16. Sixteen

sixteen

The Fae on the couches peered at me with apathy. A woman with long blond hair that spilled all the way to the ground puffed on her pipe as she considered my presence.

Thankfully, no one got up to approach. The group seeming content to remain on their couches.

Who knew if that would last. Fae were mercurial creatures that were well known for their sadistic tendencies.

And here I was, a lamb in their midst.

Lovely.

Looking around, I took stock of my situation. I was alone and isolated. In hostile territory with no idea how to find my way back.

By now, Nathan would have notified Liam. They’d start a search, but their efforts would be hampered by the need to conceal the fact that I’d gone missing.

At least I was still in the barrow and hadn’t crossed over into somewhere more dangerous. Like the Summer Lands.

Keeping an eye on the Fae around me, I moved toward the edge of the room. Except for their brief perusal when I’d first arrived, they seemed content to leave me alone, returning to their leisure and forgetting about me.

Gasps and moans of pleasure soon followed. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of writhing bodies and naked limbs.

What was it about the Fae and exhibitionism?

A door to my far left beckoned, offering an escape from the increasingly uncomfortable situation.

Before I could make a beeline toward it, the occupants of a couch on the opposite side of the room caught my attention.

Connor sat in repose, his face cold and haughty. A sullen king stretched out along the couch, one leg bent and resting along the back cushions, his other foot on the ground. Drake rested between his legs, his head on Connor’s stomach as my brother idly played with his hair.

Just two dangerous men enjoying a nice break.

I saw the instant Drake spotted me. The way he half lifted from reclining, every muscle in his body tensing to alert Connor.

It was almost gratifying seeing the flabbergasted look on my brother’s face when his gaze landed on me. Shock and confusion followed quickly by concern.

I could empathize. I hadn’t expected to see him here either.

Last time I’d checked, his phone’s location hadn’t placed him anywhere near Freemont Street.

Anton was not going to be happy when he arrived at the location I’d given him to find Connor absent.

By now, Drake had sat fully upright.

Connor dropped the leg he’d had stretched out behind him to the ground.

Since neither of the two were pretending not to know me, I gave them a jaunty wave and a “what can you do” shrug.

“Unbelievable,” Drake mouthed as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Connor’s features tightened, his stormy expression a replica of Liam’s.

Grateful not to have to face a Fae pleasure den on my own, I started toward the pair.

Connor’s expression turned thunderous, his eyes widening an instant before someone roughly grabbed my arm and jerked me into the side of their body.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” my assailant spat.

Verdant green eyes glared down into mine. Their familiarity the only reason I didn’t stab the asshole in the gut with the pocket knife I’d hidden at my waist. A tendril of my magic reached out, peeling back a tiny layer of his illusion. Baran’s features superimposed themselves over the face of the stranger.

Irritation bit into his face as he gave me a harsh shake that sent pain screeching up my arm. “Do not use your power in this place. Not unless you wish an early death.”

I clamped down on my magic, forcing it back into hibernation.

Baran hustled me away as an enraged yowl came from Connor’s direction. “I take it I have you to thank for those two tailing me all night long.”

Cries of dismay rose from behind us.

Over my shoulder, I caught a brief glimpse of Connor vaulting over couches as he barreled toward us. Drake was harder to spot, a dark shadow along the periphery, dodging obstacles as he followed, the glint of metal in his hand pointing to a weapon of some kind.

Baran bared his teeth at the two. “They’re as stubborn as you.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It’s not.” He shoved me in front of him as we reached the wall. A shrill whistle left him a second later.

At his signal, Fae ghosted into Connor’s path, forcing my brother to stop and fight. He snarled, flashing his fangs.

“I can’t believe I had to waste a favor on this,” Baran snapped, reaching up to touch a rock in the wall.

Drake came out of the shadows, low and fast. His face intent as he closed the distance.

Baran shoved me inside the hole that had just formed. “Get in.”

I stumbled back, my eyes locked on Drake’s.

He wasn’t going to make it. The knowledge was written there on his face.

Baran was already stepping through, the wall closing when Drake drew back his arm and let fly. A pained grunt left Baran as the dagger entered his shoulder an instant before the door sealed itself.

There was a thump from the other side and the sound of banging.

“Iron?” Baran ground out, reaching back to touch the hilt of the knife in his shoulder. “He brought iron to a barrow?”

A string of curses left him.

My lips quivered with the urge to smile.

