Unperfect Souls Page 3

  Eagan’s smile broadened. “You shot at him? Why, Nigel, you’ve been demanding I take you into my confidence all day, and yet only now I’m finding out you attempted to murder one of my staff. How utterly hypocritical of you.”

  Nigel met my eyes, his expression unreadable. It could have been anything from regret to indifference. “I make no apologies. The disaster he caused was a result of my failure. And he’s not a Guildsman anymore, Manus, as I’ve reminded you many times today.”

  Nigel was my strongest supporter once upon a time. When I lost my abilities, I realized I had been nothing more than a powerful tool to him. I checked my anger, though. I was a guest in the Guildmaster’s house. Causing an argument would be bad manners. Nigel was another person on my list to deal with when the right time and opportunity presented themselves.

  The druidess cleared her throat. Manus smiled. “Excuse my manners, Grey. This is the High Queen’s Herbalist, Moira Cashel.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” she said.

  A little too pleased, I thought. “Connor Grey.”

  Eagan slowly adjusted his position on the bed. “Since Gillen Yor’s slipped his leash, Maeve’s worried I’m not being cared for properly, so she sent her gardener to take a look at me. Moira thinks she can put the flutter back in my wings.”

  Gillen Yor was High Healer in Boston and not one to take orders from anyone. I allowed myself a small smile at Eagan’s playful leer. “I’m sure you will find your patient challenging.”

  She laughed, a musical, charming laugh that oozed insincerity. “I’m sure I’ve had worse.”

  Eagan shifted his eyes toward her conspiratorially. “Yes, I’ve seen Maeve when she’s in a mood. Perhaps your charms will play better with me.”

  She placed an overly familiar hand on his arm. “You have enough charm for the both of us, Manus. I have only my skills to offer.”

  Eagan smiled up at her. “Run along then and find someone to help you make a daisy chain or something we can play with later. The mere thought of your ministrations is already making me feel I will rise to the occasion.”

  She tapped his arm like he was a naughty boy. “I will be unpacking my things. Don’t exert yourself any more.” She flashed me a big smile as she left in a smooth, gliding gait.

  “Can we get on with whatever your game is, Manus?” Nigel asked.

  Eagan chuckled. “Look who’s talking games, you old crow.”

  “Why is Connor here?”

  Eagan grinned. “Because I like him. He irritates people who need irritating—present company included.”

  “Um . . . thanks?” I said.

  Eagan used a fresh handkerchief to wipe his forehead. “Let me bring you to the present, Grey. Nigel here has tendered his resignation as my acting Guild alternate so he can go off and do whatever it is he does when he disappears. He wants me to appoint Ryan macGoren as Acting Guildmaster.”

  Nigel leaned against the armrest of his chair. “Letting him run the Guild while you recover will please Maeve. You know that, Manus. MacGoren is being groomed for great things.”

  MacGoren was a player, an aggressive one. Eagan, I knew, didn’t trust him to answer the phone without a hidden agenda. Eagan’s amusement dropped. “Not by me, he isn’t. Maeve can groom whomever the hell she wants, but she knows damned well the underQueens and -Kings won’t confirm someone I don’t support, and if I don’t recover, as you seem to have overlooked as a possibility, I won’t have my successor picked for me. In fact, I’m not conceding I’m dying, so this is all smoke and mirrors.”

  “Whether you’re dying or not is not the issue, Manus,” Nigel said. “The Boston Guildhouse needs strong leadership. You do not have the physical constitution to face the current crises.”

  “Keeva macNeve would make a better choice,” Eagan said.

  “She’s indecisive and inexperienced and not, I should add, an underQueen,” Nigel said.

  “Which means she will think before she acts a helluva lot more than macGoren will,” said Eagan. I laughed aloud. I couldn’t help myself. Eagan nodded. “You see my sense of play,” he said.

  Nothing would irritate macGoren more than to be passed over, especially by someone with a lower rank in the Guild—with whom he’d been sleeping. Keeva would be beyond ecstasy to move into a position she wasn’t ready for but undoubtedly thought she deserved.

