| |
Markets were gritty and bustling with life. This was the place to come to purchase anything one could ever desire. Stalls and booths were filled with food that bit back when you ate it and drinks that turned your skin transparent if ingested. Charms, potions, spells. Even candy-flavored blood. Pavilions where dealing and trading took place. Where commoners and royals alike paid fortunes for rare and unusual submissives in need of new masters. It was one of the few places all manner of beings of the Nevermore came to trade commodities and oddities. Most came wearing their markings, proudly proclaiming their heritage. Elves, Fey, Dwarves, Wizards, Witches, Shades, and so many more. It was the only place in all of the Nevermore where the multi-beings came together without ending in battle. A rare thing indeed.
Venus had given us a direction, and now we needed to refine it. The Blood Gypsy should be of some help in narrowing down our search. Venus shared a bloodline with Lorelei, a trait that would come in handy.
I passed a cage of human children, making a mental note to set them free come nightfall. Children who'd been kidnapped, were forced to be returned by King Etienne. But a fair trade, with a Changeling left in the human child's place, was perfectly acceptable.
Why wait? I lanced the lock from the cage, setting the children free. Someone gasped, I didn't bother to look who. If I paid someone handsomely enough, they'd see the children returned to their human families. Perhaps, if they were fortunate, they were young enough still to recover from the trauma of Faery.
Deals were being bartered all around us as we searched for the Blood Gypsy. A Nephilim—part human, part angel—purchased an enchanted bow. Two Sirens sought a witch's booth in search of hate potions. Having everyone fall at their feet was not as desirable for some.
I passed by pavilions with shrunken heads, chocolate-dipped live scorpions, and three-headed mocking jays singing in three-part harmony. My attention focused on the pavilion in the very back. The tent was shrouded in semi-darkness, and for good reason. For of all the most powerful and dangerous commodities traded and sold, the most valuable of all was information.
We were close, every one of my senses told me. I knew the taste of it in my mouth. The stench of it in my nostrils. The feel of it against my skin. It clung to me like the cold clamminess of death. The Blood Gypsy, Leanan Sidhe, was a beautiful muse, known for inspiring countless human artists. As long as she was pleased with her mortal mate, she offered inspiration in exchange for complete devotion. But, as with most Faery/human dealings, it usually resulted in madness and premature death. Then she’d consume the remains and move on to the next victim.
Raven-black hair rolled down her bare shoulders, a black eye patch covered one eye—the other an icy blue—and she wore a cherub smile. She had the face of an angel and the soul of a demon, and was as gifted at telling fortunes as she was at inspiring greatness.
Sylos greeted her with a broad grin. "Good day, my lady." He bowed, then took her hand to kiss it.
Desire flashed in her eye. She offered him a warm smile in return, even as his began to fade.
He leaned in close to me, his back toward her. "She smells like blood," Sylos whispered.
"Of course she does. She lures immortal men to her bed and makes them her next meal."
"Do you mean that in the figurative or literal sense?"
"I mean, she chops them up and puts them into her soup. That is what I mean."
"I see." He swallowed.
I watched the desire fade from his eyes. Good. I needed him to remain focused this night.
"Think I'll wait for you outside, mate," Sylos said, backing out of the tent.
My gaze darted around the room. We were alone, yet I felt eyes on me from all directions. Shelves were lined with an array of oddities—body parts, weeds, herbs, and potions. A massive cauldron sat over a blazing fire. As the dark liquid bubbled, bones floated to the top before being pulled back under. The stench of death began to ease...or was I growing used to it?
"Welcome. I am Leanan Sídhe," she said, and gestured for me to sit.
I declined. Instead, I set a sack of gold coins on the table. It was the currency of favor at market, especially in this particular pavilion. Gold was very effective bait for trapping her prey.
She eyed it with an appreciative nod, then shifted her gaze back to me. "You seek a girl. Yes? You will find her. But it will cost you more than you are willing to pay."
The images in her reflective ball glimmered to life, and she focused on them. Pictures, some clear and others murky, but all showing images of Lorelei. And me. She leaned in closer, as though she, too, could not decipher them.
"How strange. So many paths lie before you. Your future has not yet been written. Do you see this? The black glow. Morte. Death. Only, I cannot see whose." Her pale eye lifted to mine. "Your futures are shifting in this very moment as you stand, and your life is at a crossroads."
My jaw tightened. The three mirrors behind her reflected my grim expression in triplicate.
"I realize that most of your patrons come for your carnival readings, but I am not most patrons." I pushed her crystal ball aside, ignoring her disapproving glare. "I did not come for riddles," I said, placing both hands on her table and leaning in. "I need an answer to a very specific question. I need the exact location of Lorelei Alundra and Prince Adrius within the Eyomere Plains." Then I handed her the Athame with a drop of Venus’s dried blood.
Her lips pursed as she retrieved a scrying bowl from the shelf behind her. "Perhaps this will provide more clarity." She poured water into the basin, dripped the knife into it, and stared into the clear liquid.
"Ahh." She exhaled. "Better. She is your betrothed, the daughter of King Oberon. And—" she leaned in closer, "—sister to another—a witch?" Her eye rose to mine.
I gave an impatient nod. "Can you locate them?" I asked the question, already fearing her answer. Venus had told me her location was being shielded, which was why my link to her mind had been broken. It was a long shot to hope this gypsy could locate them. But I was desperate. There simply wasn’t time to traipse across the Eyomere, searching in vain.
She studied the fleeting visions for a time, then looked up over her ball at me. "No. She is shielded by many who've pledged to keep her hidden. Wizards perhaps. There is little I can do to unveil her exact location. Best I can offer is to tell you where they have been within the Eyomere Plains—but where they are at present, or where they are going next—those remain unseen."
I exhaled a frustrated sigh and stood up straight. "Can you lead me to someone who has helped them? I need some sort of useful information this day."
She passed her hand over the water, and it shifted to life once more. Then she beamed a radiant smile—one I'm sure she put to good use in capturing whoever used to belong to the femur bones floating in her cauldron. "Ahh," she cooed, "that I can see..." Leanne Sidhe narrowed her gaze. "I see games. With deathly stakes. The girl you fight for is not a trinket to be won in a tug-o-war match. There are rules in this realm. Even for Shadow Fey. And no matter what imprudent games you play, you cannot break those rules unless you want the one you protect to die." She pushed back her chair and folded her arms tightly. "You got her into this situation, Lord Zanthiel, and you will have to be the one to get her out of it."
"How?" I glared at her, baffled. "How am I to find her if you offer me nothing but riddles?"
She gave a firm nod, one that implied she would say no more. Silently, she pointed to a place on her crystal ball, then turned and ambled away. Breathing out a frustrated sigh, I took solace in knowing they had survived long enough to reach the Eyomere Plains, and hopeful were still alive.
We left the market that day with something I knew was far more valuable than anything else they had for sale. More precious than purebred Faerie horses, or grimoires lined with spells. I left with a deep and renewed fealty to the girl I’d sworn an oath to protect.