Institute of the Shadow Fae Box Set

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Institute of the Shadow Fae Box Set Page 71

by C. N. Crawford


  I arched an eyebrow at her. With her attention focused on Ruadan, I reached for the whiskey bottle in her hand. I might be needing this at some point. “Do you mind if I just…?”

  She didn’t notice as I pulled it from her grip.

  Ruadan quirked a smile. “Celeste. Do you know where I can find Andre?”

  “No time for me tonight?” She pouted.

  “Not tonight, love,” I said. “We need Andre. We need his penis, more precisely.”

  She let out a long sigh. “Don’t we all?”

  “Not like that— Never mind. Where is he?”

  She pointed across the tent. “You’ll find him there, watching the glitter wrestling.”

  We started weaving through all the lovers, the contortionists, and the wandering bears who were wearing more clothing than most of the women.

  At last, we reached a particular ring. There, we found a golden satyr, standing proud. For a man with goat legs, he really wasn’t bad-looking, his face model-perfect, hair golden and wavy. Curled horns swooped back from his head, and the fur on his legs was the same beautiful amber as his hair. I tried not to look at his enormous erection, though I was fully aware it would be coming into play later this evening.

  Ruadan sped up his gait, and I tried to keep up with him.

  As we approached, the satyr turned to us, arching his eyebrows in surprise. “Ruadan! It’s been yonks!” Then, his expression darkened. “Wait a moment. I forgot you were with the Institute. You are, aren’t you? Bloody fascists. Assassinating everyone. I was doing wonderful business in London before you forced us all into this closed world. I need fresh blood in here, you know?” He licked his lips, and he swept his gaze down my body. “Like this pretty little thing. Saucy minx you got here. Can I have her?”

  I resisted the urge to tell him this saucy minx was death personified, though the idea of wilting his raging boner was appealing. Instead, I smiled, playing nice. We needed his help.

  “I’m taking you back to London, Andre,” said Ruadan. “You can recruit for fresh blood there until it’s time to return to your world.”

  His eyes widened. “Why would you do me this favor?”

  “We’re going to need your penis,” I said.

  He smirked, purring, “Don’t they all?”

  “No, I mean we need it to save the world,” I added.

  “Of course you do.” He put his hands on his hips, beaming. “I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life.”

  Chapter 124

  The grim look on Aenor’s face when we returned to her shop immediately told me something was wrong. As Ruadan helped Andre out of the portal, Aenor pulled me behind the counter, her nails digging into my skin.

  “What’s happening?” I hissed.

  “I am here to save the world!” Andre proclaimed.

  Aenor’s dark eyes were on me alone. “Okay, good job on … that, but I have bad news.”

  “What?”

  “One of my little sparrow spies was watching the Institute. And it seems that while you were fetching the satyr, Baleros came for your mist army. He destroyed them.”

  My stomach fell. “How is that possible?”

  Ruadan cursed in Fae. “They’re unprotected now.”

  Aenor shook her head, frowning. “He used powerful fire magic. He dissolved the mist army with flames. They’re gone. Evaporated.”

  “This fucker has two gods working for him!” I shouted.

  “This won’t end well for him,” Ruadan said again. But since I had no idea of the specifics on how that would backfire, it wasn’t terribly comforting. “And we can get the mist army back, I think. Just not right now.”

  Cora stepped forward and tugged on my arm. “Let’s get the spell done, at least. Once your father cures the knights, the Institute won’t be quite as vulnerable.”

  I followed Cora, and we all crammed into Aenor’s tiny, bone-decorated bedroom. Aenor stood against the wall, shielding her eyes as Ruadan directed Andre to the sea-green potion on the ground.

  I did my best to not to watch Andre thrusting himself into the bubbling potion, and I was definitely pretending not to hear the unsettling sighing noises he was making. The news about the mist army had already nauseated me enough.

  “Okay!” I shouted. “I think that’s quite enough stirring, Andre. Am I right, Aenor?”

  “I’m sure it’s fine,” she called out from under her hands.

