Page 12

Shy

The air suddenly feels tense, and I realize I have mere seconds to convince the queen that we’ve found ourselves in the wrong damn timeline, and a deeply dangerous one at that.

“He’s really not the king.”

Clem stands beside me. Shea completely disappeared, apparently happy to have a chimera corpse to play with, but Clem left her rock and followed me. She’s a calm spirit, if still a bit pissed at how she died. I got a bit of that story when we were locked in Rhys’s protective…there’s really no other word for it…cage.

“I told you,”

I say under my breath and get close to the queen. “Your Highness, we’re in danger. These men believe the high priest is their king. Their king who slaughtered his mother and brother to take the throne and has apparently been brutal with his subjects. I don’t understand everything yet, but I know they will not take it well if they figure out he’s not who they think he is.”

The queen’s jaw tightens, and then she obviously makes her decision. “Ask her if I’m his wife on this plane.”

“Eoin, you jokester. It’s good to know things haven’t change.”

Rhys’s father is smiling like he half expected something like this.

“He has no wife,”

Clem says. “Though he sleeps with any woman who catches his eye. He’s a professional when it comes to debauchery.”

I shake my head the queen’s way.

The head of the guard stands, his eyes narrowing. “You sound different, Your Majesty. And you’re early. We did not expect you for several months. Where is your guard? Who are these… I don’t think some of them are sidhe.”

And that was a problem for this dude.

“You know well who my partner is,”

Dev says with a laugh. “Where is my brother? Tell him I’ll kick his ass.”

While Devinshea is looking at the guard, waiting for them to spring the joke, Zoey moves to his side and proves she can act a part. She places a hand on his arm and looks up at him. “Your Majesty, I think they know your brother is dead and that you bravely took him out so all of Faery could be under your…kind rule. Don’t pretend we’re in some other timeline. You’re the one who is joking with them. Your guard is obviously steadfast and true and would never joke with the king.”

He frowns down at her. “Zoey…”

Rhys moves next to me. “What’s happening?”

“Your father is either going to catch on or we’re all about to die,”

I whisper.

“Wouldn’t it be funny, Your Majesty?”

Zoey has the bubbliest look on her face. Like there’s not a brain in her head. She blinks her eyes, and I swear at some point when I wasn’t looking she undid a couple of buttons of the flowy dress she wears. “If we made a mistake coming back and found ourselves in a kingdom where you weren’t the ruler of everything? That would be so weird.”

I see the moment Devinshea realizes what has happened and damn, but Rhys’s papa is good at acting as well. His face loses its quizzical expression and a decadent darkness takes over. A faintly cruel smile plays on his handsome face. “Yes, my dear, that would be, as you put it, weird. And wrong. Eoin, why exactly are you here? I certainly did not order you here.”

“Well, at least now I understand why you came back early. I should have known.”

Eoin’s gaze is still suspicious. “You are supposed to be on the outer planes preparing for your marriage. We were surprised when Ostara’s oracle told us you were here. She was a bit surprised. She believed her fiancé would take more time. If you ask me, I think she’s attempting to avoid the marriage, Your Majesty. And you are going to give her a reason, it seems. I thought you were done with this.”

Rhys leans over, his arm around my waist, and whispers in my ear. “What the hell is going on?”

Devinshea’s eyes go hard, and I swear he gains an inch or two as he moves in and stands in front of the head of his guard. Well, the head of the other Dev’s guard. This is going to get confusing. “I didn’t ask you, Eoin. Did I? Do I typically ask the opinions of guards? Have I been gone so long that you don’t remember?”

Eoin’s eyes find the forest floor. “No, Your Majesty. I have not forgotten. I was merely surprised. I truly did believe you were going to be gone for much longer.”

“Well, he’s got the nasty bastard down,”

Clem says, her hands on her hips. Her skin resembles the bark of a tree, peeling up in places. “You’re sure he’s not tricking you?”

The forest is quiet, so I simply shake my head. She’s a good two feet shorter than me so I can’t speak out loud for fear I’ll gain the guards’ attention. As for Rhys, I can whisper. “According to the spirit I’m talking to, we’ve landed on a plane where your father killed your grandmother and uncle and took the throne. He’s been slaughtering non-sidhe creatures, and there’s possibly a rebellion against him.”

