Page 5

CHAPTER FOUR

T o my relief, we are not incinerated the moment we step through the barrier. Instead, the wards simply vibrate a little around us. Then we’re through. I try to blow out a long breath of relief, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to breathe, so I only manage a small sigh.

Orion shoots us an amused look, as if he could read the trepidation on our faces when we walked through, but he doesn’t comment on it. Once we are all inside his court, he spins on his heel and starts deeper into the woods.

“Follow me,” he says without even turning to look at us.

Isera glares at his back in annoyance while Alistair shoots him a scowl. On my other side, Lyra and Galen exchange a look before they both glance at Draven. But Draven only starts after the Unseelie King without another word.

The fog at the corners of my vision is getting worse, and I blink hard several times to keep my eyes in focus as Draven carries me deeper into the forest. My body is still shaking violently from the searing cold inside me, and I clamp my teeth together to stop them from chattering too loudly.

A stab of pain shoots through my skull again.

I flinch, and my vision blacks out for a couple of seconds.

When I can once more see again, I find Draven’s desperate eyes locked on mine.

“You need to make it through this,” he says.

“Yeah, I’m—” My lungs seem to spasm for a moment, and I have to cough and clear my throat before I manage a weak smile. “Yeah, I’m trying to.”

“No, you need to make it through this.” His eyes are dead serious and full of both command and pleading as he holds my gaze. “Do you understand?”

The intensity of his stare steals what little air I had left in my lungs, so I only manage a nod.

All around us, the forest is humming with the soft tunes of nocturnal insects.

Leaves rustle faintly above us as a gentle breeze sweeps through the trees.

I watch the way the silver light from the moon plays over the impossibly fresh green leaves, wondering yet again what kind of magic can make them grow like this when the rest of the world is in the clutches of winter.

Up ahead, Orion is striding towards something rectangular that glitters slightly a short distance away. The rest of our companions are following a few steps behind Draven, so right now, we have a few moments of privacy.

But a few moments are not enough for what I want to say. For what I want to ask. But it’s all we have, so I draw in a soft breath and meet Draven’s gaze. I don’t even know where to start. Or how to adequately summarize what it is that I actually want to ask.

In the end, what makes it out of my mouth is simply, “You begged for me.”

Draven tears his gaze from that glittering shape up ahead and looks down to meet my eyes. His expression softens. And my heart aches, because he seems to be able to read the full question embedded in that one statement.

“I’ve already told you.” He gives me a soft smile.

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.

I would crawl and grovel. I would slaughter entire nations.

” His golden eyes sear through my very soul as he holds my gaze.

“So you had better fight with everything you have to make it through this. Because if you die, I will rip my own heart out and then claw my way out of Azaroth’s fiery realm and break the barriers between our afterlives so that I can follow you in death into Mabona’s evergreen garden.

I will never let you go. You are mine. In this life and every life after it. ”

My heart stops. And then beats twice as hard to make up for it. I can barely breathe as I stare up into his eyes while his words echo through my very soul. Warmth floods my chest like a wave of bright sunlight. Because I can tell, without a shadow of a doubt, that he means every word of that.

His arms tighten around me, and a hint of challenge glints in his eyes as he holds my gaze and flashes me a small smile.

“So fight with everything you have to stay here with me, because I would hate to have to add Destroyer of the Afterlife to the already ridiculously long list of titles people have given me.”

A surprised laugh rips from my lungs, which immediately makes me cough and wince again, but my frozen chest is somehow still full of sparkling warmth as I smile back up at Draven. “It really is ridiculously long, isn’t it?”

Amusement gleams in his eyes as he leans down and brushes his lips against my forehead in a soft kiss. But before he can say anything, we reach that strange glittering rectangle that Orion has stopped next to. Frowning, I stare at it.

It looks like a doorway. But the glittering blue doorframe isn’t connected to anything.

It’s just standing there alone on the grass.

I stare in confusion at the scenery visible inside the glimmering frame.

All around us, there are only darkened trees.

But through the strange doorway, I can see a city.

“You have portal magic,” Isera says as she and the others catch up with us. It sounds like half question, half accusation.

The Unseelie King slides his gaze to her and gives her a smile that looks vaguely threatening. “No. But one of my people does.”

“Save this fucking conversation for when Selena isn’t dying in my arms,” Draven snaps.

Isera, seemingly unruffled by both Orion’s threatening smile and Draven’s harsh words, just shrugs as if conceding the point.

The Unseelie King, on the other hand, watches Draven as if he’s debating whether to make an issue of his rudeness or not.

But in the end, he says nothing and simply walks through the portal.

Draven hurries through it a moment later, as if he was worried that Orion might close it before we could get through.

A slight tingling sensation ripples through me as we move through the glittering blue doorway, but it disappears the moment we step out on the other side.

I suck in a gasp at the view that is now visible before us.

Gone is the darkened forest. Instead, a sprawling city with rushing waterfalls and flowing rivers meets us below the small hill we’re standing on. I gape at it, completely stunned.

Once again, my preconceived notions about the Unseelie Court turn out to be entirely false. From what we know of the Unseelie Court, they are supposed to be our dark counterpart. So I had been expecting a city hewn from dark rock, maybe even underground, with crude dwellings and harsh monuments.

But instead, I stare at the most beautiful city I have ever seen.

Grand rock formations frame one side of the city, and rippling waterfalls tumble down over the edges and into a massive pool that glitters in the starlight.

The water from that pool then flows right through the city in several sparkling rivers that the fae have directed perfectly between buildings and streets by creating canals made of stone.

On the other side of the large city, those rivers tumble down another cliffside before joining the grand river beneath which flows out through the fields and grasslands below.

My heart patters against my ribs as I stare at the incredible architecture before me. All the houses are made of pale stone, making the city look bright and clean, while the red tiles that cover all the roofs add a splash of color.

There is a grand arena in the middle of the city. It looks like the arena we fought inside during the Atonement Trials, except ten times as large and oval instead of round. The massive amphitheater looks to be the beating heart of the city.

Next to the glittering lake, with the cliff formations as a protective barrier behind, rises a beautiful castle made of shining white stone. It stuns me how similar it is to our Golden Palace in the Seelie Court. However, while ours gleams golden in the light, this one shimmers in silver instead.

It’s breathtaking. The entire city is a work of art. And it’s not at all what I was expecting to find in the infamous Unseelie Court.

“Wow,” Lyra says from right next to us.

I blink, tearing my gaze from the stunning view, and slide it back to the six people around me instead. Except there are seven people here now.

Lyra and Alistair are standing side by side, gaping at the city below in much the same way that I was doing.

Isera, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to be very interested in the view.

Instead, she watches Orion like a hawk as he speaks quietly to another fae man.

The stranger nods and waves his hand, which makes the glittering portal sink into the ground.

Then he closes his eyes and begins moving his hands again, as if summoning another portal.

“This is probably a trap,” Galen whispers as he comes to stand next to Draven.

Draven glances over at him. “You know how it works. Unseelie fae always keep the bargains they make.”

“I know. But they always try to trick people into more than they think they bargained for. Which means that this guy we’re supposed to assassinate is probably going to be incredibly difficult to kill.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

However, before either of them can say anything else, another portal shoots up from the ground. Through it, buildings and a stone street are visible.

“Well then,” the Unseelie King says, that vaguely threatening smile once again on his lips. “Let’s go see my healer.”