“Yes,” she bit out.
“Then, yes.”
She waited.
He stood and held his hand out. She slipped her hand into his larger one, skin sliding against rough callouses, and let him haul her off the bed. His arms wrapped around her, but the shadows didn’t carry them off to the Mortal Realm.
“Um…” She looked up at Cole.
He stared back at her expectantly. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Understanding swept through her body in a hot wave of anticipation. The last time they’d made a deal, Cole had sealed it with a mind-altering kiss. Surely, he didn’t mean… “Is there another way to seal the deal?”
Another grin spread across his face. “I can think of many ways.”
Raven rolled her eyes and reached up to grip each side of his face. “I, Raven Crawford, swear to attend your training sessions if you schedule them around my work.”
Cole leaned down and whispered something in fae. At this point, she didn’t care if he recited his mother’s coveted fruitcake recipe. Cole’s mouth met hers and all thoughts of self-preservation flew out the window. His lips pressed against hers, sin and dark promises wrapped together. She melted into his arms and dark fae magic curled around them, sealing the promise of their deal while whispering against her skin.
The shadows rose up and carried them away.
Chapter Fifteen
“I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone.”
~ Lord Byron
Raven watched Kelly Clementine enter the café on Richards through the eyes of her conspiracy. The same café Robert had a receipt for. Raven would be suspicious of the coincidence except this was one of the most popular downtown Vancouver cafés.
Though Cole stressed the necessity of training, he’d let her escape to the Mortal Realm to work on the promise she’d adhere to his proposed training schedule. Her lips still tingled from the oath sealing kiss. If she closed her eyes, she’d taste his tongue on hers. A shiver raced through her body. He’d delivered her home as promised and she replayed their parting conversation.
“And if I don’t show?” she’d asked.
“You swore an oath, so you will.” Cole’s expression grew grave. “But if you don’t learn the necessary information and skills the result will be the same. Most likely death, but not by my hand.”
Geez. The man knew how to communicate expectations and consequences effectively.
One of her birds hopped down to a lower branch to get a closer look at Kelly. With Bear back in her life, her number of birds had increased, and the dark Other energy vibrated through the group. Her consciousness zeroed in on this bird’s perception.
Kelly sat down across from a man in a cheap suit. The material bunched around his arms and fit loose over his chest. He also left the jacket buttoned even though he sat down. Amateur.
Public defence lawyer, maybe?
If only ravens possessed the ability to distinguish one conversation from many through double paned glass. The meeting lasted an hour and despite the stellar hearing of ravens, she only gleaned a few useless words from the entire conversation.
A bust. Ugh.
Kelly stood and shook the man’s hand. His watch glinted in the sunlight.
Oooo. Shiny.
Focus!
The pair left the café together, but once outside, they parted ways without a word. Definitely not lovers, then. Nothing about this meeting suggested a clandestine meeting for an ill-fated romance.
Raven had never split her conspiracy to follow two different targets before, but she wanted to try it now. Something about the man ruffled her feathers, and not in a good way. But he wasn’t the target. She needed to focus on the job.
The man’s profile grew more distant and blurred at the edge of her profile.
Damn it.
Now was not the time for conspiracy experimentation. She was still traumatized from the last time she played around with her power and ended up with a giant raven’s leg, complete with a scaly foot and talons, instead of a conspiracy. She also transformed into a giant raven to defeat Lloth and still had nightmares about it.
She let the man go.
Her birds launched into the air and tracked the teacher instead. Preventing the birds from investigating every shiny object as they followed Kelly through town proved the most tedious and attention-sapping aspect of this stakeout. Kelly picked up groceries and returned home. Yawn. What a waste of a day. Maybe she should’ve followed the man.
After sitting and waiting for Kelly to do something else for an hour, Raven gave up and flew to where she had parked her car. She avoided traveling directly to and from her home.
A man leaned against Jean Claude Grand Am with folded arms and a sneer.
Great.
She swooped her conspiracy behind the neighbouring bush where she’d stashed her clothes. Her Other energy pulled together, merging the birds and consciousness into one being. In a few minutes, she transformed, threw her clothes on and stumbled from the bush to face the Lord of War.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” She fastened her belt and tugged down her shirt.
“You have a twig in your hair.” When Bane pushed off the car, metal groaned. “Nice curls.”
She scowled and yanked at a small branch sticking from her curls. It snagged. She pulled harder and the stick came free, taking some of her hair with it. Ouch.
“We need to talk,” Bane said.
“Cole asked you to give me a week.”
Bane glared, his dark eyebrows bunched in and his expression grew thunderous. “Cole is not my boss.”
“Who is?” Did he have a complaint box?
“The Closer situation is urgent.” Luke brushed imaginary dirt off his cuff while he stood in front of the driver’s side door.
Maybe she could squeeze by and slip into the car unnoticed and without him making a grab for her? “If Cole thinks it can wait until I’m trained in the ancient ways of dark fae douchery, then it can wait.”
Bane folded his arms over his massive chest. “You will never master the intricacies of dark fae dou—the Underworld—and Cole is too concerned with your well-being.”
