Page 24 of WitchCurse
“Zephyr has Kiran,” I said through gritted teeth.
“And probably Toby too,” Liam said, not sounding happy. “I will call the court, see if I can negotiate. Fucking fae bullshit.”
Sebastian bit his lip, fists clenching.
“Not you,” Liam corrected. “Never you.” He grabbed his phone out, and after a minute he yelled into the phone, like I’d never heard him do before. “Return our call, Wesley. Zephyr has Kiran and one of my wolves, Toby. This radio silence is unacceptable. You vowed to serve us.” He clicked the button and dragged Sebastian into his arms, holding him tight and breathing hard. “I should not be this scattered.”
“He took Toby…” Sebastian said.
“Threatening the pack was a mistake,” Liam agreed. He sucked in air, clinging to Sebastian, as though Sebastian was a life raft. When Liam glanced up, I saw his wolf gazing out from behind his eyes, not the calm baker I was used to. In our entire time in Underhill, he’d never lost control, the wolf buried beneath the weight of magic of the other world.
“I’m sorry,” I said, thinking he was angry at Kiran and me for the trouble. Was there any place we could go? Somewhere I could keep Kiran safe, find a way to feed him the power he needed, and not bother the packs?
“None of this is your fault,” Liam said, though his control was still on edge. “It was their mistake to take one of mine. We’ve been dancing around this for months. All I can hope is that it doesn’t lead to war. I’m not sure any of us are ready for that.”
“Do the fae have numbers for war?” Sebastian asked.
“The fae can create numbers for war,” I said watching the ash of deadHuntbeasts blow on the wind. “They are an infectious lot.”
And they had Kiran. Again.
I’d kept him out of their clutches for centuries, skirting any sign of them when I’d traveled through the ruins of Underhill and moving the sanctuary from time to time using Kiran’s magic when they got too close. It was the reason we’d had the map. To keep us from being pawns on their chess boards, until there had been none left but Underhill itself seeking us. And now they had Kiran, and Toby. Fuck. I couldn’t imagine what they would do to Toby. He was already sort of broken and only kind of healing from damage done to him when he’d been changed to wolf. The few glimpses I’d had inside his mind found madness and chaos, organized in some ways, and unfathomable in others. Why take the wolf rather than just kill him?
The thought of their army of the dead chilled me. They’d turned other wolves to theirHuntbefore, stalking Sebastian with zombies of those who had fallen. My heart skipped a beat at the idea of Toby changed into a beast like that, mindlessly awaiting his next hunt. “Fuck.”
* * *
Kiran
The wall parted, a portal, or doorway opening. I gaped at the space wondering how it had been achieved. Nick had been trying to find a way to open doors in this world since we’d first arrived. Sebastian could do it, and tried to help Nick decipher a way to succeed. But we concluded my magic was wrong somehow. Not fit for this world. Missing whatever adaptation Sebastian had been born with despite us both being kitsune and of mixed worlds.
Through the portal stepped the Stag. Glamour wrapped firmly around him, making him look young, pretty, and hiding the strength of his fae magic. Not weak like an animal of prey might be, but some otherworldly strength he kept buried deep. My kitsune energy wanted to caress it to the surface and drink deep.
I choked out a tired sigh. “You burn with the energy of both worlds,” I said. Not all that unlike Sebastian or Ari. Their presence was almost predatory, while this man’s wasn’t. Not the subtle omega calm like Sebastian, or even his whipping fire when the kitsune came forth, but something non-threatening and still powerful. More like the old archons of legend. Strange and fascinating. I wondered if Nick would find more nuances of magic buried within the Stag that could be used for our benefit.
I knew of the Stag. Had heard legend of them weaving a spell that would force any predator to chase it until death. The Stag could run forever, never caught as its magic added to its speed, and this man wasn’t prey, he didn’t seem to fear me at all.
He knelt at my side, his frown deep. “Stupid foxes. Do any of you have any sense of self-preservation?”
“Been dying for centuries,” I muttered. “Free me from this cage and I’ll die in glory.”
He snorted. “Wrong world for monsters of that sort, not that you’re strong enough for that anyway.” He touched my shoulder, and it burned hot like lava, pouring fae magic in to cool the ice fire of this world’s chaos. “The elementals get angry when we try to take over. Our balance in this world is important. They have crushed two courts already. I’d like to not be a part of the next one they choose to obliterate.”
I sucked in air at the strength he gave freely. Fae magic, enough to heal and nearly balance the chaos of this world’s swirl. How could anyone give this much so freely? “What sort of beast are you?”
“You need an anchor to this world. A solid tie. You are a being of this realm as much as you were of Underhill. Too long stripped of both, I suspect. Stupid fae, always fucking things up.”
“Why are you helping me?” Didn’t he belong to Zephyr? Wasn’t he one of the courtesans longing for attention of the would-be king?
“We all wish to be free of some cage.” He didn’t appear shackled.
“I’m tied to a mortal. My scion is human. Should he not be a tie to this world?”
“Not human magic. His magic is your magic. He is merely a tether, not as strong or as grounding as one with magic would be.” He glanced around and then waved his hand. An opening appeared in the floor, like another portal, only this time something came up through it. The little wolf that Nick liked, Toby.
A half-hearted growl rumbled from him, though the wolf didn’t really move. The floor resolidified, leaving him, half changed from the mortal creature to a thing of ice and darkness, a few feet away. It looked like a painful transition, not all that unlike my own. Darkness and cold eating away at him. I grieved a moment, saddened by the loss and his pain. Nick would be hurt that I couldn’t save him. But I couldn’t even save myself. Some prince of legends I was.
“I offer you a chance to survive,” the Stag said, waving a hand at the wolf.