There was a coughing noise from behind us. Had the gargoyle statue moved? It seemed to be pointing down a corridor on our left, which led to a staircase.
Nodding to River, I went to meet the Council of Twelve.
16
“Wish I’d dressed up for the occasion,” Hazel whispered as we walked downstairs. “If I could scrape together enough magic to make the four of us not look like we wandered in here by accident…”
“You have the circlet,” I said. “I have the glowing forehead. River and Morgan…”
“We’re not supposed to be here,” Morgan said. “Lucky I don’t give a crap, and River walks around like he owns the place anyway.”
River blinked. “I don’t.”
“Yeah, you do,” said Hazel. “Might work in our favour now.”
“I was kind of hoping to go to the necromancer guild first,” I said. “Since they actually know us.”
“I’m expecting Lady Montgomery to be invited to the meeting,” said River. “If it involves all the local head supernaturals, they’d invite her. This is the mages’ headquarters.”
That’d explain the elaborately carved banisters and expensive-looking carpets. We descended the stairs into a spacious entrance hall dominated by a large crystal chandelier.
“Fancy,” said Morgan. “Where’s this meeting?”
“This way,” whispered a voice.
I jumped. A young woman with black hair cut fairly short and a lip piercing that I was surprised passed the necromancers’ regulations winked at me. “Thought I’d catch you sneaking in.”
“Technically I’m invited,” I said.
“And your family?” asked Jas, necromancer apprentice and one of the people I’d first met after signing up at the guild.
“Touché. What are you doing lurking outside?” She wore her necromancer cloak, which technically fitted a formal event like this, but I wouldn’t have thought a novice would be permitted entry to a top secret council meeting, even Lady Montgomery’s assistant.
“I’m not allowed in, but Lady Montgomery asked me to come along and translate her meeting notes into legible English when it’s over. Fun.” Her words sounded plausible, but they way she lurked out of sight of the door made me suspect there was something she wasn’t telling me. Still, the door at the hall’s side, half-open, revealed a large meeting room filled with chairs. Voices drifted from within, and I moved closer. I spotted several ghosts, one of whom I recognised as Frank ‘Lord Sydney’ the necromancer, in conversation with a younger but equally dead man I didn’t know.
In the chairs, groups of witches, shifters and mages sat in distinct groups. There didn’t seem to be a seating plan or dress code. The mages were dressed like they were attending a fancy societal function, the witches wore bright outfits more suited to an outdoor party, while the shifters wore torn, muddy clothes as though they’d come from a brawl. Some of them were bleeding. At least we didn’t look that unusual in our slightly battered clothing, though River attracted several stares as we walked in. Maybe they thought we were the faerie division, since I hadn’t seen any half-faeries yet.
A tall man in a dark suit stood apart from the others, looking over everyone who entered the room. He had striking grey eyes and neatly combed dark hair. Human, but something dangerous shimmered in his eyes and stirred the air when we got close to him, like a brewing thunderstorm. Mage Lord, definitely.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said to Hazel. He spoke in an upper-class English accent, his gaze travelling from Morgan’s scuffed shoes to River’s talisman sword.
“I’m Hazel Lynn. Summer Gatekeeper’s heir.”
“I was told to expect you,” said the mage. “Mage Lord Colton. I’ve tried on a number of occasions to get hold of your mother.”
“She’s usually busy in Faerie,” said Hazel. “You’re the founder of the council, right?”
“Yes, I am. Ivy told me about you.” His gaze slid to me. “You’re Ilsa Lynn, correct?”
Now the mages all knew who I was? “Yeah, I’m Ilsa.” What had Ivy actually said about me? The book wouldn’t have allowed her to tell anyone about my magic, which would make explaining how we’d met kind of tricky. “This is Morgan, our brother,” I added. I was pretty sure bringing random relatives along to an important meeting wasn’t traditional, but the Mage Lord nodded to both of us as though we hadn’t barged in on the council’s gathering without an invitation. Had Ivy told him we’d all be coming?
