The bristles on the back of my neck stirred at the patronising tone of voice and I almost, just almost, lost my shaky control. I forced a deep inward breath, reminding myself that completely flaking out and losing my temper would not help me control this situation. I looked him up and down, realising that I still hadn’t seen his face clearly from under the shadow of his wide-brimmed hat. I might not be able to quite connect with his body but…

Tensing ever so slightly, I pulled one teeny tiny tendril of flame up through from the pit of my stomach and allowed its heat to swirl gently through my veins, before using its power to snatch forward with the very tip of one of silver needles.

He hissed in sudden surprise but I’d achieved my immediate goal. I’d snagged the edge of the hat and managed to take him unawares and pull it off his head. I found myself staring into a pair of deepset indigo eyes that flashed silver in a mixture of shock and fury. Damnit. My would-be attacker was Fae.

The obvious tension in his heavily coated body and in the muscles tight against his high cheekbones betrayed the Fae’s own emotions. I felt some momentary satisfaction that he had had to control his own temper at my actions and resisted the urge to chant, ‘nana nana na’ at him. Instead, I scooped up his hat from the floor and twirled it thoughtfully on a finger, returning the silver needles to their hiding place at the same time and keeping my eyes carefully trained on him. Silver would do me little good amongst the Fae; I’d need to find some iron instead. Life would be so much easier if all otherworld nasties had the same weaknesses. There was a limit to how many different types of metallic weapons I could realistically carry with me. The Fae’s eyes followed the circular motion I made with his hat whilst I forced myself to inject a lazy nonchalant drawl into my voice.

“Well, someone’s strayed far from the Unseelie Court. Why are you darkening my door, Fae?” I winced slightly at my own over-done cliché, but it did the trick.

Hissing again and baring back his lips in a surprisingly animalistic grimace that revealed a set of very sharp and very white teeth, his eyes returned to my face and deepened to almost black colour. Neat trick.

“I am Seelie, human. Do not think that you can compare me to the dark ones.”

Oh, well. I’d had a fifty-fifty shot at guessing right. With his midnight dark eyes I’d have sworn he was Unseelie – a member of the Dark Fae - although his golden hair did, to be fair, suggest otherwise. “And do not call me human, Fae,” I retorted calmly back. “I assume you are here because you know what I really am.”

“I know what you are not.”

I’m not interested in having this conversation with you. “And what is that?” I said, aiming for an air of almost boredom.

“You are not of the Pack, despite their Lord Alpha’s naïve convictions to the contrary. And, you are right, you are not human.” He leaned in close to me and took a deep breath as if inhaling my scent. “So what are you?”

I cocked my head, considering. I was relieved that he apparently didn’t know the truth after all. The records I’d found secreted away in John’s magically sealed drawer back in Cornwall with my pack had given away the truth – that, no, I wasn’t human, that instead running through my blood were the genetic traces of the Draco Wyr, an ancient dragon race whose blood contained mysterious magical elements. There was the power of the fire that rose inside me whenever I was angry or challenged, and the addictive qualities that had been revealed when Anton had tasted my blood during the Brethren’s evaluation challenges and when Iabartu had tried to take me down to use my blood for her sinister nefarious purposes. She’d almost destroyed the entire pack in her hunt to catch me because she’d seemed to think that she could use it to control others. I was hardly going to reveal the truth of my origins to an untrustworthy Fae, Seelie or not, when total destruction might be the result. Besides, I still didn’t really know all that much about the Draco Wyr anyway; my Othernet research hadn’t really pulled up many answers.

“I have no idea,” I eventually answered, shrugging as if I had no answers. “I have some witchy qualities perhaps but, other than that…”

The Fae glared at me for a second and then rocked back slightly on his heels. His face took on a look of intense concentration and his eyes held mine, daring me to look away. Gold flecks danced across the pupils of his eyes and his voice deepened to a deep murmur. “You will tell me everything.”

“Errr…no, I won’t, because I don’t know anything.”

His eyes bored further into mine. “What are you? I won’t hurt you, little one.”

Little one? This was becoming annoying. He reached out an elegant hand, gently brushing my cheek with the tips of his fingers before I could manage to move away. His eyes reflected even more golden highlights, if that were possible. He smiled at me and softly repeated, “Tell me.”

