Page 45 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
Drayden’s brow furrowed. “Who?”
“She didn’t seemthatpowerful when I met her,” Kaia said, ignoring him.
Lucian rasped, spitting a glob of blood onto the dungeon floor. “She’s a chameleon. Looks are deceiving. You want a portal to a hell realm? She’s the one I’d ask, just be prepared to pay the price—and I’m not talking coin.”
I closed my eyes, tail flicking back and forth as I played out options in my mind, but I was coming up short. Of course it had to be her.
It always was.
Kaia stepped forward. “Corvo, you should return to Vareck. Help them stay alive. Amelia runs the Witching Hour. She’s easy enough to find.”
“Careful, Beauty,” Lucian said, his green eyes glowing faintly as he looked at Kaia, but she scowled. “She cares for no one in this realm or the next, you understand? She isn’t your friend, she doesn’t care about the kingdom, and if you’re coming to her for something this big, she knows you have no other options. She likes it that way.”
Kaia pressed her lips together. “Noted. Drayden and I will go and see what her price is. Corvo? Go help them.”
“Well, this is going to go to shit,” I grumbled, already turning. “Tweedledee and Tweedledum are being sent to bargain with a devil while I try to stop my subjects from eating my familiar. Fucking great.”
I vanished before Kaia could utter another word.
Next stop: the witch I loathed most.
Chapter 12
Vareck
The food was excellent.
Spiced fruit skewers, honeyed bread, roasted nuts with sweet glaze, and drinks that left a faint aftertaste of vanilla and citrus. These creatures, whatever they were, had gone all out.
But it wasn’t hospitality.
Now that we knew the truth—that this wasn’t generosity but preparation—it tasted like poison.
Sadie poked at a pastel dumpling with the edge of a dagger she’d acquired somewhere between hugging Meera and threatening to gut one of the fuzzballs who got too close. “They’re really committing to the whole pre-sacrifice pampering thing, huh?”
“Nothing says ‘tenderize the meat’ like a foot massage and fresh fruit,” Meera muttered.
I kept my voice low. “We can’t wait around for Corvo to bring us a portal. We need to come up with an escape plan. “
“He’ll be back, and we’ll be okay,” Meera said, ever the optimist. I loved that about her, but I’d seen too much to believe it myself.
“Corvo will find Drayden, or Kaia, or both of them. You’re the king of Faerie. They won’t just leave you here to die,” my nephew muttered.
I exhaled slowly. “And what if they’re too late?” I asked, turning to Damon, who had planted himself furthest from the group, arms crossed and mouth drawn tight. “Corvo admitted he has no idea when these things will decide we’re ready to be dinner. You think they’ll give us a second round of appetizers before turning us into the entrée?”
He didn’t flinch. “I think running off into the magical murder realm with no portal and no exit point is a great way to end up dead. We should wait. If they try anything,thenwe run.”
“Wait until their teeth are already sinking in for a taste?” Sadie arched her brow, flicking the end of her dagger toward Damon. “Solid plan, princeling.”
“You’ve got a better one?” he shot back. “Because last I checked, you leaving the cave is the reason we’re about to become dinner for the baby murder bears. If we hadn’t left the cave, then we would all be there right now and safer than we currently are.”
“No one made you follow me,” Sadie snapped back, which inevitably devolved into bickering, as was the norm between Meera’s sister and my nephew, I was coming to realize.
If Sadie was fire, Damon was the oxygen that fed her.
“I know there was no notice in Eversus when the shift occurred, but is there any way to tell when the landscape is going to start shifting while in Evorsus?” Meera asked quietly, ignoring them.
“Not until right before it happens,” I replied. “There’s also no telling what will be on the other side of this if it shifts back to Eversus. The carnivorous bear creatures might be the least of our problems.”
