Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Lia
I watch Dane leave, confused and upset by his behavior. I guess Fiana really is back because he's much more like the Dane I knew before Rondorai than the one I've seen over the past few days.
I hear the door, and two servants come in. They ignore me completely as they make up the fire and a tray is brought. It’s filled with actual food, which makes a change from the broth and stale bread they’ve been giving me since Dane hasn’t been visiting me at mealtimes. I eat to keep my strength up, but I’m not hungry despite not having consumed anything since Grey fed me yesterday.
After I'm finished, I climb up to look outside, holding onto the bars over the window and staring down at the village. I can feel the Harbinger inside me even more now, preparing in some way, but it hasn't let me in on whatever plans it’s making.
The next time I hear the door, it's the healer. He looks me over in the same half-disgusted way he did the day before. Today, he’s flipping through a book, not even looking at me. At least he hasn't brought the guards in with him this time. Small mercies, I suppose. I go to lie on the bed, and he raises a brow as he looks up from his book.
‘Clothes off.’
I frown at him. ‘You didn't tell me to do that yesterday,’ I say.
He plasters a weary expression on his face. ‘Do I need to tell the lord that you're being difficult?’ He locks eyes with me. ‘That faeling, Ryon, spends a lot of time in the healer’s rooms with me, you know.’
The threat isn’t even remotely veiled, and I unlace the dress quickly, pulling it over my head and standing in front of him. He frowns and picks something up off the floor. I see that it’s one of the flowers I got from Kallum. I always have one on my person somewhere. It helps me remember that there are some who care about me during times like this.
‘Curious,’ he says. ‘I haven't seen these growing here. Where did you get it?’
‘It blew in through the window,’ I lie, forcing myself to keep my arms at my sides and not try to cover myself.
‘Lately?’
I nod.
‘Interesting,’ he seems to say to himself as if forgetting that I’m even still in the room. ‘It looks very much like a faerie flower, but they’re pink, of course.’
He puts it on the table with more respect than he’s shown me thus far. Then, he comes close to me and makes a point of inspecting my skin, my teeth, my ears, and inside my mouth. It’s as if he believes I’m some animal that’s been purchased, and it’s humiliating. Then it gets worse. He takes one of my breasts and weighs it in his hand. He pinches both nipples hard and snorts when I jerk in pain.
‘Sensitive,’ he remarks casually. ‘Lay on the bed.’
I do as he says slowly, hating this much more than yesterday even though his touches are still impersonal. He spreads my cheeks, and his two fingers impale me hard. I shudder with revulsion as he feels around much more roughly today.
‘When was the last time one of the elites took you?’ he asks.
‘Dane was here earlier today,’ I grind out.
‘Did he give you a release?’
‘Yes,’ I say through gritted teeth, noticing that his words are reminiscent of Healer Reyn’s in Rondorai and feeling my stomach roil.
‘Good. Less work for me. With your temperament, you’ll likely need release multiple times a day to keep you manageable. Get on all fours.’
I give the top of his head a narrow-eyed look, but I do as he says.
I squeal as he roughly inserts a finger into my arse and does the same thing as he did in my other channel, moving it around, poking and prodding. He's not gentle, and when he finally relents and releases me, there are tears in my eyes.
‘Humans,’ he mutters in dismissal when he sees them.
He picks up his bag and the book, which I realize is much like the one from Rondorai that Healer Reyn gave The Cunty Trio to learn about keeping human slaves.
I don’t hide my disgust, but he doesn’t even look at me again. He leaves without another word and I'm left feeling even more dirty and used than I did when Dane was finished with me earlier.
I’m putting on my dress when the door opens again, and I rush to cover myself.
My heart thuds hard in my chest as I realize it’s Fiana herself. Why is she here?
She saunters in, her cold eyes moving over me.
‘The guards have been talking about you,’ she says. ‘They said you’d grown up. They’re wagering on whether or not Dane is going to breed you in time. Some of them are very excited about the prospect of rutting you, little piggy.’
Something must cross my face at her nickname for me because she laughs.
‘I saw that Healer Skith was in here. Did he find you well-seeded?’ She meanders around the room, her eyes narrowing when she gets to my bed and notices the cover on it.
She couldn’t know Dane gave it to me, could she?
