Covert Fae_A Spy Among the Fallen

by C. N. Crawford

  Clever Susie. “I simply don’t have much to do here. The angels—I’m sure they have other important things they need to be doing with their time.” I refilled the glasses again. “Mind you, I have no idea what they do with their time. Do you know, Elan? I was hoping to track them down today, only I’m not supposed to leave this tower.”

  Elan emptied his glass without even waiting for us, then leaned over the edge of the bar, his eyelids drooping slightly. “Not sure what Kratos does during the day. At night, of course, he hunts. Nasty habit,” he muttered before looking shocked and blinking his eyes as if suddenly alert. “Of course, he has many wonderful qualities.”

  “Oh?” I prompted.

  Susie’s glass was now empty. I was pretty sure they were no longer paying attention to what I was drinking. “The dogs,” she said simply.

  “The dogs,” I repeated.

  Elan was reaching for the bottle now, his face beaming. The effects of Eimmal were already getting to him. “Yeah. He is very kind to his dogs. Raises them from a young age. Nurses the sick ones. They’re like his children, really. I remember when Culloch was having a hard time growing. Couldn’t drink milk from his mum. So Kratos soaked cloth in milk and dripped it into the puppy’s mouth until the little thing began to thrive. He did it all himself.”

  I bit my lip. Hard to reconcile this puppy-nurse image with the angel of death who slaughtered humans in the streets.

  “And the trees,” said Susie abruptly.

  What shot was she on now? Eight? Nine?

  “The trees.” I repeated her confusing fragment.

  “Into nature, isn’t he.” Elan’s accent had been changing slightly with every shot, becoming more London, less posh. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one here pretending. “Tends to the gardens outside, the trees in the forest.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “Why?”

  Elan waved a hand. “You know, it’s his whole philosophy.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about. “Right.” I refilled my glass, then the others. “The whole nature thing.”

  Elan pointed at me. “Exactly. See? You know. Rampant human expansion has destroyed the Earth, and he’s helping to restore it to its original thingamajig, tending to plants. You get the idea.”

  “Original natural state,” added Susie, taking pains to enunciate clearly. “The way the angels intended it. Everything in the proper balance.”

  “Right.” I pretended to sip my drink. “He mentioned that.”

  “Hence,” Elan lifted a finger, “gardening. Coppicing. That sort of thing.”

  I casually drummed my fingertips on the counter. “And what do the others do with their free time?”

  Elan leaned on his fist. “Johnny plays pinball and drinks caffeine. And the Dark Lord… I sometimes see him in the yew grove, from my window. He’s hard to see. Shadows seem to follow him.”

  I’d noticed that about him.

  I traced my fingertip over the rim of my glass. “Any idea what he’s doing today?”

  Elan’s forehead crinkled with the effort of thinking about it. “Bit of retribution, I imagine. Only I don’t think he’s left yet. I saw him heading toward the yew grove not that long ago. I hid from him under a pile of leaves.”

  I clutched my glass tighter.

  The yew grove would be my next stop, though I hadn’t found one yet. “Yews! I do love a good yew tree.” That was the truth—fae used yews for making weapons. “Succubi burn the bark as a perfume.” I’m just totally making stuff up here. “Where exactly is the grove?”

  Elan pointed to the wall, his eyelids heavy. “Somewhere out that way.”

  Susie pointed to another wall. “No, that way. By the oaks.”

  Elan glowered. “Whole forest is full of oaks. That’s not a useful description.”

  Maybe I’d gone a bit too far with the whisky.

  Susie met my gaze. “Can you imagine what it would be like to be human, like me?” She clutched her glass tightly, and I saw the same fear in her eyes that I’d seen when Elan had mentioned Adonis.

  I really wanted to get back to the yew grove conversation.

  “Human? Not really.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder. Susie and I were probably about the same age, but she didn’t know that. “I can’t imagine such a short lifespan. It must be… terrifying.”

  She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Bad enough before this lot came. When your bones got old and crushed and full of dirt, then you died and turned into a ghost. Now death is all around us.”

