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“I’ll make sure to keep Liv in her room while she’s here in Frelsi,” I admit. I’d been planning on taking Fenrir with me, and taking Fen meant taking Evan. If I left Evan here, Fen would stay with her. I wished I could put this trip off, but I doubted Liv being here in Frelsi was going to get any easier. “Liv is important to this war we find ourselves in. Duffy made that plain. I need to find that piece of her soul and shove it back in before you find Mia Day. As you intend to leave for Faery soon, I’ve got to get moving. And let’s not forget that Gray was willing to take her with him a few days ago. The king wanted to talk to her.”
“She hasn’t exactly been forthcoming,” Donovan admitted. “The two times I’ve tried to talk to her she’s managed to ignore me.”
“A little torture could fix that,” the queen murmured.
“I told you no.” I had to stand firm. “I don’t care what she’s done. I’m not torturing her.”
Not that she hadn’t accused me of it. I already mentioned the dog crate, right? She hadn’t been the only one in a crate. Puff the Magic Hellhound had been right beside her in his own crate, and sometimes he got gassy.
I turned to the king. “I need to know if you intend to start fighting like Myrddin. He does torture people. He manipulates and uses his skills to get people to give up their souls, so he has an army of soldiers with no real will of their own. That is not Liv, but she is in there somewhere. She was in there when she saved Sarah. She was in there when she didn’t kill me. I’m going to find my friend and then we’ll have taken a massive weapon from Myrddin. She knows everything. Mia might be his intended bride, but Liv has been close this whole time.”
“Yes, which is why I have a hard time believing she doesn’t know what he intends to do,” Devinshea argued.
“Liv was a member of the Profane.” Sasha was our expert when it came to the war we found ourselves in. He’d been the one who’d taken in Trent and the kids when they’d shown up on his doorstep. Well, Marcus’s doorstep, but it didn’t matter. In his human life, Sasha had been both a soldier and a spy. He’d taken those skills and used them to keep the resistance—and our kids—alive. “They were his strongest witches, but I do not know how closely he holds them. I suspect he would trust them with his life since he allows them close physically, but I don’t know if they would fully understand his plans. Much of our knowledge of what he is planning has come from the demon side. I actually think losing Nimue made him pull back significantly. The Profane were weapons. I’m not entirely sure they were confidantes.”
“Do we know if they were his lovers?” the queen asked. “After he beheaded Nimue, did he take the Profane to his bed? Although Nim probably wouldn’t have minded. She’s a sexually liberated woman. Goddess. Whatever she is. All I’m saying is he might be more talkative with his lovers.”
I didn’t like to think about Liv sleeping with Myrddin. It kind of made me want to throw up. It’s not that the dude is unattractive. He’s gorgeous. He’s also evil as fuck, and I know how much it kills Casey to consider the thought.
“I don’t know,” Sasha admitted. “I only know that at some point the Profane lived in the penthouse with Myrddin. I believe they acted as a form of security for him.”
“Do we know where he is now that someone blew up Ether?” I asked, trying to keep the irritation out of my tone.
Dev took a long drink of his orange juice, and I swear the man swiped away a tear. He’d loved that club.
“I’m sorry.” The queen sighed. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Donovan turned my way after giving Dev a supportive pat on the shoulder. “To answer your question, we’re not sure. We do have some solid intel, but we can’t pinpoint him. It’s one of the things I’d like to talk over with Olivia, if I could get her to talk at all.”
“I thought I might be able to hear some gossip while we’re on the Hell plane,” I explained. “If I learn anything, I’ll let you know. Are you ready to head out to Faery?”
“Yes,” Donovan replied.
“Absolutely not,” Dev said at the same time.
“It’s important to reestablish relationships with the Seelie and Unseelie.” Donovan was almost always the voice of reason. “Not only to keep them on our side in this war, but to help Rhys get used to his powers. We also think being back on a Faery plane will aid in healing Nimue. We’re picking her up from the lake later today.”
Nimue was used to hanging around in cold-ass lakes. After all, she was once known as the Lady of the Lake. When Myrddin’s thrall stone failed after more than a decade of working on the gorgeous sorceress, she’d been pissed that she’d basically been raped, and that was when her beheading happened. He’d kept her head in a box until the Hidden Ones found her and brought her back, and apparently cold water is great for regrowing a body.
Sometimes I’m happy all I have is a demon hand and some werewolf senses. The whole immortality thing seems super weird to me. If I get beheaded, I want to go straight to the afterlife. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Do not get shoved into a closet with all of the queen’s shoes.
“Well, I’d love anything you can find out about where Myrddin’s gone off to. He’s been awfully quiet the last couple of days, and I find that alarming,” Donovan admitted.
“Which is precisely why I should stay here.” Sasha’s eyes seemed brighter in the light of morning. Every now and then he would look down at the big gold ring on his left hand, the one that allowed the warrior to daywalk like an academic. Or a king.
“Lily has things under control,” Donovan argued. “I want you with us. No one will guard Rhys and Shy as well as you will. We might have to split up, and I would feel better if I didn’t have to choose between my wife and son. Lily is going to get everyone ready to move to the New Zealand camp. I know the ring solved your problem, but with more vampires coming to the camp now that I’ve returned, we need to stay in winter.”
One of the things the big Russian vamp and my werewolf hubby had done was establish two sanctuaries for the rebel forces. One in Iceland and one in New Zealand. They moved with the sun, always staying where winter kept the nights longer for the vampires. Though Frelsi was basically made of magic, it couldn’t stop the death that came with the daylight hours for normal vampires.
So they moved twice a year, chasing longer nights. That time was coming up. But they were forgetting something. “Trent and I will be back very quickly. You know how time works on the Hell plane. We could be there for weeks and show up a couple of hours later here. Don’t worry. Trent will take care of everything. We might even be back in time to say good-bye to you.”
“And we have to deal with the Fae time changes,” the queen said with a sigh. “It’s longer on this particular Fae plane. We’ll hopefully only be gone for a few days, but a month will pass here. Can’t Evan come with us? I know why it’s important for Lee to go with Kelsey, but I haven’t had time with my daughter.”
I felt for the queen. I had spent time with Fenrir. He’d come with me to the Under. “I can do the job with just Lee. I’m afraid if you take Evan, you’ll have to take Fenrir. He won’t let them be separated, but he’ll have my blessing to go with you.”
“I don’t think Evan wants to go to Faery,” Donovan said quietly. “I think she feels like she might figure some things out on the Hell plane. I’m going to ask you to let her go. She needs time.”
Tears shimmered in the queen’s eyes, and I knew this was killing her. She pushed back her chair and stepped away, Devinshea following her.
