Usuriel just stared at me, unblinking.
“Do we have an agreement?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes, I—”
“Wait,” Cerridwen said. “Lord Usuriel, if you wish to accept this offer, we will negotiate the terms.”
“Yes. We should do this properly,” Aubrey agreed.
Usuriel’s brow lowered, and he drummed his long black nails on the side of his thigh. I stood my ground, chin lifted. No showing fear. Not with Gwen still kneeling, tears rolling down her face. In my place, Cassandra or Lizzie would be doing exactly what I was doing. I wouldn’t let them down.
Eventually Usuriel came to a decision. “Very well. We will negotiate the terms of the contact, and at the end, if I am satisfied, you can take the tanai.”
“We will take the tanai regardless of your satisfaction,” Cerridwen said but she moved to stand by Usuriel, gesturing for Aubrey to join them. Gwen remained kneeling, whether through obedience or fear. I wanted to tell her to stand, but didn’t want to make things worse just when the tide might be turning in our direction.
Callum moved back to stand at my side, whether trying to guard me or support me, I wasn’t quite sure. But I was grateful.
“This was a foolish idea, Maggie,” he said.
“We can’t leave her here. And he’s just going to keep coming after me if he thinks I’m a threat. This takes care of both those things.”
“At what cost?”
“I’ll be fine. Between Cerridwen and Cassandra, my shields are strong.” At least I hoped they were. I’d never faced an Elder Fae intent on winning his way before.
“You’re brave. I’ll grant you that. Cerridwen was right to cloak you in the illusion of a rancaigh. They are also brave. And prone to recklessness,” he added with a mental chuckle.
“Not helpful. You’re making me nervous.”
“I could change form. You could pet me.”
“Are you offering to be my emotional support shapeshifter?” The thought made me smile. “No, I think you’re better off staying human for now. If Usuriel decides to summon reinforcements, then you need to be ready to fight.”
“If he’s agreed to a negotiation and is setting the terms, he will not break them.”
“No, but you Fae are sneaky. So he’s going to try something.”
“Undoubtedly. But that is a problem you will deal with after the more pressing one, which is surviving his touch unscathed. He is powerful. Do not falter or he will find a way to make you let him inside your head.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve survived demon stone. That was pretty unpleasant.”
“And he is lord of the Nichtkin. He rules the creatures who walk human nightmares.”
I bared my teeth in a strained smile. “I’ve lived with nightmares since I was thirteen. He can’t be scarier than a demon.”
“For your sake, I hope not.”
Before I could respond, Cerridwen said, “Very well, my Lord. Do we have an agreement?”
My focus snapped back to Usuriel. I couldn’t read anything in those black eyes. I just had to make sure he wouldn’t be able to read anything in me.
“Yes,” he said.
“And you will hold to the terms?” Cerridwen asked.
I held my breath.
“Yes,” Usuriel said.
Cerridwen glanced back at me. “Very well, Lord Usuriel needs to touch you, Maggie. And then he will let Gwen come with us.”
“I will let you take her,” Lord Usuriel agreed. He beckoned, black fingernails glinting in the light.
Too long. Too sharp. My stomach turned and I looked at Cerridwen, suddenly frozen.
“This is your choice to do this. I cannot stop you.” Her tone suggested she would like to at least advise me not to do it, but then we would be at an impasse. And I wouldn’t leave Gwen behind, trapped by a monster. Sara had done that to me, even if I hadn’t been aware of the demon. Usuriel might not be a demon, but I doubted he was merciful, and I couldn’t let Gwen be punished for not delivering me.
“But I will not force you if you have changed your mind,” Cerridwen continued.
Despite Callum’s boast earlier, I wasn’t entirely sure three of us—or four counting Aubrey—could fight our way out of the realm alone. Certainly, I wasn’t sure how we would take Gwen. So regardless of how scared I was, I had to do this.
“Let’s get this over and done with,” I said.
Usuriel’s smile turned sharp. “Come here,” he said, his voice silky and somehow enticing. I took a half step forward before I realized what I was doing.
“Guard your shields,” Callum snapped.
I yanked every mental barrier that Cerridwen had ever taught me in place, piling protection upon protection.
Usuriel crooked his finger. “Come here,” he repeated.
I resisted just long enough to let him see that I could, and then I moved. He extended a hand, and I reached for it. His hand touched mine, his skin strangely cold. And before I realized what he was doing, he yanked me forward and pressed his lips to mine.
