“No. Not at all.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “But I knew once I told you, nothing I said or did would keep you here, and I wanted to take my time to ensure I took viable samples.”

A shiver raised hairs down my arms. “Where is she?”

“In the sprite’s den,” he said, and Dell’s eyes rounded.

“The pond.” Her breath caught. “Harlow’s in the cavern beneath the pond.”

The mocking call of gulls echoed through my memory, their poignant cries threatening to nail my feet to the repurposed oak floors. I drifted onto the front porch in a daze and wrapped my arms around my middle to hold myself together.

Dell leaned her shoulder against mine. “This is good news, right?”

“I thought I had it figured out,” I murmured. “The tokens being left on my steps. I thought it was Bessemer or Aisha. He’s alpha, and when he broke the bond I wondered if he had somehow fished those moments I hadn’t told Graeson about out of the residual energy.”

“That’s not how it works.” A sad laugh rocked her. “Not usually.” She exhaled. “Wargs active in the pack bond can only see and hear what is freely shared. We can’t go digging around in each other’s heads. Only the alpha has that power. He can yank whatever he wants out of our heads, but he has to be close, and the bond must be active. There’s no residue. No footprints left behind.” She squeezed my arm. “Bessemer only knows what you told Cord, and Cord would have fought him to the breaking point to protect your secrets.”

Rubbing my arms, I acknowledged, “That’s what I was afraid of.”

“I don’t get it.” She cocked her head. “What am I missing?”

“Ayer,” I said, working out the puzzle. “She said Charybdis was in her head, that he told her what to do, and she had to obey him. She lost control of herself, and he took her over.” That fit with what we had suspected about him using the kelpie as an avatar, but the breadth of his power was that much more terrifying after seeing his effect on a more sentient fae. “She said he taunted her with things that no one knew.” I leaned heavy against Dell. “He was pulling that information out of her head, like what Bessemer did to Graeson.”

“So the Harlow we find won’t be the Harlow we knew. She’ll have to detox away from his influence, like Ayer.” Dell frowned. “It still doesn’t explain the nest and other things. Even if he got in her head, she wouldn’t know about those things, would she?”