by Jayne Faith
“And then what?” Nicole piped up, genuinely interested. I could see she wasn’t trying to provoke Bryna but nevertheless seemed to fuel her bad mood. “What would you do with the money?”
“I’d carve out my own Faerie realm and make myself queen,” Bryna said sarcastically. “Then, I’d renounce every blood relative I can name and start a new bloodline.”
The answer was pointedly childish and an obvious insult directed at us.
Nicole made a face at Bryna’s back. I snorted a laugh as I realized I’d made the exact same face only minutes earlier.
We reached the stairs, and Bryna paused. “Don’t run into anyone, or you’ll blow our cover,” she warned.
Conversation ceased as we all focused on navigating down the many flights quickly but without bumping any of the other people using the stairs.
When we finally reached the ground floor, we were all a little out of breath. Bryna moved over to stand near a large column, seemingly to get her bearings, and Nicole and I followed. We faced a corridor that broke off into a T. We’d come down a different set of stairs than the ones the Undine men used to take us up to our quarters, and I didn’t recognize this part of the palace.
Bryna seemed to have settled on taking the hallway that split off to our left and started in that direction. I took a step to follow her but stopped short when a familiar face caught my eye.
Jasper was descending the stairs with another Duergar soldier.
For some reason, I froze. Bryna didn’t see that I wasn’t keeping up, and too late I felt the soft touch of the edge of the invisibility charm’s reach as it trailed over my skin. I was no longer hidden within the protective magical shield.
Jasper’s golden eyes popped wide and he stumbled back, nearly falling. To him, I’d just popped into existence from thin air. His comrade was equally surprised but reacted faster, obviously recognizing me and knowing I shouldn’t be roaming free in the palace. He drew his short sword in one hand and a magi-zapper in the other.
A disembodied hand reached out, clutched my forearm, and yanked me forward.
Bryna was hollering at me, the barrage of insults hitting me abruptly as I popped back into the bubble of the invisibility charm. She kept hold of my arm, her nails digging in painfully, as she dragged me down the hallway at a sprint. Nicole sprang after us, running hard to keep up.
“Seriously? How stupid are you?” Bryna screeched.
I looked back to see the soldier running after us. Jasper stood there blinking in confusion but then took off after his colleague.
We darted around corners, taking seemingly random turns, but the soldier with the magi-zapper stayed on our trail. Bryna was still yelling.
“How does he know which way we’re going?” I panted, interrupting her tirade.
“Weren’t you listening? I just told you! What you did weakened the charm,” Bryna said, digging her nails in harder for emphasis. “They can’t see us, but they can see the border of the charm’s shield. All they have to do is chase after the magic.”
Damn. I resisted the urge to smack my own forehead.
Bryna was really pissed. “What, did you think you were going to stop and flirt with Jasper or something? I’ve seen the way the two of you look at each other, and I heard about your romantic little journey to see Melusine. He’s your half-brother, in case you hadn’t realized, so you might want to rethink your crush. Maybe inbreeding is fine in the Stone Order, but here in the Duergar kingdom that sort of thing is frowned upon.”
“Just shut up and run,” I ground out. I jerked my arm out of her grasp, and her nails left tracks across my skin.
I knew Jasper and I weren’t actually related, but for some reason Bryna’s barb elicited a hot little flash of discomfort. I shouldn’t have let my attraction to him reach the point it had.
More soldiers had joined the chase. We burst out through an exterior door and into the night. I watched over my shoulder as the men came out after us. Once outside, they paused in confusion. Apparently, the darkness was giving us some cover. But it only took a few seconds for one of them to realize our footprints were visible in the dirt. I scanned for Jasper’s familiar silhouette but couldn’t tell whether he was still part of our mob of pursuers or not. I couldn’t help wondering what he would have done had he come upon us alone. He’d helped me escape before.
“How far?” I asked, breathing hard through my mouth. The three of us were running for all we were worth.
Bryna pointed ahead and slightly to the right. “There’s an old temple with an arch in the garden. That’s where Lochlyn is waiting.”
