CHAPTER EIGHTEEN #4
“Do you know what it looks like?” I asked. I’d never seen any such operation during my time at Court, but then again, I hadn’t exactly been as involved as I could have been. Seeing Alexander’s confused look, I clarified, “Whatever they’re mining?”
“They looked like rocks.” He shrugged, still bemused by my intensity. He could probably hear my pulse. “Small, gray rocks.”
Small gray rocks. My heart was going wild now. When I’d first awoken in Hell, I’d found myself in a warehouse full of stones exactly like that. Another coincidence? Or was Lucifer mining … demon glass? But how could an identical mineral be on two completely different planets?
Unless … unless it wasn’t. What if it was only in one place? But if the Unseelie Court wasn’t on Earth, that meant …
In a rush of memory, I heard Thuridan’s last words to me. He couldn’t close it. So he put it somewhere useful.
“Oh my God,” I breathed. Somehow, Olorel must’ve known what Lucifer’s vulnerability was—the demon glass. Which was mined in Hell. Those words went around again. He couldn’t close it. If you couldn’t destroy something, what did you do?
You hid it.
It turned out that Lucifer didn’t know everything. In a way, Olorel had created the Unseelie Court. It wasn’t just to give his people a safe haven or to protect the secret of an opening to Hell. It was because of where the Court was located.
Spurred by a rush of adrenaline, I shoved my chair back from the table. Alexander blinked in surprise. “What just happened?”
“He didn’t close the Door. He moved it,” I said urgently. My mind kept racing. “He put it somewhere useful. I have no idea how Thuridan knew, since Olorel died before he could tell anyone. Maybe Michael said something. But it doesn’t matter. It’s the fucking truth, I can feel it.”
This explained why the Unseelie Court was underground.
Why it was always so cold. Why there was no electricity.
Those tunnels ran through the bedrock of Hell, where no beast or demon had found them for millennia.
Olorel had buried the Door as deeply as he could so his brother would never discover the truth—all this time, Lucifer could’ve come into our world any time he wanted.
“What of our negotiations, Lady Sworn?” Alexander asked, watching me pull my jacket on.
“Here’s what you can do with your negotiations.
” I flashed him my middle finger and took my purse off the back of the chair.
As I started rummaging through it, I spoke without looking up.
“If you want to be a coward and stay in the water while the rest of us die, then you’ll have to live with that for the rest of your miserable life.
I can tell you one thing, though—that life won’t be very long.
Not even the deepest parts of the ocean will be safe from him. ”
I dropped some money beside my coffee cup, which was still full, and turned away without another word to the water nymph king. His voice stopped me just as I took my first step.
“Wait.”
I paused. When the scent of salt burst on my tongue, I figured out the real reason Alexander kept dodging me.
He was afraid.
But none of that fear showed on his face, I saw as I turned back. Alexander stood next to the table, his arms hanging loosely at his sides. “What do you need?” he asked.
I hid my surprise and answered, “Fighters. A lot of them.”
He nodded. “Anything else?”
“Information,” I said instantly. “Do you know where the fae mine those swords at Court?”
Alexander raised his eyebrows. “Why not ask one of your pretty lovers, or the Unseelie Queen?”
“Because they’re not here, and I want to know right now,” I said bluntly.
Following an impulse, I returned to Alexander and pulled Michael’s final message out of my purse.
I unrolled the worn paper, then flattened it on the table.
Thank God I’d taken to bringing it with me everywhere.
I placed the salt and paper shakers on two corners, ketchup and mustard on the others.
I pointed at each symbol as I said, “As far as we can tell, this is supposed to represent the Flint Hills. Until now, we had no idea what the other two were supposed to be. But now I think … this could be the Unseelie Court.”
Alexander shot me an incredulous look. “What makes you believe I have any idea where the pointy ears get their precious material?”
I gave him a look back that told him I wasn’t buying it. “You’re a king, and you’re ancient. There’s no way you made a deal with faeries without knowing all the facts.”
Alexander relented with a sigh, bending closer to examine my scribbles. “From what I can recall, the mines are almost directly below the tunnel entrance. Here.”
The water nymph put his finger on the map. I stared down at it, chewing my lower lip in contemplation. Following another impulse, I dug a pen out of my purse and drew circles around all three of the symbols. When I was finished, I straightened with wide eyes. Holy shit.
Because of how I’d originally laid the shapes out on the paper, and how they were positioned, my circles formed the Olorel bloodline crest. Maybe it didn’t represent three moons, and it never had …
maybe it was always meant to be a message.
Every circle was a location. The first was the Flint Hills, where Olorel had moved the Door and created the Unseelie Court.
His bones were there. The second was the Unseelie Court and the demon glass mine, which apparently had been in Hell all along.
Olorel hadn’t even been alive to make a family crest, so who had done this?
Michael? Nym? Lyari’s mother? That part didn’t matter, not really, I told myself, still staring down at the map.
The bones. The demon glass. But what about the last circle? I stared at that final, mysterious symbol, which now peered up mockingly from the third circle’s center.
“Someday I’m going to marry you, Fortuna Sworn,” Alexander said, bringing my attention back to him.
