Page 64 of Blood and Roses

Balthasar got up and paced as far as his chains would allow. His mind wouldn't stop going over the possible scenarios in his head. The worst one was the memory of him telling her that he would always protect her. He had failed her completely.

"Bal, even if I were to let you go, there is no way you would be able to get into Faerie. You are an Unseelie hybrid! Humans have a better chance than us."

"Eli could help me."

"But Eli won't because he can't bear the thought of losing you. He is torn up about Rosa and all the other deaths. Ithappened under his roof, where he told them they would be safe. Can you step away from your own grief for a moment to think about what he is going through right now?"

"Is Lily okay?" Balthasar asked, ashamed he hadn't asked after her earlier.

"Lily is fine. She has a few wounds, but they are shallow and healing. She had a fine collection of faerie heads by the time that the fighting was over. Many of the Gwaed Gam are preening with all that fae blood inside of them."

"The fae blood..." Balthasar's mind began to tick over. "How long do you think Eli intends to keep me locked up?"

Saul got to his feet and picked up the empty flask. "As long as it takes for you to calm down. Considering how long it took you to get over Jane, he may keep you in here for the next hundred years."

"I can get her back. I know it."

"If anyone could, brother, it would be you, but don't look to Eli to help. He has enough to deal with, and there is no convincing him to risk your life after so many have died." Saul opened the door with a sad expression. "I really am sorry about Rosa."

"She's not dead, Saul. Don't talk to me like she is."

"You don't know if she is or not. If you managed to get into the Aos Si only to find her dead, what then? We would've lost our brother and Rosa."

"So you won't help me."

"I can't lose you, Bal. I'm sorry." Saul shut the door behind him, the bolt sliding shut in a final scrape of metal.

Eli paced his chambers,trying to block out the sound of Balthasar screaming for him in the tower. He hated hearing it, knowing his son was in pain, and the fact that he was making it worse filled him with guilt and self-hatred.

The Lords were in an uproar after the Seelie attack and the loss of their people. There had been attacks on the London Gwaed Gam by rebelliousloup garouwanting to weaken their hold in the city even further. Eli was holding them together by sheer force of will. He couldn't have his own son running about, defying him and getting himself killed, trying to push his way into the Aos Si.

Even if it were possible, the Seelie would find him, and all their anger and frustrations toward Eli would be taken out on Balthasar. If that wasn't bad enough, Balthasar had his own reputation as the Seelie killer, Leiddiad. They would torture him in ways only the Seelie knew how to do. If a thousand years passed for Balthasar to forgive him, Eli would suffer it. He would never let his son walk into their hands.

But you would let Rosa Wylt suffer for both your crimes?A long dead voice accused him. Eli thought he had forgotten the sound of that beloved voice forever, but there it was, cutting through his mind like a hot sword.

Eli couldn't go back to Faerie, not even for Rosa. He could only hope that the queen would want to trade her back one day. If she called a meeting to gloat over her victory, then she would take Rosa with her to show her off. Eli could rescue her from them on Albion soil.

But how much left of Rosa will there be to rescue?

"Leave me be, you blasted ghost," Eli whispered helplessly as masculine laughter echoed in his head.

His family's difficulties continued with the problem of Pearl. Eli had detested the cruel girl since Lily had first fallen in love with her. His poor, darling Lily. He would never forget the wayshe had cried and cried the first couple of weeks they had been together. He'd often wondered if he'd left her a few more years as a human, she would have had more of a chance to heal her mind. The horror that she had endured had broken something deep in her soul, and no matter how hard he tried, he could never reach it and heal it for her. He had changed her with the hope that it would give her a sense of control and confidence to overcome her past.

Pearl seemed to give her peace, in the beginning, a woman from a similar abusive situation. Lily had saved Pearl from her abusers, and that had given Lily back what Eli never could—power over the abusers that filled her mind. But Pearl wasted the gift of Lily's love by constantly causing problems for her and going behind her back.

In the past few days of interrogating Blackfox and Riverclear clan members, he had learned that Pearl had been trying to cause a revolt behind his back. She wanted to be queen with Lily. Her ambitions far outweighed her capabilities, and Eli knew that as long as she remained alive, she would cause problems.

For the moment, they were bound to Gwaed Lyn while Eli tried to figure out what to do next. He knew Lily would hate him for it and then he would have two of his children gone from his side.

You always knew how to isolate your children though, didn't you?

Eli ignored the voice and placed a large mirror on his worktable. He took a handful of dark earth and sprinkled it over the surface. Whispering in the Unseelie tongue, he drew sigils in the soil. They glowed with a dark purple light a moment before they faded into the mirror.

He had done what he had sworn never to do and made the Autumn Queen an offer.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Rosa could smell the damp earth and rot in the blackness. The dark menace in her dreams had finally caught her, swallowing her whole and pulling her down to bury her alive. Time passed, and then there was a roar in her ears, and she was being pulled upward, the earth opening and spitting her out.

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