I crested the top of the hill and let out a whoop as I pumped my fist. I did it!
Breathing hard, I bent and rested my hands on my legs. I was hot and sweaty, and my chest ached from exertion, but that did nothing to lessen my jubilation. I’d made my first trek up the steep hill without stopping once to rest, and it felt good.
I walked a few feet and lay on my back on a small patch of coarse grass to smile up at the blue sky. Soft footsteps came toward me, but I didn’t turn my head to look at my companion as she flopped down on her belly beside me. I reached out and scratched Kaia’s head, and she emitted an aggravated growl.
“Hey, you didn’t have to come with me,” I told the sulking lamal, who had been accompanying me on my daily outings since my return to Faerie three days ago. She preferred running through the grass because there wasn’t much on the hill for her to chase, but she didn’t like to let me out of her sight when we were away from the court.
She shifted so her heavy head rested on my stomach. I laughed and rubbed the back of her neck, making her purr. She wasn’t the dog I’d always wanted, but she was great company, especially now.
I’d seen Lukas twice since I came back. His days were spent behind closed doors with the king and his advisors, preparing for the big meeting with Seelie. Faolin and the rest of his guard were busy as well, so I trained by myself and spent most of my time alone. Even Roswen and her guard had been absent the last three days.
The whole court was buzzing with anticipation of the Seelie queen’s arrival today, even though most people wouldn’t lay eyes on her. For my part, I was too anxious about when Aedhna would finally send me on my mission to be caught up in the excitement. My gut told me it would happen soon, and the wait was killing me.
When my breathing slowed to normal, I pushed Kaia’s head off me and sat up. She grumbled and stood, fixing me with an aggrieved look that made me chuckle. I’d never seen an animal that could portray human-like emotions the way she did.
I started down the hill. Kaia ran ahead of me, and every now and then she stopped to look back and make sure I was still behind her. As I neared the bottom, I was surprised to find Conlan waiting for me. I hadn’t expected to see him or any of Lukas’s men for the next two days.
“Faolin said you’d be out here,” Conlan called. “Looks like you’ve conquered the hill.”
I grinned at him. “You bet I did.”
He lifted one corner of his mouth. “Shall I tell Faolin you are ready for a bigger one?”
“Not unless you want me to murder you in your sleep,” I retorted.
He snickered, and we began the walk back to court with Kaia leading the way. One second, she was in front of us, and in the next, she was off running through the tall grass. There was a squeak followed by rustling, and I hoped that whatever she was chasing escaped.
“Not that I don’t enjoy your company, but aren’t you supposed to be with Lukas now for the queen’s arrival?” I asked.
“You are never going to call him Vaerik, are you?” he teased.
I huffed softly. “I keep forgetting. He’s Vaerik to everyone here, but I got to know him as Lukas.”
“Well, Lukas sent me to ask if you would like to attend the meeting this morning.”
I stopped abruptly to stare at Conlan. “The closed meeting with the king and the Seelie queen that no one is allowed to go to?”
Conlan nodded. “That would be the one. Vaerik told the king that you have earned the right to be there after your sacrifice for Faerie. King Oseron agreed. Vaerik couldn’t get away, so he asked me to bring you to the meeting. You’ll be an observer only, but you will hear firsthand what is discussed. Do you wish to attend?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
He laughed and motioned for us to keep walking. “Then you’re going to need to clean up and change. If we hurry, we will get there before it starts.”
I picked up my pace, and in less than twenty minutes, we were at my quarters. He waited on the balcony while I showered and changed. I cast a longing look at my new outfits as I dressed in the court clothes Sereia had made for me. I left my hair down except for two side sections that I pulled back into a braid at my crown.
“How do I look?” I asked when I joined him. I had no idea what the dress code was for something like this.
He smiled approvingly. “You’ll do.”
We left my quarters and went to the lift. I expected us to go up, but he surprised me by taking us down to the ground level. We walked through a maze of tunnels that took us deeper into the mountain. I was completely lost by the time we came to an open area with two more tunnels branching off from it.
