changeling chronicles 03 - faerie realm (3 page)

My own magic reacted, to my alarm. Blue light crept up both my arms, and from the way the two half-faerie guards stiffened, their hands going to their weapons, I knew they’d noticed. Crap.

One waved a hand, however, and the shimmering barrier dissolved. Vance and I followed them to the wooden door. I scanned the curtained-off window but didn’t see movement. The two-storey stone cottage gave me a fairy tale vibe which made my skin prickle, even with Vance at my side.

“Chief!” shouted the silver-haired guard, rapping on the door. “Mage Lord’s here to see you.”

The door opened, and I stared into the unexpectedly wide hallway. The interior looked more like the mages’ headquarters than the tiny house I’d seen on the outside. Goddamn reality-distorting faeries.

The half-faerie Chief strode out of a side door into the entrance hall to meet us. Last I’d seen of him—aside from his spectral form—he’d been nearly dead. Now, even at full power, he was far from the scariest faerie I’d seen. The fact that he was hardly taller than me made him unintimidating even with the green threads of magic swirling around his staff and the elaborately carved gold and green design of his crown. His eyes were a watery green colour, too. Now he wasn’t covered in dirt or bleeding, his inhuman handsomeness was evident, but I had zero interest in his too-pretty face or silky dark hair.

“Mage Lord,” he said, by way of a greeting. His eyes narrowed when they passed over me. “Leave us,” he told the guards. With an imperious gesture, he beckoned Vance and me into an office, carpeted in what looked like actual grass and decorated with beds of blooming plants. The entrance hall was, too, actually, now I’d got over the shock of its size. The polished wooden floor reflected a ceiling overhung with vines and other dangling plants, with piskies nesting in it. My hand automatically jumped to my blade, but the Chief had already turned his back and headed into the office.

I positioned myself in the room’s centre in front of the oak desk, which resembled the stump of a dead tree. The smell of decay didn’t touch this place, where bright yellow and purple flowers exploded from their beds along the back wall. I stood stiffly, casting a wary glance around and wishing this meeting would pass as quickly as humanly possible.

I’d wondered how the half-faeries ran things around here. The Chief had let the Trials go on despite their illegal nature, even after Vance’s warnings about the serum being offered as a prize to the winner. Avakis’s son Calder had turned out to be behind the whole scheme, test-driving a drug that drove half-bloods into a killing frenzy. After several people had been killed, including another Mage Lord, my involvement in the Trials had spurred Calder to put his plan into motion. He’d trapped every half-faerie in the city he could reach under his spell.

The Chief was supposed to save everyone. Instead, he’d been stuck behind the veil as his body fought against the wound inflicted by a vicious faerie monster. With him incapacitated, I’d been forced to speak the Invocation to seal Calder’s magic myself, and damn near died in the process.

From his expression, the Chief had no intention of thanking me for it. I returned the favour with my best pissed-off mercenary glare.

“Have you recovered from your injuries?” I asked.

Anger passed over the Chief’s face. “No thanks to you. You left me to die.”

“I thought you
were
dead,” I cut in before Vance could speak. “We had to stop Calder, because you decided not to listen to our warnings.”

“Enough,” said the Chief. “You people deal in lies—”

“Like you’re the paragon of truthfulness,” I said. “Have you told them about the Grey Vale yet?”

His silence said it all. I’d figured he wouldn’t want to deal with the fallout of telling the other half-bloods the truth. Both Velkas and Avakis were from the Grey Vale, where power ruled and immortality meant fighting for your life at every step. I’d barely escaped alive, and certainly not unscathed. Most faeries didn’t know about the place unless they’d been exiled there.

“They’ll figure it out eventually,” I said. “Or someone’ll fool them again. Calder wasn’t the first. Does the name Velkas mean anything to you?”

His furious expression barely stirred. “The name rings a bell.”

“Exiled Sidhe lord. Probably Calder’s mentor. He was kicked out of Summer, and decided it’d be fun to open the veil again.”

“It hasn’t escaped my attention that both times the veil has opened,
you’ve
been at the centre.”

“Because I closed the damn thing.” Blue swirls of magic danced off my skin in response to my anger. “You have some nerve accusing me. Besides, I’m not here to talk about that.”

