Autumn Whispers (An Otherworld Novel) (26 page)

Camille and I ate, and my appetite flared. We wolfed down our food, once we got started. But halfway into the meal, I felt myself fading. Camille wearily put down the rest of her cookie.

I said it for both of us. “If we don’t get to bed, we’re going to keel over from exhaustion.”

She grunted. “I’m so tired I can’t even nod my head. It’s almost five in the morning and we’ve been to hell and back.”

Menolly kissed us both lightly on the forehead. “I will see you when I wake tonight.” She vanished down the stairs, shutting the heavy bookcase door behind her.

With Morio and Shade’s help, we made our way upstairs. Camille and Morio hived off to their rooms, and it seemed strange to see her only with the youkai. Her quartet was incomplete, and she looked fragile and shaken.

Shade and I finally reached the third floor.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it up that last set of steps. I can’t believe I ache so much.” Wearily, I dragged myself over to the bed and face-planted on it.

“How about I rub your back?” Shade tugged on my pajama top.

I let out a muffled grunt. “I’m too tired for sex.”

“I said rub your back, not fuck your pussy.” He laughed, low, and leaned down to land a kiss on my neck. “I love having sex with you, but woman if you think I’m going to push for a roll right now, when I
know
what you’ve been through, then you don’t think very highly of me.”

And so, he turned on soft music, and dimmed the lights, saying nothing, letting me decompress. As exhausted as I was, I couldn’t shut off the images in my brain, or the memories of facing Asteria. She’d been so beautiful and radiant, so insanely strong and dignified. It had been both an honor and a great heartbreak to be the one assigned to escort her through the veil. And then, there was the worry over Father. I didn’t want to let myself even go there, but I could feel the fear hanging like the proverbial sword over my head.

I’d thought myself cried out, but once again, tears trickled down my face; they were slow, and I didn’t bother wiping them away. I just let them absorb into the pillowcase, unwilling to deny them.

Shade tugged me out of my PJs and draped the sheet over my torso. He began with my feet, and I let out a little sigh as he worked the tension from my ankles, my toes, and up my calves. When he came to my back I was half asleep, but I could still feel his knuckles digging deep into the knots that had settled into my muscles.

And then he was rubbing my shoulders, stroking my skin, and I became aware that he was soothing my aura somehow, calming the stressed parts, feeding energy into the places where I was drained dry. I started to ask him a question, but found my tongue refusing to work, and I suddenly realized that I was in trance. Had he hypnotized me? Had he cast some sort of dragon or Stradolan magic on me? Whatever the case, I decided to give in and just go with it.

Another moment and I felt my breathing deepen, and then the blissful arms of Morpheus dragged me down and took me under in a wave so murky and frothing that there was no denial, no retreat. Only the blessed oblivion of darkness and sleep.

• • •

When I opened my eyes, it was close to noon. I wearily pushed myself to a sitting position. Shade was nowhere to be seen, and pale gray rain splattered in drops against the window. I slipped out from under the covers and shivered. The room was chilly, and I pulled a robe over my PJs and padded over to look outside. The sky shimmered, silver interspersed with thick black clouds. But this storm, it was natural, and I could feel the difference. It didn’t frighten me, this Seattle gloom. I pushed the window up to let the scent of rain-soaked cedar seep through the room as I quickly dressed. Olive-colored cargo pants, a V-neck sweater in mustard, and a wide brown leather belt, and a matching pair of brown leather boots finished the outfit. By the time I brushed my hair and teeth, I was starting to feel like I might make it through the afternoon in one piece, without having another meltdown.

As I headed down the stairs, Camille came out of her room. She was wearing a purple satin low-cut vintage dress and over it, a black waist cincher. A pair of black chunky-heeled granny boots paired nicely with the outfit, but one glance at her and I knew we’d both changed. There was a haunted look in her eyes that mirrored the way I felt.

