Cassandra's Dilemma (22 page)

“Cassie!” Jacob’s voice snapped her back to the present. “Stay with me. Stay focused on the here and the now. Stop breaking the damn glamour! Or so help me, woman, I’ll knock your ass out.”

She cringed at the harshness in his tone but gritted her teeth to try and stop doing whatever it was she was doing. The big light blur resolved to more distinct shapes. She could make out Jacob’s profile, and she focused on sharpening that.

“There ya go. Break the damn blindness spell. That’s a great thing to concentrate on.” The SUV yanked hard right again, thumping Cassie against the door.

Jacob’s blurred image bled at the edges. She could see hard yellows, golds, greens, and the faintest thread of red twining between the different layers. “Cloves and sandalwood, green and gold. Interesting combination.”

“Thank you, I think.” The tension in his voice gradually relaxed, as did the hard turns the vehicle was making. “Go ahead, shimmy up into the seat. Should be safe enough now.”

Cassie used her hands as a guide. All other shapes were far less distinct than Jacob. She found the seat belt and snapped it on. Leaning her head back against the seat, she turned her face toward Jacob, squinting through the blur. She could make out the smooth planes of his cheekbones, the dark five o’clock shadow on his cheeks. His mouth was pinched into a hard line, and his eyebrows drew together in a hard scowl. The fierce gaze flicked to the rearview mirror and then toward the road again.

Relief swamped through her. She could see again. A look toward the windows revealed dark and light blurs speeding by too quickly to make out, but Jacob remained blessedly solid and beautiful.

“Beautiful?” He quirked a sardonic eyebrow in her direction. “Thanks for the compliment, Cassie, but I’d rather not think of myself as some pretty boy.”

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Nope, you’re projecting.”

“Projecting?” Cassie nibbled at her lower lip.

“Your great-grandmother was a Changeling. Fae magic doesn’t work on Changelings, not one bit. They can actually shatter the Underhill around them. Magic obviously affects you and projecting is a Fae gift, one shared by Wizards. You must have inherited some of your great-grandmother’s abilities, though, because you’re burning through glamours.”

“Like the one on your truck?” If she narrowed her eyes, she could make out the muscle twitching in the corner of his right eye.

“Yes. Not even your Elf saw him, but you actually started deconstructing the glamour.” Jacob shook his head. “Makes me wonder what double-sided game the Danae is playing, putting you out there as the face of her idiotic movement.”

“You really don’t like them, do you?”

“No, I really don’t.”

“But your father…”

“Is a nonissue. Look, Cassie, don’t get all nostalgic and think that my father and I may be united on this issue. We’re not going to be. His biological and magical contribution to my existence began and ended on a single night more than two centuries ago, so don’t go all Dr. Phil on me.”

“Two centuries?” Cassie gaped.

“Oh yeah. The stronger the magical line, the longer the life. Look at your great-grandmother.”

Cassie thought about that. Grandma Martin was a force to be reckoned with up until the night she died. She’d not wasted away. In fact, her sudden heart attack shocked the entire family. “She died of a heart attack.”

“Did she?” Jacob asked. “Or was it another salvo in the Danae’s war?”

Cassie turned her gaze toward the blurring lights.

She had no answer for that.

Chapter Fourteen

They drove through the night, leaving Chicago, then Illinois. When they crossed into Kentucky, Cassie slumped deeper into the seat, yawning hard. “How much farther?”

“Until I don’t feel eyes boring into the back of my head.” Jacob scratched at the growth of beard on his face. His eyes were red rimmed with effort and sunken from lack of sleep. The more her vision returned, the more she saw how haggard he appeared.

“I could drive for a bit,” she offered.

He slanted a look at her. “Your eyesight is still spotty, isn’t it?”

She sighed and looked toward the horizon, where the sun painted a solid red line edged with the hint of purple. The night sky remained firmly black above, refusing to acknowledge the impending dawn. “We haven’t heard from Helcyon in hours.”

“Worried about your lover?”

“He’s not my lover.”
Not yet, anyway.
“But we left him behind with that thing.”

“He’ll be fine. He’s more than capable of handling it, particularly with you out of the line of fire.” Jacob shifted in his seat, stretching his left arm forward.

“He handled that one at my house.” Helcyon exuded strength and determination. But she would have been happier if he’d made his escape alongside them. “The Danae assigned him as my bodyguard. I don’t want him to get into trouble.”

“Oh, now that would be a crying shame.”

“Does he know I’m with you?”

“I’m pretty sure he’ll figure it out.” Jacob nodded his head out the window. “The sun will be up soon. We can stop then to find a hotel.”

“Three days.
Dammit
.”

“Beg pardon?”

“Three days. She gave me seven days to figure it out, and three days are gone and I’m no closer.” Cassie scrubbed at her face with her hands.

“To figure out who attacked your little press conference?” Jacob shook his head. “You’re not an investigator, Cassie.”

“That’s what I said. But she has a way of just making these decisions that sweep all your objections aside.”

“I don’t care if she wanted you to research killers at the local library. You’re a media consultant, not a trained investigator. My task force will figure this out.”

“But it wasn’t an actual bomb,” Cassie fired back.

