“Cecily? What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I had to see you. Here drink this,” she said and gave him a pilfered blood bag. He took it from her and drained it. Saul was giving him enough to stay alive but not enough to leave him strong. Even with the chains, Saul and Eli didn’t trust him.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “What’s wrong?”
“Is it true what they are all saying?” she asked, her eyes big as she stared at him. “Is it true about you and my Rosa?”
“It all depends on what they are saying,” he replied feeling remarkably bashful. “If they are saying that I love her, then yes, it’s true.”
“Those bastards took her!” she whispered angrily. “She never hurt a fly, and they snatched her away.”
“I know. I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect her, Cecily. If I could get out of here, you know I would go after her.”
“Is such a thing even possible? I haven’t asked Eli to help. I was going to, but then I heard what had happened to you, and well, if you can’t talk any sense into him, Mr. Balthasar, I know I have no chance.”
“I tried, but he won’t hear me out. I would find a way to get her back. I have some idea how I could if I could find a fae,” he said thoughtfully. Cecily looked guilty as she pulled out a key from the pocket of her dress. “Cecily, where did you get that?”
“I stole it when I was delivering Mr. Eli his dinner,” she admitted slowly. “You know I’m a good person, and I would never, ever go against your father. He’s always been very good and very kind to me, but Rosa is my only daughter. I lost her for years because he told me it was the right thing to do. I had only got her back, so I can’t lose her now. If I let you go do you promise that you will find her?”
“I swear it, Cecily. I’ll never stop trying to find her. Let me out of here, and I will fight my way through Hell to get Rosa back to us safely.”
“The funny thing is that I thought she didn’t like you. Goes to show what a mother knows,” Cecily said with a shake of her head. She unlocked his manacles one at a time.
“I believe liking me was a surprise to her as well,” Balthasar admitted as he rubbed his chafed wrists and ankles. “Now, you had best find a way to get that back to Eli without getting caught. Saving Rosa won’t do me any good if she learns I got you into trouble with Eli for your efforts.”
“I’ll find a way,” she promised. “I’ve hidden a bag of clothes and some food down at the cottage for you. Use the servant’s passages and go now. Eli is going to be in a meeting with Lord Southgate for another few hours. Now is your chance while he is distracted.”
Balthasar hugged her quickly. “Now I can see where Rosa gets her bravery. Thank you so much, Cecily, I won’t fail you.”
“See that you don’t,” she replied primly. “If you come back empty handed, you will have to deal with two very annoyed and disappointed parents.”
Balthasar ran through the passages, his feet barely touching the ground. He made it through the kitchen and out the back doors before the servants even felt a stir in the air. Outside, the wind was blowing up an icy storm as he hurried to Rosa’s cottage.
Cecily was good to her word and had brought clothes and boots from his rooms, as well as more blood and a still warm meal from the kitchen. Balthasar had a hot shower to scrub the dry blood from his skin. He tried to ignore the scent of Rosa all around him, filling him with worry and longing for her.
Don’t worry, Rosa, I am coming for you. Hold on. He sent his thoughts out like a prayer, hoping that somehow they would find her. He dressed and ate before stepping back out into the night.
Celyn’s totem still hung in the holly bush, taunting him with his failure to protect the woman he loved. Taking a handkerchief from his coat pocket, Balthasar carefully wrapped it around the infernal object and broke the thin branch that it had been hanging on.
Centuries beforehand, during a time when the Seelie had plagued them incessantly, Eli had taught magic to Balthasar to protect and assist him. Balthasar needed a fae to cross over to the Aos Si, and he knew the exact neck he wanted to wrap his hands around. With extra care, he put the wrapped totem into his pocket to keep it safe. He couldn’t risk a stableman spotting his escape on Caesar, so he headed through the forest on foot.
The Winter Solstice would only last another week. He had been locked up for at least five days, which was far less than what Rosa would’ve been forced to endure.
