“How did she get someone to do that?” I question.
He smirks as he stares at me. “The gods were always very interested in your mother and you. Maybe someone up there wanted to give you a chance to live.”
“What do you want?” I ask, changing the subject on purpose. I don’t want to discuss my mum with him anymore.
“You can leave this island, call it a goddess’s blessing, and go about your business, but one of your group stays with me as a guest,” he suggests. What is with the fae and blackmailing? It doesn’t seem to matter whose side I’m on, both are trying to screw me over. “Or I can kill this wolf and then all your friends.”
I glance behind me, seeing massive cracks in the shield. Finn is like an animal, hitting again and again with his blades. Seth is pouring fire into the gaps, and Seb is pushing shadows around the fire. The mix of all the power is going to pull the shield down. “And don’t think about delaying your answer. The house has its own shield, and I only have to drag your wolf inside before putting it up. I will have plenty of time to torture him and open a portal for my army to come here to help with you lot.”
“You’ve planned all this out,” I grit out. “All of this.”
“I knew about the spare portal out of this world, have done since you escaped me, but I didn’t know the word to open it so I could follow you. Shame,” he states. “Now make your choice.”
“You have to swear not to hurt them,” I counter.
His grin is pure evil. “I promise, and I want one of the twins. The men are too unstable to keep in my home, but the twins are beauties indeed. Much like you.”
“Not a chance,” I bite out. The force field smashes to pieces behind me, and the Seelie king uses his magic to drag Ryker into the house as I run at them, only to crash into another force field. For fuck’s sake, mum.
“Make your choice.”
“What choice?” Poppy is the first to ask.
“He wants me to leave you or Laelia with him. If we do, then he will let us go and wait until I come back. He won’t kill Ryker, and he promised whoever stays won’t be hurt,” I say.
“I’m not going,” Laelia straight away shouts out.
“You have to. Poppy must come back to the Reaper Realm for the test,” Finn demands. “There is no other way unless you want to see Ryker killed.”
“I don’t care about the dog!” she snaps. I step towards her, fully prepared to knock her out and leave her here, but Poppy stops me.
“Dae and I will come back for you. The test is near the end, and you will be safe enough with him. Just don’t cause any drama,” Poppy tells her. Laelia looks at Poppy like she just betrayed her and then turns her glare to me.
“Congratulations on your new sister, Daesyn. I hope you don’t have to kill her to win a test. Oh wait, you do!” she sarcastically replies. “And Poppy…you’re going to learn the hard way who is on your side. It won’t be Daesyn. It will never be her.” Before we can stop her, she walks to the shield and it lets her past. Einar holds his hand out and opens a portal before guiding her into it. He looks back at me one more time.
“Don’t be too long, my bride, or I might just corrupt your friend.”
The second he steps into the portal, it disappears and so does the shield. I run straight to Ryker, kneeling at his side and calling my fae magic. Vines shoot out of the ground, wrapping themselves around Ryker’s body and glowing green as I start to heal him. His heartbeat blasts away in my ears, matching with mine after a short while. Eventually, I pull back and open my eyes, seeing his cuts are closed up and his back doesn’t look broken anymore. The vines sink back into the ground, and I breathe out in relief.
“He will be okay. He needs rest and a healer back in the Reaper Realm,” I say, feeling through my magic that he is okay. I don’t know much about hellhound healing, but I can sense when someone is close to death, and he isn’t now.
Seb sighs in relief and leans down, picking his best friend up his arms. “That was incredible, Dae.”
“Let’s get to the portal,” Finn suggests, but I see his relief as well. I wipe off some of the blood I’ve knelt in and stand up.
Poppy grabs my arm, leaning in close. “We can’t let her die. I know you don’t like her, but she is my twin. Promise me you will come back here.”
“I vow on my life I will save your twin, Pops. Not for her, but for you,” I gently reply. Her eyes fill with tears, and she nods, walking back to the door. Toth bows his head my way and follows after her.
I look up at the charcoaled remains of my old home, a place I once loved so much, a place filled with so many good memories that it hurts to see it like this. One tear falls down my cheek before I walk out, and I don’t let myself look back.
Chapter 9
“I’m surprised no one is going to stop us,” Seth comments, close to my side as we walk up to the portal to the Reaper Realm. Once Laelia had gone with the Seelie king, all of us realised there is no reason for us to use the portal to Earth and then cast another one to the Reaper Realm when we could simply go through the portal here. No guards wait on this side of the giant yellow portal, the power from it flickering against my skin as I get closer.
“We will go straight to the queen and make sure she understands Daesyn and Poppy are not to be harmed. The test will continue with all four of you,” Finn comments, his eyes flickering between me and Seth with nothing short of possessiveness. I swallow the itch to move away from Seth to make Finn not glare at me, but thankfully he keeps speaking. “Sebastian, you will come with us. Poppy, Toth, Seth and Ryker should go and make sure your apartment is in one piece.”
“Good idea,” Poppy quickly agrees, getting out of seeing the queen and leaving us stuck with that task. I huff and cross my arms, looking back at the portal, itching to walk away and stay in the Otherworld. But with my twenty-first birthday fast approaching, I want to get the hell out of here before I get powers I don’t want.
Being the destroyer of worlds and immortal sounds like a recipe for disaster.
I have to finish this test, find Evie and get her help, and trade back my uncle. Then I just need to kill the Seelie king and take Laelia back.
Sounds easy enough. Not.
“Ready?” Seth questions. “Once you see this queen, Earth needs you.”
“Tomorrow, we will go see my boss and stop the attack. I promise,” I tell him. He nods, understanding I need to sort out what is going on in the Reaper Realm first before I can deal with my past on Earth. Tracking down my soul-stealing boss isn’t a task I am looking forward to either, but at the end of the day, Seth will be with me. My boss is no match for an overlord demon. But he will give a hell of a fight, and I’m not one hundred percent better yet from this stomach wound.
We all head to the portal, and Finn stomps through first, looking like he has a giant stick stuck up his arse, and I follow behind him, hearing Mossy grumbling in my bag about portal magic making him pass out before he goes silent. The magic of the portal wraps around me like water, touching all of my skin in a cool embrace before it suddenly snaps away and I’m on the hill, overlooking the reaper city in front of me. The glistening city of stars and lights. The rings of the city look like a delicate pattern up here, the lights inside it making lines and circles of their own within their design.