Falin is alive.
My knees went soft, nearly dropping me to the ground as relief washed over me. My breath caught, my heart knocking against my rib cage, and I pressed a hand over my mouth to prevent any relieved gushing of thanks that threatened to bubble out. The news that he was still alive was like a weight falling from me. It changed nothing about the dangers to everyone else around me, but it still made everything inside me lighten, like everything else had just become slightly more manageable. And Dugan had given me more than just reassurance that Falin lived. If light’s most fearsome warrior was dead, that implied it had been the light court that had attacked him, either in an official duel or otherwise. More and more indications that Ryese was behind this.
I took a deep breath, pressing my lips tight as I nodded to Dugan before finally babbling, “I would hug you if you were really here.”
Dugan gave a faint, very small smile, but it was one of his rare genuine expressions. “That would be difficult as there is only one place on your entire continent that has enough of Faerie left that our planebender could reach the shadows.”
I froze because that seemed like information he was once again gifting me. It confirmed the other trees had been destroyed. One spot on the entire continent still tied to Faerie . . . Where? If I could find it, would the planebender help me reach Faerie? I’d cashed in the favor Dugan himself owed me, but the shadow court as a whole also owed me a favor. I tucked this information away.
“Shadow Prince,” Ms. B said, her gruff voice uncharacteristically thin. She’d never risen from her curtsy, likely because he’d never acknowledged her, so she addressed her words toward the floor as she spoke. “We’ve friends who vanished with the missing parts of Faerie. In all my history, I’ve heard of doors moving, but never of doors being destroyed. Alex’s castle, and the people inside it, are they somewhere safe? Or . . . ?”
I blinked at her. Faerie moved things all the time. I’d assumed everything that had vanished Faerie had just relocated. But I’d be the first to admit I had no idea how Faerie worked, and now fear wiggled through me as well as guilt that I hadn’t even considered the possibility.
“Are you looking to trade, little brownie?” Dugan asked, considering the fae still half-hidden behind my legs. The quills in her hair rattled softly. Usually that was a sign of her anger, but now it was because she was trembling.
“Yes, I—” she said, but I took a step forward and cut her off.
“No, she’s not, but I am.”
Dugan frowned at me. I crossed my arms over my chest and lifted my chin, meeting his gaze. My friends had vanished too, so if anyone traded for information, it was better for it to be me, not Ms. B, who was terrified of the prince. Not that I planned to use my question on it, but we could come to some new deal. Dugan and I stared at each other for a moment, and then he shook his head, not in negation but in wry amusement.
“And just yesterday you berated yourself as a coward,” he said, reaching up to scratch behind the ears of the shadow cat draped across his shoulders. I went completely still. Had I said that aloud at the crime scene? Somewhere shadows could have overheard me? I’m not sure what my expression betrayed, but the smallest of smiles touched his mouth before he said, “My bargaining with the brownie has already begun, but do not take up your sword and shield yet, my lady champion. What she has asked is a very minor trade, and for a friend of my friend, I shall offer a good deal.” He lowered his gaze toward Ms. B, who had actually looked up during this exchange, her large dark eyes wide. “For the answer you seek, I would take your shadow to serve in my court for a single day—from now until sunset. Do you accept this trade?”
Her hair rattled louder, and the slits that served as nostrils on her noseless face flared with fear, but she nodded. “I agree to your terms, Shadow Prince.”
I wanted to stop her, to intervene, but I knew enough about Faerie bargains to know that it was already done. She was scared, but she’d agreed without hesitation, so I guessed whatever it meant to have one’s shadow serve in the shadow court for a day must not be too horrible.
“Your friends are safe. Faerie moved the castle into the winter court. The inhabitants who were inside the castle at the time of its relocation are locked inside the court like the rest of winter, but once the court reopens, you should be able to locate the castle and your companions with ease.”