“What?” The SUV slowed briefly before he put his foot down and the speedometer lurched back toward 90.

“At your house. The blast. It felt familiar—it smelled familiar.”

“Dirty, wet cabbage?”

“Dirty, wet cabbage,” Cassie confirmed.

“So it was an attack from something Underhill.” Jacob’s voice hardened. “That makes it even less your problem. You’re hardly capable of dealing with this world’s problems, much less that world’s.”

“Seriously, were you born this much of an ass, or did you have to practice?” She glared at his profile, ignoring the tug in the vicinity of her belly when she looked at him.

“I took my degree in it from the University of Kiss My Ass, sweetheart.” He grinned.

“And here I thought you were cultured and educated.”

“I’ll add getting a master’s in Kiss Your Ass later.” Jacob leered at her. But beneath the surface, she detected the note of teasing. Maybe he wasn’t as angry as he’d appeared earlier.

“Don’t do me any favors.”

“It wouldn’t be just for you,” Jacob said under his breath. “The sun’s up. Time to look for a hotel.” He stretched his arm forward again as a yawn cracked his jaw. The long, empty stretch of highway didn’t seem promising, but as the sun crested along the eastern sky, turning the darkness overhead to pink twilight, a green sign promised a hotel, gas station, and McDonald’s in three exits.

Cassie studied the backs of her hands, lips pursing in irritation.

“What?” Jacob glanced at her darkening expression. “Are your eyes okay?”

“Better. I was just thinking I spent fifty bucks on this manicure three days ago.” Cassie held up her left hand, showing him every cracked, splintered, and chipped nail. The dark red-gold color had all but worn away, leaving only a hint of its former luster around the nail bed edges where the nail beds weren’t torn, bruised or damaged.

Jacob split a glance between her nails and her expression. “Nice color.”

Laughter bubbled up at his absolute sincerity. She met his grin with her own wry smile. “I know it’s stupid. I know my problems are a lot bigger than a ruined manicure, and I’d sacrifice any number of manicures to have Billy back—” She let out a sigh, equal parts frustration and exhaustion.

He slowed the SUV down and moved over into the right-hand lane. “I’m sorry for your loss. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I am sorry.”

They raced down the exit ramp, passing sleepy shops and local industry along the side road. A mini–Motel 6 wannabe competed with a Holiday Hotel for customers.

“Thanks.” She used the arm of the shirt to wipe at her face. She wanted to yell at the darkness, but the soft dawn pushed the bleakness of night back, leaving the world bathed in a rose-colored glow. She made a noise in the back of her throat, a growl mangled with a snort.

“What?” Jacob looked at her sharply. Cassie turned away from the window in disgust and wrinkled her nose at him. He looked like hell run over with a liberal sprinkling of shit thrown on top.

“It’s a perfect, rose-colored morning out there. Perfect. The kind that begs you to sit outside with a hot cup of coffee, a newspaper, and to imagine your 2.3 children and spaniel with the white pickets sparkling around the perfect green lawn.” She was ranting. Cassie didn’t care.

Jacob shrugged. “You get used to it.”

“Used to it?”

He swung the SUV into the parking lot of the Holiday Hotel and drove toward the back. When he pulled into a spot, he shoved the gear into park before slumping back in the seat.

“This is what happens when you play with the Fae, Cassie. The rose-colored world out there, it’s just camouflage for all the nasty, dark underbelly. You want that rose-colored world, walk away from the Fae.”

“I can’t.”

“No, you can’t,” he agreed without a trace of sympathy. “So the best thing you can do is stop bitching about it and take action.”

“Seriously?” Cassie slanted a look at him.

“Yes, seriously.” He rubbed a hand along the stubble on his face. “You can sit here and cry and piss and moan. Or you can do something about it.”

“I do want to do something about it, but you don’t seem to think much of me figuring out who set the bomb.”

“You’re not an investigator, and that’s not what I’m talking about. Now stay in the car. I’ll get us a room.”

“I don’t want a room. I don’t want to stay in a hotel.” Cassie’s voice rose a dangerous octave or two. “I want to figure this out.”

“We need to shower. We need the scent of the Feth Felen off. I need to make some charms to protect you, and if I don’t eat something soon, roadkill is going to look good.” He jabbed a finger in her direction. “Stay in the damn car.” He threw open the door to the SUV and climbed out before slamming the door shut. His hand rested against the side of the car, and she saw his mouth moving.

Black, red, and blue lines raced over the exterior of the car, crisscrossing like fine mesh netting. Cassie watched them flare over the doors and again on the hood before they evaporated on the surface, leaving only a faint film behind. She met Jacob’s eyes through the car glass.

Guess she was staying put.

She watched him stride across to the back entrance. The lobby was on the other side of the building, but Mr. Wizard didn’t seem to need some key to open the door. It opened for him.

Well, bully for him.

Cassie blew out a long breath and leaned back in the seat. She studied the roof of the car, aching eyes protesting the brightening day outside the windows. Exhaustion warred with frustration. She rubbed at the corners of her eyes. The situation continued to spiral out of control no matter what she did. It was so hard to believe that just three days before at this time she was at the gym, working out, mentally composing her announcement, and preparing herself for the media firestorm.