The Phoenix Dawning #3
“I’m gonna stay here and keep looking for these rogue vampires the Warden sent in,” Danny offered. “Obviously, one of them snuck out with Casey, but I’m betting my left arse cheek whoever the kidnapper is still has friends lurking around in Ilamanthe. I’m finding ‘em, and rooting ‘em out.”
“Take Chancey with you,” I ordered. The two of them should be able to find something.
“Gladly.” Danny punched the door as he left, cracking it in half. I was surprised at the display of aggression. Danny acted like he could give less of a shit about anything, but he’d been ruthless since Casey’s disappearance. He actually gave a damn about my kid.
I’d been a huge dick to him from the moment we’d met, but he really did care. I could afford to lighten up… after we got Casey back.
I turned to my guard. “Eddie, you need to locate Alistair. If he’s feeding information to the Warden, he’s still in the palace. Find him.”
“I will bring him in, sire.” He made no move to defend his former lover.
Clearly, Eddie no longer believed Alistair had good intentions, or was innocent when it came to Hemlock’s murder.
The kidnapping of an infant had been enough to make him understand that Alistair wasn’t on our side. “But first, your sword, sire.”
Eddie pressed my grandfather’s sword into my hands. He’d picked it up from the battlefield at Fasva and must’ve kept it with him since. I took the sword’s sheath and looped the belt around my middle, eager for the blade to spill blood once more.
“Eldin, help Eddie,” Ava instructed. Her personal guard left without a word— I hadn’t even been aware she was around, but Ava never went anywhere without Eldin these days. She was a constant shadow wherever the new Empress went, ready to strike upon her command.
Eldin worked as Ava’s blade, wielded upon the Empress’s orders, but I was her means of revenge. And I’d exact it on every person who was responsible for taking my son from me.
“We’ll make our way to the afterlife right away,” Queen Emmaline said.
“Lucas and I managed to carve a hole into the boundary that separates Edinmyre and the Great Hunting Grounds, which means we can get into the rest of the Blessed Haven. If we leave immediately, we can take the portal to Edinmyre that was set up before Emperor Cassiel’s death, then, once we’re in the fae world, travel through the hole in the boundary to the Great Hunting Grounds and look for clues as to where Casey was taken. ”
The hole Emmaline and Lucas had made was meant to get us into the fae afterlife of the Great Hunting Grounds, and beyond that, the rest of the Blessed Haven. All of the afterlives were connected, so we figured we’d be able to travel through one to the other.
We’d been planning on crossing the Great Hunting Grounds to get to the Ancestral Lands, where the mutabeecha resided.
Oberi’s brothers and sisters had information on how to create a time vortex we could use to kill the Warden— a space in the timeline where nothing existed, or could exist. It was our only way to defeat him.
We’d also planned on asking the mutabeecha how we could fix the broken boundary between this world and the afterlife, so souls stuck in the in-between could cross over now that the Elven Gate had been destroyed.
Those plans had to fall by the wayside now, because getting our child back was our first priority.
Cameron had placed his empire before me time and again, but I would allow the entire universe to be at risk if it meant bringing my son home.
I’d put my friends’ lives on the line when we’d been searching for the Divinity Keys, doing my best to save the world and play the hero, and it had led to nothing but destruction.
I would not make the same mistake with my son.
We could find the mutabeecha after my son was safe, but I wouldn’t bother searching for them until Casey was back in my arms again.
Queen Emmaline led the way out of the hospital and back into the palace halls. Rishi scurried along at Marcus’ feet, and Alette fluttered next to Kallie. We all followed at a quick pace as she guided us toward the portal.
“The portal to Edinmyre was set up before Ava’s shield was created, and made with Emperor Cassiel’s help.
That’s the only way we’re still able to use it,” Queen Emmaline explained.
“It’s the only portal in and out of Ilamanthe that works.
The other side emerges into the dark fae city of Eiragrad, which is well within Edinmyre’s borders.
Eiragrad’s magic helps to sustain the Elvish city here, so it was never closed. ”
Two sets of double doors opened, and I heard the eerie thrum of a portal ahead of us. The magic was so powerful it drew me in, yanking my body toward it even though I resisted its pull.
The room is empty except for the portal.
The portal itself is inside a massive golden mirror that extends from the floor to the ceiling.