At his words, a soft sigh of relief slipped from Ms. B’s lips. While I had no doubt she was happy to hear Rianna and Desmond were all right, I guessed her true concern had been for the shy garden gnome who tended the grounds.
I cocked an eyebrow at the prince. “Knew that one off the top of your head, did you?”
He shrugged, jostling the shadow cat enough that she cracked open her emerald-green eyes. “I did attempt to anticipate what you might ask of me. The welfare of your lover, the location of your missing castle, and the closest point you could cross into Faerie were all possibilities I considered. I admit, your request to find a sapling took me rather off guard.” Again, the smallest hint of amusement touched his features, but it faded quickly as he focused on Ms. B again. “Step forward, little brownie. It would not do for your shadow to be tangled with our planeweaver’s.” He held out a hand, beckoning her closer.
Ms. B shuffled forward. Not far—she wouldn’t be able to see the mirror at her height if she moved too much closer—but she stepped up beside me. Dugan made a sweeping motion with his hand, and the brownie’s shadow, which was being cast by the lights ringing the mirror, suddenly stretched and then jumped sideways. The shadow darted forward, leaping onto the sink before hurling itself into the darkness of the mirror. Ms. B shuddered as her shadow melted into the surface the same way the cat had.
“Your shadow will return at sunset,” Dugan said, the words stiff and formal. Ms. B only nodded, not making a sound. Then Dugan turned back toward me. “I shall look into your sapling. I’ll send Ciara again when I know something.” He reached out and scritched the cat, who I guessed was Ciara.
I nodded and the shadows in the mirror began to swirl, the edges clearing as the darkness seemed to pull in, toward Dugan’s form. When there was just a small ring left around the prince, he looked up, his eyes locking on mine.
“Good luck, my lady. But should you need it, remember that my court will always welcome you.”
Then the shadows faded and I found myself staring at only my own reflection.
Chapter 15
After a quick shower—thankfully Caleb had some basic toiletries he let me borrow—I was feeling much more ready to face the rest of the day. With Dugan helping look for a sapling, I at least had some forward movement toward a plan. And Ms. B had worked some brownie cleaning magic on my clothes while I’d been showering—she’d even repaired the charred spots in my pants—so while I was back in the same outfit as the previous day, I was at least clean and no longer smelled like I’d spent too long at a barbecue serving scorched plastic.
Roy and Icelynne returned while I was getting ready. Even though the brownie couldn’t actually see her, Icelynne volunteered to stay with Ms. B. The brownie was headed to Tongues for the Dead to mind the office. With me working with the FIB and Rianna stuck in Faerie, someone needed to man the office, and Ms. B had appointed herself office manager months ago, so it made sense. Roy seemed reluctant to separate from Icelynne, but ultimately decided to accompany me.
I picked up breakfast on my drive toward the FIB office, taking a slight detour to drive by the Bloom on the way. Most of the blockades were gone, though the street immediately surrounding the bombed building was taped off and official personnel were still working through the scene. They were no longer maintaining a thousand-yard perimeter, though, and it looked like the surrounding businesses were reopened, so apparently they were no longer concerned about the possibility of a secondary explosion.
“Whoa, is this normal?” Roy asked as I approached the FIB b
uilding.
“Not at all.”
The grounds were absolutely crawling with fae. A centaur galloped across the parking lot as I turned in, making me slam on my brakes to avoid clipping him. A group of nymphs gathered in the green space near the lot entrance, three women wearing only feathers despite the chill in the morning air not far behind them. An entire contingent of goblins stood on the lawn, none taller than four feet and with skin colors that ranged from pale pink to mustard yellow to a few such a deep purple they almost looked black. Fae milled about the grounds, but even more were gathered around the building entrance, like shoppers waiting for the doors to open at a major chain store on Black Friday.
Despite the crowd, the parking lot was oddly empty of vehicles. I was sure it had been full the night before. This morning I pulled in beside a sleek black sedan and we were the only two cars in the lot.