Instead of taking one of the tunnels, we crossed the space to stand before a wall of rock. Conlan raised his hand and muttered something. A few seconds later, the rock shimmered, and a portal appeared. We stepped through it into a room that was entirely white from the walls to the floor to a set of gleaming white doors. The only color in the room was from the stone-faced guards stationed on either side of the doors and along two walls.
“Are we still in Unseelie?” I whispered to Conlan as we walked to the doors.
“Yes. We’re in a part of the mountain that can only be accessed via a portal and only to those who have clearance.”
He opened one of the doors and ushered me into the room beyond. We moved along the wall to a spot a few dozen feet from the door, and then I turned to check out my surroundings.
We were in an oval room with a set of doors on each end. Two rows of seats were positioned in a semicircle in front of each set of doors, and at the center of the room was a low pedestal with a shallow brazier on top. Instead of fire, the brazier held laevik crystals that glowed softly.
The walls were completely covered in tapestries depicting Aedhna in various scenes. I studied one and was amazed that the artist had captured her exact likeness. Or maybe that was the image she presented to those of us she appeared to.
Conlan and I were the first to arrive. A few minutes later, the door near us opened, and six royal guards came in. After they had positioned themselves along the wall behind the seats, the far door opened, and eight faeries entered to do the same on that end of the room.
More guards entered through the door on our end, preceding King Oseron, who wore a simple crown and a long blue robe. He was accompanied by Consort Maurelle, who wore an ivory robe and a plain circlet adorned with a single blue stone that matched the king’s robe. They moved down to take their places in the middle of the first row.
Faolin and Faris came next, followed by Lukas wearing a plain coronet and a belted midnight blue tunic with silver trim. His pants were a lighter blue with the same braid down the sides. It was the first time I’d seen him in his royal uniform, and he literally took my breath away. He looked like the real-life version of a fairy tale prince.
Lukas didn’t look our way before he took the seat on his father’s other side. Then came a procession of people I’d never seen whom I assumed were the king’s advisors. They filled out the remaining seats. Faolin, Faris, and the others took up positions near the ends of the rows.
Finally, the far door opened again, and I sucked in a breath at the sight of the first two to enter. They were the queen’s guards who had threatened me in New York and warned me to stay away from Prince Rhys. My eyes moved past them to a blonde in an emerald green dress and matching robe trimmed with gold. I didn’t need to see her jeweled crown to know this cool, aristocratic visitor was the Seelie queen.
My gut twisted as Queen Anwyn took her seat directly across from King Oseron. I couldn’t look away from the face of the person who had devastated my parents and tried to take away everything I cared about. The knowledge that there was nothing I could do to get justice for my family made my hands clench into fists.
A gentle elbow nudge from Conlan made me aware of how rigid I was and what my expression must be. I forced my body to relax and looked away from the queen to take in the rest of the Seelie contingent. On her right was a blond male wearing a plain coronet, whom I guessed to be her consort. He wore the bored, bland expression of someone who had better things to do than attend a meeting to discuss the fate of the world. I wondered if he had always been that apathetic or if being mated to Queen Anwyn had made him that way.
The queen leaned slightly to her left to speak to the person there, and I gave a small start when I saw it was Prince Rhys. I shouldn’t be surprised he was there or that she was more interested in talking to him than her consort. The only thing she seemed to care about was the prince.
Ever since my father told me who Rhys was, I’d been trying to think of why the Seelie queen would take a human child to convert and raise as her heir. So far, I hadn’t come up with a reason that made sense. I didn’t think Rhys knew the truth, but I was sure the rest of Seelie didn’t. If the blue bloods at Seelie were anything like the ones here, status and lineage meant everything to them. They would never stand for a half-breed becoming their king someday.
I was so lost in thought it took a few seconds to realize Prince Rhys’s eyes were focused on me. He looked as surprised to see me as I was to be there. He smiled, and I returned it before I averted my gaze. I could feel his eyes on me until King Oseron stood, and everyone’s attention shifted to him.