  “All right, Andre,” said Ruadan in a weary tone that suggested he’d had to stage this kind of intervention before. “You have done the world an immeasurable service.”

  Andre rose, grinning from ear to ear. “My glorious priapism will be praised in hymns and ballads from now until the end of time.”

  I nodded. “That’s right. Lots of ballads. Now move along. Go around the portal to get to the door, and say hi to Karen on your way out.”

  The floor creaked as he crossed out of the room.

  Aenor’s features brightened as soon as he was gone. “Okay. Good. Let’s find your dad, shall we?” She crossed to the bubbling potion on the ground. “Cora, I’ll need your help.” Green magic sparked along her arm and charged down the end of her fingertips.

  Cora stepped out of the corner of the room and summoned her own magic—a beautiful gray-blue that flickered around her hand. A phantom wind billowed through the room, lifting our hair, whipping at our skin. I had the strangest sensation of flying, that a salty tempest was buffeting us in this cramped room.

  Their colored magic mingled above the potion, a stunning turquoise. My heart slammed hard against my ribs like a battle drum. At last, I’d find out where my parents were. I’d wrap my arms around my mum for the first time since I was a little girl.

  The cloud of shimmering blue-green magic bloomed and pulsed above us. Then, an image began to take shape within the swirls of magic—stone arches, wood pews, stained glass windows—an ancient-looking church with a vaulted ceiling.

  The vampire had said something about an old church. Baleros was in one, wasn’t he?

  “St. Bartholomew’s,” said Ruadan. “It’s not far from here.”

  I stared at it, starting to believe it at last. I was about to find my parents.

  Aenor dropped my mother’s cherry-red hair into the cauldron next. The cloud of magic swirled a bit, then reformed to look like the same church. They were both there.

  “They’re together,” I breathed.

  But what the hells were they doing in that church?

  They were in trouble, somehow. Baleros had trapped them. There was simply no other explanation.

  I snatched my bag off the floor, now with a fresh stock of whiskey. “Let’s go get my parents.”

  The sun was starting to rise by the time we neared Smithfield, tingeing the city with coral. Even after I’d left the circus world, I’d remained in this stupid tiny outfit, and I tugged up my little striped tube top to cover my nipples. We’d borrowed swords from Aenor, but her clothes were too small for me.

  Ruadan’s gaze slid to me. “What do you expect to see when we find your father?”

  “I have no idea. But I imagine we’re….” I was about to say rescuing him, but then I felt stupid. He was the bloody Horseman of Death. He didn’t need saving. “I don’t know.”

  If he was okay, why hadn’t he come to find me once Nyxobas had let him out Eden? Finding his daughter should have been the first thing on his agenda. Adonis. Thanatos. Death himself. What in the heavens and hells would stop him from hunting his only child down at his first chance?

  “Aenor said his curse had never taken hold,” Ruadan added. “What if Baleros figured out how to reverse that?”

  “You’re being kind of a downer right now, Ruadan.” I refused to give credence to this theory. “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  We moved swiftly along the narrow alleyways. No portals for us this time, since ripping a watery hole in the earth tended to attract a fair bit of attention.

  Despite what Rua
dan had said, I couldn’t entertain the idea that my father’s seal had been opened, unleashing his curse.

  I breathed in Ruadan’s smell: the apple and pine scent that had started to seem like home to me. As I did, I felt a fierce desire to protect him. And that meant acknowledging when threats might be real. My soul felt like it was ripped open as I imagined a deadly showdown between my father and my favorite demigod.

  “I can’t die from his death powers,” I said quietly. “You can, if they’re powerful enough.”

  My throat went dry at the thought of Ruadan growing sick with the Plague. Somewhere inside me, I had the power to stop this death magic, except that I had no idea how to control it.

  I touched his arm. “Look, I have no idea what will happen. But you have your own way of gaining strength if you need it.” I flashed him a sad smile. “All you have to do is tell me you don’t ever want to see me again.” All he had to do was break my heart.