Nice job, cuz.

Maybe having a hunter in the family wasn’t such an awful thing after all.

It was certainly gratifying to see how the human Baran had been so quick to dismiss was the one to land such a decisive blow.

“Are you just going to stand there?” Baran snarled.

“Thinking about it.”

His eyes glittered at me. “Help me get it out.”

“Why should I? It seems to me having an incapacitated kidnapper would be a good thing.”

He could bleed out and die, and I wouldn’t blink.

Of course, then I wouldn’t get any answers.

Choices. Choices.

“I was saving you,” Baran spat.

He grimaced, his face growing pale from the effects of the iron.

Iron was to his kind what silver was to mine. Painful—and sometimes deadly.

It would feel like acid dripping through his veins as the iron poisoned him. His age and power might allow him to survive.

Or it could make the effects worse.

Despite that, I made no immediate effort to save him. You could say I no longer trusted him or any other Fae.

If he wanted my help, he’d have to give me something.

The truth might be nice.

“I don’t think my brother would agree with you there,” I said with a light lisp.

I hadn’t thought I was hungry, but the aroma of his blood was making my fangs tingle. The smell of autumn leaves seeping into the tunnel around us.

He staggered past me, using the wall for support.

I eyed the streak of blood he left in his wake, fighting the urge to drag a finger through the wet trail. My mouth watered at the thought of all that luscious goodness.

“Don’t even think about it,” Baran ordered, catching on as I lifted my hand. “Remember what happened when you drank from Callie?”

I’d ended up as a stone statue. It had been temporary, but the reminder was enough for me to keep my hand and tongue to myself.

Grumpy at being caught almost succumbing to temptation, I plucked the dagger from Baran’s shoulder.

A high-pitched whistle came from between his teeth as he punched the wall with his fist. It was the only sound in the otherwise silent corridor.

Impressive.

Someone had a high pain tolerance.

“How is this saving me?” I asked.

Baran took several deep breaths before he lifted his head and started walking. “Do you really think it was an accident that you ended up in a pleasure den?”

I followed him silently, wondering if he was expecting an answer to that question.

“Someone put you there,” Baran informed me like I hadn’t already figured that fact out for myself. “You would have been snatched up by the High King’s agents before you ever reached the vampire. They were waiting for you.”

“No! Really?” I gasped, faking surprise. “I never would have guessed.”

Baran ignored my sarcasm as he bent to avoid roots growing down from the ceiling. It was surprising the entire thing hadn’t caved in considering its structure was comprised of slightly compacted dirt and the intertangled ball of roots that had grown around it.

“You know—I saw someone up there,” I said, studying the side of Baran’s face.

“I’m sure you saw a lot of people.”

“This one was a friend of yours.” I stopped, letting him get a few steps away from me. “A certain barrow lord we both know.”

Baran slowed.

“Why did you tell me he was taken captive?”

Baran’s expression was locked down hard when he faced me. “Because he was .”

“It certainly didn’t seem that way to me.”

In fact, he’d seemed awful comfortable strolling around this barrow. Almost like he was at home here.

“Watch your mouth,” Baran gritted out.

“Why should I when you’ve been lying to me all this time? Is Inara part of this? Is that why she made me forget?”

The careful leash Baran was keeping on his temper snapped. I didn’t have time to sidestep as he rushed me. Dirt cascaded down as he slammed me against the tunnel wall.

“I told you to watch it,” he growled.

I caught my breath on the pain, trying my best not to show my wince. My back smarted, likely already bruising.

“You’re lucky the mad queen made your survival a stipulation of her cooperation,” Baran crooned, a terrifying look in his eyes as he pushed me into the wall again. This time I didn’t quite manage to stifle my groan. “I would have murdered anyone else for what you just said.”

“You can’t deny it’s suspicious.”

Smart, Lena. Poke the bear while its mitts are wrapped around your throat.

What will you come up with next? Handing him a sharpened wooden stake and asking him to stick it in your chest?

Baran’s face twisted in rage.

I adjusted my grip on the iron dagger I’d pulled out of Baran’s shoulder, poising to strike. One wrong move and I’d drive the tip into his abdomen, angling it so it punctured his sternum before plunging into his heart.

I’d probably still die, but at least I’d take him with me.

“You are as arrogant as him,” Baran hissed.

To my surprise, his grip eased, his hand sliding from my neck.

