“Don’t remind me. Now come on, get out here and for the sake of the gods, smile. You don’t want Vishana to think you’re unhappy or she’s likely to try to help and that could mean a lot of trouble if she makes a move against Aeval.”
She had a point. Truth was, the dragons weren’t really afraid of anybody or anything. At least not when they were in force. And since I was married to a dragon, and I had the backing of Smoky’s people, they might take it into their heads to “rescue” me from moving out to Talamh Lonrach Oll by sweeping me off to the Dragon Reaches to live. With that thought, I wiped my face and plastered on a smile.
“On my way.”
Iris giggled. “Yeah, when the dragons say jump, we all jump.” She patted my arm. “Everything will be okay, Camille. You’ve faced far worse fates than being queen over a Barrow full of Fae.”
“Now you’re just being snarky,” I said, laughing as we followed Menolly back into the living room.
“It’s what I do best, dear. It’s what I do best.” And with that, the milkmaid-pretty sprite, whose golden hair cascaded down to her feet, swung around me and headed to the kitchen.
VISHANA WAS STANDING near the fireplace, gazing at the flames. Smoky gave me a quizzical look but I shook my head and hurried over to his mother’s side.
“I’m sorry I’ve been lax as a hostess tonight. We just arrived home from taking care of a rogue vroll whose appearance interrupted our dinner. I was feeling a little—” I stopped, suddenly uncertain where to go with the sentence. I wasn’t tired and I couldn’t say hungry because if that was the reason for my disappearance, I would have gone into the kitchen rather than the parlor. I usually didn’t feel at a loss for words, but tonight just felt off all the way around.
Vishana took pity on me. She held her hand up. “No need to apologize. We came unannounced into your house and disrupted your evening. Venus will be staying with Queen Aeval until you have need of him—she can protect him out at the Sovereign Fae Nation. But, Camille, beware.” She somberly held my gaze. “The moment you find the last spirit seal, the danger will be increased multifold. And not just from the direction of the Sub-Realms.”
I frowned, unsure of what she meant. “If you mean there are demons over here—”
“Not demons,” Vishana said. “Aeval, you should break the news.”
I realized that they had all had a chat together before they arrived. I didn’t particularly like being out of loop, but somehow, being in on it didn’t seem that appealing either.
Aeval stepped forward. “We didn’t want to mention this ahead of time, because you’ve been dealing with so much from Shadow Wing’s corner. But there are others who will not be happy to see you find the Keraastar Diamond and take possession of the Knights.”
“Who?” My shoulders stiffened. Just what we needed. Another enemy.
She cleared her throat and, with a glance at the Merlin, who nodded, continued. “When the Spirit Seal was originally formed and then broken, the Maharata scrolls were written almost as a backup plan, although so much of history from then is lost. But the Great Fae Lords never intended anyone outside of their circle to be the ones to control the Knights.”
“So…it would never have been either of you, even if I hadn’t come along?”
“No, Titania and I were their enemies. They would have died rather than let us touch the diamond. We were prisoners by the time they made it. But we were the lucky ones. They killed the other Fae queens and great lords who fought against them. No, as far as we know, they created the Keraastar Diamond as a backup plan—the plug to pull on the doomsday device, you might say. But, like the seals, the scrolls were lost in time. And they have been forgotten until recently. You remember when Yvarr woke last winter?”
At the mention of that name, we all paused.
I slowly inclined my head. “Yes, I remember.”
Six months before, we had fought a wyrm—a forerunner of the dragons. The wyrms of the earth were not shifters, but ancient beasts who were cunning and rapacious, grasping for power and wealth. The Great Fae Lords had enlisted them into the war against the Fae who wanted to keep the worlds together. When they won, they then imprisoned the wyrms, locking them away in other realms in case they might one day again need their services. Yvarr had woken and managed to free himself. And he bore the news that the Great Fae Lords themselves were waking from their own self-imposed hibernation.
“He said the Fae Lords who drove the Great Divide were waking.”
