27. Chapter Twenty-Seven
William
Nicholas led the group to Alvina’s room, where Evera waited, more smug than ever.
Alvina did not share her daughter’s mirth.
The injured fae sat in her nest, curled beneath bloodied blankets.
She snarled at their entrance, her hatred palpable, but didn’t dare to rise.
Even William could surmise she was too weak to protect herself.
“You believe you can defeat Fearworn with these mortals?” Alvina laughed.
The mention of that bastard’s name brought about a cold sweat. William swallowed hard. His hands shook.
“Tell us everything that happened,” Evera demanded.
Alvina spoke of finding Fearworn’s corpse, bringing it to Faerie, and how he healed himself by draining the life force of the land itself.
That was what caused Bloodbane to wither.
William shared what happened in Terra: the missing patients and shadowed disciples capturing them.
Alvina listened like he spoke gospel, so enraptured by the information that she made him uncomfortable.
Nicholas hadn’t said enough about Alvina’s hunger for knowledge.
No doubt she could repeat his every word, cataloguing it into her mind to find whenever she pleased.
“There were ten shadowed disciples who attacked me,” Alvina explained after he finished. “But I can’t rule out there being more. They were prepared, so they either knew this would happen or had prepared for Fearworn’s return. They’re still in Bloodbane. I can feel them, but I don’t know why.”
“What about the mortals? Do you know why shadowed disciples are bringing them here?” Henry asked from where he scribbled in his notebook.
Alvina gave him an approving look. Apparently, she didn’t dislike a mortal who took information as seriously as she did.
“My best guess would be for Fearworn. His body healed by latching onto Faerie, but he never woke up. I always believed he used life force to open scars. This might be similar, using life to bring back life.”
“So my patients may be alive,” said William, uncertain if he was hoping they were.
The shadowed disciples had them. They needed them alive, but potentially not unharmed.
He brought supplies to help should they find any living, but he may not have enough and, as he learned in the war, breathing didn’t mean living.
They could practically be walking corpses doomed to death, regardless of their rescue.
“Well, we at least know Fearworn isn’t up and about, otherwise things would be much worse,” Henry said.
“My biggest concern is that he will remain no matter what is done to him,” Alvina added. “He cheated death already. There is nothing to say he won’t cheat it again, especially here.”
“What if we take his remains to Terra? The magic there is weaker,” Evera suggested.
“We’ll figure that out once we find him and the shadowed disciples. Where are they most likely to be?” Nicholas asked.
“Likely where I left them at Sky Lake.”
“A good place for you to hide,” Evera grumbled. “There are cave systems there to hide in and the lake itself is far from prying eyes. Did you learn anything from your experiments?”
“Nothing I can say for certain. My findings are in the library.” Alvina waved a hand, clearly giving up on keeping any secrets. “Amos knows where to find them.”
“Should we have someone here to watch her?” he whispered to Nicholas.
“No, she isn’t going anywhere. Sorrows Well is the only reason she’s alive right now,” Nicholas replied.
Together, the group traversed to the library where Amos remained.
He didn’t want Arden there most of all, based on how he watched the fae like a hawk circling a rabbit.
Evera instructed her brother to share Alvina’s research.
He wasn’t as reluctant as William expected.
Amos tugged leather-bound notebooks from the shelves to lie across the table, though that was the extent of his help.
He departed without a word, which William was grateful for. Amos had an unsettling air about him.
Henry took over the duty of reading Alvina’s notes. As a researcher, he deciphered them best and pieced together a picture of what to expect, though based on his grim expression, no one would like the answers.
“Alvina is right to be concerned about Fearworn’s abilities to regenerate.” Henry tapped his fingers, lips set into a grim line. “She found pieces of him, a finger and toe, hair and teeth. I don’t know what you did, Nicholas, but there wasn’t much left of him.”
Nicholas beamed proudly.
“But if he can regenerate from that, then we have to ask ourselves how we’ll be rid of him. As Evera mentioned, we could bring him to Terra, perhaps incinerate all that is left of him, because if his shadowed disciples get even a piece of him, I bet he could be brought back.”
Evera sat on the edge of the table, one leg crossed and the other dangling. “Then the plan is simple. We slaughter the shadowed disciples and drag him to Terra.”
“Except his body protected itself. Alvina said as much,” William brought up. “We need to sever the connection between him and Faerie.”
