it is,’ he agreed, stumping me. ‘And you’re right; I probably shouldn’t have sent that text. I know jealousy isn’t cool, but it’s more than that, if you want to keep Spellcrackers.’
And here it was: his usual emotional blackmail. Well, I’d made my decision and even if Malik was a cowardly text-dumping over-protective idiot vamp, and our relationship was more likely off than on, I was sticking to it. No way was I going to let Finn, the satyr herd, the witches or anyone else dictate my choices in life. Not to mention if Finn wasback for good, then Spellcrackers wasn’t mine to keep anyway. I nudged my backpack nearer with my foot, resisting the urge to kick it, and dug out a Phone Privacy spell.
‘Threats are even less cool than jealousy, Finn,’ I snapped as the spell activated and the noise from Trafalgar Square muted. ‘Oh, and my keeping Spellcrackers is sort of a moot, as you’re back.’
‘I know, Gen,’ he said, his exasperation turning to apology. ‘I’ve been talking to Tavish, and like him I’ll back you all the way. Hell’s thorns, I think the herd owe Spellcrackers to you for all the hassle they’ve caused.’ He paused. ‘But things will be a lot easier if you stay away from the sucker. If you can, that is.’
Shock rocked through me. Part was his comment about ‘staying away from Malik, if I could’, though what Finn meant by that was a mystery. But mostly it was down to: ‘Did you say you’re willing to go against the rest of the satyr herd? To let me keep Spellcrackers? Don’t you want it?’
‘Gen, I enjoy the job, but a lot of that is working with you. I don’t feel any great need to be the boss and to be honest, with Nicky and the baby to look after, I could do without the added responsibility. So, yeah, I’ll back you.’
Sincerity rang in his voice, telling me he meant every word. A bubble of happy excitement expanded in me. Finn backing me, and backing down as boss, didn’t mean I’d win, but it meant I could fight with a clear conscience, knowing that I wasn’t taking anything from him. Only— ‘What about you? What will you do?’
‘Work for you, of course.’ He laughed like it was a joke, though his words held a serious note.
I blinked, astonished. ‘You’d want to work for me?’
‘Gods, Gen, I’d be happy to.’
I let that idea sink in. We were friends, we made a great team and we’d always had a lot of fun working together. Okay, so it would be different if I was the boss, not Finn. But there was no reason why it couldn’t work . . . my happy bubble deflated . . . except of course, there was. Malik for one. And Finn’s evil ex, the Witch-bitch Helen Crane. She might be stuck in the Fair Lands, but she hated me enough that I doubted I’d seen the last of her.
Finn seemed to read my mind. ‘Gen, I know you’re upset about Helen, but that’s over. And if you’re thinking the sucker’s going to be a problem, then he doesn’t have to be. I know about last night. But I want us to be together and I hope we can sort things out.’
I nearly dropped the phone in the fountain. He knew about me and Malik, and he still thought wecould sort things out? Never mind how the hell did Finn know— Tavish! ‘Tavish had no right to tell you.’
‘He didn’t, Gen. Sylvia told me.’
‘Sylvia?’ I said, even more betrayed that she’dgossiped about me. We were supposed to be friends. ‘She had no right, either.’
‘Hell’s thorns, Gen.’ Finn’s exasperation boiled up again. ‘It’s not like it’s a secret; all the dryads are talking about what happened on the boating lake last night.’
Crap. I’d forgotten about the trees on the island. They’d have had a ringside seat, literally, and now it would be all over London. Even if Sylvia hadn’t told Finn, someone would’ve given him a blow-by-blow account soon enough. I wanted to crawl under a stone somewhere and hide. Not that I regretted what had happened with Malik, or wouldn’t do exactly the same again (though obviously somewhere waymore private), but hell, why couldn’t the damn dryads gossip about anyone else for a change? Not to mention Finn was taking what happened with Malik awfully well, but then I hadchucked Finn out for playing happy families with the Witch-bitch Helen, so maybe he knew he didn’t have a jealous leg to stand on. Not that I wanted him to be jealous. Still, I hated that he’d found out like that. And I needed to tell him that things between us couldn’t be sorted out. Not the way he wanted anyway. Only that wasn’t the sort of discussion for a phone call.
‘Finn, look, I think we should meet up later. Once I’ve finished here.’
‘Sylvia was worried about you,’ he replied, as if I hadn’t spoken. ‘The trees said it was pretty violent, and with Ricou not around she needed someone to reassure her that the sucker hadn’t hurt you.’ He stopped, then said hesitantly, ‘Did he hurt you, Gen?’
‘What? No, of course not.’
‘Sylvia said she wasn’t sure, she’d asked you, and you told her not to worry,’ he went on earnestly. ‘I know he can order you around, Gen. If you can’t tell me, there’s ways of getting round it. Just say something, like, oh, he’s a bad client. You don’t have to protect him.’
Damn it. This was why he was taking things so well; he’d cast Malik as the bad guy, me the damsel in distress and himself as the white knight riding to my rescue. Typical. ‘Finn,’ I said, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. ‘I’m not protecting Malik. He didn’t force me to do’ – the magic pricked at me, stopping me from lying – ‘what you think.’
Silence. Then, almost as if to himself, he said, ‘Sylvia told me the trees said there was some accident and the sucker forced you to drink his blood. But that was all.’ A pause as he obviously worked things out. ‘Did something more happen, Gen? Something that he didn’t force you to do?’
Yes, a lot more. But I thought you knew that.My chest constricted at the pain in his voice. Shit. I bent over, hugging myself. Way to put your foot in it, Gen!And what the hell was I supposed to say now?
I took a fortifying breath. ‘I’m sorry, Finn,’ I said quietly, ‘it was . . . he was . . . I didn’t mean for you to find out like that. I was going to tell you when you got back.’
Another, longer silence. Finally: ‘You’re working with the police on something to do with those kidnappings, aren’t you?’ He’d changed the subject. I didn’t know whether to be relieved, or cry. I scrubbed my face. ‘Yeah.’
‘Right. I’ll hold the fort here until you’re done.’ His brisk businesslike tone came out harsher than usual. ‘We can talk about this then.’
Crap. Not a subject change, just a postponement. Only I’d made my choice, and never mind Malik was an idiot, I wasn’t going to change my mind. Finn needed to know that. ‘No—’