We’d gotten a decent enough head start on the soldiers, giving us about a hundred yards of cushion. Still, we were going to have to get to the doorway and hustle through it right away to elude them.
There wasn’t much light where we were headed, but Bryna seemed confident of the way. We sped around the side of an old stonework building and into a small courtyard enclosed by a low stone wall. A familiar figure stood near an arched portcullis that framed the temple’s back door.
“Lochlyn!” I called, my voice thick with relief at the sight of my dear friend.
“She can’t hear you,” Bryna reminded me irritably.
“Oh, right,” I muttered.
But then the ghostly yellow-green magic around us melted away.
Lochlyn jumped back and gasped.
“It’s us,” I said, rushing to her and throwing one arm around her neck in a quick embrace.
“No time for hugs and tears,” Bryna snapped. “Hold on to her. She’s taking us through.”
I could hear the voices of the Duergar soldiers pursuing us. The ones at the head of the pack were already pounding around the side of the temple. The four of us crowded in front of the arch. Nicole, Bryna, and I each placed a hand on Lochlyn’s shoulder, and she drew the sigils and whispered the magic words.
Together, we shuffled forward into the space under the arch, and the netherwhere claimed us.
We emerged into another night-dark place, this one with a gentle breeze and the faint fragrance of mint wafting on the air. As the chill of the void wore off, I blinked and spun around, my heart still racing from our escape. But we stood in a small grove of trees, the only sounds the calls of owls and night birds. The stars and moon were out, providing just enough light to see by.
“We’re in the kingdom of cats,” Lochlyn said to me. “I thought it safer to come here than try to go to any of the other doorways you usually use.”
I threw my arms around her in an uncharacteristic display of affection. She returned my embrace, and then we stepped back from each other.
“I don’t know how you managed it, but if not for you . . .” I trailed off.
With her trademark confidence, Lochlyn flipped a long lock of hair over one shoulder. “As if I’d let that nasty, stone-faced jerk hold you prisoner.”
I laughed suddenly. Not long ago, Lochlyn had commented that Periclase was hot in a dark overlord kind of way. But since he was the enemy, he was a nasty jerk. That was Lochlyn—flighty on the surface, but with the people she loved, she was as loyal as they came.
“Well, it’s been a real barrel of laughs, but I’m done here,” Bryna said.
“Indeed, you’ve fulfilled your promise,” Lochlyn said.
As if to punctuate that acknowledgement, there was a little electric shiver in the air that seemed to rise up from the ground and dissipate toward the sky. Oath magic.
Bryna stepped up to an arch formed by tree boughs, the doorway through which we’d just arrived, and without so much as a goodbye, she quickly drew sigils and disappeared into the netherwhere.
I turned to my best friend. “What in the name of Oberon did you have on her?” I asked.
Lochlyn shook her head. “It’s part of our oath that I can’t tell.” Then she leaned in, and the moonlight glinted off her teeth as she gave me a conspiratorial little smile. “But let’s just say that my youth spent in court among the children of court
iers is very good for the information trade.”
Then she straightened as if started, and she spun around to Nicole.
“Where are my manners?” Lochlyn exclaimed. She took my twin’s hand in both of hers. “You must be Nicole. I’m so pleased to finally meet you!”
Nicole was peering up at Lochlyn with wide eyes. I didn’t blame her. Even in the dark, it was obvious how stunning my friend was. Her voice alone was smooth and sultry enough to hypnotize you.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Nicole stammered.
Lochlyn put her hands on her slim hips and looked back and forth between me and Nicole. “Twins. Just remarkable.” She shook her head.
“We don’t look alike, though,” Nicole said. “I mean—yeah. That was obvious.”
“Still,” Lochlyn said. “I don’t think I’ve ever met Fae twins.”
She was right. Twins were extremely rare in Faerie. But there was no time for such musings. My mind was turning to more serious matters.
