“I know what this is. You’re really something, you know that?”
“I’m a lot of things.” She had resumed her impassive position with her arms folded across her chest.
“I bet you are.”
“Thayne, what are you talking about?” Kiki was more than a little lost.
“She read us,” he said. “She read me. This little critter has been sizing us up from the first moment we got her back here. And I know exactly what she is.”
“Oh yeah?” A tiny smile flickered across her face. “What am I?”
“You’re a dark fae.”
The truth of it bloomed in the center of Kiki’s mind. Given the absolute mess the girl had made of her shop, and the woman who would testify to the fact that it had all been done with her mind alone, this was the only explanation. Couple that with the way she had been essentially running the room during her interrogation, and there couldn’t be any doubt.
“Are you seriously coming at me with that shit?” For the first time, the little bandit bristled up in her chair and leaned forward until she was practically tipping onto Thayne’s shoes. “So I gotta be a ‘dark fae’ because I’m black. Is that it?”
“Well, uh, wait,” Thayne sputtered.
Kiki was sure of it now. That was a brilliant chess move, and she watched as all of the authority Thayne had built up deflated in an instant. Looking thoroughly trapped, he stammered, trying to find some way out of the snare.
“Or wait, no.” A glint in her eyes told Kiki the girl was about to go in for the kill. “That’s not it. You’re just pissed because I can tell she’s your soul mate.”
Kiki immediately ran cold all over. Her mouth fell open, and the girl looked over at her and did the damndest thing. She gave Kiki a wink.
“By the way, my name is Maeve, if you must know. Everybody just calls me Mae, though.” She leaned back in her chair, looking thoroughly satisfied with all the grenades she had just lobbed into the tiny room.
Oh, this girl was a killer, alright. And she had just gotten two birds with one very well-timed stone.
Chapter Six
It felt as if someone had emptied a bucket of cold water over Thayne’s head.
He gritted his teeth, narrowed his eyes into two thin slits, and looked down at the annoying thief. Folding his arms over his chest, he adopted a posture that told the girl he wasn’t an idiot who would fall for her tricks. He stopped short of baring his fangs at her, which he thought wouldn’t sit well with Kiki.
“You’re lying,” he growled, doing his best not to let his full-blown anger show. “You might think you’re good at it, but I can see right through you.”
“Lying?” One of Mae’s eyebrows wiggled up, an amused smile spreading across her lips. Mirroring Thayne’s posture, she crossed her arms in a defiant gesture. “Hey, man, if you don’t want to see it, that’s on you. I’m not lying here. You’re the one lying, and the worst part is that you’re doing it to yourself.”
“Yes, you are lying,” he insisted. “I know what it feels like to be enchanted, and that’s what’s happening here. This one,” he jerked his thumb at Kiki, “has cast a spell on me. That soul mate—Beloved—bullshit isn’t real. It’s just an illusion.”
“If you say so,” the thief showed him the palms of her hands in a gesture of surrender. Still, her tone remained sarcastic and defiant. She was enjoying this, and it drove Thayne absolutely crazy.
“Will you stop it with those stupid accusations?” Kiki’s undivided attention now pegged to Thayne. Her eyebrows were knitted together, and a scowl twisted her face. Despite that, she remained as beautiful as ever. God, why did she have to look like that? “I didn’t enchant you.”
“Yes, you did,” Thayne countered.
“Why would I freaking enchant you?” she continued, the annoyance in her tone shifting into anger. “I don’t even like you, Thayne. Why would I cast a love spell on you, of all people? That’s moronic.”
“Oh, you don’t like me, huh?” he threw back, surprised at how fast the words flew out from his mouth. “It didn’t seem like that yesterday. In fact, it seemed like just the opposite.”
“You’re such an idiot.”
“I’m not the one going around enchanting people.”
“Will you cut it out? I’ve already told you—”
Kiki was cut short by the sound of a bell jingling in the shop, and both she and Thayne looked at the place where the thief should have been. Of course, Mae was nowhere to be found. They had been so engrossed with their stupid discussion that Mae had slipped out like a mouse. The girl was smart, that much Thayne couldn’t argue with.
“Dammit,” he growled, pushing Kiki out of the way. He burst out of the room like a wild animal ready to pounce on its prey and vaulted over the counter. He ran at full speed down the center aisle, half-expecting to see the door open and no sign of Mae anywhere, but that wasn’t the scene he came across.
Standing in the shop’s doorway was Cora Nicolaides.
She was blocking Mae’s only escape route, arms crossed over her chest and a cocky smile on her face. The thief clearly hadn’t expected to find someone blocking her path, and now she was looking back and forth between Thayne and Cora, almost as if she was trying to decide who to fight first.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Thayne asked Cora.
“Your job, it seems,” the siren replied, her casual snarkiness coming through.
“I didn’t ask for your help.”
“But it sure seems like you need it,” she sing-songed. “After all, you almost let the most wanted fae in Othercross escape.”
As she spoke, her eyes turned to Mae, whose face now betrayed how anxious she truly felt. That was almost enough for Thayne to feel sorry for the girl. The keyword in that sentence was almost.
“I’m a wanted fae?” Mae repeated, forcing a nervous laugh out. She took a couple of steps back but then stopped once she realized Kiki and Thayne were blocking the aisle. Between them and Cora, she had nowhere to go. “I’m nobody. Why would I be wanted? I didn’t even steal anything big. I swear.” Her voice trembled slightly, her words coated with a thin layer of panic. “I’m not a bad person.”
Thayne was curious, too.
What could Mae have done to earn the interest of the Othercross Judiciary? Usually, the higher-ups like Sentinels didn’t bother with shoplifters and small-time thieves. They had bigger fish to fry. Still, Cora was here, and that meant that the girl was important.
“Don’t worry, sweetie,” Cora’s snarky tone was replaced by something that resembled gentleness. Thayne had never seen Cora being gentle to anyone this easily, so he struggled to hide his surprise. “Just because you’re wanted doesn’t mean you’re a criminal.”
“Then what the hell does it mean?” Thayne questioned, no idea what Cora was going on about. If Mae wasn’t wanted because she was a criminal, why was the Othercross Judiciary after her? It didn’t make any sense. “Care to explain, Cora? Or are you just going to keep on talking in riddles?”