Nessa didn’t turn in her surprise, but kept her face forward to hide her shock. Leander was one of the sidhe that came with her brother and who was now missing. No one beyond Devin knew that they were even looking for the other McKinny sidhe. Finn himself even admitted that Ronan didn’t tell them why they were in the crypt, not that that it mattered. Ronan wouldn’t have told Finn they were looking for the dead sidhe. Nessa was sure of that. She was unsure of what to make of Finn’s suggestion other than maybe Finn had already noticed and was trying to help.
“More than just Leander are missing,” Nessa replied.
Nessa was unsure why she didn’t tell him the real reason right then. Instead, she let Finn think she was looking for the missing sidhe. He had just cast some doubt into his story, and she was unsure if she could take him the whole way now on her quest. Would he stop her if he knew? Nessa was sure no other sidhe wanted her grandfather back awake. She was happy to see him when they got there as she figured she could use the extra help with the assassin sidhe guarding grandfather, but she wasn’t as confident now. Nessa waited for an ‘I told you so’ from Devin as she was sure her doubt was already across the bond, but he didn’t say anything. For as much as Devin could drive her nuts, it was never because he was mean. That was one great thing about him.
She opened her hand and tried to make a light. Nothing came. It was one of the easiest sidhe spells that you learned early on, especially if you were afraid of the dark at night like Nessa had been. She tried a second time, and Finn caught on. He laughed and handed her a torch from the wall.
“There’s no magic in the caves unless you’re in a family crypt. The walk down is magic-free. Guess we’re supposed to be contemplating death or something,” Finn explained. Nessa reached over and took the torch from him. Finn was still smiling. “Nessie, Nessie.” He patted her head like a child. “You never pay attention in our classes, do you?” he teased.
Nessa smiled and shook her head. She didn’t pay attention in classes. She never expected to need the knowledge in real life. Rhys was the heir, and the one that needed to know the law. Nessa planned to just live out life in her one room house on the McKinny land. Maybe someday she would get married, once she was much older. And kids weren’t even in the plans. Nessa wanted to travel outside the sidhe world. She wanted to see more and experience more. She didn’t want to be tied down to the sidhe. Now that was all that life had left for her- tied down, married off, and providing heirs.
“And that’s Princess Nessie to you, mister,” she teased back, and Finn laughed.
Nessa grinned back at him, unable to hold the pout for longer than a second. It had been like that her whole life. Nessa was the younger sibling. Everyone teased her, but Finn always did it with a smile and never minded if she teased back. They could pretend argue for hours, but they never actually got angry. Only Devin could actually get her mad.
Nessa glanced once at the hallway leading to the upper chambers. It looked way more inviting than dead bodies waiting below, but the sleeping sidhe were kept down there with the dead. She stepped into the stairwell that led to the level where the bodies were kept. She hadn’t returned to the lower caverns since they had put her father there and she didn’t like the thought of returning to the dark crypts. In fact, it more than terrified her, but she needed to go.
Finn caught her hesitation and stepped in front of her and took the torch to lead the way. He reached back with his free hand and took hers in his, giving her strength, but it was still hard to clear each step. There were more than a hundred stairs leading down further into the ground and each one was harder than the last. Finn’s hand was no comfort the closer they got to the bottom. Her fear, combined with Devin’s warnings, built as they progressed down. She didn’t doubt Finn’s friendship, as he had been there her whole life, but Devin had made her question ulterior motives. Why was Finn really there? Was he there for something other than her friendship? Would he stop her when he found out what she planned to do? A hand reached out and touched her back in the dark. She would’ve jumped normally, but it was Devin. His touch calmed her immediately. He was close enough, and she would be safe. Devin may drive her nutty, but he had been the reason she was alive thus far.
“Tell me. What really happened at that tournament?” Finn asked nonchalantly as he continued to step down, leading the way, unafraid of the dark.
“Rhys wasn’t Rhys. Something changed in him,” Nessa replied. Devin still continued with his hand on her back, but hidden by the shadows. Finn was carrying the torch and not even looking back to Nessa as they walked.
