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My eyes must be deceiving me. “Is that … ?”

“Yes. It’s a child.”

I stare atthe drawing.

Childis not the correct word for the tiny life cradled to the chest of the sleeping fae warrior.

Infant.Baby.

Held in the arms of a woman who might as well be dead.

Being private investigator, I’ve seen and heard my fair share of twisted shit.

Fairies always manage to top it.

“Is the baby dead?” I ask.

“Oh no.” The way Des says that has me turning to look towards him.

“So it’s alive?” I probe.

“Very much so. The humans you will be interviewing? They are wet nurses to some of these children.”

My eyebrows knit together. What could a bunch of wet nurses know?

I slide a glance to his notes, written in his looping scrawl.

… Male warriors still missing …

… goes by the name ‘Thief of Souls’ …

Des takes the sketches out of my hands. “In order to assist me, you first need to learn about the Otherworld—even before you learn the ins and outs of this particular mystery. Ignorance, you see, will get you killed in my world.”

I stifle a shudder. Already the Otherworld sounds worse than I feared.

I sit down on his couch. “I’m all ears, Des.”

He takes a heavy seat next to me. From the pile of notes spread out before us, he produces a pen and a blank sheet of paper. “Here are the basics: The world of the fae is one huge hierarchy.” He draws a pyramid. “The power players are at the top, none as powerful as the queen and king of fae—Titania and her king consort, Oberon, or the Mother and the Father, as we call them. They’re some of the oldest ancients still living. You don’t need to worry too much about them. Both have gone far Under the Hill, and they have taken the undying sleep.”

“Um, in English,” I say.

“They’re in a coma-like state. Not sentient, but not dead.”

“A bit like the female warriors,” I say.

Des gives me a sharp look. “Yes,” he says slowly, “a bit like them, I suppose.”

His hand slides farther down the pyramid, and he draws another line. “Beneath them are the four biggest kingdoms. Your history books may refer to them by their traditional name,courts.

“These four kingdoms are: Night, Day, Flora, and Fauna.”

I recognize Des’s house immediately, and once again I’m struck by how powerful this man is.

“There are two additional houses that usually go unrecognized, but are equally powerful—the Kingdom of Mar, which reigns over all bodies of water. And the Kingdom of Death and Deep Earth. These two houses keep themselves apart—Death doesn’t like to dabble in the land of the living, and the Kingdom of Mar likes to stay in its watery depths for the most part.

“As for the four houses, I rule the Kingdom of Night. My people know me alternately as His Majesty Desmond Flynn, Emperor of the Evening Stars, Lord of Secrets, Master of Shadows, and King of Chaos.”

I raise an eyebrow. “No one calls you Bargainer?”