The Shifting Price of Prey Read Online Free Page A

job back when I gave up the reins . . . except I wouldn’t be the one calling the shots any more.
That
, I
realised, was what I truly wanted.
    ‘No, not Spellcrackers as such,’ I clarified. ‘But what it represents. I want to be the one in control of my life. No other people making decisions for me or thinking they can
force me into doing what they want.’ Which really, after everything, wasn’t so much of a surprise. ‘I want to make my own choices, on my own terms.’
    Tavish was silent for a long moment, then something shifted in the depths of his eyes like a fish sliding beneath shadowed waters. ‘’Tis a big ask, doll.’
    Impossible more like. ‘Yeah.’ I lifted one shoulder in a shrug. ‘But what does what I want have to do with releasing the fae’s fertility?’
    ‘Told you, doll,’ Tavish said briskly. ‘You’re the key, but you’re nae wanting to find the spell, so the magic’s nae keen on helping.’
    I considered that. ‘So, if I decide I want it, the magic will help me find it?’
    He shook his head. ‘’Tis nae quite that simple. The magic’s a tricky mistress. You know that.’
    I did. Magic wasn’t something you could talk or reason with, yet it still had a mind of its own. Sometimes, when I’d needed it, it had helped me in the past.
    ‘She likes you,’ Tavish said softly.
    ‘She?’
    ‘The magic.’
    ‘Why are you calling it “she”?’ I asked, puzzled. ‘Isn’t it more like a natural . . . force or something?’
    He smiled, turquoise eyes dancing. ‘We all come from The Mother, and she was the first to come from the magic. So what else would the magic be? But now’s nae the time for debating,
doll. We want to find the spell, you want to keep Spellcrackers and be your own boss. Help me and I’ll help you, with that anyways.’
    ‘Tavish,’ I said, more than a little insulted. ‘I don’t need to be bribed.’
    ‘Och, I ken, but a little incentive never harms a body, now does it?’
    ‘Fine, I’m not going to say no.’ I shot him a grateful smile. Having him go to bat for me with the satyrs staking their claim was a bonus. ‘What do you want me to
do?’
    ‘Ask the one who knows.’ He flicked his fingers and a pack of cards, larger than normal playing size, appeared on the desk in front of me.
    ‘Tarot cards?’ I asked.
    ‘Aye.’
    Curiosity flickered. I hadn’t known he did readings.
    ‘Pick them up and hold them in your left hand, doll.’ I slid the water bottle on to the table and did as he said. No magic tingled; the cards felt like ordinary card, and oddly both
sides were plain white. He took hold of my right hand, lacing our fingers together. ‘Don’t let go, nae for anything?’ he warned. I nodded, and his gills fanned wide either side of
his throat, his eyes turning the deep cobalt blue of a midnight sea. Magic, needle-sharp, pierced me, twisting a storm of desire at my core. I gasped, squirmed on the chair before I could stop.
Again he didn’t seem to notice. I clutched at the cards, ignoring the feelings. The need would pass. It always did.
    ‘Shuffle,’ he ordered, Compulsion fuelled his voice.
    ‘I can’t one-handed—’ But even as I spoke, my fingers did an expert shuffle.
    ‘Toss them in the air.’
    My hand threw the cards. The light in the room dimmed as they fountained up high like a mushroom cloud, before tumbling like glistening snowflakes on a winter’s night. I winced, expecting
them to clatter on to the desk, dreading the damage they could do to the fragile fairy body in its sandwich-box coffin, but they dissipated, melting like the snowflakes they’d mimicked,
fading away into the ether . . . Soon only five remained. They snapped into a line, hovering in front of me. Still blank.
    I looked at Tavish. ‘What now?’
    He picked up one of my scalpels, held it out to me, his hand shaking. ‘They need to be fed.’
    ‘Blood?’
    ‘Aye, doll. Blood for your question answered. Usual terms.’ Sweat beaded on his