  “We’re letting macGoren run the business end of things anyway, Manus. You’re being petulant,” said Nigel.

  “What do you think, Grey?” Eagan asked.

  I slid my hands in my pockets and stared down at the floor. “The idea of Keeva as Acting Guildmaster is only slightly less frightening to me than macGoren. Given that choice, I would do nothing until someone better came along.”

  A sly look came over Eagan’s face. “You see, Nigel. That’s why I wanted Grey. He has a unique ability to think outside the box.”

  Nigel stood. “If something happens to you and there is no successor, you will throw the Guild board into chaos.”

  Eagan smiled sweetly. “Then the High Queen’s Herbalist has an enormous responsibility in not letting something happen to me, don’t you think?”

  “I have done my best to advise you, Manus. I have business elsewhere,” Nigel said. He nodded, a bare courtesy, and walked stiffly out the door.

  Eagan waited until the door closed before laughing. “I do love throwing wrenches in his plans.”

  “What are his plans?”

  Eagan shrugged. “Nigel has plans within plans within plans. He’s off to Ukraine or Russia or some such. That’s why Maeve sent her spy to replace him.”

  That was interesting. “Nigel spies on you for Maeve?”

  “To a point. He tells both of us enough to keep him close but not enough to trust him fully.”

  “Then why did you have him as your alternate at the Guildhouse?” I asked.

  Eagan showed his trademark self-satisfied grin. “Because I knew the last thing Nigel Martin wanted was to be Guildmaster. Why do you think he lets macGoren run the day-to-day operations? Nigel, at least, is one knife that I knew wasn’t pointed at my back.”

  Eagan struggled into a seated position and waved his hand toward a large vase on a nearby dresser. “I have a flask in that vase.”

  I reached into empty space. “Empty.”

  He pointed at the bookcase next to the dresser. “Try behind the Bible. Tibbet won’t touch it.”

  I slid the large volume out and found an antique silver flask behind it. Danann fairies had a weakness for alcohol to the point of addiction. I didn’t know if Eagan was an alcoholic, but he liked his whiskey. I handed him the flask. He took a deep draft and handed it back. “I’d offer you a glass, but the house staff will tell Tibbet if they find it.”

  I took a swig. “Sounds like you have spies all around you.”

  Eagan chuckled. “Indeed, I do. It’s the nature of my life. Which brings me to why I asked to see you.”

  I held the flask out, but he waved his hand back toward the bookcase. I hid it again. “I had a feeling you didn’t need my advice on a political decision.”

  Eagan smiled. “Don’t underestimate yourself, boy. I actually do like the idea of doing nothing. Right now, though, I need information. The human civil authorities are closing ranks against the fey. I need to know what their thoughts are, what they fear, and what they’re planning to do about it.”

  “Why ask me? I’m not privy to that stuff.”

  “Leonard Murdock is the son of the police commissioner,” said Eagan.

  The statement didn’t exactly rock me back on my heels. Eagan lived in a world of intrigue. For all his comments about Nigel’s plans, he had more than a few of his own, and exploiting resources was second nature to him. “Murdock’s a friend.”

  Eagan nodded. “I’m not asking you to do anything you aren’t comfortable with, Grey. I’m saying if an opportunity arises that might allow you to pursue a line of inquiry, that you take it. If you learn something in a way
that doesn’t violate any of your moral qualms about loyalty and friendship, then you might feel the need to share with me what you hear.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “And why might I do that?”

  A languid ripple flowed through Eagan’s wings, a sluggish movement that revealed how weak he was. “Because I see beneath your attitude, Grey. You don’t like the Guild. You don’t like Maeve, but you still care what happens to the fey. You even care what happens to the humans. You could have walked away from the recent catastrophes, but you stayed. Because you care. Nigel’s a fool for thinking that’s worthless.”

  I pursed my lips. “I’ll think about it.”

  Eagan closed his eyes and nodded. “Of course, you will. That’s exactly what I want. You may not do what I want, but you will do what you think needs doing. So far, that’s worked in my favor.”

  “Really? How?”

  He laughed, low and raspy. “Because we’re not all dead, are we?”