It’s swirling with dark purple magic, Oberi explained to me.
If I had to guess, it looks like Cassiel and Queen Emmaline used simultension to combine their portalist abilities to craft this permanent magical gateway.
Making a permanent portal was far from a simple feat. Most magic casters wouldn’t be able to do it, as portals often vanished once you’d stepped through, but my grandfather had been a powerful wielder of magic, and Kallie’s mom seemed to have no bounds on her fae abilities.
“Step through quickly,” Queen Emmaline stated. “We don’t have a lot of time.”
“I’m going to stay here and guard the portal to Eiragrad,” Lucas said.
He conjured a weapon and spun it around in his hands— a scythe, judging by the way the blade cut through the air.
“This kidnapper might’ve created their own personal portal to the afterlife, but I’m betting their friends don’t have that ability.
They’ll be looking for other ways to follow. ”
“I’ll help,” Sophia added. “They’re not getting past my flames.”
Queen Emmaline turned to the rest of us.
“I’ll be your guide to the break in the boundary and make sure the hole stays open long enough for you to pass through.
However, I won’t be able to cross it with you once we’re there.
I was able to enter the afterlife once, but the gods will not allow me to come back twice. ”
“We’ll be able to make it back, right?” I asked apprehensively.
“Yes, though you won’t be able to come back the way you came. We’re counting on the mutabeecha to help you return,” she said.
My brothers and sisters will be able to send us back once we find them, I am sure of it, Oberi reassured me.
“What we’re doing to get you into the afterlife is very unique magic, and something I’m only able to do as the Worldweaver,” Emma added.
“Under normal circumstances, the living can’t enter the Great Hunting Grounds.
To get into the fae afterlife, you must die.
There is a singular ritual among our people that would allow a mortal’s passage, but my friends and I cast it before at a great cost. Doing so now would mean one of us wouldn’t be able to return. ”
“That’s out of the question,” Ava insisted. “Everyone’s coming back, or none of us are coming back at all.”
“I can get you to the Great Hunting Grounds without the use of this ritual, but it’s leaving the fae afterlife that’s the problem, since the gods don’t allow the living to depart once they’ve arrived,” Queen Emmaline explained.
“However, these rules are specific to the fae afterlife, while the Ancestral Lands of Hawkei lore operate under their own spiritual laws. The mutabeecha possess knowledge we do not. Find Casey, then get to the mutabeecha. They will get you back to Earth.”
Ava went first. She didn’t bother to ask any more questions as she wheeled herself through the portal. Kallie hastily followed her, along with Alette and Oberi.
“Stay safe, Dad,” Marcus said, high-fiving Lucas before he and Rishi stepped through the portal. That only left me.
“Queen Emmaline—” I started.
“Call me Emma.” The elegant ruler I’d met had vanished. This was someone tougher, meaner— a warrior.
“Emma.” I tried to swallow the heavy knot in my throat, and failed. “How are we going to find Casey once we’re in the Blessed Haven? It has to be huge— bigger than Earth is, endless, if Oberi’s stories are right. What if we don’t find him? What if—”
“Kallie was taken from me as a young girl, and my friends made those sick creatures pay for stealing her from us,” Emma swore.
“Don’t think about what they could be doing to Casey.
It’ll weaken you. Think about what you’ll do once we find out who did this, then come up with ways to punish them that are even worse than what you originally planned. That will give you strength.”
My fear was whittled away by determined resolve. Emma was right. I was terrified for my son, but fear would only hold me back from doing everything I was capable of in order to find him. “Thanks for the sound advice.”
“Advice is worthless if it isn’t applied, but action has value.” She took a few proud steps toward the portal. “Don’t talk about what you’re going to do. Show them.”
She vanished into the portal. I held my breath, taking a step into the mirror and feeling the world vanish from underneath my feet.
I floated for a moment or so, my stomach dipping as I dared to take another step forward.
That step met solid ground, and the warm air of Ilamanthe disappeared as the world around me changed into a land of ice.
The temperature immediately dropped. Snowflakes fell from the sky, and they dotted against my skin as they landed.
I wasn’t wearing much more than a shirt, some tennis shoes and a pair of jeans, but I didn’t feel the cold.
My anger was more than enough to warm me as I strode to keep up with the others.