Wicked Whispers (17 page)

“Would you wait outside for me, Murmur? I’d like to talk to Kellen for a few minutes.”

He met her gaze and nodded. He wanted to say no, but that would be admitting cowardice. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Don’t worry about answering Sparkle’s e-mails. Zane answered all two thousand of them. He told everyone to stay pure and virginal. Sparkle banned him from her office.”

Murmur left the room and closed the door behind him, but not before hearing Ivy’s muttered, “I’ll kill him.”

Once in the hallway, he lowered himself to the floor and leaned back against the stone wall. It was dark here. This was the vampire floor. No natural light filtered in, and the lights in the hall were kept to a minimum. Sleeping vampires didn’t need well-lit hallways, and the dungeon was only used during the evening fantasies.

Still, he closed his eyes, a symbolic shutting out of the unease that had grown too real back in Kellen’s room. The things he’d told Ivy’s brother had forced him to face truths he’d been trying to avoid for a long time.

He’d stayed too long on the mortal plane. He wasn’t just indifferent to humanity; it was much worse. He actually cared. When had he slipped beyond his nature? Why had he finally realized it now? Not only realized it, but was willing to admit it?

Murmur opened his eyes to the darkened hallway. The truth was there in the shadows that mocked him, that jeered at what he’d become, at how far he’d fallen. Or risen, he wasn’t sure which. He’d lost himself, and he wouldn’t be checking in the demonic lost-and-found department anytime soon.

He stood and headed for the stairs. Now wasn’t a good time for him to speak with Ivy. He’d promised to wait for her, but, hey, demons didn’t keep promises. See, he was on the way to recovery already.

A few minutes later, he was pounding on Bain’s door. The other demon opened the door and Murmur strode into the room. Tirron sat watching him from the chair. Good. Both of them needed to hear this.

Murmur sat on the couch. He smiled. Being the bearer of bad news could be fun. He’d give it to them in one power-packed sentence. “Ganymede’s down in the great hall hacking up a virtual hairball of pissed-off cat because a Gancanagh named Braeden followed my musical weave to the castle and stole Sparkle’s heart.” He leaned back and relaxed. “Do you want a tune to accompany that bit of bad news?”

9

Tirron’s fae eyes were the color of chipped ice, and that was the warmest part of his expression. “Why didn’t you take care of it?”

“Take care of it?” Murmur raised one brow. “Was that my responsibility? Sorry, I must have misread my contract. I would’ve sworn that Bain only wanted me to draw the faery host here with my music. I did that.” He was out of patience with the Sidhe today. “And what have you done to further the cause?”

Tirron looked affronted that Murmur would dare question him. “I will not answer to a demon.” He said “demon” in the same tone of voice he’d say “pig shit.”

Murmur narrowed his eyes. “I don’t like you, Tirron of the Seelie Court.” Demons had evil down to an art, but at least they were straightforward. If you saw a demon, you knew one of two things was going to happen: either you were going to die, or the demon was going to lay a supersized temptation on you. The Sidhe destroyed you with half truths and deception. He would take straightforward every time.

Something flickered in the faery’s eyes and was gone. Interesting. Murmur would pursue that flicker later, but now he had something to say that needed saying. He and Tirron had to understand each other.

“My directness is probably horrifying your Sidhe soul. Too bad. I’ll work with you because of Bain, but never think you can play the arrogant jerk with me.” He met Tirron’s gaze, injecting all the contempt he felt for the faery into his stare before looking at Bain. “Ganymede wants to meet with us tonight at seven in my room. We need a plan or else he’s going to toss us out on our asses.”

Bain paced the room, his gaze fixed on the floor. Finally, he stopped and sank onto the other end of the couch from Murmur. “Sparkle is Ganymede’s only weak link. How can we use her?”

“His only weak link?” Murmur stretched his legs out in front of him and tapped a rhythm with one foot to Asima’s music playing in his head. Thank the gods she had a few songs on her playlist that weren’t depressing dirges. “His love of ice cream, candy, popcorn, and chips is legendary. You might explore that avenue if the Sparkle one fizzles.”

Bain cast him an exasperated glare. “Not funny. Get serious.”

Murmur widened his eyes. “I’m completely serious.”

Tirron ignored Murmur. “Can we threaten Sparkle to force him to allow us to stay?”

