Morgan swore, shaking his head. “Damn bird.”
“The ingratitude,” said Arden, landing on the bookshelf and spitting the scroll into Hazel’s hands. “You have permission to meet with the Seelie messenger at the gate.”
Hazel scanned the parchment and looked up. “Genuine. Do the messengers know what’s going on here?”
“Caw. Only one invitation to Faerie. I’d advise you to take it. Walk to the gates by noon, or lose your chance.”
Hazel looked at me. “The messengers… they’re usually fairly clueless about secret Court matters. Whenever I went to the Court with Mum, I’d stay with one of them. So at least I know that part of Faerie. I’d guess River does, too.”
“Your family?” I asked him.
He nodded. “I can’t say they’ll know any more than we do about the mission your mother was sent on, but I can ask.”
“Who did send her there?” I asked.
“She wasn’t able to tell me,” River said. “The vow she was under was typical of any Sidhe one, and I can’t say I know who’d have the motive to send someone into the Vale. If I’d known what exactly she was looking for, I might have been able to guess.”
I sighed. “Then we’ll find the person in charge of the family curse.”
“Lord Kerien is the messenger who deals with humans,” said Hazel. “I know a few other names, but I won’t get a proper introduction until I ascend to Gatekeeper. And… well. There’s the slightest chance that they’ll refuse to speak to anyone except me.”
Of course, the rest of us were effectively invisible to the Sidhe most of the time, and even River hadn’t been able to convince them that the wraiths posed a threat to the Court. Then I’ll make them listen to us if I have to. The Sidhe might have an irrational hatred of mortals, but they’d sit up and pay attention if they realised just how much danger they’d been in when the Winter Gatekeeper had attempted her coup. We’d yet to see the fallout from that, and I was kind of curious how much information the messengers had passed on to the rest of the Sidhe.
“The summons does lead right into the Court, doesn’t it?” I asked. “I’m not wandering around Summer’s forest.”
No human with any sense would wander outside of the main Court into the notoriously bloodthirsty borderlands. Admittedly, the Court itself was no better, since the Sidhe were more likely to turn humans into deer or make them into servants. Unfortunately, while most magic bounced off the Lynn family’s defences, the powerful magic of the Summer Court might be an exception. Even the Sidhe themselves weren’t entirely immune to its effects. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to kill one another.
Shit. Did they all know they could die for real now? Ivy Lane had known, and she was human, but heaven knew how she’d stumbled across that information. I wouldn’t be bringing it up unless I knew for certain.
“Apparently, we just walk through the gate,” Hazel said. “I assume we’re all included in the invitation.” She looked at Morgan first, who scowled.
“I’m not staying behind,” he said. “Don’t you—”
“I wasn’t,” Hazel said. “But… remember everything Mum said about the Sidhe. If you were listening. I’m Gatekeeper-in-Training, which means they have to treat me with some level of respect, but the same doesn’t apply to any other human.”
“We’re magic-proof,” said Morgan. “It’s fine. I have been there before, remember?”
So had I. Most Gatekeeper events were restricted to Mum and Hazel only, but all three of us had attended the ceremony in the Summer Court shortly after Hazel’s magic had awakened. I’d been twelve at the time, while Morgan had been fourteen. Thanks to the haze of magic in the ceremony, all I remembered was a lot of flashing lights, and a total sensory overload. Which pretty much summed up Summer.
Hazel gave Morgan a look. “You nearly caused an incident by jumping into the fountain to chase mermen, if you’ve forgotten.”
“Ah.” He grinned. “Yeah, I forgot.”
“And Ilsa stared at the orchestra for twenty minutes until Mum dragged her away.”
“I did? I don’t remember much.”
“Faerie music does that.”
I grimaced. “Okay. Maybe we should add earplugs to the packing list. Are we allowed to carry iron?”
“Technically, no,” Hazel said. “Not in visible weapons, anyway. A jar of iron filings, you could probably get away with as long as you don’t spill it.”
Morgan looked at River. “So you’re allowed to carry your sword?”