‘I do hope he wasn’t too rough with you. The book I gave him from my recent travels should ensure you’re kept hearty and healthy for Varrik’s plans for you.’ She smiles. ‘But some of the practices in it do seem a bit ... barbaric.’
‘So I have you to thank for his newfound knowledge on how to treat human slaves?’ I bite out.
She looks surprised that I’ve spoken, and she steps closer to me so that she’s standing in front of me. She lifts my chin so that I’m looking into her eyes.
‘Of course,’ she says. ‘A happy human is a hearty human, after all.’
She steps back, and I try not to let her see my relief.
‘I’ll be seeing you again very soon, swine,’ she murmurs, slapping my cheek just shy of painfully.
She swans out of the room, leaving me breathing heavily and my body quivering with pent-up fear that I hope she didn’t notice.
A little while later, a bath is brought, and I suppose I have Dane to thank for it. It's hot. It's been several days since I've been allowed to have one, so I take advantage. I wash my hair with the soap twice and I make sure every part of me is clean, scrubbing everywhere the healer touched me while I wonder what Fiana has in store for me.
Her parting words weren’t just a threat, they were a fact. She’s never been able to leave me be. The twisted enjoyment she takes from my misery won’t let her.
I should tell the others, but Fiana easily makes herself appear to be the victim. What if they took her word over mine like they always did before? What if they determined that I’m what humans are always proclaimed to be: deceitful and dishonest? What if Grey and Dane decided I wasn’t worth the trouble of helping me?
The thoughts have me in torment, and I chuckle mirthlessly. If Fiana knew what was going through my mind because of her, she’d rejoice. That’s probably why she came to see me so soon after arriving back in the fold. She’s begun her games in my head.
But they won’t end there.
He's in the room. I don't know how I know, but I’m sure of it. He doesn't say anything, but I watch with amusement as an invisible force unlaces my dress and touches my breasts. I don't say anything to him either as I'm urged backward onto the bed, and my legs are widened. I gasp when I feel his tongue doing much as Dane did this morning but in a far more gentle and unhurried way.
He brings me to a most enjoyable peak and, still not saying a word, gives me only a few moments to recover before he begins all over again.
When I attempt to move away, his hands lock my thighs to him, and try as I might, I can't escape his tongue. Over and over again, he makes me come for him. I lose count of the number of times he gives me pleasure without taking any for himself.
By the time he seems finished, he’s brought me to bliss so many times that I’m a quivering mess on the bed, boneless and sated. The little bud between my legs is so sensitive that I beg him to stop, pushing at his head with my hands feebly.
‘One more.’ Those are the first words he’s said to me, and his voice makes me come hard for a final time while his fingers curl within me and his tongue works a magick as potent as Dane’s conjures.
He still doesn't become visible, but he kisses me languidly, and I feel him line himself up with my entrance. He pushes into me slowly, his lips not leaving mine.
As he caresses me, it's odd to look down at myself and see the imprints of his hands on my body. See my limbs being manipulated, but not the one who's doing it. He takes me harder, and then he shudders above me, letting out a growl as he pulses within me. Our breath mingles and I surge up to capture his mouth with mine, bursting with more than just satisfaction, and it makes me hold him to me tightly, wishing that we could stay like this forever, that nothing else existed outside this room.
Afterward, he lays next to me on the bed. He holds me against him and finally lets me see him.
He gives me a smirk as I put my arms around him and try to forget what happened earlier with Dane and then the healer and then Fiana. I’ve been alone for the afternoon, my mind going around in circles and making me feel sick. I find that I want to tell him everything, but I can’t, those insidious thoughts from before silencing me as surely as a spell to keep me quiet would.
I’ll have to endure Fiana as I always have, with stoic resilience and hopes that she’ll have other things to occupy her creative malice besides me.
I clear my mind of her and think about the virile fae male who’s currently tracing small circles over my thigh as he nuzzles my neck like he can’t get enough of the feeling of his body against mine. I thread my fingers through his blond hair, and he closes his eyes on a groan.
‘Your fingers are magick, Harbinger,’ he murmurs, kissing my lips gently. ‘I’ll have to remember to put them to good use next time.’
I smile against him and sigh, already hating that he’s going to have to leave soon.
When he eases away from me a little while later, I let him even though I want to cling to him and never let go. But he doesn’t get out of the bed. Instead, he moves my hair from my face and strokes down my back, his eyes serious as they stare into mine.
