by Holly Evans
“There are punishments for going against the goddess’s will,” Alasdair said.
“And what if this is Saoirse’s will and not the goddess’s? She’s been awfully quiet as of late.”
Alasdair stretched his long legs out in front of him.
“We’d have to find a way back onto the Earth plane.”
“Rifts open semi-regularly,” I said, gesturing in the vague direction I thought the last one could have been.
Alasdair smiled.
“You’re incredibly sexy when you’re this passionate.”
I looked away.
“That isn’t the point here! The veil is thinning, and we should be out there trying to keep it up. The world isn’t ready for the veil to fall.”
Alasdair stood. “I agree. We need to see what’s really going on here, though. As you said, something is very wrong.”
He was right, and I hated that. The cream on cream was eating at my soul.
Footsteps came from the hallway we’d come down the first time we’d been shown the room. We all got up and pulled our knives.
To my complete lack of surprise, a small group of tall, slender wannabe assassins crept into the room. Our night sight as shifters was superior to theirs. We slowly moved around the chairs and circled around behind them as they tried to make their way to our rooms.
I slipped my knife between the ribs of the closest elf. Their long hair had been tied up into a neat bun at the back of their head, but their ears were easy enough to spot. They gasped and gurgled. I withdrew the knife and reached around to slit their throat. The others in their group paused and looked around trying to see us.
Gray took the legs out from under one, and Alasdair snapped another’s neck.
“We need at least one alive,” he growled.
“Spoil sport,” I teased.
The elves went stiff and were looking at us now. My wolf instincts kicked in, and I took the legs out from under the one in front of me, not before their friend managed to punch me in the jaw. I stamped down on the lower abdomen of the one I’d taken down and swung at the other’s throat. I connected with both, only not as firmly as I’d wanted with the standing one.
The elf on the floor groaned and clutched at their stomach, which likely had a number of ruptured organs. The smell of blood filled my nostrils, and I smiled. The elf I’d tried to punch in the throat took a quick step forwards. I saw the slender knife in his hand and blocked his wrist with my forearm. I drove my knee into his sternum and hit him on the back of the neck with everything I had. He collapsed on the floor near his friend.
“Let’s turn the lights on and see what we have, shall we?” Alasdair asked.
He clicked his fingers and the floating orbs came to life, bathing the room in a pale white-yellow light.
I’d been right about our attackers being elves. Alasdair crouched down to the only one who seemed to be conscious. He gave the elf a lupine smile and grabbed a handful of her hair, wrenching her head back.
“Now, who sent you and why?”
She sniffed and tried to look away. Alasdair grabbed onto her jaw and squeezed.
“Answer my questions.”
“We were sent to kill you.”
“By who?”
“We’ll find that out,” Taen said.
He looked pristine, as though he were about to give an important talk. It was late at night; he should have been rumpled where he’d been pulled from his bed.
“Funny how you keep showing up at just the right time,” I said sweetly.
“And what exactly are you insinuating?”
I said nothing, instead allowing my smile to rankle him.
“These are the second set of assassins that have tried to kill us in our beds since we’ve been here,” Alasdair growled.
If that was why Saoirse had sent us here, she really needed to hire better assassins.
“We have never had such problems before you arrived. The necromancers made their most aggressive move yet and succeeded in taking a bone, on your watch,” Taen said icily.
“Perhaps it is you who are the problem,” a younger elf said from the darkness behind Taen.
“And again I remind you that it was your elves that vanished the moment the necromancers showed up. It was your elves that told the necromancers where to find the bones,” I said.
The now-familiar servants came into the room and began dragging the bodies out of the room. The vaguely conscious one had to suffer the indignity of being dragged by her foot by the small half-elf.
“We will tell you who betrayed us in the morning. Enjoy your sleep,” Taen said.
“You really think-”
Alasdair cut me off with a firm look.
“We will find you first thing to discuss this situation and how best to proceed.”
Taen’s jaw tightened, but he walked away without a word.
“We have to play at least a little nice to try and get the information we need,” Alasdair said.
“Personally, I think we should have broken his nose and found the answers ourselves,” Gray said.
“You’ve been spending too much time with your mother,” Alasdair said with a smirk.
“You have to give it to her, Evie does get results.”
12
The elves were every bit as closed off as I’d expected when we went looking for them in the morning. A pair of harried-looking younger elves retrieved us and guided us to Taen and his fellows. That only encouraged me to go and look around. If they didn’t want us poking around, they were hiding something.
“What’s behind this door?” I asked as I tried to open a door.
“Please hurry, we’re already late,” the young elf said.
“Then it won’t matter if we’re a few more minutes late,” Gray said with a wicked grin.
Alasdair tried to keep his expression blank, but I could feel his smile.
“Please hurry up,” the elf said, starting to get very flustered.
We stopped screwing around and followed them. I didn’t want them to get into trouble. It wasn’t their fault, after all. We would be exploring by ourselves at the first possible opportunity, though.
