Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

I could not think as Andas moved against me, in me. Whatever other things I might have said, were gone, disappearing under the onslaught of sensation.

This was more than pleasure, this was connection and history and pain, and I felt the bond between us tighten as I breathed him in, tasted his skin, feasted on his mouth as if I were starving and he was my last meal.

No hesitation. No regret. This was where I was meant to be—with Andas, skin to skin, our hearts beating frantically as if they, too, would touch as our bodies did. Wild, we were wild and in this together. We were free in this moment as we might never be free again.

Andas thrust into me over and over, harder each time. There was nothing gentle about this, nothing soft and slow. We were chasing a peak that neither of us could see or define. And I loved every fucking second of it. This was my path—Andas was the fate I’d been walking toward every step of the way. The rightness of our bodies together was so strange considering who we were, yet I didn’t question that we were fated to be together. Not anymore. I’d made my choice, and so had he, for good or for ill. We were in this shit together.

The swirling of a coming climax coaxed me to try and match his thrusts, but all it gained me was a growl and a slap on the ass that made my whole body clench. A moan slipped from my lips. I tipped my head back, leaning it against the cold damp rock.

“Sweet goddess,” the words slipped from him as his rhythm faltered. He gasped as my body milked his, tightening in waves from that one smack.

“Yes?” I purred the word.

His laugh caught me off guard and then he picked up speed again, and we were climbing once more. The third climax was stronger than the first two—or was it three? His magic made demands on my body on all fronts, along with his hands, mouth, and cock. I was drowning in the sensations, lost to anything else. Waves of bliss rolled through me, touching every part of my body, and his body melded to mine as he roared, coming hard, as undone as I was.

I matched him, screaming his name as the dam burst inside of me, as if I were coming apart at the seams and only the barest of threads held me together—all of which were tied to him. Shudders wracked my body as I tried to catch my breath, falling slowly from the high, sweat drenched and struggling to make sense of our tangled bodies.

Our foreheads touched, my arms were limp over his shoulders, legs wrapped over his hips. His hands trembled where he rested them on the swell of my hips, the skin under them tender from where he’d held me tight.

The light in the cave was dim, but I could see enough; the trail of sweat on his cheeks, the bruises already rising on my arms. I licked my lips, tasting blood.

What came after this part? Our relationship had no template, so there were no directions as to how to move forward. I doubted that he’d follow me around like Kik did with Peggy. I doubted that he’d allow me to take the lead, as Faolan did with Kallik. We’d shared something irrefutable. But how the hell did we navigate the rest? Of all the impossible things I’d made possible, this truly seemed impossible.

And yet, I’d never shied away from hard work. “Andas?”

He swallowed audibly. “What?”

“What do we do now?”

He huffed a laugh. “Fucked if I know.”

Well, that was…unexpected.

He stepped back, his cock sliding from me, and I almost grabbed at him to draw him back to me. But our moment of grace had ended, and I could feel that as surely as I’d felt this time was meant to be ours.

I set my feet on the floor and pushed off the rock. My back had been pin-pricked by the rocks, but I didn’t mind. I’d endured far worse injuries.

He turned, giving me a view of his bare back. I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped me. Andas froze as I moved, drawn toward him. My fingers tracing the designs that had been etched into his skin.

Not a wolf.

Not a sword.

A new symbol that was purely his covered his back and slid down his arms, as if a painter had been busy with him while he’d moved inside of me. They were feathers, as if he had wings. I brushed my fingers over the design, fully expecting them to feel real. The skin on his back flexed and danced as I traced each one.

He looked over his shoulder at me. “What is it?”

“Feathers. Crow feathers. They look real.”

The bird that existed on Earth and in Underhill and signified magic and warfare for the fae. Fitting, for what he was now.

Andas took my hand, spinning me so that my back was to him. His fingers traced over my shoulder blades and spine, following a design that I could feel. I knew what it would be before he said it. Another creature that existed in both realms.

“Raven feathers, but white and silver, not black,” I said.

I didn’t have to see the painted wings to know what it looked like. I knew it down to my soul. Andas spun me to face him. “A bird seen as a protector. Fitting. You are a mother.”

Gaia’s voice rippled through the cave. You’ve both been marked, bound together. Now you must seek what comes next.