‘Do you know where Varrik found me?’ he asks.
I shake my head. ‘You’ve never said.’
He sighs and lies down on his back, closing his eyes. ‘I don’t much speak of it. I was in a backwater world. The Horde had swarmed through a few days earlier. They’d killed everyone I knew, including my mother and sisters.’
I put my hand on his arm and his lips turn up into the ghost of a smile.
‘I survived the attack,’ he continues, ‘and I thought that was the end of it. I’d seen to my family’s bodies, performed the sacred rites. I packed a small bag with some supplies and started walking toward another settlement in the mountains a few days away.’
‘Did you make it there?’ I ask.
He shakes his head, his eyes still closed. ‘I met the cunts who’d killed my family on the road. The commander of the unit decided to spare me.’ He chuckles. ‘I tried to kill him. I failed, of course. I was a weak, weedy thing then. But I suppose he liked my spirit.’
Kal shifts toward me. ‘I was taken through the Breach to one of their main camps. I was put in a tent with fifty or so other boys of all different races. Varrik appeared with some of the guards a few minutes after I got there, and he chose me.’
He scoffs. ‘Gods, I thought I was so special when he held out his hand and told me to come with him.’
‘And he brought you here?’ I ask.
He nods. ‘I hated it at first. I missed my family and my home. We were farmers, you know.’
He smiles, opening his eyes. ‘There was a rumor in Alcana about Dane, Grey, and I that was so similar to the truth, for me at least. It made me chuckle when I heard it.’
I let out a small laugh of my own. ‘I remember that one.’
He clears his throat and gives me a sad look. ‘It took until we left for me to realize that Varrik probably had the Horde attacking settlements to find fae children to take.’
I nod. ‘It took me a long time to see the truth of him, too,’ I say, squeezing his hand.
He grips my fingers tightly for a moment before he relinquishes them.
‘There’s a banquet tonight,’ he murmurs, changing the subject.
‘I heard.’
‘Fiana has returned.’
I nod.
He sounds about as happy that she’s back as I am, but I don’t say anything about her. Instead, we cuddle for a while and then he washes away the evidence that he's been with me. Afterward, he pulls my gown back over my head and laces it for me. He gestures to the table, where I see he's brought me some books to read, and I give him a grateful smile.
‘Where do you get these flowers you bring me?’ I ask him, noticing he's put another on the table today and remembering how interested the healer was in them.
‘There's a valley over the next hill. The winter hasn't touched it yet, so there are still some growing amongst the rocks.’
‘The healer said to me that they look like faerie flowers.’
He frowns. ‘The healing plant?’
‘That’s what he said.’
He looks at the flower more closely. ‘I suppose it does. I never thought of it before. I wonder if it’s similar. They’re very potent, you know.’
I pluck the flower from him and put it in my hand carefully. ‘I wondered if that’s why you liked to bring me them.’
He caresses my cheek. ‘For some reason, they’ve always just reminded me of you.’
He kisses me again and then pulls away with a groan, leaning his forehead against mine.
‘I have to go,’ he murmurs, ‘but I don’t want to. When this is over, I’m going to keep you in bed with me for a sennight at least.’
I smile at him and give him a final peck.
‘Did you try to search Varrik’s study today?’ I ask, trying to prolong the goodbye.
He shakes his head. ‘Because Fiana has returned finally, Varrik has stayed put, which means we haven't been able to get anywhere near any of his favored rooms.’
I nod in understanding, grinning at the way he spits Fiana’s name like she’s a hair stuck on his tongue.
‘I'll come back again after the banquet tonight,’ he says, giving me a final look as he disappears.
I sit in my chair and begin to look through the books he’s brought. They’re dry, historical volumes that I assume he’s pilfered from Varrik’s library, but they at least ease the monotony.
When I hear the door a bit later, I look up expecting a servant or Dane, but a gasp falls from my lips when Fiana saunters into my room again. She’s wearing a pink gown of velvet and her light blond hair is elegantly coifed.
I blink, wondering why she’s here as I slowly put my book down and get to my feet. I try not to scramble or make it obvious that I’m on edge in her presence. Though from the smirk she gives me, she knows.
I don't make the mistake of speaking to her. I can tell just by the look in her eyes tonight that she’s angry, and I'll get a hard crack across the cheek with the back of her hand if I do, at the very least.
She comes closer, looking me over, her eyes taking in the book, and she sniffs.