“I’m going to kill that death god,”

Rhys vows.

“I am confused.”

Cassie and Brendan join us, watching their elders deal with the guards. Brendan scratches behind his ear and doesn’t seem worried he’s got two hellhounds near him. “I thought your granny…”

“Is dead, wolf,”

Rhys says and sends Brendan a look that could freeze fire.

“Who is this?”

Eoin asks and then winces. “I’m sorry. I do not mean to question Your Majesty, but this is not the group you left with. If you care to recall, my brother, Caden, led your guard as he always does when you seek the pleasure of the outer planes.”

Devinshea frowns, his eyes narrowing. “They await my return. I wanted a bit of freedom. I ran into someone interesting on the planes. That boy is my bastard. Apparently I had too good a time some years ago, and he came of it. His name is Rhys, and he could be helpful. The boy has some fertility powers and a bit of Green Man in him. Nothing like myself, of course.”

It was right there in his words. The warning to Rhys to keep quiet, to not give himself away since his powers were so beyond his father’s formidable ones.

“Well, the real king would kill any son who was more powerful than him.”

Clem neatly summed the situation up.

“So I decided it would be fun to show my new friends around.”

Devinshea waves a hand, gesturing to the world around him. “Perhaps we should go back to the palace for a bit. Tell Ostara I don’t need her and my reappearance won’t bump up our wedding day. Tell me what day it is. You know how time flows on the outer planes.”

“You have been gone for but a week, Your Majesty,”

Eoin replies. “It is almost time for the equinox feast.”

Devinshea nods like that makes sense to him. “Excellent. Then tell the palace cooks to double what they’re making. We have wolves and hounds to feed. Now you have been so helpful to bring us horses to ride so we don’t have to walk to the palace. My go…Zoey, love, you should ride with me.”

“Your Majesty,”

Eoin begins as the others step away from their horses, obviously conditioned to immediately do their king’s bidding. “We cannot leave you with no proper guard. The rebels are known to work in these forests.”

“Yes, I know. I killed a chimera they sent to take me out,”

Devinshea announces as he moves for the horses. “I think my new friends can handle it.”

“Your Majesty, this is not right,”

Eoin says.

The ground begins to tremble and the trees around us sway.

Clem seems to fold in on herself. Though she’s dead and he cannot harm her, the trauma still runs deep.

A branch from a mighty oak swoops in and suddenly Eoin is in the air, a slender tendril wrapped around his throat. The branch lifts him, booted feet kicking as his hands go up to try to pull the branch from around his neck. It isn’t more than an instant before I see blood starting to trickle around the branch.

The rest of the guard pointedly don’t look his direction.

Rhys tenses beside me. I doubt he’s ever seen his father be so brutal. Though from what I can see from how Clem reacts, Devinshea is playing the role perfectly.

Dev easily mounts Eoin’s horse and holds his hand out, lifting the queen onto the saddle in front of him. She sits sideways between his legs, one of her husband’s arms wrapped protectively around her waist.

Sasha and Daniel take two of the remaining horses, and Sasha helps Cassie find her seat behind him. Neil frowns and starts undressing.

“I do not do horses,”

the werewolf announces.

“You and Brendan and the hounds will be our forward and rear guard,”

Dev commands. Zoey says something to him and he sighs. Eoin falls to the ground, gasping for breath. “Rhys, you and Shy will take the last horse. Try to keep up, son.”

Rhys takes my hand. Before he leads me away, I lean down like I’m tying my shoe. I get close to Clem. “Can you come with me? There’s so much we need to know if we’re going to survive this.”

Clem’s rich brown eyes are pools of sorrow as she looks back to the ponds. “No. I dare go no farther than the tree line. There is some kind of spell, and no spirit who leaves here returns. But there should be dead to help you in the palace. He’s killed so many. Be careful. Something is happening in the mountains. Something terrible.”

“Do you mean the sluagh?”

I ask, but Rhys tugs on my hand and I know we have to leave. There will already be a thousand questions without the Seelie guard wondering why the strange girl talks to no one at all.

“He is coming for them,”

Clem calls out as I’m led away.

I turn and she is staring at me. “Who?”

I mouth the question.

A gnarled hand points to the north. “The wizard, of course.”

A chill goes through me, and I have to wonder if Arawn didn’t know what he was doing all along.

