“Bye,” I called after him. I’m not normally cruel, but maybe Amber was right.
“Wait, wait! I’ll do it!” he shouted.
Amber paused. “He’ll turn on you as soon as you let him go,” she said.
I walked up to him slowly. “Is that right, Sam? Will you turn on me?”
“No, I swear,” he said, through gritted teeth. His words rang with falsehood.
“I want you to remember something,” I told him. “I can find you, wherever you hide, no matter who you pretend to be. I don’t even have to be there. I can creep into your dreams and kill you in your sleep. You know it’s true. The only reason I’m letting you go is because I want to know who Secretary Carler is, where he works, where he lives, who he works for. Do you understand?”
Amber pressed the edge of the knife in tighter. “Yes,” said Sam.
“The other name I want information on is De Ferrers,” I spelled it for him. “That’s what you thought you heard, isn’t it?”
“Could have been,” he admitted.
“Find me that information and meet me back here in an hour.”
“An hour?”
“Either that or start running, and you better not stop. Ever.”
Amber released him and threw him forward onto the ground. He sprawled out like a drunken derelict.
“I can’t get that sort of information in an hour,” he said. “You have to give me more time.”
I shook my head, and tossed him back his wallet, mobile phone and the card wallet. “No Sam, time’s up. You have an hour.”
Amber and I walked away into the winter sunshine and the Embankment. I threw a glamour around us, and to Sam’s eyes it must have looked like we’d just vanished.
“Would you like a hand?” Alex asked from the doorway.
Blackbird, who had the baby naked on the bed, a wipe in one hand and a clean nappy in the other, wasn’t really in a position to refuse. “You could put that dirty one in a sack and put it in the bathroom for now. I’ll take it down to the bins later.
“They’re very un-ecological, you know,” said Alex. “They just end up in landfill in the end.” She put the heavy nappy in the disposal sack and tossed it into the bathroom.
“I’m not in a position to wash terry nappies myself, said Blackbird, “and it seems a poor reward for the care and comfort that we receive from the court staff to present them with a pile of dirty nappies to wash every day, don’t you think?”
“I s’pose,” said Alex. “Mum used disposables with me, too, when I was little, but we didn’t think so much about the planet in those days.”
“It’s a very recent phenomenon for people to be concerned about their environment,” agreed Blackbird. “And not a moment too soon, in my opinion. Is that what you came to see me about — to remind me to be conscious of the socio-environmental impact of our lifestyle?”
“I came to see if you needed any help,” said Alex, looking slightly hurt but sounding disingenuous.
“I see,” said Blackbird. “Well that’s very thoughtful.”
“And to ask you a question,” said Alex, almost as an afterthought.
“What kind of question?”
“About magic. I was wondering,” she mused, “whether you would you be able to tell if someone was casting a spell on you?”
“Casting a spell?” said Blackbird. “What a quaint idea. We don’t cast spells, Alex. We exercise power over ourselves, our environment, and others. Is that what you mean?”
“Kind of,” she said.
“Would you like to be more specific?” asked Blackbird.
“What if someone laid a glamour on you, or on themselves, so they would appear… different?”
“The Feyre can appear how they wish to appear,” said Blackbird, popping together the vest and tickling the baby’s stomach so he gurgled at her and tried to grab her fingers.
“More than appearance,” said Alex. “What if they made you like them more? Made you think about them, even when they weren’t there?”
“It’s a simple enough glamour,” said Blackbird, “but like most simple things it’s easy enough to unravel. A simple warding should do it. If you ward yourself against them then they have no power against you.”
“Even if they touched you?” she asked.
“If they were touching you at the time,” said Blackbird, “then that would be more difficult. You would have to break the hold of their power. You could do that with magic, or you could do it physically. What’s this in relation to, Alex?”
“Nothin’ much,” said Alex, clearly lying.
Blackbird held out the baby to her. “Here, hold onto him for a moment while I put all this away.” She busied herself putting away changing mats and nappy cream while Alex held her baby brother. The baby liked Alex because her hair would play with him even if she wouldn’t. When Blackbird looked up, the baby was trying to catch hold of a curl that was doing its best to evade his grasping fingers, while at the same time he was trying to swat away another curl from tickling his ear.
Blackbird finished putting things away and sat at the desk, turning the chair out to face Alex. “This is all theoretical?” she asked.
“Potentially,” said Alex.
“You need to be careful who you allow to touch you. Touch is for people you trust — that’s true for humans and even more so for the Feyre. Is there someone who has touched you against your will?” asked Blackbird.
“No,” said Alex, a little sulkily.
“Is this to do with Sparky?” asked Blackbird, remembering the mud-smeared sweatshirt and the grass-stained jeans.
“No,” said Alex. “Sparky’s just a friend. We’re mates.”
“Then why do you look so unhappy?” asked Blackbird.
“I… I was touching, as in physical contact with someone…” Alex read Blackbird’s expression. “Not like that. It wasn’t… you know. It was something else. I can’t talk about it, but we touched, and now… now I can’t stop thinking about him. I think about him when I’m reading a book, listening to music, having a shower…” Her colour deepened slightly and she covered it quickly, “Even when I’m doing something else like talking to you, or helping Lesley. I think he might have, you know, accidentally maybe, used his power on me? I don’t think he meant any harm, but I can’t sleep without thinking about him, and when I do sleep, he’s in my dreams…” She trailed off.
“And this is making you feel bad?” said Blackbird.
“Kind of,” agreed Alex. She smoothed the downy hair on the baby’s head while the baby tried to get one of the curls in his mouth.
“Have you tried warding this person from you?” asked Blackbird.
“Yeah. It didn’t make any difference.”
“Then I don’t think the problem is magical,” said Blackbird.
“I thought maybe if he’d got something of mine, he could be using it, like a voodoo charm, or a talisman to focus his power?”
“I think it’s much worse than that, Alex.”
“You do?”
“Yes,” said Blackbird. “I think you’re in love.”
“You think I’m what?” she said.
“Does your tummy jump when you hear his name? Do you get tongue-tied when he’s near? Does the thought of him touching you send prickles across your skin?”
Alex’s look was one of growing horror.
“It doesn’t take magic to do that,” said Blackbird, “and there’s no defence in the universe against it. Wardings are useless, power will not serve you and even though you may deny it, it will find its own way into your heart.”
“It can’t be,” said Alex.
“May I ask who the object of your affection is?” asked Blackbird. “If it’s not Sparky, then who?”
“I’m not sure I should say,” she said.
“Alex, if you want me to help you, you need to tell me who it is. Is it someone I know?”
“Tate,” said Alex. “I can’t believe I just said that. You mustn’t tell anyone. You have to swear to me.”
Blackbird found herself grinning, “Tate? Tate the Warder?”
“It’s not funny,” said Alex. “Yes, Tate. There can’t be two of them, surely?”
“No,” said Blackbird, “I think there’s just the one, though that one is large enough for two. And has he expressed any affection towards you?” she asked.