The Ruby Blade

by Amy Cissell

  “No, I can’t call any fucking fire. I can’t do anything. I can barely even feel the pull of the gate anymore. The magic is nothing more than a trickle now.”

  Marie turned back to the Fae. “Satisfied?”

  “May I question her?” the selkie asked.

  Marie nodded. “Of course.”

  The selkie stepped forward and started asking questions. I wanted nothing more than to rip off his head and toss it at his companion before doing the same to Marie and Raj, but decided that was the fastest way back into the cuffs, and Raj and Marie could probably overpower me.

  After asking questions about my life and parentage and general habits as well as the events of the last few weeks, the selkie declared himself satisfied that I was truly bound and that I couldn’t lie about it. He reminded Marie that the terms of the bargain were not complete until my head was presented to Medb, and she reiterated her promise to deliver the head of the pretender to the Dark Queen of the Sidhe after the gates were opened. He nodded, grabbed his companion’s arm, and they left.

  Marie followed them out, but Raj lingered. He looked at me, and for the first time since he’d sold me to Marie, he had an expression. It wasn’t much of one. It wasn’t an “I’m sorry” or “I’ll explain soon” or “This was all part of an elaborate plan” expression. It was a slight curling of a lip, as though he found me amusing somehow. I looked down at myself. I was naked from the waist up and was streaked with blood. I’m not sure what was so amusing about that, but who knows what goes on in the mind of psychopaths. I looked at him just in time to see his lip twitch upwards in an almost smile.

  “How long will I remain here?” I asked.

  “Until Ostara,” he replied.

  “How much longer is that?”

  “Not quite four weeks.”

  “What’s the date?” I was trying to do the calculations in my mind but wasn’t getting very far. We’d arrived on February the ninth. It must be close to two weeks.

  “It’s February 24th,” he said.

  I sighed. My birthday was in four days. I was going to be spending my thirty-fifth birthday in a dungeon.

  “I’ll be back in a couple of days,” Raj said.

  “Don’t bother,” I replied.

  He didn’t answer, just left. The servant followed him out and closed and locked the door behind him. I was alone once again.

  Interlude - Isaac

  PAIN. BURNING. AGONY.

  So hot.

  Isaac writhed on the bed of blankets they’d given him in his silver cage, trying to escape the inferno. He didn’t know where it was coming from, but his blood was boiling in his veins. Blisters broke out over his skin and popped, releasing a rotten-egg smell.

  Smoke rose from his body, and the blankets beneath him were smoldering.

  “What the hell?” someone said. Isaac heard the words, but couldn’t respond. Flames danced through his vision, even though he was positive his eyes were closed.

  Water doused Isaac, causing him to shake his head and blow hard through his nose like a winded racehorse. Before he could even register that he was drenched, he was dry again. The entire bucket of water had evaporated and turned to steam almost immediately.

  “Someone get a mage!” a voice behind him yelled.

  Isaac continued to burn, the pain becoming less generalized and more focused until the agony centered on his back. A moment later, the pain—although still intense—faded to manageable levels and Isaac was able to separate himself from the feedback he was getting through his mate bond to Eleanor.

  He opened his eyes and surveilled his cage. The pile of blankets he slept on had been reduced to ashes, and there were scorch marks on the floor and the bars nearest him. He looked down, knowing what he’d see, but wanting verification with his own eyes. His clothes had burned away, too.

  This kind of manifestation shouldn’t be possible through the mate bond, a voice whispered in a far corner of his mind.

  No one’s ever mated with a dragon Fae—or any Fae—before, he answered himself.

  This situation is why. She’s getting similar feedback from you, you know.

  Isaac growled. His inner voice had always delighted in taunting him, but it had escalated its attacks in the recent weeks—months?—since he’d been enjoying Michelle’s hospitality.

  “You’re smarter than that, wolf,” the voice said.