  I chuckled. “I guess that’s as good an answer as any.”

  “Damn right. Tibbet will give you a way to reach me.”

  “What if I decide not to do it?” I asked.

  Eagan shrugged. “Then you don’t. Part of what I’m relying on is your judgment, Grey. It’s an issue of trust for both of us.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  Eagan’s smile broadened. “It was a pleasure to see you.”

  I bowed cordially. “And you, sir.”

  I walked the wide expanse of carpet to the door. Eagan called my name, and I paused at the door. He fussed with the covers on the bed, not looking at me. “When you see your friend Murdock, you should ask him with whom he’s been sleeping,” he said.

  3

  House staff threw me curious looks as I paused outside the Guildmaster’s door. Whatever his intention, Eagan’s comment amused more than angered me. Implying anything about Murdock didn’t cut much ice with me. I knew where I stood with him. He told me what he wanted to tell me, and we were comfortable with that. Occasionally, my curiosity got the better of me, and I pried. Murdock was a big boy. He ignored it.

  I descended the stairs into the shadowed grand hall. Maeve glared from her portrait, influencing events from across the ocean. She was like one of those giant planets that smaller satellites scurried around. Most large planets were big balls of gas if I remembered rightly.

  On the bottom step, movement near the fireplace caught my eye. Moira Cashel strolled across the hall, the provocative smile she’d worn in Eagan’s bedroom still on her face. “Will you be coming to the Solstice party?”

  The major highlight of the fey social calendar was Eagan’s Winter Solstice celebration. When I was a top agent for the Guild, my attendance was a given. The last couple of years, my invitation seemed to have been lost in the mail. “The hall doesn’t look like a party’s going to happen.”

  She stopped a few feet away, her hands clasped behind her back. “Oh, I heard the staff talking. It’s planned. Will you be coming?”

  I smiled politely. “I’ll have to see.”

  She moved closer and ran her hand along the lapel of my coat. “I seem to remember a young man who liked parties.”

  I glanced down at the hand on my coat. “Excuse me?”

  Her eyes shone with amusement. “Oh, come now, Connor. Don’t tell me you don’t sense me in your memory.”

  With closed eyes, she rose on her toes and kissed me. Surprised, I stumbled back against the elephant. “What the hell, lady?” I said.

  She threw her head back and laughed. A chill went up my spine as the sound stirred an old memory. Her face blurred and shifted, her dark hair lightening to a pale brunette, and her face narrowed. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember Amy, Connor.”

  She held her hands on her hips, an old familiar smile twisted into a smirk.

  I wasn’t buying it. “What kind of game is this? Who the hell are you?”

  She released the glamour and resumed her real face and former dark hair color. Cashel chuckled. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d get a kick out of the surprise. It really is me, Connor, Amy Sullivan. Actually, Amy Sullivan was really me. I couldn’t believe it when you walked into that room.”

  I frowned. “Forgive me, but you don’t think I believe for a minute that Amy Sullivan was the Queen’s Herbalist.”

  She giggled. “I wouldn’t believe that either, now that you mention it. I wasn’t the Queen’s Herbalist back then, silly. What can I do to prove it to you?”

  I shrugged. “Nothing. This is some game Maeve is playing.”

  A crease formed on her forehead. “What interest would Maeve have in you?”

  I moved toward the door. “Now I’m really not believing you. When you report back to Maeve, tell her I said nice try. Insulting, but nice try.”

  I yanked the front door closed behind me. At the bottom of the steps, Tibbet waited in the car. I strode down and got in.

  Tibbet put the car in gear. “What happened?”

  “Do you trust Eagan?” I asked.

  She rocked her head indifferently. “He tries to manipulate me constantly and sometimes succeeds, but, yeah, I trust him.”

  “Why?”

  She glanced sideways at me with a wry smile. “Because more often than not—way more often—his instincts are right. I’ve known him a long time, Connor. He can be a frustrating man, but I wouldn’t have stayed if I didn’t believe in him.”

  “How do you know when he’s lying?”

  She shrugged. “I assume he is and go from there. It’s easier that way. Fewer disappointments and, honestly, more fun. Are you going to tell me what happened?”