We headed downstairs, saying little. Hanna met us at the foot of the stairs. “Sharah, she has had her baby. She’s asking that you come to the station as soon as possible. She says it’s very important. And Mr. Chase, he’s very upset. He’s waiting for you in the living room.”

Chase was here instead of by Sharah’s side? Fuck. What had happened now? Before we even thought of food, Camille and I turned toward the living room. There, we saw Chase pacing.

“What’s going on, dude? How are Sharah and the baby?” I slipped over to his side and gave him a quick hug, but it was obvious how tense he was—his back was stiff and he looked pissed out of his mind.

“I need your help! I can’t stop them, can I? They said I have no choice—and that she has no choice. Like fucking hell!” He was babbling.

Camille held up her hand. “Slow down and tell us what happened. Start at the beginning, and first things first: are Sharah and the baby all right?”

He stood there, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Sharah is all right—it was a hard labor, but she’s okay. And our daughter is fine.” He paused, and the look that crossed his face was priceless. But the next minute, it was replaced by a black cloud. “But that fucking Trenyth—I’d like to wring his neck.”

“What the hell happened?” And then, I knew—or at least I suspected. “She’s . . . they want her to return to Elqaneve, don’t they?”

“Like hell she’s going to. After what went down there yesterday?” He seemed to lose steam and dropped onto the sofa, hands on his knees as he stared ahead with a bleak look. “Trenyth came to the hospital this morning. He said she must return. She’s the only living heir and she has to take the throne.”

“Sharah is going to become Queen of Kelvashan? What about the baby? And you?” I had thought this might happen.

“They won’t let me come with her. And . . . they won’t let her bring the baby. They said that she’ll have to leave her with me, here. Because the Elfin Queen cannot have a half-breed child at the Court.” His voice was thick with rage and I thought he was about to burst a blood vessel. “Even though she’s a newborn, they’re intent on separating our family.”

“Fuck. The. Elves.” Camille whirled and marched toward the table. She grabbed her keys and purse. “We’ll grab lunch when we’re out. Meet you at headquarters, dude. And we’ll do everything we can to put a stop to this.”

Although I didn’t share her optimism, I followed her to the door, stopping long enough to snag a jacket and my backpack. Chase, a grateful look in his eyes, followed us out to his car. As he headed out of the driveway, Camille and I followed him.

“Fuck, we didn’t get a chance to check in on Iris,” she said, glaring at the rain. The water ran down in sheets, glazing the window as the wipers washed it to the side. “I can’t believe we didn’t stop in to say hi to her. She’s going to think we forgot all about her!” She slapped the steering wheel with one hand.

She sounded so upset that I knew she was triggering off last night. “Iris won’t think anything of the sort. You know Hanna will have told her about what’s happening—she’s a smart cookie.”

Camille let out a short sigh. “I know. I know. I’m just . . . this is so fucked. I know we have to focus on what’s going on here, on what we’ve promised to do, but all I can see is the heart of that storm. It was evil . . . purely maleficent, and the feeling—the energy of it got under my skin. I can’t shake it. Somehow, it hooked into my aura and I can feel it with me, around me, even though I know it’s not.”

There was nothing I could say to that. Instead, I stared at Chase’s car in front of us. “Did he say what they named their daughter?”

“I don’t think so. I think he was so upset he couldn’t think about anything except protecting Sharah. And what the fuck, anyway? Not letting Sharah take her baby with her? I guess I can see how they would forbid Sharah to bring Chase as her consort, though that’s going over like a lead balloon, I can imagine. But to abandon her child? What the hell is she supposed to do?”

“You tell me. Elqaneve . . . Kelvashan as a whole . . . they are steeped in antiquity. They are far more proper than the Fae, and they change only in slow, slow stages. I can’t imagine Trenyth being happy to deliver this news. Maybe we can talk some sense into him.”

The road sped by in a watery blur as the rain pounded down. Neither Camille nor I felt much like talking, though I did mention briefly to her that we might want to interview Violet’s boyfriend—Tanne Baum. She giggled then, and I couldn’t help but join her. Our mother had sung “O Tannebaum” to us over and over when we were little, and even though I knew it was juvenile, the thought of a grown man—one of the woodland Fae at that—being named after a Christmas tree seemed to spark off a much needed tension release.