The Mage Lord’s attention focused on River. “And you are?”
“My name is River,” he said. “River Montgomery. I’m a senior member of Edinburgh’s necromancer guild. My mother runs the necromancer council.”
The door opened behind us, and Ivy walked in. She wore ripped jeans and a leather jacket, and her talisman was sheathed out of sight. Despite her clear human appearance, whispers followed her, a ripple of alertness travelling through the seated supernaturals. I envied her easy confidence walking amongst a group of people with enough power to break a hole in the universe, but anyone would be confident if they had as much magic hidden away as she did.
The Mage Lord’s expression softened a little as he looked at her. “These are the people I was told to expect?”
“Yeah, that’s Ilsa,” said Ivy. “You know nobody can get in here without passing those wards they got from the necromancer guild.”
Oh. He must be the fiancé who wasn’t pleased with Ivy’s hobby of travelling around the Ley Line as a ghost. Maybe I should send him and River off to talk about the metaphysical risks of necromancy.
“Yes, but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone decided to target the meeting,” said Lord Colton. The hint of a threat in his voice suggested whoever did so would be very unwise.
“Just don’t break up any more shifter brawls,” Ivy said, her hand brushing against his as she walked past.
“Is that why they’re all covered in mud?” asked Hazel, moving after her towards the seats.
“They refused our generous offer of cleansing spells,” said Ivy, taking a seat in the back row. “They’ve been on edge ever since we got here. Suppose they’re justified in being a little pissed off considering Drake nearly drove them into the sea on the long drive up from England…” She shook her head. “I don’t need to bore you talking about what a week it’s been. Sounds like you’ve had a tough one of your own.”
“Yeah, you could say that,” I said, pulling out the seat next to her.
River leaned closer to me. “Ilsa, you talk to her. I’m going to speak with Lady Montgomery and the mage council, to bring them up to speed on recent events. Not all of it. Just the…”
“Public story?” I said wryly. I still didn’t know if I planned to tell everyone about the Seelie Queen’s treachery, or if it was a better idea to keep that information quiet until we knew for sure what to do about it. The last thing I wanted to do was wreck the council’s hard-won peace with Faerie.
He moved swiftly away, while the rest of us took seats at the back. Ivy cast a look across the others. “I didn’t know you were bringing… your family?”
“I’m Hazel Lynn,” said Hazel. “The Summer Gatekeeper’s heir. That’s our brother, Morgan.”
“I’m very important,” Morgan said. “I’m a necromancer and psychic sensitive.”
“Cool,” Ivy said. “I’m your distant relation, apparently. All of you.”
“Really?” said Morgan. “Don’t you get the Lynn curse?”
“Curse?” Ivy blinked. “I’m not bound to serve Faerie, if that’s what you mean. Frankly I think they want to get rid of me, since I pretty much forced them to join the council.”
“You did?” asked Hazel.
“Yes. I’m trying to do this differently to the mages’ traditional approach of asking the most influential people rather than the people who are actually best suited for the job, but they’re set in their ways. Shifters pick their representatives by right of combat. Mages try to assassinate one another, while
it’s difficult to get necromancers to volunteer anyone who’s actually alive. The witches are the only supernaturals who actually stick to the original rulebook and vote on a leader in a way that doesn’t usually involve anyone dying. But you can see how it gets dicey when you bring the Sidhe into it. They’ve been stuck in limbo for a thousand years or more, and they don’t want to be ordered around by humans.”
“So were the Gatekeepers ever involved?” I asked.
“I think they were, with the original council,” Ivy said. “According to Frank, anyway. But the council disbanded after most of them died in the invasion and most of the records were scattered. I don’t know how long your mother’s been Gatekeeper, but it might have been before her time.”
“Then Grandma’s ghost could have told us.” A pang went through me. I hadn’t had chance to properly think about what her no longer being around meant. I hadn’t spoken to her for years before I’d returned to the Lynn house, but I missed her all the same. “Is there a record somewhere of past members?”