“That’s not a bad thing.”
Bane ignored her and continued. “He’s too focused on you to realize the severity of the situation.”
Cole’s parting jab at Bane replayed in her head. Why couldn’t the Lord of War deal with the situation? He was supposed to be the badass of the badasses. Or did Odin’s peace pact prevent him from acting? The Allfather ordered no unnecessary violence or unprovoked bloodshed on the mortal side of the now-collapsed barrier.
“I think Camhanaich understands the situation perfectly.” Rourke’s voice spoke from the shadows seconds before the weapon warper stepped into the light.
Raven released a long breath.
“Rourke.” Bane spat the name out as if it tasted foul. “Servitude doesn’t suit you.”
Rourke flashed his jagged teeth and twirled a dagger in his hand as if it was no big deal. His skin pulsed bluish gray and the metal of his weapon flashed.
Her birds perked up.
“I disagree,” he said. “I find serving a master who inspires respect deeply satisfying.”
Raven’s eyebrows shot up. Oh, my. There be history here. She should probably run while her guard distracted the big bad fae lord, but like a juicy scene in a soap opera, she couldn’t look away.
Bane sneered and stepped toward the other fae. “Do you honestly think you stand a chance against me?”
Rourke’s grin widened. His skin pulsed again as he pushed more power into the now-glowing weapon. “Let’s find out.”
“You will lose.”
Did either of them remember she stood right here? From the way they squared off, she may as well pull up a chair, grab some popcorn and get comfortable.
“Who are you trying to convince?” Rourke twirled a dagger on the tip of his finger. The sunlight reflected off the surface. Ei
ther he had callouses of steel or he needed to sharpen his weapon. Or…magic.
Bane snarled.
“I might lose, but it won’t be quick, and you won’t walk away unscathed. How much damage are you willing to take to pester her?” He nodded at Raven. Oh, look. He hadn’t forgotten she existed. Lucky her. “Will you risk scarring that pretty face?”
Bane threw his hands up in the universal gesture for exasperation. “I wasn’t harming her.”
“Yet.”
“Nor did I intend to.”
“Yet.”
“I wanted to talk,” Bane growled.
Rourke snapped his dagger from spinning in the air and sheathed it. “Which you are more than welcome to do once the week ends.”
If Bane’s glare contained real daggers, Rourke would’ve been skewered on the spot with no chance to retaliate. Nope. Instead of voicing his displeasure with both of them—the emotion clearly written on his face—Bane threw a portal disc on the ground and disappeared into the red haze the moment it snapped in place.
After Bane removed his negative energy from their presence, Raven turned to Rourke. “How long have you been tailing me?”
He shrugged.
He couldn’t possibly follow her while she was in bird form unless he had more skills than she was aware of. Her hair also curled in his presence, so she would’ve detected him earlier if he’d lurked nearby. He must’ve staked out the car. Jean Claude stood out, so spotting and following her vehicle wouldn’t have challenged him.
“Are you going to follow me in some non-descript car?” she asked. “You may as well hop in with me.”
“Not that I don’t appreciate the offer.” Rourke cast a wary glance at Jean Claude and shuddered. “But it’s not you I’m hiding from.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” She unlocked the car door and yanked it open.
“The element of surprise is often a much needed advantage in combat.” Rourke spoke as if she was an infant. Thanks, bud. Like that didn’t rub the wrong way.
“Why didn’t you chuck a knife at Bane from the shadows, then?” Raven didn’t know much about weapon warpers, but they had the ability to ensure their aim was true. They only had to see their target.
“So blood thirsty.”
“Well, you gave away your ‘much needed element of surprise’ and I want to know why.” Despite the frigid touch of impending winter in the air, heat wafted from Jean Claude’s interior, filled with the stale scent of potato chips.
“If I waited until he hurt you, anything I did would be too late. He could easily whisk you away in a portal before I could react.”
“And if you didn’t wait?”
“I would start a war on Cole’s behalf and my life would be forfeit for the error.”
“Oh.”
“That’s assuming I was successful, though. Even with the element of surprise, I doubt my dagger would touch the Lord of War. He’s gifted with a touch of precognition and is a formidable opponent. He wasn’t wrong. I wouldn’t win in a battle between us. I’d inflict damage before my demise. Few can beat him one on one.”
“Who could?”
“Odin, naturally. Probably Huginn Muninn, Erebus and Chaos, and maybe Cole. Camhanaich is one of the few who could stand against Bane. That’s why Bane hates him so much.”
“I think this is the most you’ve ever said to me.”
“Words can mislead. Actions don’t.”
“Speaking of actions…About earlier? With those two men in the alley? Thank you. I should’ve thanked you earlier, but…”
“I’m scary?”
“Pretty much.”
Rourke flashed his pointy teeth again, reminding her of the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. He pushed Jean Claude’s door shut before she could climb in.
“Forget your car,” he said. “You can come with me.”
“Why?”
“You’re late for your lesson.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.”
