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But the haunted looks in their eyes told me they’d been through hell. Violet started when she saw Tanne, and she broke into a run, racing into his arms. He held her tight, kissing her brow, kissing her lips, but then he gently disengaged her and pushed her to arm’s length.
“There will be time for us later,” he whispered. “Now we need to talk to you. To find out everything you know.”
Violet let out a long breath, sounding exhausted. “We’ve already talked to the dragon and Were. They know everything we know, and they wrote it down so we wouldn’t lose anything.” She turned to us, and a soft smile played over her lips. “Thank you. Thank you more than I can ever express. I didn’t think I’d ever make it out of there.”
Nerissa stepped forward. She gave me a light kiss before introducing the others. “You know Violet already. Meet Shay, Daisy, Fray, and this is Weaver.”
The four of them nodded, looking confused and more than a little dazed. Nerissa settled them onto the sofa, while the rest of us took the other chairs. Violet joined her comrades, looking a little less shell-shocked than the others.
Nerissa turned to us. “Shay was in there over a year. The others have been prisoners for between two and five months. Violet was the last one captured. They told us they’ve seen at least four Fae and two Weres come through the cells in the past five months. Shay doesn’t know how many were laundered through during the period between when she was captured and when Weaver was put in the cell next to her five months back.”
“So it’s not first in, first out.” I frowned. “I wonder what the criteria are.”
Weaver spoke up, his voice shaky. “I know. I managed to get one of the guards talking. He said that sometimes the transfer takes a while, and once in a while, a buyer reneges on the deal. Then they have to either find a new one, or they have to work out whatever the problem was.”
“The guards—were they all daemons?” Camille shifted to allow Hanna room to bring in a tea tray and some cookies. It was obvious that our housekeeper had been in bed; she was in a nightgown and her hair was braided back. But she never missed a beat—just like Iris, she was always on call.>I groaned, and so did Delilah and Camille.
Camille’s voice came over the phone. “Just what we need, but I have a nasty feeling you’re right. Okay, good to keep in mind. Don’t want to keep it in mind, but we have to be ready for anything at this point.”
And with that, I hung up and we drove on into the silent night.
When we reached home, we took a few minutes to clean up and the others grabbed snacks. Hanna had left a message for me—Roman needed to see me. I glanced at the clock. It was two in the morning.
Our rescued prisoners had all been cleaned and bathed and were huddled in the parlor under the watchful eyes of Nerissa, Vanzir, and Shade, who had been gathering as much information as they could without traumatizing them. We’d talk to them as soon as we put out whatever fire Trenyth had for us.
Camille slipped into the seat in front of the Whispering Mirror and activated it. A moment later, the mist cleared and a guard faced us.
“Allow me a moment and I’ll fetch Lord Trenyth.” His eyes were sober and clear, but something about his expression told me the elf had been through hell. He stood and disappeared to the right, out of our view. True to his word, a moment later, Trenyth slid into the vacant seat.
“I don’t have time to linger, girls. But I wanted to keep you updated. Trillian, are you there?” It was obvious that Trenyth hadn’t slept in days—deep lines underscored his eyes, and he yawned even as he spoke.
Trillian grunted. “Yes, I’m here.”
“The storm has rained its fury on Svartalfheim, I’m sorry to say. The sorcerers did their best to deflect it, and good thing, or the damage would have been worse. But the city is still a smoldering mess. Luckily, they took less damage than Elqaneve, but it’s still bad. Several thousand dead, we think. King Vodox managed to survive, but there is much damage.”
“And the storm?” I asked. “It is still raging?”
Trenyth let out a long sigh. “What mages survived our onslaught tell me they think it has weakened a bit, but yes, and it marches on toward Gylden, the city of the Goldunsan.”
Crap. Gylden was a relatively peaceful city of Fae who lived in the mountains. Reclusive, the Goldunsan were seldom found in cities other than their own. Golden-skinned, they were beautiful in ways that made most Fae glamour seem like a knockoff. But the fact that they had few dealings with outsiders meant they didn’t often form alliances. The storm could trash their city to the ground.
“We’ve alerted them, of course. But now we have a new worry.”
And it just kept coming.
“We’ve received a message from Ceredream stating that there’s some sort of activity happening on their borders. But they sat on the fence too long. We have no reserves left to send them at this point. King Gwyfn of the Nebulveori Mountains is closer; he is sending scouts to the City of the East to find out what they can.”
“So the dwarves are fully involved.” Delilah frowned. “I almost hate to ask but what’s happening in Y’Elestrial?”
“They are prepared—they have gathered every sorcerer and witch they can. They’re all working on war efforts, both in fortifying the city, and in discovering any weakness they can in Telazhar’s army. If we can discover where Telazhar himself is, we can attempt an assassination coup.” He paused. “Your cousin Shamas showed up. We’ve put him to work here—it’s too dangerous for him to attempt the roads to Svartalfheim right now.”
Camille winced, but said nothing.
“And Elqaneve?” I didn’t want to ask, but we had to know. “How are you doing? You look like crap, Trenyth.”
He smiled then, wearily, but it was a smile. “You think I don’t know that? Of course I do. I haven’t slept in days. I’ve been run ragged. Sharah looks just as tired as I am, but I’m making sure she gets as much rest as she can, given that she just had a baby. Is Chase there?”
“No.” Camille started to stand. “Do you need me to go get him? He’s probably asleep at Iris’s.”