“Yes, and so they are. And when they rise from their slumber, they’re going to want their power back and they won’t be happy to see how things have evolved, either in Otherworld or over here Earthside. They’ll see you wielding the Keraastar Diamond and the Keraastar Knights…and they may decide to wage war against you to get the diamond back.” At this, Aeval let out a long breath. “We will, of course, back you up if it comes to that. But you see, don’t you? You must find the diamond and take control of it and the sooner the better. You’re destined to wield it.”
“And if they are waking, and they go after the diamond, they’ll destroy Talamh Lonrach Oll because of you and Titania.” The wheels were turning now and I was beginning to get the picture. “And if they free the wyrms still locked away…”
“They could devastate the world in their greed. They are no better than Shadow Wing, when you think about it. Neither will the wyrms be happy, if they’re freed. While we dragons had already split off from their race and were creating our own society back then, the wyrms caused problems for us,” Vishana said. “I remember several horrendous battles. Many of our kind were lost as we fought for our own existence. If the wyrms wake up, they’ll come after us.”
I suddenly felt weak in the knees and slowly lowered myself to a chair. If I found the Keraastar Diamond, as was prophesized, I’d be putting myself and all around me in danger. If I let it go, and the Great Fae Lords rose to wield it, then they’d put everyone in danger. Either way, it was looking like a very different but very dangerous battle might be looming in my future.
“Damned if I do and damned if I don’t.” I stood, turning to Vishana. “Will the Dragonkin back Talamh Lonrach Oll, if it comes push to shove against the Fae Lords and the wyrms?”
She considered my question for a moment. “If it were my decision alone, I’d say yes without hesitation. But it isn’t a promise I can make. I must go to Council and persuade them. I don’t anticipate much opposition, however. The battles with the wyrms may be in the past, but many of us lived through it and we fought against them, and our memories are long.” Turning to Smoky, she added, “My son, I will go now and speak to the Council. You must come with me.”
“But Camille—” Smoky started to say, then stopped as she held up her hand.
“Have you not yet told her?”
“Told me what?” I crossed to Vishana’s side. “What should he have told me?”
“My son—your husband—is to take his place on the Council of Elders for the first time tomorrow. He should come with me now to prepare.” She gave Smoky a questioning glance, then let out her breath and a puff of smoke at the same time. “Iampaatar, you mean to tell me you kept this knowledge from your wife?”
He shuffled, staring at the floor. I would have laughed if the circumstances had been less dire.
“I was going to—”
“Are you ashamed of your position and rank?” Now Vishana’s attention was solely on her son, and she didn’t look happy.
“No, Mother.”
“Then perhaps you will tell me why? Or perhaps, you feel so lackadaisical about the Council that you cast off the privilege of being part of our future so lightly?” She was starting to rev up. I recognized all the signs in any mother who was irate with her child.
“No, not at all. I just… We were busy with other things.” Smoky scowled. Being berated in front of everyone else—especially me—wasn’t going to sit well. But if I butted in to take his side it w
ould make things worse. Instead, I backed away and turned to Aeval, who was attempting to keep a straight face. Both she and Titania had that gleam in their eye that told me they were enjoying the spectacle.
“You’ll take Venus home with you?” I said softly.
She nodded. “Yes, we’ll go soon. But Camille, know that Titania, the Merlin, and I will do everything we can to keep you safe. Do you see why, once you find the Keraastar Diamond, you’ll be safest out at Talamh Lonrach Oll? We haven’t been training a military for fun out there. There’s a reason Bran is in charge of it—he’s crafty and cunning and powerful.”
“Yes,” Titania said. “We knew that when the day came that you would join us, we would need to beef up protection. The Great Fae Lords are the worst danger, aside from Shadow Wing, but they aren’t the only ones who will look askance at your joining us. Some of the Earthside Fae will view your human side as a weakness.”
“Didn’t they feel the same way about Morgaine?”
