Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“If you come back a third time, we will kill you on sight.”
Turning around, I glance back in surprise at the Dryad Queen. Her tone brooked no argument, though. That threat was entirely genuine.
Irritation flickers through me.
“Not a problem,” I reply. “Once we’ve killed the Icehearts and freed this entire continent, I’ll just send a messenger bird to let you know instead.”
Her gaze sharpens as she locks it on me. I just glare back at her.
Logically, I understand the reason why they won’t get involved.
But I still can’t help the anger burning inside me.
Every day, my patience and my goodwill dwindle further.
Every day that I have to spend in this cruel new reality where Draven is looking at me with undiluted hatred, I die a little more inside.
And part of me wonders if I will ever recover those broken pieces.
The other part of me is rapidly losing the ability to give a fuck.
Tension crackles through the air as the Dryad Queen and I stare each other down in silence for another few seconds.
Then a predator’s smile curves her lips. “I look forward to it.”
And with that, she turns around and disappears back down the hole in the ground that we entered through yesterday.
After blindfolding us, they brought us all the way back to the thorn forest instead of leaving us where they found us inside the underground forest. As if they wanted to make sure that we truly left.
I watch as her flowing dress, made of vines and leaves, ripples across the ground before she disappears from sight. Blowing out a sigh, I shake my head. I don’t think I will ever truly understand what goes on inside that dangerous being’s head.
“When is your portal guy coming back?” Galen asks from a few strides away.
Tearing my gaze from the hole in the ground and the river that flows up through it, I turn around and look between him and Orion. The Unseelie King brushes his hands down the silver embroidery on his fancy dark blue tunic as if dusting himself off.
“Grey,” he states, reminding Galen of the man’s name. “I instructed him to open a portal here every hour after sunrise. So it shouldn’t be too long.”
I turn towards the tree line and the city visible there across the fields, as if I can see the clock tower from all the way out here. The others do the same.
Only the softly rustling leaves and the creaking branches disrupt the silence as we all just stand there, waiting for Grey to open a portal so that we can leave the Seelie Court unseen.
My gaze drifts over the tall stone walls that box in the city while my mind drifts.
Speaking of messenger birds made me think of Fenriel and his magical hawk Talon. I wonder how they are doing. Did our resistance leaders take my advice and recruit him to the rebellion?
I drum my fingers against my thigh as I narrow my eyes at the city in consideration.
Should I get the resistance involved? It would be good to have more allies.
But is there really anything that they can do from in here, cut off from the rest of the world by a forest of thorns?
I shake my head. No. First, we need to deal with the Red Dragon Clan.
While they patrol the city like prison guards, there is nothing substantial that the fae resistance can do to help us in this fight.
My gaze once more drifts towards the north side of town where my parents live.
I want to go there. I want to know. But at the same time, a terrified part of me doesn’t want to know.
Because what if my magic isn’t there. What if they really do just hate me because of who I am.
Right now, I don’t think I could handle it if I found out that that’s the case.
So I’ll do it later. I’ll do it after I’ve figured out how to get Draven back.
Then maybe, just maybe, I can do the same thing to my parents too.
That tiny light of hope inside me sparkles at the thought. Maybe I can fix it all.
“He’s here,” Orion announces.
Giving myself a determined nod, I tear my gaze from the city and instead focus on the glittering blue rectangle that has appeared on the forest floor.
Grey bows to his king and then steps aside to let us pass through the portal.
As always, a slight tingling sensation ripples through me when I step through the portal. But it disappears once I’m fully out on the other side.
Bright sunlight streams down from a wide blue sky as I appear in a massive field of yellowing grass.
After the gloomy darkness of the thorn forest, I have to blink hard and squint before my eyes can adjust. Warm summer winds wash across the endless plains, tugging at the dry grass and making it rustle.
I stare at the open horizon, wondering where we are.
“Your Majesty,” Grey says from behind me. “Should I continue to our border?”
“No,” Orion replies. “We’re not going back home yet.”
Now that my eyes have adjusted, I turn around to look at my companions. We have gathered in a loose circle on the now flattened grass. Grey has let the portal disappear, and he is looking at Orion, waiting for instructions.
“Are we really doing the right thing splitting up?” Galen asks, his pale brows creased in worry.
“Yes,” Draven replies. “If we’re going to meet with all the clans before the Icehearts figure out what we’re doing, we need to split up to cover more ground, and you and Lyra need to go together.
You have enough authority as my second-in-command to make formal deals, and Lyra is really good at making people do what she wants. ”
At that, Lyra chuckles and gives him a playful salute. “True that.”
Galen, however, still looks worried. “But what if I… mess up?”
“You hated me, truly despised me, for two hundred years,” Draven says, though not unkindly. His eyes are serious as he holds Galen’s gaze. “But I still chose you as my second-in-command. Even when you hated me, I trusted you with my life. So you need to start trusting your own instincts again.”
Embarrassment and a hint of alarm flit across Galen’s face, and he clears his throat a tad awkwardly while glancing down at his boots. “I thought we all agreed not to talk about what we accidentally blurted out while we were high on poisonous mist in that pocket reality.”
Draven just smiles and claps him on the shoulder. “Chin up. You won’t mess up, so stop second-guessing yourself.”
Despite the earlier flicker of embarrassment, Galen stands up straighter, and even I can see the tension going out of his shoulders. A sort of steady calm settles over him as he meets Draven’s eyes again and gives him a nod. It makes me want to smile. I almost do. But then Orion ruins the moment.
“Well, this is all very touching,” he drawls. “But can we perhaps get a move on?”
“We need one more person in our group,” Lyra announces before Draven and Orion can get into another fight.
Her orange eyes are full of sparkling light as she immediately turns to Alistair.
