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“He’s been here for something like thirty years. Has the Queen really been sending Fae over for that long?”
Zara shakes her head. “I don’t know. All I do know is that when the Queen would come to the Duke’s manor on one of the holy nights, it meant bad things. Drudges would disappear. That night I came through the veil, they had every intention of using me as a sacrifice. There’s enough power in the death of another living being that on certain nights, it can momentarily bring down the veil. I got away, managing to tear a page from the Duke’s book as I went. I hope without it he won’t be able to perform the magic correctly and the veil will stay closed.”
Lena sucks in a sharp breath next to me. “Where did the veil open?”
“In the clearing. The same one I found you in that night when you were speaking with the dead.”
Lena opens her mouth to say something but then blows out a breath. “I have so many questions.”
“It’s what we love most about you.” Archer thinks he’s whispering, but he’s not.
“I think I found the page, the one you tore out of that book. I found it in the clearing the morning after the Ostara festival. I have it at my apartment.”
“That’s good. It’s not much use to us, but I’d hate for it to fall into the hands of one of the Fae.”
“Wait a minute,” Davis rumbles. “You came over the night of Ostara, but you weren't sacrificed.”
“Obviously.” Ruby rolls her eyes and Davis stares at her with an expressionless face. He looks back at me without commenting. “Someone did die here.”
Miri gasps. “You think your dad’s death opened up the veil?”
Davis shrugs. “He was killed on some kind of Fae rune. It was the night of Ostara.” Davis shrugs as if he’s not talking about his father at all, but a complete stranger.
“It’s possible,” Zara says, but she doesn’t look certain. I’m not sure any of us know a damn thing these days.
“One more question,” Lena says. Ezra huffs and Ruby snorts. “How could you see me in the astral plane that night? Do you have the same kind of magic as me?”
Zara hesitates, and I’m just about to put an end to all the questions when she starts to speak. “Most High Fae don’t have the ability to walk in the astral plane. Some can pass into the Shadow Realm, others are even powerful enough to travel long distances that way, but most of the High Fae are not pure enough to step foot in the astral plane.” Zara sucks in a deep breath and then goes on. “Some of the drudges with magic were taught how to access this plane.”
Zara’s breath is coming in rough and too fast. When she says taught, I read between the lines. I doubt she had much of a choice about her education related to the matter.
“They would send us into the plane to try to uncover the secrets of other Fae. I was stuck there once for three days.” She licks her lips and swallows thickly. I want to go get her some water, but there’s no way I’m leaving her side right now.
“I got a lot better over time about getting in and out.” Zara leans against my side, exhaustion riding her hard.
Lena opens her mouth to ask another question, but I cut her off. “That’s enough for tonight. These problems aren’t going anywhere. They can wait.”
I stand up and help Zara up from her seat.
“I’ll walk you home.”
“She can come back to my house with me, dumbass. You have to close up the bar.” Ruby throws her leg over the bench where she’s sitting, rolling her eyes at me as she does. I look down at Zara and find her staring up at me through tired eyes.
“Thank you for the party. You’re right. I had no idea what I was missing out on.” There’s a soft secret smile on her mouth and I want to tell Ruby to get bent so fucking badly. I have a feeling what she was missing out on wasn’t cake and helium balloons.
“My pleasure.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Ruby worms her way between the two of us, hooking her arm through Zara’s and tugging her away.
Archer slaps my back a few times, chuckling as he throws his arm over my shoulder. “I’m not going to say karma’s a bitch, but...”
