Page 142 of Cathmoir's Sons

I nod so he knows I’ll follow his lead.

Flashyis a howling hole, ringed with the four Elements, that opens between us and Mordeh’s throne. Stars and a pair of moons glitter in the screaming blackness. I swallow hard. If the demon missteps, we could end up very, very far from Scilla. And I need both oxygen and gravity. I’m not sure the demon does.

Jou squeezes my shoulder and steps forward into the star-pierced void. Gritting my teeth, I follow him.

There’s a horrible moment of falling, my stomach dropping, all breath snatched from my lungs.

Then warm arms close around me. Feathers tickle my cheeks. Caileán’s rich scent rushes up my nose with a Mother-blessed inhalation.

“Jou!” Caileán chides. “Do we need a conversation about dragging my consorts through Space-Time?”

The demon grunts. “Just makin’ an exit. That alliance you wanted with Mordeh? We got it.”

Caileán smiles up at me before she turns, putting her back to my chest. I close my arms around her as the room comes into focus. We’re in the comfortable main lounge of Ty Olewydd, with a fire crackling and the warmth of cinnamon and vanilla thick in the air. The room has gained bookcases since I left. Leather-bound tomes now fill dark green bookcases on two sides of theroom. I resign myself to living in a nest of books. With Luca and Caileán remodeling our living spaces, it’s an inevitability.

“Okay,” Caileán allows, “but Law and Luca aren’t experienced Plane-Walkers. Don’t take them places they can’t get back from on their own.”

The demon rolls his shoulders, his tail swishing behind him. “Pretty sure he’da just Walked out of a shadow if he got stuck in-between, but I had my hand over him the whole time. He did good. Mordeh was impressed. Didn’t blink an eye over killing any of the Thunderer’s allies, even her ex, or the Oak King.”

“Does the Oak King have any allies in Hell that you know of?” Caileán asks.

Jou rubs his hand over his mouth. “Not sure. I’da said the Earth demons of Olt and Golacher, but Nimanes was happy enough to come to Ceòfuar and make nice with us. Can’t see her doin’ that if she was in the Oak King’s pocket. And the Obsidian Princess hates the fae. She wouldn’t let Zgier ally with Ivywhile.”

“Good,” Caileán responds. “I don’t want him to have anywhere to flee to.”

“He’s so bound in his bark, could he even if he wanted to?” I ask.

Caileán tips her head back onto my shoulder. “I hope not. But my sister has reminded me not to underestimate a creature as long-lived and powerful as the Oak King.”

She nods at the albino crow who is perched on the fireplace mantle, so still that I took her for a statue.

The demon whirls around and glares at the crow. “Stop sneakin’ up on me.”

I bury my snigger in Caileán’s hair. I hadn’t noticed any interaction between demon lord and crow queen before, but clearly, she’s been going out of her way to unsettle him.

The crow regards the demon with crimson unflappability.

Jou turns so his back is to the crow again. “Isn’t it time for dinner?”

“Not for a few hours. But Rach came to see how things were going, and we got hungry so we made shortbread,” Caileán says. “If Gabe and Luca have left any, it’s in the kitchen.”

Grumbling about the collective failing to save him any shortbread, the demon stalks into the kitchen.

Caileán tips her head at the crow. “You’re being mean.”

The crow tips its head back and lets out three short caws that sound a lot like laughter.

Chapter 41

Dancing Wolves

RHODES

“That’s the failed Summer Prince,” Caileán’s sister, Hraena, says, her voice pitched so only Caileán and I can hear her.

With a Crow Queen on each arm, I walk down a long, green-lit corridor packed with glittering fae. I’m still a little puzzled by how I got here.

One minute I was relaxing with Lu at Ty Olewydd, my stomach full of shortbread and my mind rolling in afterglow. The next I was bathed, shaved, stuffed into black leather, and pulled through a spinning blue gate into this entryway to the famous high fae court. Somehow, I missed that Caileán agreeing to attend the Wolf Moon Festival with the Holly King translated intoallof us attending the Wolf Moon Festival.

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