“And I certainly do not know how to do that.” Henry flipped a few pages. “Neither does Alvina.”
“We’re also making a lot of guesswork. Alvina thinks he may use mortal life force to open a portal to another realm, but why? Does he expect that to help with his regeneration?” William grumbled.
Nicholas set his hands on the table and leaned forward to speak sternly, “We don’t need to know why if we snatch the patients and kill the disciples. Fearworn will be left undefended and without whatever he needs, then we can take some time to research how to sever him from Faerie entirely.”
“My mother would work with us to sever him, seeing as what his life has led to. We have to make sure we get his corpse afterward, otherwise she may try something else moronic.” Evera hopped off the table. “I vote we go with Nicholas’ plan.”
“I don’t like you agreeing with me,” Nicholas muttered. She ignored him.
“We don’t have a better option, nor the time to think of one. I wish we did, but the more time we take, the more likely he is to make his move and we have to attack while he’s weakest,” Charmaine agreed. “Let’s rest tonight and leave at first light.”
“That could be in days. The sun rises when it wants.” Arden poked his head out of the shelves where Amos took to following him. He probably would have kicked Arden out entirely if Nicholas wasn’t there.
Charmaine rubbed the back of her neck. “Okay, we leave in six hours? That should give us time for a brief rest.”
Henry took to putting the notes away. Arden followed Charmaine and Evera out of the room, the latter of which shouted, “Don’t go anywhere alone.”
“Then wait for me!” Henry fumbled after them, offering William a smile before he could argue otherwise. With the library safe from Arden’s prying, Amos wandered into the shadows.
Nicholas took William’s hand. “Shall we be off, then? We should get some sleep.”
“We can try to,” he replied.
“Oh?” He ran his lips over William’s neck. “Do you have something else in mind?”
“I sometimes wonder how your mind can be so dirty when we’re in a place like this.”
Nicholas shrugged. “We got off in a worse location.”
He chuckled and playfully nudged Nicholas’ side with his elbow. “Don’t remind me of those woods. It gives me the shivers.”
Smiling, they walked hand in hand, so blissfully normal that he expected things to turn south. He imagined the walls caving in or Amos coming up behind them to rip out his throat. No such thing happened, and they made it to an empty room without losing any limbs.
The door shut. They were alone. In six hours, they would head out to face Fearworn for the last time, one way or the other.
Even if they survived, it would be another nightmare that would stay with him until the end of his days.
He couldn’t deny that he liked Nicholas’ idea, that he’d like to take time to enjoy one another.
“Come here,” he said, taking Nicholas by the waist.
The fae fell into him. Nicholas smiled against his mouth. They kissed like it was their first, like they were back in that cold waste of the Deadlands, so overcome by the other they couldn’t resist temptation.
He draped his arms over William’s shoulders. “You aren’t teasing me, are you?”
He propelled them toward the wall, trapping Nicholas between his body. Nicholas’ pupils dilated, becoming so black they were obsidian mirrors reflecting his own wanting.
“That depends. What do you want?” He marked Nicholas’ neck, savoring the taste of him and the flutter of his heart against the tip of his tongue.
“I want us to be scandalously intimate.”
He chuckled against Nicholas’ nape. His teeth grazed over the goose feathered skin. Nicholas moaned when he brought their hips together. He slipped a thigh between Nicholas’ legs to rub against him. Nicholas caught his fingers in William’s hair. He rubbed harder against William’s thigh.
“I want you to make a mess of me, my wicked. I want you to crave me as I do you.”
“Do you truly believe I don’t?” He yanked at Nicholas’ clothes. He needed to feel Nicholas. The first brush of his fingers beneath Nicholas’ shirt had them moaning. It was maddening to have gone so long without each other, and now to be so desperate for touch, to make up for all the time lost.
“I want you. I missed you,” he said with his hands tracing every knot in Nicholas’ spine.
“I missed you, too. I thought of you,” Nicholas gasped when William’s hands found his chest. Nicholas lurched against him, trying to pull them closer. “I thought of you with my hand around my cock. I couldn’t get off without thinking about you.”
His teeth tore into Nicholas’ shoulder as he brought his hand between Nicholas’ legs. He felt him, hot and hard and wanting. Nicholas’ hips rubbed furiously, uncertain if they wanted his thigh or his hand.
“Did you think about me?” Nicholas panted while tearing at his clothes.