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"Kitten," she said softly, her gaze piercing right through me. The fact that Menolly seldom blinked still freaked me out. I turned my head to shake off her stare. It was a vampire thing; she'd never had that effect on me before. "It's not that we don't trust you, it's just that—"
"That's enough! I've had it." I stood, hands on hips, and faced down the both of them. "You both think I'm just a naive blonde bimbo, right? That I'm the baby of the family who can't think for—or take care of—herself?"
Camille sputtered, trying to backtrack. "Delilah, please. We never said anything like that. Neither one of us thinks you're stupid—"
"Just shut up and listen to me for once. Okay?" Fretting, I could feel the edges blurring. I closed my eyes and tried to keep control. The last thing I needed was to shift twice in one night. I took three deep breaths while they waited.
"Okay. Here's the thing," I said. "Both of you act like I'm full of bubbles, all happy-happy joy-joy. But that's not true. Not anymore, at least. Make no mistake about it; I liked believing in the good in people. I love sunshine and flowers and chasing mice. But all that's been cut short, thanks to Bad Ass Luke. Wisteria didn't help nurture my delusions, either. And I am so fucking pissed about it."
I still had a scar from where the renegade floraed had bitten my neck, trying to sever the artery. She was securely locked up back in Otherworld in the Elfin Queen's dungeon, however, so I tried to put her out of my mind.
Camille broke in. "Heard and noted, Delilah." She turned to Menolly. "I trust her hunches. She has cat magic. If her instincts are telling her this is the way to go, then I say let's do it. I wish I had half as much gut reaction as she gets. I have prescience thanks to my magical training, but it's not inborn. And you…" She stopped, then closed her mouth. Menolly had never had a sixth sense, unlike Camille and me.
"And I… don't have anything of the sort except my reflexes. And, thanks to being a vampire, my hearing and undead-detector." Menolly gave her a toothy grin. "It's the truth; don't be shy about it. You're right. I tend to forget that cats can pick up on things we can't. In fact, I'd be surprised if Kitten here didn't have some other tricks up her sleeve that we haven't seen yet."
She flashed me a knowing look, and I glanced away. She'd hit the nail on the head, but I wasn't ready to talk about it yet. I was only now discovering the faint whisper of new abilities, too new for even me to understand. They'd shown up after I slept with Chase and fought the demons.
"So what is it you think we should do?" Camille asked softly. She leaned over the back of the sofa, placing her milk-white hands on my shoulders. I could feel the surge of the Moon Mother working within her. We were all changing, I thought. Changing and evolving. Camille's power was different. Not much, but enough so that I noticed.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "We should travel to the Northlands to visit the Autumn Lord. He rules over everything that creeps in the autumn, including spiders. If anybody knows anything about the Hunters Moon Clan, he would. Siobhan told me that rumor has it an evil shaman created the clan a thousand years back. If that's true, then they've had a thousand years to nest and grow strong. What I want to know is, why haven't they attacked before now? What's kept them in check? If they're behind these attacks, what set them off? Could it have anything to do with Shadow Wing?"
As my words spilled into the room, Iris entered, carrying a tea tray with a floral pot on it that was steaming, and three cups. She also had added a goblet of blood for Menolly, and a plate of cookies.
She carefully slid the tray onto the coffee table and then, hands on her hips, stared up at me. "Are you daft? You think you can just waltz into the realm of the Autumn Lord and say, 'Hey, dude, tell me about the spider nests…'?"
The word dude sounded so out of place coming from Iris that we all cracked up laughing. She arched her eyebrows and, with a haughty look, said, "Be good, or I'll scatter pixie dust in your beds and you'll be itching for weeks."
"Yes ma'am," Menolly said, a flicker of a smile on her face. Iris was one person to whom she never talked back, yelled at, or was short with. Camille and I suspected that Iris and Maggie gave Menolly more stability than she'd had since her initial transformation. She relied on the innocence of the baby gargoyle and the domesticity of the house sprite to remind her of what her life had been like.
I accepted a cup of tea and sniffed the steam rising off the surface. It smelled like honeycomb and orange blossoms. "Mmm, Richya blossom tea?"
Iris nodded. "I made a quick trip back to Otherworld last week to pick up a few things. I knew you girls like Richya blossom tea, so stocked up while I was there." Our unspoken question hung thick in the air, and Iris sighed and sat down with her own cup and saucer. "I didn't go to Y'Elestrial, girls, so I can't tell you what's happening there. But your father is right; war has surely broken out by now. The signs were everywhere."
All talk of the Autumn Lord was shoved to the side for a moment as thoughts of home filled our hearts.
"Where did you go?" Camille asked, her face a mask of longing.
"I went to Aladril, the City of Seers. They remain neutral in the fight between Tanaquar and Lethesanar. They refuse to take sides, and they've enough magic to frighten off anybody even thinking of trying to force their hand." Iris blinked and sipped her tea.
Aladril was magnificent, a city of spires and minarets that rose halfway to heaven. Sculpted from gleaming marble, no one knew how long the city had existed, only that it had come through the mists into Otherworld shortly after the Great Divide, intact and already ancient. It was a magical city, and while visitors were welcome, the majority of business went on behind closed doors. Whether the seers in question were human or Fae, no one knew. They certainly looked human, but the fact was they were far too long-lived to be human, and they kept to themselves except for the vendors and the guards of the city.
We settled in with our tea, and Menolly with her goblet of blood.
"Back to the matter at hand. So, you think we should go to the Northlands," Menolly said, raising her glass in a toast.
"It's a difficult journey. How would we get there? The portals won't take us. At least, I don't think they will."
Iris shook her head. "You girls are messing with powers that you're better off leaving alone. The Autumn Lord is an Elemental Lord. His kind are dangerous at best. Robyn, Prince of Oaks, has led both Fae and human alike to believe that all of the Elemental folk are kindly toward flesh-and-blood beings, but it's simply not true." A whimpering from the kitchen stopped her. Iris stood and set down her cup of tea. "Maggie's awake. I'll go fetch her."
As she left the room, Camille took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I think I know how we can get to his realm, but we're going to owe, and owe big, if I'm right."
"How?" I said, leaning back and curling my legs beneath me. Between the warmth radiating off the flames from the fireplace and the tea, I was starting to drift. Almost time for a nap.
Camille cleared her throat. "Smoky could probably take us on his back."
That stopped traffic. Menolly sputtered as I shot up in my chair.
"Holy crap, Camille," I said. "You do realize that he could ask anything from us for that kind of a favor? Smoky might be honorable—as honorable as dragons can be—but he loves to play games. He won't miss out on the chance to keep score on this one."
