Page 107 of A Thief Among Fae

Auri waves me over. “Cyn, come here and⁠—”

“You’re not my boss,” I snap. She’s out of her mind if she thinks she can order me around. And I don’t want to hear her gloat about taking out five fomorians. Not even for a second.

Besides, I need to know what’s going on here. Why have we been attacked again? I charge after Desmond even as Auri shouts my name.

“Who are they working for?” I demand. “And how did they know where to find us?”

“The King of the Underearth.” The boulder in the foyer is already rolled aside, no doubt where the assassins entered. Desmond pulls the body outside as I stare at the five others littering the foyer.

So much death.

He grabs another body, and this time, I follow him outside. “I don’t know where the Underearth is. Is it in my realm or yours?”

“Their own,” he answers. “They’ve historically had an easier time traversing into mine, but I’d put nothing past them.”

“And why is it called the Underearth?”

He drops the corpse and faces me. “Are we really going to stand here and debate semantics, or will you let me move these bodies?”

I bristle. “I deserve answers, Desmond. He killed Nikolai. If he had killed you, too, neither of us would be here to ‘debate semantics’.”

“You’re right.” His voice cracks. He resumes pulling the body as he says, “Half of it is underwater. They’re just as deadly under the sea as they are on land.”

“Not deadly enough for you,” I mutter.

“They didn’t send their best.” He pauses to wipe the blood trickling down his face on his sleeve. Nothing betrays that he detected the envy in my statement. “They only had one ward-maker and two nullifiers this time.”

I pause, a shiver sliding down my spine like ice. “You say that like you’ve fought them before.”

“And I almost didn’t walk away,” he confesses quietly.

I didn’t expect him to admit that he’s not invincible. What troubles me most is knowing this is just another nightmare he’s had to live through. The blazing fire and field of bodies around the faery door, fleeing from Avedorans as his allies fall behind him, and now I’m learning the fomorians have tried to kill him multiple times. It’s more horrors than I ever thought one man could carry.

“Wait,” I call out as Desmond heads inside.

He stops and raises a brow at me.

“What are we supposed to do now? They know where to find us. And I couldn’t save Nikolai. I couldn’t kill the fomorian. I’m not ready for this.” The admission hurts like poison on my tongue. I was supposed to be ready for anything if I joined the adventurers’ guild.

I never dared to imagine that I could be wrong.

Desmond’s head dips, his gaze unfocusing like he’s entrenched in his thoughts. “In a better world, no one would have to be ready to kill. In this one, I hoped that I could at least protect. . . everyone.”

His mask has a crack. This unsettled him badly enough that he’s failing to hide his true thoughts.

“Go inside and let Maeve help you,” he says, with the confidence of a command but the softness of a request. “I’ll check the bodies for clues before I bury them.”

I nod. There’s one more question I can’t shake off. “I thought Nikolai warded the hideout. How did they get in?”

He tenses, chest rising as he sucks in a tight breath. “The same reason Gashil knew about the concealed tunnel. Someone betrayed us.”

I stiffen, dread squeezing my stomach.

“With the vow, it couldn’t have been you,” he continues. “Besides, the fomorians have been after me since before we met. I trust Auri with my life. So that leaves. . .”

A lump settles in my throat. My eyes widen. “Someone in the guild.”

He nods, and it feels like the world turns upside down.