Chapter 6

~~~~~LOKI~~~~~~~

"What ever luck you live by... you must be the Mothers favorite." Inej teased after the High Lord and Lady of the Night Court left her office.

Loki had stolen the book, she was now getting paid to find. 

Sweet Cauldron, she hoped this luck stayed with her a while longer. 

Maybe it was the world trying to balance out all the shit she endured, but she did a lot more bad than was done to her so that was unlikely. 

"Let's hope it stays with us till this business is done... Shadow man watching our movements?" Loki asked.

They referred to the shadow singer Azriel as 'The Shadow man', made it less confusing since her wraith was also a shadow singer. 

"Trying to anyway. I'm sending shadows to whisper false information to him. As of right now he thinks you are torturing the information out of some guy." Inej answered. 

Inej took pride in besting the spy master of the night court. It was a type of thrill she rarely experienced, a challenge no one else could present but the shadow man. 

A smirk over took Loki's cold features. 

In three days, the night court would return with a shit ton of cash to trade for a book they had no idea she stole. 

Maybe she really was the mothers favorite. 

Three days passed quickly. When Inej came into her room to warn Loki that the Lord and Lady of Night as well as the Morrigan and the Spymaster Azriel had touched down for a third time in Ketterdam, she was ready. 

She de-glamoured the book of breathing from her shelf and walked down to her office before they arrived. 

Loki placed the book on top of her desk and waited for the knock at her door. 

~~~~~RHYSAND~~~~~

The High Lord of Night dreaded stepping foot back in that mother forsaken city. 

For three days he tried to convince his mate not to go with him when they went back. Praying that she would stay safe in Velaris rather than stand in front of that monster again. 

The thought of Loki Brekker, shot a shiver down his spine. 

It wasn't normal for someone to make the High Lord of night as uncomfortable and on edge as Loki Brekker. 

She had old eyes, evil eyes, the eyes of someone all knowing. Like she was looking straight into his soul and sneering at whatever good may rest there. 

Those cold grey eyes differed than Amren's. It was not power that was putting him on edge, he knew that he could easily take her out if he wished... No it was just a calculating danger that made him pause. 

A look that said, 'You can kill me... but I have ensured a thousand was that the consequences of doing so would ruin you.' 

He felt like she was a hundred steps ahead of him, like she expected every move he made. It was not often that he was read like an open book. 

It was not often that strategy wise, he was on the defensive. 

It was that sinking feeling that put him on edge in her presence. 

She was not powerful and yet he still felt powerless in her presence. 

As if she was dragging him down to her level so that they could fight on equal terms. He hated it. 

They had continued to look for the book, even with her assistance. He didn't like letting someone outside of the circle preform such an important task. 

He had Azriel watching their movements. But Azriel had said something about the information unnerved him, he didn't know why. He knew his shadows never lied but still. 

But he also knew that Loki Brekker had a shadow singer as well. An Illyrian shadow singer. 

No one in the court had heard of another shadow singer. Now even Azriel. 

The thought of some criminal getting their hands on a member of HIS court, terrified him. Someone so evil could get their hands on such power and they had never even heard about it. 

He brought Azriel this time, hoping that he could convince the girl to come back home with them. He refused to let a member of the Night Court, an Illyrian Shadowsinger, live in such hell when he could help. 

He wanted to help the girl, help her escape the harsh dictatorship she was probably forced to endure under Loki Brekker. 

They walked back up the streets of Ketterdam towards the all too familiar crow club. 

"Oh your back." The deep voice of the door man pulled Rhys' mind back into the present. 

"We're here to see Loki Brekker." Mor said. 

"Yeah, she's been expectin' ya. Jesper will take you back. JESPER!" The door man called in. 

A few seconds later a tall dark skinned male came stumbling into view. It was only noon and he was about one drink from being totally sloshed. 

"WHAAAAAAT?!?! I was just about to pull a win I could feel it!" The male, Jesper, whined playfully. 

"Ya well sober up. You need to walk these folks back to see Loki. She's expectin' em." 

That seemed to sober Jesper a bit as she looked the group up and down. His gaze stopped on Azriel and turned a little more hungry. 