‘I didn’t know you could read, little piggy.’
I watch her, not saying a word.
‘I was surprised when I learned you were here,’ she says almost conversationally. ‘Even more so when I was told that not only has Varrik decided to breed you, but Dane asked to be the one to do it .’
Her tone is soft. Deceptive. It’s not lost on me that my kind are considered to be liars and cheats when she’s much better than me at deceit.
Though I remember that Rikoth said something similar, I have no idea why Dane would do that, and it doesn’t bode well for me if Fiana thinks it’s true. She’s invidious at the best of times and she’ll certainly make me pay for it.
‘That’s not so. Varrik ordered it,’ I murmur.
She gives me a look I can’t discern.
‘Interesting,’ she says quietly. ‘Tell me, Thalia, why did you come back here? Were the Dark Realms just too much for a weak little human these days, or is there some grander plan in that feeble little mind of yours?’
I frown in confusion. ‘I was captured.’
‘After so long?’ She tuts. ‘Do you know what I think?’ She steps closer, and I step back, feeling the wall behind me. ‘I think you came back here with a purpose. Varrik might not see it, but I do. I think you let yourself be caught and brought back.’
She grabs me by the hair and knocks the back of my head against the stone hard, clearly relishing my pained cry as the Harbinger tries to rise from the binding to kill her. But, of course, it fails.
‘You don’t fool me,’ she continues. ‘You’re still the pathetic swine from years ago. But you think you’re better than that now, don’t you?’
She leans in closer, her eyes bright and almost fevered. ‘You’re not. You’re still just a pathetic little human trying to play at games you don’t understand.’
She lets go of my hair and taps the side of my head hard, her sharp nail digging into my scalp. ‘You’d better remember that, or I might have to show you your place again.’
She steps back with a sigh, standing up straight and composing herself.
‘Dane is mine,’ she mutters, and I realize that she is angry about Dane.
She’s jealous, and I’m not sure whether to be spitefully pleased or anxious because an envious Fiana will be even more vicious than usual.
‘Everything we do is together.’
I don’t voice my retort, that they haven’t been together since he left all those years ago.
‘Dane will be permitted to breed you, but only because I wish it. Try to use your human tricks on him, and the many torments I’ve visited on you over the years will seem like the diversions of a child. I’ll make you suffer more than you ever have before. Do you understand?’
I nod to placate her, and she sneers at me.
‘Gods, you're just as pathetic as I remember.’
She taps on my cheek with a small laugh. It’s not quite a smack, but she still makes my skin smart.
‘Perhaps I'll watch the next time he ruts you,’ she murmurs, a smile on her face that chills me, ‘ensure you’re taking my beloved properly so that he fulfills his obligations.’
A hand goes to my throat, holding me in place while her fingers dip into my dress and find a nipple. She pinches it hard enough to bring involuntary tears to my eyes.
‘Healer Skith was right. Very sensitive. He’s sure you’ll be able to easily nurse whatever babes you bare.’
My eyes narrow, but I say nothing.
‘In case your weak human mind hasn’t realized it yet, many of the fae looking after you here are loyal to me. Healer Skith included. I’ve made sure he knows that you will benefit from a heavy hand.’ Her hand squeezes my throat a little tighter. ‘We have to make sure you’re well, don’t we?’
She tilts her head at me. ‘But you know that if you try to tell Dane or anyone about these little visits of mine, no one will believe you.’
I give a tiny nod, hating that it’s true.
‘I know things seem so unfair at the moment,’ she gives a mock pout, ‘but once you’re with child, I think you’ll find that I’m going to be your only ally here against Varrik.’ Her fingers skitter along my jaw. ‘You might want to consider keeping me happy, my little human.’
‘Poor little piggy,’ she coos.
Now,’ she draws closer, ‘I suggest you be a very obedient girl when Dane comes. When he seeds you, you’re to lay on the bed for at least an hour afterward so that it’s more likely to take root. Someone will be checking.’
‘Why?’ I whisper. ‘Why do you want this?’
Fiana looks at me as If I’m the biggest fool she’s ever seen. ‘The get of the Harbinger and a Skilled as powerful as Dane now is?’ She scoffs. ‘Why do you think?’
‘But Varrik ...’
Realization begins to dawn. Fiana has her own plans and they don’t include the fae lord.