“Yes, but she was from the old world. She walked the same forests as the Merlin. They had a respect for her that they haven’t learned to afford you, yet. It will come, in time, but you’ll have to earn it.” She reached out to clasp me on the shoulder. “I know this all seems so daunting, but it will pass. We will manage it, and you will take your rightful place.”
I considered her words for a moment, then asked, “Who was it that decided I would become part of your Court? The Moon Mother?”
With a laugh, Titania leaned closer. “The Hags of Fate, my dear. And they wield far more power than the gods themselves. Come, Aeval, we should return to the Barrows and take Venus with us.”
Vishana, apparently done with chiding Smoky, motioned for me to return to her side. She leaned down and placed a faint kiss on my cheek, almost an air kiss but not quite. “Be safe. Your husband will be home in three days. I’m certain he’ll bring welcome news.”
Smoky, still smoldering from the scolding, kissed me, only his kiss was on the lips, and he lifted me off my feet, holding me tight. “I was going to tell you later today, honest. But now you know, and so I’ll be off with Mother.” He gestured to Trillian and Morio. “Keep our wife safe until I return.”
“Of course, you big lizard,” Trillian said with a laugh.
Smoky held out his hand and a flurry of snow blasted in Trillian’s direction, catching a good share of the living room with it.
“The lizard bids you remember who can cause a storm with one finger,” Smoky said, then laughed as he vanished along with Vishana.
“All right, we’re heading out as well,” the Merlin said. “I didn’t come back from Ireland just to watch a spat between paramours.” But his eyes were twinkling. “Come, Venus, take Aeval’s hand and I’ll go with Titania.”
Before we could say a word, Aeval, Titania, the Merlin, and Venus were out the door and vanished the moment they touched the ground below the porch steps. I wondered how they did that. They didn’t travel via the Ionyc Sea the same way Smoky and some of the others did, but I wasn’t sure just what form of magic they were using.
As I turned to go inside, a noise from a nearby bush caught my attention and I quietly descended the porch steps and headed over to it, followed by Trillian and Delilah. The bushes were waving—it was a huckleberry bush—and whatever was under there was making a snuffling noise. Delilah motioned for us to wait and crouched down, cautiously pushing aside the lower branches of the bush. She caught her breath, letting out a little “O” of surprise, then reached in and pulled out not one, but two kittens. Tiny—they couldn’t have been more than five weeks old—both were soaking wet and muddy, and they were mewing up a storm, but their cries were so soft I could barely hear them. One was a calico, the other was white, and they had long matted hair. They squirmed in her hands as she stood up and handed them to me.
“Let me see if there are any more. Feral litter, I’ll bet you.” She returned to her crouch and then disappeared, crawling under the bush.
I held the kittens close to me, whispering to them. “Little ones, shush, puss puss. You’re safe. Everything’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”
The calico snuggled under my chin, her wet fur smearing me with mud. The white one set eyes on Trillian and scrabbled to get free. I glanced at Trillian, who shrugged and held out his hands. The white kitten frantically struggled to get closer and so my strong, stalwart Svartan stood there cuddling the kitten to his chest.
Delilah came back up with two more—another calico who could have been a twin for the one I was holding, and a black kitty. With a warning glance, she nodded us away from the bushes. “I found their mother in there too. It’s not pretty. Looks like a raccoon did her in, but somehow, the kittens are safe.”
“They’ll die if we leave them out here.” I glanced over at my sister. She had trouble having other cats in the household. It was a territorial thing, given her werecat status, but she tolerated my spirit cat that she had given me for a present just fine. “We can’t put them back. I’ll take them with me to Talamh Lonrach Oll, if you can handle their presence till then.”
Delilah stared at the fluffballs in her arms. “They’re fine. They’re kittens, and I can control myself around them for a while. I haven’t been as antsy about my territory for a while now.” And with that, we headed back inside.
Of course, talk of the spirit seal was halted for the time it took everybody to coo over the kittens and for Iris and Hanna to confiscate them and wash them up.
