“The queen has not been satisfied with ruling her own lands for many years now,” Isindle had said. She had changed the tattered pink dress for a pair of jeans and a casual T-shirt. She preferred to go barefoot and her blond hair was tied in a messy ponytail at the back of her neck. Although she had been dressed as though shopping at the farmers’ market on Sunday morning, Isindle still wore her authority like a gown. “Since she has nowhere to expand the Queendom in our own realm, she’s been looking elsewhere.”
Estelle walked into the room and broke in on Michaela’s train of thought. “This place is pretty,” she said. Eric had moved his headquarters to an isolated island in northern Ontario, which was currently aflame with autumn colors, hoping to draw away some of the Dawning’s attention.
“It is.” She had listened to the loons on the lake last night, and thought that the birds’ lonely cry was exactly what she was hearing in her heart. It had not been a cheerful thought.
“Trying to work?” Estelle asked.
“Trying and failing.” Michaela shoved the papers away and took a big drink from the cold coffee that sat at her elbow.
Estelle frowned. “You don’t drink coffee,” she accused. “You never drink coffee. You only like tea.”
“Maybe I’ve changed.”
Estelle sighed and sat down beside Michaela on the couch, tucking her feet underneath her body and leaning back against her hand. “Maybe, but I doubt it. Coffee’s not your style. Do you want to talk about it?”
“About coffee?”
“About Cormac.”
“No.” An easy answer. She was doing her best to avoid thinking about him.
Estelle flashed her a smile full of fang. “Too bad, because you’re going to. You can’t keep this bottled up inside of you, not if you want to heal or at least be functional. You’ve been moping around and that is totally legitimate. Girl, you got fucked over.”
Michaela ran her hand over her eyes. “Thanks for pointing that out.”
The vampire wasn’t done. She raised her fingers to tick off Michaela’s recent catastrophes. “Your mentor tried to kill you. We’re facing a war. Ivy’s hurt. Cormac’s gone.”
“Hold on.” Better clarify that right now. “Cormac is not ‘gone’.” She used finger quotes to emphasize the word. “That makes it sound like he simply disappeared. He deliberately turned his back on us to join forces with Frieda and the demon who took Ivy’s soul. For his forest. That isn’t gone.”
“You’re right.”
That was it. The gate that been locked in front of Michaela’s mouth burst open. “I trusted him. We were mated, for God’s sake. Even though I was the one who said it was a mistake and that we should try to get it annulled right away, he persuaded me to try. What sort of man does that? He wanted me to fall in love with him so it would hurt more when he left. That’s the sort of mind games the fey play, and I was dumb enough to believe it.”
Estelle said nothing, but cocked her head to one side and made a keep going gesture with her hand.
Michaela didn’t need any encouragement. “For how long was he planning this? He wanted to keep his damn forest safe and even said so. He must have been trying to engineer this for ages. First, he would get in with Eric through me and find out information that would be useful for Frieda. Then he’d dance on over there and help them win the war. Oh, and lead Yangzei to Ivy for the hell of it.”
“Michaela—”
Michaela spoke right over her. “We all thought it was the fey magic that helped beat Yangzei. It wasn’t. I bet they had an agreement beforehand.”
“Do you believe this?”
“I do.” Michaela stared at her, dry-eyed and furious. “You know why? Because he’s not here and Ivy is half-dead. Of course Cormac would pick the forest over me.”
“Or because he would die otherwise? As would you?”
Michaela snorted. “Would I? That’s what his sister said. I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true.” Isindle came into the room with a tray of nuts and berries. “The chef was very disappointed that this was all I wanted to bring to you, but these are my comfort foods and I wished to share them with you.”
Estelle jumped up but Michaela waved her back down. “Stay. I know you love strawberries.”
“I do,” the vampire admitted. “As a child I used to wear them on my fangs and pretend I was a circus walrus.”
The other two women stared at her, but Estelle had her head down to pluck through the nuts to find her favorites.
Michaela sighed. “Any news about Ivy?”
“Yes. This is what I came down to tell you, but then I heard your conversation.”
“Were you eavesdropping?” Michaela demanded.
Isindle chose an almond and popped it in her mouth. “I’m not sure. The door was open and I was listening. We all do this at home. It’s how we learn. It’s expected.”
“Well, we don’t do that here.”
“Understood. However, since I did hear, I feel I must address your concerns. What I told you is the truth. We are deeply linked to our forests. They are our lives.”
“Then why didn’t he tell me?” asked Michaela. “Why didn’t he say what the mating could cost him?”
Isindle tilted her head to the side. “Why? What would it change?”
Nothing, but…they were mated. He should have trusted her.
Even though you said it was a mistake? That you wanted it over? To not think about it?
Isindle, not part of Michaela’s internal debate, spoke again. “Shall I tell you about what I learned about Ivy?”
Priorities. Michaela clasped her hands together, trying to keep her impatience under control. Isindle only had information—it might not be good, and she needed to prepare herself for that.
Isindle ate some more almonds and settled back in the chair. Michaela noticed that she had some of her large books with her, including the notebook in which she’d written all of her ideas. She opened the largest tome, which looked as though it was bound in a piece of the sky, and flipped through until she found the page she wanted. Smoothing it down with her hands, she read something in the lovely fey language.
