9
Ryder
Nothing happened in the night,much to my relief. In my shallow sleep, I waited for Morgan to make an appearance. I held Ness tight in case Alvin thought to steal her in the dark again.
When I woke, my tired bones screamed for me to go back to bed. We had another task today, though. The night before, I made a suggestion that I knew I would come to regret.
“I need coffee,” Ness grumbled in the passenger seat of my car as she rubbed her temples.
“You have a caffeine addiction. Maybe you should think about cutting back.”
“You should think about keeping your opinions to yourself,” she snapped.
I laughed, knowing that she wasn’t really mad at me. The pain making her head throb had turned her tongue sharp. At least she hadn’t laced her arcana into those words.
Ness was nervous, too. We needed to know more about what she was. If the pack’s archives couldn’t give us a clue, then we would have to go to someone who had been around for a few centuries.
“Are you even sure you want to do this?” Ness asked. “Beryl has been an absolute nightmare in the past. I know you managed to break the pact with her, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to want to talk to us.”
“This territory belongs to her, too. Our domains overlap. If I need help, then so does she. Beryl won’t want Alvin causing trouble on her doorstep, which means she’s indebted to us, in a way.”
Ness snorted. “That bitch will find a way out of it. We both know that. Besides, we haven’t dealt with Alvin yet.”
The inside of the car grew quiet. It seemed like we were doing a lot of running around, and not a lot of searching. Alvin was hiding somewhere. I figured he had to be close by in order to use the curse he’d placed on Ness. Since we hadn’t found a way to break the curse, Alvin would still be within reach.
We had time,I told myself.
Even though I didn’t believe it.
I parked outside Beryl’s restaurant. The dark windows wrapping around the corner building reflected the bright morning sun. I swallowed hard, remembering all the times Beryl had swept me away just to toy with me. My mouth went dry, and a hunger pinched my stomach tight.
I’d only just begun to be able to taste human food again. Flavors were muted, but present. For a while, I’d feared that I would never be able to taste anything ever again. Much to my relief, it seemed that the enchanted addiction to fae food wore off in time.
I didn’t want to go back to that again. Being back inside Beryl’s court made my skin crawl. The golden food would be everywhere.
“Let’s get this over with,” Ness said.
She kicked her door open and got out so that she could face the building with her chin held high. I pulled myself together because I wouldn’t be a good Alpha or a good mate if I let a bit of faery food scramble my brains.
Outside, Ness grabbed my hand and squeezed. She’d carried my ass out of this building once before. I’d been in the intoxicating throes of the faery food, but she’d put up with me long enough to get me sober again.
I adored how determined she could be. I squeezed her hand in return and led her through the double doors. Ness kept pace beside me.
The gaunt fae butler took one look at us and stepped aside, much to my surprise. He even bowed his head as we passed. My beast preened, proud because I’d been recognized as an Alpha.
Down the spiral staircase into Beryl’s underground court, we held onto each other like lovers leading each other out of the afterlife. I kept my gaze ahead, even when I caught sight of Beryl’s wine-red hair across the earthen room.
Queen Beryl of the New York Unseelie Court had taken a piece of her fae home and embedded it into the earth beneath Lakesedge. The cavernous underground room sat at the edge of the lake. A large section of the ground had been hewn away to reveal the shimmering blue waters of Onondaga Lake. No glass sat between the water and the air, only fae magic.
Beryl didn’t rise to greet us. She lounged on her velvet couch while lazily scrolling on a tablet. I raised a brow at the website glowing on the screen. She grinned and gave me a wink.
“OnlyFans? Really?” I asked.
Ness snorted before clapping her hand over her mouth.
Beryl’s demure grin spread wider. “Worry not. I wasn’t browsing for entertainment. I was simply checking in on some of my courtesans. The internet is a wonderful place, with all sorts of platforms for my beauties to share their prowess.”
Beside me, Ness blushed. I gave her hand a squeeze to remind her why we were here. It wasn’t to talk about fae sexwork.