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"Were Donald and Liam circumcised?" I asked
Her voice caain "Why do you need to know that?"
"Because a real male fey would be hundreds of years old, and I’ve never heard of a Jewish fey, so if they were fey, they wouldn’t be circuht about the original question "Liam was, but Donald wasn’t"
"What did Donald look like?"
"Tall, ht lifter, blond hair to his waist"
"Was he pretty?" I asked
She had to think about that one, too "Handsome, not pretty, handsome"
"What color were his eyes?"
"I don’t remember"
If they’d been one of the more colorful shades of eyes that the fey are capable of, she’d have remembered Except for the pointed ears he could have been any of a dozen men at the Seelie Court There were only three blond men at the Unseelie Court, and none of hts They had to be more careful of their hands than that for fear they’d rip the surgical gloves they alore The gloves kept the poison that their hands naturally produced fro off on anyone else They’d been born cursed
"Would you recognize this Donald if you saw hi the sa hair like he has, shoulder-length or longer"
Long hair, possible cartilage implants in the ears, Celtic names- sounded like faerie wanna-bes to me I’d never heard of a sex cult of faerie wanna-bes, but you should never underestimate people’s ability to corrupt an ideal
"Good, Ms Phelps," Jeremy said "How about tattoos, symbols written on their bodies, a piece of jewelry that they all wore?"
"No to all of it"
"Did you ht?"
"No, soht"
"No special time of the month, not close to a holiday?" Jere him only a little over two months There haven’t been any holidays, but no special time"
"Did you have sex with him or others a certain number of times a week?"
She had to think about that one, but finally shook her head "It varied"
"Did they chant or sing?" Jeremy asked
"No," she said
It didn’t sound like much of a ritual to me "Why did you use the term ritual, Ms Phelps? Why didn’t you say spell?"
"I don’t know"
"You do know," I said "You’re not a practitioner I don’t think you’d use the term ritual without a reason Just think for ainto space, seeing nothing, tiny frown lines between her eyebrows She blinked and looked at ht" She looked down, then up, defiant again, and I knew she didn’t like what she was about to say "He’d tied me to the bed, but he’d left the door open a little I could hear hiht,’ then his voice dropped too low for ive it up so easily’ She looked at in e ood in bed"
"What makes you think you’re not?" I asked
"He told ht sex to satisfy him, that he needed the abuse to spice it up, so he wouldn’t be bored" She tried to stay defiant and failed The hurt showed in her eyes
"Were you in love with hientle
"What difference does that make?"
Frances took her hand, held it in her lap "It’s all right, Nao to help us"
"I don’t see what love has to do with any of this, she said
"If you love him, then it will be harder to free you of his influence, that’s all," I said
She didn’t seeed loved to love She answered the question "I thought I loved hi to ask, but we needed to know
She gripped the other wo with the strength of her grip The tears finally slid down her face "I don’t love him, but" she had to take a few deep breaths before she could finish, "but if I see him, and he asks for sex, I can’t seem to say no Even when it’s awful and he’s hurtI’ve ever felt before I can say no over the phone, but if he shows up, I let hi ets all confused"
Frances stood, han over both of the noises, kissing the top of her head like you’d do with a child
"Have you been hiding from him?" I asked
She nodded "I have, but Frances He can find her no matter where she is"
"He follows the spell," I said
Both woured that much out for themselves "But I’ve hidden from him I moved out of my apartment"
"I’m surprised he didn’t hunt for you," I said
"The building is warded," she said
I widened eyes at that For a building to be warded, not just an apart, meant that the protective spells had to be put into the foundation of the building The wards had to be poured with the concrete, riveted into place with the steel beale practitioner could do it It was not a cheap process Only the h-rises or ho, Ms Phelps?" Jeremy asked, because I think that he, like me, had actually not expected the toh ency’s account and in our own accounts so we could do charity work from time to time We didn’t make a habit of it, but some cases you don’t do for ht this was going to be one of those
"I’ve got a trust fund that matured last year I have access to all of it now Trust ood to know, Ms Phelps, but truthfully I wasn’t worried about it Don’t spread it around, but if soh trouble, we don’t turn them away because they can’t meet our fees"
She blushed "I didn’t mean to imply that you were I’m sorry She bit her lip
"Naomi didn’t mean to insult you," Frances said "She’s been rich all her life, and a lot of people have tried to take advantage of that"
"No offense taken," Jereh I knew that there probably was some offense taken But he was a very businesslike businessetthe case Or at least not until they’d done soet your money?"
Naomi looked at her, and you could see the surprise on her face "No, no"
"Does he know you have it?" I asked
"Yes, he knew, but he never letHe said he was old-fashioned that way He didn’t care about s I liked about him at first"
"So he’s not after money," I said
"He’s not interested inblue eyes, and they didn’t look scared now She was still standing behind Naoth from that "What is he interested in?" I asked
"Power," she said
I nodded She was right Abuse is always about power in one way or another "When he said the untrained ones give it up so easily, I don’t, think he was talking about your sexual prowess"
Nao them to her shoulders "Then what did he mean?"
"You’re untrained in the ave up so easily, if it wasn’t sex?"
Frances answered, "Power"
"Yes, Mrs Norton, power"
Naomi frowned at all of us "What do you ic, Ms Phelps He’s been taking your ic"
She looked even more astonished, mouth open in a little "o" of surprise "I don’t know any s, but that’s not ic"
And that, of course, hy he’d been able to do it I wondered if all the women were untrainedto have trouble infiltrating his little world But if all they had to be was part fey and ically talented well, I’d done decoy work before