I tracked him as he moved back one step and then another, withdrawing until there was a respectable distance between us. “Who are you talking about?

Baran’s lips twitched at the sight of the dagger in my hand. “The person whose seed gave you life. Who else would I be referencing?”

I remained where I was, dagger still raised, as Baran walked away. After a moment, my arm lowered.

“Know him well, do you?” I asked, pushing off the wall to trudge after him.

“Hardly.”

The level of bitterness in that statement had me shooting a cautious look at his back.

“My twin and I are just cogs in his agenda. Same as the pixie queen and her consort.”

“You sure are putting a lot of effort into poisoning my relationship with Inara and Lowen.”

“Just pointing out something you may have overlooked.”

“Instead of worrying about me, how about you concern yourself with the possibility of traitors in your own circle?” I spat.

Baran’s magic surged, cold and heavy as it spilled into the tunnel, carrying with it the taste of autumn. “I warned you to watch your tongue. You saw only what Arlan wanted you to see. What he wanted the Summer King to see. Any appearance of submission is just that. An appearance.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Because I know my master. It’s impossible for him and that usurper to coexist. This is a game and Arlan is doing what he must to win.”

His magic withdrew.

A headache pounded in my temple. “I hope you’re right.”

Because if Arlan was working for the other side, we probably wouldn’t survive the night.

Baran gave me his back. “You just worry about yourself. No one asked you to get involved.” A second later, he shot me an irritated look. “How are you here anyways? Inara was certain you wouldn’t remember anything.”

“I’m surprised you believed her given your obvious distrust.”

Just how long was this tunnel? It seemed to go on forever. Twisting and dipping until it was difficult to know how far we’d come or how far we had left to go.

“I had no reason not to.”

“Given what I am, did it never occur to the two of you that any geas you placed on me would eventually be broken?”

“We thought there would be more time. You’re stronger than Inara led me to believe. Much stronger.” A shiver ran up my spine at the speculative look Baran shot me. “The most difficult magic to break is one that affects the emotions and perception.”

That was pretty much what I’d figured out too. You had to know something was there in order to unravel it.

“Last time I attributed your escape to luck and desperation,” Baran said.

I tightened my grip on the dagger, not liking the speculative look on his face. Like he wasn’t seeing me but rather a chip he could use to bargain with.

“It’s a real shame we never got the chance to make you our toy,” Baran mused, moving away. “The fun we could have had.”

I should have killed him when I had the chance.

“Keep up,” he ordered over his shoulder. “If we allow too much distance between us, the barrow may decide to separate us.”

“That might not be such a bad thing,” I muttered under my breath.

“You think so? I promise there are worse monsters in this place than me. Someone like you would be considered something of a delicacy.”

He always had to have the last word.

Reluctantly, I strode toward the waiting Fae.

I’d play his game. For now, at least. The moment would come, however, when the odds would shift. We’d see what happened then.

A short while later, Baran slowed. “This can’t be right.”

“What can’t?”

Baran’s expression was uneasy as he examined the passageway. “We’re not where we’re supposed to be.”

I looked from him to the dirt tunnel we’d been traveling through this entire time. “How can you tell?”

It all looked the same to me.

Dirt. Dirt. More dirt. A couple of roots hanging from the ceiling. Then, you guessed it, more dirt.

Baran turned in a circle. “We’ve strayed off course.”

Discretely, I put a little distance between me and the overly agitated Fae.

“Inara assured me this wouldn’t happen,” he spat in frustration.

“What does she have to do with this?”

“She’s the former barrow lord. She promised she could fool its defenses.” Baran glowered. “She lied.”

“You don’t know that,” I defended.

“Look, breaker. See with more than your eyes,” Baran snarled, his own glowing with power. “Where do you think we are right now?”

Curious as to what had set him off, I dropped into my other sight, being more careful than I’d been earlier. This time I didn’t submerge fully in the magic, barely opening that part of myself in case I accidentally ripped a hole in the fabric of this place and set off any alarm bells.

Just a dip of the toe in the flood of magic coursing around me.

It was more than enough though, breaking the illusion we’d somehow managed to wander into.

Cursing came from Baran as the tunnel walls morphed. Moss sprouted, the dirt eroding to reveal a forest of wild, untamed beauty. Full of ancient trees and towering brambles. Piercing sunlight that possessed a scorching heat that derived from the deepest part of summer.

“We’ve strayed into the Summer Lands,” Baran said, looking as antsy and freaked out as you’d expect.

