Page 8 of Stone Sentinels (Shadow Guardians #6)

CAMBION

Oronrel

The night grows quiet aside from the sounds of snores and the rustle of bedsheets. I unfold my long limbs from the confines of the linens and creep soundlessly through the sleeping quarters. The bag I prepared the night before waits for me in the bathing room. Beneath the guise of running water, I quickly change into clothing appropriate for hiking through the forest at night. Once the task is complete, I sneak out of the room and down the staircase.

There’s nothing and no one to stop me, yet I hesitate as my hand hovers above the doorknob. As much as I wonder if I’m making a huge mistake, one I will pay for later, I know I must do this.

The hesitation leaves me and I head out on my journey toward the portal. With Noni’s previous description guiding me, it’s not hard to find. Figuring out the runes, however, proves to be a very trying task, but I manage to open the portal to Oronrel without further issue.

As soon as I step through the portal and see Oronrel looming before me, a sense of familiarity hits me. And nostalgia. There was a time when I knew this palace almost as well as I knew my own.

I fish Pyre’s mirror out of my robes and use it to assess my brother’s position within the palace, scrying for a definite location. Once I receive it, I move forward. Because I’m dressed like a member of the Unseelie Court, none of the guards stop me for questioning. I’m able to walk into the palace and so far, my plan is working to perfection. The mirror takes me up the grand staircase and along several corridors.

Even though there’s a sense of familiarity about the place, it also feels different somehow. A labyrinth of rooms and hallways separate me from my brother, but I soon find him. He’s sitting alone in his throne room, on a stool in front of a large mirror—one that’s easily as tall as he is. And my brother is not a small man.

I open the door and close it behind me. He doesn’t turn to see who it is who has interrupted his solitude. I imagine he already knows.

“We need to talk, Brother,” I announce.

Theren’s unsettling gaze falls on me and I feel like an insect being pinned to a shadow box. “Yes, we do. I’m glad you’re here, Cambion. I’ve been trying to reach you within The Veil, but not even my magic can penetrate its warding.” Theren leaves his stool and comes to stand in front of me. I’m surprised at his lack of surprise. “I know you have questions.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Go on, then,” he invites. “Ask away.”

It’s funny. For years, I’ve practiced what I would say to my brother if we ever came face to face. And now that we are, I don’t know if I’ll be able to say the words as I practiced them so many times. “You... you turned your back on me and sided with Variant, who threw the Realms into chaos,” I begin. “And in the aftermath of my failure, you didn’t come to me.” I pause for a moment. “You never once visited me in my banishment.”

“I wanted to come after you, Cambion.”

“No, you didn’t.” I take a deep breath because I feel my anger stirring. And that’s not what I want. “I’m not angry, but I need to know why you made the decisions you did.”

Theren runs his fingers through his midnight-blue hair. It’s short now, cut close to the scalp along the sides while being no more than finger-length on top, even as a curl hangs loosely in front of his brow. His eyes are the same honey-gold as mine, reminding me of the fields of wheat in which we used to get lost as children. But behind that familiar gaze is something dark, something I don’t recognize.

“The decisions I made… weren’t my own.”

“What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?”

Theren sighs as if the weight of the world rests on his shoulders. “It means there is someone... someone who controls Variant and me.”

I nod, already believing this to be the case. “I’m aware.” I see the surprise on my brother’s face as my words register.

“And do you know who this person is?”

I shake my head and rest my hand on Theren’s shoulder. “No. But I wish to understand everything. If you didn’t betray me of your own free will, then you and I can find whoever this person is who influences you and set you free. It’s simple.”

“It’s anything but simple, Cambion,” he responds as he shakes his head and shrugs away from me. “There are forces at work here that you don’t understand. You’re still missing most of the pieces,” he continues. He paces across the floor. “I know Aima has sided with you and your allies, that she seeks refuge with the necromancer.”

“Yes.”

