Stone Blood Legacy: A Shattered Magic Novel (Stone Blood Series Book 2)

by Jayne Faith

  I emerged from the netherwhere into the flower-scented night air in Faerie. Turning in confusion, I realized I wasn’t outside the Spriggan castle.

  Just as I was reaching for Mort, someone jumped me from behind. A strong arm circled my neck and yanked me off balance. I started to struggle out of the grip and got kneed hard in the back for my trouble, right in the spot where Darion had cracked my stone armor in the battle of champions. My eyes watered as pain blasted outward from the injury.

  “Petra, don’t fight,” a male voice said low in my ear.

  I froze. I knew that voice. It was Jaquard, Marisol’s personal bodyguard and the man who’d trained me in swordplay when I was a kid.

  His arm around my neck slid down and switched to a hug grip, pinning my upper arms at my sides. The cold edge of a knife pressed against my throat.

  Chapter 28

  I FOUGHT THE urge to gasp as I felt the blade nick my skin.

  My mind spun as I tried to come up with some explanation for what Jaquard was doing, and I quickly began to form the answer.

  “Marisol,” I choked out. I tried to twist so I could see his face. I needed to see his face. But the threat of the knife against my throat prevented me. “She sent you to kill me.”

  Even as I said it, cold shock gripped my body. I knew it was true, but some part of me didn’t want to accept this turn of events. I went perfectly still.

  “I can’t defy a direct order from my sovereign,” he said, sounding every bit as miserable as I felt. Like Oliver, the Order was Jaquard’s life. He’d devoted himself to training young New Gargoyles and to upholding Marisol’s quest for kingdomhood.

  Then suddenly I was free.

  I spun away from him and drew Mort, tensing into a crouch.

  “But if you managed to knock me out and get away, I would have failed and you would be free,” he said. “If that happened, you would need to get your sister and run. Get out of Faerie. It’s your only hope.”

  “But why?” He was giving me a chance to escape with my life, but I had to know.

  “Marisol believes Sebastian will oust her and put you in her place because you’re the one who swore the promise to him. He can’t control her, but by way of your binding agreement, he can control you.”

  “And Nicole?”

  “Marisol believes her son has become too attached to the changeling. She can’t allow him to make such a mistake.”

  Betrayal and anger grew hot in the pit of my stomach. The sickening mix welled up through me and exploded.

  With a strangled cry, I ran forward. I circled Mort over my head for momentum, and then struck Jaquard with the flat of the blade on the side of his head. He didn’t raise his arms to try to defend himself. He barely even flinched.

  Jaquard let out a grunt and crumpled to the ground.

  Some part of me knew what he’d sacrificed to let me go. But the larger part of me was on fire with rage and hurt.

  With a shaking hand, I traced sigils and then plunged through the doorway through which I’d come. I didn’t even know what kingdom Marisol had sent me to. She’d obviously chosen a place that was remote. It didn’t matter.

  I arrived in the kingdom of cats and took off running toward the village where Lochlyn’s aunt lived. I had no idea whether Jaquard or someone else was assigned to kill Nicole. Obviously, Oliver hadn’t any clue about all of this. He was loyal to Marisol but, as I’d recently discovered, not blindly so. He’d distrusted her enough to try to keep hidden the fact that Nicole was my twin. He’d never stand by while Marisol murdered us.

  As I ran, it struck me. This was the prophecy: Marisol’s vision of achieving the Stone Court on the bloodied bodies of twin female New Gargs. It was playing out right then.

  My heart gripped in my chest as my boots pounded the dirt. The full implication of what was happening began to dawn in earnest.

  If Marisol’s prophecy were true—and so far, her track record was perfect—then my and Nicole’s survival meant the downfall of the Stone Order. But our deaths meant the achievement of Marisol’s dream. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that Marisol would kill so easily. She’d never pretended to be anything other than what she was: the single-minded champion of New Gargoyle independence.

  But I was no sacrificial lamb, and I wouldn’t let Nicole become one either.