“What do you mean?” Finn asked. “The kingship always changes everyone. I didn’t expect Rhys to be the same. But he was still Rhys.”
“When we left, Rhys made everything clear to me. He was going to represent the sidhe and our strength, but would refuse to take the girl as his prize when he won. We were just going to show everyone the strength of the sidhe. I figured he had plans to marry Fiona, which was fine by me. It wasn’t like we wanted outsiders in our village,” Nessa explained.
“They did have plans,” Finn replied quietly. Nessa was unsure about the feeling that was lacing Finn’s voice. Was he sad also? Rhys had been his best friend, along with Ronan, since they were children.
“After he met Arianna, Rhys changed. He planned to win and take Arianna. Even after he told me he wasn’t going to take Arianna as a prize, he went against that. When I tried to question him, he was ready to kill me for just asking him,” Nessa continued.
“Rhys would never kill you,” Finn said, matter-of-factly.
“The Rhys you and I knew wouldn’t have, but this Rhys…” Nessa paused as she remembered the change in her brother. He had threatened to kill her on multiple occasions at the tournament. He went mad with his obsession over Arianna. “This Rhys would have. He became different. He was so set on winning over Arianna any way he knew how, and if he couldn’t win her, he set up a plan to take her by force. That’s why he called on so many sidhe. They were to help him when he started a war over her. Even though the sidhe didn’t want the girl, they had to, no matter what they thought; they couldn’t let their king die.”
“You decided to stop him by killing him?” Finn asked. It sounded like an accusation, but the tone was all wrong. It was something different, and Nessa didn’t know what.
“No. I never killed my brother. He went mad, literally. When he was beaten by Arianna and her men, Rhys couldn’t admit defeat. He tried to kill her. I stepped into save her. I couldn’t let her die, and I couldn’t let Rhys bring war upon us,” Nessa explained. If it was anyone else, Nessa wouldn’t have taken the time to explain, but this was Finn. He had been her friend, and her brother’s, forever. He knew Nessa and that she would always try to save any soul she came across.
“But why kill him? Why not knock him out and bring his sorry butt home?” Finn asked. Finn knew exactly the offense of declaring war on the other night humans. It wouldn’t bode well for them in the least. And with absolute power, none of the sidhe could have stopped Rhys. Rhys was going to bring devastation on the sidhe.
“I didn’t know he would get killed. I was actually trying to stand between the spell and Arianna to save her. Something went wrong with the spell, and it returned to Rhys. I didn’t kill him. He killed himself,” Nessa told Finn. She waited for Finn to reply, and he didn’t. “I figured it was something about killing loved ones. I thought he had gone completely mad, but I like to think he really did still love me at the end.” Finn squeezed her hand as if to offer comfort, but it still didn’t work. The only comfort was coming from the hand on her back that had moved away as she talked.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and Nessa was glad to see the ever-present glow of the rocks on the walls of the cavern. The same moss and plants that grew on the pathway to the crypts were in the cave. Small patches of green and blue lined the walls of the large cavern and framed the doorways that lined the walls. Even without light, they survived. The whole
area was dimly lit, but better than the pitch-black hole they had walked down. The eeriness of the place was much less with the dim glow.
“McKinney crypt?” Finn asked for directions of where to go. Each doorway led to one family crypt.
“Yes,” Nessa replied, nodding to her family doorway.
Finn led the way to the left, following the pathway to the McKinny vault of tombs. Within the doorway, the sidhe of the McKinny had been buried for centuries. All of Nessa’s relatives had laid there for one final time before becoming nothing. One day, she would lay there herself. She just hoped it wouldn’t be too soon. Nessa dropped his hand as she followed, and he left his torch at the stairwell. Finn stopped in the middle of the room and turned to Nessa.
“Are you sure you want to go in there?” he asked. “Rhys was laid to rest in there weeks ago. I don’t want you to have to see that. You must hate him after he tried to kill you.”
“No, not really,” Nessa replied, stopping with him. “He will be my brother, no matter what. I don’t think he was in his right mind at that point. I don’t blame him for what he did.”