I don’t know how long the kiss lasted. He didn’t try to deepen the contact. But the feel of him was like a nightmare pressing against my skin. Darkness crawled around me, and I focused on not drowning in it, on holding my shields firm. My magic wanted to flare, the urge to burn the threat away growing strong. But before I lost control, he let me go.
I stumbled back, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, the crawling sensation fading slightly. My skin felt chilled, as though I’d been kissed by a creature of ice.
“That was unnecessary, my lord” Cerridwen said, the words tight with anger.
Usuriel was still smiling. “Perhaps,” he said, “but I enjoyed it.”
I stared at him, fighting the urge to draw my sword and bury it deep in his guts. Perhaps he had truly meant no harm, but his touch had been horrifying—closer to the sensation of the demon than anything else I’d felt.
“And are you satisfied?” I managed to ask.
The corner of his mouth lifted, his half-smile nearly a smirk I wanted to slap from his face. “Yes. I agree, you are free of the demon’s taint.” His expression turned more curious. “And how you have achieved this interests me.”
I shook my head. “Oh no, our agreement is done. If you want information, you can deal with the Cestis.”
“Or me,” Cerridwen said, stepping between us and reaching for my hand to draw me to her side. “Maggie is under my protection. And you got what you asked for, Mirror Lord.”
Usuriel’s face tightened.
I straightened my shoulders, still fighting to maintain a semblance of control. Pretending would have to do until it became actual control. “Now, give us Gwen and we will leave.”
Usuriel lifted a brow and walked back to Gwen, placing a hand on the top of her head. She shuddered under his touch and my jaw clenched. “I didn’t say I would give her to you,” he said, smiling in a smug way I didn’t like at all. “I said that you could take her.”
Aubrey swore softly and I realized that he had managed to sneak that wording in.
“What does that mean?” I demanded.
“On your feet, girl,” he said to Gwen.
She rose to her feet, trembling. Her face was drained of any hint of the color she had regained back in Morgain’s, looking as pale as it had when she’d been unconscious. He shoved her, and she stumbled forward a step or two. Before any of us could move to help her, he waved a hand, and the mists sprang up around her.
“What the—?” I stumbled backward as streaks of the mist extended slightly, reaching toward us. Aubrey flinched back, too. And even Cerridwen and Callum fell back a step. The mist acted like it did at the border, extending to the roof in a perfect circular column perhaps six feet wide. Not much room inside for Gwen if she wanted to avoid touching the mists. Which, if she had any sense, she would.
“If you want her,” Usuriel said to me, “then you can take her. Otherwise, she stays within the mists.” He smiled, not bothering to hide his satisfaction.
I looked at Callum.
“Oh no,” Usuriel said. “I said you could take her. You, Maggie Lachlan.”
Fuck you.
I didn’t say it, but my hand curled round the hilt of my sword. I really, really wanted to stab him. To control my temper, I made myself watch the mists, letting my senses slide to magic while still holding my shields fast.
“I don’t suppose you can give me a ten-second crash course in how you do that trick of yours?” I asked Callum.
“I can try. But it is complicated.”
“Just tell me.” I stared at the shifting mists as I waited for him to reply, trying to recall the feel of it and the changes in Callum’s aura along with the feel of all the doors that I’d been dragged through recently. There was something…similar about all of them.
“Is it something to do with matching the energy of the mist?” I asked.
“Not exactly. The boundaries are formed by the realm. You have to convince the realm that you are one with the mist. The mists are raised by those who control the territories. That means having a little of their essence.”
“How exactly?”
“The Nichtkin who taught me, gave me a memory of its, well, you humans would call it a soul. If I use that I can convince the mists to part. Well, the mists here around Lord Usuriel’s lands, at least.”
I didn’t have a convenient memory of a soul, I realized, but I had just been kissed by the Lord of the territory. I knew him now, more than I wanted to. Knew the touch of his power, and the fear he wielded as a weapon. He shouldn’t have been so quick to try to overwhelm me. His arrogance may have led him into a misstep. I moved closer to the mist, considering, tracing the flow of magic in my head as it shifted and swirled.
“If it touches you, it can drag you inside with her. You could be trapped,” Cerridwen said warningly.
“No one’s managed to trap me yet,” I said. “Now, let me concentrate.” I stared at the mist and did something that I rarely did in the realm, reaching for its magic rather than my own.
Here in Usuriel’s realm, there was an icy feel to the power. Something cold and dark and deep that made me want to shiver. But the touch of it also resonated with the mist. It had the same twilight darkness to its energy that I’d seen at the border. And the same darkness that I’d felt flowing over me when Usuriel’s mouth had been on mine.