A smirk took over his features as he moved towards Az. "Well aren't you a pretty one. Why don't after you meet the boss, I can show you around the Barrel huh?" 

Rhys, Mor, and Feyre all stifled a laugh at Az's awkward posture. 

"Quit flirting, you know how the boss gets when she's kept waiting." The door man cut it, grabbing Jesper by the back of his collar and dragging him back into the club. 

"Yeah yeah! I'm on it!" 

'Seems you made a friend, brother.'

 Azriel shot Rhys a scathing look at the teasing he sent with his thoughts. 

Jesper knocked on the door. 

"Enter" Rhys heard that cold rasp sound from the other side. He unconsciously took a step closer to his mate as Jesper led them into her office. 

They saw her sat in the same position they found her the first time, casually spinning a pen in between her gloved fingers. And on the desk... The Book of Breathings. 

"Startin' a little early eh Jes?" Loki  arched an eyebrow at Jesper.  

"Let me have my fun." Jesper teased back. 

They were so casual it was off putting. As if the Night Court held absolutely no threat to them. As if their mission to retrieve the book of breathing was the same as asking them to pick up a bottle of wine. 

"Doesn't matter to me. You blow your cut in my club, goes straight into my pocket anyway. By all means keep on losing, might by you a drink as a thanks for the easy cash... Now get out I got business and you have a fortune to blow." The night court stilled as her piercing gaze finally turned back on them.

Jesper laughter and did as he was told, leaving them alone in the office with the stone faced Loki Brekker. 

Even with all her teasing, her features had not shifted from the cold stone. 

"You got the cash?" 

Azriel put the bag on her desk with a satisfying thump. 

"Alice!" Loki called out and a small lesser fae immediately appeared at her side. 

With a nod of her head towards the bag, Alice understood her boss' command and took the bag to count and distribute the funds into the vaults. 

Loki grabbed the book, casually tossing it to Rhysand. "There you are. I suppose our business is concluded. Feel free to see yourselves out." 

Three days...

It took Loki Brekker only three days to find what they had spent well over a week searching for, with no leads to show for it. 

"How did you get it?" Feyre couldn't help but ask. And in all honesty the rest of them were also curious. 

How had she accomplished it so fast? 

"My methods are none of your concern." Loki responded coldly, sliding her hand into her pocket to check her pocket watch. 

"Can you tell us who stole it, or why?" Mor asked. 

Loki stood from her seat moving to leave, as if checking her watch reminded her of something she had to do. 

"No. Now if you'll excuse me, I've already taken enough risk entangling with a prythian court. And this meeting has already taken 45 seconds longer than anticipated. I have things to do."

"What is it exactly you do?" Azriel cut in, hoping to keep her talking long enough to get some information out of her. 

"Bad things, Shadow man. Bad things." Her voice gave no indication as to what she meant by that.

"You called him Shadow man... You know who he is?" Feyre asked. 

"I know who every one is, Cursebreaker... Now I'm assuming your wasting my time for a purpose. So lets get to the chase... spit it out, what else do you want?" Loki turned to look at them fully. 

"The...Shadow singer that was in here the last time we were here. We just want to speak with her." Mor responded, trying not to sound too desperate. 

"What do you want with my Wraith?" Loki's voice was casual but they knew by the sharpening of her stare they needed to tread lightly. 

"She's an Illyrian. A member of the Night Court and the only other Shadow Singer we've known of... We just want to talk. Maybe Azriel here could help train her!" Feyre said kindly, hoping to get Brekker to understand. 

They heard Loki chuckle, a cold, dark laughed that remained in her chest, they watched as her lips twiched upwards in amusement. 

"My wraith, doesn't need training. In fact I'm pretty sure shadow man over there could learn a thing or two from her... Feel free to talk to her all you want, I wish you luck trying to pry any words out of her though. She hold no love for the Night Court." Loki said before speaking out her name, "Inej! Shadow man wants to be friends." 

From the shadows the girl, Inej stepped to Loki's side. A dark hood was pulled onto her black hair, she looked at them in the same cold indifference as Loki. 

"Talk to them. Then come find me afterwards, we got shit to do." 

With that Loki left the four members of the night court and her Wraith, alone in her office.