Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

touched the door. More magic, but this wasn’t vibrating. It felt slick,
     slightly oily. She tried the knob and was unsurprised tofind that it was locked. Then she pressed her ear to the door. Nothing.
    “They’re probably out there,” Sean said. “They did something to soundproof this room.
     She says that’s for my privacy. Our privacy now, I guess. But clearly it’s also so
     we can’t listen in on them or get the attention of anyone outside here. Wherever ‘here’
     is.”
    She straightened. “They, not she?”
    “I’ve seen three of them. Alycithin and two others—uh, Dinaron or something like that.
     I don’t remember the other one’s name. The one whose name starts with a
D
is male. I’m not sure about the other one.”
    “Elves, halfling, or human?” She headed for the window between the twin beds. “The
     two who aren’t Alycithin, I mean.”
    “Elves, I think. At least they look like it. Alycithin is in charge.”
    “And she’s a halfling.” Lily pulled back the drapes.
    A shiny silver rectangle looked back at her. Not silvery, like a mirror. Silver. And
     shiny in a literal way. Light leaked through the silvery surface, but no images. She
     pressed her fingers to it. What should have been a window felt like glass, cool and
     slick, but it was heavily coated with magic. A slippery sort of magic similar to that
     on the door. It made her think of cheap lotion, the kind you can rub and rub and it
     doesn’t soak in.
    “Weird, isn’t it? It lets in light in the daytime, goes dark at night,” Sean said.
     “Which is how I know it’s early morning. The light’s not bright yet. And it doesn’t
     break. I tried.”
    “With what?”
    “I’m pretty good with a flying kick. I connected solidly three times. It didn’t break.”
    She glanced at his bare feet.
    “I still had my boots then,” he said dryly. “After I kicked their window they decided
     I could get by without footwear. Maybe that means I had a chance of breaking it, or
     maybe they were annoyed that I tried.”
    She ran her fingers along the place where the glass—ifthat’s what it was—met the frame. The magic coating the frame vibrated like that on
     the walls…which were now broadcasting something by Mozart. “If they aren’t listening
     to us in here, how did they know you were kicking their window of weirdness?’
    “Window of weirdness. Huh. I like that. It’s the walls. When I kicked the window,
     the vibration created something like static in the walls’ sound system. They act like
     a magical intercom.”
    She turned to face him. “A what?”
    “If I want to talk to them, I press my palm to a wall. Any wall. The music fades and
     sooner or later someone answers. That’s how they invite me to lunch or whatever—through
     their magic intercom.”
    Cullen would kill to study whatever spells were laid on those walls. Unfortunately
     for both of them, she was the one that had been grabbed, not him. But she and Sean
     weren’t the only ones who’d been taken prisoner. “Are those three the only people
     you’ve seen since you were snatched? Alycithin and the two elves?”
    “That’s all.”
    “Someone else was kidnapped. At least one other person.” Adam King and maybe Rule.
     Maybe more.
    “Maybe the others did that.”
    “Others?” she said sharply.
    “Alycithin is in some kind of competition with another of the sidhe, or maybe a group
     of them. I don’t know what they’re all after, but apparently Robert has agreed to
     do something for the other group, and Alycithin wants him to do it for her instead.”
     He shook his head. “It was a shock to find out he was alive.”
    “This other group takes hostages, too?”
    He spread his hands. “I’m guessing about that, but hostage-taking is how her people
     do business. It’s SOP, like a contract would be here. Alycithin wanted to use me as
     a bargaining chip with Robert. She didn’t expect him to laugh at the idea. Robert
     and I,” he added wryly, “are not close. Igot the impression she thinks you’ll make a better bargaining chip.”
    If he was telling the truth and Friar wasn’t here…if the halfling woman intended to
     sell Lily to Friar…then she had time. She didn’t know how much, but some. She really
     wanted to believe Robert Friar’s brother was as sincere as he seemed, and that was
     about as bizarre as the shiny silver window. “You’ve learned a lot in the short time
     you’ve been here.”
    “We dine