Chapter 15 #3
“I can’t see her. But her best friend Dan Raine is here. Remember him?”
“The man with the stiff hair and the fake teeth.” He nodded.
“He’s the one who sent Cynthia over to try her luck with you. Jessica Morningside—Audrina’s mom—she's here, too. And the Andresanos,” I added.
“Hmm.” He glared around the restaurant for a moment. “Did I inadvertently arrange our first courting ritual in a den of vipers?”
“You did. But don’t worry about it; I’ve been clashing swords with these idiots for decades.”
He gestured towards the table. “Shall we?”
“Of course.” I walked over to the booth and scooted in, trying not to rip the delicate fabric of my gold dress in the process. Donovan waited until I was settled and moved in on the other side.
As he bent down to slide into the booth, I saw him flinch. Alarm bells rang in my head. “Are you okay?”
“I am well.”
Buzz. “Liar.” My gaze roamed around his body, suddenly even more alarmed. “You aren’t. Cecil said that you needed healing.”
The ghost of a smile touched his lips. “I forget that Cecil is still capable of disobeying me. I told him not to worry you.”
“He didn’t. He told me you needed healing when you came back from Faerie, but I figured you were with Nate, and he fixed you with his magic glowing hands. Are you still hurt?” I patted him gently, marveling at how hard his muscles were underneath that sharp midnight-black suit. “What happened?”
“My more serious wounds have been healed.” He grimaced slightly. “I confess I still feel the pinch and sting of them, though.”
I leaned forward. “What happened? Why did you have to go back to Faerie?”
He sighed roughly. A waiter drifted in front of us and wordlessly poured more champagne for me and placed a square-cut crystal tumbler with amber liquid in front of Donovan.
As soon as he disappeared, Donovan spoke, “Nate, unfortunately, did not get the answers he needed from the gossip mongers that lurk just outside the Under, so he, too, decided to disobey me and go in there himself.”
I gasped softly. “He went back to the Under?”
Donovan nodded, his expression grim. “The ripples of disturbance in the Under troubled him greatly; it was not something he could ignore. He thought he could go in, find the source of the disturbance, and bargain his way out himself. He was mistaken.”
“What happened to him?”
“Morganna refused to let him go even though his body was still alive,” he said, looking away. “Nate was lost in the Under and could not come home. I journeyed there myself and bargained for his release.”
“You sacrificed something else to her hounds, didn’t you? Another toe?”
He looked away. “Not a toe.”
“What did you give her?”
“My appendix,” he muttered. “I do not need it. It was a tasty chew-toy for her dogs, and it pleased her greatly. Nate was returned unharmed and unhaunted.”
I blinked. “Let’s circle back to the ‘unharmed and unhaunted’ bit. Did you actually undergo appendix removal surgery in the Underworld?”
He nodded. “It was not so bad. I am healing well.” He shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
I watched him, feeling helpless. “But you’re still in pain.”
“The wound aches a little,” he admitted.
“Have you taken any painkillers?”
He shrugged. “Nate did what he could. The medmages could not help, as the injury was sustained in the Under, and can only be healed in the Under. And there was no time to visit the mundane physicians for willow wood or milk of the poppy.”
I rummaged around in my purse for a moment and brought out a blister packet of Tylenol. “Here,” I said, popping a couple of pills out into my palm. “Take these. It will help.”
He examined one curiously. “What is this?”
“Uh… it’s like willow wood, I suppose. A human realm version. Well, we actually have willow wood here, too, but we call it aspirin.”
“And how do I take them? Are they inserted rectally?”
I paused for a second. “Uh, no. You swallow them.”
“I assumed because it was not a liquid elixir, then it was to be taken as a suppository. You are sure?”
The specter of Cecil popped into my head, begging me to tell Donovan to shove the painkillers up his butt. “I’m sure,” I said.
Donovan threw them into his mouth, washed them down with a gulp of whiskey, and locked eyes with me.
“And with that, Chosen, another rite is complete. You have provided me with physical healing.” His gaze darkened.
“And although it is not required to complete the courtship, you give me emotional healing, too. With you, right now, I feel at ease in a way that I do not feel when we are apart.”
I gazed at him. “I know what you mean.” For the first time in what felt like a long time, I wasn’t doubting myself. This, right here, was real. Donovan was here with me, and while I was beside him, I knew in my heart, without a shadow of a doubt, that everything was going to be fine.
