I tried to squirm from that touch, but I had nowhere to go, not with a blade at my throat. My minions waited, tense, willing to do whatever I asked. Yet, I feared unleashing them might put Jasmine at risk-and my own throat.

“You have her,” said a shaking voice from the hall. “I did what I said. Now give me Jasmine.”

Moving my eyes, I stared in astonishment. Wil floated in the doorway. He must have followed us after all. He looked at Aeson expectantly. An uneasy feeling built up within me, and everything clicked into place.

“You traitorous son of a bitch!”

Ignoring my outrage, Wil turned pleading eyes to Aeson. “Please. I brought you Eugenie. I kept my part of the deal.”

“Yes,” said Aeson without even looking at the other man. “You did. And I will keep my word-momentarily.”

He kept studying me like I was some kind of treasure or artifact. Like I was the eighth wonder of the world. I appreciated the boost to my ego, but the look in his eyes was actually kind of creeping me out.

“Aeson-” tried Wil again.

“Shut up,” snapped the king, still staring at me. The hand on my cheek slipped down and cupped my chin. He smiled, but it was a cold smile, one that didn’t meet his eyes. In the corner, I heard Jasmine make a distraught sound. “After all this time, after so much waiting, I can finally beget the heir.”

The statement was so ludicrous as to simply bounce off of me without comprehension. “Either kill me or let me go. I hate these idiotic soliloquies.”

The entranced look on his face suddenly sharpened, and he blinked. “You…you have no idea, do you?” When I didn’t answer, he started laughing so hard, I thought tears would form in his eyes. “I’ve tried so hard to get you, and you never even knew. You really don’t know.”

“Know what?” I asked impatiently.

“Who your father is.”

I didn’t really appreciate the Star Wars-esque routine. “Roland Markham is my father. And the next time I see him, we’re going to come back and kick your ass together. If I don’t do it now.”

“The next time you see him, you should ask him for the truth about you and Storm King.”

“I don’t have anything to do with Storm King.”

“He’s your father, girl. Roland Markham is a murderer and a thief. How could you not have known?”

He might as well have been speaking a foreign language. “Maybe because you’re insane. And because I’m human.”

“Are you? Funny. You function in this world as easily as one of the shining ones. I’ve never met a human who could.”

“Maybe I’m gifted.”

I had on my bitch-bravado face, but his words were sneaking into me. I’ve heard that the soul often recognizes truth when it hears it, even if the mind does not. Maybe that was what was happening. My logical self was still being stubborn, but something…something in his words tickled the back of my mind. It was like some image lay there, covered in a black veil, waiting for me to lift it.

“You are gifted. More than you know.” He brushed my hair out of my face. “Soon I will give you the greatest gift of your life. I’ll redeem you for being a blood traitor.”

“Shut up.” The keres had called me a blood traitor too. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Then why do you look so pale? Admit it. You’ve always known. You’ve always been alone.”

“Everyone feels alone.”

“Not like you do. Rest easy, though. You won’t be lonely much longer. I would have taken you to my bed even if you were ugly, but now that I’ve seen you-”

There were a lot of ways to have your maniacal tirade cut short, but being attacked by a fox was a new one. I didn’t even know where it came from. One minute, Aeson was babbling on about having his way with me, and the next, a red fox was leaping out at him, claws and teeth bared. I’d never thought of a fox as a really dangerous animal, but this one looked lethal. It was the size of a German shepherd, and it hit Aeson like a tank. Its claws left scratches on his face.

The guard holding me released me to help his master, and I retrieved my gun. I fired on him just as he was about to pry the fox from Aeson. It wasn’t a killing shot, but it distracted him, halting his progress. I grabbed the wounded guard and threw him as far as the difference in our body weights would allow. He collapsed into a pile, and I shot him again. I turned toward Aeson to check the fox’s progress, but the fox was no longer holding the king down.

Kiyo was.

My mouth dropped open. Kiyo. The black hair curled behind his ears, and I could see his muscles straining as he struggled with Aeson, his hands wrapped around the king’s throat. Fire flared up from Aeson’s fingertips, and I heard Kiyo grunt in response. I started to go to him without conscious thought, but he yelled at me to get Jasmine.

Jasmine. Of course. The reason I was here.

I dragged my eyes from the face I’d been obsessing on for the past week and approached the girl in the corner. I didn’t think she could move any farther against the wall, yet she seemed to do so with each step I took.

“Jasmine,” I said, leaning over and trying to sound gentle despite the panic coursing through me. “I’m a friend. I’m here to help you-”

With those pathetic eyes and worn features, I’d expected some difficulty in getting her on her feet. What I did not expect was for her to suddenly leap out and flail at me with both hands.

“Noooo!” she screamed, her shrill voice grating against my ears. I recoiled, not because of the threat she represented but because of the damage I could potentially cause her. “Aeson!” She ran to the struggling men and started beating fists on Kiyo’s back. I suspected they had about the same effect as a fly landing on him. He transformed into a fox, and her blows fell on Aeson instead. I reached for her in that moment of surprise, but she was too small and too fast. She slipped away from me and everyone else in the room, and ran out the door before any of us could stop her.

“Jasmine!” I yelled, my cries echoed by Wil as I ran to the door. Kiyo and Aeson still fought, and some distant part of me noted how Kiyo slipped in and out of fox and human forms as Aeson used fire magic against him.

“Eugenie,” gasped Kiyo, “get out of here. Now.”

“Jasmine-” I began.

“The girl is gone, mistress,” said Volusian. “The kitsune is right. We need to get out of here. Cut your losses.”

“No.” I stuck my head out the door. Jasmine was not in sight. Over a dozen or so guards running down the hall were, however.

“Eugenie!” It was Kiyo again. “Run!”

“Yes, Storm Daughter,” laughed Aeson, blood running out of his nose. “Run home. Ask Roland Markham who your father is.”

“You bastard-” I wanted to lunge at him, to help Kiyo, but Finn grabbed me.

“Jump now. Back to your world.”

The pounding boots in the hall were almost upon us.

“I can’t. Not from here. I don’t have an anchor.”

“Yes, you do.”

He glanced over at Wil, who hung there, translucent and utterly useless. If it had been up to me, I would have left Wil and his betraying ass here to be destroyed, but suddenly he had a purpose.

Seeing my uncertain look, Kiyo said, “I’ll go as soon as you do. They’re here!”

And they were. Men pouring into the room. I probably shouldn’t have cared what happened to Kiyo, but I did. I wanted him to get out of this alive. I wanted to find Jasmine and bring her away. But the best I could do now was save my own skin.

Invoking Hecate, I shifted my senses away from this world, reaching out to my own. While doing so, my will grabbed ahold of a startled Wil, dragging his spirit with me. A hard transition like that, without a crossroads or thin spot, theoretically could have dumped me anywhere in the human world. But I had Wil’s spirit in tow. It had no choice but to snap back to his physical body, out in the Sonora Desert. If I was strong enough.