  I swallowed hard. Definitely too much whisky.

  “Something about that sentiment reminds me of Adonis, but I can’t quite—” I began.

  Susie lifted a finger to her lips. “Shhhh… don’t speak of him. He exudes death like a god.” She blinked, then reached for the bottle again. “Death wears a pretty face.”

  Annnnd I was pretty sure I’d gotten all the information I could get out of these two. I slid my glass across the bar, regaining my haughty succubus composure. “Well, it’s been lovely slumming with you two, but I think I’m going to get some fresh air. Kratos has the right idea. A return to nature’s original thingamajig.”

  I pulled my coat tight around me as I walked through the forest. This time, I’d come armed with my Nyxobian blade—and now the blade had been coated with Devil’s Bane. I’d just have to be very careful not to nick myself with it, or it would be exactly like Susie had said—my bones would get crushed and full of dirt and I’d turn into a ghost.

  Before leaving to hunt for the Hunt, I’d swung by the bar one more time to ask about the yews again. There, I’d found Susie and Elan leaning over the counter while Elan forlornly chanted an old fae song. Neither of them had been able to tell me where to find the yews.

  So I was on my own. If I remembered correctly, yews had the charming nickname “trees of the dead,” so I supposed that explained Adonis’s interest. After all, he exuded death like a god. I just hoped he would not be exuding it all over the Tower of London before I got the chance to warn Yasmin.

  I glanced up at the sunlight slanting through the boughs, unnerved by the sentinels swooping overhead, watching me. Yasmin’s plan had been for me to glamour myself as a fox and meet her in a cave, where the sentinels wouldn’t be able to see us. I hoped she had a bit more of a plan than that, because the sentinels were watching everything.

  After two hours of walking through the forest, the shadows grew long, climbing like spindly fingers over the dirt and moss. I tried to ignore the enticing allure of Eimmal that whispered through the boughs.

  Based on my calculations, I didn’t have long until it was time to meet Yasmin, but I’d failed to find Adonis or the yews. It had been several hours now, several hours of wandering through oaks and hazels while my stomach rumbled and briars scratched at my legs. I picked some blackberries as I walked and nibbled on acorns, feeling more connected to the old fae ways than ever.

  As my mouth filled with the taste of berry juice, it occurred to me that berries shouldn’t be growing in January. But maybe it was like Yasmin had said—the Old Gods would provide, if we just paid attention.

  I grabbed another handful of berries from a low blackberry bush. As I shoved them into my mouth, a flutter of movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. When I looked up into the branches, I caught sight of a magpie, its wings shimmering an iridescent blue. My pulse began to race. Before she died, my mother had told Hazel and me stories about magpies while we lay curled around her in bed. According to her, they were messengers of sorts, creatures who would bring news.

  One for sorrow

  Two for joy

  Three for a girl

  Four for a boy

  Five for young

  Six for old

  Seven for a secret never to be told

  Humans thought a single magpie was bad luck. That was only because it meant that a fae might be nearby, ready to strike them down with an arrow or seduce them away from their lives.

  I’d ne
ver paid much attention to signs before, and once I hadn’t believed in the old fae ways. Then again, I’d never before seen blackberries growing in January.

  My footsteps crunched over the deadfall as I quickened my pace, trying to keep up with the magpie. I glanced at the sky, and as soon as it was clear of sentinels, I launched into a full-blown, fae-style sprint, feeling the forest wind whip over my skin.

  I skidded to a halt when a shimmer of silver caught my eye.

  As I caught my breath, I looked up into the boughs, where a silver branch of an ancient, gnarled rowan tree gleamed in the honeyed sunlight. I’d never seen a rowan tree anywhere near this large—and I’d definitely never seen one with a silver branch.

  If anything was a sign from the gods, this was.

  Surrounding the single rowan tree was a grove of knotted and twisted yews. At their bases grew Devil’s Bane.

  Had I found the yew grove that Adonis visited?