He nods and looks over at me. “I didn’t order her execution.”

“I know,” I say with a nod. Though I knew Theren would never endanger Aima, I feel a sudden flood of relief as he confirms my suspicions.

“But I don’t love her the way I once did. Something changed when Anona told Variant about the existence of the angel.”

“The angel?” I repeat, surprised.

“Eilish,” Theren finishes.

“After I met Eilish, I no longer saw Aima as my one true mate. How could I? Aima is strong and resilient, but—”

“Aima loves you, Theren. Don’t give that up for a succubus.”

“Succubus?”

My jaw is tight. “Eilish is not fully angel. She’s also succubus,” I announce, wondering if giving this information to my brother is a mistake. I heartily hope not.

He chuckles. “That matters not to me, brother. She could be a fucking sea hag from the darkest depths and I would still find myself… taken by her.”

I flinch, moving further away from Theren as he continues to pace. “You would give up the love of a good woman, and a close friend, for a she-demon?” He doesn’t respond and I take his silence as answer enough. I shake my head. “I don’t understand you, Theren.”

“Did you ever, brother?”

“I guess it will be easy for you when Aima leaves then,” I say with a shrug.

“And where is Aima going?” he asks sarcastically as he shakes his head. “You said yourself she loves me and I know that’s true. She wouldn’t leave me so quickly.”

“She does love you, but, like you, there are other things occupying her heart at the moment.”

“Well, I must speak with her.”

“You can’t,” I reply. Something changes in Theren, and he no longer appears before me as the brother I mourn. He looks every bit the Unseelie King who betrayed me on the battlefield. I feel sick to my stomach at the sight of him. “Think twice about doing whatever you have planned, Theren. The others will come for me if you attempt to hold me captive.”

“The others will have quite a different perspective of you shortly,” my brother drawls.

“What do you mean?”

“I very much doubt your companions will ever trust you again once they figure out you were the one who led the Unseelie army into The Veil.”

***

EILISH

The Veil

Sweat pours into my eyes as I throw Aima off me. She bounces off the ground and springs into a crouch, like a feline. Her sleek muscles glisten in the light of the swirling vortex above our heads as we spar in the clearing. Instead of leggings and a tunic like I’m wearing, Aima sports a leather over-bust corset with shoulder straps and leather breeches. She fights barefoot, with her long black hair in a high ponytail atop her head.

“You should have been alive when the Unseelie went to war with the angels,” she says. “You might have given us a bit of a challenge.” Aima lunges, slashing at me with her blades. She expertly dodges a blast of my magic and straightens to her full height, towering over me in a way most fae women can’t. “We rode Horau , enormous spike-tailed jaguars that were bred for battle. Some of them could leap high into the sky and snatch an angel down by its ankles. Used to make me laugh every time.”

“If you’re trying to piss me off, it’s not working,” I respond with a laugh.

“Well, fuck you then,” she says, her smile broad.

I parry her attacks, learning her rhythm until I’m able to throw her off balance again. She feigns to the left, so I go further right, but only for a second. When she attempts to correct the miscalculation, I drop low, tripping her up. Aima sails over my shoulder, landing on her back. Quickly, she kicks up onto her feet and tosses her short sword into her other hand. I deflect with a miracled shield of bright energy.

“What’s with you and Kolvar?” I ask breathlessly.

“What do you mean?”

I shrug. “I heard him talking about the two of you running away together when this is all over.”

“He’s just a big lug with a heart of gold under all that beard and ale.”

“But would you go? If he asked you, I mean.”

Aima pauses mid-stride. “None of us knows if we’ll survive this, Eilish. We don’t even know what we’re really fighting anymore. Each time we think we know who our enemy is, something else changes. Before, we just wanted to dethrone Variant; now we aren’t even sure if he’s the real threat.”

