The restaurant was crowded, and his friends were talking and laughing with him. Whoever was following him in the dark sedan, they were trying to be inconspicuous, which meant that they wouldn’t want to create a scene in a place like this. For now, Linus was safe.
I walked away, going around the restaurant and cutting through the alley. When I came back to the street, the sedan was parked a few feet from me, but I stayed in the alley, peering around the corner. I did my best to blend in, and once again, I found myself wishing that I had more Kanin blood in me.
Even this close, the tint on the windows of the car was still too dark for me to see through. I needed more information, so I decided to call Ridley Dresden.
He was the Rektor, so he might have a better idea of what was going on. The Rektor was in charge of trackers, organizing placements, assigning changelings, and basically just keeping us all in order. Because of his position, Ridley was privy to more information than I was, and he might be able to shed some light on the sedan.
Before I called, I decided to use the video option on my phone. It seemed like a smarter choice, because then I could actually show Ridley the car instead of just describing it to him.
Page 4
But when Ridley finally answered—shirtless, with his brown curls even more untamed than normal—I realized that maybe I should’ve sent him a text first, letting him know that I’d be video-chatting with him.
“Bryn?” he asked, and behind him I saw movement as someone got up, wrapping themselves in a dark comforter. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. And no,” I said, keeping my voice low so people walking by on the street wouldn’t hear. “Sorry if I’m disturbing you. ”
“No, it’s okay. ” He sat up straighter, and the rabbit amulet he wore on a leather strap around his neck slid across his bare chest. I heard a girl’s voice in the background, but I couldn’t understand her. “One second. ” He held his hand over the phone, covering both the camera and the mic, but I could still hear him promising to call her later. “Sorry. I’m back. ”
“Aren’t you supposed to be working right now?” I asked, raising a disapproving eyebrow.
“I’m on a lunch break. It’s called a nooner,” Ridley said, meeting my gaze with a devilish gleam in his eye.
The year I graduated from the tracker program was the year Ridley became the Rektor. I hadn’t really known him before that, but his reputation had preceded him. Everyone regarded him as one of the finest trackers, but though he was only twenty-four, he’d been forced to retire three years ago. He was still youthful looking, especially for a guy in his mid-twenties, but thanks in part to his persistent stubble, he couldn’t pass for a teenager any longer.
But that was the only bit of his reputation that I’d heard about. He had a long history of being a serial dater, and this wasn’t the first time I’d accidentally caught him in a compromising situation.
But over the years he’d proved himself to be an excellent Rektor and a loyal friend. So I tried not to fault him too much for his escapades.
“But anyway, what’s going on with you?” Ridley asked. The glint in his dark eyes was quickly replaced by concern.
“Do you know anything about someone else following Linus Berling?” I asked.
His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Is there any reason for someone else to be tracking him?” I clarified. “Anyone else from Doldastam, or another Kanin tracker? Maybe even from another tribe?”
“Why would anyone else be following him?” Ridley shook his head. “You’re his tracker. You’re the only one that should be on him. Did you see someone?”
“Not exactly. ” I chewed the inside of my cheek and looked up from the phone at the dark sedan, which hadn’t moved. “I haven’t seen anyone, but this car has been following him. ” I turned the phone around to show it to Ridley.
“Which one?” Ridley asked, and I tilted the phone to show him more directly.
“The black one with the windows tinted. Do you recognize it?”
Ridley was quiet for a moment, considering. “No, I can’t say that I do. ”
“I was afraid of that. ” I leaned back against the brick wall and turned the phone back around to me. Ridley had leaned forward, like he’d been inspecting the image of the car closely.
“You haven’t seen anyone get in or out of it yet?” Ridley asked.
“No. ” I shook my head.
“It could just be a human thing,” Ridley suggested, but he didn’t sound like he believed it.
“I don’t think so. ” I sighed. “I’m gonna go check it out. ”
“Okay. ” Ridley pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded once, reluctant to agree that I should put myself in a possibly dangerous situation. “Just don’t do anything stupid, Bryn. ”
“I never do,” I assured him with a smile, but that just caused him to roll his eyes.
