“McAllister will hunt you down,” she vowed, not thinking clearly, not caring. “You will never succeed.”
“I honestly don’t know why I bother.” Agares swooped up with a sneering smile. “You never could appreciate the finer qualities of my plans. I should just end you eternally and be done.”
End me eternally? A bolt of panic clotted Lily’s throat. “You can’t… You cannot end me.”
“Unfortunately no, not right now.” Agares sighed. “There’s no other King or Queen on hand and I’m in no mood to sacrifice myself.”
Lily’s mind spun with the revelation. Kelan was wrong. All the McAllisters throughout time had been wrong. A demon could be killed. Some ritual that involved a King or Queen demon, or possibly the sacrifice of Agares.
But Agares was still speaking, and her words blunted all other thought. “Besides, I rather fancy keeping you around for a bit. After all, I suppose some of the glory must go to you. You see, it was the image of you squirming and snivelling, of you trying to crawl your way back into my good graces, that made me stronger, bolder, until nothing else would satisfy but for me to pull my entire army through the portal.”
Lily’s eyes widened in horror.
“That’s right, dyanle. Black Rock. Thanks to my ingenuity, I have the means to bridge the crossing. Isn’t it amazing, what a pinch of planning and a heap of imagination will reap? I will succeed and you will have the honour of witnessing my triumphant victory. But not in that pretty little body, I don’t think.” She waved a hand along the outline of Lily’s form. “Kelan McAllister is far too fond of it. He won’t live to mourn you long, but every minute of his grief will be my absolute pleasure.”
She means to kill me. The blood drained from Lily, all heat slipping through her body to her toes, leaving her cold and numb…and with nothing to lose!
Lily scrabbled up the wall at her back, her heels pedalling the ground.
“You’re a coward,” she spat out. She was on her feet, sharp-eyed and alert. Her body hummed, a year’s worth of life-force suddenly packed into this vital, possibly last, moment. “You speak of victory and triumph and glory, but this will be your legacy. All will know that you were too scared to unbind me for a fair challenge.”
“Hmm…” Agares tapped her lower lip with a long, painted nail. “Stupidity and the downfall of men.” She tossed her hair back with a snarling laugh. “Do you truly think I care a damn how many names you call me? I’d rather be a coward than a fool.”
She brought her hands up, her fingers flexed to flick ice or fire, or both.
Lily sprang forward into a low crouch, landing on one bended knee, her other leg shooting out in a sweeping kick. Her boot swooshed through soft velvet layers and then struck solid limb.
Toppling backward with a cry, arms flailing, skirts billowing, Agares hit the stone floor with a thud.
Lily jerked viciously at her web of iced chains, but of course nothing had changed. She couldn’t run, she wouldn’t survive, but she would fight until her last breath.
Agares rolled onto her side and pushed to her feet.
Lily tensed, her muscles and reflexes primed for round two.
A shadow moved across the entrance and a new voice interrupted. “My Queen, an airship approaches from the south.”
“The McAllister,” Agares said in a hard tone, her chin tilting toward the voice.
It was the third demon, a reed-thin, middle-aged male with scraggly blond whiskers. He dipped his head, shrinking into himself, too afraid or too meek to offer an opinion.
An avalanche of sweet sorrow rocked through Lily. He’d found her. Kelan had come. Too late for her, hopefully not too late to stop Agares. She didn’t want to die, but there was some measure of comfort in knowing she’d performed her job one last time, and she’d performed well. She’d led Kelan to the demon lair so he could do what he did so well, eliminate the threat.
Agares turned her shoulder on Lily, her hands still raised, her fingers still flexed, as she took a step closer to her follower. “The Gossamer?”
The male stooped lower, backing away.
More shadows. Three further male demons crowded the entrance, their postures hunched and shrinking, as if trying to make themselves less visible, the same subservient behaviour Lily had noticed in her demon glass.
