Cedar gestured and the tree’s roots parted, letting us through into a narrow tunnel. We fell several feet down a slope into a small cave. Tree roots covered the walls and floor, and there was a constant hum of magic in the air. The tree itself pulsed with magic, like a beating heart.
“This is under the palace?” I croaked. Damn the Sidhe. The vow must have let go, because I could speak again.
He nodded. “We need to run before security locks this place down.”
“Shit.” I scrambled after him. “I hope they catch Aspen and turn him into a deer. He copied your glamour. He must have seen us before we got into the palace.”
“I was afraid something like that would happen,” he said. “Aspen’s magic gives him a free pass to the Summer Court.”
“Bloody typical,” I growled. “You know, if I wasn’t stuck like this, Aspen would be dead.”
Cedar shook his head. “They’d have caught you. I’ve seen Winter fey-kind who look identical to Summer ones get caught trespassing by someone who picked up on their weak magic. The very air we breathe can detect any hint of the Unseelie.”
“I got this close to cutting his throat.” I measured the distance between my fingers. “I should have guessed she’d use him. He’s nobility and he has two talismans. He could rule over Summer and she’d have Winter.”
“She’s still using him,” Cedar said. “She doesn’t want a puppet in control, she wants to rule in person. He’s there while it’s convenient, that’s all.”
We stopped, reaching a wall of tree roots. Cedar cursed quietly. “The way out is sealed. I’ll have to give it a nudge.”
“What?” I whispered. “They’ll know we’re in here.”
Green light lit up his palm. The roots began to twitch. I could almost see him coaxing the plant to move out of the way, reassuring it that we weren’t here to cause harm. As the roots opened, a slope leading aboveground beckoned. Underneath more roots, we emerged into the forest. But the sunlight had fled, and darkness filled the gaps, swarming with sharp-toothed creatures. Every wild fae around had apparently decided to come to get a closer look at the party. Cedar’s magic brushed against me, and I turned to see he’d disappeared.
Cedar’s hand rested on my back. “I’m glamoured. So are you.”
“Guess the spell will wear off soon.”
My legs moved more easily with every step, and magic tingled up and down my arms. If Aspen had hypnotised just one person in Court, he’d be able to get in again. It’d taken more than a day for the effect of his pan pipes to wear off, and that was with me knowing he’d put a spell on me. What if he’d hit someone before he’d found me? I’d been locked into his vow, but I should have done more to stop him from coming back.
“Cedar,” I whispered, when we’d reached a deserted path where we were unlikely to be overheard. “Did you get it?”
“I did. Your hypnosis drew the guard right to me.”
I exhaled in relief. “Thank the Sidhe. I thought Aspen and his vow wrecked everything.”
Cedar’s hand squeezed mine in the dark. “Don’t worry.”
I didn’t answer. It was too easy to let my guard down around him. Too easy to forget it was someone from his very family who’d wormed his way through my defences and humiliated me. His magic buzzed against mine, and I hit my head on a lower branch.
“Crap. The spell wore off.”
“I’d have thought you’d be glad not to have to spend forever as a hobgoblin.”
“Very funny. What did you plan to do with it? What if she comes looking?”
Silence followed. My heart sank. We might have stolen their security talisman, but it’d be for nothing if she figured out we had it. Yet if we hadn’t taken it, Aspen would have.
“We’ll hide it,” said Cedar. “They know there was an intruder. With luck, they’ll think it was her.”
“Doubt we’ll get that lucky. If Aspen hypnotised the others—I can’t detect whenever he’s done it. Anyone there might have been under his influence. He probably knows the Court as well as you do.”
“Yes, Lady Hornbeam frequently chose him to accompany her into the Court,” Cedar said quietly. “However, the Summer Court… its armies aren’t what they used to be. Certainly not as disciplined as the Hornbeams’ army in the borderlands, anyway.”
“They have an army, right?” I asked.
