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“All names hold power in this place. Every name means something. We have true names that we don’t share with anyone. Not our friends. Not our families. Our mothers are often the only people who actually know it. And even a mother might use her child’s name to her own advantage in the pursuit of power. This place—it’s fucked, okay.
“Most sacred,” he repeated, whispering the words.
“She wrote about you,” he whispered. “My mother. Pages and pages. She knew that she’d die soon, and so she wrote me a book. ‘A mother is always there for her son,’ she told me. ‘It doesn’t matter that he grows and steps into his power. Even the strongest warrior’s heart can break. His soul can still be crushed. Since I won’t be able to comfort you when the challenges before you feel too great, take this book and keep it as a guide. Above all, know this. There will be times when the world seeks to destroy you, Kingfisher. But you are stronger than you can ever know. You will not falter. And you
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“She said, when I needed you most, you’d come blazing into my life like a meteorite, riding on a wave of chaos that would turn my whole world upside down. That you’d shine so brilliantly that you’d light up hell itself and guide me out of the darkness. She had no idea what your name would be. Just that you’d have dark hair, and a beautiful smile. And that I’d love you with a fierceness despite myself.”
“She said she felt like she knew you. That you and she were friends, even though a thousand years stood between you. She… she drew you.”
“In all of her drawings of you, your ears were like mine. You were Fae.
I had no choice but to bring you back. So I decided to be awful to you, so you’d fucking hate me and want nothing to do with me.”
But when I found you lying in that pool of blood, I felt it, like a band snapping into place.
“Historically, Marks like that come at a cost. They’re the kind of Marks that people will want to write stories about. And not happy ones.”
But you don’t need to worry. I refuse to bond you to me with that on the horizon. I won’t accept it. I won’t have you chained to me when things get really bad.”
“I did read that, if marks appeared, a waiting period could be initiated, though. Where either party could choose to accept or reject a bond. I initiated the waiting period for us back in Ballard.”
“That’s what you were doing all that time you were gone? After I was attacked by the feeder? You were looking for a way to free yourself.”
“I was looking for a way to save you.”
“Fuck the fates. They don’t get to decide shit for me. I decide what my future is going to be.”
“Being driven to the point of madness by pain and horrific hallucinations won’t kill me, no. But it’s no life. At least not one that I want to live. And I won’t be safe. I’ll end up hurting the people I care about. In the very least, I’ll be a burden, and I won’t saddle you or anyone else with the burden of caring for me. That’s just not happening.”
“Don’t you dare finish that fucking sentence,” I seethed. “You’re so… so fucking selfish!”
And in the morning, I’m going to the library, and I’m going to research how to save Everlayne and you. Because I don’t just throw my hands up and accept defeat when things get hard. I’m honestly shocked to learn that you do.”
“Fucking Danya,” he spat. “We found them. We explained what’s happened to Everlayne and why we came. They weren’t happy about it, but they were going to help. And then Danya made some shitty comment about how it was the least they could do since the witches left the Fae to clean up their mess, and how they’d turned their back on Yvelia, and that was it. All hell broke loose.”
This bitch is pissing me off
She was probably nine hundred years old. Her hair was a fiery red and wavy, her eyes a vivid, bright blue. Freckles dominated her face, even scattered across her forehead. Her clothes were practical—a loose cream shirt with billowing sleeves, a velvet waistcoat in hunter green with gold buttons down the front, and fitted black pants.
“Everyone, this is Iseabail.”
“She’s the granddaughter of the Balquhidder High Witch, Malina. She’s kindly agreed to help us break Layne’s enthrallment once we bring her back here tomorrow night.”
“You really think I’m going to let you sleep out here again?” he asked.
“Let’s have tonight. You and me. Tomorrow night, we’ll bring Everlayne home. And once Iseabail and Te Léna have her fixed up and good as new, then we can worry about me. Okay?”
“Nobody will ever fuck you the way I’m about to fuck you, Saeris Fane. I’m about to introduce you to all seven gods. When you meet them, don’t forget to tell them I’m the one you worship on your knees.”
“Gods alive, you’re so pretty with your mouth wrapped around me like that.”
For once, he looked at ease. Content. And… wicked? A slow smile spread across his face.
“That was just the beginning, Saeris.” He bumped my nose with the end of his. “Didn’t think I’d be done with you that easily, did you?”
“I accepted the bond. Earlier. When I was inside you. When my soul was wrapped around yours.” He was so calm. Not a hint of uncertainty or nerves at all. Meanwhile, I felt like I was about to pass out. “You accepted it,” I said.
“I’ll be grateful for every second that I can say that I belong to you, Saeris Fane. Eighty years or eighteen hours. It doesn’t matter to me. It’ll still be the highest honor of my life. But
He’d accepted me as his mate. In spite of all the blockades that stood in our way and all of the very good reasons we shouldn’t be mated… he’d done it.
“I’m in love with you, Saeris Fane,” he whispered quietly into my hair. “And I’m already half-mad, anyway. What’s a little complicated thrown into the mix?”
“Please, for the love of the gods, don’t say anything. Just let me have my fan...
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I gripped the back of the chair the bastard had sat in yesterday,
Ren got to his feet, letting out a long exhale. “I could kiss you, Carrion Swift.” Carrion seemed taken aback by this. And then somewhat interested.
Carrion grinned, all teeth and mischief. “I’m coming with you through that portal. I’m gonna help you save your asshole boyfriend. But first, I want one of those fancy swords.”
“All right. Fine. A husband turns to his wife one day and says, ‘Y’know, I bet you can’t think of something to tell me that will make me both happy and sad at the same time.’ The wife doesn’t even need to think about it. She turns to her husband and says, ‘Your cock is way bigger than your brother’s.’”
More jokes. Give us more jokes… I glowered at the sword, unable to comprehend its bad taste. If ever there was a weapon so perfectly suited to its owner, it was this one. Carrion delighted in telling it the filthiest jokes imaginable.
Carrion held the sword, turning it this way and that. After much consideration, he said, “It looks like a Simon.” “Simon?”
Lorreth fidgeted in his seat. “I don’t trust her. The witch,” he clarified
“Dragon lovers. They’re the reason we’re in this mess in the first place. If it weren’t for them, there wouldn’t even be any vampires.”
It was Iseabail, of course. Her thick red hair flowed down her back, the top section clasped back in a clip.
“My people have been persecuted my whole life thanks to those vicious rumors. We proved centuries ago that we had nothing to do with the curse that afflicted your kind. The Balquhidder Clan was one of the five families charged by your dead King Daianthus with finding a cure for the Fae curse. We were instrumental in breaking it. I’ve come here of my own free will to help you heal the daughter of a tyrant who has a bounty on my family’s heads. Anyone would think you’d be grateful, Warrior.” She squinted at him.
He was ahead of everyone else in the library, rushing forward to help Everlayne. She’d fallen from the fucking ceiling.
ANNORATH MOR!
The rock was black obsidian, slick as glass. And it was at least a hundred feet tall.
“Widow’s Bane. It’ll deaden your pain for a couple of hours. Completely deaden it, mind you.
since neither Carrion nor I could fucking swim.
Fisher was up there. I knew he was. I could feel him.
The sky over Gillethrye was raining ash.
A huge amphitheater, open toward the lake, rose up around us. Tiers and tiers of seating stretched up forever, the structure so overwhelmingly massive that my mind couldn’t grasp the sheer size of it. The building, if it could even be called that, was some kind of megastructure. Hundreds of thousands of people sat in the stands, roaring at the top of their lungs.