“I mean it,” he insisted. “Investigate, but do not interact with them until you figure out who we’re dealing with. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can run the plates or find out anything on that car. I’ll check in with you later today, okay?”
“Okay. And I’ll let you know if I find anything out. ”
“Stay safe, Bryn,” Ridley said, and before he could say anything else, I ended the call.
According to the clock on the phone, I only had twenty minutes left of lunch and then afternoon class began. My options were limited, but I knew I didn’t want to wait outside all day, hoping the passengers would make a move so I could see them. If somebody was after Linus, I needed to find out who it was before something bad happened.
So I walked out of the alley and straight to the car. Ridley might consider what I was doing stupid, but it was my best option. Out of the past twelve changelings I’d tracked, I’d brought twelve of them back home. I wasn’t about to let Linus be the first one I lost.
I grabbed the handle of the back door, half expecting it to be locked, but it opened, so I got in. Two men were sitting in front, and they both turned around to look at me as I slid across the seat.
“What the hell?” the driver snarled.
When I saw who it was—his steel-gray eyes meeting mine—my heart clenched, and all the air went out of my lungs. For that moment everything felt frozen as he glared at me, then the rage and horror surged through me in a nauseating mixture.
I recovered as quickly as I could, holding back my anger, and smiled at him. Somehow in an even voice, I said his name. “Konstantin Black. ”
TWO
vengeance
His eyes narrowed, and his lip twitched ever so slightly. “Do I know you?”
“Not exactly,” I admitted, not surprised that he didn’t remember me.
The only time I’d spoken to him had been one of the most important and traumatic nights of my life, but that night he’d clearly had his mind on something else. Before that, I had only been one adoring fan out of thousands that he’d met in his tenure at Doldastam.
Konstantin had changed some in the four years since I’d last seen him—four long years since he’d attacked my father and disappeared into the night. His eyes seemed harder, and there were lines etched in the once-smooth skin around them. He’d grown a beard, and his hair was a bit longer and wilder than I remembered him wearing it.
But he was still unmistakably him. I’d spent years nursing a schoolgirl crush on him, picturing that face in my daydreams, and then I’d spent years plotting my revenge against him, picturing that face in my nightmares.
Page 5
Now here it was, his eyes mere inches from my own, and he had no idea who I was.
“You’re a tracker,” Konstantin realized, and the corner of his mouth curved up into a smirk. I remembered the way that smirk had once filled me with butterflies, but now it only made me want to punch it off his face.
“So you do know her? Or not?” his companion asked.
&nbs
p; “No, I don’t know her, Bent,” Konstantin told him, and I glanced over at his partner in crime.
His friend—Bent, apparently—I didn’t recognize, but by his features I guessed he was Omte. His skin was smooth, and he appeared to be tall, but he had the same lopsided square head and beady eyes of a hobgoblin. Not to mention he didn’t seem that bright.
“You’re a wanted man, Konstantin. What are you doing here?” I asked, instead of hitting him or spitting in his face. Despite my wish for vengeance, I needed to find out what he wanted with Linus Berling and what he was doing here.
“Same thing as you, I would guess,” Konstantin admitted.
Pressing my hands on the black leather of the seat to keep from slapping him, I asked, “What do you want with Linus? You don’t have a tribe to take him back to. What’s the point of even tracking him?”
“We were just waiting for a chance to grab him, and then we’re—” Bent began, but then Konstantin shot him a glare and he fell silent.
“Kidnapping? Really?” I shook my head. “Are you planning to hold him for ransom?”
Konstantin pressed a button in the center console, and the doors clicked as they locked. “Things are far more complicated than they seem. ”
I licked my lips, and, going against my better instincts, I offered him an olive branch. “How about I make a deal with you? I won’t kill you if you let Linus leave with me. ” Then I paused, recalling the last thing Konstantin had ever said to me: I am bound to something much higher than this kingdom, and I must complete my mission.
Konstantin tilted his head then, eyeing me as if he were seeing me for the first time. “Do I know you?”
