Page 65 of Queen of Ever

‘Ithinkthisisright.’Ethan was looking around us in consternation.We’d stepped out of a small, unmanned waystation, the sort so infrequently used that you had to arrange for a portal watcher to be there in advance.The water had been stagnant and littered with plant debris, the cavern partially collapsed.It was situated in that slip of land in the fork of the Sunder, the one I’d been flying so fruitlessly over earlier in the day, which would explain why no one was taking responsibility for its maintenance.It was a no-man’s land, a dead zone, a craggy island of woody, spiny plants where no one should have been living.

Ethan’s eyes kept coming back to a mess of plant life before us, a dark, glossy vine spilling down a rocky outcrop.It had thick, fleshy leaves veined with purple and shaped like pointed stars.‘I’m pretty sure the entrance is there,’ he said, pointing.‘I suppose they’re a little more paranoid about hiding it now that they’re provoking High Fae royalty by blowing up their palaces and snatching their mates.’

I eyed the vine with a sinking feeling in my stomach.If I stared hard enough, I thought I could catch a glimpse of a dark cave mouth from between dense patches of foliage.‘A lot more paranoid.That’s a grivandra.’

‘A what now?’

‘A grivandra,’ I repeated, recognising the fleshy, star-shaped leaves and deep purple veins from a book in Dreadhold’s library documenting an array of incredibly rare and exceptionally deadly plants my grandmother had been desperate to get her hands on.‘Maybe take a few steps back.It’ll be tracking our movements.’

‘I’m sorry, it’ll bewhat?’

‘Watch.’I picked up a stone, hefting it in my hand before tossing it at the mess of vines.The plant reacted like a nest of vipers.Haddock and Ethan both stumbled back as vines began to squirm and slither, running over each other in a race to reach the point of impact.To the left of where I’d thought the opening to the cave was, a glimpse of something I could only call a mouth was revealed, a fleshy pit lined with sharp spines dripping with bile.The plant poked at the site the rock fell with the tip of several vines, its movements slowing until it settled back into stillness again, apparently having decided there was nothing worth eating.

‘Well, that’s a pretty piece of foliage to decorate your secret hiding place,’ Ethan spluttered, staring at the plant in horror.‘How the hell are we supposed to get past it?How is anyone?’

Haddock started to sob.‘Oh, your lordship.I’m mighty sorry, mighty sorry for your loss.She was so nice.Such pretty hair.What a way to go.Eaten by a plant.’

‘Stop it, both of you.Let me think.’I closed my eyes, massaging the bridge of my nose.

‘Can’t you just rot it away?’Ethan asked.

‘No.Any plant with any form of sentience is usually ancient.Most of them have evolved a resistance to magic over millions of years of exposure.’I couldn’t tell if Imogen really was in there.I could get a sense of her beingsomewherenearby, but whether it was because the place was warded or because we were just in the wrong fucking location, there wasn’t a particular pull in the direction of the cave.But if Ethan said this was the entrance, well, then I had to get inside.I had no other leads.‘Haddock, do you have a knife on you?’I asked, remembering the flick knife he’d once produced to seal his blood oath to me.I didn’t carry weapons.There wasn’t much point when I could destroy things with the touch of my hand.

The satyr patted at his jacket, peering inside an inner pocket before jamming his hand down another.He produced the knife and handed it to me.It was small, which wasn’t ideal.I’d have to move fast.

‘Listen, lover boy, I know you’re pretty optimistic about your own abilities, but I don’t think you’re going to be chopping your way through with that,’ Ethan said, eyeing the knife.

‘I’m not going to chop it.There are one or two sentient plants at Dreadhold.They can be trained.’Normally they were trained over a period of several months, but more extreme methods might get faster results.

‘Trained to what?!’

‘That we aren’t food.Look, just stay way back.’I approached the dormant plant, knife held before me.It shivered to life slowly, as though in anticipation, then slowly began to stir, creeping towards me with grasping vines as thick as my forearm, prodding at the ground in its blind search for warmth and movement that indicated prey was within its grasp.When it touched my boot, it suddenly sped up, coils writhing in excitement to curl around my ankle, up my leg.

I aimed the knife, jabbed it down.The vine recoiled, releasing me, slithering back and leaving a trail of thick black sap in its wake.But another was already in its place.I stabbed at this one too as another wound around my other leg.

‘Is whatever you’re attempting to do working the way it’s meant to?’Ethan called as I stabbed and slashed at the onslaught of vines, spraying sap in every direction, but the fact that I was prey too troublesome to catch didn’t seem to be translating.Vines were winding up my legs, my waist, squeezing my chest, and if the thing got a hold of the arm with the knife, I was done for.

My legs were yanked out from beneath me.I hit the ground hard, landing on my back to be dragged through the dirt.I kicked out, twisting, trying to loosen the death grip of the grivandra, grit grinding into my face as it hauled me towards that oozing mouth.Ethan and Haddock were yelling and I kept slashing until it got a coil around my arm, pinning it quickly to my side, wrapping me tight, hoisting me into the air by my ankles.The mouth stretched, acidic bile steaming, smelling caustic, like something that would peel the skin from my bones in minutes.

‘Well, you’re a big fucker, aren’t you?’I growled through my teeth, managing to yank my hand free, stabbing towards the fleshy part of the mouth sack, ripping it open.Acid spilled to the ground in a hissing stream.Magic gnawed at my skin, and I tried to keep a hold of it, knowing I’d just end up destroying the knife if I released it.The grivandra convulsed, jerking me upwards, ready to sink those long spines into me.

And then it dropped me.

I crashed to the ground, my breath knocked out of me as the mess of vines recoiled, drawing back into a knot around its gaping maw.And there was a face above me; dark hair, glinting flecks of scale, a scowl.

‘Apparently I’m supposed to stop you doing some serious damage,’ the fae said.‘I didn’t think they meant to yourself.’

Pushing myself up, I rubbed my neck, wincing up at the group of lesser fae gathered around me, some holding hooked poles of twisted brass the grivandra seemed to shrink away from.So it could be trained.Just perhaps not the way I was doing it.

‘You have until I get my breath back before you find out what they meant,’ I said, climbing to my feet, dusting dirt from my shirt, then facing the dark-haired one head on, who seemed like the leader.‘I’ve come for my mate.’

‘Tarian!’Imogen’s voice cut through the tension, and with a burst of movement she pushed through the others, flinging herself onto me, arms around my neck.I caught her, bewildered at her sudden appearance, before drawing her close, embracing her tightly, releasing a shuddering sigh as relief washed through me, relaxing that suffocating fear for her safety that had wrapped around me more tightly than the grivandra.Then I drew her back.

‘Are you alright?’I asked, scanning her.‘Did they hurt you?’

‘No, I’m fine,’ she said, smiling a little too brightly as I caught sight of the gash on her head, poorly hidden by her hair.Immediately, anger roared through me.I carefully brushed her hair back, revealing the size, the bruising.

‘Then who did this?’My voice was dark, deadly calm, my gaze flicking to the dark-haired leader of the lesser fae.

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