She puts a finger to my lips and smiles. ‘You could warn him, I suppose, but he won’t believe you, darling. I know it’s hard, but do try to use that small mind of yours. I’d hate to have to punish you for making trouble for your betters.’
She titters and then looks expectantly at me. ‘What do we say?’
‘Yes, Fiana.’
I feel the Harbinger rising up again, trying desperately to break through the binding. It wants her dead so badly, but it’s not strong enough.
Fiana’s fingers flex around my throat, and she squeezes hard. I can’t breathe, but I don’t fight because I know that if I do, she’ll think of something worse to make her point, and just before my eyes roll back, she lets me go and steps away. I slide to the floor, and she wipes her hands down her dress as if they're dirty now that she's touched me.
‘Just a little reminder of who holds the rope, little piggy.’
With that, she swans out of my room, closing the door with a slam that has me wincing.
I get to my feet slowly. My heart is beating fast as I consider all she’s just revealed to me.
Her weakness has always been that she thinks herself so much cleverer than I. Her hubris is unmatched, possibly even by Varrik, and, like him, she underestimates me.
It’s clear that she’s no longer loyal to the fae lord. She has her own agenda ... and it includes me, or at least the babe that Varrik wants from me. She wants Dane to breed me. Does she mean to take it to raise with him?
I sit down heavily at the table, rubbing my bruised neck. It doesn’t matter what her plans are because I won’t be a part of them.
‘How much time do we have?’ I ask the Harbinger.
It isn’t sure. It skulks at the back of my mind, furious that it couldn’t destroy Fiana just now, feeling impotent and angry even though it’s clearly strong enough again to communicate with me while I’m awake.
‘We’ll get out of this,’ I whisper, reassured by its show of strength.
‘I don’t want to just get out of this,’ it seethes. ‘I want revenge.’
Kal
I sip my drink slowly like everyone else seems to be. I mingle and trade pleasantries with other high-level Skilled, those who rarely look in my direction outside the keep and who I’m sure barely know my name. A small smile, an expression of polite interest, is stuck to my face like grime I can’t wash off. It makes me feel unclean.
The hall is filled with Varrik’s loyal fae. Golden and black banners hang from the high ceiling and waft in the breeze. There are even flutes, lyres, and harps being played by a group of lower Skilled in a corner. Fiana and Dane are on the dais where the largest table is, along with Varrik and the other elites. I have a chair up there as well, though I’ve luckily not had the chance to make my way to it yet because chit-chatting with people I don’t know or like is infinitely preferable to trading platitudes with Fiana and her ilk.
There's food piled high on huge platters. Pork, beef, chicken, as well as a few types of meat I don’t even recognize. Piles of pastries and fruits, nuts and wine entice the guests. Delicacies I’ve never seen before are dotted around, and the Skilled fawn over them. I hide my disgust behind my cup. They all give him their loyalty so cheaply.
I glance at the dais. Fiana is speaking with Varrik. Dane’s arm is around her waist in a casual show of affection, or perhaps it’s possession, as the fae female barely looks at him. I can't help but roll my eyes as I glance away and down my drink in one.
I'm bored practically to tears. I gaze around the room, taking in the false smiles and high-pitched laughs, wishing that I was with my female instead. This banquet has only highlighted to me how much I hate this place. I frown at the copious amounts of food that will likely be wasted. Has Lia even been fed tonight, I wonder? Did they make her a fire today? My eyes narrow on Dane once more. Has he even made sure, or has he just stopped by to stick his cock in her and then left without tarrying so he can get back to his love ?
I snort. At least he’s agreed to help Grey and I with our scheme tonight, which surprised me. I just hope he’s not so focused on the fae lord and the bitch next to him that he forgets his role.
Noticing the time, I see that I’ve been here for over two hours, and I decide that's more than enough for my purposes. I've shown my face and I have other plans tonight. And, even if I didn’t, I can't bear this any longer.
I leave through a side entrance, taking care that no one notices me. Although I doubt they would anyway. I may be one of the elite now, but it's clear that I'm at the bottom of Varrik’s illustrious hierarchy. Thank the gods. It means I’m frequently left to my own devices, and the others rarely deign to speak to me.
I leave the keep quietly. With Varrik’s attention taken wholly by the party he's thrown for Fiana, with the guards imbibing as well, and with all the noise coming from the hall, it’s a perfect night for clandestine operations so long as Dane remembers to hide our presence from Varrik’s wards in the fae lord’s personal rooms.