“Fuck off. And don’t touch me, how do I know where you’ve been? I could catch some nasty Fae disease off of you.” I was being rude now but I didn’t care. I enunciated slowly in case he was hard of hearing. “I…do….not….know….what…I….am….so….I….can’t….tell…you.”

His face hardened and there was something else there too, some emotion that I couldn’t quite define. Surprise? Perhaps even a trace of respect? I couldn’t work it out.

“I know you’re lying, Mackenzie.”

“It hardly seems fair that you know my name and I don’t know yours.”

“Names have power, even you must be aware of that.”

I sighed expressively. “I don’t need your true name.” Honestly, all the Fae placed far too much importance on what was just a tag. “It would just be polite for you to introduce yourself. I don’t know what I am, but even if I did, you are a complete stranger to me. Tell me your name, and it doesn’t have to be your real name for goodness’ sake, and how you’ve ended up here talking to me – and stalking me - in the first place, and I might be able to tell you more about what I know.”

There. I was being calm and reasonable. And I had to find out how much he actually knew and how he’d found me in the first place. Knowing who he was meant that I could find out more about him once I got back home and logged onto the Othernet too. Knowledge always equals power and right now the Fae was ahead of me by a mile because he at least knew who I was and where I’d come from.

He looked at me assessingly for a moment, eyes reverting back to their original shade of indigo. Then something seemed to flicker across his face as if he’d made up his mind. With a sudden sweep from the waist, he sketched a deep bow and held out his hand. “My name is Solus.”

I ignored his outstretched hand and just waited. He sighed quietly and withdrew it. “You broke my sister’s cruinne and I became…curious. I wanted to know who on the middle plane was capable of such a feat. My sister is not without some considerable power.”

I must have looked blank because he explained further. “I believe you call them faerie rings?” There was a trace of distaste in his voice.

Oh. I glanced briefly down at my hands, which were still clutching the silver needles. That had probably been my blood. But getting trapped in that ring had meant that I hadn’t been there to help Julia or the others. I felt the heat inside me rise once more and my teeth clenched.

“That ring almost cost me everything.”

“I’m sorry,” he stated simply. “They are usually the work of Lesser Fae, however my sister is…immature. It doesn’t change the fact that you managed to break through it, however. It appeared to be the result of some kind of blood magic so I waited and watched until traces of the blood that had such power showed itself again. Two days ago it did.”

That must have been when I’d cut myself on the shards of glass after Derek’s attack. I frowned. Solus had been on the street moments after that though so…

He interrupted my thoughts. “Time moves differently for us. Even you must know that.”

Oh, yeah, I did know that.

“I wanted to know who had the power to destroy our magic. It is wise for us to be on our guard when our powers are challenged. So when your blood showed up I watched you. It wasn’t hard to find out your true identity either. It appears I’m not the only one looking for you.”

My stomach briefly squirmed at the thought of Corrigan before I pushed it away. “And now you’ve found me.”

He watched me carefully. “Yes, now I’ve found you. I have no interest in the Pack’s desires so have no fear that I will reveal your location to them. However I do still want to know what you are.”

I believed he’d been honest with me but I still couldn’t trust him or his actions if he found out the truth.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I am not without some ability and, yes, I did break through your sister’s cruinne. I apologise if it caused her problems but it was an emergency and I had no desire to be stuck there for centuries just for her amusement. But I really don’t know what I am.”

“You’re lying. I can smell it coming off of you in waves.” His conciliatory tone had vanished in a wave of irritation. “But I don’t give up easily. I WILL find out what you are.” He looked up for a moment as if he was sniffing the air and then gazed into my eyes again. “I’ll be seeing you, Mackenzie.”

Suddenly without ceremony or so much as by your leave, he vanished, leaving me standing bewildered and slightly scared in amongst piles of books. Bugger it. Now what?

Chapter Four

Moments later, Mrs Alcoon strolled through the door with a tartan shopping trolley trailing behind her. I was still stunned by the Fae’s sudden appearance and disappearance, and what it would really mean for me, but somehow yet managed to register the quaintness of her accessory. I hadn’t thought that anyone actually ever used those trolleys in real life but, clearly, I had been mistaken.