Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Ijerk awake as someone touches my shoulder.
Panic surges through me when I can’t remember where I am for a second.
Winds rush around me, and for some reason, all I can see in front of me are gray clouds.
I blink furiously to clear my vision while also trying to shake off the lingering nightmares.
Cold hands still grip my heart as memories of ice shards and cut throats and resentful eyes that quickly die whirl inside my mind.
“We’re here,” Isera says from behind me.
I blink hard again. Here? Where is here?
Then my brain at last catches up and I understand what it is that I’m looking at. The sky visible from Draven’s back.
After Grey portaled us as close to the Silver Clan’s homeland as he could, Draven shifted into his dragon form and then launched into the air with all five of us on his back.
He said that it would take a while to get there, and I must have passed out at some point, because I can’t remember much of the journey.
Though, I suppose it’s not surprising. While everyone else was sleeping last night, Orion was torturing me with those awful memories for twelve hours straight.
And before that, we broke into the Ice Palace and kidnapped Lavendera and then had to fight our way out.
I haven’t slept since the day before yesterday, so my body must have just given out.
I glance over my shoulder. Isera is sitting right behind me, and Orion is behind her. Based on the way he blinks and shakes his head, he must have passed out from exhaustion as well. Using his magic for so many hours on end must have taken most of his energy.
Shifting my gaze back, I look down at the landscape far below.
My eyes widen at what I find down there.
Utter desolation. Nothing but scorched earth and stone and melted buildings.
Clouds of ash sweep across the barren ground.
There is not a tree, not one single blade of grass, as far as the eye can see.
Gray light falls down from the overcast sky, making the already bleak landscape look truly forlorn.
According to the others, this is where almost all the battles took place during the war six thousand years ago. And by Mabona, the sheer scope of the destruction is staggering. I have no idea what war is like among other races, but apparently, when fae and dragon shifters fight, the world trembles.
My stomach lurches as Draven suddenly starts diving towards the ground. Gripping the spike before me hard, I hold on tightly to stop myself from tilting forwards. Isera’s arms around my waist get firmer as well.
“Careful where you place those hands, pretty boy,” she warns as Orion no doubt holds on to her as well. “Or I might cut them off.”
“What, this?” Orion replies, and lets out a short chuckle full of sly challenge. “This is nothing. When we’re alone, I can show you what these hands of mine can really do.”
“Besides stroke your own ego, you mean?”
“Oh, I happen to be deviously skilled at… stroking things.”
Draven lets out a warning growl and turns his massive head to look at us while he still continues descending. Even in his dragon form, I can read the exasperated incredulity in his eyes as he glares back at Orion.
I flick a glance at the Unseelie King as well and catch him flashing Draven an unapologetic smirk back. Shaking my head, I return my attention to the rapidly approaching ground. My pulse thrums as the melted ruins of buildings and stone draw closer.
Draven at last swings his head back and looks at the ground too. His massive black wings flare out wide. Then he lands on the scorched ground with a thud that echoes across the desolate landscape.
Grey and Hana, who were seated at the back of our little procession, quickly climb down to the ground. Orion, Isera, and I follow.
Once we’re all standing on solid ground again, Draven shifts back into his human form. Black smoke swirls around us from the transformation until the winds at last sweep it aside.
“This is the last time I’m carrying the two of you,” Draven declares as he strides back to us. Keeping his eyes locked on Orion and Isera, he shakes his head. “Discussing your shared sex life while you’re sitting on my back is disgusting as fuck.”
“That’s not—” Isera blurts out, sounding more flustered than I’ve ever heard. “We do not have a shared sex life.”
Orion smirks. “Yet.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Draven says before she can retort. Then he turns to Hana. “You, can you find the pocket reality or what?”
Hana, who was gazing out at the landscape around her, jumps at being address directly. But she doesn’t immediately reply. Instead, she looks to Orion.
I can’t help but be impressed. Her and Grey’s loyalty to Orion is absolute.
It doesn’t matter how powerful and dangerous Draven is.
Unless Orion gives them permission, they won’t even answer his questions.
It’s subtle, yet obvious at the same time.
They truly do respect him. I haven’t really thought much about it before, but the more time I spend with Orion, the more I’m starting to realize that he is actually an excellent Unseelie King.
Only after Orion has given her a nod does she turn back to Draven and answer his question. “Yes, I think so. Normally when I search for pocket realities, I kind of just… shoot my magic around and see if I find anything.” She blushes. “Kind of like throwing food at the wall to see what sticks.”
Draven gives her a look of frustrated disbelief that seems to be a very sarcastic oh great.
She either doesn’t notice or isn’t bothered by it, because she just continues speaking. “But now that we’re here, it’s easier for me to narrow my search to just this location. So if there is a pocket reality somewhere here, I should be able to find it.”
“How long?”
“Probably before the end of the day, at least.”
