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The elevator arrived and he stepped in, his stomach sinking along with the descent. The magic stemmed from his bloodline.

From someone who was supposed to be dead.

3

“There you are,Liz. How are you?”

The last time Ella saw her friend, she’d been stuck between two Fae portals and ended up hospitalized in Otherworld. It hadn’t been pretty.

“I’m fine. Luckily, the Fae heal super fast. How are you?”

“Good.”

And that was the most Ella was prepared to say about the matter. She’d found Liz in the old conference room that used to serve as Vadim and Alexei’s temporary office. Her new partner had been extremely quiet on the ride back to the office, letting her and Feehan discuss the case to their hearts’ content. She didn’t like it. He’d shut his mind to her completely. The moment she got him alone, she was going to find out what the hell was going on…

She refocused and noticed Liz was sitting in the middle of the floor.

“What exactly are you doing?”

“Nothing!” Liz jumped up so quickly that she almost fell off her impressively high heels.

“You’re not mooning over Alexei leaving, are you?”

Liz made a face. “As if. Actually, I was looking for something.” Her normally pale complexion was now as pink as her shoes.

“In here?” Ella turned a slow circle. “There’s nothing except two tables and a ratty chair.”

“Exactly.” Liz tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. “Last night, Doug came to the office to pick me up, and because I had to work so late, the place was deserted and we, um, took advantage of the facilities.”

“Gross!”Ella jumped away from the nearest horizontal surface. “Are you nuts?”

“Shutup.Doug has animal instincts, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s one of the things that attracted me to him.”

“Anyway, so what did you lose?”

Liz sighed. “One of my antique diamond earrings.”

“Damn. I’ll help you look.” She got down on the coffee-stained beige carpet and methodically searched the space. “Are you sure Doug didn’t bite your ear in a surge of manly passion and eat the thing?”

“He would’ve choked. It’s a big diamond.” Liz continued to pat the carpet. “What did you want, anyway? I thought you’d be avoiding this place like the plague for a few days.”

“Feehan called us in to deal with a new case.”

“‘Us’? Do you mean Vadim didn’t go back to Russia with Alexei?”

“No.”

Liz sat back on her heels. “That’s a surprise.”

Ella looked up at her friend. “He’s been seconded here to work as my partner.”

“The poor, poor man.”

“He’s not human, and he’s definitely not a man, Liz. Don’t waste your sympathy on him.”

Liz raised her eyebrows. “Did you find out what he is, then?”

“Not exactly, but he does have some Fae Royal blood.”