Chapter 4
FOUR
Dirge
We woke the next morning in our fairy-tale bedroom, gauzy curtains fluttering in a gentle, sweet breeze. In any other place, I would have rolled over, dragged Shay against my chest, and woken her with kisses. But here? Everything about the fae realm was too perfect.
Like a plastic veneer over the ugliness I knew was brewing somewhere underneath.
My wolf had been pacing and edgy ever since I’d spoken with Brand.
I wanted to just tell Shay what he’d shared, but I also didn’t want to hurt her.
And if there was any chance of the spell that kept her memories at bay rebounding and harming her if she got the information before her powers had fully manifested, I couldn’t risk it, even if keeping silent was killing me.
So I bit my tongue and got dressed for anything the fae trials could throw at us.
By the time I came out of the bathroom, Shay was up and also dressed.
She’d chosen the same all-black outfit I had, with one exception—her favorite sneakers with the jingly buckles.
It made me smile, and I closed the distance between us to pull her into my arms, tucking her head under my chin for a hug.
“Are you ready?” I murmured the question, not wanting to break the peace, but needing to check in with her.
She was my heart beating outside my chest. It couldn’t be any other way.
“I don’t know if we can ever be ready for a secret challenge, but yeah. Ready as I’ll ever be, at least.”
Her voice was strong and steady, unwavering despite the looming possibility of danger, being trapped here, and, I had no doubt, death. She was admirably strong, my mate, my heart.
The secret I was keeping hung over my head as I hugged her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m by your side every step of the way. Together, we can do anything.”
Her smile beamed like a ray of sunlight, warming me up from the inside out. “I know. I’ll bet on us to come out on top every time.”
“Me too, muzic? mea.”
With that, we were off, down to meet in the foyer at the appointed time. There was no one there but a servant, who bowed deeply to the two of us, earning a wave of confusion from Shay.
Understandable, since everyone else knew she was the queen’s daughter but her. Frustration rose in my chest, but I shoved it down as we followed the servant out of the castle and back toward the court. But a few minutes before we would have arrived, he veered hard left.
The trail was a little wilder, a little more overgrown, and then my wolf-augmented senses picked up the scent of water.
Do you smell that? I asked through our bond.
Water. Still, not flowing, far as I can tell.
I got the same read.
She squeezed my fingers as a bridge came into view, a wide, shallow-looking pond amid the strange flora that seemed to be everywhere here in faerie. But the bridge disappeared into what I could only describe as a swamp, the first impression of a pretty pond’s edge misleading.
Waiting at the foot of the bridge was the queen and three other greater fae I didn’t recognize from our arrival yesterday. None of them spoke as we joined them.
The queen inclined her head politely in acknowledgment, and then a female fae so small she barely came up to my elbow stepped forward, lips pursed as if merely speaking to us was a sour experience.
“The first trial has been set. You will face the Bridge of Truths.” She gestured to the bridge, as if there were any question about which bridge.
Clearly, the rest of the fae didn’t think too highly of our intelligence. Or they just enjoyed insulting us. Either way, it wasn’t the first time we’d been underestimated as a species. We’d turn it to our advantage, as wolves always did.
There was a beat of silence, with no further instructions forthcoming.
Do we just walk forward? I asked, wanting to let Shay take the lead, in case her fae instincts were tipping her off to something I had missed.
Not yet.
“How will we know we’ve completed the trial successfully?” Shay asked.
The tiny female fae sighed. “You walk out onto the center of the bridge and speak your truth to the bridge. If your truth is accepted, you’ll know.
If it’s not… you won’t make it across the bridge.
” She shrugged one shoulder, as if she couldn’t care a whit less about the outcome, but the bloodthirsty glint in her eyes said otherwise.
She wanted us to fail, to die bloody in this magic-infested swamp.
And it was infested with all sorts of nasty magic, because the longer we stood next to it, the more my wolf’s fur prickled at the unpleasant sensations. This test might look simple, but I was certain it was anything but.
“Is there anything else I should know?” Shay pressed, still holding out a hand to keep me in place.
The little fae woman frowned, staying stubbornly silent until Queen Lyrica cleared her throat.
“Only one of you needs to go in.”
There it was. The fae woman was hoping to send us both onto the bridge, because if either of us failed, we both would.
Shay turned back to me, worry in her eyes.
“I’ll go,” I offered immediately. If I could keep her safe on dry land, that was enough for me. Whatever challenge this bridge posed, I’d endured worse in my feral years.
“No, it has to be me. I’m immortal, remember? So no matter what, I won’t be dying in that swamp.”
The little fae just sniffed and turned away, feigning boredom. But what Shay had deduced was clearly correct, to the fae’s chagrin.
“I don’t like sending you into danger alone. It’s not the agreement.” I couldn’t hold back a low growl, my wolf’s own punctuation to the statement. He liked it even less than I did. Immortality meant little to him; our life was meant to be spent in service to our mate, however long or short.
“I know,” she murmured, turning and cupping my jaw.
My focus narrowed to just her face, the rest of the world ceasing to exist when I was lost in her eyes.
“But I can do this. These are my people, whether they like it or not. I think… I think I need to prove it to myself and to them. I don’t know why, I just have a gut feeling. ”
I knew why, but I couldn’t blurt it out. So I nodded, crushing her to my chest for a moment to satisfy my wolf’s need to protect her. But then I released her, pressing a lingering kiss to her lips. “Go. You’re made for this, and I believe in you.”
She smiled, brushed her fingertips over her lips, and turned toward the bridge.