Five days trapped as a despised prisoner in Faerie, my poor girl. He couldn’t- wouldn’t- imagine what they were doing to her. He ran for the stones, the fresh blood fueling his speed and restoring him.
The stones were humming with power as he approached them. He took Celyn’s totem from out of his pocket. The spell that held it together sent pins and needles up his arm.
Balthasar had never tried to summon one of the fae from so far away. Eli had taught him that all he needed was something that was theirs: a button from a torn jacket, a drop of blood, an item left behind, saliva from a lover’s lips.
He ignored the burning in his hands as he clasped the totem, whispering the Unseelie spell over and over. The part of him that was Unseelie, Bleddyn’s son, vibrated and flowed through his body, growing stronger with each incantation. He whispered it more urgently, putting authority into his voice until he was shouting his commands across the lake, screaming it into the four winds. All went still, as if he were caught in a pocket of silence and then it popped, sending him flying backward. He managed to keep his feet, and directly where he had been standing was a confused Celyn, wearing formal attire and a mask, a drink still in his hand. He didn’t have time to move before Balthasar was on him. He wrestled Celyn to the ground, resisting the urge to rip the Seelie’s head off.
“You!” Celyn squirmed. “How is this possible?”
“I am Balthasar, son of Bleddyn, rightful King of the Unseelie.” His hand gripped the fae’s hair. “Do you really think that he wouldn’t have taught us everything about your spiteful kind? If you want to live you are going to do exactly as I tell you, Celyn or I will rip you apart limb from limb. Understand?”
“I understand,” Celyn spat, “I understand that as soon as you let your guard down, I will destroy you, you Unseelie piece of-” Balthasar punched him hard in the throat. Celyn’s threats turned to gargled chokes for air.
“Let’s be very clear here. You stole the only thing I’ve given a damn about in over two hundred years. I don’t need an excuse to kill you. You are going to help me get Rosa back.” Celyn made as noise like a gurgling laugh.
“She’s already lost to you,” he wheezed. “She drank the Queen’s wine. Even if you could get to her, she won’t be your Rosa anymore. She’s the Queen’s creature, her slave in all things.”
“I don’t care what you say,” Balthasar said, “I’m still going to get her.”
“You cannot get through the portal! The fae blood in you is too weak to be recognized.”
Balthasar smiled at him unpleasantly. “Then it is a good thing that I have a fae with me.”
Celyn screamed as Balthasar sank his fangs deep into his throat. Hot, Seelie blood flowed into him like caramel. He fought the temptation to lose himself in Celyn’s long memories. Instead, he focused on the more recent ones; how to find his way to the Seelie Court and where they were holding Rosa.
He caught a brief glimpse of the Queen kissing her, and he pulled back. Celyn was limp in his arms but still alive. With strength and magic surging through him, Balthasar slung Celyn over his shoulder and stepped into the ring of stones.
Gold and silver light rose up around them, and he was falling, drawn down into the earth and smothering darkness.
Balthasar was still gripping tightly to Celyn as he was thrown out of the ground and into a circle of monoliths. The air around him buzzed with magic, the forest glowing with an aura of power and light.
“This is incredible,” Balthasar whispered as he took in all the beauty around him.
�
��This is the Aos Si. You made it, and now it’s no longer safe from your pestilent kind,” muttered Celyn.
“I have no interest in bringing the Gwaed Gam here. I’m only here for Rosa, and I will return home and never think of this place again.”
“They will know that it’s you straight away. Look at you! You won’t get five feet into the court. I hope I am there to see them skin you alive.”
“All I need is a good disguise,” said Balthasar looking at Celyn’s fancy attire and the mask he clutched in this hand. Celyn’s eyes widened before Balthasar hit him hard, knocking him unconscious. Balthasar dragged him behind the faerie ring. “There we are. You stay there until I need you on the way home.”
