Page 5 of Beyond the Veil (Endangered Fae #4)

He thought about stretching out on his bed for a rest. The sun did take a lot out of him and the shelf of books beside the bed tempted him.

No. He wanted to do something with his hands.

His fingers itched. After a moment’s thought, he opened the trunk at the end of his bed, pulled out the hoop with its attached piece of linen and his bag of thread.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, bent close to the fabric, he let the stitch and tug rhythm of his embroidery calm his aching heart.

Diego lowered his mug to the table. “Someone just went downstairs.”

“Fae are up and down that staircase all the time.” Zack was watching him carefully, almost warily.

“This person wasn’t fae.”

Zack quirked an eyebrow at him. “You can tell that from here? Even with your new shields up?”

“I…” Diego glanced over at Finn, who rolled his hand in a go on motion. “Yes. I can… Feel isn’t really the right word. I sense living currents better now. The bane sidhe taught me to listen. That person wasn’t fae and he wasn’t human, precisely. But you’re not alarmed, so I’m trying not to be.”

“I’m not ’cause I could smell him.” Zack smiled behind his coffee mug as he took a sip. “That was Theo.”

“Theo? My Theo?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I don’t recall him feeling…” Diego trailed off again. It was hard, trying to communicate with humans again, all the things he wasn’t sure they would understand. “He’s very…solid.” And so damn sad.

Zack shook his head. “He really hasn’t changed much since you left.”

“I should probably talk to him.” Fingers tracing the rim of his mug, Diego fought against squirming. He was responsible for leading Theo in the wrong direction, for all the pain he had experienced after. It wouldn’t be a comfortable conversation.

“Maybe let him come to you?”

“Ah. Of course.” Diego’s face heated. He hadn’t thought of that. Theo probably didn’t want anything to do with him or his apologies. Three years, Dios . “How has he been?”

“He’s a good kid, you know. Went through his training.

Settled in. He’s reliable. Good at what he does—” Zack broke off with a chuckle, wagging his finger at Diego.

“I remember that look. The ‘that’s not what I asked you’ look.

He’s doing okay, Mr. S. I think he’s kinda lonely, but it’s hard for him. His family—”

“Was everything to him.” Diego knew that much, at least. He wished he had taken the time to learn more, but the partial person he had been hadn’t been interested in his minions as people, just as chess pieces.

Finn’s hand closed over his and squeezed. “He is different in so many ways. He is the youngest here. Of a different human type from the others. And vampire. Humans don’t do well with different.”

“Says our resident human expert.” Diego managed a chuckle and leaned over to plant a kiss on Finn’s jaw. “You’re all too right. Speaking of which, what’s happening in the world, Zack? With magical laws and such?”

“Yeah. About that.” Zack blew out a long breath. “I have a briefing ready for you and everything. If you can wait until morning when the staff’s here. You know, do the whole hand-off thing right.”

“Hand-off?”

“The consul job? Your job? You’re…” Zack trailed off, his fair skin becoming a few shades paler. “Aw, hell, Mr. S. You’re gonna tell me you don’t want it back, aren’t you?”

Here it was, then, the first of many difficult conversations Diego knew he would have. “Zack, I’m sorry.”

“Damn it.” Zack’s hands were flat on the table. He stared down at them as he spat out, “Three years. I waited for you for three years. And somehow I knew.”

Anger laced those words, frustration, yes.

Resignation. That hurt more than Diego had anticipated.

He had rehearsed speeches, explanations and arguments, but for Zack, who had risked life and sanity for him, plain, undiplomatic truth was best. “I can’t.

I think you know that. Zack, I’ll help. I’ll advise as best I can.

I’ll give you my opinions. But I can’t step back into those shoes and be the human voice of the fae again.

Not out in front of the cameras. Not after all the horrible things the world watched me propose. ”

“But wouldn’t that be a good thing? Let people see you changed your mind?”

All his life Diego had tried to make things better for others, make things easier.

He wanted so badly to wrap his arms around Zack and tell him he would take the burden from him, that he was here to make everything like it was.

Nothing was harder than trying to resist a lifetime’s worth of instincts.

“From what you’ve said, it doesn’t sound as if the issue of magic legislation has gone away.

Or that the world has accepted magical beings as part of life. ”

“That’s what the briefing was supposed to be about.

” A muscle jumped in Zack’s jaw, his expression trapped between amusement and irritation.