  Something cold and ancient snaked over my skin, and goosebumps rose on my neck, my arms. Shadows claimed the air around me, darkening the sun.

  From one of the yews, a flock of ravens burst into the air.

  And then, from behind me, a deep voice. “Are you looking for something, Ruby?”

  I whirled to find Adonis standing behind me, cloaked in shadows. He smiled slowly. “Is it just me, or do you run awfully fast for a succubus?”

  Chapter 26

  At his words, cold fear slid through my bones.

  From the dark tendrils of magic that snaked and curled around him, his pale eyes pierced the shadows, rooting me in place.

  Don’t let him rattle you, Ruby.

  I crossed my arms. “Do I run fast for a succubus? I don’t know many, considering men like you killed them all.”

  Amusement glinted in his eyes. “Men like me? There are no men like me. I’m a god on Earth.”

  Despite my fear, I rolled my eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Have you seen anything that suggests otherwise?”

  I examined my nails, hoping to convey boredom, even if my heart was slamming against my ribs like a war hammer. Could he hear it?

  “Whether or not you’re a god,” I continued, “I am talking about men like you. You’re all the same, aren’t you? You see something you love, and you want to destroy the very thing that draws you in.”

  I leaned down, gingerly plucking a violet corncockle from the undergrowth, careful not to mix it up with the Devil’s Bane. I crushed it in my fist until purple juice ran between my fingers. “You see a virginal woman, and you want to defile her. You see a beautiful woman, and you want to cover her up. You see a powerful woman, and you want to take her down a notch. So yes—I mean ‘men like you.’ I’ve lived for thousands of years, and you’re all the same.”

  He cocked his head, the rest of his body so preternaturally still it raised my hackles. Given the shadows whirling in his eyes, I had the sense that I’d struck a nerve again.

  “I’ve lived for thousands of years,” he said in a low voice. “And I know when a warrior holds back in a fight. I know better than anyone what it means to restrain your power, to clamp down on your most primal instincts. I know that when the demons attacked, you weren’t fighting at your full capacity. You’ve wanted to appear weak to us, when you are not.”

  He didn’t ask why. He just let the accusation hang in the air.

  My mind whirled as I tried to plan my next course of action. I wanted to interrogate Adonis about what his plans were, if he’d been to the Tower already, if there was anything I could do to stop it.

  Instead, I let out a long sigh. “Well, I wanted to see what you pretty little angels could do, if you could actually fight with all those feathers weighing you down.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “And?”

  I shrugged. “And I was impressed.”

  He straightened. “Of course you were. I’ve been slaughtering for eons.”

  I adopted a breezy tone, while inside, my blood raced through my veins. “Is that what you were doing today, also? Slaughtering? I heard a rumor that you spent time in the bar. Or was that Johnny? I get all of you confused.”

  I knew very well he hadn’t been in the bar today.

  “Maybe I was killing today. Maybe I was resting. What difference does it make to you?”

  My heart clenched. “It’s just that I heard you were getting revenge on the humans, and I thought it sounded delicious.”

  The oaky breeze toyed with my hair, blowing it in front of my face. Adonis took another step closer, brushing the strand out of my eyes. “If only I couldn’t hear your frantic heartbeat, I might believe that you’re truly as calm as you pretend.”

  His words curled around my ribs like smoke. This close, his powerful beauty hit me like a fist. With Eimmal looming, I couldn’t be near him without wanting to touch him.

  Talk about clamping down on your most primal instincts.

  Adonis’s gaze flicked to the yew grove. “I’ll leave you now to—whatever you were doing here.”

  I swallowed hard. “Just out for a walk.” I’d lost the conviction in my voice.

  As he turned and slipped into the darkening forest, shadows whirling around him, I simply stared after him.

  My footsteps crackled over the leaves and twigs. So Adonis was on to me, my cover had been somewhat blown, and yet I had no idea what he planned to do about it.

  And what exactly was his interest in the yew grove—the one that happened to have a silver branch, a gift from the Old Gods?