Taen and a pair of older male elves were sitting on the far side of a pale wood desk with very serious expressions on their faces.
“The traitor has been removed,” Taen said.
“Good morning, why yes, we did sleep well, thanks. Thankfully there were no more assassins, although they do say things come in threes,” I said.
Taen’s jaw clenched so tight I think he cracked a tooth.
“Who was removed and why? We were supposed to be given time to speak to them ourselves,” Alasdair growled.
“It was more efficient to simply deal with it ourselves. They felt that you were a threat to the necromancers’ plans and tried to kill you. There are no more traitors in our ranks.”
“You sound very sure,” Gray said.
“We are very sure,” the black-haired elf to Taen’s left said.
“You were sure there would be no more assassins a couple of nights ago,” Alasdair said coolly.
“Yes, well, we all make small mistakes, such as how you allowed the necromancers to take the bone.”
“And again, if your elves had been at their stations…” I said.
“We can’t change what has been done. Now, if you’ll kindly go and take up your position watching over the remaining bones.”
“Remaining bones? They took one small finger bone, don’t act like we let them take most of it,” I said.
Taen exhaled slowly.
“My apologies,” he said through gritted teeth.
I sat out on the pristine lawn and looked up at the clear blue sky overhead. I wondered if it ever rained there. The grass was beautifully green, but this was the fae plane. They must have had magic woven into every leaf of that grass. It seemed like a waste to me, and that was all I had to occupy my mind. Time stretched out before me, an eternal moment of blue skies and boring g
reen grass. The bones weren’t getting up and walking off, the elves weren’t talking, and there wasn’t a single zombie in sight.
At some point, I started hoping for some excitement. Another necromancer, a pack of redcaps, a rogue coven of witches - I wasn’t really fussy. Anything was better than looking at the grass and the cream building any longer.
An unfortunately familiar figure in an expensive pitch-black suit strolled along the lawns from the horizon. The temperature dropped, and Gray bared his teeth. I took it back; I was ready to go back to counting the blades of grass.
“Nikolai, it is time to take your new place as the queen’s pet.”
I stood up and stared down the Fear Dorcha. I wasn’t going to be anyone’s pet.
He made a small hand gesture, and Gray snarled as he fought to try and move his feet. They were rooted to the ground as though they’d been baked into concrete. Alasdair was in the same situation, and the elves looked like they had done all day.
“Come along, Nikolai.”
I felt the tugging at my heels and somewhere within me. He was trying to command me with his voice, but for whatever reason that neat little trick didn’t work on me. I didn’t think fire would work that well against him, but shadow, that felt right. My shadow magic slipped into my veins and wrapped my hands in delicate ribbons waiting for my command.
The Fear Dorcha’s expression tightened as he continued walking towards me.
“I have orders to bring you alive. She never said I couldn’t hurt you.” His voice dripped with malice.
I opened my arms wide and allowed the rest of my shadow magic to fill me.
“Come and try it.”
Any compassion I had felt before slipped away, leaving me cold and ruthless. He would suffer for daring try and cage me like some pathetic mongrel. His sword appeared from thin air. I ducked under the sweeping attack and formed a pair of my own swords from pure shadow. Something flickered in his eyes… fear.
I pushed in close and thrust at his abdomen, driving him back and stopping him from having the room to swing his sword. He abandoned the sword, and it returned to the ether with a soft pop before he started trying to use his bare fists. The shadow wrapped around me like light armour. His blows may as well have bounced off, for all I felt them.
He grew more aggressive as his face contorted with anger. I sliced through the pretty fabric of his suit and slowly turned it into expensive rags with drips of his blood marring it. It felt so entirely natural, to toy with him and move around his blows as if I knew they were coming before he did.
Finally, he stepped back out of my reach and accepted defeat. His suit was entirely ruined and covered in blood. His blood.
“No one defeats the Fear Dorcha,” an elf said.
The Fear Dorcha vanished, and I fought to push the shadow magic back to where it had come from. Alasdair ran to me and wrapped his arms around me. I embraced his warmth and the strong comforting sensation of his arms around me. He was my anchor. My other half.
13
“What are you?” the third elf in thirty seconds asked me.
“I’m a made wolf shifter.”
“No one can defeat the Fear Dorcha.”
“No one.”
I was pretty sure they were in shock. The guards just kept repeating something close to that.
“What have you brought into our peaceful order?” the dark-haired elf from earlier demanded.
“Peaceful? We were brought here because necromancers were trying to raise the bones!” I said.
He glared at me. I smiled sweetly back.
“No shifter can use shadow magic, and the Fear Dorcha-”
“-is undefeatable, I’m aware,” I said.
“Then what poisoned magic did you weave here?”
“Geda, he is a goddess-chosen guardian. He cannot have poisoned magic,” Taen said.
A look passed between the two elves, a look I didn’t much care for. It spoke of plotting, and I suspected they were plotting my demise.
“You have brought nothing but trouble here,” the dark-haired elf, Geda, said.
