Page 60 of Queen of Ever

‘And he’s about to tell me where the lesser fae court is.’

‘I don’t know it,’ Haddock interjected.‘And if it please you, sir, I’d rather not be looking for it.The wards on that place.I’d melt my brain in me head even trying.’

‘That explains the furies,’ Ethan said, his face clearing.Then he moaned, head dropping back.‘Well this has all gone to hell in a handbasket.Those reckless idiots.I’ll bet it was Cassian’s idea.’

‘Who’s Cassian?’

‘It’s a long story.’He heaved a heavy sigh.‘But you don’t have to melt your oracle’s brain.I can show you the lesser fae court.’With that, he turned around and began to pick his way up the stairs.

‘Wait, you can?’I chased him after him as Haddock called out after us.

‘Itisheavily warded, though,’ Ethan said over his shoulder, unfaltering in his climb.‘We’ll have a hard time getting in.’

He rounded a bend into a piercing shaft of sunlight where the doorway was, illuminating swirls of floating dust in the dank old cavern.We stepped out into the daylight together and I glared at the sun, its path through the sky only indicating to me how many hours had passed since Imogen had been taken.It was sinking towards the horizon.She’d been gone a whole night and a day.So much could have happened to her in that time.So much could have beendoneto her.Magic was churning through me, rising with my anger and my fear, eating into the rock when I placed my hand against it to steady myself, spilling down to the ground to shrivel a patch of bluebells.

‘Whoa, whoa, stop that,’ Ethan said as he caught sight of the shrinking plant life.‘Don’t you go losing your grip and catching me in the crossfire.I saw what you did to those furies.And some of your own who were in the wrong place.Do you know there was an arm amputation to stop the spread of magic right there on the throne room floor?’He shuddered, jiggling his shoulders as though trying to shake off the memory.

‘I’m trying to keep it together,’ I said through gritted teeth.‘It’s not easy when I don’t know what’s happening to her.’

‘Look, don’t get twisted up.She’s okay.I don’t think they’ve taken her because they mean to harm her.The Un-queen is sensible.All Imogen will need to do is tell them she’s mated to you and they’ll probably set her free on the spot.Between the destruction magic, the royal bloodline and your reputation for being a hot-headed grouch at the best of times, you’re not the sort of enemy a group of rebels in hiding wants to make.’

‘And how do you know so much about what they want and how they think?’

‘Well,’ he rubbed the back of his neck, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, ‘let’s just say I was in that world for a while.’

‘You were a rebel?’

‘Sort of.I guess.It was more of a family inheritance thing than something I chose.I got out a long time ago and took off to the Human Realm, so don’t start thinking any of this has any connection with me whatsoever.’

If there was a time to pick him over for that, this wasn’t it.I was scanning the skies, looking for Melaie, when the door opened behind us again, and Haddock came panting up the stairwell, clutching his chest.

‘Too fast… some of us… hooves and stairs, you know…’

‘Hang on, you aren’t planning to ferry us all about on your griffin, are you?’Ethan demanded, staring at Haddock as he seemed to realise the satyr was coming with us.

‘Do you have a better idea?’

‘Yeah, a few.The first being we take a portal.There’s one near where we’re going.’

‘The nearest waystation is miles away.We’d still have to fly.’

‘Did you not see that dirty great pool of water down there?’

‘We don’t have anyone to open it.’

‘Isn’t goat legs there an oracle?’He jabbed a thumb in the direction of Haddock, who had now slumped to the ground to sit in the grass, struggling still to catch his breath.‘Can’t oracles work portal magic?’

I considered this.It would be a lot quicker to travel by portal, and speed was what I wanted most.‘Alright,’ I agreed, turning back to the door.‘But if we come out on the other side missing limbs or on some other plane entirely, remember it was your idea to trust the drunk satyr to work a portal.Come on, Haddock.’

Haddock blinked up at me as I hauled the door open again.His gaze darted between me and the stairs, before he hung his head with a moan.‘We’re climbing all the way back down?’

‘Yes.All the way back down.’

Chapter 24

Moriana

Dawnwasapproaching,slittingthe dark with a spill of sunlight on the horizon, drowning the starlight, slipping across the slow waters of the Sunder River in streaks of pink.Solas was clearly hoping to beg a favour if he felt the need to meet me with the rising sun in support of his majesty.He was already waiting on his side of the bridge, leaning against the balustrade with folded arms, sullen and insufferable.He straightened when he caught the clip of my shoes on the stone, though.I despised humanity as a whole, but in their invention of high heels they deserved a modicum of respect.There was nothing quite like their crisp, hard click for announcing my approach.

---