Page 65 of The Unseelie War
Ava’s expression fell. “What? Why not…?”
“She is my dream, Ava.” His hands clenched into fists. “Icreatedher.”
Oh. Well. That made sense, she supposed. “Ok?”
He put his head in his hands, letting out a groan. “How can you not understand the situation that places me in, Weaver? She is a being made of my existence. I fell in love with a dream—awish.A prayer. If she were to love me in return, it—” He couldn’t continue.
“I’m sorry. I…didn’t know.” She let out a long sigh. Nothing was easy, was it? Nothing could just beeasy.“Maybe she thought you were obnoxious when you first met. There’s always hope.”
He let out an exhausted, sad chuckle. “Perhaps.”
A long stretch of silence passed between them.
Finally, Nos spoke up. “I hold no grudges against you, Ava. Nor shall I hate you for choosing to sacrifice yourself, and your love, forthe worlds in your care. I shall lay my heart on the altar next to yours.”
“Thanks, Nos. And…I hold no grudges against you, either.” It wasn’t exactly a vote of friendship. They’d probably never be buddies and she was fine with that. She pushed away from the wall to head back toward the main theatre, and when she walked on stage, with Nos not far behind, she pulled up short.
Puck stood center stage, his chin-length silver hair wild and his usual manic grin nowhere to be seen. His clothes were torn, and there were scratches on his face that looked suspiciously like claw marks.
“Well, well, well,” he said, his voice lacking its usual playful lilt. He sounded downright serious. “Look who's finally returned from their cosmic chat.”
“Puck?” Ava walked up to him slowly. Abigail was keeping her distance. “The fuck happened to you? You look like you've been in a fight.”
“Oh, I have been. Several, actually. Turns out Valroy's forces don't appreciatereconnaissance.”He held up a hand that was definitely not the same color it had been the last time she'd seen him, but several shades of purple and blue. It was broken in several spots. “But I found who and what you were looking for.”
“We didn’t send you looking for anything…” Ava furrowed her brow.
“Yet. But you were about to, weren’t you?” Puck sniffed dismissively. “Namely Alex. And you’re going to send your spooder-boyfriend here after the tree in the Maze whileyoucommit functional suicide. I’m just saving you all time nobody has.”
“I.” She blinked. “I really don’t understand?—”
“Time.” Puck waved his non-broken hand. “I’m all up in it. Everywhen.”
“It’s best not to ask questions,” Abigail said through an exhale.
“Yeah, okay, fine, whatever.” No wonder Valroy always looked like he had a headache around the little silver-haired “Where’s Alex?”
Puck held up a finger, then snapped his arm back, which caused it to let out a violentcracksound. He groaned and let out a series of obscenities in about six languages that Ava didn’t understand. Doubling over, he groaned out the words, “Valroy has her.”
Abigail stepped forward, face pale. “Is she alive?”
He straightened back up and let out a long and unhappy sound. “Alive? Yeah. Battered? You bet. Chained to a tree trying to suck out her blood? Yuppers. But alive.” Puck's grin was sharp and utterly without humor. “And Valroy isrealeager to make that deal. You don’t show up at midnight, he sends Alex to join Izael. Told me, while he was breaking all the bones in mydamn hand,to tell you that he was trading ‘one anchor point for another, so the spider can go back in his Web where he belongs.’”
“He knows. Somehow, he knows what we're planning. How is that possible?” Abigail shook her head in disbelief.
Ava couldn’t help but laugh. “ThefuckingMorrigan. She told him. Could have easily shown him the same visions she showed me.”
“Or,” Serrik said darkly, “she told Alex and Valroy procured the information via torture.”
Abigail closed her eyes. “It doesn't matter how he knows. What matters is that he's forced my hand. I have to go.”
“Like hell you do.” Ibin stepped forward. “This is a setup, clear as day. Once you go, we’ve lost.”
“Of course it's a trap. But it is also our only chance at this. And I did not say I was going alone.” Abigail opened her eyes, and there was steel in her green gaze. “The plan remains the same. Ava, you must rebuild the Web. We must become the anchor points. We simply change the location, as we must bring the ritual to Alex. It will simply make this more challenging, is all.”
Ava snorted. “More challenging? So. Let me get this straight. You plan to have us walk right up to Valroy while he’s holding Alex prisoner and…what…you’re going to distract him while I un-break reality in front of his face? And you think he’s going to be okay with that?”
“Well. It solves the question of whether or not he will come to me in my time of sacrifice, does it not? There will undoubtedly be a confrontation.” Abigail smirked. “It will not be our first and hopefully…it will not be our last.” She drew her hand upward as if she were pulling something up from the ground. Sure enough, a vine formed from the wood floor and in fast-forward, grew up to meet her hand. A red flower bloomed beneath her palm. She stroked it tenderly, smiling at it as though it were an old friend. “We will weaken him. Serrik, are you ready to attack the tree at the center of the Maze while I lead an attack on his encampment?”