“You have had a tiring afternoon. Perhaps it would be a good time to relax and retire to your quarters,” Taen said.
I didn’t like the feeling that we were being shooed back into our box, but a nice hot shower really appealed.
Alasdair kept his arm around my waist, and Gray walked in front, stiff and alert for more attacks. Once we were back in our living quarters, we could talk.
“How’re you feeling, Niko?” Alasdair stroked my face, concern filling his eyes.
“I’m ok. I think I’m myself, although a nice hot shower would be great.”
“I don’t like the way those elves looked at you just now,” Gray said.
“Me either,” I agreed.
“We need to do some more research into those bones. I think they’re lying through their teeth about them. We need to get off the fae plane. I have some contacts I could speak to,” Gray said, pacing.
“I think that’s for the best. Niko, why don’t you get a shower, and I’ll start working on getting us back to the Earth plane.”
I turned the shower up to scalding hot and watched the water stream over the silver markings on my hands and arms. I had been so proud to receive them only weeks ago, and now I was beginning to doubt the goddess and her intentions. Maybe Saoirse was just being cryptic, and it could be that it was Saoirse who was rogue. Still, the quietness and absence of the goddess within my mind concerned me. Something was very wrong here, and the timing with the veil being attacked was a little too perfect.
The hot water helped me scrub away the cold alien feeling of the shadow magic and cleared my mind. We were going to get back to the Earth plane and find out what was really going on. The necromancer had been trying to say something before the elves killed him, and the whole situation with the bones just didn’t feel right.
Taen and his whatever-they-were, the two elves who were often around him, were talking to Alasdair when I emerged from the bathroom. I suddenly felt naked in just my boxers. Their eyes tracked the goddess’s markings on my skin, and I shot into my bedroom and pulled on jeans and a t-shirt. Alasdair put his arm around my waist and held me close, making it very clear to the elves that I was his and no one was getting near me.
“The ritual is very important, and we feel it would be beneficial to have you there,” Taen said.
“We’re shifters. Shifters don’t do rituals,” I said reflexively.
“It is to help ward the bones. We have gotten off on the wrong foot. We would be honored to have you at the ritual.”
“I believe we’d be better served returning to the Earth plane,” Alasdair said.
“One more night here with our feasts wouldn’t be such a tragedy, would it?”
“We will leave the moment the ritual is complete,” Alasdair said.
“That would be a real shame, but I’m sure we can accommodate that.”
The elves left, but I couldn’t shake the slimy feeling from my skin.
“Why do I get the impression that they plan on sacrificing us in that ritual?” I asked.
Alasdair curled his lip. “It’s not like elves to partake in blood magic, but we will be on guard. This may give us more insight into the bones and what’s really going on here.”
He was ever the optimist.
14
The feast was particularly extravagant that evening. It felt like we were being fattened up for slaughter. I didn’t have much of an appetite and wasn’t touching the wine, just in case.
We were summoned from our rooms not long after we’d finished eating. The elves were all dressed in long flowing robes, which had always seemed utterly ridiculous when trying to perform a ritual. We followed them through a sea of cream on cream and finally emerged in a square cream room with a glass ceiling. They really needed to mix up their design. It was like a lazy videogame.
The elves were all standing in a neat circle around something. Magic hummed
through the air, and I gave Gray a look, one that said, ‘They’re going to try and sacrifice us.’ Taen was on the far side of the circle whispering something that made my skin tingle, and not in a good way. The elves that had led us there joined the circle, and they all started chanting together.
“I thought we were supposed to be involved somehow?” I said.
A glint of a blade caught my eye. I knew it!
The chanting picked up in pace and volume as the elves all slowly turned to face us. They tried to maintain their chanting as they attempted to surround us. We weren’t going to be sacrificed that easily.
“Your magic will make the lord rise again!” Taen bellowed as he lunged at me.
I side-stepped. I was not going out as a sacrifice, I was going out doing something epic that people remembered for centuries afterwards.
We ran through the gap in the elves and followed Alasdair, as he seemed to know where he was going.
“How are we supposed to get onto the Earth plane?” I asked.
“I have a plan,” Alasdair said.
“Care to share?” I asked.
My feet started to slip as we shot around a corner. They polished those wooden floors a little bit too well.
We burst out onto the lawn, and somehow there were more chanting elves out there. Alasdair slowed down a little and pulled something from his pocket. A tiny silver vial. He threw the vial at a slight rise in the grass, and a rift opened. Alasdair jumped through it, and I was right behind him.
The soft cool grass was replaced by hard warm gravel. The heat was oppressive, and for a brief moment I missed the cream on cream. Dust coated me, and I wasn’t sure how, given I’d been there for a matter of seconds.
Alasdair kissed me hard.
“We know you said we were going to be sacrificed. I thought I’d cut you off before you could say it.”
I grinned at him.
“So… I have a couple of questions. First of all, was that one of Kadrix’s experimental potions? Secondly, we’re in the middle of the desert; how’re we getting back to civilisation?” Gray asked
