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“Loudon,” the woman cut in harshly, “none of us currently know where the shield is. That’s the honest truth, and not even Meabh’s daughter could sense a lie where there is none. Now, as to the other matter, I have your number and will call you when he?—”

She stopped abruptly and silence fell. Neither of them moved or spoke, not for several seconds. Then I felt it. More importantly, the knives felt it. Power surged through the blades and light pulsed from their fullers, seeping out from the top of the sheaths and spinning through the shadows.

They weren’t reacting to the usual sort of dark magic that came from a spell or even a blood ceremony, and the source of the foulness wasn’t anywhere within this building.

But it was a force I’d felt twice now in as many days.

The elf with the ruby was here, and he was about to destroy this building.

“Oh, fuck,” the woman said. “Run.”

“What—” Loudon said, confusion evident.

“Go or fucking die,” the woman growled.

Loudon immediately turned and ran, a bell chiming wildly into the tension-filled air as he flung the door open. As his weight disappeared from the song of the floorboards, the woman ran for the door I stood behind. With no chance to retreat or hide, I simply pressed back against the wall as she flung the door open, stretching but not snapping the spell threads surrounding it. She took a step, saw me, and stopped, her eyes widening.

“There’s no time to explain who I am or why I’m here.” I grabbed her wrist. “We need to get the fuck out of here before the madman armed with that ruby unleashes its power.”

I turned and ran, dragging her for several steps before she obviously decided the threat behind her was greater than the threat gripping her arm. The dangerous energy coming from the ruby increased, and my knives burned against my thighs. I was tempted to reach for one but knew I’d risk the woman balking and that could mean death for us both.

I reached the external door and punched it open with enough force to smash back against the rendered wall, sending bits of concrete and pale dust flying.

We were three steps into the courtyard when the ruby’s power was unleashed. With a huge whoomph, the building at our back exploded and sent us both flying.

Chapter

Nine

I slammed into the brick wall on the far side of the courtyard so hard, it knocked the air from my lungs and made my head reel.

I fell in a heap to the ground and weakly flung my arms over my head, battling to breathe, to think, as a rain of concrete, metal, and wood debris fell all around us.

It was all I could hear, all I could feel, for too many minutes.

Then, as the rain eased, I smelled the smoke—a thick, acidic, and unnatural scent. Multiple alarms were sounding, many of them from cars, and screams of pain and confusion rang on the air.

I pried open an eye. There was nothing left of the little building. Nothing except uneven piles of stone, broken fingers of wood that reached for the sky, and green flames that burned unnaturally between the two. The woman who’d worked in the shop lay several yards away to my left. Like me, she’d huddled close to protect herself, so I couldn’t see if she had any injuries, but she was at least breathing.

I returned my gaze to what was left of the building. I hadn’t thought to look for the red-haired elf here in Swansea, and I guess that was a stupid mistake, given it was blatantly obvious now that this wasn’t just about revenge. They were getting rid of anyone they’d had dealings with or who had information about the rubies or the shield.

Why else would he have targeted Kaitlyn and now Loudon?

Fuck, Loudon...

I pushed into a sitting position. A multitude of aches immediately sprang to life, and I bit back a groan. Splinters of concrete, wood, and slate fell from my clothes and hair, but there was no blood amongst that rain, and that was always a bonus—though I’d undoubtedly have a wild array of bruises down my spine tomorrow if I didn’t get to a fae medic today.

I dug out my phone from my battered purse and quickly sent a text to Eljin, letting him know what had happened, that I was okay, but he needed to grab Loudon ASAP and get him somewhere safe because there was now a very large target on his back.

As I hit the send button, the other woman sat up and swore profusely. I shoved my phone away and scooted over to her. She looked as grimy as I felt, but her face was pale and sweaty, her eyes slits of pain, and she was nursing a wrist that looked broken.

“What’s your name?” I stripped off my jacket, which had been torn in multiple spots, providing solid evidence of just how close I’d come to being hurt, then unsheathed a knife and hacked off a long strip of material.

“Margaret. Margaret Falconer,” she hissed as I carefully slid her arm into my makeshift sling. “I’m guessing you’ll be Meabh’s daughter.”

“Yes. How did you know her?”

“Had some dealings with her over the years. She paid good money for advice.” She squinted up at me. Despite the pain, avarice glinted in her murky brown eyes. “I expect nothing less from the daughter.”