I go to our house, and I find Grey waiting for me. He’s pacing a hole in the floor as usual. When he sees me, he looks relieved.
‘Where the fuck have you been?’
‘Showing my face and pretending I give a fuck like a good, loyal Skilled,’ I say. ‘Come on.’
He puts a hand on my shoulder immediately, and I make us invisible then and there. We take the road back up to the keep, avoiding our fae brethren who are out in the streets, the Dregs who haven’t been invited to the fancy soiree up at the keep. They seem to be making merry anyway. Any excuse, I suppose.
When we get to the bridge that crosses the mote, there are more guards than usual at the entrance, but most of them are half drunk and having their own little party. Some are even dancing to the faint music we can hear wafting from the hall.
I hear Grey scoff next to me.
‘I agree,’ I mutter.
We go inside and I hear Grey's sharp intake of breath as the intuitive wards pull at him, but we get through them easily enough and make our way to Varrik’s personal apartments. I circumvent the hall where everyone’s gathered. There’s an easier way that I discovered during my wanderings. I pull Grey through the walls with me until we get to a small, disused door that I found the other day. It leads into a small servants’ hallway and the backway that I told Dane we’d be using to get into Varrik’s heavily warded smaller study.
When we get to the right door, I push it, gratified by the complete silence as it swings open slowly. The servants must make sure the hinges are well-oiled so their movements don’t disturb the lord.
I take a breath and step over the threshold, hoping that Dane is paying attention so that we can pass through and no one is alerted to our presence.
We slip inside without incident, and I shut the door carefully behind us, listening for any commotion, but there’s nothing.
‘Looks like Dane performed his task,’ I whisper.
Grey's hand leaves my shoulder, and he reappears immediately while I decide to stay in my incorporeal state for now.
‘How did you get him to agree? What of his loyalty ?’ Grey asks as he surveys the room.
‘He did say that he’d do what he could to help us and Lia escape.’ I frown. ‘I think he’s beginning to emerge from the haze of the fae lord .’
I hear Grey snort. ‘Do you think he’ll try to come with us?’
I push my head through the wall to look out into the main hallway. There's only one guard, and he's half asleep with a cup in his hand that someone's brought him from the party.
I pull myself back through and reappear in the room.
‘No,’ I answer finally. ‘Not now that Fiana’s here. Her hold over him is as strong as it ever was.’
Grey is already at the desk, rifling through some papers. He opens a drawer and exclaims softly.
I rush across the room and look down.
‘The boxes,’ I say.
‘Aye.’
Careful not to touch the iron, we pick them out one by one. There are nineteen. All of them are empty.
‘He's been at this a while,’ Grey murmurs.
‘What would have been in them?’ I ask myself quietly, looking around the room for a collection of nineteen objects that might have fit.
Grey does the same, peering at the bookshelves and pulling out books at random to flick through them.
He grabs at the third one from the middle on the top, and it doesn't move. With a frown, he pulls at it, and it slides forward on the shelf. We hear a click, and our excited eyes meet. Could it be that the keep still has some secrets I don't know about?
In the corner, there’s now a small opening. I walk through the wall next to it, leaving Grey to scuttle through the narrow door. The room itself is not much bigger than a closet, but a secret room doesn't need to be large, depending on what’s inside it, I suppose.
There's a table against one wall, and on top of it, under a glass pane, is a large parchment made of leather.
‘Don't touch it,’ I say to Grey. ‘There’s probably a conjure on it.’
I smell the air, and there’s a definite tang of magick. Something very strong.
We peer down at what looks to be a very old map. A large body of water surrounds a mass of land with trees and mountains.
‘What world is this?’ I ask. ‘It could be any of the Dark Realms.’ I survey it again slowly, my annoyance mounting. ‘There’s no indication of circle number, or anything.’
‘It's been sewn together,’ Grey says, pointing. ‘Nineteen pieces, and look, there are some fragments missing. I think we’ve found what was in those boxes.’
‘What creature is it made of?’ I ask, surveying the odd symbols at the top that are faded with age.
Grey leans down and sniffs just above the glass. ‘Human.’
My lip curls in disgust. ‘This map is made from human skin?’
