From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (48 page)

I never lose. And I have never been
deceived.

First time for everything.
My words
were strong, but I wasn’t. The magnetic pulse drew me to it, and my
will bent under the goblin metal. Then Ryker’s voice echoed in my
head, his image standing strong at the forefront of my mind, like
the guardian keeping the stone at bay. I clung to him, his strength
pushing me up the stairs.

Sweat poured down my face, my lip bloody from
biting it. I cried and collapsed every other step, but I kept
pushing. The thoughts of Lexie, Croygen, Annabeth, Kate, and Sprig
all helped, but there was one face driving my legs, forcing me to
take another step.

Ryker stood over me on the steps, staring
down.
Get up. Push harder, human. You do not give up. You are a
survivor.
Oh hell. I was hallucinating now. And Ryker was
channeling a boot-camp instructor.

“I’m trying…” I whimpered. My soul felt like
it was being torn into pieces. I could barely push my knees up the
steps.

Try harder. I will not let you give up. Do
it for your sister. For Annabeth. Sprig…even the fucking pirate
needs you. I need you.
A pained expression came over his face.
No matter what happens. I’m always with you.

“What are you talking about?” Cold dread
plummeted into my stomach as my skin tingled with heat.

You know I will fight to the ends of the
earth to get to you if I can…

My gut sensed the goodbye in his tone. The
unsaid words. “Don’t you dare say goodbye! You want me to fight?
You fight too! Find me, Viking. Don’t you dare leave me.”

The image of Ryker faded away.
I love you,
human. Always have. Even when I didn’t know it.

“Ryker!” I screamed.

“Zoey? Honey, stay with us.” Kate’s face was
in front of mine, bending over me on the stairs. Ryker was gone.
“You can do it. We’re almost there.”

She helped me continue up the narrow steps.
Red faced and sweaty with blood still flowing from her head, she
barely kept upright herself. My gaze wandered to Annabeth. She
looked like a skeleton, so pale and sickly, her steps faltering,
but she kept Sprig close to her chest.

I thought I was hallucinating again when Kate
said, “We made it.”

“What?”

“Come on, a few more steps.” She grunted,
stuffing her shoulder under me, trying to get me on my feet. We
took the last steps together, pushing through a door, moving off
the metal to concrete.

Relief flooded my body, and I almost burst
into tears with happiness. I bent over, sucking in deeply. Several
moments passed before I noticed the surroundings. We were in an
underground corridor. I knew exactly where I was, having used this
tunnel to escape DMG last time.

Annabeth stumbled toward me, her arms wrapped
around the tiny furball.

“Hey, buddy.” I scooped him up. He was awake,
but I could see the metal had also drained his energy. His limbs
hung limply. He nuzzled deeper into my arms.

Part of me was about to hand him back to
Annabeth. The treasure he carried in his honey pack hummed against
my skin. My teeth clenched, fighting back the siren song.

Annabeth’s head fell forward on my shoulder.
“I still can’t believe you came for me.”

“Of course I would.” I rubbed her arm. It was
so skinny and feeble, like the rest of her.

“Why?” She leaned back to see my face. “You
barely know me.”

“For one, I never break promises.” Especially
now. “Second, we may not have spent a lot of time together, but
from the moment I met you, I knew you were family. And I fight for
my family.”

“And you’re mine.” Tears wiggled from her
eyes, her irises gleaming with love. I kissed her forehead.

“Thank you, Zoey.” Kate stepped up to us, her
face contorted, like she struggled with her words. “I’m not sure I
deserve it, but thank you for saving my life. For coming back for
me.”

“Of course you deserve it.”

“I’ve done so much bad in my past. Lost my
way.”

“You found it again. Dunn told me everything.
I know why you did it. And I am so grateful for the help you gave
me here even when your daughter and granddaughter were at
risk.”

Kate’s hand came up to my face. “They are my
blood, but I always thought of you and Daniel like that too. He
would have wanted me to protect you. And there was no way I wasn’t
going to do everything in my power to help you. He’d be so proud of
you, Zoey.”