Andas cocked a brow. “Was that a fucking goddess?”

“Gaia,” I replied.

He stared. “Does she visit you often?”

I smirked. “Can’t tell you all of my secrets.”

And that was the crux of it. We were still on opposite sides—and would be, for the rest of time. The intimacy we’d shared still hovered between us, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it, no space to savor it, because we had to find a way to stop Keefe.

The world was dying all around us.

I tried to feel guilty for taking the time with Andas, but it had been the right step, not just for my journey, but for his too. At some point I had to be me .

Andas huffed and snapped his fingers in my direction. Cloth swirled around me, wrapping me in white and silver material that hugged my legs and torso, leaving my feet bare.

The pants were snug but comfortable, with plenty of movement to them. The vest that covered my chest bore a pattern of raven’s wings.

“I’ll get this filthy in minutes, you know that?”

His smile was brief, and it made my heart flutter. “I wove it to repel dirt and stench.”

My mouth twitched upward. “That’s the most thoughtful gift anyone’s ever got me. It will be a challenge, then, to make it stink. I like a good challenge.”

Drawing on my power, I flicked my fingers at Andas, and dressed him in the perfect opposite. Black material from pants to vest, and heavy boots. I wiggled my toes against the ground, not feeling the sharp rocks or cold. He hadn’t given me shoes, and that felt right. He saw me as I was—a woman who’d rather roam through savage places alongside her wonderful creatures than the halls of any palace.

“Gaia has blessed you,” Andas said. “But this won’t stop everyone from dying if we do nothing.”

I nodded, sobering with his words. He was right, and Gaia had said as much. “Do you have a plan?” I asked. “You know Keefe best.”

“I will deal with him. He is my issue. You should stay here.”

My snort was barely out of me before Andas fell through a portal in a swirl of darkness and was gone, leaving me alone in the damp cave.

“He really did that,” I said to the dark. Maybe he didn’t know me for shit.

“Idiot.” I muttered under my breath. Sigella was in the scale realm with Keefe and Orlaith, and even if I was locked out of the scale realm, I was far from helpless. Standing idly by wasn’t in my nature.

I’d already tried to open a portal to Sigella, but perhaps I could check up on her essence. I could see her future right alongside mine still, and that had to mean something.

Carefully, as if I were creeping up on a herd of alicorns, I stretched out my magic in my mind to touch her path. Weary. Furious. Hurt.

I could still access her essence. Maybe I could open a portal through her. I drew on my power and pushed a tiny amount—no more than she could bear to hold—into Sigella’s body. Her wounds closed over and new energy filled her, but her body wouldn’t hold my power for long.

I opened her eyes, then pushed my magic through her essence to open a small portal to me.

For an instant I was looking at Sigella and looking at myself too. I quickly closed Sigella’s eyes and retreated somewhat until I was left only with the single view of Sigella in the scale realm.

I could tell this portal was different, and sure enough, when I touched my fingertips to the portal, my hand didn’t go through. I couldn’t physically reach her.

Her arms were bound above her head with iron chains, and she’d been stripped to nothing but a ragged blue shift. Although I was relieved that she hadn’t been beaten black and blue, anger snapped through me.

“You fucker, Keefe,” I growled.

Sigella shook violently from holding my power, but she answered in a voice hoarsened by thirst, “He holds all the water in the worlds in a single bottle, Silver. You must find it and release it, or all the water creatures will die. In time humans will die without them. Already, those who survive this drought will suffer great famine.”

Fierce hope rose within me. “Where, Sigella? Where do I look?”

“Not with him.” Sigella’s eyes fluttered shut. “Somewhere else. Maybe Earth.”

Maybe? That was a big fucking search area. “Not Underhill?”

She didn’t respond. I had to get her out of there. There had to be a way to get through this portal to grab her. She wasn’t in bad shape, but who knew what Keefe’s plans were.

The viewing portal went black, and I was shoved from Sigella’s essence as if Keefe had stuck his hand through and jabbed me in the chest. Only it wasn’t Keefe. I caught a glimpse of red hair and fierce eyes before I was pushed all the way out.

Kik might not swear anymore, but he’d taught me every horrific word possible, and I hurled them all at the cave walls until my rage subsided somewhat. I wished I could say Orlaith had at least apologized or explained her betrayal. As things stood, it appeared she’d made her choice for good.

