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“Wh-where are we now? Maybe we sh-should just g-go?” Jazz stuttered with the cold. She was pretty sure her lips were going numb. It was below freezing, way below, and she wasn’t certain she could take much more. She could see Trevor was trying to get her inside, so she didn’t want to burden him by telling him her entire body felt as though she were suffering from frostbite.
“We have to get inside—it is the only place you will be safe from them. They cannot enter this retreat, as it belongs to Dark King’s consort, Crystal, and is warded specifically against them.”
“Okay,” Jazz agreed. “But I don’t see a way in. Maybe it is warded against us as well? Maybe we should just go check out the Prison Walls. M-maybe it is warmer there.”
He eyed her suddenly and took her into his arms. “Are you cold, Jazmine Decker?” He breathed a soft, warm air all around her and said, “There, sweet. That should keep you more comfortable for a few minutes.”
“Wow, it’s like having my own instant sauna,” she said, impressed.
He frowned, once again deep in thought, and mumbled, “Breslyn and my brother, Danté, will locate the cracks in the wall from the outside and seal them. I have to find a way to distract the Unseelie Royals, which, thus far, I believe we have done.”
“When was that discussed?”
“It wasn’t discussed.” He grinned. “The queen mind-linked with me before we entered the portal.”
“Huh,” she said to this.
He glanced at her. “You shouldn’t be here, but you did serve to keep their minds off the walls. Hopefully they will be busy searching for us and we will be inside by the time they realize we have found a way into the retreat.”
“See, I am an excellent distraction,” she offered.
He pulled a face at her. “The only advantage I have is that they think I am here to kill them, so they will center their efforts on locating me. You are a distraction for me as well as for them.” He touched her nose. “Keeping you alive will be no easy task, because you are mortal, and in spite of the pendant and Aaibhe’s spell, I don’t like that you can so easily be destroyed.”
“Hey, don’t make so little of me.”
“You don’t understand, do you? It is the queen’s directive that I accomplish my mission without killing any of the Dark King’s Royal sons. I, however, would like to find a reason to kill them—one that cannot be disputed. You are turning out to be that reason, but there will be consequences.”
Jazz decided to change the subject. “Why didn’t the queen tell you how to get inside? Seems like an important detail, huh?”
“It forever changes. Those who wish to enter are judged worthy or not. That is all she was able to tell me.”
?
?Huh,” said Jazz consideringly. “Well, didn’t she have any idea what would be worthy?”
“No, for each of us it is different. The way is different for each of us …”
“What does that mean, really?”
“It means that anyone desirous of entering must I suppose pass some kind of test.”
“You mean we each have to prove ourselves. You mean it might let you in but not me? Not liking this.”
“Something like that, and I’m not liking it much either.” She watched him as he looked around at the glass structure and added, “This is oddly shaped … look at its protruding angles. It makes the place look like an impenetrable ice statue.
“What now?”
“I’ll use arcane Danu and see if I can telepathically communicate with the structure. It is a living thing … it should respond to my status as a Royal Prince of the House of Lugh.”
Nothing.
Jazz snickered and said, “It wasn’t impressed with your royalty.” However, at that moment she heard something, and not with her Fios senses but with her human senses, which meant it was something close by. She turned around. Her mouth dropped open, and she gasped.
Charging towards them, looking absolutely magnificent and just as terrifying, was a huge, tawny, horridly menacing creature. The closest description she could give was that it was like a lion, only warped, and this thing was fifteen feet in height and ten feet wide. Something had gone wrong when it had been created; the hulking thing was misshapen and adulterated. Its fangs dripped yellow saliva as it charged towards them, and Jazz realized this thing wasn’t just hungry—it was starving.
Ordinarily, she would have felt compassion for it and looked to feed it, but the problem here was that she was afraid it had already found food: her.
It was immortal and starving—forever hungry in a world where food was limited, which meant it was determined. Oh, yeah, she thought, it looked determined!