“This isn’t good,” I whispered with a sinking feeling.

Baran grabbed my arm, hauling me after him. “We have to cross back. If we stay here, we’re dead.”

“How do you expect to do that?”

We hadn’t even been aware of the moment we’d crossed over the first time. How the hell would we find a way back?

“I don’t know,” Baran snarled.

The sound of breaking branches as something large moved through the forest to our right had us freezing.

Baran’s breathing shortened as he trained his gaze in that direction.

The rustle of leaves and the snap of dead branches came again.

Baran shoved me with his shoulder, forcing me to get moving.

“Go,” he mouthed.

I nodded, nearly stumbling as he put a hand on my back to urge me forward. Within steps, we were sprinting. The trees a blur as we raced through them.

Until finally we stumbled into a bright, sunshine filled meadow.

I gasped in pain at the touch of sunlight against my skin, jerking back into the shadows of the forest’s edge.

“No,” Baran moaned.

It took a moment for my mind to catch up with what I was seeing.

A single oak tree stood at the meadow’s center. Thick branches spread wide to embrace the sun’s scorching intensity.

The most disturbing thing though was what lay in the oak tree’s shadow.

Bodies in various states of decay. All caged within roots protruding from the ground.

Within one of those prisons lay a man. His face hidden by a swath of auburn hair the color of leaves in the most vibrant part of fall. The shade an exact match for the Fae’s beside me.

“Breandan,” Baran whispered.

Seeing he was about to run toward his twin, I grabbed his arm. “It’s a trap.”

Magic riddled the meadow. The moment Baran set foot into the sun, the roots below would swallow him whole, leaving him no better off than his twin.

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Baran growled, flinging my hand off him.

“If you know, then don’t be stupid.”

I’d warned him. From here on out, he was on his own.

A flash of blue and purple amidst the green of the tree’s branches caught my eye. I made a small sound of horror as my brain struggled to interpret what I was seeing.

Young branches, nubile and flexible, had been braided to form a spherical cage. Inside was one of the two pixies I counted as friends. With tattered wings dragging behind him, Lowen hung suspended in the middle of the cage. Vines wrapped harshly around his limbs to keep him immobile. Their tightness rubbed his skin raw, leaving trails of a darker liquid I knew was blood.

“It’s not so easy when it’s one of yours, is it?” Baran taunted.

I glared, wishing I could shove him into the meadow and danger.

Underbrush crunched as the thing that had chased us through the forest stepped into the meadow.

“What. Is. That?” I asked in a low voice.

A creature whose lower half resembled a stag but whose torso and face were humanoid turned to us. Antlers branched from his head. His ears were pointy and long. His hair looked like sunlight distilled into physical form. Flora sprouted from his shoulder and lower waist, concealing his privates.

I didn’t have a word for what he was. Something other. That’s all I knew. An eldritch creature from time primordial.

“Our death,” Baran whispered.

He slumped to the ground, blood oozing out of his eyes and ears as he fought to stay conscious.

Distantly, I noted my cheeks were wet. Something liquid slid down the side of my neck from my ears. A whimper crawled up my throat as the eldritch thing paced closer. Each cloven footstep causing the meadow to bloom around him before wilting after his passage.

“No! You can’t! Not her!”

Inara zipped in front of me, her wings fanning to block my view of the eldritch creature. She scanned me quickly, taking in my state before spinning to address the other.

An argument ensued. The content of which I couldn’t understand. The high pitched buzzing of Inara’s voice competed with the low bugles of the eldritch’s.

“I won’t let you,” Inara finally snarled.

Another series of bugles. This time accompanied by several grunts and whistles.

Inara spun to set her tiny hands on my nose as her gaze pleaded with me. “You can’t be here, Aileen. You’re not strong enough yet.”

A soft woof came from the shadows of the forest behind me.

Relief flooded Inara’s face. “Take her. Put her somewhere safe.”

Another woof of agreement as storm clouds gathered on the eldritch’s face.

No, I tried to object. We couldn’t leave without Inara and Lowen.

But my mouth refused to form the words as the air around the eldritch creature brightened.

I didn’t get to see what happened as one of Alches’s tentacles wrapped around my bicep, another around my calf and thigh.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him restrain Baran in the same manner.

The glare around the eldritch creature reached supernova levels. Nothing but light and pain remained.

Then I couldn’t see anything. The shadows had claimed us.