Marked By Lies: A Reverse Harem Series (The Marked Series Book 1) by Paige Orr (the red fox clan TXT) 📗

impatiently for them to sit across from me as I lean back, crossing my arms over my chest, which I seem to be doing often around the surly Prince. They both take their seats and I take the time to look at them properly. Last night I was too caught up in the fact that my fate lay in the Prince’s hand to fully take in his looks. To be perfectly honest, I’m glad that I was otherwise preoccupied. Or else, I would have been far too distracted with the mouthwatering sight in front of me.

Zaphyr is certainly eye-catching, with his skin pale as moonlight and his jet black hair that seems to shimmer with midnight blue undertones in the light. His cheekbones are sharp enough to cut, and his cobalt eyes seem to pierce right through me. My eyes catch on his full lips that look perfect to bite on. If I wasn’t in the same room as the man I would fan myself.

Next, I turn my attention to the man beside him who is like his complete opposite. His hair is white and cut short at the side, long and messy at the top. It stands out against his stunning caramel skin tone that I struggle with the urge to run my tongue along every inch. His scarlet eyes shine out at me, dancing with mischief that causes my lips to tip up in a smile. My eyes continue their path down to his strong jawline and to his wonderfully plump lips that tip up in a roguish smirk making me realize that I’ve been sat here staring for far too long.

I flick my eyes away and clear my throat, feeling heat spread across my cheeks at the fact they know I was quite obviously checking them out. I take a moment to compose myself before turning back to them both, hoping that we can forget my staring and get straight down to the issue at hand.

“Alright, why don’t we get started. With you guys needing outside help, I’m guessing whatever is going on is rather serious.”

At my words, all sense of playfulness and cheer disappear, replaced with a somber attitude that has me on edge instantly. The more time that I spend trying to figure out what could be happening, the more worried I get that this could be the most dangerous case that I’ll ever work on in my career. Zaphyr still seems hesitant to speak about the issue, which leaves his friend to be the one to address me.

“Well Miss Greene, what you’re about to hear has to be kept between us and your little hacker friend who helped you out last night. You need to understand that we have already tried everything available to us to solve the situation ourselves with no luck.”

“Look, Mister…?”

“You can call me Morpheus kitten.”

I roll my eyes at his flirtatious tone before getting back to the matter at hand.

“Morpheus, I don’t exactly shout about my cases from the rooftops. Most clients prefer confidentiality; hence why I was so pissed at your intrusion, and I do everything in my power to keep whatever they say between us.”

“Alright. Well, I’ll start by filling you in on the simple stuff. There are approximately forty Fae who have gone missing in the last month, twenty from each side. That itself wouldn’t usually be a worry, but the Fae who are missing aren’t the type to go gallivanting around without telling people where they will be.”

“Okay, I can see why that would be worrisome. But surely with the magic you have at hand, you are far more equipped to handle this than a human PI.”

“So you would believe, but that's where things get rather tricky. You see, we’ve tasked our most talented trackers with finding those who have disappeared, but they aren't able to find anything. It’s like every part of the person's presence is completely wiped, making it look like they never existed in the first place.”

For fuck’s sake! If their people, who are highly skilled at finding people can’t find anything, what in the world makes them think that I’ll have better luck. My non-corporeal stalker chooses this moment to appear behind my guests, causing me to tense up, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Prince Zaphyr who questions me.

“Are you alright, Miss Greene? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I can’t stop the very unladylike snort that escapes me as I note that I’m okay. I swear this ghost deliberately chooses to pop up at the worst of times. When I stop to think about it though, maybe he could be helpful with this investigation. Plus, if he’s out searching for the missing Fae, then he won’t be in my hair making me look like a crazy woman.

“I’m sorry about that, it’s just that this case seems to be a lot bigger than anything that I’ve been hired for before, and I don’t know what makes you think that I’ll do any better than your people."

“Simply put, you achieved something last night that few people could. First by getting into Cailean’s home and then stealing from him. It takes guts to do something like that and we need someone who isn’t afraid to go the extra mile for us.”

“I can get that, but that doesn’t explain why you think a human can do any better than a Fae. You have to admit that I wouldn’t usually be a choice to help out one of the supernatural factions since you guys have people that are skilled with these things. That’s not to say I won’t do what I can, I just don’t think you should get your hopes up that I’ll find anything new.”

“At this point, we’re willing to try just about anything. If word gets out to our people about this, it’ll cause a panic that we can’t afford. Fuck, we’re even