Truth be told, I’d half-forgotten he was there. In a burst of urgency, I pushed the shakers and condiments away, freeing the drawing, and quickly rolled it up. “You don’t want to marry me. I’d probably end up killing you,” I replied shortly.
Watching me, the water nymph let out the smallest of sighs. “But what a blissful life it would be until then.”
“I’ll see you on Olorel, Alexander. You have my number if you need to talk logistics.” I paused, realizing he could interpret this as an invitation. “But that’s all you can use it for.”
His eyes twinkled. “No promises, my lady.”
I made an impatient sound and turned away.
By the time I reached the door, I’d already forgotten the water nymph again, my mind consumed with the world-altering revelation Alexander had inadvertently given me.
I rushed into the evening air, barely registering the smell of the river or the shriek of a nearby seagull.
I started in the direction of the closest Door, which was tucked away at the back of a local church.
Fortuna Sworn.
The voice slithered through my head like an eel, accompanied by a small whisper of pain. I frowned, scanning the street and the sidewalks for anyone standing still or peering in my direction. But the humans in sight weren’t paying me any mind. Slowly, I began walking again.
Fortuna Sworn. Look to the water.
As the voice whispered through my mind a second time, it had a slimy feel to it. Goosebumps rose along my arms, and I turned toward the Cape Fear River, which was directly to my left. The beach was practically empty.
The water wasn’t, though. There was something out there, and my heart quickened at the eerie sight. As I watched, it rose higher, and higher, a dark shape against the dim horizon. Then its body came out, rivulets streaming down the creature’s sides, and I realized what I was looking at.
“It’s you,” I said. My power swelled instinctively, ready to tear through this thing’s psyche if it tried to lure me in. Kelpies were no joke, not even to the deadliest of Fallen.
Before I could ask why it had come, its voice slid through my head again. I will ride with you to face the Dark Prince, the creature said.
I’d been afraid it was going to say that. I’d memorized all of Nym’s drawings, and the kelpie had been one of the missing pieces. I licked my lips, stalling for time while my mind raced. “Why?” I asked.
I spoke with the Time Walker, the kelpie replied. It said nothing more.
Another rush of realization hit me. All of Nym’s mysterious disappearances. The fact that some of my new allies had changed their minds. He must’ve been visiting them, one by one, accomplishing what I couldn’t. Convincing them to lay down their lives for this fight.
The horse in front of me shifted, forcing my attention back to the offer floating between us. I regarded the creature with the wary respect it deserved, considering every angle if I were to accept.
Only an idiot would get on the back of a kelpie, considering they liked to drown their prey.
But then I thought of Nym’s drawings again.
I held an automatic denial back and truly considered it.
A kelpie could sift, like a faerie, and they were fast. Incredibly, unbelievably fast. A single bite from their pointed teeth could tear flesh like paper.
A mount like that could actually stand a chance against an army of demons.
The second I heard myself think it, I knew I was going to say yes.
“How do I know you won’t drag me to the bottom of a lake the second I get on?” I asked.
The creature huffed through its nose and stomped its foot. Foolish child. A kelpie has not accepted a rider in centuries. Recognize the honor of my offer before I rescind it.
Wariness prickled over my skin at the display of temper.
But I stayed where I was, staring at the kelpie silently as I acknowledged the risks.
This creature could betray me, or try to eat me.
The heart of a Nightmare was still highly coveted.
There was one huge advantage that might make it worth the risk, though.
Not only could kelpies shift … they could take their riders with them.
In a battle, an ability like that could be what saved my life, or helped me take out some truly fucking lethal demons.
My palms were damp as I said, “I accept your offer.”
The kelpie didn’t roll its eyes, but I swore I could hear it in the creature’s voice. Of course you do.
“The Flint Hills,” I replied, ignoring this. “That’s where we’ll face him. It’s happening on Olorel, at sunset.”
I stood there for another moment, uncertain how to proceed, since we couldn’t exactly shake on it. Then the kelpie shifted again, making mud squelch beneath its lethal hooves. I am Sarod, it said, bending its long neck into a bow.
This creature already knew my name, but it seemed rude not to respond. I bowed back and said, “I’m Fortuna Sworn. It’s nice to finally meet you, Sarod.”
Part of me expected the kelpie to respond with a wise comment or some pretty sentiment. Instead, it just turned its huge body back to the water and returned to the deep.
Until Olorel, that eerie voice said in my head. A moment later, the kelpie was gone, with not even a ripple to prove I hadn’t imagined the entire thing. I stood there for an extra beat, processing what had just happened. What I’d agreed to.
After another moment, I shook myself and whirled away.
There was so much to do. It was fortunate I was already heading for a Door, because my first stop after the meeting with Alexander was the Unseelie Court.
Viessa had no idea that she was sitting on our possible salvation, or that a planet of demons existed above her.
After that, my Court also needed to know everything I’d just learned …
and about the allies I had finally procured us.
I couldn’t wait to see the look on Collith’s face when I told him what I would be riding into battle. My mouth curved at the thought.
He was going to shit a brick.