I rubbed my hands over my face. “A single bottle. That’s what I have to go on? Maybe on Earth.”

A single feather from one of the rainbow flock, dropped deep in the jungle would have been easier to find. But I knew who could help me.

Opening a portal, I stepped through it into the Alaskan court. Night had fallen—the summers were short here—and the dark had brought a freeze with it. Hurrying up the first set of stairs, I made my way to the room where I’d left my friends. My family.

They weren’t there.

I circled on the spot and tried to lock onto their magics, but it was as if they were gone…

“No.” I breathed the word, horror making my heart race. They couldn’t have died. Not in the few short hours I’d been away. I cast out my magic to my sister, then whirled when it located her behind me.

“They’re hiding below,” Kallik said, entering the room. “We’ve done all we can to shield them from this slow death, and our spells will make it hard to find them.”

I turned to face her. “They’re alive?”

“For now. We’ve put as many people into a magical sleep as possible to help reserve their energy. We’ve had the Irish and Louisiana courts do the same. Only a few of us have remained awake. For the worst, should it come.”

Kallik was pale, and her lilac eyes seemed larger than ever. “The humans are preparing to initiate attacks on all three courts, Silver. To destroy us with their weapons and bombs. We have forty-eight hours before they give the order.”

I reached for her hands. “I know what I must find, I know how to return the water to the world.” Well, maybe not exactly, I was hoping Sigella was right, that I would just need to find the bottle and release the contents. “I just don’t know where it is. You still can’t see the paths?”

Kallik closed her eyes. “Only one. Your path is intertwined even more with Andas’s. Why isn’t he with you?”

“He thinks he can stop Keefe by himself.” I paused and frowned. “Keefe. Can you see his path? Or Orlaith’s? They’re the ones I need to understand in this.”

If either the trickster or the traitor had a path visible to Kallik, that might help me find the one bottle.

“There’s nothing more,” she answered.

My heart sank.

“But I can tell you something about him that didn’t seem relevant to me before? It’s all I have.”

“I’ll take all the help I can get.”

“Keefe is not his true name, and Trickster is merely the name he’s given himself. His real name is tied to your first meeting. The subterfuge seemed small at the time, and it wasn’t connected to any dire future. I myself go by Oracle instead of my birth name…”

“You did what you believed was right,” I told her. “Thank you for that. There could be something there.”

Where did I first meet Keefe? I cast my mind back. I’d first met him as an old man when he gave me Orlaith, but when did I meet the real Keefe for the first time? “I first met him in the cave where the tree of life was sprouting. I…” I thought back to that time, trying to replay it in my head. “He’d been drinking and…” There had been bottles behind him, bottles he’d drained.

Could it be that easy?

Could the bottle be stashed in a place we’d visited twice over, a place that we wouldn’t think to check again? It would be like burying a treasure in a place you knew the hunters had already looked. Indeed, it was exactly the kind of strategy I would use.

There was only one way to find out.

“I think…I think I’ve figured it out.” I grabbed my sister in a quick hug, surprising us both.

I portaled away from Alaska to Ireland. It was morning here and there was ice on the ground and hanging off the trees.

There was no time to waste.

I drew my power to me and raced into the cave holding the tree of life. Kallik’s words hummed under my skin—Keefe’s name wasn’t his name, and that felt important in discovering how to unravel his power.

I slid to a stop outside the cave and immediately felt a change in the place. The naga were underground, hunkered down deep under the cave. For now, they were safe, although none of us would be safe for long.

I ran into the cave, using my power to pull a small fire into my hand and light my way. I should have hesitated, though.

The tree of life had grown since I’d last visited. Now, it was waist high, thick with dark veins and a few silver ones too. The tree rustled and breathed as though a wind blew through the cavern, the silvered leaves glinting as they picked up scant bits of light. The naga were quiet below my feet, but I could sense them there, aware of my presence.

Propped against the far wall was a single bottle, clear, with water swirling in it as if currents were trapped inside.

My instincts flared.

This was too easy. I moved toward the bottle and was hit with an invisible force that threw me back across the cave. I smashed into the stone, hearing and feeling the crack of my ribs. Stars rippled through my vision as I pushed to my feet.

