I looked up, startled, wondering if fairies could also read minds. I’d never been able to do that. But Rook must be a full blooded fairy. What exactly could he do? Why on earth had Kiran thought he’d had a chance against him?

“You know,” I stammered. “You know everything.”

Rook nodded, his expression sympathetic. “I do. Come, Cassie. Do sit down with me, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

I trailed after Rook, who led me to a wide red sofa with black silk pillows. I couldn’t remember Kiran ever saying that to me: I’ll tell you everything. I was starting to grow more irritated the more I thought about it. And here I’d been making a complete fool out of myself, thinking he trusted me. Day dreaming about running away with him.

I was such an idiot.

But still, my first question once we were seated was, “Where is he?”

Rook looked mildly surprised, as if he hadn’t expected me to ask him that. “What, the thief? I’ve locked him up, give him time to cool down. Silly idiot thought I wouldn’t recognize him if he dressed himself up like a servant and paraded you in front of me.” He blinked at me. “Not that it wasn’t a cunning plan. You are very distracting.”

I felt my cheeks turn red, and flustered, I changed the subject. “What’s next? What will you do with him now?”

"He’ll be back out on the streets doing my work again very shortly.” He grinned, the expression darkly mischievous. “Which is marvelous, because I have a wonderful trick I want to play on Lord Warrington, the stuffy old brute.”

“What do you have over Kiran?” I said sharply. Now maybe I could get some answers. Maybe Rook would actually tell me what Kiran had refused to. “Why does he work for you?”

            Rook blinked at me. “Don’t you like wine? Do try it, it’s really very good.” He sipped at his glass again and said thoughtfully, “Lightfoot and I made a deal. After I saved his sister, he was to work for me for ten years.” Rook’s expression turned dark. “He grew arrogant after I did the magic, claimed he wouldn’t work for me, said he’d take his sister and go. I merely took what I had to to reassure him that he would in fact be working for me for the full ten years.”

            “You killed his sister.”

            Rook’s brows shot up. “Now, who told you a silly thing like that? I had nothing to do with that, it was a horse and cart.”

            I regarded him suspiciously, and Rook sighed. “People always insist on blaming every bad run of luck on fairy magic.”

            “So, what did you take?”

            Rook looked down at his glass as he swirled the crimson liquid in clockwise circles, bringing the wine flute up to his nose briefly before he looked up at me and said, “I took his soul.”

            There was a sharp crack as the wine glass I’d been holding hit the floor, splattering crimson liquid over the bottom of my dress. I barely noticed the mess I’d just made though, I was still too shocked, still taking in what Rook had just said, turning it over in my mind, trying to figure out how it could possibly be true.

            “His…his what?”

            “Oh dear,” Rook’s voice was tinged with the faintest note of amusement. “I can see I shouldn’t have dropped that on you the way I did. Terribly sorry.” He gestured in the air at something, and a woman in a servant’s uniform seemed to melt out of the shadows at the corner of the room, gliding over silently, she began to clean up the shattered glass.

            Rook ignored her, turning back to me. “Now, don’t worry, I didn’t take all of his soul. Just a little piece of it, to remind him he still has five years of serving me. When he’s finished with that, I’ll give it back.”

            There was a buzzing noise in my ears, and I shook my head, trying to get rid of the feeling of empty shock. What he was saying was completely impossible. “You’re having a laugh at me,” I said, feeling my hackles rise. “You’re not serious.”

            Rook swished the wine around inside his glass again, glancing down at it as he tried to hide a smile. “You’ve never met one of your own kind before, have you? And he didn’t even have the decency to tell you…” he glanced up sharply, expression growing dark. “How did he convince you to help him? Threats? Iron?”

            My mind, which was already completely muddled and full of panic, went straight back to the iron collar, and how it had felt on my skin. How it had burned. How helpless I’d been, unable to even move.

            Rook made a soft clucking noise under his breath. “He did use iron. I didn’t actually think he’d sink that low.”

            I had the crazy impulse to defend Kiran somehow, to say…what? That the iron had been okay? That it had felt fine? That would be a lie. And I could protest that he really wasn’t a bad man, but I knew before I even said anything that it would sound pathetic, like I’d fallen in love with my captor.

            It’s not like that though. It wasn’t like that…

            I was blinking furiously at him, trying to hold back tears, angry at myself for feeling this way, angry at myself for not being able to figure anything else. Had I been suckered into helping Kiran out of my own free will? Had he planned it this way? He hadn’t told me anything about Rook, he’d let me go into this completely blind.

            But, Rook had Kiran’s soul somewhere. How did you take someone’s soul?

