Etched in Stone: Twilight Court Book 9

by Amy Sumida

  “I do?” Alex asked.

  Daxon pointed to Alex's hand. “Start shaking a lot of hands; you're bound to find a compatible woman sooner or later.”

  Alex laughed. “You may be right, King Daxon.”

  “I'm rarely wrong,” Daxon smirked.

  “He's more like you than me,” Tiernan said to Raza, and Raza chuckled.

  “That's his Unseelie blood,” Raza said. “The difference is, when I say something like that, it's true.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  I suggested that Alex sit out the interrogation, but before he could finish protesting, Alexis showed up; thankfully without Brandon.

  “Alex, I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I couldn't stop myself.”

  Alex hugged his sister. “I love you, Is,” he whispered. “I can't lose you. So, if you're going to be with him, we need to do everything we can to protect our bond.”

  The twins made their pact and then assured us that they were fine to do their jobs. They started to head in with me, but I stopped them.

  “Let me speak to Reese alone first,” I said. “She's been prompted by our goddess to be helpful, and I don't want to antagonize her if I don't have to. After I'm done, you can search her memories for anything I missed.”

  “We'll watch from the viewing room,” Murdock suggested as he waved the others toward a door set into the wall a few feet down from the interrogation room.

  Raza kissed my cheek before he followed the group to the viewing room, and I headed into the interrogation. Reese sat at a small table; her pale hands folded demurely on the laminated surface, and her head bowed. She looked as if she were praying, but when she lifted her face, her gray eyes were as hard as steel, and her lips were set in an angry line. They pressed together more tightly when she saw who had come into the room. One hand lifted to smooth her sleek, ebony curls back in a gesture that looked nervous.

  “Hello, Reese,” I said as I sat across from her. “I'm sure you won't believe this, but I'm happy the Goddess healed you.”

  Reese grimaced and said grudgingly, “I heard you helped get me to her. Thank you for that.”

  I didn't push her by going off about how she was one of my fairies, and how I felt responsible for her. As a woman who probably still thought of herself as a queen, she may find that insulting. And—for the moment—I wanted to make nice. So, I just nodded and gave her a little smile.

  There was a manila folder set on the table. It held whatever small bits of information the Extinguishers had already collected from Reese. I flipped it open as she stared warily at me. My eyes widened at what I saw.

  “Reese Silversmith?” I asked. “Is that an English translation of your mór, or did you randomly choose it?”

  “It's my mór,” she admitted.

  I knew then that Reese would answer my questions, but she wasn't going to offer anything unprompted. I might have to use the twins for more than just a final sweep.

  “And what does it do?” I asked.

  “I can manipulate metal,” she said with a proud twitch to her lips. “It's a rare magic.”

  “All metal except iron, I presume.”

  “Of course,” she huffed. “I'm not a mutant.” She froze when she realized who she was speaking to and added, “Or half human.”

  “Okay, let's try this again.” I sighed. “Hello, Reese; I'm here to find out everything you know about Lana Clach and what her plans are. I know that Danu has asked you to help us, so why don't you get back on her good side by doing that? Otherwise, we will do this the hard way; I'll bring in my telepaths to take the information from you.”

  I paused as a thought occurred to me; the Human Council didn't permit fairy-striking prisoners into compliance, but they were okay with their telepaths invading a prisoner's mind. It was a double-standard that had more to do with magic than hypocrisy, but it still bothered me.

  Reese deflated and grimaced. “What do you want to know, Your Majesty?”

  “You made that device for Lana,” I started. “But then you stole it. Why?”

  “Because I found out what she was going to do with it.”

  “You created a device to steal magic and then were surprised when Lana used it to do that very thing?” I scowled at her.

  “The device is like any tool,” she huffed; suddenly looking a lot like my Uncle Dylan. “It may be fashioned to do one thing, but have unknown potentials that are later discovered.”

  “I don't follow.”

  “Of course you don't.” She rolled her eyes.