  I quickened my pace through the woods, desperately hoping I hadn’t been too late to save those in the Tower.

  The sunlight slanted through the branches, flecking the ground with gold. I kept my eye on the trees’ long shadows, which told me how to stay headed north, and how much more time I had. As I walked swiftly, I mentally ran through Yasmin’s instructions to me.

  Hellebore and cockle weeds by the mulberry grove.

  While the shadows grew longer around me, I spotted them.

  No wonder Yasmin had recruited me. Not only was glamour important, but only a fae would know what the hell all these plants were.

  I glanced up at the sky through the trees, catching sight of a sentinel flying overhead, eyes on me. The chilly wind whispered over my skin, and I waited for the creature to pass.

  When the skies above me were clear of all movement, I summoned a powerful glamour. Magic rushed and buzzed over my skin as I cloaked myself in the form of a fox.

  I wasn’t a shifter. When glamoured, I still moved like myself, still had the same speed, same gait, same body. But to anyone who happened to observe me, I’d look like a little red fox. A glamour was like an illusory bubble around me.

  Unlike my succubus guise—a subtle shift—this extreme glamour took effort. Already, my muscles burned. On top of the physical strain, remembering how to keep up the appearance of a four-legged creature was taking up most of my mental energy.

  Still, I kept walking, moving northward through the forest until, at last, I reached a dark cave, carved into a rocky surface. Pine trees flanked the cave’s mouth, just as Yasmin had said. I ran inside, and under the cover of the cave, I dropped the exhausting fox glamour.

  As I did, the sound of a striking match echoed off the cave walls, and a burst of flame illuminated Yasmin’s handsome features. She’d dressed in simple black clothing, a bow and arrow slung over her back.

  I loosed a sigh of relief. “You’re alive.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Humans and demons attacked the castle last night. The angels are blaming a nefarious organization known as the Order. They’re sending Adonis to kill you all. I’m surprised he hasn’t done it already. Apparently, he has the power to break through your wards.”

  Her face paled in the warm candlelight. “When is he coming?”

  “I don’t know. I just saw Adonis in the woods, and I couldn’t get him to tell me anything. Also, I’m pretty sure he and Johnny are on to me.
”

  She was already pushing to move past me. “I need to get back.”

  “Hang on. You just got here. I have questions.”

  “I don’t have time for questions. I need to warn the others. And while I’m doing that, I need you to distract Adonis. Keep him here. Do whatever it takes, do you understand me?”

  I clamped my hands on my hips. “Adonis is on to me. Everything I do, every time I see him, he tells me that he thinks I’m hiding something and that I’m not who I say I am. Everyone here is terrified of him, and I don’t even want to know what these angels will do to me if they learn I’m spying for you.”

  She clenched her jaw. “Do whatever it takes. You need to find Adonis now.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me about the planned attack?”

  “We had a servant uprising planned half a year ago, but we lost contact with that cell two months ago, and we haven’t been able to find them through scrying. I thought they were all dead. I had no idea they were still planning to attack.”

  “So you failed to tell me about all your agents dying in the castle. And by the way—why did it take you so long to get here?”

  Her eyes flashed. “I had things I needed to take care of. No one else is willing to make this journey anymore, and I can’t just run out of the Tower on short notice.”

  I stared at her, my irritation rising. I was risking my ass to help her, and she was only feeding me crumbs of information.

  Still, I realized why she was so desperate to get home—the little girl I’d met when I’d stayed in the Tower. “You want to get back to your daughter, don’t you?”

  Her expression softened. “She’s only three. Every night before she goes to sleep, she asks me if I’ll protect her. I tell her I will. What else can I say? I don’t know if I can, but I will do everything in my power to try. We both watched her father die, torn to pieces by dragons in front of us, and I couldn’t do a single thing about it.” She wrung her hands together. “She was having an asthma attack this morning. I couldn’t get out of there until her lungs sounded clearer. No one else can look after her like I can.”