  The look he gave me pierced me to the core. He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could get a word out, a shadow crossed over us. Something above had blotted out the sun for just a moment.

  My blood roared as I glanced up at the heavens.

  My stomach clenched at the sight of two winged creatures swooping above us—dark angels, wings outstretched, one much larger than the other. No—demons, probably. Silhouetted against the rising sun, their features were obscure. My heart slammed like a war drum. They both had bows and quivers slung over their backs, and their aerial position was a huge advantage.

  Here, in the sunlight, Ruadan and I wouldn’t be able to move through the shadows the way we could at night.

  I sucked in a sharp breath. “Can you see who that is?”

  “Maddan.” Ruadan squinted into the sunlight as they swooped overhead. “The smaller one is Maddan. The other … I don’t know yet.”

  I didn’t like the way they were swooping above the alley, like vultures eying up their prey.

  Then, Maddan nocked an arrow, aiming it directly at us.

  Bollocks.

  I readied my sword, but when Maddan unleashed his arrow, Ruadan reached up, deflecting it with his sword.

  “We’re going to need to run, but they can hit us easily from their vantage point. We’ll just have to go fast.” The air frosted as Ruadan summoned a blast of shadow magic to hurl at our celestial attackers. Then he shouted something in Ancient Fae that I was pretty sure was a vile swear. “They’re absorbing the shadow magic. Are you ready?”

  “Wait.” Running through an alley left us vulnerable, and we’d just get hammered from above. Tingles raced down my spine, and I could feel the death angel ready to erupt out of my body. Good. We actually needed her, now, to slaughter the demons above us. “Not yet, Ruadan,” I said. “Cover me for a second. I have another idea.”

  Just had to make sure I didn’t lose control completely.

  Ruadan yanked me by the waist, pushing me against the wall just under a gutter overhang in the alley that shielded us a bit. I reached into my bug-out bag and yanked out the whiskey I’d taken from Celeste. I took a long, glorious sip. Then another.

  Above, the larger demon started screeching in a high-pitched voice. I couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, but there was something oddly familiar about it. How did I know that voice?

  Ruadan pulled me tight against him, the arrows coming faster now. I could feel the air start to cool with his dark magic.

  As I drank deeply from my bottle, Ruadan gaped at me. “We’re waiting here just so you can drink whiskey?” he asked incredulously.

  I drained the last drop. At last, I felt the comfortable buzz that I needed not to slaughter the whole world. “I need to drink whiskey so I can fly.”

  “What?” he barked. “You have to drink whiskey to fly? That’s a shit superpower.”

  I’d had no idea that Ruadan used words like superpower. There were a lot of things I still had to learn about him, which meant we had to get out of here alive.

  “I’ll distract them from above, and you run away.”

  “I’m not taking part in a plan that involves the phrase ‘you run away.’”

  “Look, there are literally no good options here, so don’t act like there’s a better plan.” I glanced at the mouth of the alley, and my pulse raced as I saw a flicker of movement. Demons were waiting for us to come out. When Ruadan got to the end, they’d trap him and cut the World Key right off his chest.

  “Let’s go,” said Ruadan.

  “Wait!” I grabbed his arm. “They’re waiting for us at the other end. It’s an ambush.”

  Chapter 125

  The thought that there was still so much I didn’t know about Ruadan occurred to me a second time. We had to get out of here so I could learn every single thing about him, about every moment of his long life.

  Arrows were slamming into the wall next to us.

  But right now, I had one crucial question. “Ruadan, can you fly?” I shouted. “Winged creatures can fly.” Thunk. “Except chickens, penguins. Ostrich.” Shit, shit. Focus, Liora. “My point is, now would be a good time to fly.”

  Thunk. Thunk. Arrows hit the wall on the other side of us, and we pressed into each other as tightly as possible.

  “I can only fly when my incubus side comes out. And that only happens when I’m threatened.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” It came out like a screech, melding with the screeching of the demon above. The arrogance of a demigod. We were trapped in an alley, hammered with arrows by demons from above. On either side of the alley, more demons were waiting to kill us. But Ruadan didn’t feel threatened. No, this was just an ordinary morning, apparently.

