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Holden snorted but held his tongue.
“Thanks,” I replied, stooping to pick up my sword, hesitant to touch it. “What happened with those…things?”
“The ellyllon? They responded to that. ” He pointed to my blade. “Anything tainted causes wildness in them. And in turn, the object responds unkindly to the ellyllon. ”
“Unkindly is one word for it. ” I wrapped my hand around the sword’s handle, trying to determine if it was safe to carry. With the insect-fae gone, the weapon had returned to normal. “Seems okay now,” I said, mostly to myself.
“Marvelous, marvelous. And who, pray, has the Lady Calliope sent us?”
“My name is Secre
t. ” I placed my palm over my chest after slinging the sword back over my shoulder.
“Ah. Not known, nor seen. Not meant to be known nor seen. Yet here you are, both seen and known. Delightful. ”
“Yeah…sure. This is Holden. ”
“A dead one. ”
I hazarded a glance at Holden in time to see him sneer. “I won’t be the only dead—”
“And this is Desmond,” I interjected, steering Ghillie’s attention to the werewolf.
“My my. A cabinet of curiosities, I dare say. Are they presents for the king? I don’t believe he has any wishes for a dead one and a wolf. ”
At the mention of the king I perked up considerably. “No, they are my companions. ”
Ghillie gave a knowing smirk, making me regret my choice of words. “Intrigue. ”
“You mentioned the king. Do you know where we can find him?”
“Why?” His brows knit together, and his countenance shifted from jovial to suspicious in a heartbeat. “If you are not delivering him gifts, what do you want with the king?”
“He can return something of mine that has been taken,” I replied. “Someone. ”
Ghillie looked from me to the men standing on either side of me. “The lady is greedy. ”
It was the second time in only a couple hours I’d been called greedy for my collection of men. I sighed and tried to ignore the implication. It was hard to be offended when someone called you out on your harem, regardless of whether or not I was sleeping with both of them.
“My friend has been brought here against her will,” I clarified.
“My darling lady,” Ghillie said, stooping into a low bow. “You must certainly know…nothing brought to the fae can be returned easily. Not even your friend. ”
“What do you mean?”
“I will take you to the king to state your case, and he will name his price. ”
“His price?”
“Yes, yes. It is time to start thinking…what is the life of your friend worth to you?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Keeping focused within the confines of a fairy reality was about as easy as being logical inside a dream. I knew I was here for a purpose, and Kellen’s future depended on me being sharp, but nothing felt real. It was hard to keep my eyes on the prize—so to speak—when all I wanted to do was stare at everything around us.
If New York was famous for being dazzling and marvelous—a sight to behold—then the fae world was the definition of awesome. Not in the overused, teenage-girl sense of the word, but in the literal sense of it striking awe into the beholder.
We followed Ghillie through the field and a thicket of trees until we found ourselves on a silver road, glittering brilliantly in the moonlight, like fresh fallen snow. On either side of the road were waving fields of flowers, their petals open wide to embrace the night. In the distance, like a dream or the backdrop of a Disney princess movie, was a pearl-white palace. It could have been plucked from a German mountain, with its spires and fortressed walls. But it looked like it had been dipped in sugar, dulling the violent edge of the old Gothic style.
