23. Lysandra
As I exit the shop, my pixie friend is waiting. She gives me a once over, her brows raised and her mouth pinched.
“Got it,” I breathe, and she breaks into a laugh. I don’t ask if she saw what happened or if she somehow knows, but I’m sure the news of my visit to the Underground will be the talk of the realm in a few hours. Pixies are notorious gossips. “I need to go to vamprye territory,” I say when her laughter settles. “Can you take me?”
“This way,” she says, amusement coating her words. Thankfully, she doesn’t bring up the incident again while she leads me down the tunnels.
Once the arousal fades, I take stock of my body. I’m not too weak, thank the goddess, so depending on what the next challenge is, I could potentially do one more before I need to stop. I have no idea how long I’ve been down here, but it has to be around midday.
The tunnels abruptly change. The bright lights are replaced with red magical orbs that barely provide any light. The fancy shop windows give way to solid matte black doors. “We’re in the Night Court now,” the pixie supplies. She points down a branching tunnel. “That way is the nightclub Hades is building. There’s a strip club that way, and this hall—”
She doesn’t need to finish her sentence. The sound of a woman screaming an orgasm tells me enough. We’re in the hall of Hades’ sex club. I’ve only been in Faerie for a few weeks, and already I’ve heard about the exclusive club. No one shares stories about what happens inside, but their blushes and shared glances tell me all I need to know.
We pass one room that has a giant V painted on the door with a large picture window beside it. The window is mostly blacked out, but is clear enough that I can see a female tied to a St. Andrew’s Cross while another kneels before her.
As if I wasn’t horny enough.
I shift, my thighs pressing together as I try to keep my head forward and tune out what sounds like an entire army fucking in the room labeled with an O. “Orgy room,” the pixie says, and then stops. “This is where I leave you.”
“Really?”
“You didn’t think I was in the Underground simply as a tour guide, did you?” She points down the hall. “Keep going straight until you reach a set of stairs. The exit is on the south side of the palace. Circle to the north and vampyre territory will be visible from there. Good luck, Your Highness.”
She swings the door open, and I catch sight of a troll on his back while three Fae jerk him off—it takes that many to wrap their hands around his giant cock. My pixie friend flies straight in and sits on his face. How he doesn’t split her in half with his tongue is beyond me, but the door closes before I can gawk any longer.
“By the goddess.” It seems lust will be a permanent fixture in my body.
I head down the hall the pixie indicated, up the stairs, and out a hidden door in the side of the palace. The building is bright white, consisting of marble columns that lead to open-air hallways with fluttering curtains to shield them from the elements. It’s nestled in the heart of the Dorchas Desert but is cool in the constant state of evening. Unfortunately, the palace is the brightest thing in the entire desert, making it impossible to see farther than its walls. I consult the map Hades gave me and see there’s a river to the north of the palace. That’s as good of a place as any to start.
The sand is hard to walk through, and my boots struggle to find purchase on the soft drifts. When the wind picks up and blows sand into my eyes, I force myself to pause and grab the scarf in my bag. It doesn’t do anything for the grains making their home in my hair, but at least it shields my face from the brunt of it.
I trudge forward until the sand turns to grass. It’s like entering a different realm. Rows of crops and gardens grow between large copses of trees in the fertile soil. The wind still rages, but the sand doesn’t breach the little paradise.
I wander until I come across a vampyre reading beneath a cypress tree. His skin is so pale he glows like the moon, and while his eyes are a warm, russet brown, his other features are the same kind of menacing as the vampyre in the jewelry shop. “Do you have something for me, Your Highness?” he asks without looking up from the book on his lap.
I dislodge the vial of stardust and extend it to him. He shakes it once, confirming its contents, and hands me a scroll.
Two down, four to go.
“Did—” I start.
“You beat Puck here,” he says, flipping the page.
I whoop and punch my fist in the air before thanking him again and heading toward the edge of the oasis to read my next clue. As I’m about to open it, Puck stumbles onto the grass, shaking his hair out like a dog, scattering sand everywhere.
When he’s done, he notices me and his mouth pops open. “How?” he demands.
“Doing what I do best,” I say, blinking innocently at him. “Playing dirty.” The echo of his statement from the earlier challenge.
“Hmm,” he muses, stepping in closer. His jaw tics, his expression turning murderous. “Why can I scent your arousal, princess? That better be for me.”
“So possessive of something that’s not yours,” I tsk.
He threads his fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck and tugs. My eyes roll back in my head. There’s something about getting my hair pulled that instantly makes me wet—not that I haven’t been wet all day already.
“Try that again,” he growls.
“No,” I snark, trying to keep my lips from turning up in a smile.
His grip tightens and I whimper at the pain. “I swear to the goddess, I will put you over my knee right here and turn that pretty little ass red.”
Oh. My. Fuck.
Why does that sound like the perfect fucking thing right now?
“Better go get your clue,” I heave when he tries once again to pull me closer. “Wouldn’t want to be further behind than you already are.”
“You’re right here with me.”
“I’ve already figured it out.” Lies. I haven’t even read it. “As soon as you come to your senses and let me go, I’ll be on my way. It was a tough one too, I’ve been here for a while trying to figure it out.” Lies again, but it does the job. Puck roughly releases me, grumbling something about females, and stalks off in the direction of the vamprye.