“I’ve got to get back to the Stone Order,” I said. The thrill of our escape from the Duergar palace was wearing off, and the earlier events of the day came crashing back. My pulse began to pump harder as the need to fight filled me. Anger infused my blood as I remembered the way the Duergar king had so flippantly talked about trading me and Nicole like property. “I’ve got to get Mort and take the fortress back from Periclase.”
Lochlyn crossed her arms. “You’re going to just march back there and do that all on your own?”
I pushed my fingers into my hair. “I have to.”
She put a hand on my upper arm.
“No,” she said gently. “Take a breath, Petra. You need to think clearly, or you’re going to end up right back where you were—a prisoner.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded. “You’re right. Have you heard any news from the Summerlands? Before Periclase stormed the fortress, Marisol sent Oliver and most of our forces there to try to help Titania fend off Finvarra. If they’re in the middle of a fight, they might not even know what’s happened with the Stone Order.”
“I sent a message to Oliver in the Summerlands as soon as I heard that Periclase had taken the Order,” Lochlyn said. “I’m sure I’m not the only one, though. Word spread fast. Periclase made sure of that.”
My mouth twisted. The Duergar king really was a bragging windbag.
“Okay, so Oliver knows. Either he’s trying to plan a counter-siege to reclaim the fortress, or he’s caught up in fighting for the High Court. Or he’s been taken prisoner.” I shook my head, not willing to entertain the last option. “I don’t even know how he’d choose between the Summerlands and the fortress. If the High Court falls to Finvarra, we’re screwed. But if Periclase has legitimately claimed the Stone Order under his rule, we’re also screwed.”
“Do you have any other allies in Faerie you could call on?” Lochlyn asked.
I rubbed a hand across my eyes. “I honestly don’t know. I’m not particularly up to date on the state of affairs between the New Gargs and other kingdoms. It’s not the sort of thing Marisol talks about freely because many alliances are secret.”
But Lochlyn was right. I needed help.
I sucked in a breath as something came to me. “Sebastian.”
“The Spriggan king?” Lochlyn asked, clearly confused.
“Yeah,” I said. “I saved his ass a couple of months back. There was an attack in one of his nightclubs, and a few of his men died. He even said that if Maxen and I hadn’t been there, he might not have survived it. It wasn’t an oath of debt to me, but still. It’s something.”
“That could work,” Lochlyn said. “He’s Seelie, so he’s already aligned with the New Gargs. His kingdom is small, and given the way things are going, he’ll be interested in preventing more hostile takeovers like the one Periclase is staging on the Stone Order. I’d think it would be in Sebastian’s interest to take a stand against such bullying.”
“Can we go to this Sebastian now?” Nicole asked.
“I’ll go,” I said. I turned to Lochlyn. “Can she stay with you?”
“Of course,” she said. “We’ll hide out at my aunt’s place. It’s only about a mile from here. No one will think to look for a runaway Duergar princess there.”
“Thank you,” I breathed.
“But I’d like to help,” Nicole protested.
“Not this time,” I said. “I don’t want to put you in danger. Stay here, and I’ll send for you when it’s safe to come home.”
She tried to protest further, but I went to the arch and quickly drew the sigils for a Spriggan doorway. I only knew a few that led into that kingdom, and I chose the one closest to Sebastian’s castle.
The netherwhere spit me out at the edge of an open marketplace. The market was closed for the night, the stalls all dark. A few Fae roamed the area, probably hawking the types of things that were better sold under the cover of darkness. I turned to orient myself and spotted the silhouette of the Spriggan stronghold about a mile and a half away.
I aimed in that direction and set off at a quick jog. I could only hope that King Sebastian was home and would be in the mood to receive me.
Chapter 26
I FELT NAKED showing up at a foreign kingdom’s stronghold without Mort. I tried to convince myself that going to Sebastian weaponless would help my case because it made me look less aggressive and more sympathetic. But really, it just pissed me off to no end that I’d been separated from my shadowsteel spellblade.
Fortunately for me, Sebastian was in the Spriggan castle, a great structure built of ironwood, an incredibly hard wood that grew only in this heavily wooded kingdom. The doors were plated, and many of the corners were also reinforced with metal.