It’s not more than ten minutes before Dev slows his horse and allows the rest of us to catch him, forming a close line. I have to admit that Rhys knows how to handle a horse. Something warm went through me when he lifted me into the saddle like I weigh nothing. When he settled me on his lap like his father had done for his mother, I felt precious and cared for.

I should not be thinking about sex when we’re all going to die, but we’re talking about a fertility god here. It’s damn near impossible to not think about what those big hands can do to me. Especially now that I have actual proof of what they can do to me.

Stroke me like silk and heat and power. Worship me. Make me feel like I’ve never felt before. Like there’s a place I can go where I’m safe and loved and the world doesn’t matter.

“What the actual fuck?”

The king always seems to know how to start a conversation.

Devinshea slows his stallion, his arm fully around his wife’s waist. “Yes, I have questions. So many questions.”

Neil barks like he agrees. His white wolf has been running next to Brendan’s, while Fluffy took the lead and the other hounds protected our backs.

“I think this is your time, my goddess,”

Rhys says, his lips against my ear. “You are the one who saved us, after all.”

“Shy figured it out,”

the queen announces. “She was talking to some spirits who haunt the pond, and she managed to put the pieces together. Shy, what exactly did they tell you?”

“Clem kept talking about the king,”

I explain. “At first I thought she meant King Daniel, but it became clear she was talking about the high priest.”

“Except I’m not the high priest in this sithein.”

Dev says the words slow, as though he has to process them.

“No,”

I agree. “It was all very quick, but according to Clem and the nymph in the pond, in this sithein, Devinshea Quinn killed his mother and brother and took the throne. I don’t know how long ago that was. I do know that Clem hates you. She said something about you killing many non-sidhe Fae. I think you might have killed her. She was terrified of you. Well, she was until she figured out you aren’t you.”

“Also, bastard child? Really, Papa?”

Rhys chuckles like this is funny.

“Well, they will obviously have questions, and I doubt you’re my child in this world since I don’t think he even knew your mother’s name is Zoey.”

Dev’s jaw is tight, his anxiety obvious. “Shy, do you have comprehension of what’s happened?”

I am no science pro, but I can take a wild guess. “I think we somehow stumbled on a different timeline.”

“So like when Aunt Zoey fell into that painting thing?”

Cassie asks.

“No, that was a portal to another plane, but it was still the timeline we were born in.”

The king suddenly sounds very academic. “Or rather the one we understood. There are some who believe our version of reality is merely a layer that we move through. The planes themselves are physical spaces while what we’re dealing with is time and fractures of reality. Think of it like a layered cake. They exist on top of one another, related but not the same. That’s why the sithein looks the same but something happened to make the Fae here radically different from the court we know.”

“Yes, apparently I am a massive asshole who killed my family to take the throne,”

Dev says with bitterness flowing.

“It’s not you, babe,”

the queen replies, and her hand rubs over his arm.

“The king is right about the layers.”

I do know a bit about this. I remember my family debating endlessly about the difference of moving through physical portals and the walls thinning between timelines. “My aunt could hear near timelines. Like the ones on top of or below us. Or maybe to the left or right. I’m not sure how it runs, but she could hear them. I think it’s safe to say that we were either led to the wrong door or the blue dolerite facilitated a switch in timelines. The dead I’ve spoken to here were all interested in the crystals we carry. I have to believe they have some kind of power beyond simply opening the door. That’s why they made sure we had enough, or we might have lost someone.”

“Well, I suggest we turn this around and go back to the caves,”

Dev says. “We can find another way.”

Oh, that was not going to work for me. I know I cannot leave this place until I figure out why I feel the tug of those mountains. “Your Grace, we’re here for a reason. I don’t know why Arawn sent us, but I do know I’m supposed to be here. So I understand if you need to take your family back, but I’m going to stay and figure out why I’m here.”

Rhys goes stiff behind me. “You most certainly are not.”

A bit of anger thrums through me. First he locks me in that stupid cage, and now he’s telling me what I can and cannot do. All of this and he hasn’t even slept with me yet, hasn’t made me his true goddess. Hasn’t found out if I can actually be his goddess. “I am staying, Rhys. I can find my way back. I’ll keep the dolerite, and I’ll give you a call when I’m ready to come home.”

