Page 10 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

Only Estrella could make me abandon my duty, prolong the spirits’ suffering, and increase the chances that they may condemn themselves to an eternity wandering Alfheimr. I wanted to help them more than almost anything, but my gaze wandered to the steps that would take me back toward the throne room where more bodies waited.

If I simply turned right at the top, I would go in the direction of the cove where Mab had taken my own mate from me. The need to do right by her was stronger than my need to do right by the mate of another, and I took a step back in the few moments where I did not have an audience to judge me for the selfish act.

I turned toward the door and the stairs that waited for me, coming face-to-face with Nila as she carried some of the more… obliterated remains down. Her dress was stained with blood and gore, chunks of flesh clinging to the fabric as she simply stared at me.

Most would think I was simply returning to gather the next body, but there was something keen in her gaze that felt weighted.

She knew exactly where I was going, and I waited to see if she would judge me for abandoning her people in their time of need. Because there could be no doubt, the people of Tartarus were Nila’s. She may not have been their ruler or anything close to it, but she had ingrained herself into the community of Sidhe and Lliadhe alike so deeply that I didn’t think she knew how to separate her individual emotions from theirs any longer.

“Go,” she said, surprising me with the soft command. She stepped to the side, giving me the empty doorway so that I could pass her. “Go to her while you can.”

I glanced back over my shoulder, hesitating as I stared at the souls lingering close to their bodies, unable to reach out and touch the mates they had probably even feared in life. But with death came clarity, came a firmer understanding that they hadn’t possessed while their human upbringings and prejudices kept them from embracing the bond they felt.

“What about them?” I asked.

“I’ll stay with them until it’s time, do what I can to entice them to stay here and wait for you,” she said, lowering the bloody body to the ground beside the others. “But they’re already dead. Your mate is not.”

The callous words were so unlike the optimistic female I’d come to know through her time with Estrella, but they were the ones I needed to hear at that moment. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have suspected Nila possessed some magic of her own, always knowing the words a person needed to hear at any given moment.

I strode through the doorway, making my way up the steps as quickly as I could manage. I took them two at a time, pausing only for a brief moment at the top to study the halls and whatever action might exist there. They were empty, save for the Lliadhe hustling through them to bring fresh rags and cleaning supplies to rid the floor of bloodstains until Mab’s next massacre. Turning away from the commotion, I made my way down the silent hall with quick steps that aimed not to attract attention to myself.

The entrance to the narrow passage that led beneath Tar Mesa was closed, the broad figure of a daemon standing guard. My heart sank with the realization that Mab had retained enough of her logic to remember to do this, to guard the place that I would be sure to go now that I was free from the dungeon.

The daemon and I made eye contact, holding one another’s stares. I considered my options as I strode past him, trying not to attract further suspicion or attention.

If I was going to fight my way through a daemon, I needed to come up with a fucking plan for it. Otherwise it wouldn’t end any better than it had that night in the cove when the daemon had found Estrella, damn near killing both of us.

I continued to the stairs at the other side of the palace, planning to circle around rather than passing by that passage all over again so soon. There was one phrase in my head, a mantra that I couldn’t ignore as I considered my options, beating them around in my head and hoping one of them could stand the abuse.

I was no use to her dead or imprisoned.

I was no use to her dead or imprisoned.

I needed a fucking plan, and I needed it fast.

SEVEN

ESTRELLA

As darkness fell over the prison, the firelights gleaming at the top of the cave ceiling dimmed slowly, recreating the setting of the sun aboveground. I couldn’t be sure if we were on the same cycle as Caldris would be, if he was in a place where he could appreciate such privileges.

I doubted Mab would have taken kindly to his rebellion, even if she had tried to kill him. The glimpses I’d had into the bizarre vulnerabilities she possessed were somehow even more horrifying than the brutality she exhibited.

She truly believed herself to be the victim of her story, as if her violence was warranted because her husband had been mated to another and had an affair because of it.

She saw the affair as a betrayal. If we’d been human, I might have even agreed with her. But now that I had a more full understanding of the mate bond and how all-consuming it could be, I fully appreciated the way the Fae cast all relationships aside the moment a bond snapped into place.

Nothing could compare to the love of fated mates.

Nemain stopped, snapping her gaze toward the cave ceiling and glancing at the fading cyclones of fire. They dimmed alongside the ones overhead, casting shadows that grew as we watched.

“Come with us. Quickly,” Badb said, reaching out to take my hand suddenly. She guided me to the wall in the ruins, the boundary that seemed to surround this part of the prison. I wondered about the double gates, if there were other ways to get past the boundary surrounding what I had to believe was the heart of Tartarus, or if all who entered here were forced to endure the gate itself.

“What are we doing?” I asked, following as she brought me to an alcove in the stone. It was a small hollow, not big enough to allow us all to fit within it but too small for large predators to make their way in.

We stopped at the entrance, watching in awe as the prison darkened. Until all traces of light vanished, and we were plunged into the kind of darkness that could only be replicated by a moonless and starless night.

The thought immediately made me think of all those nights I’d gone wandering in the woods in the dark, of the danger I’d risked just to feel a few moments of freedom.

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