“Several,” said Cedar. “But… Raine, there’s a reason nobody’s seen the Erlking in years. He’s been ill for decades—dying, even. It’s why he never leaves his home. Some know… some in Winter, even. It’s not a well-kept secret. But if Aspen gets into the Court, he’ll leave the way right open for a coup.”
My mouth fell open. “He’s sick? The Erlking?”
“Yes,” Cedar said. “I don’t know who the heir is, but they’re more vulnerable than most people know. We temporarily stole her means of accessing the Court itself, but if Aspen hides amongst the royals long enough—if he knows half the methods of spying that I do—he’ll find a way in.”
“I think you’re giving him too much credit, and yourself too little,” I said. “You’re the master thief. He’s probably never stolen anything in his life, because it was handed to him. The Sidhe are experts at seeing through deception. He dropped my vow in a second when I drew attention onto him.”
“I hope you’re right,” he murmured.
Silence followed our path, far quieter than before. A voice in my ear whispered that it didn’t matter to me if Summer fell. But it did. If she took one Court, the other would either follow or declare war. And all the consequences would reach both the mortal realm and the borderlands. Besides, too many people I cared about belonged to this world. Even my father.
I’d seen no signs of him amongst the other half-bloods. Part of me was relieved I hadn’t, but it was a reminder that he hadn’t even tried to find me. He’d come into Faerie for one reason: for her. Not me. I knew it was down to her magic, that it wasn’t his fault, but the wounds inflicted by people you cared about the most took the longest to heal. I should know.
As we reached the path leading to Winter territory and the borderlands, a horrible scream came from the woods. I tensed but didn’t stop. Creepy noises in the forest were par for the cause—but the awful ragged cry that followed made the hairs rise on the back of my neck.
Cedar cursed in the faerie tongue. “Someone used evil magic here,” he said softly.
Ahead, a commotion brewed. Wild fae ran in all directions, some collapsing with horrible injuries, and my eyes watered as the smell of burning drifted on the breeze.
Burning… from Winter territory.
Chapter 11
I kept walking. Blood darkened the snow and more bodies lay around us. Goblins, and a troll lying sprawled over the path. Brutal blackened marks like burns covered its skin. It was one of the territory’s security trolls I’d run into before. I readied myself to attack, but there was no target. Fire on Winter territory was pretty much unheard of.
“Cedar, if you walk any further, you’re trespassing.” Not to mention he carried one of Summer’s security talismans.
“That’s not my biggest concern.” Cedar pointed to a tree, which was burnt to a crisp, its once snow-clad branches brittle and sooty. “Summer magic did this.”
My heart lurched. “Oh, shit.”
I ran past burnt debris, skidding to a halt in the mud. A nearby house blazed with bright flames, which had melted the supposedly eternal snow into a river tinged pink with blood. Two bodies were impaled on the fence posts. Their wide-open eyes shone bright blue.
Winter nobles.
I looked at Cedar in disbelief. “How? Aspen can’t have come here.”
“She must have sent someone else.” Cedar drew his weapon. The area surrounding the house was eerily silent. The occupants would be dead, permanently so. Normal fire had no effect against Winter magic. The attacker had used magical fire, powerful enough to bring down a house sustained with magic itself. I’d never heard of such a
thing.
Wait. “What other Summer talismans did she take?”
“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Nothing else could have broken the defences on a place like this.”
“She didn’t send someone. She came in person.”
And we’d taken her bait and let her get away with it. She’d purposefully engineered two attacks at once.
Cedar strode around the front of the manor, the air shimmering as he disappeared under a fresh glamour. It wouldn’t fool Sidhe, but the only two I’d spotted near the house were dead.
I skirted the river of blood and followed Cedar through the gates. The windows had been blown out, and the house gutted, everything inside reduced to cinders. Magic lay thick and heavy over the place. Dead magic. The person whose magic had held the house upright must have died, but the attacker had burned through the remains anyway.