If I decide to go home. I love this man, but I can’t be caged. I might be able to handle his over protection in battle, but despite what he says, he is not my commanding officer.

Rhys pulls on the reins and the horse beneath us neighs and slows. “Shy, if you think for a second that I am leaving you on a Fae plane by yourself, you’re wrong.”

“You will not leave her by herself.”

Sasha—who is surprisingly comfortable on a horse—pulls up next to us, matching our gait. “I will stay with Shy. I will ensure her safety.”

“I’ll stay, too,”

Cassie offers and gives me a grin. “Girl power and all that.”

“I think we need to stop and give this some thought.”

The king turns his horse around and gazes someplace in the distance. “Let’s find a quiet place and talk.”

“Yes, I definitely think we need to decide how to proceed in a way everyone agrees,”

the queen offers.

“I think your mother is trying to tell you to chill the fuck out, Rhys.”

Dev stares at his son with a concerned look on his face.

I can’t see him, but I can feel his will.

“I will not chill out,”

Rhys announces. “We have no idea where we are or if walking back through that doorway will even get us to the timeline we came from. We don’t know if Arawn made this a two-way ticket or if this is another plan from Myrddin and we’re losing days right now. You simply took the word of some wizened crone who shows up with a couple of hellhounds, and I should have stopped it right then and there.”

The queen’s eyes narrow. “Do you honestly believe your papa can’t tell if those hounds are from Arawn? Do you think there’s a place where they adopt C?n Annwn for fun? They are far more specialized and rare than a true hellhound. There might be twenty in existence. I assure you I know a Fae when I see one, and that crone was absolutely from Arawn. Nim believed it, too.”

“Nim is a set of shoulders, and she got there because she underestimated Myrddin,”

Rhys says with a huff. “You do understand we’ve been fighting this war while you’ve been gone. I love you, but I will not allow you to make mistakes that cost me and my siblings and the ones we love. I am going to figure out a way to get to the proper timeline and then I’m going to do something I never thought I would. I’m going to negotiate with my grandmother so Shy has a place to ride out this war.”

“Excuse me?”

I’m shocked at his words, but should I be? Now I wonder if that wasn’t his plan all along. Did he mean to get me to the safety of the Seelie palace and leave me there, leave me out of the fight I belong in? The fight his grandfather got me ready for?

“I know you want to stay with me, but it’s too dangerous,”

Rhys replies.

Devinshea winces. The king lets out a hiss, and I swear that white wolf is laughing.

“It’s not about staying with you. That might have been part of it at one point, but you are proving to be a massive ass who wants to cage me. I’m not going to be your pet, Rhys. Or your plaything. I’m not going to be your sweet goddess who takes care of your sexual needs and keeps your brugh clean.”

I’m so angry I can barely breathe. I manage to get out of his hold and shift off the horse, my slippered feet sliding slightly on the soft grass.

“Shahidi,”

Rhys begins, and he manages to sound shocked.

And that’s on me. The truth of the matter is I have been quiet around him. I’ve hidden away parts of myself because I was afraid he wouldn’t like me, and I wanted so very much for him to like me.

But right now, I don’t particularly like him. “Myrddin killed my family. He wiped them and all of their unique gifts out of existence in a single night. He burned down the house I was born in, the house I was raised in. He left me with nothing. If you think for one second that I will hide away in some palace while my brothers and sisters fight this war, you don’t know me at all. You don’t get to put your prized pussy in a cage so it’s waiting for your return, Prince Rhys.”

“Shit,”

Dev says under his breath.

“I have no notes, baby girl.”

The queen gives me a chef’s kiss gesture. “That was a ten out of ten take down.”

While I appreciate the support, I can do without everyone watching us like a soap opera playing out. “I wish you luck, Your Highnesses. I’m going to those mountains, and I’ll hopefully see you back home soon.”

With that I turn and start walking. All three hounds come with me, though the one who has been at the queen’s side looks sad about it. I’ve only taken a few steps when Cassie rushes in and joins me.

“This sounds like some Lord of the Rings shit, Shy,”

she says with a grin. “I’m in. Consider me your Samwise Gamgee, but with a machete and a bunch of weapons I know how to use. I’m full up on the cold iron bullets, if you know what I mean.”

