Page 68 of Witchbane

“Wait…” But there had been a giant.

“Giants have been gone for decades. Perhaps even close to a century. I have no idea where that portal led to, but it wasn’t anything here in Underhill,” Nick said.

Did that mean the fae had created their own little kingdoms in the human world? What about all those portals I’d opened when we’d been running through the forest? Underhill or some other fae world? That was an unpleasant thought.

“Most of the high fae still live?” Liam said.

Nick shrugged. “Kiran said they do. He caught hints of them before the last rifts in the veil began to close. They lost the ability to come and go as they please long before I ever arrived.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, a storm of emotion swirling inside me. It gave rise to the kitsune power, a claw of energy dragging through me, sharp and painful. “I don’t know what to do.”

Nick sighed. “Now is not the time to be sorry. I don’t need your pity or your sympathy. We need you to control your power.”

“I’m not doing this!” I shouted, pointing to the map. Liam breathed a warm breath over my cheek, which settled the kitsune.

“No, but you haven’t exactly helped either.”

I flinched, “I’m not sure what you want from me?”

“You’re the last chance to leave a dying world, Sebastian. You’re the only one who seems to be able to cross the veil anymore. If you leave us again, there will be no us to return to.”

“I don’t know if I can open a door home. I’m willing to try.”

“Not here,” Nick said. “I suspect each attempt will eat away at Kiran’s resolve and strength.”

“Can we try to remove the corruption from Kiran?” Liam asked. “For Seb it was a vine of some kind, tying together bad memories and digging in to spread and feed on his strength.”

Nick stared at us for a moment, seeming to think. “Maybe? I have not seen any vine on him. Only the blight. It’s like a rot slowly spreading throughout his body.”

Kiran had the corruption a lot longer than I had. Maybe that was why his was so dark and looked more like decay?

The sound of footsteps echoed in the hall and Kiran appeared in the doorway a second later. His gaze found Nick instantly, but he shook his head. “Not that easy,” he said. As though he’d been a part of our entire conversation.

“We could still try,” Nick said.

“Best to try to remove ourselves from Underhill rather than survive within it as it collapses on top of us.” Kiran looked at me. “Have you tried to open a portal to the other world?”

“No portals,” Nick said. “It eats away at your strength.”

“What he said,” I pointed at Nick.

“You opened a doorway within. You created clothes for yourselves,” Kiran said.

“Because Liam is better at this than I am,” I admitted.

Kiran waved a hand as if it were all smoke. “The scions always find easier focus. You are young. Had you been properly educated, none of us would still be here. The scions also don’t pay the price as we do, having to eat and rest, or fight for the last remains of uncorrupted magic.” He crossed the room and moved a handful of things to open up a wide area.

“I’m not tired,” I said trying to defend Liam’s attempts with magic. But I was hungry. Becoming ravenous.

Kiran stared at me, as though he could see right through me. “Nick, draw a barrier circle. Sebastian can try to create a portal within.”

Nick sighed. “I’m not sure that will contain the damage.”

Kiran shrugged. “The previous portal reminded me of the territory of an uncle, long gone from Underhill. But perhaps banding together they have created small sanctuaries within the mortal world?”

“Big enough to hide giants?” Liam asked.

“It would depend on the amount of power they retained,” Kiran said. “The courts could likely set up entire kingdoms not unlike this, hidden within your world. Enough space, privacy, and fae in one place, sure.”