“It’s faerie-made,” he said. “Does your mother have any faerie-made weapons?”
“No, she probably took them with her,” Hazel said. “Witch spells don’t work there either. But it’s okay. I have my magic.”
I won’t. The book shifted in my pocket as though in protest. I’d have to bring it with me, and hope I wouldn’t be punished for carrying a non-Sidhe talisman.
“Then let’s move.” Hazel made for Mum’s workroom, and I did likewise. Salt and iron filings didn’t feel like particularly useful weapons, but who knew, maybe my necromantic magic would work. It wasn’t like the book carried the usual type of necromancy.
“Are we supposed to dress up if we’re visiting royalty?” asked Morgan, indicating his T-shirt and faded jeans. Neither of us had any faerie-made clothes like River and Hazel did. Both of them wore knee-length coats embossed in green and gold, the colours of the Summer Court. River could easily pass as minor royalty. Given the tangled family trees of Summer’s royals, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was a direct descendent of the Erlking. Fear clawed its way up my throat. I didn’t belong in Faerie. They’d know that, and they might well target me for it.
“Chill,” said Hazel. “Once we’re through the gates, I’ll throw a glamour on both of you. River’s wearing one.”
I shoved my fear into a dark corner. Mum. We’re doing this for her. And they don’t know I’m Gatekeeper. My talisman was equal to theirs, easily. It glowed faintly in my pocket, almost like it wanted to reassure me.
Hazel approached the gates. Tall and overgrown with ivy, it looked like a metal gate from a distance until you got close and saw that the spikes were actually made of sharpened tree branches, almost grown out of the forest itself. A curtain of moss grew all over it, giving a neglected air, but the same symbol as the one on Hazel’s forehead topped the gate, gleaming faintly. My heart beat faster against my ribs.
“Before we go,” Hazel said, “let’s cover some pointers. Don’t look directly at the Sidhe. Don’t speak unless you know for certain they won’t retaliate. Don’t do anything reckless, or wander off alone… anything else?”
“Yes,” said Morgan. “Are we allowed to mention the Vale? Because that’s our goal in all this. We find out where Mum is, and get there.”
“Only a Sidhe can,” River said. “We’d need to have a Sidhe actually accompany us into the Vale if we went there, and the odds of finding a volunteer are slim to none.”
“So you went there with a Sidhe?” asked Morgan.
“No, I went there on the word of a vow,” River said. “Your mother sent a message to my father requesting assistance, and I chose to take the job. Once I accepted the agreement, the vow activated, and I was transported into the Vale.”
Damn. A chill raced down my back. Vows… despite our family curse, I hadn’t had nearly enough experience with Faerie’s most deadly and unforgiving form of magic. A single word could throw you around like a puppet on strings.
“So you went into that place alone?” said Morgan. “See, it is possible to survive there.”
Hazel turned to River. “So you saw Mum, and then—left?”
“She ordered me to leave,” River answered. “I understand it looks like I left her to die there, but she told me only to protect the Gatekeeper’s heir. Then she ordered me to return to Faerie and go to your house immediately. My vow kicked in, and I was pulled back into Faerie before I could do anything more.”
“Did you tell anyone?” as
ked Morgan suspiciously. “In the Court?”
“Obviously, I told my father I had an assignment in the mortal realm. I had no other assignments, so they didn’t ask too many questions about it.”
“I thought your skills were in high demand,” said Hazel.
River scowled. I knew what he was thinking—the Sidhe had never taken the threats of the wraiths seriously no matter how many times he warned them.
“The Sidhe and I had a slight misunderstanding a few months ago,” he said. “Not enough to get us thrown out, but if you hear the name Lord Daival, stay far away. He’s the client who was keeping humans in cages, and he didn’t like that I freed them.”
“No way,” Hazel said. “Humans? You actually set humans free from a Sidhe?”
“He’d hired me on a job and didn’t give me specific instructions not to go near them,” said River. “I wasn’t about to leave them there, but since it was my father who helped me smuggle the humans out of the faerie realm, he’s likely to be displeased about me bringing you with me.”