He couldn’t help it, Murmur laughed. “Only if you want each of your severed limbs to land in a different state and your head to end up as a paperweight on his desk.”

Bain nodded his agreement. “Ganymede is one of the most powerful beings I’ve ever met. We definitely don’t want him to think she’s in danger from us.”

“Braeden interested Sparkle, but I don’t think it’ll be anything more than a brief flirtation. Besides, Gancanaghs never stick around long. Ganymede is too caught up in his jealous rage to realize that. I think what really ticked Sparkle off was Ganymede’s interference.” Murmur considered the possibilities. “We could offer to sabotage the budding romance in return for being allowed to stay here.”

Tirron watched him with unblinking intensity. “That’s not much to offer in exchange for bringing the faery host down on his head.”

Murmur knew his smile was insincere. Tirron knew it too. That was the beauty of insincerity: it was so easy to express. “Bain and I are demons. We understand the nuances of temptation. Ganymede is a chaos bringer. He was meant to create planet-changing events, but his Big Boss has reined him in. He can only do minor stuff now. I bet Ganymede would give anything to be able to explore his wild side again. If the Sluagh Sidhe endanger the castle, Ganymede would feel justified in defending it. A built-in excuse if the Big Boss gave him static about the death and destruction.” Of course, Ganymede couldn’t blame
them
if the big fight never happened.

Bain nodded. “I bet Ganymede would jump at the chance to kick some major butt without the Big Boss punishing him.”

Tirron looked thoughtful. “It could work.”

“I hate to point out the obvious, but this whole confronting-the-faery-host thing has some dangers, Bain. If the exchange doesn’t go as planned, it could get ugly. The humans will notice a war going on around them, and there’re just so many minds we can wipe. We don’t want to go viral on YouTube.”

“It won’t come to that.” Bain stood again to pace some more. “It’ll be a simple exchange, and then—”

Tirron interrupted. “It will
not
be a simple exchange. I agreed to help so that I could destroy the Unseelie. You will not deny me that pleasure.”

Murmur held on to his temper. “Sure. Destroy all you want, but do it after the exchange.” And after Bain and he drew up a disclaimer stating that Tirron was waging war on his own. Although… Damn, he’d love a good fight right now. Battles were great stress relievers.

“We have to make sure Ivy is with us for the trade. Will you be able to control her, demon?” The faery’s stare challenged him. “You seem to be friendly with her. I hope emotion won’t interfere with your commitment.”

Murmur resisted the urge to rearrange Tirron’s perfect face. “I’ll do what needs doing.” But maybe not exactly in the way the faery hoped.

Bain stopped pacing. “That’s all, I guess. We’ll meet with Ganymede at seven and—”

“Ivy was there when Ganymede said he’d meet with us. She wants to be at the meeting.” Murmur waited for the blowback from that announcement.

Tirron’s expression grew even colder, if colder was possible. “No.”

“She can’t come.” Bain sounded definite about that.

Murmur shrugged. “I don’t think you have a say in it. She said she’d be there. You want to talk her out of it? Have at it.”

Tirron made an impatient sound and stood. “I’ll see you at seven.” His expression said they were all incompetent imbeciles.

“Just a thought, but you might want to think of a way to get Ganymede’s support without mentioning the exchange while Ivy’s there tonight.” Murmur watched the faery’s shoulders tense.

“I’m not an idiot.” He slammed the door on his way out.

“Could’ve fooled me.” Murmur had a bad feeling about the faery, but this was Bain’s party, so he’d deal.

Bain dropped onto the chair Tirron had abandoned. “Try not to drive him to a murder attempt. We need some semblance of teamwork here.”

Murmur shrugged. “I don’t trust faeries. Where did you find him?”

“An associate recommended him. And I needed someone who understood the faery mindset.” Bain’s frown said he wasn’t as sure as he should be about Tirron. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Murmur didn’t think anyone understood the faery mindset, not even a fellow faery. “We have another problem. Ivy’s brother showed up this morning. He could be Mab’s son, if her sons weren’t all dead. My guess is that one of those sons spent some quality time with Ivy’s great-grandmother. Both Ivy and Kellen can see through glamours. If they have any other powers, they haven’t discovered them yet.”

Bain’s eyes started to glow. Not a good sign.

“And Ivy knows about the resemblance. That’s why she wants to be at the meeting. She wants any information she can get that might help her protect her brother.”

