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I glanced up at Eriskel. "We'll do our best."
"I know you will," he said. With a surprisingly gentle gesture, he reached out to stroke my cheek. "The path isn't all dark, girl. But the shadows are strong, so be careful not to fall along the way."
And then, everything went black, and I found myself floating in a pool of sparking light.
"Camille? Camille! Snap out of it!" Once again, Delilah's voice penetrated the fog wrapped around my head. I blinked rapidly, forcing my way up through the layers of gauze that had decided to coat my thoughts. After a moment, I was able to open my eyes. Foggily I glanced around at the worried expressions.
"Where were you?" Morio asked. "Your body was here, but your spirit seemed to have taken the five o'clock express. Again." He was kneeling beside me, his hand on my wrist as I held the horn in my hand. "And where did this cloak come from?"
I glanced down. The cloak was wrapped around my shoulders, fully material. It hadn't been a dream or a vision. "That… is a long story," I said. "I've communed with the guardian of the horn. I've earned the right to use it."
As I stood, Feddrah-Dahns ambled over to me, his hooves lightly tapping on the hardwood floors. He leaned down and nuzzled the brooch. "It's true then. The bearer of the horn wears the cloak of the Black Unicorn."
I awkwardly stood up, the cloak shifted and moved on my shoulders with a life of its own. "You might have told me I'd be facing a fight for my life."
"What? What are you talking about?" Delilah reached out to touch the cloak and as her fingers grazed it, sparks flew lightly where she touched.
Morio lay a single finger on it and shuddered. "My gods, this cloak is wired."
I motioned for them to back off. "I need some water or juice or something. I'm parched." The faint taste of lightning still lingered in my throat, and I still felt like I'd come within a hairbreadth of turning into LFC—lightning fried Camille.
"I'll get you something," Delilah said, dashing into the kitchen.
"You wouldn't have some mead, would you?" Mistletoe yelled as he fluttered up, following her on a blur of wings.
I slowly turned back to Feddrah-Dahns. "You knew, didn't you? That I'd have to face the jindasel?"
He blinked, his long lashes fluttering. "I knew, yes. And I knew you would prevail. Queen Asteria's word satisfies me. She has never dealt false with our kind, and I have utmost trust in her seers."
Her seers? "Then she set you to do this, did she?"
"Let us just say, we came to a mutual agreement on the subject. But it was the Black Beast who made the final decision."
I pursed my lips. "But why me? Why not one of her strongest mages? Why not her, herself?"
Feddrah-Dahns whinnied. "Because your greatest ally is your unpredictability. You and your sisters are half-Fae, half-human. Elves follow established routes, only changing patterns when the need is severe. But you and both lines of your blood—you are wild, feral, unpredictable. A good quality to throw the enemy off guard. And you have roots in both worlds, a strong impetus to protect both worlds. Your failings are also your strongest qualities. Don't even bother trying to plan everything in advance; there are too many variables. Play by the currents of the universe, Camille. Listen to the tides of change."
"In other words, go with the flow," I said softly.
"Yes, go with the flow, and pray it doesn't send you crashing on the rocks," he said.
A knock interrupted us and, still mulling over the advice, I answered the front door. Smoky stood there, leaning against the archway, staring down at me. There was something different about him that I couldn't pinpoint. He was far more intense and focused than I'd ever seen. And I could smell him: desire and lust and greed and passion all swirled into one, all rolling right toward me like one big boulder.
"You're late," he said. "Come now. And be prepared to spend the night." With that, he turned toward the living room and, over his shoulder, added, "You have fifteen minutes, and then I take you with me, willing or not."
Chapter Thirteen
"You can't just barge in here and order me around like that. I was headed out to your place in a little while, so cool your jets, dragon-boy!" Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed Smoky's arm, yanking him around to face me as we headed into the living room. I'd been rubbed a little too raw in the past twenty-four hours and was feeling a tad touchy.
He stared at my fingers on his arm for the barest of moments, then ran his gaze up to catch mine. He did not look amused, and I had the feeling that I was two seconds away from a massively nasty retaliation for being so presumptuous.
Slowly let go of the dragon and back away … Take a deep breath, hands off, sheepish expression on face… Maybe he won't eat you for lunch.
Or maybe he will, and you'll like it, a suggestive voice tickled in the back of my thoughts.
And then indignation flared, and I found myself wallowing in a mixture of irritation and self-pity. "Listen, in the past twenty-four hours, I've fought off a bugbear, a goblin, and a Sawberry Fae. I've helped kill two dubba-trolls, corralled a bunch of errant pixies, and found a missing one." I ticked each item off on my fingers, swallowing my fear as he waited for me to continue.
"What else? Oh yes, then there's the matter of the lightning bolt I managed to dodge. It could have fried the city, it was so amped up, but no—it was aimed straight at me. If I'd failed the test, not only would I have missed out on being the new owner of this snazzy Black Unicorn horn, but I'd be fried to a cinder in astral-land, and my body would have had a heart attack."