A fourth punched through them, striding forward. This one was tall, well over six feet, and carried himself with confidence, meeting Agares’ eye. “They will not sight the ship, my Queen, not unless they overshoot the first plateau.”
“Which would be highly doubtful.” Agares blew out a loud breath. “This isn’t a scouting mission.” She swung back to face Lily. “It’s a rescue.”
Lily’s heart pounded, a drum beat between her ears. She couldn’t take her eyes off the white sparks at Agares’ fingertips, electric shards of ice spitting in her direction. Her stare broke when the tall demon stepped between them.
“Might I suggest,” he said to Agares, “we leave the McAllister something to rescue? The Gossamer will be spotted as soon as we take to the skies. The longer McAllister is occupied here—”
“Yes, yes,” snapped Agares. “That much I’ve already figured. That doesn’t mean I can’t have a smidgeon of fun with his precious plaything. Step aside.”
The tall demon moved.
The crystal sparks at Agares’ fingertips leapt higher, longer, converging into a thin-tailed whip. Lily started shrinking back against the wall, then changed her mind. Fury coursed through her with a reckless spirit, driving her chin up. She wouldn’t huddle in a corner. She wouldn’t give Agares the satisfaction.
The whip lashed out.
Lily swerved her upper body left. The icy tail sliced the air by her cheek, licked the exposed skin below her ear like a blade of fire. Lily bit down on a scream, lost focus, then quickly regained it. She’s aiming for my face.
The whip lashed again. Lily curved around the slice and teetered off balance. Her arms strained beneath the corset as she tipped backward, useless to break her fall. She twisted, hitting the ground with her shoulder. Another scream, one she couldn’t bite down on. She rolled, onto her knees, onto her feet, and then straight into a dive below the recoil of another lash. Face first. She turned her head a split second before she landed and skidded, the rough stone braising her cheek like a red-hot iron scourer.
Lily flipped over, flat on her back, breathing hard, blinking back tears of hellish pain. The left side of her face was on fire. Her shoulder throbbed. She couldn’t see, but her knees felt as if they’d been scraped raw.
The whip cracked again.
Lily kicked up and out with both legs, scissoring into its path. The rubbery ice split the leather of her boot and nipped a burning line down her calf, then tangled with her ankle and caught.
Lily yanked her leg.
Agares jerked forward, then pulled back, sliding Lily forward.
Pushing down with the heel of her other boot, Lily resisted, but she couldn’t hold out long.
“My Queen,” the tall demon intervened, “do we have the time for this if we want to retain the advantage? The Gossamer is a half mile trek from here.”
“Oh, I suppose so.” Agares flicked her wrist and her end of the whip dropped harmlessly to the ground.
In one fluid movement, Lily came up, crossing her legs and using her ankles to propel her into a standing position.
“This will be far more rewarding when I’m not so rushed, anyway,” Agares said.
She raised her hands, palms out, and a shower of tiny crystals blew from her fingertips to cascade over Lily.
The crystals fell around her, transforming into a spherical mesh of webbed threads. Something rushed beneath the soles of her feet. She stumbled backward, slipped, and bounced off the mesh behind. When she looked again, the particles had spread and fused to form a solid, gigantic bubble with her trapped inside.
“Roll her outside,” Agares ordered, already crossing the cave. “I want her on display.”
>
The tall demon followed Agares out while the other three slinked around and came up behind the transparent ball. As soon as they pushed, Lily started tumbling helplessly, slipping and sliding and bouncing inside the rounded cage. She finally managed to curl herself up tight, knees pressed to her chest, chin tucked in, when the rolling stopped.
She was outside. Not teetering on the edge of a ledge. The cave nestled in the bottom of a narrow gulley. A steep, jagged cliff rose directly in front of her. She had to tilt her head all the way back before she glimpsed blue sky.
Lily uncurled with a groan. Her neck had developed a severe crick. Her bones ached. Every muscle felt battered and bruised.
Agares was instructing the three lowly demons to stay and guard her. “Please do feel free to kill the McAllister heir. We certainly no longer need him.” She looked at Lily with a cruel smile. “We won’t need either of you, come the end of this day.”