“Said like a true sister,” Finn replied as he put his arm around Nessa to walk side-by-side to the vault. Nessa laid her head on his shoulder. Only Finn could possibly understand what she had gone through.
Devin pulled back as he neared the bottom of the stairs behind Nessa and Finn. He could already tell that Finn wasn’t as he seemed, and Devin was waiting for a sign that something was up. His mannerisms alone gave him away. Finn wasn’t there out of the kindness of his heart, no matter what Nessa thought. He was there for a purpose, and Devin needed to figure it out soon before they took him too far into the crypt. Devin was unsure of what Finn was looking to gain, but something about his story and questioning didn’t add up. He already figured out that the Ferguson family wasn’t the sort to do things out of the kindness of their hearts.
The steps ended in a large cavern that had the same unearthly glow of the trail to the crypt. Pathways from the staircase made their ways in multiple directions to dark doorways. There were five main pathways, but more doors than that. Devin was unsure what each doorway meant, but he knew that Nessa was sure where she was going. Though he wondered how long Nessa would string Finn along. He could sense the hesitation growing in her over Finn, but she still held onto his friendship. Devin wished she would stop being so optimistic, especially after Maureen turned on her, but he knew that her optimism was what had made her the person she was. Devin stayed in the dark stairway and watched.
Finn pulled Nessa to himself and threw his arm around her as she told him which way to go. Finn was a little more touchy-feely than Devin wanted him to be, but he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t exactly tell the sidhe to stop. Devin stayed hidden as he didn’t want to be seen by either Finn or Nessa if they turned around. The walkway wasn’t far, and he could easily trail them once they went through a doorway.
Soon Devin noticed they weren’t alone. Nessa couldn’t see the men entering the cave, but Finn could. Finn didn’t seem to care that there were more people in the cave, and Devin wondered how many more people were down visiting the crypts. They hadn’t seen anyone yet, but that didn’t mean they were alone. As Finn kept his arm around Nessa, walking her to a specific doorway, Finn glanced back to the men. He made no mention to Nessa, and she didn’t seem to notice. That confused Devin. Why would Finn not worry about the approaching men, or at least tell Nessa? Were they from the McKinny clan, too? Finn turned his back to the men and tightened his arm around Nessa’s shoulder.
It only took a moment, but in the darkness of the glowing walls, Devin could make out the telltale assassin garb on the men. It hit Devin instantly. Devin assumed the assassins that had been following them around had gone to the trial to find Nessa, but that wasn’t the case. The reason they didn’t see assassins on their walk was that they already knew where to go and were waiting. They had no reason to wait below for Nessa unless they already knew she was going to be there. That meant either Finn or Ronan had to have told them. Devin doubted it was Ronan, and as Finn saw them, but didn’t worry, Devin could guess this was Finn’s plan. Attack Nessa where there was no magic. Finn couldn’t attack her now with the trial going on, as she could not be hurt, but down in the crypt with no magic, there was nothing protecting her. Nessa was vulnerable right now and open to attack or even getting killed. Devin knew his instincts were correct about Finn, and he needed to get Nessa away from him. That moment was now. There was no time for Devin to plan his counterattack.
‘Duck,’ Devin yelled mentally to Nessa as he sprinted across the way and pulled her the direction she was already going.
Devin saw the assassins pull out swords and a couple drew their arrows. The attack was going to come from all directions, as the men came from multiple doorways. Nessa didn’t have time to wonder what was going on as Devin yanked on her arm and to the doorway. He pulled her within the doorway as arrows were fired and men yelled to chase after them. At least half a dozen people were pursuing them, but Devin wasn’t about to stay around and count how many.
“What are you doing? Where’s Finn?” Nessa asked, confused by Devin’s actions and trying to slow down.
“Don’t know, keep going,” Devin commanded, looking around and realizing that the corridor they were now in had hallways every eight feet.
They had entered the crypt, but Devin now saw just how big each crypt beyond the doorways really was. Each hallway they passed had closed doorways and more hallways beyond them. Hallways crisscrossed the abundant small rooms, making a grid-like pattern. They were in a maze of the dead.