  Isaac’s eyes went wide as he staggered to his feet, ignoring the bite and burn of the silver manacles. This wasn’t his inner voice.

  “It’s about time.”

  “Who are you?” Isaac yelled.

  “Unless you want your guards to think you’re crazier than you are, you might want to use your inside voice,” the voice said. “And by the way, I love the outfit.”

  “Raj?” Isaac asked. “How did you get in my head?”

  “You invited me in when you exchanged blood with me three times.”

  “I didn’t exchange blood with you. I allowed you to drink from me,” Isaac said.

  “I used my blood to seal your wounds. My blood mingled with yours. There was an exchange.”

  Isaac wasn’t positive, but he thought Raj’s mental voice sounded a bit smug.

  “I had no idea you could reach this far.” Isaac was struggling with this conversation. He knew there was something he was missing, but he couldn’t put a finger on it.

  “I couldn’t before. And I didn’t know I could until your shared pain with Eleanor caught me.”

  “This is a new power for you?” Isaac tried to keep the sullen suspicion out of the conversation.

  “Your suspicions are correct. Eleanor allowed me to drink from her again—a more substantial drink this time—and it gave me a great many new abilities. Before you ask, no. I did not bite her mid-lovemaking.”

  “After then?”

  “There has been no intercourse between your mate and me.”

  Isaac snorted. “Like I believe that, vampire. You’ve wanted her since the moment you tasted her.”

  “I wanted her before I tasted her,” Raj said, and Isaac could hear the reproof reverberate through his head. “Her taste and the effect her blood has on me is merely a bonus. All of that is moot, though. She has decided that we will take things slowly and has drawn a line in the sand. She refused to enter my bed until after New Orleans.”

  “And where are you now?”

  Warmth spread through Isaac’s mind, and Raj’s voice smiled. “New Orleans.”

  “I dreamed of her a while ago,” Isaac said. “In the dream, she told me she was falling in love with you.”

  The silence lasted long enough that Isaac thought Raj had departed.

  “I’m still here, just surprised that she’d say that and you’d admit it. What was your response.”

  “I said the only thing I could say. I told her to do what she needed to do to be happy.”

  “And do you stand by that if I’m what could make her happy?”

  “You might want to check on her,” Isaac said. “She’s in an awful lot of pain right now.”

  “She’s unconscious, and she’ll be okay.”

  “Ahhh…that’s why the pain receded enough for me to think. What’s happening to her? What have you done?”

  “She is being tattooed. Her powers are being bound. The Queen of New Orleans made a deal with the Dark Queen, and this is the result.”

  “Why didn’t you stop this? You were supposed to protect her!” Fury ripped through Isaac, and the chains holding him creaked as they were strained to the limit.

  “She doesn’t need a caretaker. She needs a partner. And anyway, I didn’t stop it because I helped arrange it. This is necessary.”

  “How could this possibly be necessary? She is being tortured!”

  “There is a much larger game happening now than just what you’ve seen through the lens of the Fae experience. They are not the only ones with prophecies about the breaking of the world. The vampires have been waiting for this day for a very, ver
y long time. I was created for this moment. My sire reached forward in time over a thousand years to anticipate the world’s need for me.

  “As always, you overestimate your appeal and importance.” Isaac felt a sting against his neck and whipped his head around.

  “And why were you made, wolf? To be a plaything for vampires? To love those who can never quite love you back?” Raj’s voice was merging with the taunting inner voice now, and Isaac knew he was beginning to lose consciousness.

  “I was made to protect her,” he thought.

  “No. That’s a role you took on yourself. She never needed your protection, only your unconditional love. That is why you and she will never have your happily ever after. You’d be better off chasing Emma down after this is all over. She might be stronger than you, too, but she’d be more willing to subsume her strength in yours.”

  Isaac shook his head, trying to hold onto this conversation. “No. That’s not right.” He couldn’t say why it wasn’t right, though, and he sensed Raj’s retreat as the world grayed out and whatever the Fae guards had darted with him won the battle for his consciousness.

