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“Tragedy and loss. Or rather, how to avoid them.”
Leah was still suspicious. “What would you know about that?”
“I spent years here and survived. That has to count for something, doesn’t it?’
“It means you have some questionable allies. I mean, the toothy girls didn’t bite you. There has to be a reason.”
The fae nodded. “Allies. You’re right. As to questionable, who knows? You can call me Iona.”
“Are you really a fae?” Leah was half expecting the woman to try to bite her at any moment. Of course asking wouldn’t solve anything. If she was a shapeshifter, she could lie.
“I’m an Ancient. Humans from Aluria call us white fae. I’m not from here, no.” She looked at Leah. “You don’t believe me, but it doesn’t matter. And you, deathbringer, do you have a name?”
It wasn’t as if this would make any difference, so she decided to be honest. “It’s Leah.”
“Incredible. I’m truly glad some of you survived. Your power… it can change everything. It’s the key, Leah. I had smelled your magic once, some time ago, but then it was lost. This time I was ready, alert, and I found you. Things like these, they almost make me believe in destiny, except… It’s hard to think that awful things were meant to happen, so I don’t know anymore. Or maybe some good things just find a way to show up in our path.” She pointed at the bed. “Sit. We have a lot to discuss.”
This was too calm. What if this nice lady was setting her up for the creepy voice? What if she was the creepy voice? Asking was stupid, but Leah couldn’t help herself. “Is this a trap?”
The fae stared at Leah, almost as if looking through her. “Are you afraid of the shapeshifters? The creatures from here? Or something else?”
“Who are you?”
“An Ancient, from Aluria. I came here by accident.” She raised an eyebrow. “The shapers, short for shapeshifters, are harmless, once you understand what they want. Now… there’s something else, isn’t it?”
Leah touched the krystal leaves in her necklace, knowing they wouldn’t bring her any solace or help. “What if there is?”
“Then it means you already know part of what I want to tell you. As much as what happened between our peoples has been horrible, there are more horrible things out there. These are the things we need to fight. As a deathbringer, you can do much more than just open a window to other realms, you can actually open doors.”
“You want something with my magic.” The dreadful image of those creatures attacking Umbraar came to Leah’s mind. It had to be something of that sort that this woman wanted.
Her strange, dark-red eyes were set on Leah. “It’s not me you have to be afraid of. I’m not this horrible thing, Leah. I want to fight it.”
“You want my magic to help you.”
“Yes.” The woman had a small smile, almost a little condescending. “I can see that you still don’t believe me.”
“Would you expect me to?”
“No. But listen, as a deathbringer, I assume you studied about the eleven realms, right?”
Leah wasn’t sure how to reply. If she confessed she knew nothing about deathbringing, would this fae hurt her? Kill her? She decided to take a guess. “You mean the levels in the hollow, right? Like this one?”
“Yes. Do you know what the eleventh realm is for?”
Leah swallowed. “I agreed to listen to you, not answer questions.”
The fae inhaled a sharp breath. “You don’t know then, I see.”
“No, I—”
“It’s fine.” She stared at Leah again, and it made her quite uncomfortable. “Did you study any deathbringing?”
“What difference does it make?”
Iona took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then stared at Leah. “If you can’t use your magic, then you’ll need to learn it, otherwise you won’t even be able to help yourself. If you don’t know anything about traveling in the hollow, much of what I was going to say won’t make sense. If you try to fool me and pretend you know magic you don’t, I’ll figure it out, Leah. And we’ll waste time we don’t have. I suggest making it fast. How much do you know?”
Leah sucked in a breath. How much was safe to tell this woman?
