“I don’t want anything to do with the runes,” I reply. “The spirits want the rune back, and they will want the others. Have you tried fighting their magic? I couldn’t.”
“The spirits gave the gods their powers, and the runes were what they made to stop the gods if they got out of control,” she tells me. “Not many know this, but it is true. The gods were once mortal.”
“Do you think the spirits would kill them if I gave them the runes?” I suggest, my mind wandering to Torfinn.
“Yes. The spirits are locked away in their element form because of the gods’ actions. They used to have physical forms,” she replies. “But it would be a war that no one would escape unhurt.”
“I will think about finding the runes,” I reply. “But I don’t think they will solve your problems.”
“But you can,” she replies. “Your lover, the overlord demon, can talk to his brother on your behalf and convince the Protector queen to help us with her army.”
The last time I met Evie, I tried to kill her, so…doubtful she is going to give me an army. “I don’t think that will work.”
“Ask and find out in exchange for healing you. You do owe me,” she replies. “And your uncle will stay here until I have your answer.”
Glaring, I lean closer. “You mean as a hostage.”
“Only if you wish to look at it that way,” she replies. I’ve underestimated her, she is a calculating cow. “I see it as a safe place for your uncle to hide and recover. He needs to build up his strength, and we have many good healers.”
“I don’t like being blackmailed.”
“In war, we don’t have much choice,” she states. “You may leave tomorrow at dawn when it is safest to travel off the island.”
The Unseelie rebel leader starts to walk away. “Wait. Is there someone here with Xs drawn into his forehead, and he has grey hair. I am looking for him.”
My apparent godfather.
“His name is Faolan, and he is the leader of our force in the Reaper Realm. I’m sure when you return there, he will find you. May the spirits be with you, Daesyn Heartlocke.”
I watch her slowly walk away, a sinking feeling in my gut that this is only the beginning of the war she is going to bring down on the worlds, with me right in the middle of it all.
Chapter 7
Poppy’s giggles guide me over to where she is sitting alone with a man I don’t recognise but I sense is Seelie. His black hair is curly and recently cut short by the looks of it, and his jaw is shaven. When he turns my way, I recognise his bright eyes and face a little better, but he looks like a different person from the healer we rescued from the dungeons. Toth Zalan has cleaned himself up. I can now see he is younger than I thought; he can’t be much older than I am. Surprisingly, he is really good-looking under all that hair and dirt.
Judging by how close Poppy is sitting to him, I think she might have noticed.
“Dae!” Poppy shouts when she sees me, jumping to her feet at the next moment and jogging over. Toth stands up and walks over much more slowly. “How did the chat go?”
“As well as you might suspect. I’ve made a deal with her,” I say. “Well, she blackmailed me into a deal. Either way, we need to get back to the Reaper Realm and then back to Earth for me.”
“I am glad to see you have recovered, Daesyn,” Toth claims, bowing his head. “Are you in need of any service?”
“Nope. I’m going to look for Seb and tell him what happened. Maybe you can keep Poppy company,” I suggest, and when he looks her way, I wink at her. Her cheeks go bright red, and I try not to chuckle. “Where is Seb anyway?”
“Upstairs in the cabin you were in,” Poppy tells me. “I can—”
Poppy is cut off by the blaring noise of sirens, followed by people running in every direction. Toth pushes Poppy behind him, and I stand close, watching all around us as the ground starts to shake harshly. A burst of flames appears in front of us, almost looking like they are struggling to fight through blue magic to get here. The fight doesn’t last long as the fire portal rips open, and Ryker jumps through.
His eyes find me immediately, and a mixture of feelings slam into my chest as I run over to him. As I get closer, Torfinn jumps through the portal next, followed by Seth last, which closes the portal.
An alpha hellhound.
An overlord demon.
And a demi-god working together. That isn’t something I ever thought I’d see. Before I get a good look at Torfinn and Seth, Ryker has picked me up and holds me tightly to his chest. I breathe in his scent almost to calm myself, and I realise straight away how much I pushed aside the feelings in my chest of how much I missed them.
How much I’ve started to rely on them. How I started this year with only Mossy that I cared about and how I ended up with so many, is insane.
But it’s the truth.
“Fuck, am I hurting you?” Ryker finally speaks, putting me down. “I know you were stabbed, Dae.”
“Turns out I can’t die, and the Unseelie rebels have healed me,” I tell him, lowering my voice to add, “I missed you.”
“Perhaps I should find someone to explain we are in no danger,” Toth interrupts.
“Who the fuck are you?” Seth possessively growls, stomping right up to Toth but is stopped when Poppy jumps in the middle of them. He looks a million times out of place in a designer black suit and blood red tie. Not that any of us really would fit in here usually, except for me in my strange lack of clothes.
Poppy, the girl who was so frightened of her own shadow, places her hands on her hips and stares down an overlord demon. “He helped save Dae’s life and her uncle. Toth is on our side, and perhaps you should speak with Dae first before trying to hurt him.”
“Come on, Persephone. We should leave them to catch up,” Toth suggests, curling his hand around her waist and carefully moving her away.
“You’ve made that girl into a mini you,” Torfinn states, walking right up to me. He places his finger under my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes. “Did you know you had that rune?”
“No,” I swear. Torfinn searches my eyes, and I search his right back, seeing so much worry and longing in them that he will never give into. He lowers his hand. “I didn’t realise any of it until it was too late.”
“The gods are not happy, I can feel it. We must get you back to the Reaper Realm to finish the test with Poppy before they come down to see what is wrong. Once they come in their real forms, they will sense the cursed rune and try to kill you to stop the power you will get. Everyone up there has heard the rumours of the cursed rune bearer,” Torfinn suggests, a tic in his jaw pulsing, and I nearly laugh.
“Back to the realm where the Seelie Fae King can find me and try to kidnap me again?” I question. “Or the reaper queen will chop my head off in my sleep?”
“That won’t be repeated,” Seth states, moving to Torfinn’s side. The pair of them look like night and day, and Ryker is somewhere in the middle. If I were a weaker woman, I would be intimidated by the sight of all three of them staring me down, trying to get me to do what they want.