City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

do?’ Then I realised who was conspicuous by their absence and my dread deepened. ‘Where is Lizzy?’ Nobody answered. I raised my voice, repeating my question. ‘Where is Lizzy?’

I already knew the answer. Of course I already knew it, but I needed to hear one of them say it. Until then, part of me could believe it wasn’t true.

Jodie met my eyes full on. ‘That Max guy took her. We tried to stop him.’ Her mouth twisted. ‘Julie tried in particular. He had hold of Lizzy before we realised what was going on. He threatened to break her neck if we got too close.’

Cath shrank into herself. ‘He had lots of others with him,’ she whispered. ‘Even more than before. They had knives and hammers and shit like that.’

She was trying to explain. She didn’t have to absolve herself of this, however; none of them did. This was down to Max and Max alone. A hard knot of fury mixed with fear tightened in my bowels. I was going to fucking kill him.

Julie, who’d been watching my face with hawk-like eyes, seemed to brighten. ‘I assume this means you’ll grant me permission to drink his blood?’

I didn’t answer her. Instead, I narrowed in on Cath. ‘Where will he have taken her?’

She swallowed. ‘I don’t know. I wasn’t with him for long and he moved around a lot. For each of the three nights, he stayed somewhere different. He was looking for the “perfect pad”.’ She drew speech marks in the air. ‘I think he wanted a mansion or something.’

I growled under my breath. A mansion. Of course he wanted a bloody mansion. The trouble was that several areas that boasted such super-houses. Finding Max before he moved on somewhere else would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

I rubbed my temples. I needed to think. There had to be a way to find him. If I could clear the tired fog from my brain, I’d work it out.

‘There’s a man in a suit at the barrier,’ Anna said, striding over. ‘He wants to talk you.’ Her expression was like granite. ‘He has very green eyes.’

I swung round and spotted Mike Timmons straight away. Yes, I’d known that Max would find out where I lived sooner or later, but I’d been banking on it being later. What was the bet that the faery had helped speed things up by telling him the address? I’d flung out the name of my street to Timmons and his guests in a hopelessly rash move – I should have known better.

I crossed my arms, feeling the magic surge through my skin. Monroe had been right all along. I marched over to Timmons. I wasn’t taking any more prisoners. And I wasn’t opening any doors or setting any welcome fires. Not this time.

Clearly my body language and furious expression were doing half my work for me. The others in the street fell silent, getting out of my way before standing to the side to watch the action.

Timmons blanched – but he didn’t move. Not even a single step.

‘You did this. You told him where we were,’ I growled.

He couldn’t meet my eyes. ‘He threatened my guests.’

‘You shouldn’t negotiate with terrorists.’

He sighed. ‘What else was I supposed to do?’

‘You’re a faery. You’ve got magic. There’s lots you could have done.’

‘I did what I thought was best,’ he said simply. ‘I’m not taking sides here. I’m looking after me and mine.’

He reached inside his jacket pocket.

I didn’t hesitate. I raised my hands and threw magic at him. With a swooshing whump, Timmons was thrown backwards several metres, colliding with a semi-destroyed brick wall. He groaned and his eyelids fluttered closed, but he wasn’t unconscious like Max and the others had been back in the supermarket. Apparently, faeries were made of sterner stuff.

I glanced down to see what he’d been planning to attack me with. When I spotted the unmarked envelope, my heart sank.

Timmons groaned again. ‘I’m not your enemy,’ he croaked. ‘I was told to pass this on to you. It’s only a letter, I promise. I wouldn’t do anything to harm you.’

Words had the potential to create scars as much as daggers did. All the same, I supposed I wasn’t in any immediate danger. I knelt down and took the envelope from him. ‘Sorry,’ I muttered. I helped him to his feet. ‘I thought you were going to attack.’

‘I’m a hotel manager,’ he said. ‘The most I’d do is charge you extra for the minibar.’

‘You’re a faery too.’ I grimaced as I said it. Monroe was rubbing off on me in the most unpleasant ways.

Timmons backed off, holding his palms in the air. ‘I’m not a bad person,’ he said. ‘I can’t help what I am or what’s happened to your city. And I meant what I said. I’m not your enemy.’

I pressed my lips together. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’

‘Thank you.’ He met my eyes nervously. ‘You know that’s a shitload of magic you’ve got at your fingertips. Be careful with it.’

I stiffened. ‘Am I likely to make matters worse in the city if I use magic? Is it going to release more crap into the atmosphere?’

Timmons shook his head. ‘No. Sure, using magic will release small amounts, but there’s only one of you. Even with powers like yours, you can’t do too much damage.’

He sounded confident, but I wondered if it was still a risk I was willing to take. I made a promise to myself not to fling out any craziness from my fingertips unless it was absolutely necessary and tightened my fingers round the envelope.

‘This is from Max?’ I asked.

Timmons nodded. ‘Lord Maximillian.’

My eyebrows flew up. ‘Lord?’

He shifted his feet. ‘That’s what he told me to call him.’

I bet he did. I sighed then I turned away and ripped open the envelope. Time to find out what Lord Bastard really wanted.

Chapter Twenty

‘You can’t do this.’ We might have been back in the safety of my kitchen, but Jodie’s eyes were still