I stop. I hadn’t considered anyone would really come with me. “Cassie, it could be dangerous. I have to go all the way to the mountains and hope Arawn is waiting there for me.”

“Cassie didn’t have to dismount since I will be going as well.”

Sasha looks to the king. “Daniel, if I might ask a boon. Could you perhaps ride with Rhys so Shy and Cass have a horse? I think it might be easier for you to find another ride than for us, and those mountains look to be at least a day away. Perhaps more. It will be much faster if we are on horseback.”

“Sasha, while I understand Shy’s anger with my son, I think we need to take a minute and talk about this.”

The king sounds so reasonable.

“You are not running off to visit some faery mountains, Cassandra Thomas.”

Neil is not. He changed and is staring at his daughter, completely heedless of the fact that he’s not wearing a stitch of clothes.

I note that Brendan does not join his dad. He stays behind and in his wolf form.

Cassie frowns at her dad. “Why? Because I’m weak since I can’t shift? Because I’m a girl? I would like to point out it wasn’t the King of All Vampire who took out the chimera.”

“I was going to, though,”

Daniel offers.

Cassie ignores him and looks to the queen. “How about it, Your Highness? Want to make this an all girls trip?”

The queen gives us a grin. “That could be fun.”

I catch a glance at Rhys staring at me like he can make me do his will.

He cannot.

My heart aches. I didn’t think we would ever be at this place. I go on missions with them. I don’t hide in the background. Why now? Does it even matter why he’s suddenly decided I’m not competent enough to fight in a war I’ve been preparing myself years for?

“Z, I know he’s screwed this up and he’s not handling it well, but remember he’s your son,”

the king says.

“And remember that every minute we stay here, we risk getting caught by that palace guard,”

Devinshea points out. “They will eventually catch up with us. We need to figure out where we can hide while we decide what to do.”

“Or we can have some faith that this is what Arawn meant for us to do,”

the queen says quietly. “He has no reason to fuck with us. If Myrddin’s plan works, he’ll be cut off from his place of power. Or shut in. He’ll have to decide where to live, and either will cause him and his people harm.”

“He could have given us a heads-up,”

Dev says under his breath.

“I have to believe that whatever we need is in the palace.”

The queen goes serious, her brow furrowing. “This version of Seelie Fae likely has an amulet, too. What if I’m supposed to use this amulet to find the door to Sarah’s plane?”

I’m glad the queen is talking sense. “I know I’m supposed to visit those mountains.”

“And I know I’m supposed to protect you,”

Rhys says with a finality that scares me. “Even from yourself.”

The ground beneath me shakes, and before I can take a breath, a thick vine shoots up and wraps itself around me. It tightens but I can breathe, though anger chokes me. It rises inside me in a way it never has before. Rage.

“For fuck’s sake,” Dev says.

“Rhys Donovan-Quinn, you let that girl go right now,”

the queen shouts.

Cassie twirls the machete in her hand. “You want me to use this on the vine or his ass?”

“Like you can touch me with that, Cassie.”

Rhys looks so beautiful and arrogant astride that horse. He looks every bit the young Fae royal, and he will have his will done.

And there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m trapped, and if Cassie cuts the vine, he’ll simply call another one forth. I’ve seen him play with his brother this way. When Lee was human and causing trouble, every now and then Rhys would wrap him up in vines and then the obedient vine would lift Lee up and place him wherever Rhys wanted. This time I’m sure I’ll be bundled on the back of his horse and forced to go wherever Rhys wants me.

I feel small. So small.

There are no dead to talk to, and it wouldn’t help me if there were. What would a dead Fae do to help me? I have no control over the plants of the ground. That is the kingdom of life. The kingdom of spring.

But is it? a voice whispers. A deep voice. One that I recognize. Matilda is talking in my head. There is no spring without winter. No green fields without the cycle. Birth and life and death and decay. That vine wrapped so tightly around you glows with life because its brethren died the year before and sent its lifeforce forward. Ask it. Touch it with your mind and ask if it will take the journey a little early.

“She is mine to take care of, and I will decide what is best. She knows nothing of Faery, nothing of how dangerous it can be,”

Rhys is saying as he argues with his parents.

I can sense the hounds are oddly calm. Like they know something I don’t. Fluffy actually takes this moment to roll on his back and do that wiggly thing dogs do. I have to wonder if Matilda is talking to them, too.

