Ollie, Ollie Hex 'n Free (21 page)

I didn’t wait for Kalan to respond. Our conversation was over. He followed me in silence up to Cheney’s office. I knocked twice then opened the door. Cheney sat behind his desk and Frost stood in front of it. Kalan trailed in behind me, then headed directly to Frost and stuck out his hand.

“You’re the bounty hunter?” He raised an eyebrow at her slight, petite figure as she looked at his proffered hand with dismay.

Finally she rolled her eyes and moved past him the long way around. “Sebastian, could you help me with the body?” she asked.

I glanced at Cheney who didn’t have to vocalize his consent. “Of course.”

As soon as we were in the hallway she said, “Cheney took the body to the kitchen. Don’t ask me why. I’m a necromancer and even I don’t want dead bodies where I eat, but whatever.”

I laughed. “It has the best refrigeration.”

“I thought elf bodies disappeared when they died. Why didn’t she?”

“She’s a dryad, not an elf.”

She nodded. “But Tahlik did disappear?”

“Yes. Sy saw him before he vanished because he had been following him.”

She frowned. “So nothing was left behind?”

“Just the clothing he was wearing.”

“And where are they?”

“I imagine Selene has them since he was her father.”

Frost nodded. “I’d like to see them.”

Phoebe’s body was laid out on the floor of the root cellar off the kitchen. Frost beckoned me closer and undid the corpse’s shirt, pulling it back. “What do you see?”

I inspected the body. There wasn’t a mark on her. Not so much as a smudge on her arms or chest. “Nothing.”

She nodded. “Exactly.”

I shook my head. “I’m not following.”

“Take off your shirt,” she told me.

“Pardon?”

“Your shirt, take it off.”

I couldn’t imagine what this would prove but I did it.

“See,” she said, pointing at me, though her hand stayed at least two feet away from me. “You have marks and scars. Signs of having lived. She has nothing. Her skin is as new and unmarred as a baby. That’s weird.”

I looked again. I could see what she was talking about, but it was also possible she just had perfect skin and nothing had happened to her to mar her complexion. “And what does that tell us about the way she died?”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know.” She continued worrying the edge of her lip. “Then there’s the fact that she has no wounds. I mean it could be poison, but even with that there’s normally a sign of some sort, but granted not always. But in that case how did she ingest it?” She proceeded to look between all of Phoebe’s fingers and toes for any sort of puncture mark. “What sort of poison would have no sign or indication it had been taken before the person dies? If it was in something she ate or drank why didn’t she die immediately?”

Those were all good questions, but simply asking them didn’t put us any closer to an answer.

“I want to talk to Sy,” she said, still examining the body.

I went back to Selene’s room. She was lying on the bed, her eyes closed. Sy pressed a finger to his lips as I walked in, so I waved for him to come out.

“She just fell asleep,” he said.

“I came to talk to you. One of the candidates has been murdered and Frost is investigating. She’d like to talk with you about it.”

“Sure.”

“She’s in the kitchen.”

Sy took long strides down the hallway as I slipped back into Selene and Cheney’s room.

“What happened?” Selene’s eyes popped open.

I smiled at her. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’m out of the loop.” She scrunched her nose. “
What happened
?” she repeated pointedly.

“Phoebe died outside of the castle. Frost is looking into it and wanted to consult Sy.”

Selene yawned. “That’s weird. Did anyone see anything?”

“Nothing. Do you still have your father’s belongings?”

She hesitated. “Why?”

“The murders are similar.”

Her eyes flickered toward the closet before her face went blank and she shrugged. “I don’t think I have them.”

“Is that so?” I asked softly, heading directly for the closet.

“Sebastian, you can’t go in there,” she said as I walked into the closet that was more the size of a room. My eyes scanned past all the clothes, straight to a bright yellow plastic bag on the top shelf. I pulled it down and took it back out with me.

She looked at the bag in my hands and her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed. “Could this be it?”

“Illegal search and seizure,” she said under her breath. “What do you think you’re going to find?” Her voice turned as hard as her stare.

“What do you know about his death?” I countered.

“Nothing,” she said immediately, widening her eyes with innocence.

I gave her a look.

“Well, I know enough to know that the two deaths are in no way connected. That’s all I have to say. Now if you would return my father’s things, you may leave.”

Lorelei returned to the room in a cloud of long blond curls and lilac scent, with a fresh pot of tea on a tray. “You’re supposed to be napping.” She turned to me and pointed. “We’ll have none of your nonsense. Out.”

I headed for the door without argument.

“Sebastian, wait.” Selene’s voice was so helpless I had to turn around. She opened her mouth, but only managed to shake her head.

“I’m sorry,” I said. In any other circumstance I would have let Selene keep her secret, but this time it was too important. We had to find the killer or Cheney would lose the election. Any clue would be better than none.

I took the package to my own quarters to open it. If some sort of evidence was hidden in the bag, I wanted to see it before I decided on how useful it would be to us. I slid a knife along the tape and opened it carefully, pulling out one piece of clothing at a time. His shirt was first. I held it up and inspected it carefully. Next were his pants and shoes, but still nothing—and the bag was empty. When I reached down to put them all back, something caught my eye on the sleeve of his shirt. A golden glistening strand of hair all but twinkled beneath the light. I plucked a long curling blond hair off the sleeve of his shirt and held it between my fingers.