After scanning for the glint of a talisman, I backed out of the gates, and nearly tripped over the body of a giant wolf lying in a bloody heap covered in more awful wounds.
“Whatever talisman did this, it was brutal,” said Cedar quietly. “They burned through the foundations of the magic keeping this house alive.”
“That’s what I thought.” I swallowed hard. “I can’t see any weapons. Can you?”
“No. The only magic here is dying.”
A groan came from close by. “Stay where you are,” whispered a voice.
I whirled around. Lord Lyle lay in the bushes. He’d turned from wolf to human again—and was still alive, despite the wounds lacerating his chest.
“Shit,” I whispered. “Can—is there anywhere we can take you to help?”
“Help?” He coughed. “You’re not here to finish me off?”
“No, we’re not with—whoever attacked you. Please tell me you saw them.”
“The messengers sent out a distress signal,” coughed Lord Lyle. “I picked up on it. When I came here the house was dead. The aftermath hit me before I could run.”
“But what did it?” I whispered. “Faerie magic can’t burn anyone. Why did someone attack this place? To steal something, right? Did she steal back her talisman?”
“You shouldn’t know these things, half-blood.” Blood bubbled up from his throat, darkening the corners of his mouth. He choked, his body shuddering, and green light shone over him.
“Cedar. What are you doing?”
He muttered under his breath in the faerie tongue and the light grew brighter. Lord Lyle’s wounds began to disappear. The damaged skin healed, and he gasped and shuddered.
I gaped at Cedar. “He’s from your enemy Court!” I didn’t care if he heard. He’d already seen us together, and I didn’t have the energy left to care. Not after what my mother had done.
“I don’t have a Court,” Cedar said. “And he’s a viable source of information.”
Lord Lyle’s eyes opened, focusing on me… and Cedar.
“You.” He stood, easily, despite the bright red blood soaking his clothes. I’d never seen a Sidhe look anything other than immaculate. “What did you do?”
“I healed you.” Cedar stepped towards him. “As I saved your life, you owe me.”
“That only applies to Sidhe.” Lord Lyle’s mouth twisted.
“I am one. And so is she. We’re the stand-in heads of our respective families, and that means we’re equal to Sidhe as far as the requirement for owing a favour is concerned. As I saved your life, you will grant me one favour of my choosing. The favour I ask is this: you’re to take Raine under your protection against anyone who threatens us—including the Seelie Court.”
What? Of all the favours to ask for—was stopping me from being arrested higher in priority to Cedar than finding Lady Whitefall or even Aspen?
Lord Lyle’s face reddened. “You—you have the audacity to ask me to set myself against the Seelie Court and the will of my own Queen?”
“Does your Queen support Raine’s arrest or exile?” Cedar enquired.
“It’s not her concern. Summer is in charge of enacting whatever punishment they see fit. I’m not permitted to go onto their territory, so if you decide to go anywhere near the Seelie Court, no favour will prevent them from slaughtering you.”
“Well, then.” Cedar looked him in the eyes. “It is done. According to the rule, you will aid us if we’re attacked again at any point here on Unseelie territory, including the borderlands.”
“It is done,” said Lord Lyle stiffly. “You half-bloods will meet a brutal end someday.”
“Was that a threat?” I asked. “Because let me tell you, we’re doing our best to stop Lady Whitefall from attacking the Courts, and it’d be a hell of a lot easier if you cooperated with us. What exactly caused the explosion?”
Lord Lyle’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know. I didn’t see the attacker.”
“Was it a talisman?” I threw caution to the winds. “She—that’s why she came here, right? Did she take back the confiscated talisman you took from her?” I had to know the truth.
“She did,” said Lord Lyle. “I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of the consequences of repeating that information outside of this territory. I found it missing shortly before the distress signal went out. Before I caught up with the thief, the house caught fire. At a guess, the magic she used exploded when it came into contact with something inside the house.”