Vance stepped forward. “We’re here because a faerie told us that Summer is losing its magic. She claimed the heart of a Great Oak had been stolen, and brought here to this realm.”

The Chief’s mouth opened, fury giving way to shock. “What?”

“It’s true,” I said. “I’m bound by oath to find out what happened. Unfortunately.”

“You’re what? How can you…” His voice rose, eyes flashing a deeper green. “You know things humans are not supposed to. Things restricted to our kind. You are not one of us.”

“I don’t want to be. I’m as human as they go, but I took Avakis’s magic when I killed him, and I’m not sorry for it. Be glad you don’t know who
he
is.”

The Chief shook his head. “You’re lying. Nobody could have brought a heart of a tree from Faerie here.”

“Whether it’s true or not, Ivy is bound by a promise to find out what happened,” said Vance. “Even if it doesn’t exist, the Lady of the Tree believes it does.”

“Oh, her? She left her sanity behind in Faerie.” He tapped the staff dismissively.

“Yeah, I figured,” I said. “But I need to find out what happened otherwise I’ll die, so I kinda have to take her seriously.”

“You think I care for the lives of mortals?”

“You
are
one,” I said, fury bubbling to the surface. “Pull your head out your ass and accept you aren’t in Faerie, however much you’d like to pretend you are.”

The Chief slammed the heel of his staff into the ground, causing the earthen floor to ripple. “Be quiet,” he hissed, his eyes narrowing to slits. “You haven’t the right to come in here and talk to me like—”

“She does,” said Vance, “because, as Mage Lord, I have appointed her my assistant.”

I did my best not to show my surprise. “What he said. Also, I saved all your hides, in case you’ve forgotten. You owe me information.”

“Get out,” snarled the Chief. “You’ll get your information, if and when I have it, but you’ll never set foot in here again.”

In response to his words, the floor opened underneath our feet. I choked on a yell, my feet kicking, arms flailing. A second later, my feet hit the path outside the cottage. Bitterly cold wind struck me in the face, and I staggered against Vance.

“Damn,” I said. “Why not just show us the door?”

CHAPTER THREE

“Take your magic elsewhere,” shouted the Chief from the house’s doorway. The two guards, who must have been waiting outside, walked towards us, swords unsheathed.

“We’re to escort you from our territory,” said the silver-haired guy. The armoured girl hung back, a wary look on her face. She kept several steps behind, like she expected us to attack them. From the way the temperature dropped, Vance was pissed.

“We can see ourselves out, thanks,” I said to the silver-haired guard. “Tell your boss that if any of you start losing your magic, he’s to blame.”

I turned my back on both of them and looked at Vance instead. His grey eyes had turned cold, and the air crackled with the magic he couldn’t unleash here without bringing all the half-faeries down on us. I’d seen him unrestrained before, but his expression… bothered me. I wasn’t entirely sure why. The half-faerie Chief was an irritating little shit who’d deserve to lose his magic.

I managed to hold my tongue all the way to the gate. Once outside the hedge, I let out a breath, calling the half-faerie Chief all the unsavoury names I’d wanted to there in his territory. Vance watched me, saying nothing.

“The incompetent fuckwit,” I finished. “If Summer loses all their magic, they can’t come crying to me. My flat has an iron shield on it, anyway.”

“Good,” muttered Vance. “I confess I expected Chieftain Taive to be more accommodating this time.”

“Apparently nearly dying didn’t give him a clue.” And speaking of dying… the bloody vow. We were back at square one again. “Disregarding the Chief, do you know anyone else who might be able to track down a talisman? Like… someone related to a high-born faerie from Summer?”

“The half-faeries don’t all know their parentage,” said Vance. “Particularly those living with their human families. The Chief might know, but he’s not required by law to disclose the histories of people living on his territory.”

“Dammit. We’re at a dead end. Unless we find Calder’s allies.” I paused. “I know most of them died, and some went batshit under the influence of the serum. But Calder can’t have lived here all his life and told nobody who he really was. He boasted about his heritage all the time.”

Vance nodded. “Yes. I thought so. But the others don’t know Avakis was a lord of the Grey Vale.”