~ Lillian Hellman
The spiraling chaotic energy of the Underworld slipped from her grasp. Sweat dripped from her skin and the cotton shirt stuck to her body. Her jeans clung to her thighs and not in an attractive way. If flying banshees attacked right now, she’d die because she’d be writhing on the ground like a bacon wrapped sausage, stuck in her own clothes.
“I suck at this,” she stated.
“Phenomenally,” Cole said.
They sat alone on plush cushions under a gazebo with long sheer drapes. A gentle Shadow Realm breeze wove through the night and teased the gossamer material. The drapes fluttered and flapped in the night-bloom scented air, dancing along with the willowy branches of the nearby trees on Cole’s estate.
“Can I learn something else?” she asked. “Maybe how to throw some lightning bolts or give a real-life death stare?” The shifting shadows of corvid energy pulsed inside her, testing the cage.
“Your best chance at survival right now is fleeing. You need to learn how to manipulate your own power to create a portal.” His deep voice slid over her shoulders and wound around her body.
Raven pulled the hem of her shirt out and peeled it from her damp skin. “I don’t understand how a portal works or what it has to do with the Shadow Realm or my new job.” She used air quotes for the last word. If it didn’t pay money, it shouldn’t be called a job. “And don’t get me started on that scythe.”
“It’s just a weapon.”
“Then why does it calm the shadowy energy inside me when I hold it? Why does it stop the restlessness at night?”
“You sleep with your scythe?”
“Don’t you?”
A sly grin spread across his face. Uh-oh. Nope. Not going there. No sexual innuendoes or flirting with silken drapes billowing in the wind under an exotic night with dark magic weaving around them. Nope.
“Why don’t we take a break?” she said. “You can give me a theory lesson.”
“I’d like to give you something, but it’s not theoretical.”
“Focus! Oh, Great and Powerful Lord of the Darkness.” Raven spoke more to her racing heart and overactive imagination than to Cole.
He scowled.
“What makes the Shadow Realm different than the others? How do I fit in with all of this?” She flung her arms out.
“First, you must understand that Mortal Realm textbooks don’t have all the information and are often incorrect. They list the Shadow Realm as a part of the Underworld, like War and Lust, for example, but that isn’t exactly true. The Shadow Realm is unique in that it was forged from both the Realm of Light and the Underworld. It is both and neither at the same time. It connected the two realms, and when the barrier collapsed, the magical pressure caused by the sudden access to the Mortal Realm pushed out the shadows to fill the cracks. Now, the Shadow Realm connects all the realms.”
“So, if the Mortal Realm, Realm of Light and the Underworld were islands in the middle of the ocean, the ocean would represent the Shadow Realm?”
Cole chuckled, deep and rumbly. “That’s one way to put it.”
“And to get from one island to another, you have to get wet?”
Cole nodded. “In order to travel from one place to another, one must navigate the shadows.”
“But that means…”
“Without the Shadow Realm, portals are not possible.”
“At all? What did they do before portals?”
Cole pressed his lips together and took a deep breath before answering her question. “Only the truly powerful are capable of ripping seams through reality to travel without a shadow based portal.”
Guess that answered her question. In a way. “So, the Shadow Realm makes travel between all realms possible, and more readily available to all fae, not just the super powerful. Didn’t that piss off the super powerful?”
“Not really. Ripping reality seams requires a huge expenditure of energy and leaves one vulnerable.”
&nbs
p; Hmmm…speaking from personal experience? Exactly how powerful was her lord…the Lord of Shadows?
“The super powerful are realistic. This is more convenient for everyone.” He leaned back against a giant pillow. “And allows them to extend their own reach more efficiently.”
She brushed a stray curl from her face. “And if someone controls the Shadow Realm, they control travel between the realms.” Her brain traveled down a yellow brick road with wild abandon and ambivalence toward the awful prize at the end.
“Not someone. You.”
That was what she was afraid of. A shiver wracked her body. She ran her sweaty palms down her pant legs. “Well, we’re doomed then. I don’t know the first thing about being a gatekeeper and my knowledge of border security is limited to a reality television show from a few years ago.”
Cole smiled, patiently, like someone did toward a toddler spouting unintelligible gibberish.
She squashed the urge to lunge forward and push him into the pillows. She’d give his smiling mouth something else to do.
Oh no.
That wouldn’t do. She needed to keep her mind clear, focused and not consumed with Cole-based fantasies. Time to change tactics. “Why wouldn’t you want this role? You’d gain even more power and influence.”
“With great power comes great responsibility,” Cole said.
Did he even know who he quoted? “You need to stop watching superhero movies.”
“You need to start practicing.” Cole leaned in, bringing his delicious scent with him, and smiled wider.
Her heart raced. Did he know the devastating effect he had on her? “I need to know why.”
He sighed.
“Seriously. Are you fattening me up for the slaughter?” Was his attraction to her all a ruse—a simple plot to make her compliant enough to do his bidding?
He shook his head. “I have enough power as it is, and it never brought me joy.” He hesitated as if he wanted to add something and thought better of it. “Adding this mantle only restricts me. It would limit the mobility and ease in which I move between realms unseen.”
Nevermore Page 9
