Page 62 of Blood and Roses

"Rosa, look out!" Saul shouted behind her.

She turned as Celyn flicked his fingers, her knife flinging out of her hand. Rosa turned to find another weapon, but it was hopeless. Celyn picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder. She beat him with her feet and fists, but it didn't seem to have any effect on him. He moved swiftly between the other fighters.

The fae swarmed out of the ballroom and down to the front entrance. Celyn whispered a cantrip, and holly briars wrapped around Rosa from ankles to shoulders, her arms pinning tightly to her sides.

"I knew that you would be mine," Celyn whispered in her ear. "I knew I had to have you from the moment I smelled you."

"Get away from me!"

"Fight all you want, Rosamund Wylt, but you are mine. Spoils of war, a tithe to the old gods." He slung her over one of the gigantic faerie horses before mounting it. Ryn and the other fae were appearing, escaping through the broken windows. He mounted a silver stallion and rode close by.

"Good work, Celyn. She'll make a fine addition to the court," Ryn laughed joyfully, his face covered in dripping blood. "She is also Leiddiad's favorite which makes the victory all the sweeter."

"Balthasar and Eli will kill you for this, you haughty bastard," Rosa shouted.

Ryn leaned over to grip her face.

"Scream your threats all you like, little rose. I would be very surprised if either of them survives the night."

The Seelie catcalled to each other in their vicious, lilting tongue, and the horses took off. Celyn held to Rosa tightly as the grounds of Gwaed Lyn blurred around her, hurtling through the dark forest. The lake shimmered in the moonlight, and Rosa screamed as the faerie horse raced across the water, the moon making a path for them.

The stones were shimmering up ahead in auroras of silver and gold. The Seelie were all laughing as if they were having a grand time. Ryn's stallion leaped over the stones, and it disappeared, the other fae soon following. Rosa tried to fling herself off the horse. If she crossed into the Aos Si, she could never escape. She struggled and screamed as Celyn's vines tightened keeping her bound to him. The horse leaped, and Rosa was falling through the lights into the ground and darkness.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Balthasar fought his way out of the ballroom, narrowly avoiding a fae arrow to the throat. He cut off the archer's arms before taking its head. On the staircase, the Gwaed Gam attacked the fleeing fae with a fierce wrath. Balthasar leaped over the balcony, landing on a fae and crushing its head into the marble flagstones.

Outside, the horses were gone, and there was no sign of Celyn or Rosa. He ran to the stables, mounted Caesar, and galloped out into the forest. As he reached the lake, he saw the horses out on the water.

He spurred Caesar. The only hope he had was that they would wait for the rest of their kindred before opening the portal.

I am coming, Rosa. I am coming, so hold on!Caesar crossed through the trees, the portal glowing like a beacon fire. Balthasar watched the faerie horses leap through the stones and vanish into the earth.

"Come on, Caesar!" he urged, but it didn't make any difference as he reached the stones, the final horse was falling. Balthasar dove after it in a desperate hope it would pull him through. The shimmering golden light of the portal swam abouthim before it tossed him out of the circle of stones. Balthasar hit the ground hard, his sword spinning off into the grass.

"No, no, no," he whispered as he pulled himself up. He found his sword again, but it was hopeless. There was not one left to fight, and Rosa was gone. Where she had gone, he could not follow.

Eli is fae. He could go after her, Balthasar thought as he remounted Caesar and headed back to the mansion. On the ride back, he passed Rosa's cottage, and his eyes caught a holly bush that had never been there before. It was a massive tangle of green and red in the hedges with a totem hanging from the branches.

He was planning on taking her tonight whether she was at the ball or not. Balthasar felt a fresh anger burn through him. He left the totem where it was. He would need Eli to check it for hoaxes before he could risk touching it.

Back at the mansion, what remained of the Seelie were dead. Hungry Gam fed on the corpses, their eyes glazed over with the headiness of their victim's long lives and the magic in their blood.

Some developed new abilities and power when they drank fae blood, and Ryn had provided them with a buffet. And for what? To get back at Eli? There was no way the fae could have matched the Gwaed Gam in a full-frontal attack. That was why they had always plagued them with guerrilla warfare.

Ryn didn't care about that. He just wanted to try to get Eli to go back with them.

Balthasar found Eli in the ballroom, giving directions to the Gwaed Gam and staff to clean up the mess. The bodies of the Seelie were to be burned, and what was left of the Gwaed Gam was for their clans to deal with. Eli had lost his fae form, but he still carried his obsidian sword.

"Balthasar! There you are." Eli hugged him tightly in concern and relief. "I thought the traitorous bastards got you."

"Not me," Balthasar replied, trying not to let fear override his reason. "Celyn got Rosa."

"She is dead?" Eli paled under the grime that covered him.

"No. They took her! I saw her on Celyn's horse before it disappeared. I tried to go after her, but I couldn't get through. Eli, you are fae. We can go and get her back?—"

"Bal, calm yourself and listen to what you are saying." Eli held up a hand to halt him. "You know I can't return to the Aos Si. Tonight has made that clear enough."

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