“Can it happen? Magic can overload, like… I don’t know. A car engine exploding?” That didn’t sound right. “An electrical device? I don’t know what you have here that’s equivalent.”
“I think you’re right,” Cedar said. “But it’d take something incredibly volatile, and we should have felt the impact over in… on our own territory.”
I’d guessed he was about to say in Summer. Lord Lyle didn’t need to know about our excursion, even if he was supposed to protect us now.
“I must report to my Queen,” said Lord Lyle. “It’s entirely possible she will order me not to help you, in which case, the favour is null and void.”
“So you aren’t going to tell on us?” I called after him as he turned his back and began to walk away. He didn’t answer, quickening his pace, treading blood into the melted snow.
“No,” said Cedar quietly. “I doubt he’d survive the humiliation of admitting he was saved by a Summer half-blood.”
“I didn’t know you could snatch a favour from a pure Sidhe so easily.”
“It’s not commonly used,” he admitted. “Mostly because the Sidhe rarely end up in near-death conditions. I wasn’t sure it’d work, but I needed to force his hand.”
“Isn’t saving his life a good thing?”
“Not here,” said Cedar. “He nearly died, which isn’t an experience most Sidhe have had, much less owing a debt to a member of the enemy Court. It’s lucky I have no intention of leveraging our bond for all it’s worth. I’ve had enough of vows for a lifetime.”
“Same here. I didn’t know…” I stopped. Talking about my own issues with Aspen’s vow seemed selfish compared to the hell Cedar had experienced from his own family.
“Didn’t know what?”
“Aspen. He didn’t use the vow when I was hypnotised. I guess he didn’t need to, but I forgot it was active until tonight.”
Specifically, I’d been shocked at the physical pain it’d caused me before he spoke a word. Was it that way for Cedar all the time? No wonder he’d taken issue with all my attempts to act against the Hornbeams. They’d been reminding him they could take his life with every heartbeat.
“It didn’t look as though he planned for us to be there,” said Cedar. “He knew, but he didn’t anticipate our actions.”
“But he and Lady Whitefall have this new weapon, whatever it is.”
The trees rustled and snow fell as a cloud of birds took flight nearby. With one last look at the wrecked house, I turned away. I doubted the Unseelie Queen would show up in person, but appearing at a murder scene wouldn’t help my case. At least Lord Lyle would hopefully stand beside
us against Lady Whitefall if it came to it… assuming she hadn’t attacked the Unseelie Court, too.
“She’s too much,” I muttered, as we walked. “Robin’s either a liar or he didn’t know she had two plans on the go at once. Now she has at least one talisman from Winter, maybe more. And whatever she stole from Summer. And she’ll know we have the security one.”
“I’ll hide it,” Cedar said.
“Good. That makes two renegade talismans in our hands now,” I said. “At this rate, people will think we’re hoarding them.”
I’d attempted to lighten the tone, but Cedar shook his head. “If I tried to take a talisman, it’d destroy the trust I’ve built with the other soldiers. They’re only loyal to me as long as I don’t treat them like their last two leaders.”
I looked at him curiously. Not for the first time, I wondered why it hadn’t immediately occurred to me that Cedar might choose to step in as leader. He had powerful magic—more powerful than he let on, and he was Lady Hornbeam’s son.
“They respect you,” I said. “I think you should take the position.”
“I virtually exiled myself by siding with you,” Cedar said. “That alone means I don’t qualify as leader. The only reason I got away with telling Lord Lyle I did was because the Summer Court hasn’t released an official statement banning me from the Court. I’m banned by default, but not in so many words.”
“More word games.” I sighed. “All right. So Lord Lyle has us under his protection. That’s sort of like a vow, right?”
“In theory,” said Cedar. “But if the Unseelie Court orders him to oppose us, he will.”
“But she doesn’t know,” I said. “Look what happened last time she thought she’d bound people to her, but they were actually loyal to me. We can use that against her.”
Exiled Queen (The Thief's Talisman Book 3) Page 9