16. AMBROSE

16

AMbrOSE

CHEAPSIDE, EVERLAST CITY

" W here the fuck are you going?" Scion yelled as I grabbed the book off the table and stalked toward the door.

I ignored him, answering by yanking the door open and marching out into the street, slamming it forcefully behind me. The sound of wood against stone echoed through the quiet of the night, leaving a still silence behind.

The silence was…unsettling.

Aside from me, there didn't seem to be a single living soul on this street. Even the echoes of battle from the far-off castle couldn't reach this spot, leaving my heavy breathing as the only sign of life.

I ran a hand through my hair angrily.

I couldn't pinpoint the cause of this sudden surge of anger, but I was well aware of the growing pressure that had been building in my mind for days. Not being able to access my visions left me constantly frustrated, as if I had been disconnected from the most vital part of myself. Then, whenever a shred of the future did break through to my unusually inactive mind, it would be vague and confused. As if viewed through a veil.

Worse even than my lack of magic was the constant bickering with Scion, the never ending barrage of reminders that he had every reason to hate me. I was sure that soon he'd be pushed too far and demand that I leave them be.

But I couldn't do that. I'd never be able to do that, because of her.

Lonnie was the greatest source of my on going frustration. My constant torment, and of course, she had no idea why I wavered between avoiding her at all cost and being unable to stay away.

With an aggrieved sigh, I slumped to the ground, taking a seat on the small stone step outside the back door. I put Grandmother Celia's book down on the step beside me, and then stared straight ahead, my vision swimming slightly.

The alley that stretched before me was littered with trash and debris, and the smell of rot lingered in the air. The cobblestones were cracked and stained with dirt and grime, and several houses had boarded-up windows. It was clear that this neighborhood had seen better days.

I closed my eyes and tuned it all out. I simply needed to meditate, I told myself. I needed time alone to recenter, and I'd be fine. I had to be fine.

I cleared my mind of all thoughts except the desire to see something–anything. It didn't need to be a world ending revelation, fuck, I'd settle for some idea of what tomorrow's weather might be.

After several long minutes of wrestling with myself, I finally latched onto a vision of the very alley where I now sat.

In my mind's eye, the little healer, Ciara, stepped outside her house and walked down the street, a basket in hand. She turned left at the end of the road, and the image dissipated.

I sighed with relief. It wasn't an important vision, or even a detailed one, but at least I'd been able to see anything at all.

Focusing harder on the details of the simple vision, I strained my mind for other possibilities. This was a simplistic, but useful exercise—one that my grandmother had taught me in childhood. Every single vision, no matter how mundane, could happen. Most small changes to the future had no effect, however some larger interventions would cause long term ripples that changed the future of thousands.

Once again, I saw Ciara walking down the street, but this time she turned right instead of left. I tried again, and Ciara walked down the street, turned right, then bumped into another woman. The two women exchanged tense pleasantries.

I ran through fifty odd scenarios of Ciara leaving her house, each one more unlikely than the last. In some iterations, I tried interfering. For example, if I went back inside and slit the woman's throat, she would never walk down the street at all.

Once I'd exhausted every possible version of the future, I sighed in relief. I didn't care about this street, or the healer or where she might be going, but at least my magic hadn't completely abandoned me.

My eyes flew open again, looking at the real street in front of me rather than the one in my mind. I felt markedly calmer than I had only moments ago. Remembering the book, I snatched it off the step and let it fall open on my lap. I supposed I could read it out here as well as anywhere else. At least out here, Scion wasn't glaring at me, and I didn't have to resist the urge to watch Lonnie too often, lest she become suspicious.

I bent closer to the book, squinting at the first page in the low light coming from under the door.

Without warning, Bael threw the door open behind me, bursting out of the house and nearly tripping over me as he bolted out into the ally. Startled, I watched, as Bael jerked to a halt and doubled over, vomiting across the stained cobblestones of the ally. I raised an eyebrow. I hadn't seen that coming.

I got heavily to my feet and walked over to my cousin. "You alright?"

Bael retched again, then glared up at me with contempt, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "What the fuck does it look like to you?"

I crossed my arms, leaning back on my heels. Nearly a year ago we'd stood together in the ally only a few streets over, just before I'd allowed myself to be captured. At the time, I'd thought my cousin was too young and inexperienced to be taken seriously, but he didn't seem that way now.

"It looks like you're ill. Are you allergic to nettle root or something?"

"What?" Bael said caustically, clearly not remembering the ingredients of the tea Ciara had served.

I shook my head. "Nevermind. What's wrong with you?"

Bael straightened, seeming temporarily finished vomiting. "Shouldn't you tell me that?"

I felt a muscle twitch in my jaw with annoyance. "I go back to meditating about it long enough to find out for myself, or you could save us some time and just tell me."