  “Eagan implied I shouldn’t trust Moira Cashel. When I ran into her on my way out, she claimed she was someone from my past,” I said.

  Tibbet considered. “Are those two things mutually exclusive?”

  “No. But if she really is the person she claims, then I’m not sure whether I should believe her or Eagan.”

  Tibbet nodded. “Who is she claiming to be?”

  “A woman I knew when I was younger.”

  Tibbet merged the car onto Storrow Drive and wound along the edge of Back Bay to reach the expressway. She’d lived in Boston a long time. On the map, the route might look ridiculous, but it was the fastest way to the Weird. We slowed as the traffic on the elevated struggled out of the merging of three lanes.

  Tibbet smiled comfortingly. She rubbed my thigh. “Connor, I’m not going to ask who she was to you, but if you’re worried about memories being destroyed, don’t be. They’re your memories. If Moira Cashel is this person she claims to be, that doesn’t mean she gets to destroy who she once was to you.”

  “But if Eagan is right, maybe she had an ulterior motive for coming into my life then,” I said.

  Tibbet coasted off the elevated down to Atlantic Avenue. “Did something bad happen?”

  I chuckled. “No. The opposite, actually.”

  “Then let it be. Brownies have an old saying: ‘Don’t go bogey until you have to.’ ”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Is that a real saying?”

  Tibbet snickered as she pulled the car to the curb in front of my building. “Yes. It sounds more dramatic and true in Gaelic. But you get the point, don’t you?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. I’ve got enough to worry about without getting all anxious about something this old.”

  “Good!” She withdrew a flat round stone from her inside coat pocket. A tingle of essence itched my palm as I took it. “It’s a calling ward. Say my name, and I’ll come pick you up,” she said.

  I slipped the stone in my jacket. “Can’t I call your cell?”

  She grinned. “Anytime. But if you have something for the Old Man, use the stone. It never drops calls and doesn’t depend on area coverage.”

  I kissed her just below the ear. “See you, gorgeous.”

  She ruffled my hair. “Later, handsome.”

  Tibs and I have never had an argument. We had a stra
nge and wonderful random relationship. We didn’t seek each other out, but we didn’t avoid each other. We never criticized each other, but always knew the right thing to say at the right time to move the other along in a decision, not necessarily the one either of us wanted to make. We used to have incredible sex until we stopped. Seeing each other always prompted smiles.

  And yet, as she drove away, I realized that for the first time since I’d known her, she had said something that wasn’t true. Not that she lied. But I knew memories could be destroyed. Mine already had been. I had blank spots. I thought the memory loss started with the damage to my abilities two and a half years previously, but an old friend recently mentioned something from earlier than that, and I had no recollection of it. It made me uneasy. It meant there might be more things I didn’t remember that I didn’t have the slightest notion I’d forgotten.

  I remembered Amy Sullivan, though, and the memory brought a smile. I remember seeing her for the first time in a store, lost in thought as she stared at something on a shelf. She was older than me—much older—but that was part of her appeal. She was a woman, a beautiful woman, and when I spoke to her that first time, she became the first adult woman who didn’t dismiss me as a child, who treated me like the man I thought I was. She opened a world to me that my mentors didn’t. Couldn’t, precisely because they were mentors. Amy taught me things about life, and I didn’t understand that until much later. I thought I was in love, and I thought she was, too. I realized afterward that it was something less than that for both of us, yet something important in a different way. When she disappeared without a trace, I was devastated, but even that made me smile in hindsight. Amy taught me that learning wasn’t just about knowing, but growing. Maturing. And the gift she left me was understanding that life had a lot more to offer me than I ever imagined from reading books.

  Which brought me back to Moira Cashel. If she was Amy Sullivan all those years ago, nothing sprang to mind that hinted at a hidden agenda back then. If she was playing mind games with me, it worked, but probably not in the way she intended. It wasn’t like she thought I’d trust her because she was Amy. If she was Amy, revealing that she lied to me years ago and oh-by-the-way happened to be a current member of Maeve’s court was not the way to endear herself to me now.