by Elle Lincoln
“Submit.”
“No.” I clench my entire body, waiting for the next blow, but it never comes. My eyes have closed of their own accord and every muscle aches from how hard I’m preparing myself.
I peek open one eye, but I’m alone in the arena. I look up and the audience of the king and the prince are gone.
“What fresh hell is this?” I reach out to my guys, but I can’t feel them. Okay, so that is probably due to the magic suppressor. I look up to see the sky is still sunny. Hell, I can even feel the warmth of it hitting the top of my head.
I back away. Not knowing what’s about to happen next. I expected to bleed, I expected torture. I expected to be stabbed.
This nothingness is almost worst.
My back hits the stone wall, and rocks dig in and tear my shirt. The small lip above casts me in shadow. Don’t they know they are allowing me to heal? To get stronger and make it out of here? Foolish creatures. I just have to wait them out. Then I can steal that ring, heal, and escape. Maybe grab Aengus along the way.
“Bette?” A cautious voice drifts across the empty arena. One that brings every small molecule of mine to alert. I can’t look. There is no fucking way. If I look, then it’s real. This, this I fucking know isn’t real. “Bette?”
I scrunch my eyes shut just as tears fall freely from them. I refuse to accept this. I buried her fucking body.
“Oh, my sweet Bette,” my mother’s voice coos, and I slide down the wall, curling into myself.
Chapter 20
Patrick
Laser Beams
“Which one of you eejits forgot to tell Bette about glamour?” I growl, my ire building with these idiots. “A lesson perhaps on how the Fae work?”
“We’ve been a bit busy,” Balor answers in a dry tone, his body shackled to the wall in magic dampening cuffs.
“Speak for yourself,” Logan mutters under his breath, while adjusting himself around the silver chains burning his skin.
Nasty fucking smell.
“Why would you let yourself get caught tracking us?” Casseus whines once again, as though I hadn’t already informed him of what I was fucking thinking.
I wasn’t. Must we truly delve into that right now?
“My bums gone numb.” I lift up as far as I can go before I resettle myself back down.
“Do we have a plan?” Mac questions. I wince. He has to be uncomfortable strapped to that wall like that.
“I didn’t have a plan.”
“Obviously.” Balor gives me that droll stare, but I’m unaffected by it. He can look at me like that all he wants and it isn’t going to change a damn thing.
“This reminds me of the time we got trapped by that sea witch. Doesn’t it Cas?” Mac’s eyes go distant and this fucked-up smile crosses his face.
“I’m sure neither of you were sad about being trapped somewhere together.” I fidget. All I wanted was one evening with our girl. One fucking evening. “I even took her for dinner and a drink.”
I thought I muttered that under my breath. I didn’t. It was much too loud for a wolf’s senses. “That’s what you were doing?” he screeches. “While we were fighting off that attack with smoke bombs?”
A shiver runs up my spine at his high-pitched, fucking voice. “Did ye skip puberty boy?”
He just bristles.
“He isn’t wrong,” Our stoic leader supplies. “However…” He pauses, giving Logan that look. He actually squirms under Balor’s scrutiny. “You were free. You should have stayed that way.”
I roll my eyes. “You really think Ms. Self-righteous would have actually let that happen?” Dumbass. “So tell me about these bombs.” I’m rather curious if I can recreate them to work for us.
“The smoke knocked us out as soon as we inhaled it.” Casseus rattles his own chains as he searches for something. Probably a toothpick.
“What are you thinking, elf?” Mac finds humor in something I’m very clearly missing.
“I’m no elf.” Fucking tinker fairy. “I wonder if we can create one with iron particles.” Just like a smoke bomb. Then poof, dead Fae, and I don’t even have to lift a finger.
“That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t help us from getting out of here.” Logan is mighty chatty lately.
Though he isn’t entirely wrong. Those fuckers had cuffs on the guys, dampening their magic. I followed ‘em to a small stone building about a mile from the castle. I got caught entering their underground dungeon. I wasn’t really trying to get caught, but never mind that.