He stares at her. “Before the end of the day? Bane and Jessina might already be here by then!”
“Then let’s stop wasting her time with pointless questions,” Orion interjects. Then he turns to Hana. “Find the pocket reality.”
She jerks her chin down in several quick nods. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Her black hair flutters behind her as she spins around and then walks a short distance away. Closing her eyes, she stretches out both hands before her. I can’t see her magic, but I’m assuming that she is throwing it in that direction to search the area there.
“Azaroth’s fucking flame,” Draven mutters, and drags a hand through his messy black hair.
Ash swirls around our legs as another wind rushes across the barren landscape. I look up at the sky, searching for any signs of silver dragons, even though I know that we have a good head start on the Icehearts. Only thick gray clouds stare back at me.
“How did the Gold Clan even get into a pocket reality?” Isera asks. “They only have shield and ward magic. And none of the other dragon clans have magic that can open pocket realities.”
She’s right. Before we came to the Unseelie Court, I had never met anyone who possessed that ability, so it must be pretty rare.
It’s a very advanced type of magic too. Hana explained how it works before she sent us into one of her pocket realities during the finale of the Great Games.
Apparently, she can reach into another realm and pull a section of that realm into our realm.
That section is still technically part of its original realm, but no one can enter or leave it while it’s held in the new realm.
It would definitely be the perfect place for the Gold Clan to hide. But Isera is right. How in Mabona’s name did they manage to get inside one?
“It must have been a fae who did it,” I say, thinking out loud.
Draven nods, a considering look on his face. Then he locks eyes with Orion. “What did you pay for the wards around your court all those millennia ago? You said that it was the single most expensive bargain your court has ever made.”
“It was,” Orion replies.
“So what did you pay for it?”
For a few seconds, the Unseelie King only looks back at us in silence. There is an unreadable expression on his beautiful face. Then he lets out a small sigh and admits, “I have no idea.”
Draven draws his dark eyebrows down in a scowl. “What?”
“That’s what makes it so expensive. The single most expensive bargain we have ever made. Because none of us have any idea what we gave them in return for it.”
My eyebrows shoot up, and I stare at him in surprise. So do the others. Everyone except Grey. And Hana, of course, who is wandering over to a different section of the ground.
Orion clicks his tongue and glances away for a second, almost looking a little embarrassed.
“We keep meticulous records of all the bargains we make.” His gaze sharpens as he slides it back to Isera and pointedly adds, “Because we always uphold our end of the deal.” Then he looks over at me and Draven again and shrugs.
“But the price section of the bargain for the wards is blank. It always has been. So I have no idea what we paid for it.”
“Do you think…?” I begin.
He nods. “Yes. Now I’m starting to think that the cost was a fae who opened a pocket reality and then for the Green Clan to wipe that knowledge from the memories of everyone involved. Otherwise, how would the Green Clan know about this pocket reality while we don’t?”
“It makes sense,” Draven agrees. “The Green Clan is honorable. Always has been. Unless their archives are threatened, they would never use their powers on someone without that person’s permission.
But if the Unseelie King back then agreed to have that specific knowledge wiped from his memory, they would do it. ”
“And now their archives are threatened,” Isera points out.
“Yes.” Draven casts an impatient look back at Hana. “Which means that we need to find the Gold Clan first.”
That, however, turns out to be easier said than done.
Time slips by while Hana moves from place to place, searching for the pocket reality without finding it.
My pulse thrums as I pace across the ash-covered ground.
It feels like there is a flock of erratic birds trapped inside my ribcage.
Every second that passes is another second that brings the Icehearts closer to this location.
And we need to find the pocket reality first. Otherwise, our plan will never work.
We need to already control the Gold Clan and be lying in wait to ambush Bane and Jessina when they shift into their human forms.
After once again raking my fingers through my hair, I re-tie the rolled braids that keep part of my hair out of my face. My boots thud against the hard ground as I walk along a different section of what looks to be the burnt-out remains of an old city.
Stone and metal that must have been houses once have melted into haunting shapes on both sides of me.
I look up at the hulking, misshapen forms as I pass.
This used to be the Silver Clan’s homeland, and since Draven flew us to the very middle of it, these ruins that I’m now pacing among might even have been their capital city.
I wonder what it looked like back in its full glory.
A booming sound suddenly comes from my right.
I whip my head towards it. But because the melted lumps of metal and stone around me are so tall, I can’t see the horizon properly.
My heart, however, is already pounding in my chest. Because I recognize that sound. There is no way in hell I will ever be able to mistake that sound.
With alarm streaking through my body like lightning, I take off at a sprint.
All six of us spread out earlier to search for any signs of a pocket reality so that we could hopefully help Hana narrow down the area.
I need to get back to the others.
Fast.
“Draven!” I bellow as I hurtle down the ruined street. “Draven, they’re—”
A silver dragon shoots out from between the buildings on my right.
I scream as it snaps its massive jaws shut.