She gave me an appraising look. “Your mother works for the Court as a whole. All of us have the authority to ask her to help.”
Not all of you. Most of them wouldn’t entrust a human with any task at all, which gave me no clues whatsoever. But what might they need doing that they couldn’t do themselves? That’s the part that confused me. The Sidhe had it all, and what they didn’t have, they could get, with magic. All the Gatekeeper did was keep the peace. So either her mission involved something that would further that goal, or something the Sidhe didn’t already have.
Lady Aiten gave me a last cold look and walked away.
I sighed, turning to River. “Great. Another Sidhe off the list. Where’s our esteemed host?” I looked around and spotted Morgan staggering towards us.
“Do not,” he said. “Do not go behind the curtain over that way unless you want to see what trolls look like naked.”
“Oh god, you’re wasted.”
“I am not.” He fell sideways into the table. “I’ve seen things I cannot unsee.”
Hazel strode up, thankfully looking sober. “Lord Raivan needs to take a swift dive into the fountain. So much for the Sidhe’s exquisite manners.”
“No luck?” I asked.
“We couldn’t find anyone to speak to, so I figured he might give us some direction. He told me to get lost. He’s the wrong person to put in charge of human affairs.”
“Is that his job?” I asked.
“I know why they sent him to meet us,” she said. “It sounds like Lord Raivan was the person who told the Summer Court to vote on whether to let half-bloods enter the territory in order to claim their parentage. They voted to let the half-faeries in, but so many people kicked up a fuss that he ended up being put in charge of dealing with humans for the foreseeable future. He used to be a high-ranking ambassador. Poor thing.”
“But did you learn anything?”
“About Mum? Nope. You?”
“No, but I guessed something,” I said. “The Sidhe… look at them. They have everything they could ever want. So what she’s doing must involve either getting something they don’t have, or something to do with peacekeeping.”
“From what Mum said, not many people even know who we are,” she said. “Except maybe Lord Niall…” She trailed off as the curtain of ivy parted, and a male Sidhe walked past, stark naked.
“Fucking hell,” said Morgan.
“That was Lord Niall,” said Hazel. A thoughtful expression crossed her face.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I said.
Hazel laughed. “The moron actually left his talisman behind.”
“Please don’t,” I said. “Seriously…”
“Well, why not enjoy the party,” said Hazel.
“Because the guests can transform into murderous psychopaths in the blink of an eye?”
I turned to Morgan, only to see him disappearing behind the curtain of ivy.
“Oh, for god’s sake,” I said. “Can one of you conjure up some common sense?”
“I’m going after him. Wait here.” Hazel walked through the ivy curtain. A wave of magic followed in her wake, showing images of Sidhe naked and draped over one another amongst the trees.
“Damn, that’s strong.” I took a step backwards into River, who steadied me. His own eyes were hazy with magic, and pulling away from him felt like yanking the gates of Death closed. “We should probably walk away before we end up naked in the woods. No way will Lord Niall talk to her now.”
“Actually, he seems somewhat distracted.” He stood close to me. Too close. I smoothly stepped back, despite the pull of magic urging me to make terrible decisions. River had deceived me. Even if he was probably the least deceptive person within sight, I couldn’t afford to forget it. “Your sister’s glamour is wearing off. You’re turning human.”
“Shit,” I said, ducking my head, relieved my hair was long and thick enough to hide my non-pointed ears.
“I highly doubt any of the Sidhe in the grove will notice,” he murmured. “But if we stand here any longer, someone might spot you.”
I moved behind him. “There. Nobody can see me.”
“Except me.” And now he was too close again. Where did all the air go?
“You don’t sound like you mind that I look human.”
“I prefer you like this.” His lips were too close to my ear. “You have no idea how much.”
Stop seducing me. I’m angry with you. Was angry. Whichever. Never mind that he’d been driving me insane through sexual frustration for weeks, which didn’t go away after unwelcome revelations.
“I prefer not being lied to,” I said, the words sounding like they came from the human beneath the faerie disguise.