“You all forget…” Balor begins with a sadistic smile on his face. It’s one I know well, from times before a grand fight where I could behead people and gods alike without repercussions. The good ole days. “There is one weapon they forgot to remove. One that doesn’t capitulate to their whims.”
“I’m not so sure this is a good idea. Any other way around it?” He’s going to unleash that stupid fucking eye of his and fry us all to itty bitty little pieces. I’m not a fucking fan.
Tickling at the back of my head toys with me. “Any of ye feel that?” I wonder aloud until it finally pieces together. “Bette!”
Oh, fucking yeah!
I’m pretty sure I yelled her name as well.
Minutes pass while we all hold our breath, waiting for something, anything to come through. Even Logan shuts his damn fool mouth for the time being. Smart boy.
Hey Patrick, you got a big sibling or cousin. Dark hair, big fucking guy. I hear the tremor in her voice. My palms sweat as reality crashes down on me.
My cousin, Arnold.
Well, Arnold is here. She sounds distracted and strained.
Bette listen very carefully, ye need to get out of there. Arnold is supposed to be dead. If he is alive and there... Just get out of there.
Not gonna happen, I’m trapped.
“Did you all catch that?” A chorus of yeses echo against the dank dungeon.
“Now can I use my eye?” Balor quips, just as she shuts all of us out.
“This is no joking matter, Balor,” I remind him, my cousin is a right bastard. Unforgiving and cruel. He’s also a true bastard. Half Leprechaun and half Fae with the gift of illusions. Everything in me is screaming to go to her right now. To run. “We need to go.” I try to lift from the chains, but I’m snapped back to the dirty ground.
“Relax, elf.” Why must he insist on calling me a fucking elf! “She is stronger than she looks.”
“Don’t you think I don’t know that? I know that.” I tap my head or try to. Fucking chains. “It’s in here that I’m worried about.”
“Arnold is a half Fae and half leprechaun. He can create illusions.” Casseus filled everyone in on a damn sigh that makes me want to throttle him.
“What kind of illusions Patrick?” Balor’s voice has lost all of its humanity. Well, what little there was. The room feels ten degrees cooler, which is interesting because we are already in a fucking dungeon. Underground. In the pits of hell.
Hell is cold, by the way. Just ask any god. Like the one chilling the room in front of me right now.
“He can make her see and feel whatever the fuck he wants.” My tone dries up like the saliva in my mouth.
“This is what is going to happen.” Balor turns to Logan, who is closest to him. “We are going to get as close as possible. I’m going to close my eyes and you are going to pull off my patch.”
“I don’t think I want to do that.” Logan’s voice sounds numb, and his mouth is downturned as he fishes for some kind of amusement. He won’t find any here.
“Too fucking bad. Get close.” Balor stretches as far as he can toward Logan. The poor kid rolls his eyes and does the same. Honestly, I don’t actually blame him. Balor doesn’t have a great reputation and up until his release, he was just a boogeyman moms told children to get them to brush their teeth before bed. To eat all of their veggies. Hell, even to go outside and play. The whispers of his vengeance are still legendary and told around campfires.
So when Logan’s hand shakes as he reaches for the eye patch, I don’t blame him. Not one fucking bit. If Balor opens that eye while staring at him, he’s ash in moments. He hooks his finger under the patch. I can see the pleading in his eyes for Balor not to kill him.
The rest of us are silent. Refusing to speak. Balor closes his eyes and Logan yanks the patch down.
“Now what?” His voice wobbles and his chains rattle as he shuffles back to his side.
“Now I free myself.” Balor looks toward the wall and opens that fucking eye. Red blazes from it and he adjusts as much as he can, finally hitting his chains.
I thought some kind of sound would be made as the beam from his eye eats through his chains. But there is nothing. No marked indication anything is happening other than the beam and the chains rattling as they hit the floor. He moves to the other side, his range of motion better now, and his focus tighter. His body grows, the only sign of his anger, and the light of his eye deepens, proving the cuffs still dampened that power somewhat. And I can’t help but wonder if he knew that or not. If he just took a chance and had hope.