Bent had apparently grown tired of me, and he turned around in the seat with a dopey, crooked smile plastered across his face. “Whatever. I’m taking care of her. ”
“Bent, maybe—” Konstantin began, but Bent was already in motion.
He leaned over the front seat, reaching for me. His hands were disproportionally large, like massive bear paws, but he was slow, and I easily ducked out of the way.
I grabbed a clump of his dark curly hair, and then I yanked his head to the side, slamming it into the back passenger window. I let go of him and leaned back quickly, then I kicked his head, crashing it into the window again. The glass was shatterproof, and it instantly turned into a crackled sheet as blood streamed down the side of Bent’s head.
Konstantin reached over the seat for me—going after me for the first time—but I slid past him. Bent was now slumped unconscious on the backseat, and I climbed over him. Konstantin grabbed my leg as I pushed through the crumbled glass of the window, but thankfully I’d been wearing knee-high socks, so I wriggled out of his grasp. He was left with a sock and a shoe in his hand as I dove out.
I fell onto the sidewalk, scraping my knee on the cement, but I was up in a flash. Konstantin got out of the car, but I wanted to get to Linus before he went back to the school, so that I could take him far away from Konstantin.
He grabbed my arm, and I whirled on him and punched him hard in the stomach. It felt so good that I had to punch him again, harder this time. It wasn’t quite the same as running him through with a sword, but it would do for now.
As he doubled over in pain, I said into his ear, “That was for my father. You should’ve taken the deal. ”
His grip tightened on my arm as realization dawned on him, and his eyes widened in surprise. “You’re the Chancellor’s daughter. ”
“Bryn Aven,” I told him, still whispering in his ear. “Remember my name. Because I’m going to be the one that kills you. ” Then I kneed him in the crotch. He let go, and I stepped back.
“This man is a child molester!” I shouted, and pointed to Konstantin. “He tried to touch me, and he’s staking out the school for more kids to molest!”
I was nineteen, but the uniform made me look younger. The sidewalks were crowded over lunch hour, and people had stopped to watch since I’d broken out of the car window. My knee was bleeding, and my clothes looked disheveled from fighting.
As people circled closer to Konstantin and several of them pulled out their cell phones to call the police, I slid back in the crowd. For a moment I stayed around, protected by a small sea of people, and I watched him.
He was looking right back at me, his eyes locked on mine. I’d expected to see anger or arrogance, but he wore neither of those. Instead, he almost seemed to look at me with remorse, and for a split second I felt my hatred of him softening, but I refused to let it.
In the investigation following Konstantin’s attempt on my dad’s life, nobody had ever been able to figure out his motive. By all accounts, Konstantin had been a good and loyal servant of the kingdom since he’d become a tracker over a decade ago. He’d never had any disagreements with my father, or the King or Queen.
But in the years following that, I’d decided that it didn’t matter what his motive was. No reason would ever be good enough for what he had done, and even if he was filled with regret and someday begged me to forgive him, I never would.
The crowd was overtaking him, so I turned and ran down the block. People called after me, and I ran faster.
Since I was only wearing one shoe, it felt awkward, so when I reached the restaurant, I stopped and pulled it and my remaining sock off. The cold cement felt better on my feet than socks did anyway.
When I looked through the window, I saw that Linus was just finishing up, and I pushed down all of the emotions that seeing Konstantin Black had brought up. I had a mission at hand, and it required my full attention.
I didn’t know how things would go with Linus. I’d only been talking with him for three days. In an ideal situation, I’d make a connection for two or three weeks, sometimes even a month, before I took a changeling back to Doldastam.
“Linus!” I shouted as I opened the door. A waitress tried to stop me, but I pushed past her and hurried over to his table.
“Bryn?” He stared up at me with confused brown eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Do you trust me?” I asked, a little out of breath from running all the way here.
Page 6
“What?” Linus looked over at his friend, who laughed nervously, and then back at me. “You’re bleeding. Were you in an accident?”