I still had questions. “Is Nate okay?”
He inclined his head gently. “He has recovered. His injuries were less physical than mental. The transference from physical to non-physical and back again is quite jarring.”
“Did he find what he was looking for?”
“As a matter of fact, he did. The disturbance in the Under was caused by my brother.”
I grimaced. “So, Connor did go to the Underworld?”
“He did. But not ours. The threads in our Under were trembling, but the source of the punch was far away.”
“What does that mean?”
“We believe he was in another realm’s area of the Under.”
“The human one?”
He inclined his head. “Possibly.”
“I thought you had to be familiar with a realm to visit their portion of the Under.”
“We know Connor has devoured human blood. It would help align him. He could perceive the human Under easily, far easier than any of us. Our spies tell us he was in the human realm, then he was in the Under. Once you are in the human Under, you could conceivably journey into any other Under that you wished to visit. But you would have to return via the human Under, because you must anchor a spell-tie somewhere to bring you back.”
I rubbed my temples. “This is too obscure.”
“Yes. It is the realm of the immediate afterlife, Chosen, the place of unconscious thoughts. Going there is easy; returning is almost impossible.”
“But Connor managed it. You did, too.”
“It was a key part of our royal training. Both of us have studied and practiced for decades to deal with the mental anguish that comes with traveling to the Under. But, as we found out, Connor did not visit ours.” He exhaled heavily.
“What he did there, we still do not know. But whatever he did, it caused a great disturbance that reverberated throughout every world’s Under. ”
I chewed on my lips for a second, thinking. “Do you think it has something to do with spark stones?”
“It’s unlikely. Each realm’s Under has their own spark stone, but it is only a concept.
It’s a non-physical plane of existence, so even if Connor traveled to every realm’s Under to devour their stone, it would be like he ate a stone in a dream.
Once he was back in the physical world, corporeal and conscious, it would disappear, and any magic he thought he’d imbibed would disappear, too.
No,” he said gruffly, “Connor didn’t go to the Under to eat spark stones. ”
I exhaled. “I have to admit, that’s kind of a relief.”
“It is, but it does not answer the question of what he was doing in the Under. I confess it worries me greatly.” He looked away. “I do not know what my brother is up to now.”
“Did you get to see your family when you went back?’
“I did.” He hesitated. “The Queen summoned me when her mages alerted her that I was back in the Upper World, so I was brought before her to give her a report.”
“I take it it didn’t go well.”
“It did not.” His expression grew stony. “My mother is intensely irritated that I have not brought Connor home, yet. She speaks as if he is a naughty child who has run away.”
I was desperate to know more about his family. “Does she not understand the seriousness of it all? That her son might destroy countless lives?”
He sighed and looked down at the empty plate. “My mother understands everything; she just does not care. It is a matter of perspective. She is the most powerful Queen the Upper World has ever seen, and she has ruled for a thousand years now.”
“And Connor is just like her.”
“In a way… yes. Both lack empathy for other creatures. It is fortunate that my mother has no interest in anything beyond our borders, she considers all the other Worlds to be beneath her notice. Unlike Connor, who wishes to subjugate them all.”
“You’re not like her.”
“No. I am much more like my father,” he said softly.
“Tell me about him,” I said eagerly.
A hint of a smile touched his lips. “He was a commoner, a general in the army. My mother fell in love with him after witnessing him on the battlefield. According to her, he stole her heart by the way he rampaged through our enemy's ranks, lopping off heads and thrusting spears into hearts.”
“That’s so romantic,” I said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
“Indeed.” Donovan nodded seriously. “But although he is mighty and handsome, in his heart, he is more of a lover than a fighter. He has not ever voiced this aloud, but he gave up his commission to be by my mother’s side almost immediately, content to be the King Consort.
And for what it is worth, he adores her.
” His eyes glowed. “That is another way in which I am more similar to him. We both prefer powerful women.”
I squirmed in my seat a little, happy flutterings of butterflies in my belly almost overwhelming me. “I think Cress got the same gene.”
He grimaced. “If I am like my father, Cress is almost his copy. One day, she will lead our armies, and our enemies will wonder who comes to conquer—the King Consort or the Princess.”
I took a sip of champagne, resisting the urge to make a joke about how his dad must have a great ass.
“You know of my family, Chosen. Tell me of yours.”
“Well, there’s not much to tell. I’m an only child.”