            “I don’t believe you,” I said flatly. “About the soul. I think you’re lying. That’s impossible.”

            Rook didn’t look offended. “I think you’ll find that full blooded fairies do a lot of impossible things.”

            “I want to see it.”

            Rook looked surprised. “You…what?”

            “I want to see the soul. How do I know you’re a fairy otherwise? Maybe you just like to wear a lot of gold glitter.”

            My fingers curled around the bottom of the couch cushions. I was tense, waiting for him to get angry. Instead, Rook just smiled, sharp and white, and said, “Very well, on one condition.”

            I only cocked my head at him, waiting for him to continue. Kiran’s words about bargaining with fairies came flooding back suddenly, making my skin tingle. There had been hidden meaning behind that, more than I’d guessed at the time.

            Rook stood up, placing his wine glass on the side table. “I will show you the soul, if you’ll stay the night.”

            I only blinked at him, surprised, and Rook gestured for me to follow him to the door. “Cassandra, I want you to consider staying here with me.” He gave me another wide smile, warmth radiating from his dark eyes. “I’m always expanding my little family here. You’ve met Ducky, and the two dancers, no doubt.”

            I nodded, unable to speak with all the thoughts racing by so fast. So I’d been right about the dancers. They were fairies as well. A thrill ran over me. How many more fairies were here under this very roof right now? Would they be able to teach me about my ancestor, who I really was? Or explain why my parents had left me at some dirty little church when I turned five? Dozens of questions were crowded on the tip of my tongue, but Rook was still talking,

            “Stay the night and consider it, I can tell you all about us. Our ways and what we can do.”

            We were walking down a long, wide corridor now, which I guessed was the top floor of the hotel. At the other end of the corridor was a door, and Rook stopped in front of it, hand on the doorknob. “I can teach you to do things you wouldn’t think possible, and show you things you’ve never seen before.” He smiled, reaching into his pocket to dig out an old brass key. He unlocked the door, pushing it open.

            I stepped forward, noticing that Rook placed one hand gently on the small of my back to usher me inside. I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not, but his touch continued to send shivers all over my skin. For the first time I was beginning to understand why Kiran had accused me of bewitching him with fairy magic. Being near Rook made me realize it was something that probably happened with fairies a lot.

            The room we stepped into was a treasury. There was really no other word for it. It was massive, like two rooms together, with a ceiling just as high as Rook’s lavish room had. Along all four walls were shelves, and each shelf was stacked with boxes, intricate carved chests that were locked with heavy steel locks, and plain wooden boxes with no locks, thin boxes that looked like they’d hold wine, and large, squat pirate ship chests. There were a few jars and vases amongst the boxes, and almost all of them looked expensive, as if they’d come from museums and rich collectors. Considering that Rook had Lightfoot working for him, they most likely were.

            Rook made straight for a shelf in the corner, where there was one jar that didn’t match the rest. It was a simple jam jar, the kind with the gold screw on top that you put strawberry jam and preserves in. He plucked it off the shelf and held it aloft, letting the light from the glass lamps along the wall shine through the glass.

            Inside the jar a thin white mist floated, shimmering as it moved. It looked like what I imagined a ghost would be made of, like someone had snatched a little piece of a ghost and stuck it in a jar.

            I could feel how large my eyes were, my gaze was locked on the jar in Rook’s hand, but I could tell from the tingling sensation over my skin that Rook was studying me, watching my reaction to his parlor trick. I could tell when he was watching me.

            “That’s a soul? That’s Kiran’s soul?” I resisted the urge to snatch it from him, folding my arms tightly over my chest instead, gripping my upper arms so tight it hurt a little bit.

            “It’s just a piece of it,” Rook explained. “It doesn’t hurt Lightfoot, it just feels a bit odd. Empty.”

            Empty. I couldn’t help shuddering with horror at the thought. So, Kiran was missing a part of his soul. Did that mean he was a different person when he had his entire soul back? Would he be completely different? I wasn’t sure if I liked the thought of that, but I liked the idea of Kiran walking around with a piece torn out of his soul even less.

            “You’ll give it back to him?” I asked.

            Rook smiled down at me. “Ah, you’re concerned for him. Cassie, dear, you shouldn’t be so soft-hearted. He did capture you and use iron on you.”

            I didn’t say anything, just continued to stare up at him, and Rook sighed and nodded. “Yes, after our contract is fulfilled, I’ll give it back to him.” He set the jar back on the shelf.

            “So,” I said slowly. “You have a piece of someone’s soul on a jam jar on your shelf, what else have you got in here?” I let my gaze drift around the room, wondering what each box and trunk held, wondering if everything in here was as horrifying as the jam jar. 

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