Winter Lost

“Are they trying to stop it?” I asked.

Elyna shrugged. “Peter says there’s nothing they can do. Zane has his own money, inherited from his grandfather. He runs the company’s charitable arm—that’s how he and Tammy met. But he doesn’t need to work.”

At the table nearest to Adam and me, an elegantly clothed woman, presumably Dylis Heddar, pushed around her food—an egg white omelet—without enthusiasm. The man sitting next to her, his arm possessively on the back of her chair, conversed with a teenage girl who had a serving tray on her hip. The girl was Native, like me—nothing unusual in that, given where the lodge was located.

I found my eyes returning to Dylis Heddar. Elyna had dismissed Zane’s mother as a society woman who happened to be married to a dangerous man. The vampire had sounded both pitying and dismissive. But my instincts warned me to keep my eyes on Dylis—the nonentity wife rather than her business-shark husband—as if she were the more dangerous of the two.

Dylis was racehorse thin, with sharp cheekbones and skin as white as the snow outside. Her hair was white, too. Long and fine, it was caught up in a simple twist at the nape of her neck. She wore makeup, but it was subtle stuff. Her husband, Andrew, looked like he should be on a horse out on the range. He was tall and had a mobile face, given to sudden changes of expression. I was close enough to see that his eyes were clear blue.

One of the abilities I’d been born with was that I could usually tell what kind of magic a person held.

Mr. and Mrs. Heddar carried fae blood. He wasn’t even half-blood, though without the assist of the Soul Taker’s tinkering—which seemed to be in abeyance just now—I didn’t entirely trust that assessment. Dylis…Dylis felt different. She was fae, full-blooded, even. But there was something wrong with her magic.

The teenage server tried to take a step away from Heddar. He caught her wrist. It was just for an instant, long enough for her to stop trying to leave. When she quit, Heddar released her. Beside me, Adam tensed.

The girl moved her tray so that it was between her and the older man. She had a tight smile on her face, while her whole body told anyone with eyes she was very, very uncomfortable. I couldn’t hear what was being said over the music. Which was, I suppose, the point of having music. I recognized the girl from Elyna’s description as one of the three staff members; I assumed that the other two were in the kitchen.

Of her, Elyna had said:

“Emily’s responsible for cleaning rooms and whatever they need her for. She usually stays at the lodge for her workweek when there is a room available, going home to Libby on her days off. She works here summers and during school breaks and has since she was fourteen or fifteen. She’s seventeen now, will graduate from high school this year, and has been accepted to college at Montana State with scholarships. Pre-med.”

There was a sound out in the lake, and Elyna paused to stare into the mist before going back to her description. “Peter says she’s another quiet one. People like him, though, and he got her talking.”

Andrew Heddar knew he was making the girl uncomfortable and was enjoying it. I would have disliked him even without Elyna’s distaste.

“I know who I hope has the artifact,” I told Adam.

“He needs to leave the children alone,” Adam said. “Pick on someone his own size.”

I’d spoken very quietly, but Adam’s voice was louder than necessary, deliberately pitched to carry over the music. Everyone became aware of us at the same time.

This one’s for you, brother mine, I thought, taking a deep breath. Showtime.

“Who the hell are you?” asked Heddar, all the affable charm gone.

We were the center of everyone’s attention.

Except for Emily. As soon as Heddar was distracted, she made for the kitchens as fast as she could without actually running. I couldn’t tell if she was taking her moment to escape unwanted attention—or if she was going to get help. Maybe both.