Read Online Briar Queen by Katherine Harbour - Free Book Online Page B

CLAMBERED UP JACK’S FIRE ESCAPE, following him. Not once on the drive here had she mentioned Lily Rose.
    As they climbed into his apartment, he paused as if listening to a distant sound. He bent to draw a knife from one boot, then glided toward the bathroom, yanked the door open.
    Moth was crouched between the sink and the toilet, his arms over his head. He still wore the clothes Jack had given him, but he was barefoot, surrounded by pieces of glass from the mirror that had hung over the sink. He whispered, “I’ve no reflection. I’m not real. I’m not really here.”
    Finn knelt before him. “Of course you’re here. I’m speaking to you, aren’t I? Why did you try to kill Jack?”
    â€œThe dark-haired girl,” he said faintly, “told me to.”
    Finn pressed on, “Does the name Reiko Fata mean anything to you?”
    He continued, “‘ If she be made of white and red, her faults will ne’er be known .’”
    â€œThis,” Jack said, crouching beside Finn, “is getting weird.”
    Finn took out her phone and tapped at it. Jack said, “What are you doing?”
    â€œCalling for reinforcements.”
    CHRISTIE AND SYLVIE ARRIVED dressed for battle in silver and holly. As they hauled themselves over the windowsill into Jack’s apartment, Moth rose from his place on the bathroom floor and stared at them.
    â€œIs that Moth?” Sylvie was apple cheeked from the chill. A Laplander hat was snug on her braided hair.
    Moth backed away until he came up against the sink. Finn winced as glass crunched beneath his bare feet. He whispered again, this time in English, “ Dragonfly . Why would you let her into your house?” He pointed at Christie. “And I remember you now, the one who found me . . . the Sionnach Ri . . . trickster . . .”
    â€œThey’re not whoever you’re mistaking them for.” Jack leaned in the doorway of his kitchen. “What a hell of a night. I’m going to make tea. Moth, you’re probably bleeding all over my floor. Sit down. Hello, Christopher. Sylvie.”
    Moth walked to the sofa. As he sat, warily watching Christie and Sylvie, Finn didn’t see any blood on his feet. She said, “You’re lucky. You didn’t get cut. You’ve met Christie and that’s Sylvie.”
    â€œI thought . . .” Moth shook his head and hunched over again, his thumbs pressed to his temples. “I have misremembered . . . what were those names I said?”
    â€œYou forgot them already?”
    â€œGreat.” Christie stared at Moth. “Someone else who’s lost his mind.”
    An hour later, Christie and Sylvie had learned all about Leander Cyrus, Moth, and Seth Lot. Moth listened without speaking, his hands clenched together.
    â€œSo,” Christie spoke carefully, hunched up, “your sister’s boyfriend, all this time, was a Frankenstein?”
    Sylvie was watching Moth. She whispered, “And Leander worked for this Seth Lot? What does that mean?”
    â€œIt means”—Christie sounded desolate—“the Big Bad Wolf knows about Finn. I wonder if he knows we all helped perish his ex-girlfriend?”
    The silence that followed was broken by Moth. “I don’t remember a man who is a wolf. Why can’t I remember him?”
    Christie asked Jack, “How is the fairy mob handling this grim turn of events?”
    â€œChristopher,” Jack spoke idly, “that fairy mob might be the only thing standing between you and the Madadh aillaid .”
    â€œIs that the Big Bad Wolf’s fancy name?”
    Jack looked at Moth. “You don’t remember the Wolf king, Moth, only a dark-haired girl. You tried to kill me because the dark-haired girl told you to. You protected Finn from the crom cu . So my guess is that you have left Seth Lot’s services and now work for another—only you don’t remember who that is.