  The rumble of an angry dragon vibrated through the two-way mirror beside us, and Reese went still; slowly shifting her gaze to it.

  “Who's watching us?” She hissed.

  “My husbands and consorts,” I said. “But no one's coming in here unless they have to. Do they have to, Reese?”

  “No,” she whispered.

  “Good,” I said crisply. “Now; explain. Do it in layman's terms since I'm obviously not up to your level of scientific expertise.”

  “Fine; I'll be very clear with you,” she huffed. “I made that box for us; so that we could become more powerful. It was created to acquire small doses of magic, which the target could easily replenish. I honestly didn't think that Lana would kill fairies by stealing their magic completely. The murder aspect aside; it simply doesn't make sense to me. Why kill, when you can take a dose and go back for more, over and over?”

  “That sounds a lot like the device that we”—I paused; remembering that Murdock was in the next room—“hypothesized could be made. But we assumed that you had created a version that needed a willing victim, and without that free will, you'd have to kill them to get their magic.”

  “No,” she assured me. “You can place anything from a vial of blood to an enchanted charm in the box, and it will collect the magic from it. As far as taking from a victim; you can force compliance. The box effectively does what the sorcerers do with magical remnants. In fact, they were my inspiration. I thought that if humans could do it, why couldn't we?”

  “So, you intended to replace the sorcerers?” I growled.

  “I intended to make use of things that were already discarded,” she said and then grimaced. “And maybe to make use of prisoners. But when fairies take magic, there are limitations. We aren't blank slates like humans are.”

  “Yes; we've deduced that the magic taken needs to align with the magic already within the fairy.”

  “Correct,” she said with surprise. “Unless you take the magic from beags, which are a neutral energy.”

  “But mórs can only be claimed by similar fairies,” I concluded.

  “Yes.” Reese looked uncomfortable. “When Lana killed that gorgon, I realized that she had different plans for my invention.”

  “She wanted to collect as much power as possible,” I said. “Why would that surprise you?”

  “Not just power,” Reese said. “Specific magic.”

  “Yes; magic that was similar to hers.” I shook my head. “What are you getting at? Just tell me.”

  “Lana has the power to move stone,” Reese explained slowly. “She added the power to transform living things into stone; making them into something she can control.”

  “So, she wants to turn everyone into stone and make them into her stone puppets?”

  Reese lifted her brows in surprise. “That's pretty damn close.”

  “What?” I whispered in shock.

  “It was Delun who helped me figure it out,” she said. “Lana had been asking all of these questions about Delun's days in China, and if he'd ever met a Niutou.”

  “A Niutou?” I frowned. “Those are the unseelie ox-shifters, right?”

  “They do a partial shift.” Reese nodded. “Their heads only. Humans believed they were the guardians of the Underworld, but the Niutou just prefer to live underground.”

  “Interesting connection to an underground queen,” I murmured.

  “Yes; that piqued Delun's curiosity as well,” she said. “But
then Lana started actively searching for a Niutou, and we grew more concerned.”

  “Go on.”

  “The Niutou had a close relationship with the first emperor of China; Qin Shi Huang,” Reese started to sound like a professor, and her whole demeanor changed; she became more open and eager to speak.

  “No!” Raza burst into the room; chest heaving. “She can't control them. She'd need to be of royal blood.”

  “Lana asked me if my device could be used on humans.” Reese looked at Raza grimly. “If it could extract the essence of a human as it did the essence of a fairy.”

  “Can it?” Raza asked as he stalked forward.

  Raza slammed his hands on the table; creating an echoing boom that shook the mirror as he leaned toward Reese. For a second, his glamour broke, and his real face flashed through; dragon ridges standing out with Raza's intensity and golden eyes glowing. Reese paled but didn't flinch. I was impressed.

  “Can your device take a human's essence?” Raza asked again.

  “It's possible,” she whispered.

  Raza tossed the table against the wall with a roar. It broke through the drywall and crunched the metal table; leaving a gaping hole that revealed the cement foundation... which was now cracked.