  I ran hard through the dark streets of the Cait Sidhe village where I’d left my twin. I’d only been to Lochlyn’s aunt’s house twice before. I took a couple of wrong turns but made it there. My chest heaved, ready to burst, as I pounded my fist on the door of the cottage.

  “Lochlyn!” I called. “It’s me, Petra.”

  My best friend threw the door open. She was barefoot and dressed in a t-shirt I recognized as one she liked to sleep in. A light flipped on behind her, and I saw her aunt and Nicole peering at me with bleary-eyed alarm.

  “Oh, thank Oberon,” I said, going inside and whipping around to lock the door behind me. “Who else knows that Nicole is here?”

  Lochlyn blinked at me. “We didn’t tell anyone.”

  “Good,” I said. I looked at Nicole. “Get dressed. We have to leave immediately.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Please,” I begged. “Just go get dressed. Marisol tried to have me killed. You’re next.”

  Her mouth dropped open, and then she whirled around and went back to one of the bedrooms. Lochlyn’s aunt followed.

  Lochlyn came to grasp my forearms, forcing me to face her. “What in the name of Maeve is going on?” she demanded.

  I shook my head. “It’s the fulfillment of Marisol’s prophecy. She believes my bargain with Sebastian means she’ll be ousted and he’ll put me in her place because I have a binding agreement with him and he can control me by it.” My words came out in a rush.

  “But that doesn’t put Nicole in any danger,” Lochlyn said.

  “Apparently Marisol’s realized Maxen is in love with her.”

  Nicole emerged just as I said it. Her face paled, and then pink splotches bloomed on her cheeks.

  She blinked at me. “He . . . what?”

  I shook my head. “No time for that now. Are you ready?”

  Her lips trembled, but she nodded.

  “Wait, where are you going?” Lochlyn asked.

  “We have to leave Faerie,” I said.

  “She’ll find you.”

  “Probably. But for the moment it gives us a place to try to disappear, and Marisol doesn’t know the Earthly realm as well as Nicole and I do. Same goes for most of those high up in the Stone Order.”

  Lochlyn’s aunt—Anna, I now remembered—emerged with a bag in her hand. She thrust it at me. “Food and water.”

  I gave her shoulder a grateful squeeze. “Your generosity will not go unremembered. And I hate to repay you this way, but you and Lochlyn need to leave. It’s not safe for you here. I’m so sorry.”

  She waved a hand. “We’ll manage.”

  She put on a brave face, but I felt horrible. Their lives were at risk. I gave Lochlyn a pointed look, and she returned it with a slight nod. She understood. She’d make sure Anna was safe.

  “I don’t know when I’ll see you again,” I said to my best friend.

  “Text me if there’s anything I can do. I’ll step out of Faerie periodically to check my phone.”

  “Where’s the nearest doorway?”

  Anna gave me directions. Thank Oberon, the doorway was only a couple of blocks away.

  I hugged Lochlyn hard and then turned to my twin, who’d dressed in dark jeans, a gray hoodie, and athletic shoes. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait, I’ll kill the lights to give you more cover,” Lochlyn said. “And you should go out the back.”

  We did as she suggested, stealing out through the cottage’s mudroom and into the night. I took off at a sprint, heading for the public square where Anna said we’d find an arch to use for our escape. Nicole kept pace with me, running on her toes and managing to move much more quietly than I wa
s in my boots.

  We made it to the doorway, and I quickly drew the sigils and whispered the words as Nicole planted her hand firmly on my shoulder.

  The netherwhere claimed us, and when we stepped out we were on the other side of the hedge, in the Earthly realm.

  Nicole shivered and swallowed hard. “Where are we?”

  “Boise,” I said.

  “I thought you didn’t have a place here anymore.”

  “I don’t. But I’m hoping there’s someone here who can help us.”

  “Help us hide?”

  “Yes,” I said. “But only for a little bit. We can’t run forever. That’s no way to live.”

  In the time we’d sprinted from Anna’s to the doorway, I’d begun to settle my anger into focus, and a plan had started to take shape.

