Chapter 46
The Otherworld is everything folklore said it would be.
That is, ethereal.
The colors are somehow both softer and more vivid, the smells are sharper, and the magic. The forest around me is steeped in it. From the tops of the soaring cedar trees to the carpet of flowers at our feet, all of it thrums with power.
I take a few short steps away from the ley line the Bargainer, Nero and I just exited from, and I breathe deeply, drawing in the smell of wet earth and pine.
“This is the Flora Kingdom?” I ask.
The Bargainer looks tense as he stares out at the world around us. “Part of it.”
Here it appears to be sunset, based on the long shadows and the rosy, dappled light.
Nero spots a white rabbit in the distance and bounds after it.
What a little menace he is.
The thing that strikes me most about this place, however, is the serenity. More specifically, the serenity that comes when very few people are around.
“How far are we from the House of Scrolls?” I ask curiously.
“I have no idea.”
My head whips to the Bargainer, and I look at him askance. “What do you mean you have no idea?” As I speak, my voice rises.
“We took a back door portal to another kingdom’s land,” the fairy says slowly. “One whose secrets I am not privy to—”
I scoff at that. “You know a lot of mine.”
“—including the whereabouts of a certain, highly restricted place where the Flora Kingdom houses their judgments.”
I stare at him blankly. I had sort of assumed the guy would at the very least know where this House of Scrolls was.
“Could you find out?”
“I could, but my…sources require payment. And, sugar”—his eyes flit up and down me—“I’m just not sure you’d like to pay what they demand.”
I think about the Hungering Ones, about how I paid them what they demanded. How they must’ve held my spirit captive for all that time.
I shake my head.
“Then we’re going to have to let your Memnon destroy the scroll containing Eislyn’s banishment and focus on getting to the palace before your great nemesis moves to the coup stage of her plan.” The Bargainer turns away.
I chew the inside of my cheek, my thoughts spinning.
Eislyn hasn’t been to the Otherworld in over two thousand years. A lot can change in that amount of time, and if what the Bargainer says is true, that the location of the House of Scrolls is a secret, then not just any fae would know.
Maybe Eislyn has some early memory of it, maybe she knows someone who has been there and could direct her or Memnon to it.
Or…
The marble block. The necklace.
“‘Judgment lies beneath the earth,’” I recite to myself.
The Bargainer has already wandered a short distance away. He peers over at me now.
Rapidly I pull out my phone and open my camera roll, scrolling back to a photo of Eislyn I took not so long ago.
I zoom into the image as best I can, past the pearls and ribbon, instead focusing my attention on her necklace. For once this cursed evening, luck is on my side because the photo is sharp enough to make out the Old Fae inscription.
I hand my phone to the Bargainer. “Read the inscription on her necklace,” I say. “The same one was inscribed on the walls of Eislyn’s home—the one her father built for her exile.”
He gives me a skeptical look but glances at the image. His eyes are about to return to mine when I see him pause, then peer closer. The Bargainer stares at the writing for longer than what seems necessary.
Eventually, he hands the phone back to me, his eyes lingering on the image for a moment more before they meet mine.
“Loath as I am to admit it, you did find something, sugar,” he says as I tuck the phone away. “I’m assuming you translated this text to—”
“‘Judgment lies beneath the earth,’” I repeat.
The Bargainer nods. “That’s a good translation, but a more accurate one is ‘Judgment lies beneath Gaya.’ Gaya is one of the fae’s main goddesses, akin to what you call Mother Earth.
Gaya—or Gaya’s Hill—also happens to be the name of a mountain that lies a short distance away from the Flora Kingdom’s palace. ”
My eyes alight. “It’s a real place?” I say.
The Bargainer nods. “It’s real. And it’s a damn good place to house a kingdom’s worth of scrolls.”
I nearly laugh. “Alright, then let’s go.”
The Bargainer hesitates, and I remember all over again that he’s a ruler and this is not his kingdom. He might’ve agreed to come with me to this land, but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to break into the House of Scrolls like I am.
“Or are you staying here?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “No, I’m going.” He sounds a touch bitter about that.
“I will just try to remain unseen. And if I am seen, then I plan to grovel and boot-lick my way to amnesty with the Flora Kingdom and hope they’re the forgiving type.
” He cuts me a look like they might not be. “That’s not what’s giving me pause.”
He exhales. “No, it’s that Gaya’s Hill lies nearly twenty miles from here, and I can’t get us any closer by ley line.” He leans forward. “And just an FYI, sugar, I’m not flying a mouthy witch and her pet demon across that distance all by my lonesome.”
I give him a look. “I can fly on my own. I just need a broom—”
The Bargainer extends his hands out. “You want to whittle one? It’s not like we have anywhere to be.”
“—or something else to fly on,” I finish.
We hold each other’s gaze for a long moment. And I’m not saying the fairy can read minds, but the two of us turn to look at Nero, who’s bounding back to me, at the same time.
“Absolutely not.” I say, at the same time the Bargainer says, “That will work.”