The king bowed to the Seelie queen. “Queen Anwyn, welcome to Unseelie. We are honored to host you and your council for these important talks. I am confident the cooperation of our two regions will result in a solution to heal the barrier between Faerie and the human realm.”
Queen Anwyn tilted her head forward in acknowledgement and a hint of a smile touched her lips. “Thank you, King Oseron. We are pleased to be here and look forward to working with you to eliminate this threat to our world.”
He smiled, and they began the tedious process of introducing everyone seated on both sides. I barely heard them because I was fuming about the ridiculousness of everyone in the room exchanging pleasantries and pretending that Queen Anwyn hadn’t caused the threat that brought them all here in the first place. It was probably a very good thing that I was a spectator only at this meeting because I could not pretend ignorance, even for the sake of diplomacy.
After all the formalities were done, one of the king’s advisors stood to present the first of their proposals. “Every time a portal is created, it causes magic to leak into the human world. If we prohibit all travel between the two worlds for a period of time, it could help to slow the drain of energy from ours.”
The two sides began to discuss the proposal, weighing the pros and cons and talking about how long a ban on travel to the human world was needed to make a difference. The thought of not being able to go home and see my family for any length of time filled me with anxiety. I could go to them before the ban went into effect, but I had to be in Faerie to do whatever it was Aedhna needed me to do.
Another of the Unseelie advisors stood. “In addition to prohibiting travel to the other world, we think all Court Fae should be summoned home to Faerie. Many of our people have permanent residences in the human realm, only returning home to replenish their magic. Having them all here could help restore the balance of magic.”
His suggestion set off another flurry of discussions and caused my anxiety to grow. If they agreed on this course of action, who knew how long it would be before I was allowed to visit my family? Time meant nothing to faeries, but my parents were mortal. They’d already lost their son. I would not let them lose their daughter, too.
Queen Anwyn’s imperious voice cut through the din. “These proposals have merit, but they are not enough.”
The room fell silent, and all eyes went to her.
“There is only one way to repair the barrier and protect Faerie,” she said to King Oseron. “We must seal the barrier between the worlds permanently.”
Her words hit me like a punch to the gut forcing all the air from my body. For a few seconds, her face blurred before my eyes, and the sound of the room erupting became a buzzing in my head. I wasn’t aware I’d leaned back against the wall until Conlan’s hand squeezed mine. It was enough to ground me and help me focus on what was happening around me.
“There are two sides to the barrier,” Lukas said to the queen. “Sealing us off from the human realm might not repair the damage done to their side.”
No one spoke as we waited for her response. She did not make us wait long.
“That is a possibility but a chance we must take.” She placed a hand over her heart as if it pained her to say the words. “Our first duty is to protect Faerie and all who live here.”
Anger boiled inside me. All of this was her fault. It was she who had stolen the ke’tain and taken it from Faerie. She caused the damage to the barrier, and now she planned to wipe her hands free of it by destroying my world and everyone I loved. And every damn person in this room knew it.
Queen Anwyn’s gaze suddenly shifted away from Lukas and locked with mine. I stared back, not trying to hide my animosity. Recognition flared in her eyes, and they narrowed on me, but I held her stare, refusing to look away first.
I was aware of several people turning in their seats to see what had captured the queen’s attention. I could also feel Conlan’s hand gripping the back of my shirt to keep me from going anywhere.
The queen broke our stare down and returned her cool gaze to Lukas as if nothing had happened. They resumed their discussion, but I was too consumed by anger to pay attention.
Conlan leaned down and whispered, “I think it’s time to go.”
I didn’t resist when he took my arm and quietly guided me out of the room. We crossed the outer room, and he created the portal to take us to the tunnels. It wasn’t until we were back in an area I recognized that he spoke.
“Queen Anwyn has been pushing for years to seal the barrier, and she sees this as an opportunity to press her agenda. But King Oseron won’t agree to that unless it is the last resort.”
I stared straight ahead. “But it’s a possibility if they can’t repair the damage.”