Cassie is telling Rhys she can wait. He’s got to sleep sometime.

I feel the vine begin to lift me.

Ask it, Pair Dadeni, the voice whispers. Touch it with your mind. Life and death flows through you. Let it flow. Let your unique magic connect you to all creatures.

I feel my feet lift but my mind is somewhere else. Someplace deep inside me. I can feel it. I can feel the life in this vine like a heartbeat. It pulses with life. It has no sentience, but there is something deep inside, something all living things have.

History. It grows and dies. Grows and dies. It soaks up the sun and then decays in the earth, but it knows that is the only way it lives again. Like a human. Reborn again and again. If it dies now, it will return in another form, nothing lost.

Do you mind? I ask, putting the question in my hands, my skin, wherever we touch.

I do not get an answer back. Not in words. But suddenly the vine withers and dies, and I drop to the grass.

“What the hell?” Dev asks.

“Whoa.”

Cassie looks down at the desiccating vine.

The hounds get up like they know I’m done playing and it’s time to go.

What did I do? Did I do that? Or the weird voice in my head?

Go to the palace, Shahidi, the voice whispers. Meet the goddess there and see if you can get Spring under control. When the time is right, you’ll go to the mountains and you’ll see how much power you have.

“Matilda?”

I ask the question aloud, though I know no one else heard the whispers.

Tell the high priest to play his part to the hilt. And yes, you released that bit of green to begin again. It didn’t mind. It was happy to help. Let my hounds take care of you. And perhaps one day, you’ll forgive me. There was no other way. When the time comes, call for him.

And then she’s gone. I can tell she’s gone.

I get the feeling that might have been our last communication.

“How did you do that?”

Rhys has dismounted and stands over the thick, now dying vine.

I ignore him for a moment and kneel, touching the vine, sending my grateful energy through it. It’s not something I’ve done before, but then we’re in foreign territory. When I stand, I try to be calm. It looks like we have work to do at the palace. “Matilda wants us to go to the palace.”

“Should we be worried this crone person can speak to Shy in her head?”

Neil is still au natural, but he’s calmer now that his daughter isn’t playing Sam to my Frodo.

Yet.

“I can talk to the dead,”

I point out. “She’s from a land of the dead.”

“Ah.”

Rhys nods as though he’s figured something out. “The crone killed my vines.”

I don’t think so. She told me how to do it, but I rather think it was me. A power I didn’t know I possess. “She wants me to go to the palace. But she also wants me to forgive her since she says this is the only way. She also wants me to meet a goddess and get spring under control. I assume she’s talking about Rhys since he’s lost his damn mind.”

“I certainly have not,”

Rhys complains. “I do not need to be brought under control, and I have questions. How is this crone speaking to my goddess if she’s supposed to be in Annwn?”

“So we’re to go to the palace where they’ll kill us all if they figure out we’re not who they think we are,”

the queen muses, ignoring her son’s outburst.

“Shy, I would like to talk to you,”

Rhys begins, and he sounds slightly less confident.

“And I would like to forget that you don’t give a damn about what I need. I guess neither of us is getting what we want,”

I shoot back. “I’ll walk to the palace.”

“Shy, come.”

Sasha offers me his arm. “You can ride with me.”

As he was willing to go with me, I trust him. That’s not right. I trust Sasha Federov for a million different reasons. I grip his arm and let him help me up, sliding into place behind him.

Rhys frowns up at me. “We will talk, Shy.”

He mounts, and I see Cassie has joined the king. It’s probably a good thing since I think she might have used that machete on Rhys. Who sends me one of his patented soulful stares before joining his papa. “We should get our stories straight. I am your bastard son and Shy is my wife.”

“I am not your wife,”

I protest. “I’m a…ooo, I’m the queen’s like maid or something.”

“She’s not the queen,”

Dev corrects. “She’s a piece of heaven I picked up on a party plane. She definitely doesn’t have a maid. Cassie’s her little sis, and Brendan and Neil are supercool werewolves we picked up at a rave. I wonder how hetero I am here. Do you think I’ll be able to tell? I would like to work Dan in.”

He starts talking and assigning people their roles.

I can feel Rhys’s eyes on me and know he isn’t going to make this easy.

Is it wrong I am both angry about that and oddly comforted?