With that, she marched off down the narrow valley with the tall demon in tow.
As soon as they’d disappeared from sight, a quarrel broke out.
“If we’re banished, we’ll be stuck on the other side.”
“Our Queen will—”
“You heard her! After today, she cares not if the tear is sealed.”
“There are three of us,” scraggly whiskers scoffed, suddenly less weak without Agares breathing down his neck. “We can take the McAllister.”
No, Lily thought, you truly can’t. And if he’d arrived by airship, it was likely he’d brought Greyston. Neco. Ana. Perhaps even Armand.
But as much as Lily would have loved to see the slaughter, they didn’t have time for a mini battle. Agares was their main priority.
“You should run,” she said loudly. “Scatter while you can.”
“We can’t hide from our Queen,” one demon continued, as if she hadn’t spoken. “She knows all.”
“We can hide from the McAllister.”
“And catch him unawares.” The whiskered demon nodded. “Come.”
“No!” Lily shouted, turning to watch them walk back toward the cave. They gave no indication of having heard her.
Hadn’t they?
The wind tossed their hair, flapped their coats. But here, inside her bubble, the air was deadly still. She watched, until the cave swallowed them, then she turned forward to watch and wait for Kelan.
The minutes stretched.
What was taking so long?
She remembered the tall demon saying the Gossamer was a half mile trek. How far was the first plateau, the one they assumed Kelan would set down on? She put her head back against the sphere, breathing slow and shallow, trying to quell the rising frustration.
Stay calm.
Stay rational.
She tried to turn her mind to the confusing snatches of information she’d picked up. Demons could be killed. Somehow. Agares no longer needed the McAllister heir. Or me. Come the end of this day…after today…how did that link into the Cairngorm Tear? Lily tried to hold the thoughts, unravel them, but her mind kept wandering down the narrow valley path.
Where is he?
And then there they were.
Kelan up front, the stealth and grace of a panther contained in every long stride. His sword raised in one hand, his gaze searching the cliffs on either side. He expected an ambush.
Lily’s heart leapt. Probably higher than it should have. Possibly for the wrong reason. But she didn’t care. She’d reel the residual feelings in later and stomp on the embers. Later…
When his gaze landed on her, he lifted a palm out to her.
Wait?
As if she could do anything else.
Greyston saw her and charged forward. Kelan slashed out with his arm to block. The party halted as his head dipped back to confer. When they started moving again, Greyston kept a pace behind, his sword also raised, his eyes scanning the cliffs. Neco and Armand brought up the rear with less stealth and no weapons.
“Keep watch,” Kelan called out softly to the others as he stopped a foot from the bubble. A black scowl etched his brow as he took in the state of her, bound, bruised, scraped.
“There are three demons hiding in the cave,” she whispered.
His dark, dark blue eyes met hers. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Inside the cave. Three demons.”
“Lily?” His hand came up, but he knew better than to touch the ice. “Are you okay?”
He can’t hear me.
She nodded, then nudged her chin toward the cave. “Three demons,” she mouthed with exaggerated pronunciation.
He understood. “Greyston,” he hissed, waving him over. “Don’t let anything near her.”
“Where are you going?” Greyston moved closer. “We have to get Lily out of this thing.”
“We will.” Kelan turned toward the cave, then stilled.
Everyone looked up as an angry roar rumbled the sky, growing louder and louder. A moment later, an enormous shadow blotted out the sun and then…and then the largest ship Lily could ever imagine soared above their heads. A chill fed up her spine.
Armand hurried up to them. “Harchings never got to the Gossamer in time.”
Kelan brought his eyes down and stormed toward the cave.
“Greyston,” Lily shouted. “Go with him.”
But he didn’t hear, and his attention moved directly from the ship to the problem of her frozen cage. “It’s not normal ice, but it does melt,” he said to Armand. “Harchings used fire, but I have an idea. Lily…” He looked at her. “Stay back.”
