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I put Cate’s glass down and sat. “Still think it’s a good idea to have an apprentice?”

She looked up and I saw a sparkle in her eyes. “Remember when I spilled the invisible potion on the floor just in front of the door to Master Vollont’s house?”

“Now you mention it, yes. I remember watching people step over the hole that wasn’t there.” I remember Cate having a blistering talking to by Master Vollont as well.

She sighed. “I did tell him to look at those books. I should have thought about what he might do.”

“If you need help putting your place back together, I’ll be happy to be there.” I raised my glass to her. “Have you had a chance to figure out anything about our other problem?”

“No solutions, but I did find something about how they might have done it. The spell on the amulet I mean.”

“Okay, if we have the amulet, that will help us clean it.”

“It was in one of my old books. There are two components of this kind of spell. Unfortunately there was nothing about removal so I’m guessing about that. The Sidhe could do this for other Real Folk but it was easiest for them to choose the fairies because they’re related so the fairies trust them a bit more than the rest of us. They took blood from a fairy and a little more blood from a Sidhe. It’s a control spell. Fionuir used the two bloods to cast a control of reproduction spell.”

I started to feel hopeful that we would come up with a solution. “So, we might be able to recast the spell with only fairy blood and give them control over their own fate. This is great. You did way better than I did; I wasn’t able to find anything out.”

She smiled at me and took a sip of her wine. “I have something more.”

“Okay, how did you get so much when I got nothing but ‘there’s no way’ from my sources? Oh, Olan also told me last night was a trap, there was no woman.”

She shrugged. “That’s good news. How I got information instead of you? I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the questions you ask.”

I waited for her to continue but it seemed she was making me work for the information. “Okay, what did you find out?”

She grinned before saying, “I found a Sidhe who is willing to talk to us.”

That surprised me. “How did you find them? We just got away from one trap, this could be another.”

“A friend told me about her. I said we would meet with her later tonight”

“Are you sure about this friend?”

She sighed. “I trust my friend. Stop questioning my information just because you didn’t get anything useful.”

“It’s not that.” I realized I needed to back pedal a bit. “I’m really worried about another trap. We barely got out of the last one.”

“It’s going to be risky. We can’t look for ways to do this without risk.” She plunked her glass on the table and rose. “If you want to stay here, I’m happy to meet her and report back. Is there anything you would like me to ask?”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I’ll come with you.”

It wasn’t that far to the meeting place. We were in the alley where I saw the first killing. It gave me a chill and I couldn’t help looking at the corner where the human died. There was no sign that anything other than bad toilet choices had taken place here. I wondered what the human authorities had thought when they found her.

Cate pulled me out of the center of the alley into the shadows. “She’s supposed to meet us here. We’re a few minutes early.”

I waited quietly. I’d already put my foot in my mouth so I told myself to watch and not make anything worse. Anyway, this was Cate’s clue. If I had found this contact, I would have been bossing her around all over the place.

“Do you see anything?” Cate whispered.

“No, but don’t worry. She’ll show up. This will probably be the break we’ve been looking for. You might have saved us.”

“Don’t be so patronizing.” She giggled with the words.

“If you two are finished cooing at each other, perhaps we can speak.” The voice came from across the alley in a shadow of a dumpster. The voice was cool and low, but I couldn’t see who was standing there.

Cate stepped forward to the middle of the alley. “You have our attention.”

I stepped up behind Cate and kept my mouth shut.

The Sidhe woman stepped out of the shadow and dropped her hood to her shoulders. She seemed to glow. Her skin was fair, the lightness made more translucent by the rosy blush over her cheekbones. I knew that wasn’t make-up, just the look that teenage human females strove for. Her green eyes were shaded by a fringe of tiny blond ringlets. The rest of her hair bound in a green silk band and braided.

Cate elbowed my ribs. I realized I was gaping. The woman gave a deep chuckle. “Don’t fear, girl, I have no desire for your man.”

“He’s not my man.” Cate blushed as she spoke.

“Who are you?” I asked. Then feeling really clumsy and stupid, I tried again. “I mean. I wonder which of the Sidhe would take the chance to meet with us. You must be someone quite important.”

She smiled and I felt like prey. “Astute. I am coming to like you.”

Cate snorted. “I don’t think he needs an ego boost. I am Cate Witherspoon. I was told you wanted to speak to me.”

“Cate, I knew your mother. She seems to have passed on her directness.” The woman turned to me and I could see she was old enough to be Fionuir’s mother. Not a line on her face, but ages reflected in her eyes. “You are Quinn Larson. I do not know anything else about you.”

“You asked for a meeting.” Cate took my arm. “Is there something you wanted to say?”

“I am Maeve.” She waited for something. I didn’t know what to say. “I see you are not clear on Sidhe history. I am the rightful queen. Fionuir took away my crown and installed her irresponsible court in my place.” Pain and bitterness spilled through her words.

“And you want us to help you take your crown back?” I guess it was one way to solve the problem.

Maeve nodded.

Cate looked at me then pulled me back a few steps. “It could work. We could stop Fionuir by replacing her.”

I knew that the Sidhe weren’t that straightforward. Maeve would exact a price for stopping Fionuir and it wouldn’t be getting her throne back. “And if Maeve is worse than Fionuir? If we are getting the devil we don’t know?”

“I am not a devil.” Maeve’s voice soothed my objections for a second.

I threw a charm to the ground between us. Maeve stepped back, as though it was a serpent. It was just a muffle spell. I hoped it worked on Sidhe.

I turned back to Cate, taking her arm and bringing her close to make sure we were both covered by the spell. “It all smells a bit fishy. Why would she have come to us now? And, why would she need our help?”

“I don’t know Quinn, but I think we should at least hear her out. It doesn’t have to be a trap.”

I couldn’t push away the feeling Maeve was going to cause us a lot of trouble. “She has had a chance to start telling us and yet she’s just playing with us.”

“Unless you have another plan, we should at least give her a chance to tell us what she wants from us.”

Cate was right, just hearing her out couldn’t hurt. And I might be able to figure out how to keep us safe while she was talking. There was no doubt we would come off worse in Maeve’s plans if we didn’t take care.

Chapter Twenty-One

When I cleared the muffling spell, Maeve said, “This is not safe. We need to go somewhere we can speak in private.”

“Do you have somewhere in mind?” I was not going to invite her into my home, and Cate’s place wouldn’t be in any shape for visitors no matter how hard Lionel had worked.