As we came to the FH-CSI and pulled into the parking lot, Chase was already bounding up to the doors. We followed him through, for once hurrying to keep up with
him
. He slammed through the doors, then into the medic unit, with us hot on his heels. There, Mallen was arguing with Trenyth, while a group of guards kept watch. They saw Chase and stiffened into what I recognized as a battle stance.

I leaped forward, grabbing Chase by the arm and swinging him around. “Dude, if you engage them in this mood, they won’t think twice about taking you down, and if they take you down, all the Nectar of Life in the world won’t help you. You’ll be dead and gone. You capiche?”

He glared at me, but stopped in his tracks. “You’d better do something, then, before I do.”

“We’ll do what we can. No promises. We have no control over the Elfin government, you know. We have a treaty with them—Y’Elestrial does, but there’s nothing covering this sort of mess. That, I can guarantee you.” I pointed to the doors. “Go now. Sit in your office and talk to Yugi while we try to sort out this matter.”

He grumbled, cursing a blue streak under his breath, but then he turned and stomped out to go talk to his second-in-command. As the door closed behind him, I turned around to find Camille already in an argument with Trenyth.

“How the fuck can you do this?” Her hands on her hips, she leaned toward him. “Sharah just had a baby.
Today
. Do you understand? And Chase is that child’s father.”

Trenyth folded his arms. No need to read body language on that stance. “While I value and appreciate your input, and your loyalty for your friend, there’s nothing you can say to change this matter. Understand: by morning light, the entire land of Kelvashan lies in ruins. Elqaneve has been flattened, and still the storm moves on, crossing our land as it strikes village after village. The forests are burning. The dead number in the tens of thousands. We are desolate—and there is a good chance that, unless enough soldiers from other lands arrive, the goblins who are on the march to our city gates will take our lands. Within one night, we have become a dying race.”

Camille fell silent.

I shuddered. “Tell us, then, why do you need Sharah there? Isn’t that going to put her in danger?”

He frowned, staring at the floor. “Yes, of course it will. But you must understand that the people need someone to look up to and to lead them. I am a puppet, I was Queen Asteria’s right hand, but I am not the leader they long for. Sharah—even if she doesn’t have the experience the Queen did—she has the blood of royalty flowing in her veins. Our people will believe in her. They will follow her, and they will take heart enough to fight the coming darkness.”

“But why can’t she take her baby? And why not Chase?” Camille pleaded with him, but the Elfin advisor simply shook his head.

“She cannot bring a half-breed into Court. These are not my choices, girls. I would not see a problem with it, but this is the way of our people and there has been so much disruption in the past twenty-four hours, that one more shift will dishearten them further. If Sharah returns now, we can deal with the impact of her child later, once things are settled. This does not have to be forever. Merely until our people are free of the coming threat. We may not have a palace, but we can have a Queen again.”

“I will do it.” Sharah’s voice came from the door. I jerked around to see her, sitting in a wheelchair, her face a tangle of emotions.

“What? But what about—?” I stared at her, but then I let my words drift off. Her gaze was filled with enough anger and loss already, without me adding to it. And she was afraid—I could see that.

Another emotion was wrapped up there, one that I—and especially Camille—understood all too well.
Duty
. She had a duty to her people. To her aunt. To her country and land. We had grown up the daughters of a guardsman, and the code of honor, of fulfilling one’s obligations, had been drilled into us from the time we could barely talk. Sharah knew her duty, and if it meant giving up that which was most precious to her, she would do so. For the good of her people. For the good of her land.

“Who will take care of your child?” I walked over and knelt down beside her.

“Trenyth, send a wet nurse through, and a nanny. They will stay with Chase and our child. Also, guards. I do not want my family left unattended.” As she struggled to stand, wincing, Trenyth knelt at her feet.