  I pulled out my phone as it vibrated and blipped, updating with the messages and calls I’d missed while in Faerie. I ignored them and scrolled through my contacts until I found Gretchen’s name. I hit the call icon.

  It rang a few times, and she picked up.

  “Hi, Petra,” she answered.

  “Hey,” I said. “I have a stack of cash for you if you’re willing to help me out using your invisibility magic. Interested?”

  “Just how high is this stack?”

  I gave her a figure that was half the balance in my bank account.

  “You must really be in trouble,” she said, her voice wary.

  “I’m in trouble in Faerie. I want to ensure the trouble can’t find me out here.” I had other things I wanted her to do with her magic, but that could wait until later.

  “Does this mean you can never return to Faerie?”

  “No,” I said quickly. “This is just temporary.”

  “If that’s true and you get things sorted out, I’ll take half of what you offered,” she said. “For the rest of the payment, I want you to be my escort into Faerie anytime I need to chase a mark through the hedge.”

  “What if things don’t get sorted?” I asked.

  “We’ll figure that out when the time comes.”

  I barely knew Gretchen, but I already felt slightly less tense. She’d proven to be more than competent when I’d assisted on her assignment, and it didn’t hurt that she was connected to the legendary Ella Grey. The fact that Gretchen wasn’t trying to gouge me when I was in a desperate spot also spoke well of her.

  “I know it’s the middle of the night, but would it be possible to crash at your place?” I asked. I knew her house would be protected with human magic wards, and she was a powerful enough crafter she wouldn’t take the risk of sheltering us if she didn’t think she could handle a threat.

  She sighed. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

  “I know. But I’m in a tight spot.”

  “Fine. But I want ten percent deposited in my account when you arrive.”

  I let out a small breath of relief. “You got it. I’ll make the transfer now.”

  “I’ll text you my address.”

  We hung up.

  Nicole had been standing next to me, her eyes wide as she listened to my side of the conversation.

  “I have a little money, too,” she said. “If we need it.”

  I nodded. “Good. Hang onto it, and we’ll consider it an emergency fund.”

  “Who was that?”

  “Gretchen, a merc and human magic user. I worked with her not long ago.”

  “She can make us invisible? Like Bryna’s charm?”

  “Sort of,” I said. I pulled up a taxi app on my phone and ordered a ride. “But she doesn’t need a charm to do it.”

  “Whoa.”

  Our car arrived within a couple of minutes, and we were standing on Gretchen’s doorstep ten minutes after that. On the way over, I transferred money from my account to hers. She lived in an apartment in Boise’s North End, an area of historic and refurbished houses and buildings. Her place wasn’t far from Crystal Ball Lane, a street where human magic users could buy supplies for their crafting and normals could go to get their palms read or buy magic-imbued trinkets.

  Gretchen opened the door and narrowed her eyes at Nicole. “You didn’t say there were two of you.”

  “She’s my sister,” I said. “They’re after her, too. The deposit should have shown up in your account.”

  She huffed and pushed the door open wider, and Nicole and I went inside.

  “You live alone?” I asked as I stepped inside. The place was small and dim, the only light from a low-watt bulb in a side table lamp.

  “Yeah,” Gretchen answered.

  “Good. The fewer people who know we’re here, the better.”

  “I’ve set wards that should trip if any Fae come poking around,” she said. “But wards don’t keep anyone from getting in. They’re just magical alarm systems.”

  “Thank you,” I said with sincerity. It was a relief to be able to say it, knowing that with a human the expression of gratitude wouldn’t invoke a binding agreement as it would with Fae.

  “Hey, this isn’t charity,” she said. “It’s late, so let’s all get some sleep. I don’t have a spare room. You’ll have to crash out here.”

  “Thank you for letting us stay,” Nicole said.

  Gretchen nodded and then went back into her bedroom and closed the door.

  “Take the sofa,” I said to my twin. I killed the table lamp, but there was still enough light from the street outside to help us get around without bumping into anything. “I’ll take the recliner.”