“Yes,” he said honestly. “Don’t worry, Jesse. We will find a solution before that happens.”
I nodded but didn’t say much as we took the lift to my level, and he walked me to my door. When he started to follow me inside, I held up a hand to stop him. “I’d like to be alone for a while.”
He frowned. “Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you when you’re upset.”
“It was a lot to take in, seeing her for the first time and then her saying that.” I dug down deep and summoned a smile for him. “I think I might go to the training room and get in some more practice on the staff. Exercise always helps clear my head.”
He visibly relaxed. “That’s a good idea. I will let Vaerik know you are well.”
“I doubt he even knows we left,” I said as I kicked off one of my shoes.
“He does. He could not come after us, so he signaled me to make sure you were okay.”
I stumbled in the process of removing my other shoe. “He did? I didn’t see that.”
Conlan smiled. “You were not supposed to see it.”
He walked away, leaving me staring after him. I shut the door and bent to pick up my discarded shoes. Even in the midst of such an important meeting, Lukas had been concerned about me. I wished I could see him tonight, but he would be tied up until Queen Anwyn left.
I let out a sigh and turned toward the living area, coming up short at the sight of the woman standing by the balcony door. The shoes slipped from my fingers and clattered to the floor.
“Aedhna,” I said in a hushed voice. “Is it time?”
“Yes.” She held out a hand to me. “Come here, my child.”
My heart thudded against my ribs as I walked to her. When I reached her, she took my hand in hers, and calm descended over me.
She smiled. “Is that better?”
“Yes, thanks.” I looked away, embarrassed that she had sensed my fear.
“Today, I will explain what must be done to heal Faerie and the human realm. Tomorrow, your work will begin.”
I swallowed hard, unable to think of a thing to say.
Aedhna released my hand and walked to the balcony rail. “Do you remember what I told you about the ke’tains during our first conversation?”
Ke’tains? Plural? I dug through my memory of talking to her during my conversion. It was still a bit hazy, but it all came back to me.
“You said there are four of them, and their energy keeps Faerie alive. And that the three hidden stones were weakened because they had to work harder when the fourth one was taken from Faerie.”
She nodded. “Now we must correct the imbalance created during that time.”
I followed her to the rail. “But you said the world would heal on its own once the ke’tain was back.”
“It can, but it will take a long time and only if it is closed off completely from the human world. That will save Faerie, but not the world you still call home.”
“That’s what Queen Anwyn wants to do.” I braced my hands on the stone rail. “I can’t let that happen.”
“King Oseron will argue against it, but eventually, he will accept it is the only way,” Aedhna said, and every word was like an arrow in my heart. “Unless we can restore the balance.”
Understanding dawned. “You waited to come to me because you knew what Queen Anwyn was going to say in the meeting, and you wanted me to hear it.”
“Yes.”
I spun to her. “Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
Aedhna clasped my hands in hers. “The ke’tain in the temple must be restored to its full power. To do that, it has to replenish its energy from the three other stones.”
“How?”
“You will take the temple ke’tain to each of the hidden stones,” she said as if it was no big deal. “After each pairing there will be storms, but do not be alarmed by them. As the temple ke’tain grows stronger, Faerie will begin to heal itself.”
I couldn’t tell if my heart was racing from excitement or fear. “The ke’tain is under constant guard in the temple, and it’s protected by wards. How am I supposed to take it without getting caught?”
“The stone I gifted you will allow you to increase your own magic to enter the temple unseen and pass through the wards around the ke’tain.”
My excitement dimmed, and I grimaced. “I’ve only used my magic once to create a portal, and it didn’t go as planned.”
She laughed softly. “I will teach you how to use it.”
“Am I going to create portals to get to the other ke’tains?”
“No portal can take you where you need to go,” she said. “Your drakkan will fly you there.”
“Gus is not exactly my drakkan,” I reminded her. “How do I find him and tell him where to go?”
Aedhna squeezed my hands. “I will teach you that as well.”
Apparently, she had thought of everything. I puffed out a breath. “Okay then. Where do we start?”
