Covert Fae_A Spy Among the Fallen

by C. N. Crawford

  I nodded. “Okay. Evacuate the Tower, and I’ll try to keep Adonis from leaving before the night is over.” I shivered at the thought. “But I need you to do something else for me. I need you to contact my sister, Hazel. Tell her she needs to glamour herself as a succubus. Kratos is sending people to look for her, and he has no idea she’s a fae.”

  “Are you sure you want me to risk it?”

  “It’s the only chance I have.”

  She started for the cave entrance, but I grabbed her arm. “Wait. The angels suspect me now, all of them except Kratos. Is there an exit plan for me? How am I getting out of here if they turn on me?”

  “I sent you here because you’re resourceful. I trust you to figure it out. Listen to what the Old Gods are trying to tell you.”

  Are you kidding me? “I haven’t found anything but the Devil’s Bane.”

  “There must be something else.”

  I shook my head. “I found a silver bough in the forest, in a yew grove. That’s it. It doesn’t look like it comes with instructions about how to use it to kill angels.”

  Her eyes brightened. “A silver bough. Now that is worth investigating. It’s a gift from the Old Gods. I’m sure of it.”

  “Okay, I’ll investigate.” I grabbed her arm. “Before you run out there, let me check for sentinels. A woman wandering around with a crossbow isn’t exactly inconspicuous, and Adonis has seen me around here already.”

  “Fine.”

  I summoned my fox glamour once again, magic flickering and sparking over my skin. Fully disguised, I crept from the cave. An icy rain had begun to fall over the forest.

  When I scanned the skies, I spotted a murmuration of sentinels swarming by the forest’s edge.

  Shit. Clearly, they’d seen Yasmin. And they were waiting for her.

  I stepped back into the cave, dropping the glamour again. “They saw you. They’re curious about you. And they’re probably going to follow you back to the Tower, reporting to the angels the whole time. You don’t want their eyes on your daughter, and you don’t want them connecting us when they realize someone screwed up the angels’ attack plans.”

  Her eyes looked frantic. “I can’t stay here.”

  I held out my hands like I was calming a wild animal. “I understand. But we need to get them out of the way. I need a few of your arrows.”

  “What do you plan on doing?” she asked doubtfully, but she was already pulling a handful of arrows from her quiver. “Shooting all the sentinels?”

  “Just wait here.”

  I glamoured myself as a fox again, disguising everything to outside observers—the arrows, my bright red hair—and stepped out into the rainy forest.

  The Old Gods will give us everything we need.

  Standing before one of the pine trees, I reached for my sweater, tearing a fat strip off the bottom. I ripped this strip into more pieces. I wrapped each of the arrow tips in wool, fighting hard to think clearly through the mental fog in my brain. Then I lay them gently on the ground.

  I reached for the knife strapped to my thigh. Fighting through the glamour-fog, I began hacking away at the bark on the tree, penetrating the pine wood with the blade until, at last, a thick stream of sap began to trickle out. Shivering in the chilly rain, I carefully slid my blade back into its holster.

  Dizzy from the glamour, I snatched the arrows from the forest floor. Now a sharp pain pierced my temples. Dark dots swam in my vision as I dabbed the arrowheads into the pine sap, trying to maintain my focus. I needed to get this done before I passed out in front of the cave.

  At last, with each arrowhead coated in pine sap, I hustled back into the cave, grunting at the searing pain in my head. I dropped the glamour immediately, then hunched over on my knees while the pain and dizziness subsided. I clutched the bunch of arrows tightly.

  “Care to fill me in on what you’re doing?” asked Yasmin.

  “Like I said, I’m going to create a diversion. I need the bow and your matches.”

  As she handed me the bow and matchbox, the idea of the Old Gods burbled in the back of my mind. We had everything we needed here in the forest, didn’t we? Food, weapons.

  And pine sap, as it happened, was extremely flammable.

  With the weapons in hand, I crossed to the cave’s mouth, then scanned the skies. The sentinels still swarmed by the very northern edge of the forest, waiting for Yasmin.