“Feel the energy, change the energy,” I muttered under my breath. Though in this case it was become the energy, perhaps. I pictured my aura. How would I change that? I drew a blank at first, still shaken by the memory of Usuriel’s touch. But then it struck me that he might be the answer. I had to try, had to let the darkness in for once, instead of trying to keep it out. There was darkness, after all, buried somewhere in my mind. The sensation of being bonded to a demon. The knowledge that my mother had only ever seen me as a means to an end. The moment Nat had died. The moment I’d let rage and fury and grief fuel my magic and called lightning to slay the demon. If that wasn’t darkness, what was? Usuriel had said he was closer to the darkness than most.
So was I, if I let myself be.
I let the memories resonate through me, trying to push that feeling outward. Something shivered through me, and the mist shivered in response. I stretched my hands out in the gesture that Callum had made, drawing them together as I reached for the darkness. The realm pressed around me, the magic threatening to swamp me. I wouldn’t be able to hold it for long. I pulled my hands apart, pushing my magic forward.
A corridor opened in the mist. It wasn’t nearly as deep as it had been at the border. Gwen was huddled on the ground inside, sobbing.
I moved closer. “Get up.” I extended one hand while keeping the other one outstretched. The mist shimmered a little, and I could feel my magic beginning to strain, my heart beating faster. The realm was pushing at me, fighting my control, and I didn’t know how long I could hold it back.
“Get up,” I shouted. Gwen lifted her head. “Get up if you want to go home.” That got her moving. She scrambled to her feet and took a lurching step forward.
“Don’t let the mist touch you,” I warned, beckoning.
“Why are you helping me?” she asked, the words cracking.
“Because I understand what it’s like to want to find a home. Take my hand, walk through.”
She reached out and took my hand, pale blue eyes full of fear. I yanked her out through the gap in the mist, practically running backward.
Without a second to spare. As soon as Gwen passed the edge of the mist, my magic began to collapse. I tugged at Gwen, pulling her farther back, in case the mist moved as I lost control. The whole column shivered, trembling in place, before Usuriel raised his hand, and it vanished. He was staring at me, his face blank in a way that told me he was hiding his reaction. Cerridwen looked impressed, and Aubrey was, quite frankly, gaping. Then she seemed to recover herself and moved to stand on Gwen’s other side.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Callum said drily.
I bit back a sob of laughter, trying to remember how to speak, as I banished the memories and the darkness, trying to picture myself shielded in light. Gwen hadn’t let go of my hand, and the tightness of her grip grounded me in a fashion.
Cerridwen faced Usuriel, “Very well, Usuriel, I believe that satisfies the terms of your agreement. You will let us depart.”
Usuriel didn’t look happy, but he nodded. “You are free to go.” He nodded at me. “I believe we have more to discuss, Maggie Lachlan.”
I set my teeth. “I believe I’ve had enough of talking with you for now, my lord. I am no danger to you and your kind, unless you force me to be.”
He blinked once, slowly. Then nodded. “Very well. Do not fear that I will send anything to stop you. After all, my forces are occupied elsewhere.”
Cerridwen’s head whipped around.
“What the hell does that mean?” I demanded.
Usuriel just smiled. “I suggest you leave. Run. Run to the borders of the realm. Time is moving swiftly, after all.”
I really, really, really wanted to stab him. Or burn his whole damned night court to the ground. “We need to go,” I said urgently to Cerridwen.
“Agreed. Lord Usuriel, until next time,” she said in an icy voice that suggested he wasn’t going to enjoy their next encounter.
We gathered around her as she opened a door. As we moved through, I felt a surge of power swamping me, like nothing I’d yet felt inside the realm. The magic crushed around me, feeling like it was both compressing me and stretching me through an infinite distance. Light flared wildly around us until suddenly we tumbled onto grass. In the distance, I could hear what sounded like a fight.
Cerridwen looked at Callum. “Go, my blade,” she ordered. “Help them.”
Callum shimmered into his other form, racing away almost as soon as the change was done.
“What’s happening?” I asked, looking around wildly. “Where are we?”
“Near the door.”
“I didn’t think you could take us that way.”
“Normally not. But Usuriel broke the rules, which allows me some freedom even though I am sure I will have to do some fast talking to explain myself.”
She pointed at Aubrey, jerked her head in the direction Callum had taken. “The door is half a mile ahead. If I’m not mistaken, Usuriel has sent some of his people to stop your friends from crossing. We may have to fight.”