He nods, his eyes moving over it. I join him, trying to pick out anything that would tell us which Dark Realm this map depicts and what it leads to … while trying to ignore the smattering of leftover hair sticking out of the long dead follicles around the edges of it.
‘There at the top, away from the rest of the land,’ he says. ‘The mound. Do you see? It has a small star next to it.’
‘I see it. What does it mean?’
‘The end of a journey.’
‘And the mound?’
‘I don't know, but look beneath it. There are more faint symbols.’
‘Do you know what they mean?’ I ask, not recognizing them.
‘No, but we need to make a copy of this.’
Grey goes back into the study and returns a moment later with a small piece of parchment not made of human flesh. He quickly sketches the outline of the map, and I’m impressed by his swift rendering, which is almost an exact copy of the original. He sees my expression and smirks.
‘I helped the scholars in the library at Alcana make copies of texts more than once. I got quite good at recreating what was in front of me.’
He marks the symbols from the map carefully, making sure that every single one is exactly the same as the original, even though we can't read them.
‘Large sections are still missing from this,’ he says.
‘But not many,’ I murmur. ‘What is this? What’s he trying to find?’
Grey shrugs. ‘Perhaps even he doesn’t know what this map is. The key is missing, the piece that will show him what realm to begin in. It’s useless until he has that.’
Next to the table, I notice a book. I open it to the ribbon-marked page and huff.
‘I can't read this either, but it’s been marked, so it must be important. It’s the only book in here.’
Grey quickly copies the page on the other side of his parchment.
‘It looks like it's in some kind of magickal cipher,’ I remark as he writes, remembering when Dane was learning about such things and studying them in our tent at night when we were younger.
Grey folds the parchment and places it in his tunic. After a final look around the study, I push the book back into place, and the secret alcove shuts seamlessly and quietly.
‘I haven’t seen any maps or Breach charts. Did you?’
‘No. But they could be in the room off the main hall. It is closer to the Gate.’
I nod. ‘I’ll see what I can find the next time Varrik is gone.’
Grey puts a hand on my shoulder, and we go unseen through the wall to the main corridor. Now that I know that most of the guards are drinking heavily, it's easy to slip through their half-hearted patrols and get to the area where the elites’ rooms are quickly.
‘I want to see her,’ Grey murmurs.
‘Fine,’ I say, ‘but we can't stay long.’
I’m about to take us into Lia’s room when Fiana enters the hallway. I pause, watching her look this way and that, making sure no one is around.
Suspicious.
Grey grips me harder. He wants to follow her just as I do. Neither of us have ever trusted that bitch. There’s always been something off about her.
We shadow her at a distance, and my eyes narrow as she lets herself into a room at the end that I thought was for storage. It isn’t her bed-chamber, at any rate. Hers is the first on the left on the opposite side of the hall to Lia’s room.
Is this some romantic interlude? Is Dane in there? Someone else?
She slips inside, closing the door behind her. I frown and poke my head through the wall, ignoring Grey’s impatient tap on my shoulder as the cold envelopes me.
Inside, I find that it’s not a storeroom as I’d assumed. There's a bed and a table. A looking glass and a cupboard. It’s not as large or as fine as the other elites’ rooms that I’ve made a point of poking around in since gaining admittance to the keep, though, and I wonder whose it is.
Then I notice Dane’s dark green cloak on the bed, unmistakably his with its golden filigree edges, and it clicks into place. I’d thought Dane was spending less time at the house. Varrik’s given him a room here now that Fiana is back.
I watch her flit about, sliding out drawers here and there, having a good nose around. She opens the cupboard and casually picks up a small jar of what looks like tea that’s inside on the shelf. She sniffs it and frowns, seeming to contemplate something.
She puts it back and closes the cabinet door. Then, she leaves Dane’s room and makes her way quickly along the corridor to her own.
‘What's she doing?’ Grey asks.
‘She was going through Dane’s chamber,’ I say, ‘But I don’t know what she’s up to now.’
I'm just about to follow her when she comes back. She's holding a similar jar.
She goes back into Dane's room, not bothering to close the door this time, and we watch her switch her container for the one inside the cupboard. She then takes Dane’s back to her room and doesn’t reappear.
Puzzled by her antics, I begin to lead Grey to the Harbinger’s room, but then Dane appears, walking down the hall with an indolent smile on his face and a purposeful stride. He falters as he glances at the Harbinger’s door and turns away to the adjacent one. Fiana’s room. He knocks almost hesitantly and opens it, going inside and closing it behind him.
