Page 78 of The Light Falls
“Denir, how kind of you to come for a visit. Now, I can update you in person. Leandra, lovely bitch that she is, found a way to hide herself from her enemies. An amulet from a goddess. Until she decides to pop her head out of the hole she dug, we won’t be able to find her.”
The weight of a dagger sliding into my palm makes me look at my hand. It’s the Killian Blade. Relieved, I close my fist tightly around it and shift onto the balls of my feet.
Dark power fills the hallway, and he bares his teeth. “I see you know her well. Unfortunately, I don’t have eons to wait for her to pop up like a hare. I figure if I take her replacement daughter, she’ll find me in record time.” The floor begins to vibrate and twist in a macabre way.
Replacement daughter?
I back into the wall to get away from the dark stain growing on the floor.
A hand reaches out and clamps down hard on my mouth. In a panic, I claw at it, but the smell of amber and musk calms me.
“It’s Madoc. I’m going to pull you into the shadows. It’s going to be disorientating because we’re going to be moving fast. Just hold on to my arm and don’t let go. Got it?” He looks at the dagger in my hand. “And put that away.”
I slowly nod, not wanting dear old dad to see my movements and open my hand to drop the dagger. It disappears before it hits the floor. The last thing I see before darkness covers us are the shaking hands of my father.
Whoosh! Shades of grey, flashes of light, and moments of pitch-black swirl together into one big nauseating ride. I’d do anything to be able to close my eyes, but I need to figure out where he’s taking me.
A hand reaches into the dark, and Madoc jerks me to him with a snarl. Suddenly, we’re dropping a few hundred feet, only to stop and ride a wave of inky blackness to the left. Maybe. It’s hard to tell. We step out of the shadows. Dizzy, I glance around and find we’re on my balcony.
Madoc shoves me through the doors of my room and takes off again. I watch from inside as the dark Fae king lands on my balcony. When he sees me, he smiles and steps forward. The wards spark, searing his body in several places. Roaring in pain, he stumbles back.
“You can’t hide in there forever. I’ll be back to finish our little chat,” he spits out, blood dripping down his face.
Cormal bursts into the room with Kaius and Ansel at his heels. “Thank god. We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Galen and Garren were supposed to be guarding you, but we found them dead in one of the hallways.”
Furious, I burst into tears, which pisses me off even more. I cry like a baby when I’m angry and right now, I’m furious.
“I was there. With them. They wanted to come back here, but I insisted on taking a walk. That bastard showed up and killed them. Madoc saved me.”
Cormal grips my face between his hands. “Who showed up, Meri? Tell me.”
My eyes dart to Ansel. “The dark Fae King. He’s coming in via the shadows. Apparently, his presence is what’s tripping the alarm, not a portal.” I shiver at the thought of how many times the alarm has gone off over the last few days. “He’s been everywhere. Looking for me.”
Kaius curses. “I’m calling Astor.”
Cormal holds up a hand. “I can fix it. Now that I know who it is, I can ward the palace against him. I may have to call in a huge favor from Oryn to get a sample of his DNA, but he’ll do it.”
I point to the balcony. “Or you can go scrape up some blood from the balcony. Your wards roasted him.” Sniffing, I grab a tissue from the table and wipe my nose. “I’m so sorry about Galen and Garren. It’s my fault. I never should have asked them to keep walking.”
Ansel stares at me. “You should be able to walk around your own damn palace. I’ll go grab Tiernan and Laken to watch over you while I have the palace guards prepare the twins for the funeral pyre.” He turns to Kaius. “I’ll also find us several more men. We need to double up security with everything that’s going on.”
Kaius nods and dismisses him. “The wards are weak. Nyssa never upgraded them because she felt she could handle any threat. It needs to be done. Too many people live here to rely on one person’s ability to protect it.”
My body vibrates with anger. I remember Solandis telling me I can pull power from the people. But how? I get a rush of adrenaline when I’m in a council meeting or at an event with a lot of Fae, but my power level itself stays about the same. I sigh. I would ask Solandis, but I don’t want to bother her with trivial stuff right now. Maybe Madoc can teach me.
Cormal comes back in with a test tube of dark liquid. “The wards on this room work. Stay here. Please. I’ll fix the spell on the palace and block him. In addition, I’ll get my security team in here to upgrade everything.” He spears his fingers through my hair to cup the back of my neck and lowers his mouth for a devastating kiss. It’s full of anger, worry, and lust.
My body immediately kicks into high gear, and I meet every thrust of his tongue with my own, needing what he’s offering.
“Damn it, Meri. You pick your moments. I’ll be back.” He places one last firm kiss on my lips and strides out.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
MERI
Cormal sent a text in the early morning hours to let me know he was still working on the security. By the terseness of it, I guess it’s more of a mess than he thought. Frustrated and anxious about tomorrow’s council meeting, I finally drift off to sleep, only to be awoken by the same bizarre dreams that have been plaguing me for weeks.
Except this time, I can clearly see Leandra’s fear as she faces me. Me but not the person I am now. It’s hard to tell my exact age because my face didn’t change much once I hit maturity, but the clothes I’m wearing are what I call relaxed skimpy-ness—a t-shirt over a short skirt with a pair of tennis shoes. A look I favored before I hit a hundred years old.