Ivy frowned. “I thought there wasn’t, but perhaps there is here. Vance—Lord Colton—will know. I’ll ask him after the meeting.”
“Is it even starting today?” asked Morgan. “Or are we waiting for the Sidhe?”
My heart lurched. “They’re not coming here?”
“No,” said Ivy. “You have no idea… actually, I think you can probably guess how hard it is to get them to commit to a meeting place and time.”
Hazel snorted. “We spent ages trying to convince them there was a traitor in their own Court, but they ended up getting us thrown out instead. And now we know who the traitor is, but telling them will get us all killed.”
“Who is it?” asked Ivy.
“The Seelie Queen,” I whispered.
“There isn’t a Seelie Queen,” said Ivy. “Unless… actually, I’ve heard someone mention his father was assistant to the Queen… holy shit.”
“Assistant?” said Hazel. “Not—Lord Daival?”
“Never met him, but I’ve heard the name,” Ivy said, frowning. “Damn. What did the Seelie Queen do?”
“Told us she’s planning a coup and threw us into the Vale,” I said. “I got us out, but… I reckon it’s to do with the immortality thing. The Sidhe were already pissed off because someone got murdered in the Summer Court.”
Ivy’s eyes widened. “Thought that might happen. They used to kill one another to gain power all the time, apparently. All that happened was that the person they killed came back, told on them to the Court, and cue exile.”
“Charming,” I muttered. “Yeah, they flat-out refused to speak to us. I don’t suppose you know what’s wrong with the Erlking?”
She shook her head. “They’d never tell me. So you’re saying the Seelie Queen is working… with the Vale outcasts?”
“And possibly the Winter Gatekeeper’s ghost,” I added.
Ivy swore. “You’ve got to be joking.”
“The Sidhe are in charge,” Morgan said. “I don’t know why this is a surprise to anyone.”
“It’s not a surprise,” said Ivy. “It’s just fucking inconvenient. I can’t help with the Gatekeeper… I’m about as far from a necromancer as you can get. That I can walk between realms as a ghost is a side effect of my magic.”
“So the original owner couldn’t do that?” I said, keeping my voice so quiet, Ivy had to lean closer to hear.
Her eye twitched. “No. The Sidhe… I doubt it would have occurred to them.”
“Not the Sidhe.” My hand reached out of its own accord to the hilt of her blade. Power brushed my hand, alien yet familiar. Intelligent. Alive.
Ivy’s whole body went deadly still, like a coiled viper ready to spring. “I really wouldn’t do that. I don’t think it recognises you as a threat, but—”
Morgan moved his chair back so quickly he nearly fell off it. “Can you not throw your weird magic around in here?”
I dropped my hand. “Sorry. I wish I knew where the book came from, that’s all. The Sidhe won’t believe any of us. All we have left to use against them is knowledge. They try to bury their own past because it terrifies them. I reckon that’s where the answers are.”
“Never mind the past,” said Morgan. “It’s just us now, isn’t it? We need to fix it.”
“You can do both,” Hazel said in a low voice. “Ivy… Ilsa said you have a talisman like hers. Does that kind of thing run in the family, too?”
“This?” Ivy tapped the blade hilt. “No, I won it from a Sidhe by accident. I’m new blood. The connection with your family is distant, if at all.” She leaned back, her eyes narrowing in suspicion when River took the last empty seat in the row. “You were with them, too?”
“Yes, I was. My father is Lord Torin… I believe he has some connection with your council.”
“Oh. Quentin’s other family,” said Ivy. “So you’re in on this.”
“I was initially hired to protect the Gatekeeper with my life,” River said. “Afterwards, we worked as colleagues at Edinburgh’s necromancer guild.”
Her expression remained distrusting, and the look in her eyes told me quite clearly that she was assessing whether or not he was a threat. Like when I’d put my hand on her talisman. It was a challenge. Most people, faced with Ivy, would run for the hills. River’s eyes narrowed. I liked Ivy, but I had to squash the urge to tell her to stop glaring at him.