His hand dropped. “I’ve told you the full story. There are no more secrets between us. It’s up to you to decide whether to forgive me or not. The wording of the vow was such that I couldn’t get around it.”
“I know,” I said, my eyes on my feet. “It’s—I want to be angrier with you than I am, because it’d be more productive than being raging mad at the people responsible for this.” I gestured at the room in general. “But that’s why I can’t be angry with you.” It’d help if the faerie magic made it easier to articulate my feelings, rather than intensifying them.
I raised my head to look at his expression. His faerie-bright eyes were a combination of surprise and something else I couldn’t place. “I deceived you. That’s a fairly essential part of being Sidhe.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “So is not having any sense of ethics. I’d rather save all my grudges for the dicks who messed with my family.”
“Speaking of… maybe we should check on Hazel or Morgan.”
“I was trying not to think about whether either of my siblings is screwing the guy we’re meant to be interrogating. But you’re right.” What if Hazel had pushed too far and pissed off the host, or Morgan’s disguise had worn off like mine had and he’d been caught by the Sidhe? “Ready to hold your breath?”
I pushed through the ivy, and magic hit me like a hammer to the skull. Hazy greenness filtered across my vision, stirring my senses, caressing my skin like a soft breeze. Right away, I spotted Morgan lip-locked with a silver-haired male who was either half-blood or Sidhe. “Wow. That magic is strong. Morgan doesn’t even like faeries.”
I more or less swayed onto the nearest path, River close behind me.
“Hazel?” I called. More trees passed by. More Sidhe in various stages of undress. Heat pulsed in the air and my glamoured clothes felt uncomfortably warm.
“There she is.” River pointed. Hazel had her arms entwined around another Sidhe. I couldn’t tell whether or not it was Lord Niall.
“Great.” I looked away. “Which way is back?” The forest all looked the same. Left… we’d come from the right hand side. I walked that way, swaying, and River caught my hand.
I didn’t know when I stopped walking and started kissing him, only that I couldn’t stop. His hands were all over me, touching every inch of skin they could get at, and I wished I’d gone for a more revealing outfit after all. I gasped as his thumbs stroked my hips through layers of cloth, strong hands pulling me tight against him. A jolt of sheer wanting went straight to my core, and I shivered with pleasure as he nipped at the skin of my neck, then my ear. Every inch of my skin flushed from his touch as I drew his mouth to mine. I wound a hand into the curls of his hair, and the smell of his earthy magic made my nerves ignite.
“You’re exquisite,” he whispered, running his hands over my breasts underneath the thin fabric of my shirt.
My nipples tightened under his touch. “I want you.”
His breath hitched as my hand brushed against his erection. “Not here.”
“I don’t see why not.” This type of magic only amplified the feelings already there, and every inch of me wanted him.
I sucked in another breath, and choked on the sudden smell of decay. Beneath the magic, something rotted, and a chill breeze br
oke through the intoxicating warmth.
It smelled of the dead.
River drew back, panting. Something was… off. Wait, the music. It’d stopped. And that smell…
Greyness swept across my vision. I saw two glowing lights. River’s spirit, pulsing strongly, and mine, too.
Spirits weren’t supposed to appear in Faerie.
River leapt back from me with an exclamation of alarm. All the colour had drained from his face. “Did you feel that? Either someone opened a way to earth, or someone used necromancy here.”
Shock jolted me back to my senses. “How?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It’s not possible—it shouldn’t be possible.” He grabbed his blade, which had disappeared in a glamoured haze while we’d been kissing.
Wishing I had a proper weapon, I put my hand in my pocket and touched the book. Its power crept up my arm, invigorating, wrong. The magic had remained dormant since we’d come here. It shouldn’t exist. Despite myself, I pulled out the book. The symbol on the cover gleamed white, and so did my hands. A whisper across my spirit sight made me jump backwards.
“There’s a spirit here.” I put the book in my pocket, turning to look for the way back.
Then the first wraith appeared, its shadowy form sweeping over the clearing.