Balor stretches now that he is free. His shirt tears and he struggles to retie his kilt. He pushes the eye patch back up to settle on his face and his arms return to his hips.
“Aren’t you going to release the rest of us?” Logan’s voice wobbles and his eyes show mostly white. His pupils are dilated.
“Not until you calm down. I don’t want you to shift as soon as you are released,” Balor replies before reaching for Casseus.
“What about the rest of us?” Casseus asks.
“I don’t need my eye for that.” To prove his point, he rips Casseus’ chains from him. Balling the metal in his fist and grinding it to a pulp.
“Could you have broken out at any time?” Mac inquires, voicing what we are all thinking.
“No.” He moves to Mac, his lips thin. “I couldn’t break free from the inside, but this way? Much different.” Again, he pulverizes the chains.
I hold my hands out, feeling giddy as he dusts mine as well. I release a very unmanly laugh but fuck it, I don’t care, I’m free! I stand and do a small dance while Balor releases Logan.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Casseus finally finds a toothpick and shoves it into his mouth.
“Dancing.”
“But why?”
“I’m free!” I giggle before moving to the cell door. I pierce the veil and pull out my ax. With one swing I cut through the lock. “Hmm. That was anticlimactic.”
“What the hell were you expecting? A spark of lights? A rainbow?” Mac taunts.
“Do you get PMS if you aren’t near salt water enough?” I snark right back to him. I do feel slightly bad for his lack of water.
He just grumbles under his breath before walking into the hall, which is lit only by a small torch.
“I miss modern technology already,” I mutter before following Mac into the corridor.
“Do you believe if the worlds merge we will lose technology?” I peek back at Logan. His lips are twisted and one small dimple peeks out from his cheek.
“Absolutely. It’ll be like the dark ages.” I mimic an explosion with my hands just to fuck with him.
Casseus cuffs me in the back of the head. I point at him. “You are no longer my favorite drinking partner.”
He rolls his eyes before addressing Logan. “We don’t actually know. Honestly, I haven’t even thought about it.” He scrubs his face. “I do need a drink.”
I’m already pulling my flask out and handing it to him.
“Should you be getting drunk right now?” Oh, he is but a youngling.
I only laugh in response and walk off while drinking the contents of the flask. In ten minutes it will be full again. I do love my enchanted flask.
As the flames flicker down the vast corridor, lighting our way, a heavy silence falls upon us. My pants and shirt are too thin as the cold, damp air seeps through to my skin. Needing to touch something, to ground myself in the present, my fingertips brush along the crumbling stone wall. Haunting memories lie here. Telling tales of torture and hopelessness.
I send a small pulse of hope to Bette, needing her to realize she isn’t alone and that we are coming for her.
“Does anyone know where they are going?” Logan’s whisper sounds too loud. We all stop and eye him, knowing that anything could be down here waiting us out.
“No,” I reply, my voice barely above audible. “But I have a great sense of direction and if I’m not mistaken, these tunnels lead to the castle.”
Now, if only we had a witch to break down those walls.
“Anyone know how to hold our powers once we pass through?” Again, Logan is a chatty motherfucker. I don’t completely blame him. Not at his age. He needs to learn and learn fast. Because everything is about to come crashing down upon us.
I feel it. We all feel it. And I’m not buying the sacrifice bullshite either anymore. Not the way those trees were rotting. There is no coming back from rot like that. The heart of this world, the gods are so far removed, nothing can cure it.
The rot is permanent, until this world blends with Earth.
We were all doomed to fail from the beginning. Now? I just want to grab our girl and head for the hills. Hiding doesn’t make me a coward. It makes me smart. All fucking hell is going to break loose and I don’t want any fucking part of it.
I don’t want any of us to be tied up in it, but I fucking know better. Even I can’t deny the call of a fight, the scent of spilled blood, and burning ozone as rain washes it away. Already my heart pumps in anticipation.
I’m a fool to think I can run for the hills, which is such a fucking catch twenty-two.
