Page 39 of Can you take it?

We sat down on the ground on opposite sides of the black cactus thing, maintaining absolute silence for a moment as we watched Eletha and Walter, as if we were at a sporting event. Occasionally, Anna would giggle when Eletha did a specific move or something that made her really light up.

“When will they stop?” I asked, feeling eager to leave this tier and move on. “And where’s Bexley?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. I figured since we dropped in before you did that he would be with you. And to be honest, I don’t know if they’ll stop.”

“What do you mean?” I didn’t like the way that sounded. She snorted. “They’re Unseelie. This is their bread and butter. Violence is in their blood. Combine that with the lupine nature of them being shifters and a shitload of pent-up attraction and tension between them; we’ll be lucky if they don’t get carried away and come after us.”

How could she say things like this so calmly? “I beg your finest pardon?”

“That’s the point of the tiers,” she said with a laugh. “You can’t move on if you don’t want to. The longer they stay and fight, the more this battle will ingrain in their blood; the more they’ll continue. They’ll be so bloodthirsty, they won’t want to stop until they’ve won. And they’ll never win.”

“So why aren’t you stopping them?” Panic laced through me. Why had we let them continue for so long?

“Because, again, I’m not trying to get out of here. I’m trying to get the pendant,” she stated. I caught her eyes on my chest, where the pendant lay under my armor and shirt. “So what? They’ll stay here forever. We’ll never get out.” This wasn’t going to work for me. I was getting away from her and heading straight to the sunny, peaceful doors of the Elysian Fields one way or another.

“Typically, when a fae comes to Eletha, she senses what their weakness is, the sins they’ve committed, if any, that caused them to arrive in Tartarus for reasons other than being Unseelie. If they were just being fae and Unseelie, they go to Eromreven. If they have something they need to learn, they go to the tiers.” “How does she know if there’s something they need to learn?” I asked.

“She just knows. It’s like a sixth sense. She doesn’t even know why; she just knows she’s supposed to send them to the place that fits them best. As the Shepherd, that’s what she does.” “How could she know that but not know what happens down here or how to get out?”

“She senses what it is they need to learn and sends them to the appropriate tier. Didn’t they teach you this in school? Why are you looking at me like that? If they cannot pass through and learn anything, then they stay forever, likely dying or turning into a part of the tier. If they learn something and continue to pass through, most of the other levels aren’t a problem for them. If they can pass through all the way, they’re welcomed into Eromreven again, where they are met with parties and fun,” she stated.

“So what would happen to these two if we can’t get them to leave? I have to go. I have to get out of this liar-infested black hole. I need to go to the Elysian Fields!” At some point, I had begun shouting.

She shrugged and then gave me a little smile. She was wicked; that was obvious, but not in the way that I had originally thought. At least, I didn’t think so.

“It seems we’ll be here for a while,” I said, watching the two, choosing to remain confident that they would wear them- selves out. Nobody could fight forever. “What do you want to know about your sister?” I asked.

She perked up, and I fought away a smile. It was impossible to picture her as the leader of the sinful Underworld, even though I’d experienced firsthand a taste of how powerful her magic could be. I knew my fair share of devious, slaughtering women I’d never guessed were evil—my mother, sister, and best friend all fit in that category—but there was something about Anna that didn’t seem fit for villainy. Perhaps it was my own mind simply not wanting her to be, but she just seemed too gentle and soft to command the Underworld.

“I don’t know; tell me about her. How did you two meet?” Anna asked.

A heavy breath left my chest. “Well, as you know, my mother⁠—”

“Oh, yes, I know your mother,” she said, interrupting me. I continued with an accompanying eye roll. “Took Cal under her wing after she killed you and your mom.” It felt so weird to be saying that and talking to her. The number of times Cal had cried on my shoulder, missing her sister, made this incredibly surreal.

“Yes, I’m quite aware of all of that,” she said with understandable shortness.

“Sorry,” I said. “Well, eventually, I tagged along, excited to be taken into the human realm.” I smiled tightly.

“That’s not what really happened,” she said as she stared me down. Was it possible she had some sort of power that could read minds?

I swallowed down what felt like glass in my throat. It was so rare for anyone to ask me more about myself or my childhood. “How do you know?” I challenged, feeling defensive. “Why are you asking if you know what happened?”

“I don’t know what happened, but I know that’s not what happened. It’s written all over your face. You’re easy to read.” Our eyes locked for a moment, and I truly believed she could see straight through me. I scoffed at the thought. “My mother took me to the forest with the intent of leaving me behind. She had decided that I was unfit to rule Seelie and that I would be of no help to her. She planned on leaving me in the human realm to die or be stolen and used as some science project by the humans.” I waited for the habitual urge to crack a joke or smile to shift the pity off me after she responded, but as I waited for her teasing response, it never came.

“Ah,” Anna said softly. Something about her tone made me keep talking. “Apparently, she changed her mind and scooped me back up after she discovered Calypso, deciding that eventually I would be a good husband and king after she trained Calypso to be her own personal weapon. That didn’t work out very well though.”

“Oh,” she said. “That must make you feel awful. It’s no wonder you tried so hard to be with Calypso for all those years. Your mother made you feel that you would only be worth keeping around if you married Calypso. I imagine that’s probably why you base your self-worth on how much you sacrifice for another. I’m sorry you had to grow up with that burden.”

A bolt of lightning to my ass cheek in the middle of this desert wouldn’t have shocked me as much as her words.

It wasn’t a story I told many people, but the ones I had told had a much different response, generally telling me how lucky I was. This was another one of her fucking schemes, pretending she cared about my feelings. She was no different than everyone else. She wanted something from me; she wanted the pendant desperately.

And with her, I didn’t trust myself not to fall for it.

With every fiber of my being, I wanted to hate her, but it was impossible while being next to her like this. It wasn’t just how beautiful she was; it was this gentleness she put out into the air that made no sense to me, this quiet wholesomeness that reminded me of a kitten. She was no kitten; she was a rabid, feral lynx. I’d watched her be an absolute menace. I’d watched her terrorize and kill off an entire field of men. Yet somehow, the woman had this gentleness that seemed to see straight through me. So many things about her completely perplexed me and apparently turned me into jelly. This wouldn’t end well for me; I already knew it.

“So you became Caly’s watchman,” she said. “I became Cal’s best friend,” I corrected.