City of Everdark (Chronicles of Arcana Book 3)

by Debbie Cassidy

  Seb slid an icy look my way, but I studiously ignored it. He may have been connected to me, but he hadn’t been there when I’d almost died several times. He hadn’t been there when Hound had taken a spear intended for me, or when he’d been probed by the Genesi in my place.

  “Please, grab a seat.” I indicated the chair opposite me.

  Leopold slipped into it. “Thank you.”

  “So, what is Liana doing now? I mean now that I’m whole?” I flicked a glance in Seb’s direction, but his attention was on his teacup, his long lean fingers circling the rim.

  Leopold followed my gaze. “She believes that you will see the error of your ways and join her in annihilating the Draconi.”

  “Yeah, that isn’t going to happen.”

  “I know.” Leopold’s beautiful mouth lifted in a smile. “I believe there can be peace for all. I believe that we can coexist, under the right queen’s rule.” He arched a brow, his gaze pointed.

  Whoa, hang on a sec. “If you’re implying what I think you’re implying, then you’re way off base. I have no intention of being queen. I just want to get rid of the current queen bitch and liberate the people.”

  “And then what?” Leopold said evenly.

  Noir shifted in his seat. “He does have a point. The people will need a figurehead.”

  “I’m not disputing that. They’ll have a figurehead, they’ll have Valance.”

  Leopold’s mouth quirked. “Who just happens to be your scalemate. Can’t you see this was meant to be?”

  Beside me, Seb was ominously silent, and the thud of my heartbeat was suddenly way too loud, and then Seb’s frosty tone trickled into the room like icy fingers.

  “And your true purpose is revealed.” Seb’s words were biting. “I should tear your heart out where you sit.”

  Leopold’s shoulders tensed but his expression remained relaxed and unthreatened.

  “Seb.” I glared at him until he raised his gaze from the teacup and met mine. “What the fuck?”

  My ether-kindred’s eyes were a little too dilated, with a manic edge that preceded a dark episode. He dismissed me in favor of his cup and continued to run his finger around the porcelain rim. “You were with mother,” he addressed Leopold. “You did her bidding, and you knew about me. You knew, and you let me rot.” His tone was pleasantly conversational, belying the danger that hovered on the fringes of his consciousness. It brushed against the back of my mind in warning, forcing me to sit up straighter, to meet Leopold’s gaze and give a tiny shake of my head. Beware, it said. Don’t be fooled by the tone.

  Leopold swallowed hard. “I did what I had to in order to protect Wila.”

  Seb’s lips turned down. “Wila. Yes, it’s always about Wila, isn’t it?”

  He sounded like a jealous sibling, and in that moment, the connection made complete sense—siblings, lovers, family, friends, we were everything to one another, and yet not enough. That was where Taylem and Azren and Valance came in, that was why we needed them, to balance us, to stop us losing ourselves in each other. They were the dilution to what could possibly be a toxic relationship. Blood roared in my ears and the revelation sank in, but Sebastian’s words reached me clear as a bell.

  “Seb, just drop it.”

  But I needn’t have bothered with the admonishment, because he was already leaning back in his seat in the perfect imitation of unfazed, but his hooded gaze was a reminder that the dark rage still simmered inside him.

  “You’re here now,” he said to Leopold, “because you know that war is inevitable, and you know that to win you need a figurehead. A rational, powerful figurehead. Wila fits the bill perfectly.” He flashed his teeth in what was probably meant to be a smile but was more of a warning. “Wila may have been taken by your Hound heroics, but I’m not fooled by you. You don’t care about Wila. You care only for what she can do for the Others. That she can finally set them free from the shit they’ve been forced to swim in for the past century.”

  The stunned look on Leopold’s face said it all, but it smoothed out quickly, as if someone had taken an eraser to it. “There’s no denying your perception skills,” he said. “Yes, I admit that was my aim to begin with, but it’s impossible to spend time with Wila and not grow to care for her.”

  He sounded resigned more than anything else, and honestly, arguing about why he was here and whether he gave a shit about me as person was a waste of time. Worrying about how Sebastian and I might fuck each other up was a task for another day.

  I placed a hand on Seb’s arm but addressed Leopold. “I’m glad you’re here. We could use your expertise.”

  Seb’s bicep flexed beneath my fingertips, the only sign of his agitation, because his alabaster face was a perfect mask of control. The inky darkness melted away from his eyes as if my assertion had somehow tamed his ire.

  I cleared my throat. “I think we should move on to the next thing on my mental agenda.”

  “Which is?” Noir asked.

  “Getting Tay back?”

  Noir’s brows shot up. “What’s happened to Taylem?”

  “He went into Slumber to leave the knell so he could be with me, and now they won’t let him go.”

  “So, he’s in Slumber? Indefinitely?” Noir frowned. “That can’t be healthy.”

  “I don’t know if it’s healthy or not, all I know is that we need to find a way to pull him out.”

  “Before we do that, we need to figure out what the knell is exactly,” Noir pointed out.

  “Mack wasn’t too forthcoming on that, it’s almost as though he didn’t want to, or couldn’t reveal too much.”

  Trevor tapped a paw on the table. “Slumber is a meditative state that allows troll bloods to astral travel to another plane.”

  All eyes were suddenly on the Jack Pomeranian.