Roy stood, the motion putting him through the roof of my vehicle, because that wasn’t disturbing. Not that the ghost noticed.
“What are they all doing here?”
“I don’t know,” I said as I killed the engine and climbed from the car.
A lot of stares landed on me as I shut the car door, and I made a mental note to not talk to the ghost no one else could see. Most of the looks I received appeared cautiously curious, some suspicious, and a few downright hostile. I noted those looks, making sure to take a path that didn’t put me too close to them but also didn’t look like I was trying to avoid them. Roy trailed behind me, gawking. He’d been hanging around for over half a year now, but even I had never seen this many unusual, unglamoured fae outside of Faerie.
A light-plum-colored goblin with four legs, three of which he used to walk but one scrawny and short, hanging limp from his side, scuttled up to me as I reached the back of the crowd gathered around the entrance.
“Are you FIB?” he asked, his voice thin and sharp, like nails on a chalkboard.
I nodded. “I am. I’m Alex Craft.”
“Why are the doors locked? What is going on?”
I frowned. The doors? Did he mean the door to Faerie or the doors to the FIB office? But why would the office be locked? I tried to catch Roy’s gaze, to signal him to check it out, but he was staring at all the people around him.
Of course, while Roy was a solid-looking form I couldn’t see through, no one else could see him. Which I sort of forgot until a very tall fae with two heads stood up, giving me a strange look that I realized was in response to the fact that he’d thought I’d been motioning to him. Oops.
“I’m looking into the doors,” I muttered to the goblin before turning to work my way through the crowd. That was easier said than done. Some of the fae were made of living stone; others had rather deadly-looking spikes, or thorns. It wasn’t the kind of crowd I could muscle my way through if polite excuse-mes and throat clearing didn’t work. And this crowd was in no mood for politeness.
I heard the goblin’s questions from other fae over and over as I worked through the crowd. Tensions were high, as were tempers. They didn’t know what was happening, but something was wrong and their one place to go for recourse was locked. These fae didn’t know me, but just from looking at me, they could tell I was Sleagh Maith, which, to most, made me not one of them. Sleagh Maith were never independent.
“What happened to my home?” one fae yelled at me as I tried to slide around her.
“What’s going on?” a tall fae said, shoving past his neighbor to step into my path.
“I’m trying to find that out,” I said, meeting some of his eyes. He had seven, so I wasn’t exactly sure where to look.
“What did the queen do?” another fae muttered, not directly to me, just a general question.
That made me pause. It had been over a month since Falin took the throne, but these were not court fae. How many of them didn’t even know who sat on the winter throne?
I finally reached the doors. They were, in fact, locked. Not that I doubted it at this point. A sheet of paper with the hand-scrawled word closed had been taped onto the glass of the door. Oh so helpful. I was going to have to have a serious talk with the agents. Nori hadn’t provided me with a key, an oversight I’d have to address, but the door was never supposed to be locked.
I dug my phone from my purse and pulled up Nori’s contact information. It took her long enough to answer that I thought she wouldn’t, but just before I was sure it would flip over to voice mail she answered with a curt “What?”
“Why are the front doors locked?”
“Craft? Are you at the office?” she asked, and then she said something in that musical language of the fae, but while it sounded pretty, I was rather sure she was cursing. “Go to the back door. I’ll send Tem out to get you.”
I wanted to argue, to tell her that if she was inside, she needed to open up the front door so we could address the fae gathered on our doorstep, but she hung up before I could get a word in. I stared at my phone for a moment. Then I pocketed it and started making my way back through the crowd.
If I thought getting to the door was hard, getting back out was worse. Going against the crowd got me a lot more notice. And hostility.
A fae with a serpentine head wrapped a scaled hand around my upper arm, his talons pressing against my blazer hard enough that I could feel small pricks of pain blooming in my arm. “What is-s-s happening? My den vanished at s-s-suns-s-set. My mate and children were ins-s-side. But I am s-s-still here.”