  Chapter Eighteen

  A FEW MINUTES later a servant appeared with a basin of warm water, a washcloth, some fresh clothes, and even more interestingly: a tray of food and water. I ignored the vampire guards that were stationed at the door and assaulted the food as soon as I was alone. Once I’d devoured every scrap of food and finished the water, I turned towards the other items. I washed myself as best I could. I’m sure I missed wide swaths of dirt and blood on my back but decided this was still better than nothing. I wished I had a couple of extra basins, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

  When I was as clean as I was going to get myself with limited reach and even more limited clean water, I dressed in the clean clothes. I’d been provided with soft cloth pants that made me think the word “breeches,” a sports bra, and a soft shift in the same material as the pants. There was a comb in the pile, and I pulled it through my hair wishing that the vampire’s dungeon had a mirror.

  I felt presentable if not comfortable and was overcome with a wave of exhaustion. Passing out for nearly sixteen hours was not restful. I looked at my burned shell of a bed and sighed regretfully. I needed to work on my anger management issues a bit. In the end, I made a little nest with the blankets I’d been provided after I’d burned up the bed and curled up in the corner to sleep.

  I tried to track the time, but without access to the earth, or natural light, all I could do is gauge the days based on how many times I was fed—not often enough—and how many times they brought Florence to visit. At regular intervals, two guards escorted her into the room. Her hands were always bound, but she didn’t have raw marks on her wrists signifying that her shackles were too tight.

  “Florence?” Our visits were mostly awkward silence, because of the large and skittish audience, but I needed reassurance from my friend.

  “Yes?”

  “Is it all going to be okay?” I’d been trying very hard not to think about Raj and Marie agreeing to give Mebd my head, but a death mark is not an easy thing to live with, and being stuck with nothing but my thoughts was not the best way to avoid thinking about my impending decapitation.

  Something flashed in her eyes, but I didn’t know if it was anger, or warning, or a trick of the torchlight. “I told you many times that as long as you didn’t sleep with the vampire, we would leave New Orleans intact.”

  Her phrasing had me cock my head. “Intact? What do you mean?”

  The right corner of her mouth quirked up. “All body parts still attached and the animating force that drives each of us, whatever that might be, still animating.”

  I rolled my eyes. Just once, I’d like someone to be straight with me. “Nothing about hearts and souls making it through unscathed, then?”

  “Come,” she said. I walked over to her and rested my head on her shoulder. She couldn’t hold me—the cuffs were in the way—but it felt good all the same. “I am not able to see the condition of your heart, but your soul is strong, and you will persevere.”

  I felt tears welling in my eyes and tried to blink them away before anyone noticed.

  “Florence, I’m scared.” My voice caught, and I choked on a sob before stifling it again. She tipped her head until her cheek rested on the crown of my head.

  “Everything will be okay,” she said.

  I hated that other people could lie and I couldn’t. “How do you know? We’re imprisoned. I have two people who’ve sworn to deliver my head to Medb after the gates open, I don’t have my weapons, my mate is imprisoned on a different plane, and my boyfriend betrayed me for a motherfucking piece of metal.”

  Florence reached up with her bound hands and cupped my chin, forcing me to look her in the eye. “I promise everything will be okay. I swear it to you.”

  The calm she always exuded caressed me and caused my heart rate to slowly return to normal. I wasn’t sure if I believed her, but I wasn’t as panicked as I’d been before.

  “I have to go now, but I’ll be back again tomorrow. Get some rest.” She turned and left, followed closely by the guards I’d forgotten about. So glad I had an audience for my breakdown.

  Raj stopped by a few days later. I studiously ignored his attempts at small talk and stared at a spot above and to the right of his head. I was able to ignore his banter about the weather, and the great condition of the dungeon, but when he started in on the political updates, I couldn’t help but pay attention, even though I tried to mask it.

