Page 72 of What Lurks Between the Fates

I tried to focus on the sounds of the birds chirping overhead, on the natural sounds of beauty in a place I’d thought condemned by death. The rotting smell of natural decay existed here as well, all a part of the cycle of life, but the clean air and scent of flowers in the air overpowered it.

“But why?” I asked, shaking my head as if I could rid my memory of that feeling of completion that had awaited me in the waters.

“The Cove is the entrance to Tartarus,” Caldris explained, following behind his mother and the rest of the Gods.

She walked slowly in front of us, keeping her head turned forward as if she was ignoring us. I got the distinct impression she lingered close so that she could be with her son, even if she couldn’t risk speaking to him directly.

Hearing his voice.

Feeling his presence.

We walked in silence, the feeling of the Cove calling to me. In spite of the fact that it was simply a hole in the ground, that there was no ocean or current to justify it, I swore I heard the waves lapping against the shore. I swore I felt the ebb and flow of the water striking against my soul, summoning me to the depths of the place I shouldn’t dare to go. It was a prison that housed the worst creatures in the world, that housed some of the Gods themselves.

There would be no escape for me.

“Why is it called a cove when there is no ocean?” I asked, earning a chuckle from Rheaghan where he strode at Twyla’s side in front of us.

“There was an ocean once,” he said, looking at the hillside that now surrounded it. “Peri, the Primordial of Mountains, cut it off from the sea when the Cove became the entrance to Tartarus, so that no unsuspecting sailors could sail in and become trapped.”

I tripped over a tree root as we walked, my dress snagging on one of the branches jutting into the path. Caldris caught me as I stumbled, his concerned glance fixed on me as I pulled on my dress to free the fabric. It served two purposes, both to ease my embarrassment at being clumsy and to distract from the probing stare of my mate.

I knew he could feel how unsettled I was, that he could feel my nerves and that pulsing thrum of the tide washing over my heart that no one else seemed to hear. I squatted down to free my dress when it didn’t come loose, coming face to face with the smallest of creatures. She was the size of a mouse, the fur on her body the color of moss. Blue eyes gleamed back at me as she stared up at me, her tiny front paws clawing at the taupe fabric of my dress at the bottom.She had a cute button of a nose, and the tiniest antlers rested upon the top of her head.

“What are you?” I asked, lowering to my knees.

She twitched her nose as she stared up at me, glaring at my hand and baring her teeth as I held it out like I might pet her. She snapped her long, skinny tail through the air, the spiked edges pointed as they came down upon my flesh and drew tiny pinpricks of blood.

“It’s a wolpertinger,” Caldris explained, eyeing the sharp teeth she bared as he spoke.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, grasping the fabric of my dress where she didn’t seem to want to let go, despite her lack of fondness for my attention. I tore a small piece from the bottom, letting her keep the part that she clung to as her mouth closed and she hid her teeth once more.

“That wasn’t wise,” Caldris said, sighing as he held out a hand for me to take.

I failed to see how a tiny scrap of fabric would matter to me in the end. I had a feeling the wolpertinger needed it more than I did.

“Why not?”

“They’re greedy little creatures. If they think you’ll provide them with the things they need, they’ll never leave you alone,” he answered, chuckling beneath his breath. “Once she tells all her friends about the woman who gave her a nice blanket, you’ll have all of them raiding your wardrobe.”

“They’re just clothes,” I said, thinking about how nice a scrap of soft, warm fabric must be after centuries of no people being allowed within the Cove.

“We’ll see if you still feel that way when they find their way to your room next time,” Caldris said.

We paused as the forest opened up, and a clearing emerged in front of us. The others made a circle around a tree at the center of the clearing. The holly tree was even larger than the others in the forest. The trunk was bigger than a man, wide with deep roots that spread through the clearing. It jutted up into the sky, moonlight streaming down through a hole in the Faerie hill until it reached the free air outside. Mab stepped forward; her face drawn tight as she stood before the great tree.

“Seven days of light in the dead of winter,” she said, nodding to the Summer Court Fae who wielded fire.

The woman stepped forward, holding out her hand and summoning fire to her palm. Mab held out a torch she’d grabbed from the side of the tree trunk itself, the metal rusted from the passage of time. Turning to the Summer Fae, she held it out and watched as the other lit the flame.

The fire made Mab’s fair skin seem to shine in the darkness, and I took a step forward against my own will. Caldris wrapped his arms around my shoulders from behind, crossing them over my chest and pinning my back to his front.

“It will be all right. I promise,” he murmured.

“She can’t possibly mean to—”

“The ritual of the burning tree is sacred to the Court of Shadows, and this tree has been alive for longer than I have. It will be reborn soon enough,” he explained, holding me steady through my wince as Mab raised the torch above her head.

“Seven souls to pay the tithe,” Mab said as the flames licked the low-hanging leaves. They caught fire, the branches seeming to glow with golden light as the flames spread through the tree.

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