“We’ll make sure they’re fed and safe in your suite with a clean litter box. We can’t let them go traipsing around the house free in case Maggie finds them. She’s not safe for small animals or babies to be around.”
Maggie was a sweetheart, but gargoyles were carnivores and small animals were natural prey. She also was rough on her toys and might consider the kittens just that. The thought made me queasy.
“Yes, please. See that they’re locked in my study with a baby gate or something they can’t climb. That way they won’t dart out when I open the door.” I gave the calicoes both a smooch on the nose, loath to hand them over before Iris swept them off to the kitchen, followed by Hanna, who was clucking over the black and white ones.
“We should get back to the maps and our discussion,” I said, suddenly tired. First the vroll, then the meeting with Aeval and the others had left me feeling highly emotional. “Knowing what we do about the Great Fae Lords makes it imperative that we find the final spirit seal as soon as possible. If they wake before I can control the diamond, and they wake the wyrms, everybody’s going to be in trouble.”
“Does anybody have any more information about K’thbar? What he’s like? We need to know if there’s a chance he’ll wake up when we go after the spirit seal. Where’s he hiding it, and how are we going to spend time under water without drowning?”
Delilah made a sudden mewing noise and I glanced over at her. She looked petrified. She was terrified of water, couldn’t swim, and only took showers, never baths. Like most cats, she resisted getting wet and it transferred to her human side, as well. I made an executive decision right there.
“Tell us now if you think this one’s beyond you. I know all about fear and what it can do. If you don’t think you can go with us, then please say so now. We can’t take a chance on you freaking out in the water, especially if there’s a chance that K’thbar might wake up.” I held her gaze, hoping that she wouldn’t try to play the hero if she couldn’t face the water.
Shifting in her chair, Delilah finally let out a long sigh. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. Any backup I can give you from the shore, I’m there. But I’m afraid if I tried to go under the water, I’d have a panic attack and then you’d have a very frightened tabby cat—or panther, more likely—on your hands and I’d probably drown. I’ll go, but I’ll keep my feet on land.” She sounded so apologetic that I wanted to snuggle her.
“We work to our strengths,” I said, smiling at her. “It’s okay,
Delilah. I don’t do well with heights.”
“Yeah, but you’ve fought on top of the Space Needle before. You’ve climbed up mountains before—and down them.”
“Stop beating yourself up. I fought on top of the Space Needle because there was a railing there to keep everybody from tumbling over the side. And Chase went through hell getting me up there. As for climbing up and down mountains, well, I follow the rule of don’t look down. When Hanna helped me escape from Hyto’s lair, the fear of what he had done—and what he was going to do—outweighed my fear of going down the mountain. Torture’s a good impetus to suck it up.”
I tried to smile but my stomach lurched. I still suffered flashbacks and though I tried to keep them at bay, there were times when the PTSD would hit me full force. Not long ago, I had woken from a nightmare about Hyto and the only way I was able to stop the memories from sucking me down a deep, dark well was to hide in my closet. Morio had found me in the morning, and he carried me back to bed, never saying a word. We hadn’t told Smoky. He was still blaming himself for what had happened.
“I’ll talk to Shimmer tonight.” Menolly stood. “Whatever you decide to do, I’m in as long as it’s at night.”
I shook my head. “Has to be during the day. Tomorrow night’s the full moon, remember?”
“Damn it. Right. Well, I can’t do anything about that.” She grabbed her jacket and waved as she exited the kitchen.
I considered everybody’s strengths. We really hadn’t had much time in the water, considering all the battles we had waged. “I can swim, but I can’t breathe underwater. I’ll need magical help for that.”
Vanzir raised his hand. “I can swim pretty damned good. I do need to breathe, but I can hold my breath for five minutes without a strain.”
“Smoky’s not here, or he’d be good to go with us. I can go, and in my dragon form, I don’t need to breathe since I’m skeletal.” Shade winked at Delilah. “So I’ll go for both of us.”