The halls branch off. Darkness awaits down one. The other is lit and voices echo back to us, guards chatting about their recent conquests. I break past Mac and Cas who have stopped at the curve, listening. I send my ax back into the veil and call forth my bow.
I close my eyes, listen, and draw. I release my arrow with a pulse of magic and watch as it curves through the air and out of sight.
The only tell that it has hit its intended mark is by the hiss of pain that echoes down the corridor. I replace the bow and call forth my ax once again and jog down. The low light is almost too much for my recent cave dweller status.
“Hold there.” The low tone is followed with a sword to my throat. “Did you shoot him?” His tone is calm as he jerks his chin toward the passed out guard that I did, in fact, shoot.
“Cannot tell.” I hold up my ax. “Doesn’t look like it.”
He huffs at me and lowers his sword. “You’re an idiot.”
He isn’t wrong. Footsteps clatter behind me. Balor pushes forth and shakes the man’s hand. I smile at Logan who still has wide eyes.
I lean down to him. “Ye make friends anywhere ye can and grant favors with every fucking person.” Hopefully, he takes that bit of information to heart.
“Balor. It is good to see you.”
“And you as well, Fer.”
Fer looks to me. “This makes us even, yes?”
I smile. It’s all teeth and I’m pretty sure mirth. “Tell me one more thing. How do we take down the walls of dampening magic?”
He scrubs a hand down his overgrown, bearded face, his cold blue eyes calculating. “Give me a half hour. Then we are even.”
“Aye, we are even.” I nod to him as he takes off.
“You think he will pull through?” Casseus spits out his toothpick and reaches for another.
“Yes.” Mac’s face is twisted into a frown.
“How can you possibly know that?” Logan interrupts.
“My grandson never fails,” he mumbles, before coughing into his hand. “How did you know he was here?”
I shrug, not willing to give all my secrets away. “Still mad at you then?”
“It would appear so.” Mac points down the hall. “Shall we.”
“Wait, how many of you have kids? Grandkids?” I’m p
retty sure the wolf is about to have a breakdown.
“Kid. We are very old men. We did not always have one woman.” I wag my brows. I know it makes me look like a creep, but I need him to drop it and move on.
“Fucking dirty old men.” He thinks I can’t hear him, but I do and I cuff his ear. His answering squeal is very satisfying. So much so that I do it one more time and move out of the way as quickly as possible.
“Cut it out. Focus.” Balor pulls us apart. But I was only fucking with him. “Let’s go get our girl.”
None of us argue that fact.
After all, we are all old dirty men and I’m thinking of some very dirty thoughts to make up to our girl. That is until her scream pierces my skull and brings me to my knees.
Run.
Chapter 21
Bette
What Fresh Hell is This?
Immortality is an interesting concept, a complex creature that has the potential to outlive any mortal counterpart. Mortality is simple. You live your best life knowing that you are going to die. Knowing that at any moment any one thing can potentially kill you. Yet, you wake up and face each day head-on without hiding under the covers or in a safe room.
Right now immortality is threatening me. I will remember this moment for the rest of my fucking life, no matter how long that may end up being. I will face a multitude of foes and adversaries over the years. Of that, I have no doubt. But hearing the voice of my deceased mother?
What the actual fuck?
Grandma and I identified the body. I looked on as they rolled her cold, dead corpse from a drawer. White linen blanketed her face where no breath moved. I watched in fucking horror as they swept that white sheet down and her gnarled face came into view, as her dead eyes stared at nothing. But right now?
Right now those green eyes stare at me from across the damn arena. Her short, brown hair flows in waves, framing a face so like mine it’s terrifying. Her body, once mangled, is now put perfectly back together like fucking Humpty Dumpty. I stare at her in horror as emotions tear through me.
I want this to be real. Oh hell, I want this more than anything in the entire world. That moment when I saw her dead changed something fundamental inside of me. Something real and pure. It made me the human I became. Uncaring and relentless in my pursuit to fill the void her death left me.