“Damn it,” I said under my breath. I needed to get out of here so I could speak with Sebastian before he did anything stupid. There was no way Sy killed Phoebe. He’d been with me all day. Aunt Lorelei sat guard in a chair by my bed, threatening to sedate me if I so much as opened an eye. This was bullshit.

A sharp pain shot through me, but I breathed through it, keeping my eyes firmly closed. All I had to do was get rid of Lorelei for five or ten minutes tops and I could find Sebastian and get back to bed before anyone knew any different. That or warn Sy so he could monitor the situation.

I cracked open one eye and peeked at Aunt Lorelei. She looked up immediately with a disapproving look. “You know what sounds really good?” I said with a smile.

She tried to look irritated but failed. “A nap?” she asked.

“Those coconut cookies you used to make.”

She nodded slowly. “Perhaps I will make them later.”

“Or…you could make them now?”

“Later,” she said. “If you are awake enough to talk, you are awake enough to drink more tea.”

I promptly closed my eyes at the suggestion. I must have had five pots of tea throughout the day and gone to the bathroom fifteen times. If I had any more my teeth would be permanently stained. Another pain struck—this one hard enough that the room trembled around me.

Aunt Lorelei’s hand pressed against my forehead and she studied my eyes. “Too soon,” she said quietly and I gripped the sheets.

“I need to see Sy,” I said through gritted teeth, giving up the idea of going anywhere.

“Shhh, just relax. It will pass,” she said soothingly as the bed violently shook beneath us. When it stopped she calmly walked to the door and said something to the guard. I closed my eyes, listening to the sound of my own breath. Suddenly I was so very exhausted.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

I forced my eyes open. “Tired.”

Her cheek twitched and her jaw clenched. “Rest then. Take deep calming breaths and listen to your body.”

My eyelids dropped like weights. “Tell Sy that Sebastian took Tahlik’s clothes,” I mumbled, but Aunt Lorelei didn’t respond. Maybe she had left.

In what could have been minutes or maybe hours another hand brushed down my arm. A touch I walked through Hell to feel again. I smiled not needing to look. “You came.”

“Where else would I be?” Cheney asked, lying down beside me and resting his forehead against mine.

My eyes popped open. “I have to break the bond.”

Cheney put his hand on my cheek. “You can’t. You’re stuck with me in this life and the next.” I tried to protest, but his lips pressed into mine and he threaded our fingers together. “I’m part of your coven now. The spell won’t work.”

“No.” My eyes filled with tears. “You’ll die.”

He didn’t look as concerned as he should have. His golden eyes were soft and liquid. “Where you go, I go.”

I looked back at him knowing exactly what he meant, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I thought I had more time. I thought the tea would work or I would at least have time to think of another way, but I didn’t. It all ended too soon. “I sent Corbin away.”

“I know. The vampire wasn’t pleased.”

“There has to be a way, a spell, something that will work.”

He shook his head. “And then what? Another problem? Another escalation?” Cheney pressed his fingers to my cheek as he continued to speak gently. “Magic can’t fix everything. Sometimes nature has to be allowed to take its course. We have both fought against nature for so long. It’s time to accept that the things that are out of our control are meant to be just that.”

The air squeezed from my lungs. “You mean give up?”

He shook his head. “I mean to see what happens. Twice we were put into each other’s path and twice we both tried to control that which cannot be controlled. We have done everything we can possibly do to be together. Now is the time to let the gods take over.”

Another pain crashed through me and I squeezed Cheney’s hand. Glass jingled around us. His free hand stroked my hair soothingly. The wicked weariness spread over me again. I was just so tired.

“Sy killed Tahlik,” I told him.

His hand paused for just a moment, then continued. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Are you mad?”

“Are you?”

I shook my head.

“Then neither am I.”

Resting with him, against him, I was at peace. With Cheney I was both possessed and free in a way I didn’t know was possible. If everything ended right now, I would consider my life a success because we found each other and somehow, no matter how brief, made it work.

“I love you,” I said, my words slurred and weak even to my own ears. Darkness crept in along the edges of my vision, lulling me away.

“Selene. Selene.” I could hear Cheney’s panic from somewhere very far away, but still I drifted toward the infinite quiet, not scared or even concerned.

“Selene, come back to me,” Cheney demanded. “Open your eyes. I need you to open your eyes.”

My eyes parted into slivers, but I could see Cheney, worry so out of place on his face. My hands were too heavy to lift up to touch him.

“That’s right. Fight it. Stay with me. You are strong. You’ve always been strong.” Cheney’s eyes churned, liquid gold as he looked at me.

I forced my eyelids open a little more. “I’m not going anywhere,” I told him. A movement over his right shoulder caught my eye. It took a moment to focus on the source. “What are you doing here?”

Cheney’s head whipped around. “Who? Who’s here?”

Olivia smiled slightly, but said nothing.