Ah. Crap. Should have figured even the Gatekeeper would have trouble finding allies in the faerie realm. River was seriously lucky he hadn’t suffered worse punishment. Like exile.
“If he won’t kill us, that’s a step above most Sidhe,” said Hazel. “And—wow. I can’t believe you did that. Who is your father?”
“Lord Torin,” River said. “If not for his connections with the human councils in this realm, I doubt I could have got away with it.”
“No shit,” said Hazel. “It’s not actually legal to keep humans as prisoners, but nobody ever bothers to enforce that rule. You hear that, Morgan? Be careful.”
“Got it,” he said. “I’ll be on my best behaviour.”
“You’d better.” Hazel approached the gates. A golden glow lit up her forehead, and the plants growing on the gates awakened, also glowing with green Summer magic. Light spilled across the path, and the gates opened with barely a whisper.
A leafy path beckoned, flanked with tall trees. I took in a deep breath, and went after my sister into Faerie.
4
The forest path looked like any other, until the others filed in behind me, and the gates closed. Then the magic hit me like a jackhammer to the face. Brightness shone from the trees, which seemed a hundred shades of green all at once, ignited by the blazing sun overhead.
I looked down and saw my clothes had transformed into an outfit similar to Hazel’s. As she turned to check we were behind her, the golden light shining from her forehead damn near blinded me.
“You all okay?”
“Sure.” The forest smelled of earthy magic, like River’s own magic turned up to max. He was glowing, too, bright green magic gleaming along the blade of his now-unsheathed talisman. He’d mentioned he carried it openly here, as a show of strength, and with the way he and Hazel stood, hiding Morgan and me from view, it was probably our best arrangement to look powerful and intimidating. Morgan and I, mundane humans without a mark or visible weapon to protect ourselves, were entirely vulnerable.
Morgan scuffed the forest floor with his heel. “Why am I the only one without shiny special effects?”
I touched the mark on my forehead. “Crap. The witch spell stopped working.”
River looked at me, concerned. “The Sidhe likely won’t recognise the mark, but maybe you should hide it.”
“Might get me confused with Hazel again,” I said wryly, arranging my hair to cover the mark. That hadn’t happened in years, as the magic she’d gained had altered her appearance to mimic the Sidhe. Her hair had lightened to honey blond, glowing in the golden light of her magic, while she tanned easily, unlike me. But it was the way she stood that made my insides ache with a familiar jealousy. She was tall, and strong, and for all the world like a princess or queen marching through her court.
Here, the Sidhe wouldn’t respect anything less.
“This way,” Hazel said, striding down the forest path. My eyes watered with the scents of growth and magic, the warm breeze stirred my hair and made me long to run breathlessly through the woods, like a small woodland creature—oh no, I did not want to be a deer. I scowled at everything in the most human-like manner I could manage, releasing a breath when the path ended, opening into a sunny glade the size of a small village. Birdsong drifted on the faint breeze, which was just the right temperature to balance the suffocating warmth. I fought the urge to inhale, pushing aside images of bounding through fields. Bloody magic.
“Where are we?” I asked quietly.
“Holdover territory.” Hazel sniffed. “Dicks. If they wanted to speak to us right away, they’d have brought us directly to the ambassadors’ place.”
Morgan made a strangled noise, arms outstretched. “I can’t fly…”
“Don’t,” Hazel said. “Someone’s spinning a spell. If you think too hard about the sky, you’ll turn into a bird, and I don’t have time to chase you around.”
“For me, it’s bounding through fields,” I muttered. “It’s okay. I’ve got it under control. Shouldn’t our shield deflect this?”
“It’s subtle magic. Some prick doesn’t want us here.”
She strode into the middle of the clearing. “I asked for an audience with the ambassador.”