  “Raza, what the fuck?” I stood up in surprise as Reese drew back against a wall. “That was a perfectly good table.”

  Drywall dust fell like snow over the table's remains.

  “Raza!” Tiernan strode in with Killian and Dax. “Ease down; now!”

  “You have no idea what she's talking about,” Raza snarled. “The war Lana could start—”

  Raza's eyes started to glow, and talons sprung from his hands. His wide shoulders hunched and started to ripple; as if his wings were about to burst free. Everyone backed away, but I rushed forward and took his face in my hands firmly. I pulled on Raza's jaw until he looked at me.

  “Focus, babe,” I whispered. “Breathe with me; I got you.”

  Raza took a deep breath and leaned his forehead against mine.

  “That's it,” I murmured. “Just breathe. It's okay; there's no one here to fight.”

  Raza closed his eyes as I stroked his face gently, and finally, his hands returned to their glamoured state. I heard the others in the room exhale in relief as Raza pulled away from me slowly; kissing my cheek along the way. He nodded, and I let him go as I stepped back.

  “You okay?” I asked him.

  “I'm in control of the dragon again. Or maybe you are.” Raza smiled softly. “Honestly, I'm not sure anymore.” Raza eased around me to face Reese. “Finding a descendant would be difficult,” he went straight back to it; talking about stuff I didn't understand.

  “The Emperor is buried in a sealed tomb,” Reese sounded resigned. “Lana doesn't have to find a descendant; she has the original.”

  “Fuck!” Raza roared. “That crazy, motherfucking seelie bitch. I'm going to tear her head from her shoulders and throw it to the fucking Gorgons!”

  “Whoa,” Conri whispered.

  “You gonna tell him not to use the B-word?” Ainsley asked Conri.

  All of our guards had gathered in the hallway outside of the interrogation room to wait for us. But when my men had rushed in, they'd left the door open, and our knights were closing in around the frame to watch the drama.

  “Raza, what are you so upset about?” Tiernan asked. “I'm not following this.”

  “The army,” Raza said. “The Terracotta Army in China; that's what Lana is after.”

  The Unseelie knights in the hallway hissed with horror.

  “The statues of Chinese guys in those pits?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Raza was staring at Reese. “Lana wants to activate the spell, doesn't she?”

  Reese nodded. “It's why we ran. Lana cannot have control of that army; it would be total destruction.”

  “The clay men?” I clarified; wondering if maybe I was confused. “Clay, right? Not stone.”

  “I'm just as lost as you are,” Tiernan said to me. “Those statues were made by humans. I don't see how they could be enchanted. Although stone magic is an earth-based power; it could easily transfer to hardened clay.”

  Killian also looked confused, but Daxon's face was filled with dread.

  “Yes; they were made by humans; under the instruction of fairies,” Reese explained. “And then they were enchanted by the Niutou with earth magic.”

  “Enchanted toward what aim?” I asked in a low tone.

  “To protect the Emperor,” she said. “That's something the human historians got wrong. The army wasn't built simply to guard the Emperor's tomb or to guard his spirit in death; it was made to guard the man himself—while he was still alive. Those statues were set facing the East for a reason; it's territory that the Emperor conquered. They were placed there long before his death, as a warning to any who thought to strike against the Emperor. Because with one word, the Qin Shi Huang could bring them all to life; an unstoppable army that felt no thirst, no hunger, and no mercy.”

  “Turning people to stone,” I whispered. “Okay; I get the connection now, but why would she need that particular magic? You said the Emperor could raise the army, and if Lana took his essence, then isn't that all she'd need?”

  “The Emperor has been dead for too long,” Reese explained. “The enchantment is dormant. In order to wake the magic, she'd need the powers of transformation and movement to revive the terracotta first.”

  “Her magic combined with the gorgon's,” Tiernan said with horror.

  “Yes,” Reese confirmed. “At least, that's what Delun and I hypothesized. Lana never did confide in us.”