Neco left his position watching the cliffs to join them. “Do you want me to punch through it?”
“No.” Greyston brought his sword up and scratched the tip along the ice.
Where the blade touched, ice melted into a deep groove. He applied more pressure and the blade cut straight through. He brandished the blade in a zigzag pattern.
“Kelan,” Lily said as soon as a gap formed. “He’s gone after the demons in the cave. There are three of them.”
Armand slung a satchel from his shoulder and headed for the entrance.
Greyston glanced that way, but shook his head. “I’m not making that mistake again.” He continued carving the ice into a melting square. “He wants me out here, to keep you safe, to help you.”
“It’s not your fault.”
He scraped the edges of the square until it was large enough to fit her. Then he pressed the broadside of his sword against her chest and held it there, allowing the corset to melt slowly rather than trying to slice it open.
“Greyston,” she said softly. “I’m here and I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” His voice cracked as his gaze traced her many injuries. He took her hand, helping her out of the cage.
“The demons are dispatched,” Kelan called out as he strode from the cave, unruffled and unhurt, thoroughly alive.
Lily breathed her first easy breath in days.
When he saw she was free, he cocked a brow at Greyston. He gave a nod of thanks, but didn’t hesitate to swipe her hand from Greyston’s.
“Agares has the Gossamer,” Lily gushed. “Black Rock. She means to bring her army through some portal.”
“Lily, just give me one Goddamn second.” His arms wrapped around her, holding her gently to his chest.
His heart beat against her cheek. His warmth folded over her. Lily gave into it, relishing the longest second in the history of time.
NINETEEN
“The Gossamer crawled that Aether slower than a damn tortoise.” Greyston jammed a boot against the pilot console in disgust and pushed back in his seat. “She couldn’t have gotten far, not far enough to disappear.”
“You forget our long hike back to the plateau.” Kelan threw that comment out in a detached, unaffected tone that riled Greyston’s patience. “Keep heading east until we hit the coastline.”
“You sound incredibly sure for someone who has never heard of this Black Rock.”
> “Lily mentioned a crossing and a bridge.” Kelan shrugged. “The ocean is the only thing I know that demons would be afraid to cross without a bridge.”
Greyston was less convinced. All this talk of portals and bridges and crossings held a distinctly Thespian ring. Before he could say so, the sound of Lily screaming a string of curses like a seasoned sailor came from the boarding cabin.
“What the hell is Armand doing to her?” he growled.
“Cleaning the dirt from her cheek.”
Greyston hadn’t paid much attention to her cheek. He’d been too busy noticing the blood smeared from her ear down to her throat. “It was that bad?”
“Worse than all her other wounds, it would seem,” Kelan said. “She didn’t utter a peep when Armand stitched her calf.”
He might have been talking about a cut direct in some society ballroom, for all the emotion he showed. Except for the clenched jaw, although that looked like silent rage rather than husbandly concern.
Greyston shoved a hand through his hair and went back to Aether-gazing. A storm front approached, a bank of thunderous clouds roiling in from the ocean. They’d lose visibility at this altitude in minutes. His usual preference would be to soar above the storm, but the Gossamer didn’t just crawl slow, she crawled the lower Aether. Even with her revolutionary, stolen, power system, a ship that heavy and bulky would never soar.
Greyston brought the Red Hawk into a gentle dive. Black sky collided with murky blue on the horizon. His eye traced a line from there to land’s end. When he caught a glimpse of white chopping up the murky blue, he broke the silence.
“Now would be an excellent time to stop avoiding the most obvious problem.”
Kelan’s gaze slid his way, blank for a long moment until he blinked.
The bastard’s miles away.
“The Red Hawk doesn’t carry any cannon,” Greyston said grimly. “We don’t even have a single rifle to share between us.” The craggy shoreline rushed up and he slammed the throttle to reduce speed. “So what, exactly, are we going to do when we intercept the Gossamer?”
The Dark Matters Quartet Page 83