Bael matched my scowl. "I've got a migraine, that's all. It's making me nauseous."

I furrowed my brow. That was obviously bullshit, and at the same time must be at least partly true. He hadn't lied–indeed, I didn't think he'd stay conscious through the pain of a lie if his head was already hurting this badly. Yet, Fae didn't get sick often, and we certainly didn't get unexplained headaches.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked.

Bael's eyes darted to the side, looking uncomfortable. "Not long."

I raised an eyebrow. "Be specific."

Bael glowered at me. "I don't have to tell you anything. Leave me alone before I make you."

I snorted a derisive laugh. "You could try, but in this state I'd knock you unconscious before you ever lifted a hand."

"Give me a hundred years and I'd win every time," he grumbled.

I had no idea what the fuck that meant, and decided I didn't care to ask. Not when there were much more interesting questions at hand. "As you said, I'll work it out anyway. You may as well tell me everything."

Bael's scowl deepened. "I don't know what's wrong, alright? You have a better chance of figuring it out than I do, so when you do, let me know."

He shouldered past me, and plastered on a grin before striding back into the house.

I frowned. That was…odd, to say the least.

The only upside was now I had something to focus on. An actual challenge to exercise my powers without being hindered by the blindspot that was Lonnie or Idris's interference.

By the end of the week I'd figure out what was wrong with him. I only hoped that would be soon enough to fix it.

The house was silent when I finally went back inside.

I'd lost track of time, caught in something of a meditative trance, reading Grandmother's notes and then seeking out possible solutions in the near distant future.

It had taken several hours, but finally I felt like myself again. I'd seen enough of the future to make a plan, and now needed to share that plan with the others.

I made my way up the small rickety stairs in search of Lonnie and the others. There were only two rooms at the top of the landing, so even if I hadn't known where to look it wouldn't have been difficult to find where they were sleeping.

I opened the door to a sort of store room. Like downstairs, there were drying herbs hanging from the low rafters, filling the entire room with a spicy floral scent.

There were no beds, but in the back corner of the room I found the others. They'd laid out their cloaks and what looked like a single borrowed blanket on the wooden floor.

Scion lay motionless, arms limply at his sides. His breathing was steady and deep, signaling that he was sound asleep. I couldn't help but smile; as a soldier, Scion had the ability to sleep in any place or situation. He probably found more comfort on the hard ground than on a soft bed.

Conversely, Bael was not asleep, and his yellow catlike eyes followed me as I approached. He looked wary, and we made eye contact for a brief moment. I tried to communicate without words that I had no intention of sharing his secret—yet.

Between them, Lonnie had her feet entangled with Bael's legs, and was using Scion's arm as a pillow. I thought she was asleep too, until her eyes flashed in the darkness. She sat up and looked at me. "Are you alright?"

I smiled to myself. She was always worrying about if we were alright, when really she was the only one who mattered.

"Fine, love." I said, quietly enough that I hoped not to wake Scion. "Better than fine, actually. I finally know what we need to do."

"Go back to the castle and murder Idris?" Bael asked, sounding somewhat hopeful.

"Eventually," I replied.

Both Bael and Lonnie looked taken aback, as if they'd expected me to say we should leave him in peace. If so, they'd gravely misunderstood my motivations. I would never advocate for either giving up or showing too much mercy to those who did not deserve it, but neither did I want to be rash. If we stormed back to the castle now, we might win, but the odds were slim.

Of the four of us, all but me had offensive magical talents. Except that no one was in top fighting condition.

Lonnie was still mastering her abilities. She'd come extremely far in a short period of time, but not far enough for a real fight. Bael was clearly in worse condition than he'd been letting on. I'd wondered earlier why he'd killed the mob of mindless courtiers in waves, rather than all at once. Now, I suspected it was because his energy was flagging. Scion seemed to think he was the one who had been siphoning Lonnie's energy, but now I wasn't so sure.

That left only Scion to face Idris alone, and I wasn't sure enough that he'd win to risk it. We didn't know the full extent of Idris's power, and thanks to whatever he'd said to me upon our meeting, I still didn't know.

"Well?" Lonnie blurted out.

I blinked rapidly, suddenly realizing I'd been silent for far too long, lost in my own contemplation. I shook my head vigorously. "Fuck, sorry."

"Another vision?" Lonnie asked hopefully.

Again, I shook my head. "Not this time. I just have a lot to think about." I took a breath. "I think we should travel to Inbetwixt in the morning."

"Why? Bael asked, his yellow eyes narrowing. In the dim light, his irises glowed, like that of an animal.

"Because I don't want to focus on Idris. Instead, we need to concentrate on breaking the curse."

Bael made a slightly angry noise in the back of his throat and Lonnie audibly sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Isn't that what we've been doing all this time?"