“No, damn it. No, it hasn’t. They haven’t.

I mean, yeah, some countries are great. Denmark.

Germany. Hell, most of Europe. But here’s still a mess.

Asia’s kinda half-and-half. And on like that. ”

“We knew.” Finn reached across the table to grip Zack’s arm. “Human governments are strange and needlessly complicated. We knew the storm would not have calmed. And that certain humans would welcome it and stir the storm.”

“Zack, listen. You put me in front of a camera, remind the world about me, and they’ll pull out all the footage from three years ago. I’ll just become a flashpoint for anti-magic factions. They’ll point to my long absence. Say I’ve been brainwashed or that I’m under a spell or worse.”

“But that’s…backwards!”

“I know that. You know that. The fae and everyone who was at Heersford knows that. The rest of the world?” Diego shook his head, the hard ball of regret in his stomach heavier by the second.

“I hate that I had to abandon my post. That I left all this on your shoulders. But you can’t put me back out there in front of the world as Consul. Nothing good will follow.”

“Oh.” Zack’s broad shoulders folded in, as if he were deflating with his arguments.

“I’m sorry,” Diego whispered on a hard swallow.

Zack held up a hand and flopped back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

“Not like I didn’t know this was coming.

Well, maybe not know . I wondered if you’d be able to take your job back.

But when you came back healthy and strong, head up and talking like yourself again… guess I hoped, was all.”

Diego shot a quick glance across the table at Finn, reaching mind to mind to speak directly to his husband. “ Selkie hug?”

“The perfect thing.” Finn tipped his head toward Zack, who still studied the light fixture above his head. “ One… Two…”

“Three!”

Finn lunged from his chair and Diego scrambled after.

They slammed into Zack, one then the other, the dual impacts knocking a shocked oof from Zack and tipping his chair.

They hung suspended for a moment, a tangle of limbs, until Zack’s chair lost the battle with gravity and fell to the kitchen floor with thuds and clatters, pooka, human mage and werewolf consul in a flailing heap.

“The hell?” Zack growled from his spot at the bottom of the pile.

“Selkie pile,” Diego mumbled against Zack’s shirt. “It means we love you.”

The growl turned into a choked laugh as Diego had hoped and Zack’s arms wrapped around them both in a fierce hug. “Love you, too. Missed you so goddamn much.”

Finn nuzzled his nose against Zack’s throat. “This is nice. You still smell the same.”

Diego untangled them far enough to help Zack sit up and get off the chair. “I would still like that briefing, though. Could we still do that? If I’m going to try to be useful again?”

“Well, yeah. I wasn’t gonna let it go to waste.”

“Good. Thank you. Come on.” He stood and offered a hand up to first Finn then Zack. “Let’s grab some beers and go out by the fountain. I’ll tell you about your favorite subject.”

“Dragons?”

“What else?”

Theo blinked at the embroidery in his lap, then snapped his head to the left to check the clock. He hadn’t meant to nod off. It had only been a few minutes, though. Plenty of time to see one of the healers and make it to his shift.

A short search revealed his fallen needle on his blanket, gleaming against the black cotton.

He retrieved it and carefully folded his work before he placed it back in the trunk.

The good thing about working security was that one never had to decide what to wear to work.

The uniform of close-fitting pants and BDU shirt, both black, was comfortable and practical.

Com unit, ID badge, zip ties and Swiss Army knife all went in the pockets of the short jacket.

His newly issued weapon he would pick up at the command post that evening, since guns weren’t permitted in the fae caverns.

As he caught his hair up in a band at the base of his neck, Theo froze.

He had lived among the fae long enough to learn their scents— sidhe , Fomorian, féileacán— he knew them all.

The being who had just passed his door was none of them.

Salt and the strange, unsettled scent of the seashore, those could have been from a fae just back from a swim.

But this was something else, something so new and alien.

Theo opened his door slowly, peering out into the empty corridor. The scent grew stronger as he followed the trail soundlessly, flitting from shadow to shadow. Whatever it was, it either had the arrogance to move so openly or lacked the intelligence to hide. Either one could be equally dangerous.

It’s headed for the stairs, for the consulate.

Fear drove him, panic spiking through his chest. If the thing meant harm, if he arrived too late… No, he would be in time. He hurled himself through the invisible barrier and up the stairs faster than a human could blink. It would not have a chance to do harm. He would see to it.