Never After

As we started through the musty tu

4

The tu

Fifteen minutes and we were at the end of the passage, facing a series of steps that led us up to a door with a one-way lock on it. Locked from the inside, we could get out, but once we did and the door swung shut, we wouldn’t be able to duck back in.

“Don’t let the door close,” I whispered. “Not until we know it’s safe.” I cautiously pushed it open a crack and peeked out. I was looking into what appeared to be a women’s restroom. There was no one in sight. I pushed the door open and stepped out. Camille followed me.

“Wait here,” she said, leaving me to hold the door as she raced over to the outer door leading… well, wherever it led.

I glanced around the room. Four stalls, dull green, two sinks with faucets. And these were old-fashioned faucets—no run your hands under the sink and make the water come out technology here. A paper towel dispenser and a spartan-looking mirror hung on the wall. Track lighting illuminated the room with fluorescent lights. Windows lined the upper wall, letting in some natural light. Yeah, this was a utilitarian bathroom, all right.

Camille dashed back. “It’s okay. We’re in the women’s restroom for Westmeyer Park. You get back in the tu

I nodded, waiting as she disappeared out the front. A couple minutes later, she was back. “She’s on her way. She left Tim at your apartment. He’s still fooling around with your computer.”

I let out a long sigh. “That’s fine.” I was tired; my back was killing me from walking in pumps—ever since I’d become pregnant I’d longed for flats, and all I wanted was to sit down somewhere and cry.

Camille noticed and wrapped her arm around me. “Oh, Siobhan, everything will be all right. You wait and see.” She cocked her head. “I think I hear a car. Come on, it must be Delilah. The parking lot is just a few feet away from here.”

I reluctantly let the tu

As Camille opened the outer door, she let out a startled cry. “Run! Siobhan, run!”

Someone slammed the door open, sending Camille flying against the wall. She screamed as she hit the concrete and slumped to the ground, where she shook her head, dazed.

I whirled back to the tu

The swift scent of ozone filled the air as Camille shouted and a blast ricocheted against the walls. Freezing, I paused; then a man swore and, again, Camille shrieked.

“Siobhan, you might as well give it up. You’re coming with me.”

That voice, I knew.

“Terrance?” I turned, knowing that no matter what I did, it would be too little, too late.

Three men stood there: Terrance, along with two other men I recognized instantly by their scent as being full blooded Finfolk.

Terrance motioned to them. “Keith, grab the Faerie bitch. Lon, keep watch.”

The one named Keith grabbed Camille up in a bear hug, clapping a hand over her mouth as she struggled. The other took up guard on the door.

I stared at Terrance as he slowly walked toward me. It had been a long time since I’d looked into those cold, blue eyes.

“Just leave us alone. I’m not going with you. You can’t force me to go with you.” I backed up toward the wall, petrified. The look on his face was maleficent, his lips curled into a snarl.

“Oh, you’re coming with me, and as soon as we get rid of the whelp bastard you’ve got locked up in that oven, I’ll get you with my own child and that will seal the deal.” His eyes glimmered and he chuckled softly. “I’ve followed you for too long, over too many miles, to even think of letting you go now.”

“No, don’t hurt my baby. Please don’t hurt my baby.” I crossed my hands over my stomach. But then, fear turned to anger. This was my child, Mitch’s child, and if Terrance tried to hurt it, I’d rip him to shreds. “Get out of here or I swear, Terrance, I’ll kill you.”

He laughed again. “Right, you go on thinking that. No, my dear, you’re coming with me and so is your friend. I know plenty of people who’d pay a pretty pe

“You’re part Finfolk, aren’t you? You’ve got Meré blood in you!”

As he walked me back against the wall, one step at a time, he reached out and caught my chin in his hands. He stroked my cheek with one finger, hooking it lightly over my lower lip. “You finally see me clearly, my beautiful selkie princess. Now, it’s time to come home with me.” The way he said the word princess stopped me short. It wasn’t an endearment. No, there was something else behind his words.

“Princess?”

“Well, I’ll be damned. Your mother never told you, did she?” Terrance laughed roughly. “Ah well, I don’t blame her. Your father’s folk were a rough lot—coarse and stinking up the sea. Your mother probably thought she was doing you a favor, but the truth will out, won’t it?”

“What truth?” I’d been lying so long that I half believed my own stories, but now he was claiming that my mother had lied to me?>

“Your blood gives you a direct lineage to nobility on her side of the family. You’re in line for the throne within the Isle of Man Selkie Pod. Since you ran away from your father’s people and turned your back on them, you have the option to return home and claim your heritage and right of kinship.”

He couldn’t be right. My mother, a princess? And now me, in line for the throne?>

“Wait—my mother! Isn’t she the one who should rise to power if there’s a change in rulership? If you harm her—”

He twisted my arm just enough to hurt. “Pipe down. Your mother’s fine. But she knowingly turned her back on her own Pod and pledged herself to your father’s people. She can’t return home now.”

“I’m pledged to the Puget Sound Harbor Seal Pod—”

“Ah, but you have the choice to return to your mother’s people because she never told you about them. Which you will do. Then, when I marry you, I’ll have one of the most powerful groups of selkies under my control, via your own sweet self. You, my dear, are my ticket to ruling the waves. After that, it’s a short step to the Finfolk taking over your people, just like we did the Cobh roane. My father married into the Pod. He was half Finfolk, and now we control them. We’ll reign terror over the seas. At last, do you understand why I chased you for a hundred years? There’s more at stake than just a pretty pussy. My people wait for me back home. And your people wait in fear that I’ll find you. They’ve finally figured out just who my family is.”

“You’re crazy,” I said. “I’m no princess—”

“But you are, in your own right. Even if you never married me, you’ve got the blood of queens flowing through your body. Your father had no idea of just who he captured when he went seeking a mate.”