We put away our weapons and walk back to the cottage. Morrigan is still resting, but the others are bent over the dining table with a bunch of maps. Flumph is still in Morrigan’s chamber, while Noni rushes to get the linens washed, singing a happy little tune under her breath. I climb the stairs in search of Cambion, because I want to have a serious discussion with him. I need him and I’m worried the longer I wait to take him as my lover, the harder it’s going to be to defeat the darkness inside me. I can feel it building.

But Cambion is nowhere to be found. I search the library, apothecary, armory, kitchen, both bathing rooms, and all the unlocked doors along the halls. Nothing. Dread pools in my gut and I hurry back to the others.

“Have any of you seen Cambion?”

“No, he wasn’t in his bed this morning,” Baron answers. “I figured the prick ran off into the woods again. He hasn’t come back yet?”

Dragan frowns, deep creases etching his mouth. Pyre’s eyes change to an oddly normal shade of brown before turning back to the snow-white gaze I’ve grown to adore. He looks troubled.

“He isn’t in the forest,” Pyre says.

“Well, where the hell is he?” Dragan snaps.

“He... isn’t in The Veil at all,” Pyre answers.

An eruption of protests reverberates through the room and I press a hand to my temple to calm the searing headache that prickles the corners of my mind. “Can someone please explain to me what’s going on?” I ask above the deafening shouts.

“Dragan just informed us that he saw Cambion sneaking out of Pyre’s private quarters,” Baron says.

My heart sinks further as Pyre’s expression grows grim. This... this is a huge betrayal of the trust Pyre has given us without question. He pushes past everyone and disappears through his door. A few seconds later, we hear the sound of shattering glass and things being tossed around. Big things that make big sounds. Colorful curses fill the air, ones that will no doubt give even Flumph a run for his money. Noni hurries into the room to soothe her master while the rest of us stand quietly beside the dining table. Pyre never loses control like this.

He exits his room with a suspiciously impassive expression and his house brownie tucked into his pocket. “Cambion has stolen a very powerful mirror. It’s one of the last catoptromancer mirrors I saved from the mortal realm before the Singularity. It... belonged to the seer I told you about,” Pyre informs us with an air of sadness in his voice. “I believe Cambion’s gone to Oronrel.”

“What? Why?” I ask.

“He kept talking about needing to see his brother,” Dragan inserts. “I just assumed he was getting impatient with how slowly things were moving as we attempted to figure this mess out, but this isn’t like Cambion at all. He knows how important our mission is.”

“But he still has faith in his brother.” Aima hangs her head and rubs the heels of her palms into her face. “He’s been on edge for weeks now, and we were all too busy to see what was happening. What needs to happen now is damage control.”

Pyre nods in agreement. “We need to find the portal he used to get to Oronrel and make sure nothing slipped through with him. Kolvar and Aima can take the southern border, Dragan and Eilish will cover the east, Baron and I can double our efforts in the north and west. We can meet back here once the area has been completely swept for outsiders.”

“We can’t go nowheres,” Flumph calls from the room. We run to see what he’s talking about, but stop just inside the door. Morrigan is pale and sweating through the sheets as she thrashes on the mattress.

“She havin’ some sorta fit, an’ I ain’t able to helps her,” Flumph says.

Pyre disappears to his private quarters, Baron close on his heels. I’m upset that we can’t go after Cambion yet, but I sit beside Morrigan and press my hand to her forehead. “We need to bring her fever down. She’s burning up.”

“What about your healing magic, Eilish?” Aima asks.

I shake my head. “If this attack was brought on by her drained energy or something else magical in nature, I don’t want to risk using my power. We’ll have to do this the old fashioned way.”

Aima begins assisting me as Dragan and Kolvar return to the table where the others were strategizing. Through the door, we overhear Dragan complaining that Cambion hadn’t told him about his plan. At first I think Dragan means to protect Cambion, but the edge to his voice suggests he wants vengeance against the Unseelie King more than he wants to keep his friend safe. And I find myself disappointed in both Dragan and Cambion once again.