I headed past the chattering queue, many of them stamping their feet and breathing into their hands against the cold wind that whistled off the nearby Thames. As I reached the bottom of Nancy’s Steps, I stopped and looked up, recalling my escape up them the previous night from the turban-headed dryads. The phouka, in her doggy guise, a faint silver sheen to her silky short-haired coat, gazed sphinx-like from the top. She angled her head to one side, ears pricking forward, then, giving me a tongue-lolling smile, she bounded down to meet me.
‘Hello Grianne,’ I said drily as she shook herself, casually scattering raindrops over me, and just as casually castingan Unseen spell. The magic settled round us like a cocoon, blocking out the noise of the excited tourists and the traffic rumbling across the bridge above.
‘How’s my faerie dogmother this morning?’ I asked. ‘Did you get enough exercise chasing sticks last night?’
‘Please do not refer to me by that ridiculous mortal name, child,’ the dog snapped; any human listening would hear just a low growl. ‘I am a phouka. And the dryads caused me no more problems after you had departed.’
‘Great to hear it.’ I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets and started along the street. After some discussion—during which Malik had disappeared to wherever—Tavish had finally come up with some clothes—the jacket, trainers, jeans and T-shirt all thankfully real—in exchange for me heading straightback after meeting the phouka, something I’d been planning to do anyway.
‘So,’ I said, as the phouka fell in beside me, ‘have you managed to find any info on the sidhe who’s decided to visit London yet?’
‘None in the Fair Lands has opened any of the three gates.’ Her black-tipped claws clicked sharply on the pavement. ‘Clíona, my queen, has forbidden any from doing so.’
‘Because of the droch guidhe.’ I bent down and looked the phouka in her pale grey eyes. ‘Of which there is a detail you forgot to mention to me: like, the lesser fae who can’t have full-blood children?’
Her ears flattened against her head. ‘It was not your concern.’
I straightened and gave the phouka a ‘don’t bullshit me’ look. ‘ Of courseit’s my concern, Grianne! I’m running round Sucker Town on yourrescue missions, picking up any stray faelings that end up trapped there because you keep telling me yourqueen can’t break the curse and feels guilty about them. Now I find out not only is there an additional problem with the curse, but that she’s been refusing to speak to any of the fae here about it. I take it you doknow what their solution is, don’t you?’
‘Enough, child.’ She growled at me for real this time, baring long black fangs. ‘I am aware of the situation. But regardless of what I might have wished, I was, like all others, constrained by the prohibition.’
‘Which is another thing.’ I tilted my head to look at her. ‘Everyone else was “prohibited” from coming near me, but you just got told to keep the secret. What makes you so different?’
‘The curse does not afflict me’—the hairs along her spine rose in a stiff ridge—‘nor am I a vampire who wishes to enslave you.’ She padded a couple of steps forward and the air blurred around her. Grianne stood before me in her more human form, her usual haughty expression on her long, narrow face. A swathe of fine silver fabric was caught in a clasp at one shoulder and fell to pool around her feet, clinging like silk to her tall, slender body. It gave her an oddly ethereal air that belied her strength. Her ash-grey hair was feathered against her scalp, parting around the pointed tips of her ears, and her skin shone the same faint silver-grey as the dog’s. Anyone seeing her would know her at once for a fae—not that anyone would see her with her magic hiding us.
‘Fair enough.’ I stopped, giving her a wary look. ‘But they’re not the only reasons, are they?’
‘Of course not, child.’ She smiled, her teeth as black and sharp as the dog’s. ‘As I have told you before, I abhor what you are; even were you not infected with salaich sìolyou have your father’s taint in your blood, and I intended to end your life at first.’ She might have been discussing the weather for all the emotion in her voice. ‘But you proved yourself to be resourceful, courageous and stubborn that night, and I owed you a debt.’
Yeah, it wasn’t me the vamp sunk his fangs in, was it?I said to myself. The stupid sucker had been so excited at catching a phouka that he completely missed the fourteen-year-old sidhe right under his nose. Not that I’d missed him. And Grianne’s feelings for me were nothing new. But it was nice to know I’d impressed her; at least that was something.
‘So I agreed to the prohibition,’ she carried on calmly. ‘I would not attempt to remove you from London, either by death or any other means, so long as you were no hindrance to my queen.’ Her mouth turned down. ‘Although at the time I was not aware that the vampires were part of the same agreement. ’
In other words, someone had tricked her and she really hadexpected me to end up as vamp chow. And what she was telling me confirmed my suspicions about why the fae—as well as the vamps—had agreed to leave me alone for the last ten years. If they hadn’t, Grianne wouldhave killed me, and deprived all of them of their sidhe prize.
Mentally I thanked Malik and Tavish, whatever their motives. I might have despatched the vamp that attacked Grianne that night, but I’d been hurt, so if she had decided to kill me, I’d have been easy dogmeat. I shuddered; Death by Phouka is sonot a pleasant thought.
‘I suppose the question, Grianne,’ I said slowly, ‘is why you decided notto kill me on my twenty-third birthday, once the prohibition came to an end.’
‘You are more valuable alive, child.’ She walked on, her dress trailing behind her. ‘My queen agreed that I should stay my hand.’
‘Thanks,’ I think.I wondered what ‘valuable’ meant, and how much longer ‘valuable’ would last, but I pushed those thoughts away to examine later and got my mind back on the real reason for my meeting with Grianne: information on the sidhe who murdered Tomas.
‘So, “None in the Fair Lands has opened any of the three gates”.’ I half-smiled, as I repeated her words. ‘That’s very specific information; care to tell me what you’re not saying?’
‘First, I have a proposition for you.’ The wind ruffled her sleek hair. ‘My queen is willing to testify to the human authorities on your behalf about this crime.’
‘Why?’
‘You have succeeded far better than I ever did at rescuing those fae entrapped by the vampires, for which my queen is grateful.’ She pointed a black sharp-tipped fingernail at me. ‘You know how to think like the humans, you have contacts within the witches and vampires’ circles, and amongst the Others, the trolls and the goblins. Your knowledge of London is invaluable.’
‘Why Grianne, I didn’t know you cared so much,’ I said, then held up a hand at her look of displeasure. ‘It’s okay, I get the message. There isanother bean sidhewandering round London, and she’s somehow managed to bypass the gates without your queen’s knowledge, and now your queen wants me to find her. In exchange she’ll get me off the hook. I take it she also wants the sidhe repatriated, rather than being handed over to the authorities?’
‘This is so.’ She held out her hand. A smooth pebble of gleaming haematite lay in her palm. ‘All you need do is find the sidhe and give her this. It will return her to her home in an instant.’
Magic, gotta love it.
I took the pebble; it tingled like electricity against my fingers. I dropped it into my pocket. ‘I’m going to need whatever information you’ve got. All of it, no keeping things back this time, Grianne.’
‘So you agree to do this?’ She angled her head to look down at me, her eyes gleaming oddly yellow for a moment.