Bain closed his eyes. “Crap.”

“Exactly.” Murmur felt a stab of sympathy for Bain. “I’m sure Tirron saw the resemblance. I noticed that he didn’t mention it to you.”

“Did you find someone to take Ivy’s place?” Bain kept his eyes closed.

“Yes.”

The silence expanded as Bain waited for him to elaborate. He didn’t.

Finally Bain opened his eyes. He stared at Murmur. “I’ll trust you on this. Just make sure you have someone acceptable to the Sluagh Sidhe.”

“She’ll be everything they want.” At least until she opened her mouth. Murmur sighed. Asima’s music was back to profoundly boring. “Trust me.” Or not. Murmur just hoped that Asima wouldn’t do anything to ruin their plans.

Bain nodded. “You might want to hunt down Sparkle and see how the romance is going.” He smiled. “And maybe throw a few bricks into the mix.”

“Will do.”

As he left Bain’s room, he wished he was going in search of Ivy instead of Sparkle.

A short time later, a snarky Holgarth pointed him toward Sweet Indulgence, Sparkle’s candy store.

Ivy stood waiting. Sparkle sat on a stool behind her candy counter. She waved her arms around, bracelets jingling and earrings swinging, as she ranted about Ganymede’s sucky attitude.

“He says he cares, but has he lifted one finger from the TV remote to help with the extra work I have now because of the Big Boss? No. He says he cares, but has he taken his furry face out of the ice cream container long enough to have a meaningful conversation with me? No. He says he cares, but does he offer to go places with me? No.”

Ivy tried to ignore the ongoing diatribe. She glanced at Braeden. He sat cross-legged on top of the candy counter looking bored—long dark hair shadowing his perfect face, his expression sensual and brooding, his finger tapping out an impatient rhythm on his knee. Nope. Didn’t seem like sex would be happening anytime soon.

The door opened behind Ivy. She didn’t turn to look.
Murmur
. She could sense him. And wasn’t that freaky? He stopped behind her. She shivered, and not with the horror she should feel with a demon so close. Black and white had blended into a soft gray. She was starting to see him as he was, not the way his title said he should be.

He leaned close, and she could feel his warm breath against her neck.

“You smell of white sand and cool ocean breezes.”

She smiled but didn’t turn around. “Are you sure you’re not smelling Sparkle’s saltwater taffy?”

His soft laughter made her imagine the things they could do on that white sand.

“Obviously, I have to rethink my list of usually irresistible compliments.” He slid one finger the length of her exposed neck.

Ivy sucked in her breath.

Sparkle glared at her. “He says we should be free to choose our own friends, but does he handle my perfectly innocent friendship with Braeden in a mature way? No.”

Braeden narrowed his fae eyes. He obviously took issue with the “perfectly innocent” part of Sparkle’s comment.

Ivy decided now would be a good time to interrupt, before she could no longer resist the urge to lean back against all that hard male flesh behind her. “Holgarth said you wanted to see me.”

Sparkle paused and then nodded. “I want you to spy on Mede. I need to keep an eye on him. He doesn’t handle rejection well. If Mede thinks he’s lost me…” She shrugged. “He’s the cosmic chaos bringer. Earth could end in a flash of light and a big boom.”

Ivy did a few mental eye rolls. “I know he cares for you. Once he calms down, I’m sure he’ll regret what he did.” Or not. Who could tell with a cat? “But I don’t think you have to worry about the earth.” No one was
that
powerful.

“You are so young and naive.” Sparkle looked sympathetic. “You haven’t even begun to understand the power some of the beings in this castle wield. If you’re lucky, you never will.”

“She’s telling the truth.”

Ivy could feel Murmur’s deep voice vibrating through her because, at some point, without her permission, her body had tipped back and was now snuggled into his. He was a magnetic force to be reckoned with.

“You want me to spy on Ganymede?” She couldn’t believe what Sparkle was asking. “I thought you hired me to be your assistant.” Normal personal assistants scheduled meetings, screened calls, set appointments, stuff like that. But when had anything about Sparkle been normal?

Sparkle smiled as though Ivy had finally gotten it. “Exactly. So assist me.” Her expression said that everything was solved.

Ivy didn’t know how to answer that kind of logic.

Murmur stepped into the conversational vacuum. “Feeling let down, Braeden? I bet you expected more from the queen of sex and sin?”