The Spriggans themselves took after the characteristics of their realm—the men muscular and built like oak trees, and the women nearly as solid.
It took some time for my name to make itself up through the ranks of guards, from the watchers at the gate to Sebastian’s personal detail. I’d expected the delay but still paced while I waited in the small sitting room I’d been escorted to.
Finally, Sebastian appeared. He was dressed in a very expensive-looking maroon track suit with white racing stripes, with a heavy gold chain around his neck and chunky rings on his fingers. The whole getup reminded me of a drug kingpin or mob boss. Not surprising. He tended to emulate stereotypes of Americans he considered powerful.
I curtsied—always fun and not at all awkward in skintight jeans.
“I hope you will excuse my casual dress,” Sebastian said in a cultured voice. “At this hour, my business of the day is usually concluded.”
“Of course, your majesty, don’t give it another thought,” I said.
In spite of how Sebastian liked to posture—I was almost sure the throaty voice with a slight but unidentifiable accent was phony—there was something about him I found almost likeable. Maybe it had to do with how he bucked the trend of most Faerie rulers, dressing in sleek business suits instead of old-fashioned courtly finery.
He gestured at the two loveseats that faced each other next to the dark hearth, indicating we should sit. I waited for him to be seated before I landed on the soft cushion.
“I’ve heard of the troubles at the fortress,” he said, his forehead creasing with what appeared to be genuine displeasure. “I’m distressed to learn that the Duergar believe they have a right to the Stone Order.”
I wasn’t stupid. Sebastian’s distress was probably over the fact that he believed Periclase had snatched the Stone Order out from under him. The Spriggan king had also been vying to absorb us into his kingdom, though by different means. He’d actually managed to persuade about a dozen New Gargs to break oath with Marisol and swear fealty to him.
I nodded. “That’s why I’m here, your majesty. I frankly don’t have time to mince words. I saved your life when the servitors attacked at your nightclub. No promise was made between us, but on the good faith of that gesture, I’ve come for
your help, and I need it tonight.”
His brows drew together. “What is your request?”
I took a breath. “I need someone to help me take back the fortress from the Duergar and the Undine. Rock armor, it turns out, isn’t much defense against Undine weapons. But I suspect Spriggan shields will stand up to lightning magic.”
Leaning back to rest one arm casually over the backrest of the sofa, his expression turned sly. He regarded me silently for a moment. I licked my dry lips. There would be a cost if he agreed to help, and it made me twitchy to be in the position of begging for him to come to my rescue.
“If you have other allies you could persuade to help, that would be even better,” I said. “The Undine trident bearers are a uniquely difficult enemy for New Gargs to fight, which is, of course, why Periclase is using them.”
His eyes widened the tiniest bit at the implication that his forces wouldn’t be up to the task. He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “The situation must be desperate indeed.”
“Yes. And extremely urgent.”
“And what do you suppose I will want in return?” Sebastian asked.
We really didn’t have time for this shit. I shook my head and tried hard to cling to my last shred of patience. “I wouldn’t presume to know your mind, your majesty,” I said.
“I want the Stone Order under my rule,” he said. I began to protest, and he held up a hand, cutting me off. “I know the New Gargoyles have no desire to be Spriggan subjects. Here’s what I’m proposing as a compromise. Everyone in the Order swears fealty to me, but you all remain in the fortress. You will have your own leader, who will stay in charge of most matters at the fortress, but instead of acting as an independent ruler, she’ll be under me.”
My jaw muscles worked. I didn’t have the authority to make such a deal, but the Order was in a very bad situation. I had to do something.
“But Periclase has already claimed the Order for the Duergar,” I said.
“The High Court never approved it. It’s a coup, and he’s trying to take you by overpowering the Order rather than through official channels, so strictly speaking you’re not obligated to swear fealty to him. He will try to force Marisol’s hand, but as long as she hasn’t succumbed yet, the opportunity to swear to me still exists.”