“Okay, seriously. We don’t have time for this. ” I glanced back at the door. Then I looked down at him. “Come with me if you want to live. ”
Both his friends burst out laughing at that, but Linus swallowed hard. The sleeves of his blazer had been pushed to his elbows, and I saw the subtle shift of his skin tone. It didn’t completely change, but the olive color began to take on a bluish hue.
That was good. It meant Linus was scared, which meant he believed me.
“Miss, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave,” a waitress was saying to me.
“Linus, we have to go. Now. ”
He nodded. “Okay. ”
One of his friends asked incredulously, “Linus, are you seriously going with this crazy chick?”
He stood up, ignoring his friend, but he’d only taken a step away from the table when he tripped over his shoelace. I caught his arm before he fell, and he offered me an embarrassed grimace.
“You are so lucky I’m here,” I muttered as I took his arm and led him out of the restaurant.
“What’s going on?” Linus asked.
When we got outside, I looked back down the street. There was still a small crowd of people milling around where I’d escaped from Konstantin and Bent, but the black sedan was gone. They were on the move.
“I’ll explain later. But right now we just have to get out of Chicago as fast as we can. ”
The car I’d rented was in the school parking lot, but there was a chance that Konstantin knew its make. And even if he didn’t, he could still be waiting in the parking lot.
“Where are we going?” Linus asked as I hailed a cab.
>
“To get a car, and then home. ” I held the door to the orange cab open for him.
“But my home is here in Chicago. ” He looked puzzled as he slid into the car.
I smiled at him. “No, your real home. ”
THREE
changeling
“Doldastam,” Linus repeated, the same way he’d been repeating it over the past day and a half. Every time he said it, he’d put the emphasis on a different syllable, trying so hard to match my pronunciation.
I’d rented a new car, and the drive from Chicago to the train station in Canada was over twenty hours, and we’d only stopped for gas and bathroom breaks.
Before we’d left Chicago, we’d swung by my hotel, and I’d changed into a much more comfortable pair of jeans and a T-shirt. But I hadn’t had any clothes for him, and I didn’t want to risk going back to his apartment. In Winnipeg, we’d stopped so I could pick up an appropriate winter jacket and hat for Linus, and I’d finally gotten him a change of clothes so he could get out of his uniform.
I didn’t know if Konstantin and Bent were working alone or with others, and I wouldn’t feel safe until we were back behind the walls of Doldastam. Really, it didn’t matter if they were working with others. Seeing Konstantin Black was enough to unnerve me.
As confident as I’d tried to sound with him and as well as I’d fought him, I’d thrown up as soon as we got to my hotel. Coming face-to-face with the man from my nightmares had that effect on me.
But when I was around Linus, I did my best to keep my feelings in check and seem as normal as possible. I needed to be vigilant to keep him safe, which meant staying calm. So I sat rigidly next to him, staring out the window, and not letting my panic show on my face.
“Did I say it right?” Linus asked, and I could feel him looking at me, waiting for an answer.
“Yep. You said it great,” I assured him with a forced smile.
“It’s pretty out here. ” Linus motioned to the window, at the snow and tree-lined landscape of Manitoba as we sped through it.
“Yeah, it is,” I agreed.
“This is where I was born?” Linus asked.
“Well, not out here, exactly. We’re still a ways away from Doldastam, but yeah, you were born out here. ”
“I’m a changeling. ” No matter how many times he said this, Linus still managed to sound mystified every time. “I’m Kanin, and you’re Kanin. ”
“Right,” I said, because that was easier than correcting him. I was Kanin—sort of. He already had enough to digest without me breaking into my life story.
If he’d known more about what it meant to be Kanin, he’d be able to tell that I wasn’t really one just by looking at me.
Linus had dark brown hair, cropped short and gelled smooth to tame the unruly curls, and eyes that matched. I, on the other hand, had easily managed blond waves that landed just below my shoulders, and my eyes were the color of the blue sky out the window. Even his skin was several shades darker than mine.
On his cheeks he had a subtle spotting of freckles. They weren’t typical of the Kanin, but they seemed to suit him. Linus had an openness to his face, an innocent inability to hide any of his emotions, and his expression shifted from awe to pained confusion every few minutes.