I clench my jaw as I pull us through the wall into Fiana’s room. I’d personally rather watch Varrik himself fist his shriveled cock than watch Dane and Fiana get reacquainted, and by the way Grey is tapping and clutching at my shoulder, he would agree wholeheartedly, but we might learn something if she starts talking.
We stand in the corner and watch as Dane embraces the bitch, his fingers gripping the thick velvet of her black dress passionately.
‘Gods, I’ve missed you,’ he murmurs.
‘And I you, my love,’ she whispers.
My stomach churns as they kiss each other for ages. Then they begin pulling off each other’s clothes and fall into the bed. I can’t watch it, but even the sounds they’re making alone make me afraid I’m going to vomit all over the floor and give us away. Grey makes a choking noise next to me, and I squeeze his arm in commiseration.
This better be fucking worth it.
In my periphery, Fiana freezes for a moment. At first, I’m afraid that she heard Grey, but then Dane sits up.
‘I’m sorry,’ he mumbles, his cheeks red. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong.’
He pulls at his flaccid cock in clear frustration, but it remains soft, and I almost snigger at his expense, except that I’m afraid that if I start laughing, I won’t be able to stop.
‘It’s all right, my love,’ Fianna says softly from behind him.
She sounds so sincere in her understanding, but I can see her face where he can’t, and it’s anything but.
Her eyes are slits, and her mouth is drawn into an angry line. She’s absolutely furious.
‘No, I wanted this to be special. It’s been so long and ...’ He lets out a growl of chagrin.
She caresses his back, her expression schooling itself into serenity in case he looks at her.
‘You put too much pressure on yourself, Dane,’ she murmurs. ‘There will be plenty of time for this over the coming days. Lie with me here and talk to me instead. Let’s tell each other of our travels over the years.’
Dane nods, letting out a sigh as he lays back and takes Fiana in his arms. He doesn’t notice the mulish set of her jaw and the slight shaking of her hands.
They speak about nothing interesting for a few minutes before Dane gets up to leave, citing an early morning on the morrow, but clearly just not able to get over the shame of his useless cock.
We follow him, watching as he goes to his own room at the end of the corridor. I stick my head back through into Fiana’s room and find her getting ready for bed, still looking angry, but it seems as if she’s settling in for the night, so we head to Lia’s room as we’d planned.
It's late, but we find her up and sitting by the roaring fire. She's reading through the books that I brought her. When we materialize, she looks up and gives us a small smile.
‘I hoped you’d come. Did you find anything?’ she asks.
‘We saw?—’
I elbow Grey in the back hard as I pass him to shut him up in case he intends to mention Fiana. Talk of her upsets Lia, and she doesn’t need to know about what we just watched. I still feel sick.
‘We got into Varrik’s small study,’ I say instead, giving Grey a pointed look.
He frowns at me but nods and takes the parchment he copied out of his tunic. He unfolds it and lays it on the table.
‘Where is this?’ she asks, tracing the lines of the map.
‘We don't know, but we found the original in a secret room in pieces. Part of it is still missing, but we believe this is what has been in the boxes he's been sending his elites out to look for.’
‘This map must be important if it was broken into bits and hidden on different worlds,’ she says.
She thinks for a moment. ‘And that they were encased in iron as well. It doesn’t make sense … unless they weren’t meant for the creatures of the Dark Realms, but for humans.’
‘Agreed. But where does it lead? And why does Varrik want to go there?’
Her brow furrows as she turns the page over and stares at the writing on the other side.
‘This was in a book close by. We can't read it. It's in some magickal code.’
‘Dane?’ she asks.
‘Maybe. Perhaps show him when he next comes to you? You’re likely to see him first.’
She doesn't answer and I look at her closely. There are dark rings under her eyes, and it appears as if she hasn't been sleeping. I take her hand and squeeze it gently.
‘We're going to get you out of here,’ I say. ‘I promise.’
She nods almost absently.
‘You should go,’ she says. ‘Dane will probably be here soon. He's only visited me once today, and you know Varrik’s orders.’
She goes back to the chair and stares despondently into the fire. Grey and I look at each other worriedly.
‘We need to get her away from here as soon as we can guarantee success,’ I whisper to him, and he nods emphatically, his worried eyes surveying our female.