“This is the diary of one of my ancestors, who was both a mage and a caintir, a forest talker like Cormac. They are very rare and are usually hunted and killed by weaker rulers. Stronger queens have used their abilities wisely.”
“How did you know Cormac was a caintir?” asked Michaela. She’d thought it was a secret he’d only shared with her.
“I knew.” Isindle shrugged. “His closeness with Kiana was suspicious.”
She twisted the book around so Estelle and Michaela could see the image etched onto the page. It looked like a fey but with twelve faces instead of one. “Is that a masquerada?” asked Michaela.
“I believe so. It’s an artist’s rendition of an experience my ancestor had when he was here in your realm. He met a masquerada, the first one he had ever seen. This was many years ago, and judging from what you’ve told me I think it may have been Yangzei.”
“Why?” asked Michaela. “It could be anyone of us.”
“It could be, but you told me Yangzei was known for stealing souls. This story”—and here Isindle tapped the page in front of her—“tells of an evil being with many faces who took part of my ancestor with it.”
Michaela and Estelle exchanged glances. “What else?” asked Michaela.
“Many arcana believe the fey don’t have souls, but this is inaccurate,” said Isindle. “Our souls are in the keeping of our forests. Because of this, my ancestor didn’t realize that Yangzei had stolen part of his until many years later.”
“This is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with Ivy?” Michaela glanced out of the window.
“What is interesting is what my ancestor did next. He returned to your realm and hunted
down Yangzei to take his stolen soul back.”
“Now this is more like it,” approved Estelle. “How did he do it?”
Michaela’s heart was racing. “When Yangzei was here, I used part of Cormac’s energy and weakened Yangzei. It didn’t stop him from taking part of Ivy’s soul, but there is something about the magic.” Michaela realized that she had cut half-moons into her palms from her nails. Finally they were getting closer to something that could help Ivy.
“It’s the relationship to our forest,” said Isindle. “My ancestor had the sense that Yangzei needed to feed itself by stealing souls. This was where it took its power from. This was why it was so powerful.”
Michaela nodded. “Stephan came up with the idea of a horde all stuffed inside Yangzei’s shell.”
“I need to do more research but I think my ancestor was able to use the power of the dolma against Yangzei. I don’t know how but I’m going to find it for you.”
“Thank you.” Even this little bit of information helped to raise Michaela’s spirits. Knowing there could be a solution was much better than hopelessly staring at Ivy’s still face every day.
“There’s one problem with this,” said Isindle. “Cormac is the head of our forest, the same way that my ancestor was head of the forest in his time. If my hunch is correct, we will need Cormac in order to target the spell against Yangzei.”
“Cormac, who is working with our enemy?” asked Michaela.
Isindle looked at her steadily. “Yes.”
Great.
Chapter 42
Michaela touched her pen to the battle plan. “We need reinforcements here.”
Tom and Stephan scowled in unison. “Think again,” Stephan said. “We don’t have the numbers.”
They all stared glumly at the map. Estelle and her mentor had guaranteed the vampires, at least those who Madden hadn’t swayed. Wavena, Estelle’s queen, hadn’t been pleased at the degree to which the Dawning had penetrated her ranks and was involved in a purge even as they prepared for the attack. The weres were allies but limited in where and how they could fight. The mers would help but were most formidable in the water. The other masquerada Hierarchs stood united and ready, having already sent their best troops to serve under Eric.
Eric pounded the table in frustration. “I need to know about the fey,” he said. “They can make or break it.”
“Judging from what Isindle says, the fey can’t be counted on to stay neutral,” said Caro. Like the rest of them, she had dark purple shadows around her eyes. “They gave Cormac as an advisor and she says this guy Rendell is almost as good. He’s the queen’s right-hand man.”
“Then we’re screwed.” Tom said what they were all thinking. “They don’t care about harming the humans, so we’re already working at a disadvantage.”
“We don’t go without a fight,” said Eric grimly. “We have good people. Strong people who are fighting for what’s right.”
Michaela agreed. “The transformed masquerada aren’t very resilient. They’ll be fueled on adrenaline.” Tom had developed what he called a “newbie” trap to get most of them.
“I’ll say it,” said Caro. “What about the Ancient?”
Yangzei was still the greatest unknown. They knew nothing about his motivation, which meant it was almost impossible to plan for what he could do. Ivy’s condition remained unchanged, and Michaela feared doing any harm to the Ancient that could rebound on the girl. That was, if they could hurt him. He might be able to come in and disable every one of their soldiers in the blink of an eye.
“We can’t prepare for him,” said Eric finally. “We’ll have to deal with it when it comes.” When, not if.
The Hierarch stood up, Caro by his side. “There’s no going back,” he warned. “The Dawning will attack, so be ready. It could come any time.”
The meeting broke up and Michaela went to sit on the enclosed porch at the front of the house. Eric’s northern base was an island compound used for training his elite troops, but it was empty apart from his defensive force. He’d ordered the teams out to protect logical landing spots along the eastern seaboard.
