The Shifting Price of Prey

‘Gen?’

I looked back at Fi

And maybe it wasn’t. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘The Forum Miribilis. It’s not good.’

Chapter Forty-Seven

‘It’s an auction site,’ Fi

I peered over Hugh’s shoulder as he read.

Forum Mirabilis

Where anything can be ordered, bought or bartered: contraband spells, ba

Fi

The screen showed an entry from ‘RiverCat1’: Wanted: Female ailuranthrope. Panthera tigris– any subspecies preferred, though would accept any female ailuranthrope of any big cat species. Must be pure bred, not bitten, and of breeding age.

There was a tick in the column headed: Sourced.

‘Weretigers are obviously not as extinct as everyone thinks,’ I muttered.

There was a note added to the ‘Sourced’ column: ‘Subspecies Panthera tigris tigris(Bengal tiger). Female comes with one pure-bred cub, also Panthera tigris tigris(Bengal tiger) – male; aged six. Lots can be offered separately or together.’

They were going to auction off the ambassador’s wife and her kid. I hugged myself, chilled despite the summer heat. ‘That’s sick.’

Hugh rumbled agreement. ‘However, it does explain the Bangladeshi ambassador’s insistence on his diplomatic immunity.’

‘Damn. He’s worried about people finding out, isn’t he?’ I said. ‘Though really you’d think that would be the last thing on his mind.’

‘The longer a secret is locked in fear, the more impossible it becomes to release it, even when a more immediate danger threatens.’ A puff of worried dust escaped Hugh’s headridge. ‘But now we know the motive behind the kidnap, it should be easier for us to help the ambassador.’

‘It doesn’t explain why they took the zoo employee too.’

‘No doubt we’ll find out,’ Hugh said, ‘when we find him. Which is more important right now.’

‘This should help.’ Fi

‘They’re a recompense of sorts,’ Hugh rumbled angrily.

Fi

‘You mean those who’ve been kidnapped?’

Fi

Right. ‘So you’re saying whoever’s got the coin can turn up at the Forum, hand over the coin and get their relatives or item back?’ It was too easy. ‘What’s the catch?’

‘It’s not a straight exchange. The coin’s only an invitation to attend the Forum and barter. The coin-holder is asked for additional payment of some sort.’

‘Like what?’

‘Apparently it’s different for everyone. It’s to discourage coin-holders from turning up or, if they do, to make sure the Forum doesn’t lose out.’

‘Crap,’ I muttered. ‘It’s probably some Faustian or first-born child thing. But at least the coins are a way into the Forum.’ I looked at Hugh. ‘We’ve got two: the ambassador’s, and the one the werewolves threw at Max. So we could use them to infiltrate the auction, couldn’t we?’

Hugh nodded. ‘An option to consider, Ge

I shot him a wry grin. ‘Is this where you tell me to stop trying to teach you to suck eggs?’

‘Your input is always welcome.’ Hugh’s pink teeth sparkled in a gentle smile. ‘If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t ask for your help. ‘Now we have this’ – he waved the tablet – ‘to give to the IT bods at New Scotland Yard, there’s a good chance we can find the exact auction location. I’ll get it off to them right away.’ He called Constable Lamber over, showed him the tablet and started issuing instructions.

A sudden thought hit me. ‘Am I on the auction wanted list?’

Fi

Relief washed over me. ‘Good to know I’m not going to end up on the auction block.’

‘Yeah,’ Fi

I snorted. ‘Only because he’s got a showdown scheduled with the Emperor. He’s probably worked out that if the police get in on the act, it’ll weigh the odds in his favour.’

‘Ahh.’ Fi

‘Yeah,’ I agreed, hoping it would save them, and determined to help any way I could. Only, unease pricked at me. The Empress card had said ‘save my children’ – Bastien and Dilek, presumably – and helping the police nab the Emperor would do that. But if the Emperor was nabbed before I got a chance to ask him my question about the fae’s trapped fertility, where did that leave me and the fae? Okay, so it might be that the Emperor’s price for telling me the answer was to get him out of clink. Only while Hugh might be pro-fae, I doubted the human law would see that as a good reason to let the Emperor go, so realistically, it wasn’t a price I could pay.

Crap, maybe I’d made a mistake giving Hugh the info about the Forum. Maybe this was what Tavish meant when he said he’d had a prediction that I could screw things up, and leave the fae’s fertility permanently trapped? Only he was the one who’d sent the info over. Damn. I needed to speak to him.

Heart thudding, I called. And got his voicemail.

Keeping my voice low, I started leaving him a worried message—

Fi

An ùmaidh. A temporary changeling. The sidhe don’t only leave them in cradles when stealing human babies, they and the lesser fae use them, if needed, to escape human law. An ùmaidhmight not ‘live’ long, a month at most, but then human justice for fae and vamps is swift and fatal. Severing part of your soul and sacrificing some flesh, then forging it to a fresh cut log or an animal, isn’t a huge price to pay if you’ve got a one-way ticket to the guillotine.

I frowned, murmured. ‘Can one be made for a vampire?’

‘Tavish says yes.’

Right. ‘Good to know,’ I muttered. ‘Though would’ve been helpful if he’d bothered to return my calls and tell me.’