I stared into his glassy black eyes, unsure how much I should say. He deserved to know—they all needed to know what was going on. I’d been so wrapped up in my own concerns about the court being locked down, and with fixing the problem with the door being gone, that I hadn’t considered the fact that most of the local fae had no idea the door had been destroyed. Things were happening around them, and they had no idea why. How many more were here because family and friends had vanished with the first sunset? No one had told them what was happening, or what they should do.
I probably needed to consult with Nori before saying anything; I didn’t want to start a panic. Of course, she shouldn’t have closed the FIB office. Whose brilliant idea had that been? Wasn’t there some sort of protocol we should be following in a situation like this?
Probably not. From what Ms. B had said, there hadn’t been a situation like this in fae memory. Doors to Faerie moved, but they weren’t destroyed.
“Your den and family were likely relocated into the winter court. They should be safe,” I said, trying to offer him comfort.
I couldn’t read his serpentine expression, but the way his tongue flickered bespoke agitation. “S-s-safe? In the court? I doubt that.”
This confrontation had not gone unnoticed. All around me the gathered fae were pressing closer, eyes on me.
“What is happening?”
“Why did I feel like I was drowning at dawn?”
“Where is my home?”
“I couldn’t walk for nearly an hour after dawn.”
“What has the court done?”
All around me voices called out questions, and bodies pressed closer and closer, boxing me in. I’m not claustrophobic, but I was feeling rather panicked with fae all around me. All focused on me. All expecting answers.
I did have some. I just wasn’t sure how many of them I should share.
How the hell did I get in this situation? I was so not qualified for this job. Who’d thought I’d be good at it?
Falin. I seriously wished he were here with me. He’d know what to do. I tried to imagine what he would do. Probably look menacing enough that they all backed away, maybe at the point of his daggers.
That wasn’t me, though.
I took a deep breath and let it back out, looking at all the anxious faces around me. They looked angry. Violence wasn’t impossible. But mostly they were scared, confused. I couldn’t relieve those fear
s, but I could at least let them know what was happening.
I cleared my throat and then lifted my voice. “Yesterday morning, a magical attack was detonated at the Eternal Bloom. The amaranthine tree was damaged beyond repair, as was the door to Faerie. This territory was cut off from winter, and at sunset, parts of Faerie still attached to winter were relocated into territory still controlled by the court.”
A low murmur coursed through the crowd, growing louder as a hundred different voices repeated my words to neighbors, called out questions, or simply cried out.
“What is the queen doing?”
“What happens to us?”
“Now what?”
“Is this the new king’s fault?”
“What is being done?”
“Where is the Winter Knight?”
Questions came at me from every direction. Overwhelming me. More hands reached for me. Someone grabbed my other arm, trying to drag me toward him, but the snake-headed fae still hadn’t released my other arm. A small fae grabbed the edge of my jacket, tugging at the fabric to draw my attention.
At this rate I was going to be torn apart.
“Uh, Al . . . Can I help somehow?” Roy had finally caught up to me. Being a ghost most beings couldn’t see could be useful at times. In this situation, though, not so much.
Talking to someone people couldn’t see didn’t seem like a good plan right now, not with tensions this high. I considered expending the magic to manifest Roy, but really, what would that help? If I had to fight my way out of the crowd, I was dead. Roy wouldn’t be a ton of help even if I did make him physical. He was not a fighter.
I focused on the fae around me. Trying to keep my voice calm but authoritative.
“If you can leave the city, you should head to the closest winter territory.” I tried to remember the map I’d seen earlier in the week, to recall exactly where the closest winter territory was. I frowned. With only one door per court on each continent, the closest winter territory was in the center of South America. That would be a hard journey, and they’d have to pass through at least two other courts’ territories to reach it.
Grave War (An Alex Craft Novel) Page 15