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“Cal, look at me,” he whispered. I tried to give them a moment, but we all stood too close not to hear, and frankly, he wasn’t trying to be discreet. “Remember, whatever happens today, you’re not alone. There are bonds you have that go beyond the Otherworld.”
“Quit it, Stef.” She blinked a dozen times, trying to maintain her composure. “What the hells has gotten into you talking like that?”
He tugged the mask off his face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I mean nothing by it. I just want you to never fear the gifts you have, nor fear who you are. You’re here because you’re powerful. Remember it.”
Gorm and Cuyler kept a pace in front of me, Stefan held tightly to the chain around Calista’s wrists. At the gates were four Borough guards and Ulv. The bleeding gatekeeper at the Court of Serpents. They’d been taken by Davorin’s glamour for some time if the chipped, blackened edges of their fingernails was a sign. Ulv had wolfish features, but today he looked practically rabid.
“Come to see our lord, little one?” Ulv snapped his teeth.
“No riddle, Ulv? Then open the gates. Let’s get on with this.”
The guards seemed half dead as they grunted and pulled open the heavy gates. Likely some were. The hold Davorin kept on the people he filled with his dark glamour grew too taxing mingled with their natural glamour. Once he drained them, they’d fall to the Otherworld.
Ulv drew his crooked nose close when I strode past. He inhaled and chuckled. “Brutal and sweet. How he likes them.”
“You’re despicable,” I hissed. “Sat back and watched them murder your lord. What did you watch them do to your lady?”
Ulv hesitated for half a breath before the glisten of his sharp teeth split in the dimming light. “Same thing he does to them all. Same thing he’ll do to you. I hear you’re his favorite.”
The guards laughed with such wretchedness I wanted to put them out of their misery now and open their throats. Gorm took hold of my arm, urging me forward.
From the trees more forest fae, armed in bronze short blades and furs atop their heads, folded onto the path. They hardly seemed to see us, but guarded our small procession with blades out.
The royal house of the Court of Stars was made of white granite flecked in crystal. When light struck the sides, morning or night, it glittered like silver. Torches lit the path, and across the lawns, bowers soaked in lilac added a soft beauty to the place. Gilded iron doors were left open and robbed what loveliness had once been here in a single breath.
Seated atop the dais in the center of the room (Celeste and Iris were like their predecessors and always sat where all eyes could find them) Davorin was perched on one high-backed chair. The other had been broken off the podium and still lay toppled on its side on the smooth stone floor.
Drums and harps, lutes and pan pipes played folksongs. A grand celebration, a trick of the battle lord to the people of the isles that he would bring peace and revels and life. What they had to realize was he would be the end.
Two women, dressed only from the waist down, writhed and danced over Davorin’s lap, his large palms lost beneath their skirts. The man was depraved as always, and his love of commanding bodies was his obsession.
Hopefully, his downfall.
The twisted part of this scene was the women did not seem to be corrupted by him at all. No, it seemed like they were enjoying themselves, bathing in the power of a dark fae who’d come with destruction in his wake.
The moment we crossed the threshold, the music ceased.
Davorin’s face centered between his two companions, and the cruel twist of his smile sent a shiver down my spine.
“Hello, little raven.” He pulled back his hands and shoved the women aside. One tumbled off the platform. He didn’t even look back as he took the five steps swiftly.
His features were handsome and sharp, truly a stunning fae, but his eyes were ugly. Deadened blue and filled with hatred. On his waist was a sword. On his way down the podium he gripped the hilt of another and had it hooked to his belt without taking his eyes off me.
The instant Davorin’s boots touched the floor, guards flanked him.
“I hope you’ve brought me what I asked.”
I scoffed. “Only if you’ve brought me something in return.”
Davorin came to a stop in front of Gorm and Cuyler. He met their eyes and chuckled. “Blood fae. Solid warriors. Brutal. An excellent choice for escorts, my love.”
“I am not your love.” I reached for the clasp of my cloak, removed it, and set it on the back of a chair. “I am here to make an official barter in war. A neutral ground.”
“You sound so dignified, so powerful.” Davorin stepped between Gorm and his son. To keep pretenses, they stepped aside and moved directly next to me. Davorin sneered down his nose. “It’s intoxicating to see you this way. What a queen you could make me.”
“I am a queen. Without you. Are we bartering or not? I want my star seer and you can have your unreliable fate worker.”
“Unreliable?” Davorin’s brows arched. In the back of the room Sofia slowly made her way forward. “What is this about my prize being unreliable?”
