Page 26 of Dark Fae's Destiny

“Come,” I say. “We need to return to my underground solar to peruse our Florence maps again. The location Iris gave us for the tomb that holds Staphylogenes’ heart is still burned into my mind, though we have yet to find any access whatsoever to it. There must be a way to penetrate that hidden stronghold, however—and we need to find it. The Music has been stabilizing between me, Ariana, Lucca, and even our entire United Haven since we overcame our hate and freed ourselves from the Gold Eyes. But Iris was right; we need something else, something bigger, to aid us. If anything can help us beat the Gold Eyes and make successful this massive movement now happening in Vampire, Fae, and Dark Fae society, it’s an Ascendant’s heart. We must focus everything we have now on finding it.”

As Curio nods and Devi bristles for war, I know we’re onto something. We egress from the third-floor meeting room, back underground where we take the Hotel’s hidden halls to my solar.

The countless bookshelves full of first editions and glowing crystal boxes of priceless musical instruments greet me as we arrive. But there is a new fixture in my most private of spaces; an enormous map table occupies the center of the underground hall now, a gargantuan, ornate thing that was once used in the campaigns of Napoleon.

As Devi, Curio, and I come around it, we peruse the maps spread upon it. All are of Florence; maps modern and ancient, they come from the human world and the Twilight Realm, and detail tens of thousands of passages that warren beneath the city.

From modern-day sewers, to ancient storm drains and burial catacombs, we’ve dredged up everything we could get on such short notice, compiling it here with modern computer data, as well, a laptop with more maps on it available nearby.

I go to that laptop now, firing it up. Yet again, Curio, Devi and I pour over the maps in the area I’ve circled, that lights up bright inside my mind like rainbows on fire in the dawn.

But yet again, we still find no entrance to the space Iris showed us, for it isn’t on any map. I can’t even portal there if I haven’t a clue where I’m going; frustrated now, I rake a hand through my dark hair, growling that I feel so close to all our answers with this new development today.

Yet still so very far away.

“I need Lucca and Ariana. They’ve got this map inside their minds, too, though the passages Iris showed us don’t seem to exist anywhere,” I say, glancing at Devi. “Lucca’s at the Livingtree, speaking with a number of Summer Fae who have defected to us, but where’s Ariana?”

I just finished up a phone call with Master Ilyov and Lady Eiseth, Quinn, and a few of our Dark Summer Fae who were at the Venice citadel. Ariana breaks into my mind, her voice clarion in my head now that I’m thinking about her. Her voice is bright inside me right now, though we’ve taken to blocking each other out, since having so many meetings all at once flooding our minds confuses us. Our operations to reunite Dark Summer Fae in exile with their families who have come to us here at the United Haven now are going well. I can take a break for a while, if you need me.

“Please,” I say as relief fills me. Though I can touch Lucca and Ariana mind-to-mind through our bond anytime, I always feel a sense of solace whenever they are near me. I feel Ariana nod, then take her leave of the Dark Fae, coming to me.

“Devi, Curio, please see to the Hotel and United Haven,” I tell them now, knowing I can puzzle through this next step with Ariana. Besides, some part of me needs to be alone for a moment to process everything that’s happened; I feel Curio and Devi understand through our newly formed bonds.

“We’re just a thought away if you need us.” Devi is fierce as she watches me.

“Come on, Devina.” Curio chuckles as he tugs her hand. “You can’t just stay at Quinn’s side night and day, you know.”

“I know.” Devi gives me a tight smile, tense as we all ponder this recent development with the Vampire Council. “I would, though, if he’d let me.”

They go, and a deep love fills me for my two most stalwart generals, as I watch them depart. Then Ariana arrives, and a blazing sensation fills me for the woman I love.

Who’s also mine, to the ends of this earth and back.

10

SMASH

My Livingtree Valorhome is full to the brim this evening with Summer Fae who have joined our revolution. As I glance around, I’m humbled by those with me now; a top-level council of the Summer Fae, we sit in the largest living area inside the main trunk of my tree, which can hold the most people.

These Fae have come to be a part of a massive wave of revolution that’s building between the Fae, Dark Fae, and even the Vampires. It’s impressive, but this council isn’t just drawn from Summer Fae nobility. There are those here who have been important to the revolution since its inception, those who have saved Dark Fae for centuries.

Who come from all walks of Summer Fae life.

It’s everything I could have ever wanted in a revolution for the Summer Fae. Strangely, it’s been brought together now by the simple fact that I am no longer one of them.

In this room, regular Summer Fae sit or stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their Dark Summer Fae brethren, including comrades and families, finally reunited. It’s beautiful, and I pause a moment now, reveling in the gathering, though the council continues to address our revolution’s most pressing matters.

Our words are carried by the Livingtree to every ear here tonight; Valorhome is packed all through its inner galleries and upper floors, even far out onto its stout branches for this talk. Thanks to the tree’s echoing magic, anyone inside or even sitting upon its branches can listen to and speak in this council tonight.

Adding their thoughts to our revolution.

“Lucca?” Alleno interrupts me now as he looks at me from where he sits to my right at the massive table inside the hall. “If we can petition the Dark Fae at the Hidden City of Venice to send some people to our final muster, do you think they would?”

“I think they might consider it.” I nod, though Ariana has been the one most in touch with the Dark Fae there, ever since we came back. “Ariana is building a relationship with one Sage, a man named Gideon. He says the rest of the Sages were impressed by what we accomplished there, liberating ourselves from the Gold Eyes. It may take some convincing, but a few of them might join us once we’re ready to make a run on the Palace of Light to unseat my father. It’s an angle I’ll have her work on.”

“It might just give us the edge we need, in a pinch,” Illyria Amati says now, where she sits with Adicus Briarwick to my left. “Thanks to our operations, we have secured forty percent of the Summer Fae military who were Dark Fae in hiding, or had family who were. It’s a good amount, but not quite enough to battle King Bellari directly, if it comes to that.”

“The Darkwatch is similar,” Adicus says as he glances at his wife. “Nearly a full third of them have defected to us now, eschewing the Darkwatch itself, but still watching over their charges. Phelio and I have formed a new Darkwatch under a joint command with our united magic as its pinnacle.” Adicus nods to Alleno’s uncle Phelio Massi now, sitting near him. Phelio is the current Darkwatch leader, and a Dark Fae like my cousin.

---