“I can fight,” Aubrey said.
Cerridwen looked at Gwen. “And you? Can we trust you?”
Gwen blinked, pale eyes confused, looking as though she had no idea who or where she was. “Are you taking me home?”
“Yes,” Cerridwen said. “But we need to reach the door to get you there.”
“I can fight,” Gwen said, “if someone gives me a knife.” She was tanai, and that didn’t mean she couldn’t necessarily lie, but she didn’t seem like much of a fighter. Nor was I sure that I trusted her.
Cerridwen, however, pulled a knife from a sheath in her boot and passed it to the girl. “Maggie, you and I will take the lead. Aubrey, you stay with Gwen. Don’t engage unless you have to. We’ll distract them. You focus on getting to the door.”
Aubrey looked torn.
“Please,” Gwen said to her, voice catching. “I know I called Lord Usuriel, but it felt like my only chance to go home.”
Aubrey’s lips were pressed together. “We can talk about that once we’re through.”
“Get to the door,” Cerridwen repeated. “Don’t get distracted.
The four of us ran, heading toward the sound of clashing metal. When we got there, Gráinne and Callum were fighting in their four-legged forms. Biting and snarling, warding off creatures straight out of the big book of “oh god I didn’t need to find out these existed”. Damon and Zee had their swords drawn, backing toward a door about fifty feet behind them.
“Is that the right door?” I asked Cerridwen.
“Yes,” she said. “It should open for you because you carry my token. If you can get them through—if you get the chance—take it. Don’t worry about us.”
“Alright,” I said as one of monsters, something that looked like a tiger crossed with a giant porcupine, sprang toward me.
I swerved and thrust at it. It squealed and dodged, moving too fast for something its size. As I tried to track the movement, something sliced across my thigh. Fiery pain bloomed and I bit back a shriek.
The creature came at me again and I gave up on the sword and summoned a flame, throwing it at the creature. To my surprise, it worked, and the thing caught alight as though it had been doused in gasoline.
Around me, the sounds of battle went quiet, the night wraiths flinching away from the blaze. Right. They didn’t like light or fire.
I could give them that.
I summoned another flame then backed it with the illusion of more, ignoring the pain in my leg as I burned a path through the monsters, trying not to breathe in the acrid smoke rising from the dead Nichtkin.
“Damon!” I yelled, and he looked in my direction, his gaze locking onto mine. Something like fury crossed his face and he began to fight like a man possessed until the monster he was currently battling lay dead at his feet.
“Maggie!” he shouted, and I ran for him, my hand outstretched, needing to touch him more than I needed to breathe.
“Maggie,” he said, his hand catching mine and pulling me close.
“What? No time,” I said. I smacked a quick kiss on his cheek. “The door’s behind you. Let’s get you through.” Aubrey was making her way around behind the circling Nichtkin, pulling Gwen in her wake.
Damon looked confused. “It’s closed.”
I shook my wrist with the bracelet. Zee was still watching Callum and Gráinne and Cerridwen fighting the Nichtkin who seemed to be recovering from their fear of my fire. “I can open it. Zee, come on!” I yelled.
“I can’t leave those three to fight these things off,” he protested.
“It’s Cerridwen. If she and two of her blades can’t deal with this lot, then we’re all in trouble. We need to get Damon and Aubrey and Gwen.”
Zee looked startled. “Gwen? What’s she doing here?”
“Long story,” I said, lunging to stab another of the smaller Nichtkin as it sprang at me, testing my illusion. I sliced at it, and it fell back, yipping. Aubrey and Gwen were catching up to us, making use of the fact that most of the creatures had turned their attention to Cerridwen and the two snarling wolves.
“Let’s go,” I said to Damon, moving toward the mist, summoning the charms in my head to conjure the door. For a moment, the magic resisted me, but then a door appeared. Solid wood, like the one in the Rose Garden. I hoped like hell I hadn’t summoned the wrong one and ran toward it, reaching for the handle..
“Aubrey, Gwen, run!” Aubrey was half dragging Gwen, but the two of them bolted past me and through the door.
“Damon,” I said, “go.”
“Not without you.”
I blew an exasperated breath at him. “I’m right behind you. Move.”
Zee was already falling back toward the door. “I’ll guard the other side,” he said.
Crap, I hadn’t even thought about what might happen if one of Usuriel’s creatures got through the door.
“We can’t hold it open much longer. They could get through. Go!” I yelled at Damon, shoving. “Go now.”