I got off the lift and walked to the main hall. The guards attentively watched me approach, but none of them spoke when I crossed the hall and opened the smaller door. I stepped outside and gave a little wave to the two other guards posted there before I set off toward the road to town.
It wasn’t until I rounded a curve and the entrance to the mountain was no longer visible that I was able to breathe normally. People left court all the time to go to town, so it was the perfect cover for my absence today. With Lukas and the others fully occupied by the Seelie visit, there wasn’t anyone who would miss me. I’d left a note in my quarters in case one of them did go there looking for me.
The fork in the road came into view, and I glanced around to make sure I was alone before I took the road to the right. The trees were so tall they formed a canopy over the road and blocked out the sun, giving the impression I was in a long eerie tunnel. A shiver went through me. I was a city girl, and I could handle alleys and dark buildings. The woods, not so much.
Half a mile in, I came to a spot where the trees thinned out to show a wide patch of blue sky. I stopped and listened, but all I could hear was birds.
I reached up and touched the goddess stone in my hair. Closing my eyes, I pictured Gus, and an image formed of him perched on the edge of a cliff eating some kind of fish with tentacles. Gus, I called in my mind, and he responded by cocking his head to the side. I called again. Come to me, Gus.
He dropped the fish and stood. Stretching out his wings, he leaped off the cliff and flew in my direction.
It worked! I let go of the stone and jumped up and down exuberantly.
Having nothing else to do but wait, I sat on a fallen tree at the side of the road and whiled away the time going over my plans for what to do when I got to the island. Aedhna had spent hours with me last night, patiently teaching me how to create illusions, but I wasn’t as confident about my ability as she’d been. Everything hinged on this, so I could not fail.
A branch cracked, and I jerked my head in the direction of the sound. I sucked in a breath as the biggest boar I had ever seen shuffled onto the road a dozen yards from me. The creature was at least six feet tall at the shoulder with spiky, black hair and bottom tusks that reached his ears.
I scrambled to remember what I’d read about Fae boars. In my world, wild boars could be vicious, so I expected no less from those in Faerie. Drakkans kept most dangerous creatures out of the valley. Predators preferred to stick to the forest where game was abundant, and they were sheltered from the drakkans. I’d never come this close to the forest or considered the dangers lurking inside.
The boar ambled to the other side of the road and sniffed at the ground. I sat very still, barely breathing and hoping the animal was too busy foraging for food to notice me. I thought about hiding behind the tree I sat on and dismissed that idea because moving might draw the boar’s attention. I had the staff and one of the knives I’d gotten for my birthday with me, but they’d be useless against a creature the size of a bull moose with a hide thicker than that of a rhinoceros.
A bird took flight from the underbrush, and the boar lifted its snout from the ground. It sniffed the air and swung its head slowly in my direction until its beady black eyes found me.
Neither of us moved. The boar grunted and sniffed. One of its front hooves scuffed the ground, drawing my eyes to the short, pointed horn protruding from each hoof.
I tensed as my fight-or-flight mode kicked in. Outrunning a wild boar wasn’t an option and neither was fighting it off. That left one avenue of escape. The lowest branches on most of the large trees were too high to reach, but I spotted one I might be able to climb. The only problem was I didn’t know if I could get to it before the boar got to me.
The boar growled. I sprang to my feet as it charged.
I fell backward as a drakkan dived through the opening in the tree canopy and snatched up the boar in his massive claws. I barely caught a glimpse of red and gold scales before the drakkan and boar disappeared into the trees. I covered my ears to block out the terrified squeals and the sound of ripping flesh as Gus made up for the meal he had abandoned to answer my call.
I’d stopped shaking by the time he walked out of the woods, licking his snout. He paused to chew on something stuck in his claws, and a full body shudder went through me when I saw it was a curved tusk. He tossed it to the side of the road and trotted toward me, looking calm and sated.
I cleared my throat. “Hey, Gus.”
Gus stopped close enough for me to smell the scent of fresh blood on his breath. He lowered his head, and I tried not to gag as I reached up to pat the end of his snout.