  I’d only seen him transform twice. Once with me; the other time had been in the tunnels, when his old childhood tormentor—the serpentine Caoranach—had nearly killed him. She had been the one who really got to him.

  I pulled him tight against me. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “For what’s about to happen.”

  Then, I grabbed his throat as tight as I could, and I felt his body go rigid. I stood on my tiptoes, getting as close to his ear as I could.

  I mimicked the lilting fae accent and deep voice of the Caoranach. “I’ve been here since before the angels,” I said, in a voice that sounded exactly like hers. “Before the fae. I am one of the Old Gods. Your pain was finer sustenance than my tea.”

  Then, I bit his neck as hard as I could, drawing blood.

  Black, leathery wings swooped down behind him, blocking out the sun above us. Star-flecked darkness swirled in his eyes and two dark horns gleamed on his head; a hand at my throat, black claws piercing my neck. For just a moment, I wondered if this was the worst idea I’d ever had, born from the whiskey I’d just chugged. Then, my breathing slowed again. My beautiful nightmare, a god dredged from primordial depths.

  I might be death incarnate, but Ruadan still had the ability to send a shiver of primal fear up my spine. A voice in the ancient part of my brain told me to run, but I knew better. Even his monstrous side wouldn’t hurt me.

  “There you are,” I said. “I love you. Even your ill-tempered side.”

  I’d never told him I loved him before. Now that it was out of my mouth, the terrible weight of those unspoken words had lifted off my chest. Now, I never wanted to stop saying it.

  An arrow slammed against his wings, bouncing off—a useful shield. Snarling, he pulled his hand away from my throat. Now, his gaze was sliding down my body, taking in the tube top that had slid down, one of my nipples peeking out. He growled quietly, then grabbed me by the waist, holding his sword in the other hand.

  He’d gone from primal demigod of wrath to a lust monster. His magic stroked my skin like a dangerous caress. As arousal stirred in my own body, I could see him feeding from it, and his dark magic bloomed from his body.

  Ruadan’s wings had formed a shield around us, protecting us from the oncoming hail of arrows. Thin veins of silver shone in his wings,
and light shone through the membranes. They looked thin, but they were protecting us.

  I reached up to touch his black wing, and he sucked in a sharp breath, muscles tensing. His lust magic stroked over my bare skin, and his body glowed.

  “Are your wings indestructible?” I asked.

  His eyes had swept down to my breasts, and he cupped one of them, thumb stroking over my nipple. “Not quite. Nothing is indestructible.”

  My breasts peaked under the full, intense stare of an incubus.

  And this was the problem with Incubus Ruadan. He might have wings, but his focus wasn’t necessarily in the right place. Even with his powerful wings forming a dome around us, we couldn’t stay here forever. The demons waiting for us at the mouths of the alley were about to trap us in here, and his wings wouldn’t shield us for long.

  Footfalls echoed off the alley walls, and Ruadan’s head whipped to the right. The air turned to ice. The demons had decided to come for us.

  “We need to get out of here,” Ruadan snarled.

  “I know. That’s what I’ve been saying. Now. You need to use those big wings right now. And I need to use mine.”

  I will crush my enemies into the realm of the dead.

  Ruadan grabbed me around the waist, and his powerful wings began thumping the air, lifting us out of the alley, into the coral morning sun rays. I gripped my sword in one hand and looped the other around his neck.

  I will ensnare your bodies in chains of darkness.

  A volley of arrows slammed into us, most of them hitting Ruadan’s wings—but one of them pierced his leg.

  I breathed in Ruadan’s piney scent, then I whispered, “Let go.”

  My wings weren’t out yet, and to my surprise, he trusted me enough to drop his grip on me anyway. For just a moment, I plummeted. My bug-out bag dropped to the ground, but I clung tightly to the sword.

  I am the beginning and the end.

 

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