"Yes, but listen to me. You heard what Ciara said downstairs about draining, and she wasn't wrong. As long as your circle of bonds remains broken you'll never have enough magic to pull from to take on Idris, or to maintain power over the kingdom afterwards. His coup was public, and it will take years and many battles to regain the reputation we once had."

"It could also take years to find out how to break the curse," Bael growled.

"It could, but I doubt it." I held out the book to them. "Grandmother left us all her notes, and I've spent the last several hours deciphering them."

"I can't read this," Lonnie bemoaned, pushing the book back toward me.

"Here, then look at this."

I flipped to a page with a drawing and slid it back toward her. She and Bael leaned over the book as one, assessing. Lonnie opened her mouth, undoubtedly to ask questions, but I cut her off, already prepared to explain.

"This is that same crown we kept seeing pictured in the other books. Celia was clearly ruminating on it for years. Perhaps for decades, but here she's drawn it differently. See, instead of the three pointed crown with a jewel on each, she's made it a five pointed crown. Like the obsidian crown."

"You said the obsidian crown never had jewels." She eyed me suspiciously. "There were historical records and whatever else to prove it."

I smiled. This was the part of my theory I found the most interesting–the bit that confirmed for me that I was on the right path, finally, after so long of wandering aimlessly.

"I believe that it didn't have those jewels anymore by the time the Unseelie king stole the crown from Aisling and took her away from Aftermath. I already recognized one of the jewels as the diamond of Nevermore. I believe the others belong to Inbetwixt and Overcast."

I widened my eyes, expecting them to catch on and join in my glee at having finally worked something out.

"Did she dismantle the crown herself?" Scion asked.

I looked over at him, startled. I hadn't realized he'd woken up. "I believe so. It seems too much of a coincidence that Aisling had three mates, one from each province, and here we have dozens of drawings of the crown jewel of each realm set into the obsidian crown. But if she took her crown apart, spreading the pieces between her bonded, that would make sense."

"So we just need the stones?" Lonnie clarified. "That's it?"

"And a way to put it back together," I conceded. "But if we can do both…" I let my sentence trail off, leaving them to make the rest of the connections on their own.

"This is amazing," Lonnie beamed. She made a small lurching motion, as if about to hug me, then stopped herself. I bit back disappointment. It was such a small thing, but I felt like a starving man grasping for scraps. Anything she offered was better than nothing.

"I agree this is the best information we're going to get," Scion said. "We should leave for Inbetwixt tomorrow."

I looked sideways at him. "Are you agreeing with me?"

He scowled. "I'm agreeing with the best possible option."

I raised my eyebrows. Whatever he cared to tell himself.

"Why should we go to Inbetwixt first?" Bael asked, also looking much happier than he had when I entered.

"Because I'm almost certain that your friends in the thieves guild have the stone. Or, at the very least, they'll be able to help get it. There's a passage about it in the book. The stone used to be kept at the Lord and Lady's manor, but several years ago it was taken."

"Oh, good." Lonnie sighed in relief. "I wouldn't want to go back and see the Lord and Lady of Inbetwixt, anyway."

"But if we know Cross has the stone, why should we go there first?" Scion asked. "If we know they have the stone and have been presumably keeping it safe for a while, shouldn't we go look for one of the others first?"

I shook my head. "No, it must be Inbetwixt first. We'll need the thieves' help to reach the stone, but I'm not sure how much longer they'll be in the city."

Lonnie raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Cross has spies in every city. Soon he'll know what's happened here, and I think he'll decide to take his group into hiding."

"When?" Scion asked.

"I'm not sure. It might be tomorrow, it might be in a few days. There are a lot of moving parts and I can't see all of them at once."

"Well that's fucking unhelpful," Scion snapped.

I glared at him. "I've just spent hours learning at least this much, you could be grateful to have at least some direction."

Lonnie pleaded with her eyes for us not to argue. "Thank you for trying."

I sucked in a calming breath. "I learned one thing for sure. Did you all know that Aine is still living with the thieves guild?"

They glanced at each other, exchanging looks of surprise.

"She is?" Bael sounded incredulous. "Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, but since she's there that opens up many other paths for the thieves as a whole."

"You can ask her tomorrow," Lonnie told Bael. Her expression had lightened, like the mere idea of having a plan had lifted some of the weight from her shoulders.

I found myself leaning toward her, then having to stop myself. Fuck, this was growing harder and harder to ignore. I'd thought it was bad enough on the boat, but somehow my feelings for her had gotten even stronger over the last months.

She couldn't know it, of course, but this conversation was the beginning of the end of my keeping the truth of our mating from her. She'd need her bonded circle closed to access her full power, and sooner or later I'd have to tell her.