changeling chronicles 03 - faerie realm by emma l adams Page B

panicked. I shot magic at him without meaning to.” I stopped, part of me wishing I hadn’t spoken. I didn’t think Vance of all people would judge me, but worrying about what other people thought just added to the original problem. “If the Chief wasn’t such a dick, he might have been able to give me pointers.” My magic fitted better with people who hated me than with my new employers. No wonder I felt even less like I fit in with the mages.
    “He’s Summer,” said Vance. “Mage magic and faerie magic aren’t so different in principle. You can come to the manor whenever you like, even when I’m not there. There are usually other mages in the training ground.”
    I nodded. “Okay. What’re you doing now?”
    “Checking in with the mages reporting on necromancer territory,” said Vance. “I’d go there myself, except we’re trying to watch them without them knowing we’re encroaching on their territory. Lord Evander would be displeased to find himself under watch.”
    “I don’t give a rat’s ass, if it turns out the necromancers are sitting on the missing talisman,” I said. “ Could they be? Warping reality… surely the talisman can’t be hidden on the Ley Line. It’d cause way too much of a reaction.”
    “Perhaps. If I knew more about faeries’ talismans, I might be able to think of something else. I suspect the Chief didn’t tell us everything he knew.”
    “Is this what you used to do?” I asked. “You guys hate each other. Before all this madness started, did you always go around pissing off every head of each supernatural community in town?”
    “Sometimes I pissed off the ones outside the town as well.”
    I burst out laughing. “Vance, I think I’m a bad influence on you.”
    “You may be right. And the madness hasn’t only started recently. You’ve just never been at the centre of it before.”
    “I want a holiday.”
    He chuckled. “I wish we could move our date earlier, but I need to make sure Drake hasn’t set anyone on fire.”
    “Is that likely?”
    “With necromancers? Yes, unfortunately.”
    I had to admit he was probably right. “Okay. You go and check on your mages. I’ll go and make sure the Cavanaughs haven’t got into any more fights. Isabel’s in charge of babysitting tonight.”
    “Good.” He swept me in for another bone-shaking kiss.
    “Tease,” I mumbled against his lips.
    “See you later.”
    And in a rush of wind and thunder, we were on the doorstep of my flat. A brush of his lips against mine, and he was gone. I skipped into the hallway and nearly collided with Henry.
    “Shit. Sorry.”
    “You were with the Mage Lord?” His nostrils flared. “He’s been here since this morning.”
    “Of course he has. We’re dating.” Might as well get it over with.
    Henry’s eyes went wide. “You’re dating one of them? You’re human.”
    “So’s he.” Mostly. “What does it matter?”
    “It matters because shifters and humans aren’tthe same,” said Henry. “As the Coltons should know already.”
    “Look, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” And to be honest, I wanted answers. “Vance is a quarter-blooded shifter. His uncle lives on shifter territory, right?”
    “Unfortunately.”
    Okay… “And his grandfather? What’s your issue with him?”
    “He meddled in things he wasn’t supposed to,” said Henry. “Brought a human into our territory. It was before my time, when supernaturals hadn’t yet come out of hiding. It was incredibly dangerous of him to reveal what we are to a stranger. And during the invasion…” He shook his head. “It’s not my place to reveal other people’s secrets.”
    “I don’t see what that has to do with Vance. He doesn’t live on shifter territory. He’s the leader of the Mage Lords.”
    “We live by different rules to humans, Ivy. You can’t know…” He trailed off, anger flashing across his face. “We’re forced to cage ourselves because of the rules the Mage Lords put into