A soft smile curved my mouth. “Daniel would
be proud of both of us.” I gave her a hug, trying not to squeeze
Sprig, but clearly not doing a good job because he grunted and
climbed underneath my tangled, bloodstained hair, hugging my neck.
The stone thumped like a heartbeat against my ear, fury knocking
into my skin.
Stay strong, Zoey.

“Thank you, both of you.” I wrapped my arms
around Annabeth and Kate in a group hug, so happy we all survived
and for everything they did down there. “We can talk later. I need
to see if everyone else is all right.”

####

Battle worn, the three of us hobbled for the
exit to the street level. When I opened the door to the glow of
morning light, a few tears escaped. The warm rays felt like a
rebirth. A new beginning.

I did it. I ended Rapava. He was dead.

No.
We
all did it.

The thought of my loved ones moved me quicker
out onto the street than I thought myself capable.

I expected to see fire engines and police
cars, but there was nothing like that. A dusting of dead bodies
scattered down the lane and around the building. The fight was over
up here also, and the bodies on the ground declared the fae were
the winners.

With the gunshots and screaming you’d think
someone nearby would have heard and called the cops. But I could
only hear the chirping of birds waking up and the groans of hurt
people mulling around the space. Groups of fae dressed in gray
scrubs along with some of Lars’s men clumped around, healing
themselves. There were a few men in lab coats sprawled dead on the
ground, but not as many as I feared. I had expected a lot more
mayhem with blood running into the gutters. It was probably
painting the walls and floors inside, hidden behind the doors of
the building. Those lives could be thought of later, my mind was on
the people I cared about.

“Ryker? Croygen? Lexie?” I bellowed, scanning
the crowd. Kate walked with Annabeth as I rushed forward.

“Ms. Daniels,” a deep voice said, his voice a
mix of velvet and death. My stomach locked, and I whirled around to
face the Unseelie King. Sprig mumbled under his breath, inching
deeper into my knotted hair.

Decked out in his suit, he appeared pristine
and unbelievably handsome. Goran walked behind him as usual. His
clothes and hair were at least rumpled as if he had been fighting.
Lars probably sat in his car having a drink as he watched the
battle like it was a TV show.

“You look like you’ve been through hell.”
Lars’s yellow-green eyes drifted over me.

“You could say that.”

“I am pleased you survived.”

Most likely, he was only glad because of the
stone.

“I believe you have something of mine?”

Goran took a step, a box in his hand. He
lifted the lid, sticking it out.

“Sprig?” I nudged the figure strapped in fear
to my neck. He took tentative steps out of my dirty, matted mane
and crawled down my arm. He took off the backpack and opened the
top, dumping it out over the box.

Pam and my underwear fell out along with the
rock into the chest. Sprig squeaked, reaching back for Pam and the
cape.

Goran quickly snapped the lid closed and drew
it back.

“No!” Sprig cried, then turned to me, his
eyes wide and full of sadness. “B-but…Pam? I just got her
back.”

Lars took a step forward, his face showing
nothing, then looked at the box. He lifted the lid slowly, and his
long fingers dipped into the case. They brushed the stone and his
eyes turned black, his face sharpening. I felt a punch of power to
my chest, my hand pulsing like a Bat-Signal.

The stone slammed pressure into my head,
bending me over, flashing image after image of a bloodstained
field. A battle. Earth burning. Crumbling. The walls between the
Otherworld and Earth disintegrating. A beautiful woman with bright
red hair and a cruel smile. A gorgeous, dark-haired girl with
different-colored eyes. A tiny, pretty brunette holding a sword.
Death, blood, screaming.

Holy shit.

Lars grunted, shoving his power back at it.
My brain felt like it might pop. I cried out as another wave of
magic collided against the other. Then it burst, like fireworks in
my brain, splintering down my arm to my palm. The pressure and
images seeped out of me like a bucket with a hole. I drew my hand
to my chest, my gaze darting up to the King.

“It’s angry with you.” Lars licked his lips,
his features returning to normal. “Very angry.”

I continued to huff as if I had run a
marathon, the vibrant images fading from memory.

“What?” He tilted his head.

“I-I…saw…” My mouth wouldn’t work.