Following the instructions from Celyn’s mind, Balthasar ran along the white roads, the two moons and light from the trees enough for him to see clearly. He would have liked to explore all the wonders and terrors that the Aos Si offered, but being the only son of Bleddyn meant that he would be hunted wherever he went. He needed to find Rosa and get home before the magic in the air seduced him.
Time moved differently in the Aos Si, and when Balthasar looked at his watch, he discovered that it had stopped completely. He found the entrance to the tunnels behind a boulder. The shimmering glyphs etched into the stone stood out like a beacon, compliments of Celyn’s blood that was burning through him. He was quiet as he crept through the darkened passageways, the sounds of a lively party calling out to him.
Two guards fell as Balthasar snapped the neck of one, relieved him of his sword and took the head off the other. He drank them quickly, his vision blurring with the overdose. Celyn was right. They would know he wasn’t a fae, but the extra fae blood would trick them even if it were only for a little while.
The tunnels came to an end at an elaborately carved door. Making sure that his mask was in place, he opened them. Eli had told him that the Seelie palace was built underground, but he wasn’t ready for the lavishness that he encountered.
With Eli, he had frequented some of the wealthiest courts in the world, and Marie Antoinette’s parties at Versailles couldn’t come close to the decadence before him. Everywhere he walked he found elaborate mirrors, gilded ornaments, murals that made his eyes burn with longing. Nature seemed to co-exist with the building. Fine lamps and crystal trinkets hung from exposed roots and flowers grew unexpectedly from the floor and walls. He tried to close his emotions away so that the enchanting beauty wouldn’t distract him from his true purpose.
The chattering of faerie women led him down a corridor and to the ballroom he had seen in Celyn’s mind. This was the place where the Autumn Queen had forced Rosa to drink her poison.
Interweaving melodies filled the air as dancers moved about the room in waltzes. Hiding behind a pillar, he spied Ryn and the Queen herself. She was as dangerously delightful as Eli had said; like a poisonous flower ready to eat any fly that landed too closely.
He walked slowly around the room, avoiding the sight of Ryn, the only fae that could recognize him. He watched the dancers and then by a miracle, he smelled her.
His head snapped up to spot Rosa dancing gracefully with a black haired fae that had a magnificent set of stag antlers. He was bare-chested, and if Balthasar’s senses could be trusted, he was oozing pheromones. He watched as Rosa, dressed in an impossible dress of black feathers, was twirled about, the fae’s hands stroking her arms with a possessive touch.
Calm down, Balthasar, he warned himself. He had expected to find Rosa in chains, not in the arms of another man. He bowed to a faerie lady with white hair and offered her his hand. She smiled revealing sharply filed teeth and accepted. Balthasar led his partner out into the dance, watching as they broke off into groups of four, exchanged partners in a weaving pattern. He headed for her, careful not to appear too eager but danced with the same tranced and languid attitude as the other dancers. Time seemed to go forever, but finally, he ducked, weaved, and held her in his arms.
“Rosa, my Rosa,” he whispered.
“Hello, are you enjoying the ball?” she asked politely, her hazel eyes not recognizing him.
“It’s me, Balthasar,” he lifted his mask. “Don’t you know who I am?”
“Not at all, but you have a very handsome face. Would you like to be my friend? I have made so many today.” She smiled beautifully. Balthasar gripped her tightly and sped her off the main floor and to the back wall.
“Rosa, snap out of it. I’m here to rescue you,” he said as he touched her face. She looked about her, surprised and shaken that they had stopped dancing.
“We have to get back out there. The Queen commanded me to dance, so I must dance, I must,” she insisted.
Balthasar held her firmly. “You have to remember me. You fought with me when you were drunk. I painted you, we made love all night, and I kissed you over and over.” She looked up at him, confusion clouding her face.
“I’m sorry, sir. I think you have me confused with someone else. Perhaps your lady is still a part of the dance.”
“No, my lady is right here in front of me.” He leaned down slowly and whispered, “Remember me, my Rosa.”