  I didn’t plan to sleep, so Nicole might as well have the more comfortable of the two options. She lay down and curled up with her back to me. Then she twisted around.

  “I want to go back,” she whispered.

  “Back where?”

  “To Faerie. I’d come around to life there, to living in the fortress and embracing my Fae roots and trying to learn everything I could about being Fae. Now that it’s been taken away, I’m doubly sure that’s what I want.”

  A small smile crept over my face, in spite of what we were facing. “Are you in love with Maxen?”

  “Yes. But that’s not the only reason I want to stay in Faerie. I know it’s where I belong. I’m still adjusting, but I have this sense of . . . I don’t know it’s hard to explain. I have this confidence about who I truly am.”

  “It’s good to feel sure, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, the good news is that we aren’t just going to sit around and allow ourselves to be exiled. So if things go our way, you’ll have the chance to live in Faerie.”

  “What if they don’t go our way?” she asked.

  “Then Marisol will have won.”

  The implication of it sat heavily in the room.

  “But, I’m not ready to die, so there’s that,” I said in a cheerful tone.

  “Me neither.”

  “Get some sleep, and we’ll see what we’ll figure out what’s next in the morning.”

  “Okay. ‘Night, Petra.”

  “Goodnight, Nicole.”

  I leaned my head back against the plush headrest of the recliner and stared at the ceiling. Only weeks ago, I would have given just about anything to be released from Marisol, to be free to go back to the Earthly side of the hedge. I’d made it back here, but I definitely wasn’t free. I might be able to stay ahead of her assassins for a while. A long time. Maybe eventually she’d even stop chasing me. But that was no life.

  My stomach tightened as if preparing for a punch. There was only one way out of this, and it was through Marisol. But I couldn’t do it alone.

  I pulled out my phone and began typing a text to Lochlyn, giving her messages to relay in Faerie. One would go to Oliver. Another to Maxen. And the last to my blood father, King Periclase.

  Chapter 29

  I REMAINED AWAKE the rest of the night, working out what to say in the various messages that Lochlyn would send for me, and thinking through our options and the possible outcomes of each thing I was considerin
g.

  I wanted Oliver to know that Marisol had tried to kill me and planned to kill Nicole, but that we were okay. I wouldn’t tell him any of my plans, though. That would only endanger his life.

  My message to Maxen contained the same information, but with a longer heartfelt plea. He needed to know just how far Marisol was willing to go to keep him under her control. And more than that, I hoped his feelings for Nicole were strong enough to finally drive him to stand up to his mother. If he were willing, he could be the essential element to what I needed to do to save myself and my twin.

  The contents of my note to Periclase took the most crafting. I was requesting something that I never, ever would have expected to ask for: asylum in the Duergar kingdom. I needed protection not only from Marisol, but also from Sebastian. If Marisol’s suspicion was correct, the Spriggan king intended to use me as his puppet to secure the Stone Order under his rule. That might take care of my Marisol problem, but because I wasn’t sure of what Sebastian intended, I couldn’t absolutely assume it would work out that way. I needed safety while I navigated the fallout of my binding agreement with him.

  I needed protection, and I needed to be able to maneuver from within Faerie. Periclase had the strength and standing to give me a base from which to do it. But it would take careful bargaining on my part.

  I couldn’t help thinking of Jasper. He might be the one and only ally I’d have in the Duergar palace.

  I looked over at my sister. She needed safe shelter, too. She deserved the chance to pursue the life she wanted. But all of this was going to come at a price.

  By the time I finished crafting my messages and sent them all to Lochlyn, the pale light of morning had strengthened enough to shut off the streetlamps outside Gretchen’s apartment. I got up and rummaged around in her kitchen until I found ground coffee and filters, and then I started a pot in the coffeemaker. When the percolator finished brewing, I poured two mugs and set one next to the sofa for Nicole. She turned and stretched a few minutes later.

  While we waited for Gretchen to wake up, I got a text from Lochlyn that contained only a single word: Done.