  “What?” He did a little doggy shrug. “I’ve lived a while, met people and picked up stuff.” He sniffed. “I may, or may not, have had a thing with a troll blood a long time ago. Obviously, we couldn’t ... you know, but we had a connection, she told me things. Maybe it was the fact I was a dog you know, maybe that was some kind of loophole to her being able to speak about it in depth.”

  Noir was frowning. “So the knell is an actual place.”

  “Yep,” Trevor lapped at his tea. “Don’t ask me how you’re going to get there though.”

  “I know how,” Seb said softly.

  I looked to him. “You do?”

  He gave the table a half smile. “Astral planes are accessible via the ether.”

  And he was an ether-being so he could go there but, “I need to come with you.”

  He gave me one of his slow blinks. “We’re connected, Wila. You can always go where I go.”

  He was back, and the darkness was gone. No me without you, no you without me. “So, you can get us there?”

  He nodded slowly. “We’ll need to hitch a ride on Taylem’s subconscious, but yes, I can get us there. But getting him out will be on you. It’s you he shares a connection with.”

  “I can do that.”

  He was looking at me in that hungry way again, the one I’d woken up to, the one that promised things that made my body flush with heat. But Noir was speaking, demanding my attention.

  “...the Institute,” Noir finished.

  “Sorry? What?”

  Noir pressed his lips together, probably biting back his annoyance at being ignored. He wasn’t the kind of man used to having to repeat himself. “I said, we need a way to get into the Triumph Games. We need an invite, and the only way we can get one is via the Institute.”

  I let out a bark of laughter. “Like that’s going to happen.”

  He arched a brow. “Why not? We know what Elora is up to, we know Kelter is involved and Loraine has data that could put the Institute in shit with the people if it gets out. I say we have information that should make them want to help and leverage to force them if they decide to withhold their aid.”

  Fuck, shit, he was right. �
�Can you get us a meeting?”

  His lips curled smugly. “You bet I can.”

  If we managed to get Tay back and get the Institute to help, there was only one thing left for me to do before hitting the Triumph Games. I’d need to take mates, which, I had no idea how to do, but one step at a time, right?

  “Look,” Quinn said. “Half this stuff means nothing to me, but what I do know is that I can be of help with my zoom, zoom ability. I’m done hiding, done sitting on my arse twiddling my thumbs.”

  He was right. Benching him was a waste, especially since he could get through walls with his ability. Okay, so he’d need blood, but that could be arranged ... “Noir? Is there anything we can do?”

  Noir puffed out his cheeks and blew out a breath. “He belongs to whatever secret program the Institute have cooked up. By now they’ll be hunting for him and trying to figure out who busted into their facility. I hate to say it, but leaving that woman alive wasn’t ideal. She could identify you.”

  “Let them come,” Sebastian said. “They won’t get close. Besides, like you said, we have knowledge, and we have leverage. But we also have the one person who has the power to stop Elora. They’ll listen, they’ll help, and they’ll back the fuck off.”

  His tone, lazy yet confident, sent a delicious shiver down my spine.

  “Goodie,” Quinn said. “So, back to me?”

  An idea formed in my mind. “Hey, Noir, can you create some kind of illusion to make Quinn look not like Quinn, you know, to other people?”

  Noir pursed his lips. “You know, I think I can. I can attach it to a cuff or a— “

  “Dustkicker?” I grinned as Quinn sat up poker straight in his seat. He’d wanted one. The woman at the facility had said so. “Can you do that?”

  Noir gave me a contemplative look. “A dustkicker? Like the one you have?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  He shrugged. “Sure.”

  Quinn offered me a small smile, and I inclined my head his way. “Okay, shirts and shoes on people, we have shit to do and less than a week to get it done.”

  Chairs scraped as everyone but Quinn got up. He looked up at me. “What? It’s not like I can do anything to help right this minute.”

  “Trevor, get him manning the phones.”

  Trevor gave me a skeptical look. “Right, because we’re inundated with calls.”

  “You never know when a client will call, and once this is over, we’ll still have a business to run.”

  Trevor hopped off his seat. “Come on, twinkle toes. Let’s get you set up.”

  Quinn trailed out of the kitchen after him.

  Seb finally pushed back his chair and stood. “We’re going outside, aren’t we?”

  Was that panic in his eyes? Oh, shit. How long had it been since he’d been outside. Wait ... “Seb ... have you ever been outside?”

  His throat bobbed. “No.” His voice was hoarse.

  A lick of anger flared in my chest, but I quickly staunched it. Anger was the last think he needed right now. Right now, he needed calm and understanding. Right now, he needed someone to ground him, because the outside world was a big, noisy place, and he was about to get his first taste of it.

  Join Wila in the epic finale City of War. Grab your copy now!

  Other books by Debbie Cassidy

  The Gatekeeper Chronicles

  Coauthored with Jasmine Walt

  Marked by Sin

  Hunted by Sin

  Claimed by Sin

  The Witch Blood Chronicles

  (Spin-off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)

  Binding Magick

  Defying Magick

  Embracing Magick

  Unleashing Magick

  The Fearless Destiny Series

  Beyond Everlight

  Into Evernight

  Under Twilight

  The Chronicles of Midnight

  Protector of Midnight

  Champion of Midnight

  Secrets of Midnight

  Shades of Midnight

  Savior of Midnight

  Chronicles of Arcana

  City of Demons

  City of the Lost

  City of the Everdark

  Novellas

  Blood Blade

  About the Author

  Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head – in a totally non psychotic way of course. She writes High Fantasy and Urban Fantasy.

  Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy. Or sign up to her Newsletter to stay in the know.