  I stepped back into the cave, then ignited the arrows, letting them burn on the rocky floor. I nocked the first arrow and loosed it to the south. I watched it soar at least two hundred yards into the air before arcing downward again.

  With all the fallen leaves blanketing the ground, it shouldn’t take long for the deadfall to ignite at least a little. But the icy rain would ensure nothing spread too far.

  From the cover of the cave, I loaded up the next arrow, then unleashed it into the air. That one slammed against my forearm, bruising it badly. I grimaced, regretting my lack of arm guards.

  Then I refocused on my task. One after another, I loosed the arrows into the same spot. After the fourth arrow, the sentinels took notice.

  I watched their pattern shift, their movements growing sharper. In the distance, where the arrows had hit, smoke curled into the air as some of the leaves ignited.

  From my spot in the cave, I watched the sentinels soar overhead toward the thin tendrils of smoke until, at last, the entire swarm had cleared the northern tree line.

  “Go.” I handed Yasmin her bow again. “Fast, before they come back.”

  She pulled the bow from me. “Thank you. Just—please find a way to keep Adonis here.”

  “I will. Go.”

  She launched out of the cave in a swift sprint, the desperate rush of a mom determined to get back to her little girl.

  Chapter 27

  Glamoured as a fox, I trudged back to the castle, my body burning with the strange fatigue of a magic drain. I didn’t want the sentinels reporting that I’d been anywhere near the bow-and-arrow attack.

  And I definitely didn’t want them to see what I was about to do next.

  Like Yasmin had said, I was resourceful. Already, I was planning my escape from Hotemet.

  Moving swiftly, I raced past the spot where I’d started the fire. Ankle-high flames burned and hissed over the ground.

  Already, Elan, Susie, and two other servants were out there trying to douse the flames. Unsurprisingly, Elan wavered on his feet, his eyes dazed as he gripped a bucket, and Susie was tripping over her own feet. As I watched them scrambling with buckets of water, I felt a twinge of guilt for dragging them out here.

  Still, the icy rain was soaking everything around us. The fire wouldn’t last long.

  With the bubble of glamour around me, I hurried toward the yew grove. When I arrived, I pulled out my knife to begin carving a sapling. I wouldn’t get far now, not when the magic was draining all of my resources, but I needed to make a start on it.

  Tomorrow, the angels would know that someone had warned the humans. They’d know that I’d been out lurking in the forest, and that a human woman had been spotted marching into the woods with a crossbow. Adonis knew that I’d been lying through my teeth. It wouldn’t take much for them to piece it all together.

  I had to lay the groundwork for my own escape.

  When I couldn’t take any more of the glamour, I buried the beginnings of my bow and started back toward the castle.

  Now my muscles burned, and pain ripped through my skull. A few times, my eyes drifted closed, and images flashed in my mind—Hazel and me, dressing up in boas and sequined gowns to take photos of ourselves, Marcus’s sleepy eyes as he lay next to me in bed, my parents drinking coffee as they read the Sunday papers. And each time my mind cleared, the truth shocked me once again. Those days were over.

  By the time I neared the fortress, the cold rain had soaked completely through my clothes, and the chill penetrated right down to my bones.

  At the forest’s edge, I peered through the branc
hes once again. When the iron-gray skies looked clear of sentinels, I ran across the clearing toward an arched doorway in the wall of the Tower of Wrath, my head searing with pain.

  Only when I’d safely sheltered in the alcove did I drop the glamour. With chattering teeth, I pushed through the door, glancing nervously at the iron bar still on the ground.

  My mind seemed to whirl with shadows. Desperate to get back to my room, back to the warmth, I pulled off my sodden jacket.

  Climbing the stairs, I leaned against the wall, trying to focus my mind, but I’d burnt myself out. I had a vague sense that I couldn’t let anyone see me now—that I could barely keep the succubus glamour together. Apart from that, it was hard to grasp onto a clear thought.

  My footsteps echoed off the walls, and I tried to count the floors until I got to my own, five stories up.

  When I thought I’d reached five, I pulled open the door to peer into the hall. It looked right to me—same creepy shadows, same empty alcoves.