Michaela drew a deep breath of the fresh evening air and felt the cool breeze coming off of the lake. She wanted to wander in the forest, but Eric had asked everyone to please not act like fools when they were expecting an attack. Nonetheless, she wasn’t surprised to see a lone woman walking up from the shore. Isindle had told Eric very simply that she needed to be in nature and that was it.
Cormac’s sister was restful to be with and Michaela wasn’t upset when she sat down on the Muskoka chair next to hers. “I tried to reach Cormac,” Isindle said.
Michaela strove to be polite and managed to come up with a noncommittal “Oh?”
The fey shook her head. “I could not. Then an idea came to me.”
“I don’t know why you bother,” said Michaela. “He’s not on our side. He’s trying to destroy everything that we value.”
“If the forest dies, then he dies. If he dies, you die,” said Isindle stubbornly. “He is doing this for us.”
Michaela laughed but it was a bitter sound. “Tell me again how sending an army after me and my friends is helpful. I forgot how that works.”
“Please.” With surprise, Michaela saw Isindle had tears in her eyes. “Please. I must talk to him. I almost did it. I need only a bit of help.”
“No.” The refusal came fast and hard and surprised even Michaela. She stood up, almost shaking in anger. “No. He can rot, for all I care. He has nothing to say that I want to hear.”
Leaving Isindle on the porch, she went back inside and managed to hold the tears until she was alone in her room.
* * * *
They summoned him in the middle of the night.
“Change of plans,” said Frieda. “Tismelda has formally pledged to join us.”
She pointed to the wall where a large map showed the different sides and where their forces were. Cormac stared at it. The Dawning was by far the strongest of the two combatants, and that wasn’t even including what they expected from the Queendom. Part of him had believed that the queen wouldn’t commit troops for this fight, but it was possible that she understood the threat from Yangzei as much as he had. The queen may be greedy, nasty, and vengeful, but she was not stupid.
“I need you to rework our attack plan,” Frieda said. “Incorporate the fey troops.”
“That will take time.”
“You have two hours.”
He took a laptop and moved as far away from Frieda as possible.
When she was absorbed in her maps again, he maneuvered his hands under the table. He had to tell Michaela. Even if it caused his death and Tismelda sent the ihune after him again. He had to reach her, to tell her about the fey.
It was time to touch the dolma again.
He took a deep breath and laid his palm on the wood. At first, nothing changed. A sick shiver ran through him. After all these years of rejecting his ability, could it be possible that it had left him? Withered and died from disuse?
He squeezed his eyes shut and slowly placed his other hand on the wood. A tingle tickled the outermost edge of his consciousness and grew into a whisper, then a call. There it was. He could feel the wood under his hands speaking to him, energizing him even as it told him stories from its existence.
No. He ripped his hands back, almost panting. He couldn’t. Yetting Hill was already at too much risk. He couldn’t make it worse by declaring himself as a caintir. Tismelda would raze his forest before killing him as she did Kiana. Michaela would know to plan for the fey. She was smart.
Madden strolled in and Cormac bent to his revised attack, cursing his weakness.
“I must say, Cormac, you’re being much more accommodating than I had expected,” he said. “It’s almost as if you have something up your sleeve. I hope not. I don’t thi
nk I mentioned it, but I was speaking to Yangzei the other day about what happens to the souls he collects. Like Ivy’s.”
“I assume it’s nothing good.” Cormac refused to give him the pleasure of knowing every word was a sword thrust.
“No, not at all. Yangzei can determine the experience each of those little ghosts has. Ivy can be in agony, or in heaven. It’s up to you.”
Cormac’s jaw hardened. “Me? Sounds like this is a decision Yangzei makes for himself.”
“Not while he wears his pretty little necklace.” Madden smiled and again Cormac thought about how nice it would be to shatter those goddamn fangs onto a piece of granite. “Here’s where it’s up to you, Cormac. You’re going to be with us and you’re going to help us win. If you do a good job, Ivy won’t hurt. If you do a bad job, Yangzei will crush her mind so completely there will be no point in helping her anyway.”
If they hurt Ivy, they would break Michaela’s heart. Cormac didn’t even pause. Stay in character. He rose to his full height and stared back at Madden. “I’m here for my forest and for my exile. Nothing else. You can take your pathetic threats and shove them up your ass.”
Crude, but worth it to see Madden’s face harden.
“Boys.” Frieda stood up. “Enough. Let’s think with our upper heads only. Cormac knows his job.”
“Good.” Madden stood up and pointed to the door. “Then let’s go. The battle awaits.”
Chapter 43
“Move Mai and her team over to the western border.” Michaela studied the satellite images coming in. “Tom.”
“Here.” His voice crackled in her ear.
“I need you to hold there. You’ve got sniper cover to the east.”
“Roger that, base.”
“Stephan, are you connected with the mers?”
“Affirmative. Glad I splurged for the quality wet suit.”
Michaela sat hunched over the table in the war room. Around her buzzed tense conversations but she ignored it all. She pushed away the pile of lists, made in her personal shorthand, then sighed and picked one up.
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