Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely 2)

PROLOGUE

FALL

Irial watched the girl stroll up the street: she was a bundle of terror and fury. He stayed in the shadows of the alley outside the tattoo parlor, but his gaze didn’t waver from her as he finished his cigarette.

He stepped out just as she passed.

Her pulser her skin when she saw him. She straightened her shoulders—not fleeing or backing away, bold despite the shadows that clung to her—and motioned to his arm where his name and lineage were spelled out in an ogham inscription surrounded by spirals and knots that morphed into stylized hounds. “That’s gorgeous. Rabbit’s work?”

He nodded and walked the remaining few steps to the tattoo parlor. The girl kept pace with him.

“I’m thinking of getting something soon. I just don’t know what yet.” She looked defiant as she said this. When he didn’t reply, she added, “I’m Leslie.”

“Irial.” He watched her struggle and fail to find more words, to make him want to notice her. She was starving for something. If he took mortals for playthings, she’d be good fun, but he was here for business, not collecting trinkets, so he kept silent as he opened the door of Pins and Needles for her.

Inside the tattoo shop, Leslie wandered away to talk to a dark-haired girl who was watching them warily. There were others in the shop, but only the dark-haired girl mattered. Because he’d made the curse that had bound summer so many centuries ago, Irial knew exactly who she was: the missing Summer Queen, the problem. She would change everything.

And soon.

Irial had felt it the moment Keenan had chosen her, had stolen her mortality. It was why Irial had come to Rabbit: change was coming. Now that the Summer King would be unbound—and able to strike out at those who’d trapped him—true war was a possibility for the first time in centuries. Unfortunately, so was too much order.

“Spare a moment, Rabbit?” Irial asked, but it was a formality more than a question. Rabbit might not be wholly fey, but he wouldn’t turn down the king of the Dark Court, not now, not ever.

“Come on back,” Rabbit said.

Irial trailed his hands over one of the steel-framed jewelry cabinets as he passed, well aware that Leslie’s attention was still on him. He closed the door and handed Rabbit the brown glass vials—blood and tears of the Dark Court. “I need the ink exchanges to work sooner than we’d planned. We’re out of time.”

“The fey might”—Rabbit paused and rephrased it—“it could kill them, and the mortals aren’t recovering well.”

“So find a way to make it work. Now.” Irial tried a smile, softening his expression as he rarely did for the dark fey.

Then he faded to invisibility and followed Rabbit back into the main room of the shop. Unhealthy curiosity made him pause beside Leslie. The others were gone, but she stood looking at the flash on the wall, lesser images than what Rabbit could draw on her skin given a chance.

“Dream of me, Leslie,” Irial whispered, letting his wings wrap around them both, enclosing them. Maybe the girl would get strong enough to withstand an ink exchange with one of the chosen faeries. If not, he could always give her to one of the weaker fey. It seemed a shame to waste a lovely broken toy.

CHAPTER 1

EARLY THE FOLLOWING YEAR

Leslie slipped into her school uniform and got ready as quickly as she could. She closed her bedroom door softly, staying quiet so she could get out of the house before her father woke. Being retired wasn’t good for him. He’d been a decent father before—before Mom left, before he’d fallen into a bottle, befo

re he’d started taking trips to Atlantic City and gods knew where else.

She headed to the kitchen, where she found her brother, Ren, at the table, pipe in hand. Wearing nothing but a pair of ratty jeans, his blond hair loose around his face, he seemed relaxed and friendly. Sometimes he even was.

He looked up and offered a cherubic smile. “Want a hit?”

She shook her head and opened the cupboard, looking for a tolerably clean cup. None. She pulled a can of soda from the meat drawer in the fridge. After Ren had doped a bottle—and thereby doped her—she’d learned to drink only from still-sealed containers.

Ren watched her, content in his chemical cloud, smiling in a perversely angelic way. When he was friendly and just smoking pot, it was a good day. Ren-on-Pot wasn’t a problem: pot just made him mellow. It was Ren-on-Anything-Else that was unpredictable.

“There’s chips over there if you want some breakfast.” He pointed to a mostly empty bag of corn chips on the counter.

“Thanks.” She grabbed a couple and opened the freezer to get the toaster waffles she’d hidden. They were gone. She opened the cupboard and pulled out a box of the only type of cereal her brother didn’t eat—granola. It was nasty, but his pilfering stopped at the healthy stuff, so she stocked up on it.

She poured her cereal.