  Clutching my soaked jacket, I took a right toward my bedroom, so tired I could hardly tear my eyes off the floor, could hardly stand up on my own.

  So tired I nearly missed the inky shadows that always seemed to curl around Adonis.

  He stood before the door. Slowly, I dragged my gaze up to meet his frigid stare. His midnight wings, streaked with silver, swooped majestically behind him.

  “It looks like you’ve had a rough afternoon. Something happen to your sweater?”

  I leaned against the wall for support. The good news was, if he was here, it meant he wasn’t off killing Yasmin’s three-year-old daughter.

  “I got lost.” I couldn’t stop my damned teeth from chattering, and I could hardly keep my succubus glamour on. I needed to get back into my room.

  A wave of silky magic from his body rippled over my skin. “And you ripped apart your sweater to find your way home. It all makes perfect sense.”

  His lethally beautiful smile sent shivers through my blood. “It seems there was a bit of a commotion in the forest. Several flaming arrows ignited a few oaks. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  I struggled to summon a coherent thought, to find my way out of this mess. I needed to get into that hot bath to warm up a little, and then I needed about fifteen hours of uninterrupted sleep. “Probably a stray human. Lots of people have learned to use arrows since the Great Nightmare began. No guns around here, are there?”

  His eyes grew darker. “The Great Nightmare? Is that what you call it? It almost sounds like you don’t approve.”

  I had about thirty seconds before I lost all ability to glamour myself. “Would you kindly get out of the way? I’m freezing and I need a bath.”

  “Of course. I wouldn’t dream of standing in your way.”

  With his hands in his pockets, he stalked away, draped in shadows.

  I opened the door to my room, practically falling inside. Stumbling forward, I didn’t even make it to the bath. Instead, I collapsed on the bed, pulling the heavy covers around my freezing body.

  I woke when sunlight streamed through the windows. I still wore the damp, ragged sweater from the day before. Pain throbbed in my arm, and I lifted my sleeve to find a brutal purple bruise spread out over my forearm. I pulled down my sleeve quickly. I couldn’t let anyone see that.

  The smell of pastry made my stomach rumble. Next to me, Susie had laid out a tray of steaming food on my bedside table.

  It unnerved me that Susie came in here while I was sleeping, but I couldn’t complain too much about hot coffee and pastries.

  I sat up, snatching a warm croissant off the tray, and washed it down with hot, milky coffee.

  One hot bath later, I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, my muscles tensed as I waited to see if Yasmin had survived the night. As soon as her face flickered into the reflection, I heaved a sigh of relief.

  Yasmin held up a sign that said, “Thank you. We evacuated,” and another that said “Message sent to Hazel.”

  My heart began to race with euphoria. If they’d sent a message to Hazel, that meant they’d found her. And if they’d found her, it meant she was still alive. Thank the gods.

  Now I just needed to wait to see if Kratos would make good on his word.

  Yasmin’s image shimmered away. I had no idea where the Order hid now, but of course Yasmin wouldn’t tell me. If I knew, it meant the angels could torture me into confessing it. Not my favorite thing to think about.

  As I crossed back into the bedroom, my mind burned with images of a reunion with Hazel. Would she throw her arms around my neck and cry? Would she ask to sleep in my bed with me?

  I pulled open the wardrobe. I’d pretty much run out of clean sensible clothes, so I grabbed one of the flimsy gowns instead—a long, shimmering blue dress with a plunging neckline and fitted sleeves. Appropriate for the castle atmosphere, not so appropriate for ass-kicking, but with any luck that would not be on the agenda today.

  When the sentinels weren’t looking, I strapped the knife to my thigh. Now that it had been dipped in Devil’s Bane, I took care not to nick my own skin. If I did, I’d be facing an agonizing death instead of a reunion with my sister.

  A loud knock on the door interrupted my thoughts, and I crossed the room to open it. When I did, I found Elan standing in the hallway in one of his knitted cat sweaters.

  “Morning, Elan. How are you?”

  He stood hunched, his fingers steepled. “Bit of a headache from yesterday.”