“And you’ll get one.” A man appeared in front of us—no, a Sidhe. If the pointed ears weren’t enough of a clue, the magic pouring off him would be. His eyes glowed bright green, his skin was golden tan, and he wore a regal-looking coat with gold cuffs. He carried a glowing staff carved with runes and entwined with glowing purple flowers. Some primal instinct in the depths of my mind screamed at me that he wasn’t human. I’d almost compare the sensation to my ability to tell whether someone was human or not when in the spirit realm. That same sense recognised this being as more than human. Dangerous. Horribly, murderously beautiful and terrifying.
Don’t look directly at them, Hazel had said. Oops. My eyes watered, but looking away from the Sidhe would only give him more cause to believe we were pathetic humans.
“Who are you?” said Hazel. “I asked for Lord Kerien.”
“He is otherwise occupied. I am Lord Raivan, ambassador for the Seelie Court designated to handle all cases involving humans and half-bloods.”
He didn’t sound particularly thrilled about his role.
“You know who I am, right?” said Hazel. “I’m the future Gatekeeper of the Summer Court. Do you even know about the Gatekeepers?”
“I know of them.”
Hazel groaned. “We don’t have time for this. Someone’s decided to drain my family’s magic, and I was told the Court has the answers. And can you tell the person trying to turn my siblings into woodland animals to cut it the hell out?”
All the air seemed to leave the clearing. Hazel took a step back, gasping, and I forgot to breathe. The green magic swirling around the Sidhe lord brightened to a glare, while the impulse to bound through the field was replaced by the instinct to run far, far away and hide.
“You speak with little respect, Gatekeeper’s daughter.”
“That’s because your Court sent my mother on a suicide mission,” said Hazel. “Unless she’s here. Where is she?”
“I have no idea about your mother, Gatekeeper’s daughter. It’s not my job to handle your family.”
“That’s why I wanted to speak to someone who knows who I am,” said Hazel. “Why’s our magic not working? Isn’t it tied to the Court? Arden said you can help us.”
His gaze passed along our group. “Some areas of our territory are experiencing a magical drought. Perhaps the same has affected your house. We have yet to determine the cause, but we have every intention of eliminating it.” His tone implied we’d be wise not to mention it to anyone outside the Court.
“In that case, may I ask your permission to traverse your territory in order to pay a visit to Lord Torin?” said River smoothly.
The Sidhe looked at River as though he’d only just noticed he were there. It didn’t su
rprise me. They’d treated me the same for years, and I couldn’t imagine living as a half-blood in this place. At least he probably couldn’t feel the side effects of Summer’s magic as strongly as the rest of us.
“Do you have permission to visit Lord Torin?”
“Yes, as I’m his son. Your nephew,” River added.
Lord Raivan’s mouth tightened and he waved a hand. Immediately, the clearing disappeared, to be replaced by a meadow filled with blooming flowers. I opened my mouth and closed it again. I hadn’t even picked up on the resemblance between the two of them, though admittedly, I was still having difficulty focusing on the Sidhe lord’s face.
River led the way down a side path between low fences. On one side was a large pleasant-looking house, which he approached through a gate.
“Your uncle’s nice, isn’t he?” said Hazel.
River shrugged. “Some Sidhe don’t like being associated with those who have mortal children. He’s better than most.”
“Because he hates us too much to capture us and put us in cages?” I said, rolling my eyes. “Tell me your father will have something useful to say. He knows where Mum is?”
“Yes, but only because I told him. However, I was here on his territory when I received the job, so he’s the person most likely to know more about it. This territory is one of the safest places for visitors in the entire Summer Court. At least my uncle didn’t send us through wild territory.” He approached the door and knocked.
A small creature with bark-like skin opened the door. Wow. They have a brownie. They must be loaded. Not that it was a surprise. In Faerie, magical power meant wealth, and the Sidhe had no shortage of both.
“Greetings, River,” said the brownie. “And who are they?”
“The Lynn siblings. The Summer Gatekeeper’s children.”
“Ah.” The brownie gave us an appraising look. “You wish to speak to the master? He’s in the orchard.”
“Thank you, Quentin.” River walked into the hallway. After a moment’s hesitation, Hazel followed, with Morgan and I close behind.
The Gatekeeper's Curse- The Complete Trilogy Page 47