“And since Draven has already admitted that I’m very good at getting people to do what I want, I’m just going to tell you what I want this time. So Alistair, you’re coming with us.”
Alistair starts in surprise. “I am?”
“Any particular reason?” I ask, arching a sly eyebrow at her.
“Uhm, yeah, have you met the guy? He’s funny as hell,” she says, giving me a little shake of her head as if that should have been obvious.
Then she gives the rest of us a long-suffering look.
“And with all due respect, the four of you carry enough aggression to level a medium-sized mountain whenever you’re together.
And trying to keep the good vibes going in those kinds of circumstances is quite frankly exhausting.
So this time, I’ll leave you all to sort it out amongst yourselves.
” She tips her head from side to side and then raises her eyebrows.
“Just try not to kill each other, okay?”
A soft chuckle escapes my lips. “We’ll try.”
“I am making no such promises,” Orion declares from my left.
“See?” Lyra stabs a finger in his direction. “My point exactly.”
“Fair enough,” Draven says. Then he shifts his gaze between her and Galen. “You remember when and where to meet up?”
They nod, and Galen replies, “Yes.”
“Good. I’ll see you in a few days then.”
The grass trembles in fear as both Lyra and Galen shift into dragons.
Alistair gives me and Isera a quick nod before he climbs up onto Lyra’s back.
Gusts of wind slam down against the ground as Lyra and Galen beat their wings hard.
My hair whips around my face as I tilt my head back and watch them fly off.
“Well, get to it then, beast,” Orion says, mockery dripping from his voice like honey.
Dark clouds seem to gather around Draven as he grinds out, “I’m not carrying any of you. We’re using the portal.” The same sharp taunting laces his tone as he echoes, “So get to it then, princeling.”
For a moment, I think they might actually try to kill each other barely three minutes after Lyra explicitly told us to refrain from that particular activity. But then Orion just turns to Grey.
“Open a portal to the Green Dragon Clan’s homeland,” he commands.
Grey dips his chin. “Yes, my king.”
The glittering blue rectangle appears from the grass again.
On the other side of it, I can see what looks like a small copse of trees with a large mountain behind.
Draven stalks through it first, followed by Orion, and then Isera.
I hold my breath as I step through, though I’m not sure why.
Then Grey follows me through it and closes it behind us.
We do indeed end up in a small groove. Thin trees with pale green leaves that droop from the spindly branches form a small barrier between us and the open stretch of grass ahead.
On the other side of the grass rises a gigantic mountain that has two massive doors carved into the side.
They are framed by gleaming stone pillars, which make the doors seem even grander.
I stare at them.
“The Green Clan lives… here?” I ask, completely stunned.
To my surprise, it’s Draven who answers. “Yes.”
“Inside a mountain? No open sky?”
The usual annoyance fades from his voice and an unreadable expression instead descends on his features as he gazes at the massive doors up ahead. “They’re a… strange bunch.”
“How do we get inside?” Isera asks, her eyes fixed on the doors as well.
Draven shrugs. “We walk up to the doors and hope that they open them.”
“Hope?” Orion sneers.
Draven cuts him a glare but still explains. “This mountain is impenetrable. No one gets in, or out, without the permission of their clan leader.”
I frown at him before turning to stare at the mountain again. “But then how did the Icehearts conquer them? How did they get them to swear allegiance and become part of their empire?”
With his gaze still on the closed doors, Draven shakes his head. “No idea. It was long before my time.”
“Seriously?” Orion says.
We all turn towards him. The Unseelie King is watching Draven with a smug look on his face.
“This is starting to become embarrassing.” Orion gives Draven a vicious smile. “I knew that intelligence wasn’t your strongest suit, but it is a sad day indeed when I know more about your culture than you do.”
Draven flashes him an equally dangerous smile back. “Spying is easy when you’ve just been spectating behind your wards like a coward.”
“Just tell us how they were conquered,” Isera snaps, leveling an annoyed look at Orion.
He shifts his sharp eyes to her. “Say please.”
“Mabona’s fucking tits,” I huff. “I’m starting to think that Lyra was right.”
All three of them start in surprise, as if they had forgotten that I was there for a moment. It disrupts the aggression that crackles in the air enough that they don’t immediately resume arguing. Instead, Orion clears his throat and volunteers the information without further pressure.
“The Icehearts got the Green Dragon Clan to swear allegiance by threatening to destroy their archives,” he says.
I raise my eyebrows. “Archives?”
“This entire world’s written history. It’s stored in the Green Clan’s archives.
According to our own historians, the Icehearts somehow managed to get into the archives.
Though how they actually managed to do that is still up for debate among different scholars.
Some argue that they only managed to steal a section of the archives while others claim that they managed to take possession of whole sections of the mountain.
” He flicks his wrist. “Anyway, the point is that they threatened to destroy them. That’s how they got the Green Clan to bow down.
” He shrugs. “As far as we know, they did manage to reclaim the archives, though. And they warded them afterwards to prevent it from happening again.”
I frown at him. “They reclaimed the archives? But then why is the Green Clan still serving the Icehearts then?”
“My guess? It’s simply because they don’t go back on their word.” He flicks a glance at Draven. “If they’re as honest and principled as you say, they probably couldn’t simply ignore their vow of allegiance once they had given it.”
“You might have a point,” Draven says slowly.
Orion blinks, looking completely stunned that Draven agreed with him on something.
“The Green Clan is part of the empire, just like we all are, but they don’t really serve the Icehearts,” Draven explains. “Not overtly, anyway. They don’t rebel. But they also don’t use their powers for Bane and Jessina’s sake.”
“So how do we convince them to fight with us?” Isera asks.
“That’s a problem for another day.” Draven heaves a deep sigh and turns back towards the imposing mountain. “The more pressing problem is how to get them to even open the door.”