“Wait here,” she said, leaving me to hold the door as she raced over to the outer door leading… well, wherever it led.
I glanced around the room. Four stalls, dull green, two sinks with faucets. And these were old-fashioned faucets—no run your hands under the sink and make the water come out technology here. A paper towel dispenser and a spartan-looking mirror hung on the wall. Track lighting illuminated the room with fluorescent lights. Windows lined the upper wall, letting in some natural light. Yeah, this was a utilitarian bathroom, all right.
Camille dashed back. “It’s okay. We’re in the women’s restroom for Westmeyer Park. You get back in the tunnel and keep the door open a crack. I’m going to step outside and call Delilah to come pick us up.”
I nodded, waiting as she disappeared out the front. A couple minutes later, she was back. “She’s on her way. She left Tim at your apartment. He’s still fooling around with your computer.”
I let out a long sigh. “That’s fine.” I was tired; my back was killing me from walking in pumps—ever since I’d become pregnant I’d longed for flats, and all I wanted was to sit down somewhere and cry.
Camille noticed and wrapped her arm around me. “Oh, Siobhan, everything will be all right. You wait and see.” She cocked her head. “I think I hear a car. Come on, it must be Delilah. The parking lot is just a few feet away from here.”
I reluctantly let the tunnel door swing shut. The dark passage might be creepy but it had provided us a haven, and right now I needed shelter from the storms raging in my life.
As Camille opened the outer door, she let out a startled cry. “Run! Siobhan, run!”
Someone slammed the door open, sending Camille flying against the wall. She screamed as she hit the concrete and slumped to the ground, where she shook her head, dazed.
I whirled back to the tunnel but too late—the door was closed and there was no getting in. With no other exits in the restroom, I ran toward a stall, thinking to lock myself in and maybe buy a few seconds.
The swift scent of ozone filled the air as Camille shouted and a blast ricocheted against the walls. Freezing, I paused; then a man swore and, again, Camille shrieked.
“Siobhan, you might as well give it up. You’re coming with me.”
That voice, I knew.
“Terrance?” I turned, knowing that no matter what I did, it would be too little, too late.
Three men stood there: Terrance, along with two other men I recognized instantly by their scent as being full blooded Finfolk.
Terrance motioned to them. “Keith, grab the Faerie bitch. Lon, keep watch.”
The one named Keith grabbed Camille up in a bear hug, clapping a hand over her mouth as she struggled. The other took up guard on the door.
I stared at Terrance as he slowly walked toward me. It had been a long time since I’d looked into those cold, blue eyes.
“Just leave us alone. I’m not going with you. You can’t force me to go with you.” I backed up toward the wall, petrified. The look on his face was maleficent, his lips curled into a snarl.
“Oh, you’re coming with me, and as soon as we get rid of the whelp bastard you’ve got locked up in that oven, I’ll get you with my own child and that will seal the deal.” His eyes glimmered and he chuckled softly. “I’ve followed you for too long, over too many miles, to even think of letting you go now.”
“No, don’t hurt my baby. Please don’t hurt my baby.” I crossed my hands over my stomach. But then, fear turned to anger. This was my child, Mitch’s child, and if Terrance tried to hurt it, I’d rip him to shreds. “Get out of here or I swear, Terrance, I’ll kill you.”
He laughed again. “Right, you go on thinking that. No, my dear, you’re coming with me and so is your friend. I know plenty of people who’d pay a pretty penny to give her a ride.”
“You’re part Finfolk, aren’t you? You’ve got Meré blood in you!”
As he walked me back against the wall, one step at a time, he reached out and caught my chin in his hands. He stroked my cheek with one finger, hooking it lightly over my lower lip. “You finally see me clearly, my beautiful selkie princess. Now, it’s time to come home with me.” The way he said the word princess stopped me short. It wasn’t an endearment. No, there was something else behind his words.
“Princess?”
“Well, I’ll be damned. Your mother never told you, did she?” Terrance laughed roughly. “Ah well, I don’t blame her. Your father’s folk were a rough lot—coarse and stinking up the sea. Your mother probably thought she was doing you a favor, but the truth will out, won’t it?”
“What truth?” I’d been lying so long that I half believed my own stories, but now he was claiming that my mother had lied to me?>
“Your blood gives you a direct lineage to nobility on her side of the family. You’re in line for the throne within the Isle of Man Selkie Pod. Since you ran away from your father’s people and turned your back on them, you have the option to return home and claim your heritage and right of kinship.”
He couldn’t be right. My mother, a princess? And now me, in line for the throne?>
“Wait—my mother! Isn’t she the one who should rise to power if there’s a change in rulership? If you harm her—”
He twisted my arm just enough to hurt. “Pipe down. Your mother’s fine. But she knowingly turned her back on her own Pod and pledged herself to your father’s people. She can’t return home now.”
“I’m pledged to the Puget Sound Harbor Seal Pod—”
“Ah, but you have the choice to return to your mother’s people because she never told you about them. Which you will do. Then, when I marry you, I’ll have one of the most powerful groups of selkies under my control, via your own sweet self. You, my dear, are my ticket to ruling the waves. After that, it’s a short step to the Finfolk taking over your people, just like we did the Cobh roane. My father married into the Pod. He was half Finfolk, and now we control them. We’ll reign terror over the seas. At last, do you understand why I chased you for a hundred years? There’s more at stake than just a pretty pussy. My people wait for me back home. And your people wait in fear that I’ll find you. They’ve finally figured out just who my family is.”
“You’re crazy,” I said. “I’m no princess—”
“But you are, in your own right. Even if you never married me, you’ve got the blood of queens flowing through your body. Your father had no idea of just who he captured when he went seeking a mate.”
I let out a small cry, thinking about my mother and what she’d told me. So she hadn’t been lying. Father had stolen her away from her own people. No wonder he had no reservations about handing me over to Terrance; rape and pillage were all too familiar to his people.
“Oh yes,” Terrance said softly. “I know all about your mother and how your father found her, raped her, and took her to wife. And the kicker is: She never told your father she’s royalty. Probably didn’t want the old man to use her like I’m planning to use you. Accept it, little selkie. Women in our world are a commodity. We men can buy you and sell you at the turn of a whim. And you, my dear, are a valuable treasure.”
And then he nodded over his shoulder at Camille. “If you don’t come voluntarily, she’s dead. I don’t care how much my men might fancy her. She’s expendable, and you’re not. So it’s up to you. Come with me without fighting, or I slit her throat.”
He pulled out a thick-bladed knife with serrated edges. I cringed. He’d make it hurt. I knew him. He wouldn’t kill her quickly; he’d make me watch and she’d die in a wash of blood and water.