Power crackled overhead, drawing my attention to the front of the hall. Everyone fell silent. Several mages gathered on the stage, with Mage Lord Colton taking up central position. Immediately, all eyes went to him, and it was easy to tell why. His presence was like lightning contained in a bottle, radiating enough power to bring the whole building crumpling down like it was nothing.
“We’re gathered here to discuss the future of the council, particularly in light of recent events in the faerie realm and in this one,” he said. “No word of this meeting will leave this room without my permission.” He paused as though to let the message sink in. “You may have noticed we have a few guests. Lady Montgomery of Edinburgh’s necromancer guild has joined us, in addition to the city’s mage council… and the heir to the title of Summer Gatekeeper.”
His attention went to Hazel. She sat up straighter.
“The Gatekeepers are peacekeepers bound to work between the faerie realms and this world,” Lord Colton went on. “Their title refers to the gates between this realm and Faerie, which are under their watch.”
There were a few mutters of dissent, along the lines of they did a great job keeping the peace, didn’t they? The whisperer probably meant the invasion. Indignation spiked on Hazel’s and Mum’s part, though I held my tongue.
and Mum’s part, though I held my tongue.
“We keep the peace with the Courts, not the Vale,” Hazel said, rising to her feet. “The Gatekeepers and the Council of Twelve worked in secret to maintain the peace even in the face of evil, even when it almost destroyed us. And let’s just say it’s not a voluntary position. My mother is the current Gatekeeper for the Summer Court. She’s on Faerie on a mission, which means there’s a faerie vow controlling her every move. You know what happens when you disobey a faerie vow?” she asked. “You die. One of her children could get killed and she still wouldn’t be allowed to return home.”
“You’re requesting, what, an escort into Faerie?” said one of the mages.
“No, we’re asking that you don’t talk shit about us behind our backs,” Morgan said from behind her.
He was right, but this wasn’t how I’d imagined the meeting would go.
“The Gatekeepers have something to say about recent events,” said Lord Colton. “Let her say her piece.”
I hoped Hazel knew what she was doing. She stood tall, in the same commanding way Mum did. Her circlet blazed. She must have doctored it with a spell to cover for her magic fading.
“The recent activity on the Ley Line was due to one of our own betraying us in an effort to cheat death and at
tack the Sidhe,” said Hazel. “Ilsa stopped her. But it created a knock-on effect. Wraiths, faerie ghosts most people can’t even see, are escaping into this realm. Half-faerie ghosts are attacking people, and again, most people can’t see them until it’s too late. And we think they’re working with a group of outcasts in the Vale, through Death. Oh, and someone’s trying to bring down the Summer Court, too, and they won’t listen to us,” she added. “That’s it.”
“We cannot negotiate with the Summer Court if they don’t send representatives to us,” said Lord Colton. “Unfortunately, they prefer to talk on their own territory, on their terms. If there is indeed another Vale threat, then they would require proof at the very least.”
I figured. The council had been a long shot, and even the people in this room would be hard-pressed to outdo the Sidhe. Besides, I didn’t want to kick off a war. I just wanted them to believe the truth, without putting anyone at risk of ending up in the crossfire. Since their enemies were also Sidhe, potentially with godlike powers, it was no wonder they hadn’t managed to kill all of their outcasts. The same immortality that kept them existing indefinitely had kept their enemies alive as well.
“Most of us aren’t able to walk into the Vale on our own power,” said Hazel. “Since we don’t know the nature of the threat we face, we’re asking for the cooperation of the necromancer guild and the council. That’s all we ask. For access to the necessary information to deal with this threat.”
She sat down again. Only Morgan and I could see her hands shaking. And possibly Ivy, too, but she was tensed, her attention on the shifters. None of them was paying any attention. Two were even asleep. Really.
“Does anyone else have any points to address?” said Lord Colton.
As one of the other mages began talking, Ivy leaned back in her seat. “Did you say wraiths?” she whispered to Hazel.
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