My cell hadn’t rung for at least a half hour. I pulled it from my pocket, prepared to call Tyler so I could beg him to come and take me home. When I flipped open the phone, the screen flashed Low Battery before going completely black. My chest tightened, constricting the flow of air to my lungs. It doesn’t matter, I told myself. Raif knows where I am. He’ll come and we’ll get the hell out of here. Fallon might not have been bothered by our situation, but I sure as hell was. “You know what, Delilah,” I said. “I’d have been a lot better off if you’d kept your big mouth shut!”
Through the lobby window, I could see Fallon standing at the front desk. He cast the occasional glance back at the car as if afraid I would try to bolt. I don’t know why I didn’t leave. The same strange compulsion I felt around Fallon kept me welded to my seat, as though an unspoken command prevented me from actually following through. Moments later, he emerged from the hotel, smug and satisfied as ever. He tapped a plastic keycard against his palm, his face thoughtful as he kept his businessman guise.
“We’re down there.” He pointed to the farthest end of the building. “I told the front desk I was exhausted and needed some peace and quiet.” His gray eyes hardened as he took his seat, moving the car down the parking lot closer to our room. “I’ll deal with the Oracle; you retrieve my glass.”
And, fool that I was, I did exactly as he asked. I wondered at my behavior. It felt like the moment you realize you’ve had way too much to drink. And even though you know you’re acting like a complete drunken idiot and nothing like your normal self, you do nothing to stop it. I slung the backpack over my shoulder, careful not to jostle the hourglass inside. I followed Fallon like an obedient puppy while he led Delilah toward our room. She stared straight ahead, her head cocking to one side and then the other. If she had any inkling of what was happening to her, the only indication she gave was the slight shiver that occasionally shook her lithe body.
Once inside the drab and uninteresting space that was bound to become my personal hell, Fallon flung himself across one of the queen-sized beds, stretching with languid grace. I’d never seen anyone so bipolar. Just three minutes and fifteen seconds ago, his eyes had flashed with rage. And now he looked like a kid on vacation.
“No doubt Adare is hunting us,” I said, slumping down on the opposite bed. “We shouldn’t have run.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Fallon answered. “Where we’re going, they won’t find us.”
Where we’re going? Uh-uh. No freakin’ way. I’d gone far enough with him. I wasn’t going another foot, let alone another mile. My phone was dead, GPS effectively shut down. I wasn’t taking another step in any direction until I saw the whites of Raif’s eyes.
My assassin’s instincts took over as I studied the layout of our room. I needed to be familiar with every corner when shit went down. And it would. The better acquainted I became with my surroundings and my accomplice-turned-captor’s mannerisms, the better my chance at escape would become. “I’m not going any farther,” I said, though the words carried little fortitude. “Release Delilah’s mind. I’ll give you the hourglass, and you can be on your way.”
Fallon stood, and I felt my head slowly shrink into my shoulders. A wild silver glint chased across his gaze as he approached and seized me roughly around the throat. “You will go farther for as long as I say you will,” he said, giving me a brain-rattling shake. “Do you understand me?”
I couldn’t speak or draw a breath deep enough to produce any kind of sound. His fingers dug into my tender flesh, bruising, nearly burning me with the contact. The emerald flared in my pocket, hot and angry, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. I nodded my head as much as his grip would allow, and he pushed me away, throwing me down on the bed. As I massaged my neck, Fallon paced the room, muttering under his breath. He rounded back to the bed and hauled me up by a handful of hair, pressing the tips of his fingers to the middle of my forehead. I jerked away, but he held me. I bit my lip so I wouldn’t cry out at the searing contact. Magic flowed over me, binding my body in a second skin.
“I can’t have you leaving,” Fallon said, “or disappearing right under my nose.” No. He couldn’t have! But I realized as I tried to merge with the light that Fallon had, in fact, bound me to my corporeal form. “You’ve done this to yourself.” His chiding tone made me want to vomit. “You can be mad all you want, Darian. But this is your fault. Behave, and I won’t have to further punish you.”
I sat on the bed, staring in disbelief as he left my side to tend to Delilah. What the hell was wrong with me? Fallon should have been dead where he stood. If any other man had laid his hands on me, I wouldn’t have hesitated to part him from his head. So why, now, did I cower in fear of this Fae who shouldn’t have one-tenth of the power he held over me? I thought of the times I’d felt drawn to him, compelled to divulge information he had no business knowing. Could it be that his magic had played a part even then? Secretly stealing my will? The thoughts in my brain began to swirl and mull about like mud meeting a pool of fresh water. I had a feeling someone should be coming to get me, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember who.
“Darian, come here.”
I walked to Fallon despite the instinctive thought that I should keep my distance. He knelt at Delilah’s feet in an almost-meditative position, his palms resting on his knees. “Time to spill your secrets,” he said, and pressed the heel of his hand to her forehead.
Delilah came to as if someone had just doused her with a bucket of ice water. As she thrashed her limbs and gasped for air, it took all of Fallon’s strength to hold her down. You wouldn’t think a twig of a girl like Delilah could fight so hard, but let me tell you, she gave him a run for his money.
“Keep quiet!” Fallon growled. “You’ll have all of Washington down on our heads if you raise your voice.”
I waited for him to smack her across the face or kick her good and hard. But he didn’t. Apparently he saved that affection solely for me. Prick. Delilah calmed, the mere sound of Fallon’s voice enough to put the fear of Jesus in her. Not a very hard nut to crack. “Do you know where you are?” I asked.
“Darian.” Her voice, unused for a few weeks, rasped in a near whisper. “You’re swathed in Fae magic. And separated from your protector. Changed since I saw you last. Have you been to The Ring?”
Come again? “I haven’t been anywhere, you crazy pain in the ass. You’re up and talking for one reason and one reason only. Where is Raif’s daughter? You said you knew how to find her. Where is Brakae?”
Delilah laughed as if she’d just heard the funniest, dirtiest joke ever written. She tilted her head in Fallon’s direction, looking very much like the cat that ate the canary and crawling, it seemed, from madness to lucidity. “You don’t know, do you?”
Fallon sat back on his heels, taking in every word Delilah said with perverse interest. I ignored the way my body responded to his movements, swaying backward as if attached by a length of string. My mind cleared as if by his will, and I found the pluck to drill right into Delilah. “No more games, no more riddles. Just plain talk here. I’ve been through hell the past couple of weeks and, goddamn it, I want to take a shower, get some sleep, and go the fuck home. Tell me right now where Raif’s daughter is, and I won’t beat the shit out of you before I give you back to the PNT.”
“In my mind’s eye, she’s very beautiful. Is she still?” Delilah asked, the epitome of innocence. “Did you know that Oracles are blind and not particularly lovely in exchange for their gifts? I’ll never see the sunrise as you do or captivate men’s hearts the way you have. The way she has. For the right price, I can show anyone his future. Hers. Yours. Even Tyler’s. Everyone’s but my own. Funny, isn’t it?”