Page 57 of Cathmoir's Sons

Kill It With Fire

LUCA

Kellan grunts again. “Sit with your brother. You’re still in the doghouse.”

The chaise shifts as Law’s weight lands on the end.

“I can feel you so clearly,” Law whispers to me. “Clearer than I ever have before, even in our fur.”

I nod while teasing the Ace of Spades up off the table and into the Air again.

“We’re working on Plane-Walking,” I say between breaths. “Don’t fuck this up for me.”

“I won’t,” Law promises. “I’ll just guard you.”

When I reach fifty inhales and my mental grip on the cards is rock solid, I open my eyes.

“Spades are Earth and the planes nearest. Diamonds are the Aetherial. Hearts are deeper, I don’t know how else to explain it.”

Kellan nods. “Very good, Luca. I associate Diamonds with Empyrean planes and Hearts with Faery.”

“Clubs?” I ask.

“Hell,” Kellan says.

I pull the Two of Clubs and hold it up in the Air between us. “The Dransbych.”

“Yes,” Kellan says, her eyes glinting. “I know where you’re going with this. Really? On your first Plane-Walk?”

“Why start small?” I ask.

She shrugs. “Don’t let me stop you. Go for the high bar, prodigy.”

My chest puffs at the idea she thinks I’m a prodigy. I pull the Three of Clubs. “Dis.”

“Mmm, you’d think so. Your intuition that the higher the number the further away the plane is from ours is exactly right, but it’s a correlation not an equivalence. With Hell, it’s more areas of Hell than successive layers. The Three of Clubs will land you somewhere in the Court of Mirrors. I don’t recommend that. The Lady of Bile is decidedly unfriendly to surprise guests. I think the card you want is the Nine. That puts me close to Ash Hill when I pull it. I have to warn you that I don’t know if Jou is home right now and his siblings can be as unwelcoming as the Lady of Bile.”

“It’s really Tsara Faa I want to meet,” I say.

“She’s usually home,” Kellan allows. “Sure you don’t want to go a little easier for your first Walk? The Eight of Clubs usually takes me to the Soulfields. Uzal is the Keeper of Souls and he’s never been anything but nice to me.”

I shake my head. “I want to meet Tsara Faa.”

“Okay,” Kellan agrees. “Find the Nine and put it on the top of the stack. We need to hold hands, otherwise when youreachinto the card, we’re going to lose you.”

I shift on the chaise so I can reach across the table to her. Law takes my other hand. Kellan huffs when Law holds his free hand out to her but takes it.

“Count your breaths again,” Kellan instructs. “With each breath, push your will into the card. Same as when you pushyour way through the Veil into Faery. I usually go on ten but you can go whenever it feels right. You can close your eyes if you want, but sometimes the face of the card will start reflecting the target plane and that can help you reach it. Up to you.”

I nod and start the breathing exercise again as I pull the Nine and slip it to the top of the stack. Law breathes with me. Fire tingles through our hands. A midnight breeze swirls Law’s Fire into a cyclone of embers and sparks circling the three of us. That’s Kellan. Her magic is both as familiar to me as my own skin and completely alien.

If I’d never met her before, the touch of her magic would have told me she’s my fated mate. But it carries all the Otherness of the Court of Cold Mist as well. I understand more than ever what Caileán means when she says she’s always herself, she just remembers less when she’s unawakened. Kellan’s never been anything other than the fifth Crow Queen. She just isn’t always aware of it.

With the three of us connected, our power gathering like a thunderstorm, it’s effortless to push my will into the card. The card’s face ripples and stretches. It mounds into a hill. The black ink runs and pools as a branching tower pushes up and up from the top of the hill. Lightning crackles and snaps out of the tower, singing the edges of the card.

“Excellent, Luca,” Kellan breathes.

I realize what she means about pushingintothe card when I try to rip my way into Hell the same way I would into Faery. The card slips away from my mental hold and flutters to the table.

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