  “Drink some water. You’ll be fine.”

  He smiled. “I have my own hangover remedy. I drink the blood from two feuding crows. Anyway, umm…” He tapped his fingertips together. “Johnny is agitated about something, and he wants to see you on the parapet. He seems a little murderous.”

  My mouth went dry. Oh good. One of the insane angels would like to throw me to my death this morning. “I’ll just grab my croissant.”

  With my coat draped over my shoulders, I trailed after Elan, croissant flakes flying all over me. “Any idea what this is about?”

  “You know, he didn’t want to tell me. Just, it’s probably not a good idea to get too close to him. Physically or emotionally…”

  I followed Elan into the stairwell. “Fortunately, emotional closeness with Johnny wasn’t high on my agenda today.”

  As we walked up the stairs, a strange, giddy power rippled through my blood. Eimmal. That’s why I wasn’t quite as scared as I should be.

  “Elan, my little feral fae. What do you plan to do to safeguard yourself tomorrow?”

  “I’ll probably ask Susie to tie me to a chair, just to be on the safe side,” he said cheerfully. “It’s how I spent my formative years in the troll encampment anyway, so I really don’t mind. Bit of nostalgia.”

  I frowned. I didn’t suppose I could ask Susie to do the same for me without arousing some serious suspicion. Maybe I could lock myself in the wardrobe for the day, free from the prying eyes of sentinels or angels.

  After our long ascent, we reached the top floor at last, and Elan pushed through the door into the icy air.

  Pearly winter light washed over the parapet, and the scent of early spring filled me with a wild giddiness.

  Johnny leaned against one of the stone walls, his gaunt form and gray wings reminding me more than ever of a vulture. He wore a tattered, safety-pinned T-shirt that read Destroy. His bright blue mohawk stood out sharply against the gray castle walls. A bow and quiver lay at his feet.

  What fresh hell is this?

  A sneer curled his lip. “Ruby.”

  “Good morning, Johnny.”

  “I heard the rumors. You killed a human man before you came here, is that right?”

  “We’ve been over this. He deserved it. Is there anything else, or can I get back to my coffee?”

  “And you want me to believe you don’t really care about humans.” His breath reeked of vodka, and his words were slightly slurred. “You want us to believe you have nothing to do with a human or
ganization like the Order. That about right?”

  I clenched my fists. Maybe the gift of vodka had backfired a bit, because I now found myself faced with a trashed and angry angel. “That’s entirely right.”

  “It’s just that it seems a bit funny to me. We were about to go on a bit of a rampage, you see. Or at least Adonis was. Had a bit of slaughtering to do with the humans.” He picked up the bow from the ground. “But by the time he got to the Tower—poof! Everyone was gone. How do you think that happened, then? How did they know we were coming, succubus?”

  He stumbled closer to me, and wild hunger bloomed in my gut. I clutched my belly, trying to ignore the gnawing emptiness.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Elan skulking away, hoping no one would notice him.

  I crossed my arms. “I don’t know, Johnny. Maybe they figured they’d attacked the angels, and they needed to move out before you came for them. Just a thought.”

  “Yeah, or maybe the sudden information leaks have to do with the new presence of the street demon we just let into the castle. How about that?”

  I leaned on the parapet. Inside, adrenaline was surging through my nerve endings, but I blinked lazily in the morning sunlight as though none of this concerned me. “That’s an interesting theory. Tell me, Johnny, does thinking strain your brain? I feel like it physically hurts when you do it.”

  “You know what else is an interesting theory? The one that says you were living in London in one of the rookeries with a bunch of humans, eating rats. I’ve been querying the sentinels, asking them about everything they might know, every ginger tart they’ve seen in the past year. They tell me a little skinny redhead was living among the filth. That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”

  I shot him my most imperious stare. “Do I look like someone who would live among filthy humans?”

  “Let’s find out. Because it just so happens I found those humans.” A smile twisted his lips. “Why don’t you take a peek into the courtyard?”

  All at once, the spring giddiness rushed from my body, replaced instead with panic clawing up my spine. Where was Kratos? And what the hell did Johnny have in mind?