“So much smarter than I gave you credit for.” Keefe said, his voice bouncing around me. “I said to myself, ‘Keefe, should you bury it too’, and then I answered myself, ‘No, she’s an idiot.’ But the joke’s on me.” He chuckled to himself.

I reached for my weapons—none of which I had on me. I’d left them all behind. Like a fucking fool. I’d never done that in my life.

Keefe stepped from the shadows, smiling. “You think you can save this world from me? Already the marine life is dying in the millions. Millions of humans will follow when they die from dehydration, or hypothermia, or heat stroke. Soon enough, the very air they breathe will change. These things are already happening. You have already failed.”

“You were created to play a part, Keefe,” I said. “I believe your part is to die. This is a challenge to prove my worth and nothing more. A blip in the history of my life. Humans will live on. Marine creatures will recover and grow stronger again.”

He laughed, his grin wide, though his eyes had narrowed. “Such optimism. And what of your precious Sigella? Shall I kill her as my challenge? What of my daughter?”

“The Traitor?” I asked. “Orlaith made her choice. And Sigella has survived worse than you.”

“The Traitor,” he mused. “The Trickster and The Traitor. Sounds like a good time to me. But surely you have not discarded my daughter so easily.”

I circled the tree, moving closer to the bottle. “I can’t say what will happen to her now, her path and the part she plays are her own.”

Keefe waggled his brows “We shall see. But enough of paths and serious things. I am a Trickster at heart, you know this. What challenge shall we have, then, to see if I hand the bottle over to you?”

I tried not to stare at him with my mouth hanging open. “You think I would believe that you could honor such a challenge?”

He pressed his fingers to his chest. “I may not be Underhill’s chosen, Silver, but I am special in my own right. If I give you my word, I will hold to it.”

Keefe held his hand out, palm facing the dirt, and flexed his fingers.

A length of wood rose from the ground, planked flat like a table. A chair sprouted in front of it, and bottles appeared against the wall behind it.

Hundreds and hundreds of bottles, all with the same swirling water inside of them. The same current.

“A game of wisdom.” Keefe walked from behind the bar of bottles and whipped a white towel from the empty air, flipping it over his shoulder as he leaned forward. “You faced two henchmen before me, Underhill. Beasts. Monsters. But I am not a monster. I am more like you than perhaps you have realized.”

I didn’t doubt him. Gaia had told me that Keefe was pushed into power to balance ‘that which might be.’ At the time, I hadn’t connected that she meant a relationship between myself and Andas, but Gaia had been telling me that there would consequences to our love. Keefe had been granted the power to balance the alliance between me and Andas.

He pulled a glass from the air and placed it on the long bar with a slight thunk. He cracked a bottle open.

“What do you mean, you’re like me?” I moved toward the table.

“I can’t just give you the answers,” He laughed, smiling as if we were old friends. “But you weren’t exactly educated either. Not like other fae at least.” He hummed.

I spread my hands and executed a mocking bow. “So educate me, wise Trickster.”

His grin widened. “You’re much more fun than Andas. He tried to chop me into little pieces. Good thing I didn’t let him do that.”

Hot, icy fear sliced through me.

Keefe wouldn’t have been able to kill Andas, right? I stretched for the connection between myself and Unbalance, only to find it wavering and dull, as if he were injured or worse…dying.

“Ah, I see you have an idea of what’s going on?” Keefe sighed. “I do so like a good game, particularly one where the stakes are high and time is limited. Now. Here is my game. I will let you choose the bottle. If you are correct, you shall release water back into the worlds.”

“And if I choose wrong?”

“Death and suffering, my dear. Yours. Andas’s. Eternal servitude for everyone you care about. They’ll learn to love me when they learn I control all water. If they don’t learn to love me, then they’ll learn to fake it. Either way is fine by me.”

“All the water you stole will return to the same places it came from. Every drop,” I replied. “You will never take it again. That is a fair deal considering what you seek to take if I lose.”

He held out his hand again, palm down. He flexed his fingers, and I felt the air snap. “You have a deal.”

What I wanted was to run toward Andas laying injured. Dying. But everyone was dying.

And Keefe wanted me here, entertaining him, which made me furious and also more determined.

He motioned to one of the chairs. “Have a seat, young Underhill. It’s time to choose your drink. I suggest you choose wisely.”