“What did you see?” His gaze intense, his
voice almost demanding.

I tried several times before I waggled my
head. “I don’t know. War. I think.” I straightened.

Lars watched me, his stare drilling into me
before it drifted to the stuffed animal between his fingers. He
lifted Pam slowly from the container with one hand. His eyebrow
hitched as he picked up the underwear with the other hand. Damn.
The King of the Dark was holding my underwear.

“I think this is yours.” He placed Pam and
the cape delicately in Sprig’s hands, acting as if the strange
moment with the stone never happened. “She is a lucky girl.”

My jaw fell open. The Unseelie King just
politely returned a stuffed goat and my undergarments to my
sprite-monkey and acted like it was normal, treating Pam like she
was real.
What. The. Hell?

“Thank you.” Sprig hugged his arms around
Pam, looping the undies around his neck before running up to my
shoulder.

Lars’s intense gaze landed back on me. “I
thank you, Zoey. You are an unbelievable young lady. Maybe our
paths will cross again.”

“Sorry, no offense, but I hope the fuck not.”
Stupid Zoey, why did I always have to open my mouth?

However, he just tipped his head back and
started to laugh, which made me even more nervous. He shook his
head. “You two really would get along. Be the undoing of every male
who crossed your paths.”

“Get along with who?”

He just smiled, giving Goran a nod. The man
reacted instantly and moved to the car, the box in his hand. The
farther the stone moved away, the more my legs itched to follow it.
But I held my ground, letting its beckoning slide over my skin.

We are not done
, it hissed in my
head.

Yes, we are
, I sent back, but my gut
felt the doubt in my declaration. I pushed back the uncertainty and
lifted my head. I could feel an easing in my chest the farther the
stone went from me.
Go. Go…far away.

Lars stood watching me intensely, like he saw
and heard more than he let on. He cleared his throat. “I want to
forewarn you.”

“Warn me about what?”

His lips pinched. “There
is
a war
coming. It’s not fae against human, but it will be fae against fae.
Light against the Dark.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I admire you. You are strong, and I
want you to be prepared. It is not if, but when, and nowhere will
be safe.”

“Then what can I do?”

“Be ready.” He started to turn. “You think
this was a fight. What’s coming will make this seem like child’s
play.”

I swallowed.
Hell.

“The moment I leave, so will the glamour. I
have a cleanup crew for the dead fae, but the human authority will
get wind of this soon. I would get far away.”

Ah. Lars was the reason no one had yet called
the police. No outside human could see or hear anything out of the
ordinary. Yet.

I peered down at Sprig, rubbing his head.
When I looked up the King was gone, as was the bond he’d put on me.
My soul felt fifty pounds lighter. “Fuck, he scares me.”

“Like crapple.”

“Yes, he definitely makes me crapple.” I
sucked in air.

And what really terrified me was I just
handed one of the most powerful objects to the King of Darkness. A
demon. Did I doom the worlds, both the Otherworld and Earth? Was
that what the stone was showing me? Would it be wise for anyone,
especially someone as powerful as him, to hold a relic he could use
to destroy and dominate everything in its path?

I swallowed back the sour taste in my mouth
and shrugged to myself.
There’s nothing I can do about it
now.
I had to believe he had become King because he was smart,
and that such a man would be too powerful to be controlled by a
tiny rock.

“Zoey?”

I swung around.

Happiness exploded through my chest and I
rushed instinctively toward the speaker, the Unseelie King all but
forgotten.

“Croygen!” I almost knocked Sprig off my
shoulder as I ran into his arms. He crushed me against his frame, a
sigh bursting from his chest.

“You’re all right.” He breathed out in
relief, kissing the top of my head.

“Ugh, you didn’t get shanghaied or
something?” Sprig exclaimed, making a face.

“You didn’t fall into a rat trap?” Croygen
squeezed me again then took a step back.

“Lexie?” I dropped my arms.

He nodded behind him, and I saw Kate hovering
over Lexie’s blanket-wrapped body. Annabeth stood close to
both.

I was at Lexie’s side before I could even
blink, hugging her. Sprig leaped down next to her, cuddling
close.

“Zoey.” She reached for me.