“True.” I blew out a breath, frustrated. “The blasted Lady probably wants me to fail.”

“Do you think he’s right?” asked Vance. “About the Lady being a liar?”

“Maybe. She twists words, like she did when she sent us into that factory. I can’t think how she might have done it this time, though. She said that someone brought the talisman into this realm. She didn’t say whether they still had it.”

“Or its location,” said Vance. “There are surprisingly few hiding places for magical artefacts, and I know almost all of them.” His phone appeared in his hand, and annoyance flashed across his face. “The other Mage Lords are requesting a meeting. I have to go.”

“What time is it?” I leaned over to look at his phone, but it disappeared.

“One o’clock. As your boss, I’m giving you the rest of the day off.”

“Thanks for reminding me.”

He tilted his head. “You’d rather forget I’m your boss?” His lips brushed mine. I let his subtly charged scent wash over me, a combination of clean air and muskiness, tinged with the echo of the power he could conjure up with a single hand.

“Pretty sure you aren’t supposed to do this to your employee,” I mumbled, then kissed him properly. My fingers dug into his shoulders, feeling the corded strength under his thick coat.

The air whipped around us, and the next thing I knew, we stood on my doorstep.

“Unfortunately,” he said, breaking off the kiss, “I really do need to be at this meeting. I’ll call you in a couple of hours, to see if we’re still on for tonight.”

Oh, I’m there.
“I’ll tell Isabel about those tracking spells.”

“Do that. And please try to stay out of trouble.”

“Can’t make any promises.”

He vanished. I all but skipped into the flat, startling Isabel on the way out. Her long black coat and the array of charms she wore told me she was on the way to a coven meeting.

“Whoa,” she said. “Someone’s happy. So the faeries didn’t ruin your day?”

Damn. There went my good mood. “Yes. Actually, they did. In an epic way.”

Isabel sighed. “Oh, boy. Lucky I’m running early. Tell me.”

I ran through what had happened since I’d last seen her—a lot. Firstly, I’d told Vance that Calder’s ghost had threatened to kill us. Then he’d asked me on a date, only to be interrupted by the Lady’s spell. By the time I got to the part about the half-faerie Chief throwing us out, Isabel was shaking her head. “I should put a trapping circle around the flat to keep you out of trouble, shouldn’t I?”

“Trouble’s found us here before,” I reminded her. On cue, a crashing noise from upstairs shook the ceiling. The Cavanaughs’ young son, George, had probably broken something again.

“Fair point.” Isabel shook her head. “So if you don’t help this mad old Faerie find this missing… heart, whatever it is, you’ll
die?”

“About right.” I headed to the kitchen to scrounge some food, trying not to let Isabel’s freaked-out expression rattle me. I’d made a vow, I’d just have to find another way to keep it. I threw a sandwich together and returned to the living room to find Isabel sweeping up bits of discarded spell. She flashed me a concerned look.

“Are you not
slightly
worried? I know you walked over the veil into Death the other day, but a faerie’s vow is pretty airtight.” She swept another batch of spell fragments up.

“Yeah, enough to defy any other law.” I referred to how I’d challenged Avakis to a duel via the rules of Faerie combat based on a vow that I’d get to escape the faerie realm if I won. When I’d slit his throat with his own sword, the vow had caused his magic to transfer over to me, because the only way home was to use his magic and open a shortcut across the veil. Since then, I rarely used the ability and didn’t plan to try again any time soon. Even if a part of me was curious as hell what my real potential was.

“Got it.” Isabel tipped the pieces of spell into the bin. “I’ll ask the coven if they’ve seen anything odd. A magical talisman wouldn’t go unnoticed. Unless…” Her gaze drifted over to the map peeking out from underneath a stack of elastic-band-shaped spells on the side table.

“…they hid it on the Ley Line,” I finished. “Or outside the city, maybe. The Lady didn’t specify
where
in this realm. For all I know, they flew to Australia with it.”

“Hope not,” said Isabel. “Unless you get Vance to take you with him.”

“His ability only reaches fifteen feet or so. Australia’s a bit of a stretch.”

“You’d think she’d have been more specific.”