“We can’t just leave Finn there,” Nessa replied, pulling to get away from Devin.
“We don’t have time to worry about him,” Devin added, tightening his grip. He wasn’t about to let her run back to Finn now.
Nessa may have not thought anything was off with Finn, but Devin knew, deep down, that there was something wrong. The way Finn put his arm around Nessa and slowed her down even though he had to have seen the men entering the cavern was off. It was almost like Finn was trying to hold her there to wait for the attack.
An arrow whizzed past them, causing Devin to turn down one of the hallways. He had had no clue where they were going, but they had to get away.
‘What was that?’ Nessa asked, finally realizing that they were being followed and attacked.
Instantly they were covered in the haze of invisibility as Nessa finally understood the threat on their lives. Devin was glad to see magic returned to her, but even if she wasn’t able to be killed in the crypt, she could still get injured. They weren’t safe yet. All they had to do was injure her severely, and take her back out into the front cavern. She would be vulnerable then. Devin could hope that all the men following her had been cursed with the return spell, but he doubted it. They weren’t safe.
‘I counted eight men in the hall back there before I grabbed you,’ Devin replied, pulling her further down the hallway. He turned at the end of it, and it continued in another direction.
‘Eight men? That’s an ambush. We need to go back and get Finn,’ Nessa said, trying to pull back away from Devin.
‘No, we don’t,’ Devin added, pausing to look down the next hallway before they turned again. ‘He saw the men, and he didn’t rush you out of there. Anyone that doesn’t put your safety first isn’t my concern. He’s on his own.’
Devin stopped short of suggesting Finn was involved. He didn’t need to look inside her head to know that Nessa was still attached to the idea that Finn was a good guy. She never saw the anger hidden behind his smiles at her, but Devin did. He had no clue if this was something new or if it had been there her whole life, but Finn Ferguson wasn’t the friend Nessa thought he was.
‘He couldn’t have seen them,’ Nessa answered, defending Finn.
Devin turned again down a new hallway. He checked before and after them, and still could not see any magic or invisible sidhe. Devin slowed down and
continued to look for the assassins more carefully now. If Nessa and Devin were encased in magic again, he didn’t doubt that the assassins were as well.
‘There were eight men out there, all dressed like assassins. I think your mysterious men’s assassin guild is all here. The only question is: why are they here? No one besides Finn and Ronan knew we were coming,’ Devin tried to reason with Nessa.
‘Maybe they are the assassins that protect the living dead,’ Nessa suggested. She stopped pulling at Devin’s hand. He wasn’t letting go, and had a good reason: he was keeping her safe once again.
‘And do those assassins attack someone in the cave where there’s no magic?’ Devin asked. He doubted they were the assassins they were warned about. The attack was planned and underhanded. Those men meant to kill Nessa the only way they could. ‘I don’t mean to sound accusing here, but there were eight assassins waiting for you in the one place you could actually be killed. No one can touch you now because of the trial, yet here they knew to wait for you. Why would they logically wait in this place unless they had been told ahead of time?’
Nessa didn’t have a reply. Devin was stating facts, and those added up to mean that either her best friend for her whole life, Finn, had betrayed her, or her cousin, who was more like a brother than anything, had betrayed her. Either way, she didn’t have an answer, or really even wanted to know it.
Devin paused as he looked around the next corner. They were backtracking a bit, but he just needed to keep them away from the sidhe. The hallway was clear for now, but with all the additional hallways darting off the main ones it would be slow going.
‘Where do we need to go?’ Devin asked.
They’d have to deal with the assassins at some point, but Devin wanted to be sure they were headed in the correct direction rather than back the way they came. He didn’t want to be caught outside the sidhe magic zone. Nessa’s spell had saved her and Devin more than once. He needed to rely on that magic when he was outnumbered nine to one. Heck, once they found the grandfather, and the assassins that protected him, that number could double or triple for all Devin knew.
The Day Human Prince Page 15