Before she could protest, he kissed her with all the emotion he was feeling. She struggled before her hands gripped his arms and deepened it. She touched her lips slowly, and her eyes flickered open. She looked up at him, studying him longingly before she slapped him hard across the face.
“What the devil took you so long?”
Chapter Twenty-One – The Great Escape
Heat ran through Rosa’s numb soul as Balthasar laughed and kissed her again, “I can taste faerie magic in you but I don’t care.” She stopped him after a few agonizingly short moments of his lips on hers.
“Later, Bal, we need to get out of here before one or both of us loses our minds,” she whispered, and his hand tightened on hers.
“Don’t worry, Rosa Wylt, I’m going to get us out of here, and then I intend never to have you leave my side again,” swore Balthasar. “Now keep smiling in your lovely way. We need to get to the doors on the other side of the room.”
“How do you know? Have you been here before?” Rosa asked with a frown.
“I might have eaten a few fae on my journey to rescue you.” He smiled mirthlessly. There was a feral gleam in his dark eyes, and instead of being afraid as she was the night she was taken, she was now pleased to see it.
“Turn the lot into cocktails for all I care,” she muttered. “How long have I been here?”
“At least five days.”
“Is that all? It feels like I have been trapped here for a hundred years.” She smiled dreamily as they walked, getting Balthasar to turn her now and then. “If I never have to dance the waltz again, it won’t be long enough.”
“I’ve always preferred tangos anyway,” Balthasar said, watching her with a less than innocent look.
“Stop that, we are in enemy territory,” Rosa chastised, fighting the itch to slap him again.
After drinking the Queen’s cursed wine, she had felt all that she was melting away until only doing what would please the queen remained. She wanted to scream. There will be a time to grieve later. You need to get out of here.
“Hold onto me, my love,” Balthasar whispered, and she stepped up onto his feet, gripping him tightly around the waist. The room and corridors bled around her as they moved with lightning speed to the tunnels. Balthasar slowed and opened a large door.
“I think the stables are through here,” he said, leading her down a dark passage. She couldn’t see the horses but could smell of them; animal heat and grass. Three guards appeared, and Balthasar shoved her out of the way as an arrow flew past her head. Balthasar launched himself at the Bowman, ripping his throat out as the others drew their weapons.
Rosa’s eyes couldn’t follow what happened next, but one minute he was grabbing a dagger, opening his attacker’s throat before twisting to bury it deep in the skull of the other. Rosa didn’t turn away as she watched him drain one his victims.
When he was done, he took her hand, and they kept going.
“I’m sorry about that. I need to keep feeding, or they will detect my blood,” he explained. As if he manifested it, alarms sounded through the palace. Rosa gripped his arm tightly. “Don’t let them take me again. I can’t be like that…I can’t forget…”
“I’m not going to let any of them hurt you. I failed you once. I will not fail you again,” Balthasar said calmly. “Come on. We need to keep moving.”
Rosa jogged alongside Balthasar as he followed his memories to the stables. He opened the gate to a red mare, letting it smell his hands before he led it out.
“Give me your dagger,” Rosa said. He handed it over without hesitation. She stuck into the skirt of her dress and cut a long split before putting the dagger back in its hilt and sliding it down the front of her bodice.
“I need to give you knives more often,” Balthasar teased.
“Unlike some people, I didn’t grow up riding side saddle,” she retorted. “I can’t exactly take my dress off and run bare ass through the Aos Si.”
“The idea has its merits.” Balthasar mounted the giant horse before lifting her up behind him.
Rosa clung tightly to Balthasar as he rode at breakneck speed through the dark tunnels. He seemed to be able to see in the dark, so she shut her eyes tightly and buried her face into his back.
“There it is!” he said as the tunnel opened and the light of a new dawn shone through. Arrows whizzed past her head, hitting the trees alongside them. Rosa looked and saw two warriors following them, their armor shining brightly. The third was unmistakably Ryn, his fox hair flying.
“They are coming!” Rosa shouted.
Wylt: Book One The Blood Lake Chronicles Page 22