Page 8 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

But the fear that shone in her eyes as she reached up a hand to touch her onyx crown spoke volumes—the tremble in her hand confirming it. She’d needed Estrella to go into Tartarus and bring back the snake from Medusa’s crown, but she was afraid what the consequence might be all the same—was terrified of what else my mate might find in that place of horrors.

“You’re my son. Where did we go so wrong that you would hope for my death?” she asked, her voice cracking as her eyes sparkled with the threat of tears. The vulnerability in that stare shook me to my core, a peek at the girl Rheaghan remembered staring back at me.

“You killed me,” I said, my voice as disbelieving as my thoughts. She’d killed my father, forced me to spend my life in abuse and violation for her own entertainment. “You killed Sephtis. All you’ve ever brought me is pain. Why would I not want to see your head on a spike for all of Alfheimr to celebrate?”

“If you and your miserable father had only loved me, none of this would have been necessary. Why was it so much to ask for my family to love me as I am?” she asked, her anger rising. Her fingers twitched at her sides, barely controlled as a shadow moved within the stone of her crown.

“Rheaghan loved you,” I said, pushing to my feet before her. So much that he’d helped her hide the truth of her curse until after they’d effectively manipulated their way into the Court of Shadows and stolen my father’s throne.

Certain that she wouldn’t risk losing my mate, not even for my death, I raised my chin straight. My throat ached with the press of temporary bruises blooming beneath my skin, ones that would heal as soon as they formed. “Where did that get him?”

She flinched, swallowing as she turned her gaze away. The closest thing I’d ever seen to shame crossed her features, hardening the set of her expression when she looked around the room to those that feared her.

“Rheaghan didn’t love me. He loved the girl he wanted me to be,” she said, her gaze snapping back to mine with disdain. “He loved your mate. For all the ways she reminded him of me.”

My jaw slackened, hanging open as I stared after her. That wasn’t true in the slightest.

Estrella wasnothinglike Mab.

Before I could respond, Mab turned on her heel and made herway to the dais. “Clean up this fucking mess before dinner. I don’t want to see it again,” she called, waving her hand over her shoulder to accentuate the command. “And find me whoever released the God of the Dead from his cell. I’d like to have a Gods-damned word.”

She opened the shadows, stepping into the shadow realm and disappearing from sight.

Leaving the rest of us to clean up her messes like always.

FIVE

ESTRELLA

I followed behind the Morrigan, the three figures walking on sure feet that I didn’t possess. The ground beneath us was the color of rust, that deep, earthy tone that gleamed like fire in the light. The vague impression of mountains lingered in the distance, stretching toward the cave ceiling above. There was no sun in Tartarus, no moon or stars in the sky above my head. As if it was trapped in a massive cave, stone covered the very existence of the prison in a way that felt impossible, as if it existed at the center of the world itself, dancing beneath the surface of the Fae and humans above.

Fires moved, shifting along the red dirt like miniature funnels of flames. They didn’t stay in one place, traveling in the unnatural breeze that blew through the space.

“Where are we going?” I asked, skipping to the side as one of the fires came too close for comfort. The warmth of fire kissed my arm, the singe of heat burning the hair from my skin.

The Morrigan walked through six of the burning spirals, makingtheir way to a stone ruin that jutted out from the reddened earth. The steps ascended toward the ceiling, an archway curving overhead that was big enough to fit two cave beasts standing on top of one another. I swallowed back my nerves and followed after them, trying not to think of what creature may be big enough to need such a large entryway.

“I am taking you to the place you need to be,” Nemain said ominously, her words nearly drowning in the wind as she ascended the first steps. The wind blew through the entrance of those ruins, casting the Morrigan’s hair back in a synchronized flutter.

The Cwn Annwn raced past the three women, sprinting up the steps with speed that I envied. The adrenaline of the day threatened to catch up with me, and it didn’t bode well for me that I had thirteen days to be successful. Thirteen days of minimal sleep to achieve the only thing that would save Caldris’s life.

“You’re taking me to Medusa?” I asked, even knowing it was an impossibility. Nothing in my life was ever so simple to think that they would skip pretense.

“In time. Medusa lives with the Primordials in the Cradle of Creation. Only those who prove themselves worthy may pass through the Temple of the Fates and enter the place where it all began,” Badb answered, cresting the final step as I followed behind them. Her sisters joined her at the crest, turning back to watch me ascend the steps slowly.

My skin hummed as I approached the entryway at the top of the steps, my feet moving more slowly than before—as if that part of my body knew something to dread.

The Morrigan crossed the threshold, stepping into the land beyond the ruined gate. A haze crossed over them, a sort of bubble that muffled their words as Nemain’s lips parted. I reached out a hand to touch the stone, wincing back from the jolt of power that made my entire arm quake.

“If you consent to the trials of Tartarus, you must pass through the warding, Child of Fate,” Nemain said, reaching out with a hand.

“What will it do to me?” I asked, taking a step back. I could feel my magic hum; drawing and calling to that well of power that existed within me made panic freeze my body.

“Tartarus is not interested in your magic or your mate’s,” Badb said, watching the way I faltered with keen eyes.

“Then what is it supposed to test?” I asked, wincing as Macha stepped through the haze to appear in front of me once more. Shesmiled, her beautiful mouth shifting just a little too wide at the edges, her hair billowing around her like liquid fire.

She reached out, stretching a single pointer finger toward my chest. She touched the very center of it, digging her nail into the fabric and my skin beneath. “You, girl. Your soul. Your very being and your inner strength. Anyone can have magic, but not everyone is worthy of keeping it.”

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