  “But once Lana revived the spell and woke the warriors, she would need the Emperor's essence to command them,” Daxon concluded.

  “Correct,” Reese shifted a look toward Daxon and then away again.

  I knew that look; part shame and part longing.

  “Oh, not you too.” I rolled my eyes from Reese to Daxon. “Who haven't you slept with?”

  The other men looked at Daxon in surprise while Reese flushed.

  “My past sexual interludes are irrelevant.” Daxon cleared his throat.

  “Dude,” Killian said with an impressed tone.

  “Really, Kill?” I lifted my brows at him.

  “I meant; dude,” Killian changed his tone to disapproving as he scowled disapprovingly at Daxon.

  “Hold on,” I interrupted the male bullshit. “Reese, Jared created a new device; one which he says is an improved version of yours.”

  “Jared!” Reese hissed. “That stupid fucking dwarf!”

  “Just to clarify,” Councilman Murdock said as he pushed his way past the guards and into the room, “Lana Clach is attempting to collect the magic necessary to awaken an enchantment on a massive clay army in China, and then she intends to desecrate a tomb so that she can take the corpse's essence and command the army?”

  Reese blinked as she processed it, and then nodded.

  “Fuck!” Murdock hissed and then turned on his heel and headed out of the room.

  “Councilman?” I ran after him. “What are you doing?”

  “I'm going to notify the Councils, the Coven, and the Casters,” he said. “Then I'm going to have a nice stiff drink and try to get the image of marching clay soldiers out of my head.”

  “We need to get to China,” I said urgently. “I can twilight over with my Guard, but the rest of them will need transport.”

  “I'll arrange it,” he said immediately. “And I'll have the Council send more reinforcements to meet you there.”

  “That site with the statues,” Killian said as he strode over, “that's a museum now, isn't it?”

  “We'll have to evacuate the area.” Murdock groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. “The museum is right in the middle of a city.”

  “Evacuate the city and place a watch over the tomb,” I said. “See if you can get hunters, extinguishers, and witches out there immediately. We're going to nee
d all the help we can get.”

  “I can have Unseelie troops sent in as soon as you clear us,” Raza offered.

  “I'll advise the Councils,” Murdock said. “Thank you, King Raza. It's fortunate you're here.”

  As Murdock sped off, I shared a knowing look with my husbands. Fortunate indeed.

  Chapter Forty

  “I don't think you should twilight to China,” Raza said. “Danu sent us back to be with you for a reason; we should stay together.”

  “I agree,” Tiernan said. “I don't like the idea of letting you out of my sight.”

  “What if my being there half a day early makes all the difference?” I asked.

  “And what if the difference it makes is that you're killed by a bunch of pottery because we're not with you?” Daxon asked.

  “There's one other thing.” Raza looked around—saw the twins watching us—and took my hand to lead me into the viewing room. He closed the door after my other men were inside with us. “Danu gave me this.”

  Raza pulled an apple out of his jacket's inner pocket. It was so red and shiny that it looked plastic. The rest of us gaped at it, and my stomach churned. The last time I'd eaten an apple from Danu, my magic had changed.

  “Did she say what it does?” I asked.

  “Danu said the effects would be temporary but vital, and she told me that we must all take a bite of it before we go to war,” Raza answered me without answering my question. “It's imperative that we all be together, Seren.”

  “Okay,” I whispered as I stared at the apple. “We stay together.”

  “Thank you.” Raza sighed in relief and put the apple away.

  “An apple from Danu,” Daxon murmured.

  “It was a way for her to send some of her magic through the Between,” Raza said. “A way for Danu to be here with us.”

  A knock came at the door, and Raza opened it to find a grim Councilman Murdock.

  “Your plane is being fueled as we speak, and an Extinguisher team will meet you at Xi-an Airport,” Murdock said. “Several teams—of Extinguishers, Hunters, and Witches—are making their way to the Lintong District, where the tomb is. You'll have hundreds of soldiers with you immediately, and many more should be arriving around the same time as you.”