Screams rang out as a chill breeze followed in the wraith’s wake. Everyone here could see it. Hell—it’d probably been a Sidhe while it’d been alive. I didn’t have necromantic candles with me, which left me with one means of banishing it. I held up my hands, glowing white.
“Get over here, you bastard,” I shouted.
The wraith turned on me. Its shadowy form descended, and bright green magic exploded into life. Thorns rose into the air, grabbing at every Sidhe they could reach. Whoa. No Sidhe had cast the spell. The wraith still had its magic, and now it was attacking its kin. Magic streamed from my hands, but much less bright than it was in the mortal realm. The wraith shook off my attack. Summer energy blasted into the wraith, thrown from a couple of Sidhe, but did no damage.
“Keep hitting it!” River shouted at them. “It’s vulnerable to magic. Get it onto the ground!”
Necromantic energy blasted from his own hands, mingling with mine, but was it possible to banish a wraith from a realm which had no veil? The wraith fell back under the assault as several other Sidhe joined in the attack, but the thorns continued to rise, striking any Sidhe who came near. Bright faerie blood stained the pristine forest floor, and the curtain of ivy had been ripped away, exposing the panicked Sidhe running around the main room—and two more wraiths, hovering above the crowd. Piskies flew around, panicking, while the band fled the stage.
“Get out!” roared a voice. “Get out of my house.” Lord Niall stormed through the room, pure anger twisting his face. He slammed his staff into the floor, and the whole house trembled.
They were going to utterly destroy this place if someone didn’t banish those wraiths.
With a glance at River, I switched on my spirit sight. If the gate could be accessed here, I needed to get them out. I willed the book’s magic to fill my veins with cold power, searching for the familiar spiked gate, but saw nothing but greyness and the burning shapes of the wraiths. Dark spirits, clawed and hideous, reduced to something less than Sidhe or human.
The Vale. They came from the Vale.
But—that’s where Mum was.
River’s attack smashed into the nearest wraith, sending it flying backwards. The other two flew over the crowd, as though revelling in the chaos they’d created. Sidhe fired arrows at them, which simply sailed right through their enemies.
“Magic is the only weapon that works,” River called to them. Everyone seemed to be in too much shock to care about a half-blood giving them orders. “Watch it—they can use Sidhe magic against you.”
Thorns burst from the ground, and green light exploded overhead as the Sidhe’s magic collided with the wraiths’.
Hazel ran up to us, magic flowing from her own hands. Morgan stood alone, shouting the banishing words at full volume. His disguise had gone, like mine. I marched past the panicking Sidhe to Morgan’s side and joined him in shouting the words of banishment. Necromantic power continued to flow from the book to my hands, combining with Morgan’s own attack. River joined us, but even the collective power of all three of us wasn’t enough to send the wraiths into the afterlife.
Bleeding Sidhe lay around us. Some of them might die—for real. Imagining how the Sidhe would react to that strengthened my resolve. The book’s power pulsed through my veins. It’s not tied to one realm. It’s tied to me, and it’s mine.
I drifted out of my body, still holding the book. White light shone from my hands, colliding with the nearest wraith. Where the hell is that gate?
“Get back into the hell you came from,” I snarled, imagining the gates appearing, sucking the wraiths into the void. Come on…
A wrenching sensation tugged through my whole body, and darkness appeared beyond the wraiths. Not the gates, but something else. Death? Maybe. I shouted the banishing words, over and over, magic pouring from my hands like a faucet.
The darkness closed in, and the wraiths disappeared, leaving grey fog, and gleaming lights within.
Two things were apparent. The Sidhe did have souls… or spirits, at least… and every one of them had seen what I’d done.
I fell back into my body, staggering against River. Exhaustion blurred my vision, masking the Sidhe and dulling their voices to a continuous hum.
Lord Niall’s voice broke through the haze. “There will be no further revels without extensive guards!” he shouted. “No humans will be welcome.”
“You’re welcome,” said Morgan, but his voice was lost amongst the crowd. This time neither Hazel nor I stepped in to warn him. Because if I wasn’t half-dead, I’d say the same.