As soon as he’s out of my eyeline, I reach into my bag and grab the mini-flashlight I packed so I can read the scroll.
Your instructions are simple
Though your task is not
Travel to the heart of the jungle
The keepers of your clue will make themselves known
That’s it? Every clue we’ve had this far has been a riddle; this is just spelling out the location. Compared to the other challenges, this seems too easy. Crossing the Wyld Jungle shouldn’t be harder than tricking a leprechaun or finding a rare substance. Something will be waiting for us in that jungle.
My mind races with possibilities as I check my map again. In addition to the tunnels and entrances in the Underground, Hades noted the portal entrances. A glance tells me the portal is back by the entrance to the Underground, and there’s one that will leave me in a cave in the middle of the Summer Court jungle.
I start the trek, knowing Puck will be close behind me since this clue is easy to decipher, but it’s practically impossible for me to run over the dunes. Maybe it would be doable for Puck, with his longer legs, but not me. I have to keep moving. Slow and steady.
I reach the portal entrance and step into the swirling periwinkle mist, instantly speeding toward Summer Court. If I knew where I was going, I’d run along the ley line, but I’ve never been alone in a portal in Faerie and I’m afraid I’ll miss the door.
“Tough one, my ass.” Puck’s voice appears over my shoulder, making me jump. I laugh at his expense, and he scowls, but there’s no real malice in his features. “You’re going to regret that.”
“Because you’ll turn my ass red?” I tease. He reaches out and grabs a handful of my cheek. I relish in the fact that my ass may bear his fingerprints the same way my hips do.
“You wish.”
Am I…flirting with Puck? I’m not quite sure when that started, but the lines have been blurry all day. We’re in the middle of a fucking trial and I’m taunting him into spanking me. Not to mention I’ve been fantasizing about him this entire time. What the hell is wrong with me?
Heat and the scent of jasmine trickle down the ley line, signaling we’ve arrived in Summer Court territory. It’s that wet kind of heat that makes it hard to breathe and makes my hair go frizzy in an instant, and I’m not looking forward to hiking in the humidity.
Bending my knees, I sail through the doorway and into a dark cave with Puck on my heels.
After a quick assessment that no beasts or other terrors are lurking in the dark, I reorient myself, removing my tunic so I’m only wearing the camisole underneath. I shove it in my backpack and grab a canteen full of water, taking a swig before I sling it over my shoulders like a crossbody bag.
The water proves useless as my mouth dries at the sight of Puck. He’s removed his shirt completely, leaving his lean muscled torso on display. By the goddess. He’s chiseled. I never would have guessed that hes hiding a freaking eight-pack under his clothes. His skin is pale and dusted with freckles, and a patch of reddish-brown hair disappears beneath his low-slung pants.
“Get your fill?” he taunts, but when I look up, his eyes are firmly on my breasts.
“I’m done if you’re done.”
He snickers and starts toward the mouth of the cave slow enough for me to walk beside him.
We exit into a sea of green, the canopy so thick barely any light filters into the jungle. Vines drip from the trees to the tops of the high-standing bushes, leaving almost no separation in the vegetation.
I notice one of the vines move in what I think is the wind, until it turns and hisses at me.
“Why’s it always snakes?” I grumble.
Puck grunts in agreement. “Any chance you have a machete in your pack?” he asks. I shake my head. “Onward and upward then.”
He takes the lead, pushing vegetation aside and flattening it so I have space to walk behind him. Even though he can, he doesn’t walk fast enough to leave me behind.
“What are you doing?” I demand as he pulls back a tree branch so I can pass.
“Trying to find the Fae that have our next clues,” he says, the branch snapping into place behind us in punctuation.
“Why haven’t you left me?”
“Would you prefer it if I left you?”
“Kind of, yeah. This—” I gesture at him, “—whatever this is, it’s unsettling.”
“Me being a considerate male is unsettling?”
He points out a spider the size of my face that’s waiting in a web in our path. I skirt around it and shudder, doing my best not to cling to Puck’s arm. While I love nature in all forms, something about this jungle gives me the creeps.
All of a sudden, everything goes silent. All the insect sounds stop. There’s no slithering from the snakes, no breeze rustling the leaves. “Now that’s unsettling,” Puck murmurs.
I blink and seven hooded figures appear interspaced around the trees. I move closer to Puck on instinct. Something about them feels… like death. The scent of rot eclipses the scent of jasmine, and beneath their hoods, I see the hints of smiles.
“Fuck.” Puck swears low and long as they raise their hands.
The ground of the jungle twitches and stirs. The grass shifts. Trees bend as if to get away from whatever magic is happening.
“If you reach us,” one of the hooded figures says. The voice isn’t natural; it sounds like one and many at once. “You’ll get your next clue.”
As one, they jerk their hands up and white fragments rise from the soil, coalescing into shapes. “Are those bones?” I ask. Puck nods. Not all the bones are Fae—some are very clearly deceased animals—but as they arrange themselves, they form Fae skeletons.
“What the hell kind of Fae are they?” I gasp as the skeletons turn to us. The ones with Fae skulls look like they’re smiling. The hooded figures continue working until skeletons fill the jungle as far as the eye can see.
“Necromancers,” Puck says. “And these are their creations. The risen dead.”
“Zombies.”
The next challenge is to get past an army of zombies.