Free Azuri Fae by India Drummond Page A

the…incident last summer, but questions had to be asked. There’s nothing worse than a bent copper. I’d just as soon someone rooted out the problems, and I’m glad it isn’t me having to do it. Hard enough to keep the public trust without giving people reason not to trust us.”
     
    “Not that most of them need a reason.” Munro paused. “The worst part was it felt disloyal, like I was pinning something on my dead cousin.”

    “I know you want to defend your family. It’s natural. But the truth of it is, if Frankie had come to you about his suspicions sooner, he’d probably be alive today.”
     
    Munro wasn’t so sure. He’d faced the blood faerie, whose actions were explained to the human public as those of a cult serial killer. Munro didn’t think anything he could have done would have saved Frankie. If it hadn’t been Frankie lying dead in that clearing, it would have been one of the others. Munro sighed, feeling guilty that part of him wished it had been one of the others. They had families too, he reminded himself.

    “All right,” Hallward finally said. “Get on out of here. Probably don’t have time to get back to Skye, though.”
     
    Munro chuckled. “Aye, but my girlfriend is used to my odd hours.” It felt weird calling Eilidh his girlfriend. The word didn’t fit any part of their relationship, but he didn’t know what other term he could possibly use. Bonded faerie sounded strange, even to his ears. He couldn’t imagine what Hallward would think of that, even though the sarge had heard the rumours she wasn’t human.

    “You’re still looking pale. I know the doc cleared you, but you aren’t yourself. Go home. Get some sleep.” Hallward turned his attention to a stack of papers on his desk.
     
    “Aye, Sarge.” Munro walked out to his car and went to run some errands. He wasn’t ready to face the empty house quite yet. While he strolled the aisles at ASDA, putting stuff in a shopping trolley without paying attention to what it was or how much it cost, he thought about what he was going to say to the other druids about going to Skye. In some ways, he didn’t know what his hesitation was. Long life, healing, magical power—most people would jump at the chance. Part of it was he felt like he was leaving Frankie behind. And he wasn’t sure he trusted all the other druids. Some may have taken a passive role in the deaths that summer. Once he took them to Skye, they’d all be part of his life forever, or at least for the next several hundred years.

    He shook himself out of his dazed train of thought. All he would do was introduce them to some people who might or might not want to know them. It wasn’t his responsibility to decide who was and who wasn’t worthy of power.
     
    When he arrived at the till and took out his wallet, Munro stopped, staring at his credit card, thinking of Eilidh. With a smile, he inserted his card into the reader and punched in his PIN, remembering the way she’d blushed when he confronted her about stealing. The clothes at the tourist shop cost him sixty quid, but it was worth it to see the wonder on her face when he explained credit cards. He loved how she took delight in little things, like the light in the refrigerator.

    By the time he pulled up to his house, he knew Eilidh was inside. Earlier, he’d felt her coming and going from the Otherworld. She must have word from this prince of hers. Munro couldn’t put a finger on why the mention of the guy made him twitch, but he didn’t trust him.
     
    He found Eilidh in his bedroom, rummaging through his closet. “Hi,” he said from the doorway. She didn’t have a key to his house, but with her newly flourishing earth powers, she could manipulate metal, including simple locks. It never occurred to her to knock, but Munro didn’t mind too much.

    “Your clothes are all the same,” she said, turning to him with a frown.
     
    “Since when do you care what I wear?” Munro was puzzled. He’d