  “The President and what’s left of the media are refusing to confirm anything, but vampire news travels faster than the Pony Express. California has seceded from the union, and there seems to be a wall along the border to keep people out.”

  “Does it also keep people in?” I couldn’t help myself. This was interesting.

  “It doesn’t appear so. But once you leave, you have to petition to be let back in, and that process is slow and arduous.”

  “How’d they get a wall up so fast?”

  “Magic. The current theory is that the wall will mitigate the effects the magic waves have on California—something everyone there is committed to in case the magic disrupts the San Andreas Fault.”

  “Oh no! What about the Cascadia Fault? Or the Yellowstone supervolcano?” I’d focused so hard on the technological disorders that it hadn’t occurred to me to worry about the effects the wild magic would have on precarious natural phenomena.

  “You opened a gate practically on top of the Cascadia fault, and Yellowstone lies between the first two gates. Maybe something will still happen, but it seems unlikely. Even if something does happen in the future, it’ll be difficult to tell whether or not it’s related to the gates or just part of the natural cycle.”

  I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and told myself he was right. “No more California, then? What about Texas? I thought they’d be the first to secede.”

  “They still have power and a standing militia. They haven’t officially seceded, but I don’t think the United States government is going to make a point of insisting they agree they’re still part of the union any time soon.” Raj stopped, looked at me, and for a moment I forgot everything that had happened. Everything he’d done to me. I wanted nothing more than for him to wrap his arms around me and hold me until I was warm and felt safe again.

  He moved a half step towards me before he halted. The look on his face was naked longing, and I knew I reflected it back. Then the mask dropped again, and a knife stabbed through my chest reminding me that I’d given this jerk the power to break my heart, and he was doing just that.

  “This isn’t why I came,” he said.

  “Why did you come?” I was tired and hungry and done letting idiot men hurt my feelings.

  “Mardi Gras is in full swing,” Raj said.

  “I imagine it’s quite the party.”

  “There’s another full moon in a week.”

  Crap. I’d forgott
en all about Emma. Dammit! I’d promised to be her alpha for the full moons, and she was being forced to go it alone.

  “She did fine,” he said. “She’s Alpha material.”

  I looked down at my lap again.

  “The ink used by David was not the same as what the Fae in Rapid City used,” Raj said.

  Duh. This had been agonizing. I still wasn’t speaking to him, but I knew he could hear my thoughts anyway.

  “If you were anyone else, I’d recommend a tetanus shot.”

  I stared at him. I had no idea what he meant.

  “I procured the ingredients and mixed it myself.”

  I was suddenly weary. Why couldn’t people just say what they fucking meant? Why did it always have to be a guessing game?

  “I won’t be back again until the Equinox. Do you need anything before then?”

  “I need to know where the gate is,” I said. “I can barely feel it, and I’m worried that I won’t be able to find it the day of the opening.”

  “What time will you open the gate?”

  “Noon.”

  “I won’t be there.”

  “Good.”

  This time the barest hint of an expression that flashed across Raj’s face was hurt and not amusement. Which was perfect, because there was nothing amusing about what he’d done to me.

  “There are few supernaturals, Fae included, who can read minds without creating direct physical blood link with someone,” Raj said. “It’s only slightly more common in vampires. It is a skill that exists more prevalently in the earth-bound mages, though.”

  “Like Florence?”

  “Exactly. It’s surprising how many of the witches who claim to hate the Fae don’t mind working for them if the price is right.” He stood up. “I’ll talk to Marie. You are to be released into my custody for the opening of the final gate, so I’ll see if I can get permission from her to escort you around the city to find the final gate after the full moon is over.”

  “Maybe someone else could do it.”

  “No.” He walked out of the room.

  I thought about what he’d said about the ink and the mind-reading witches working for the Fae and couldn’t come up with anything more profound than I should stop thinking about the ink and mind-reading witches.