Page 47 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

He sighed heavily, turned toward the still-visible arch, and waved a hand. At the base of the trees across the way, a small flame grew to the size of a fist. It burned steadily with a slightly blue cast. And there it remained, unnoticed by the guards, who would need to look to their right to see it.

Wickham’s hand moved again, and Griffon was startled by the strident call of a large bird, though he saw nothing of the sort.

The guards moved forward, their curiosity engaged. Both reacted physically to the sight of the little flame and the phantom bird was forgotten. Instead of removing the lattice of vines, however, they moved smoothly through the stone arch and emerged out the front façade. Advancing quickly for such large, heavy figures, they hurried across the clearing toward the illusion, their steps shaking the ground.

As they neared, the little flame disappeared only to reappear in the distance.

“It will stay twenty feet ahead of them,” Wickham said.

They hurried back to the archway. Griffon tugged on the vines. Still solid. And though they waited impatiently for another five minutes, they never weakened.

“Next plan,” Kitch finally said. “Let’s give hacking a go, eh?”

Urban pulled out his longsword and everyone stood back while he raised it and brought it down on the lattice. Only the smallest chip fell to the ground along with a few small leaves. After five more swings, he’d made little progress.

“Sure but it’s sealed against entry,” Flann said. “But is it sealed against exit? If we burrow under the ground and come up the other side…”

“We don’t have that kind of time,” Wickham said. “The guards may return, or someone else may come upon us. But ye have the right idea. If we cannae get in, perhaps Lennon—”

“Can get out!” Flann clapped his hands together. “Of course!”

Griffon was confused and said so.

Wickham grinned. “Flann can reach out to her. Telepathy. He’s done it before. Like I said, they get on. And she might not be constrained to stay, if Orion’s trying to woo her--”

“Don’t use that word!” Griffon grimaced at his lack of control.

The witch laughed. “I dinnae ken why ye’re so tichy about it? Ye cannae think Lennon is attracted to the bastard.”

“He has the power of Beauty. She said it herself. You can’t know how Fairy can augment a power like that.”

“Relax,” Persi said. “We know how she feels about you. Nothing pretty could turn her head now.”

He appreciated her attempt to reassure him and tried to make up for his outburst. “You’re saying I’m not pretty?”

She patted his shoulder. “On our list of worries, Lennon falling in love with Orion is at the bottom of the list.”

“Is it?”

While he didn’t appreciate the idea of another man having access to Lennon’s thoughts, he was grateful for a new idea. Other than shouting at the top of his lungs, he couldn’t imagine how he might get Lennon’s or Orion’s attention. And more likely than not, it would only give the latter the warning he’d need to move Lennon elsewhere.

Because the throne room was mostly stone, Flann needed to stay close to the entrance to try to reach Lennon’s thoughts. The rest of them moved back to their original spot, in case they needed to make a stand. Thankfully, the silver blades had come through from the mortal realm, so at least they’d be able to fight off any lesser fairies if necessary.

A nod from the old gentleman told them he’d made contact. Now all they could do was wait and hope that enchanted lattice would allow Lennon out. If it didn’t, Orion would be warned after all.

But they were out of options.

16

Another Hamburger

Lennon…

I had to admit that my lesser throne was comfortable. After hanging in the air for who knows how long, it was nice to sit down again, to have the world hold still again. My amusement ride had been a slow leisurely drift through someone else’s universe, but a ride all the same, and I was glad to be off it.

Now, all I wanted to do was go home. And Griffon was my home now. At least, I hoped he would be when Orion was done with me.

There was a game going on here and I didn’t have a clue how to play. I knew I was DeNoy, what were the pros? One con, obviously, was that my old friends probably wanted me dead. Now, it looked like Big Bad wanted me on his side for some reason. And for the moment, I was going to add that to the pro column.

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