“Good boy,” I said and stepped back so I could breathe. “You want to take a little trip with me?”
He shifted restlessly and angled his head to look at me with one big red eye as if he was awaiting instructions.
I shivered at the intensity of his stare. “I need to go to the temple on the island.”
I should have been prepared, but I wasn’t. One second, I was standing on the road, and in the next I was rising into the air in Gus’s claw. I barely had time to do the glamour to make me invisible before we were flying over the main road. The people below looked up but didn’t point or anything, so I assumed my glamour was working.
I couldn’t take any chance of someone seeing me, so I held the illusion until we were out to sea. I relaxed and dozed on and off until the island came into view. Then I created a new glamour to hide me. Drakkans didn’t normally go to the island, but no one would make a big deal of it unless they saw he wasn’t alone.
Gus landed in the same spot as before and let me go. I plucked the stone from my hair and clutched it in my fist as I walked to the building that housed the temple. I stood in the doorway, my heart thudding at the realization of what I was about to do. I had to take a few calming breaths before I could continue.
The circular room at the bottom of the steps was as I remembered it. I crossed it and peered into the main chamber below. From here I could not see the guards who were stationed on either side of the stairs to give them a full view of the altar.
My stomach quivered. What if my glamour wasn’t strong enough? What if I tripped and broke the illusion? What if…?
I shook off my nerves. I was here, and there was no going back now. Aedhna believed I could do this, so I would.
I descended the stairs and looked back at the two Seelie and two Unseelie guards who were so still they could have been statues. Lukas had told me it was a great honor to be chosen to guard the temple, and every court guard asked to be in the rotation. The job was mostly ceremonial since it was the ward that protected the ke’tain, but that didn’t matter to the guards. I felt guilty for deceiving them when they took their duty so seriously, but if all went as planned, no one would ever know the ke’tain had left the temple.
I felt the ke’tain’s energy as I approached it, but it wasn’t overpowering like it had been my first time here. Now, there was no invisible wall that kept me from getting close to the altar.
I looked down at the ke’tain that glowed from within. For months, I’d lived in close proximity to it, and I’d held it in my hands for a short time, but I’d never had the time to study it because I’d been too busy being kidnapped and getting shot. If one small stone could hold enough power to affect the balance of magic in the realm, I understood why Aedhna had kept the existence of the others hidden. I didn’t want to imagine the damage someone like Queen Anwyn would do with all four ke’tains.
Glancing at the guards again, I stuck my free hand into my pocket and pulled out a small cloth sack. Inside it was the plain blue stone Aedhna had given me last night. It was the same size and shape as the ke’tain, and if I created the illusion correctly, it would look like the real thing to anyone who entered the room. The illusion only worked as long as no one got close to the stone, but the wards would keep people away from it.
Holding my goddess stone in my right hand and the blue stone in my left, I focused my gaze on the ke’tain. Then I closed my eyes and visualized the blue stone taking on the physical properties of the real thing. The fingers on my right hand tingled, and it intensified as a current flowed up my arm, across my chest, and down my left arm. The sensation faded, and I opened my hand to reveal the exact replica of the ke’tain lying in my palm.
Almost there. More confident now, I moved to the last step. I pushed out the illusion that hid me until it enveloped the altar. The tricky part of this was to portray an image of the ke’tain sitting on the altar so the guards could not see me switching it out for the fake. It was the one step that Aedhna had needed to work on the longest with me last night, and I was about to find out if her tutelage would pay off.
Using one hand, I made the switch. My hand prickled uncomfortably when it touched the ke’tain, but as Aedhna had promised, it didn’t harm me. I carefully placed it in the sack that had held the fake and put it in my pocket. Then I held my breath and pulled the illusion back to me.
One of the Seelie guards took a step forward, his eyes narrowed on the altar. “What was that?”
I froze.
“What do you see?” his partner asked.
“The ke’tain… It moved.”
The other guards jumped to attention. One grabbed the hilt of his sword as the four of them crossed the room toward me.