“We have to go,” I mumbled. “Guys… get over here.”
Something was wrong, like I’d given more than the book’s power when I’d used its magic. Almost as though it’d drained some of my life force away, too.
“Way to go,” Hazel said to me. “That was—wow.”
“They think you’re the angel of death.” Morgan snorted. “Hey—Ilsa. Crap. Are you okay?”
I tried to say I think I’m dying, but it came out as a croak. My legs gave out as the last of the book’s power fled, and blackness rushed in.
7
I woke up on a soft bed, surrounded by the pleasant smells of flowers and muted Summer magic. And a familiar earthy scent. River sat in a chair beside the bed, his eyes closed. I tried to sit up. My body and head didn’t like that. Dizziness swept through me, and I flopped back onto the pillows.
River stirred. “Ilsa? Are you okay?”
I groaned. “Try hungover with a side of migraine and a terrible case of ‘got run over by a faerie horse’.”
He pushed his hair back with one hand. “Then it’s probably a good thing that you didn’t wake up when we rode back.”
“Please tell me I didn’t throw up on you.”
“No. You were completely unconscious. You worried me.” He walked to me in his swift faerie manner and brushed a strand of hair from my forehead. My face heated at the memory of his hands on my skin in the forest, and I ducked my head, willing the images to disappear.
“The Sidhe… they saw me,” I said.
“They didn’t see it was you who banished the wraiths,” River said. “They saw into the realm of Death, same as all of us, but they’re not experienced in telling one spirit from another.”
“Someone must have been to let those wraiths in,” I croaked.
He passed me a glass of water, and I drank the whole thing in one go. How long had I been lying here? Long enough for dawn to break outside. Days might have passed at home, and anything might have happened back in Scotland.
“Yes,” River said quietly. “Someone let them in. There was either an outcast or a necromancer present. Given the level of magic
there, I’d guess a traitor.”
“They opened the Vale.” I swallowed. “I—I could have done the same, but I didn’t want to send those wraiths after Mum. I can’t believe the Sidhe couldn’t take them down. What about those Invocations?”
“Their magic has little effect on the dead. Winter would work better, and I bet the attacker was counting on that.”
“I saw them. In Death. Is that because they’re no longer immortal, or…?”
“I don’t know,” River said. “I’ve never seen anything like that in the years I’ve worked for them.”
“Are they—okay? I mean, nothing’s come back and attacked them again?”
He shook his head. “No. Lord Niall ordered a search of the grounds, but we’d left by then. We weren’t the only people glamoured, and the Sidhe know nothing of necromancy at all.”
“Good,” I said. “I mean, it’s not good that the attacker might still be there. It’s not like my spirit sight works as a tracker the way it does at home.”
Out of curiosity, I tried to access my spirit sight. But the familiar greyness didn’t appear. I couldn’t imagine tracking would work when the Sidhe’s magic muddled everything, anyway.
“You opened the realm of Death in Faerie,” River said seriously. “The mortals’ Death, no less. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“I don’t think it was the gate I opened,” I said. “I think… I don’t know what it was. Not the Vale, either. What happens when Sidhe die, anyway? I mean, they have souls. I know that now. They must disappear temporarily even if they come back.”
“I can’t say I know,” River said. “Did you see the Vale?”
“No. I’m not so sure I can open the Vale from here at all.” I reached for the book, which was still in the pocket it’d been in before I’d been glamoured. “Just when I think it can’t surprise me any more…” A new section had appeared in the back. Faeries and death. I briefly skimmed the page, as River leaned in to look.
“Death Kingdom,” I said. “Oh—it’s apparently in Winter. Not the Vale at all.”
“It’s where banshees live,” said River, reading over my shoulder. “But what you did to the wraiths didn’t open a door within Faerie itself, but somewhere beyond it. The ‘Death Kingdom’ is just a name for the far reaches of Winter territory. I went on a mission there once, and it’s not like our Death realm. There aren’t ghosts there.”
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