“You’re always protecting me, Finn, but how do you see this ending? The academy will come to an end, and then I will go back to Earth, back to being on the run,” I say, looking away from him and to the tree in the middle of the apartment. I will miss this place; the Reaper Realm has snuck its way into my heart but not as much as one other place.
The Otherworld.
And I can never go back there. “Who says you will be running and not ruling, Daesyn?”
“Because Ryker needs to rule hellhounds, Sebastian doesn’t want the throne, and neither do I. There is no chance the reapers would accept a half Unseelie queen. There is one person in this test who not only wants it but damn well deserves it.” I pause and meet his gaze. “Poppy. It has to be her, and I’m going to get her to the end of this test. One way or another.”
“I was never talking of the reaper throne, Daesyn,” he replies. “I was speaking of a world which will soon be in need of a royal when its king loses its head.”
“The Otherworld?” I ask, furrowing my brow. I told the guys everything I learned at the castle, all of the story of my mother and the fact she was meant to be queen. She was meant to rule. But I am not a princess, and I don’t have any claim to that throne.
Most importantly, I want to run after all this. I’m not looking for a throne, for people to rule and look up to me. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. “I can’t go back there. Not with the powers I will be given. My birthday is so close, only a week away. I can’t be in the Otherworld for that or ever after.”
He nods, understanding flashing in his eyes. “We can’t escape our fate, Daesyn. Trust me, I have tried many times.”
“Running has always worked for me before.”
“This time, I have a feeling you don’t want to run from what you have found,” he replies. “Look at me and tell me you want to run from us. From the people you care about, like me.”
“Look who is making it difficult to be friends now,” I respond, my mouth feeling dry as he looks right at me.
I turn away first, and silence descends upon us all.
“In the spirit of friendship,” his deep voice cuts into the silence. Gold dust fills my lap and reveals a dagger I know well. The one Mossy stole for me what seems like a long time ago.
I pick it up and balance it on my finger, seeing how flawless it truly is when it balances perfectly.
“Thank you,” I whisper, closing my grip around the hilt. “I didn’t expect a gift, and I was fully planning on stealing this back.”
He smirks. “You’re the only thief I would happily let steal my favourite dagger. It used to be my father’s, and it’s all I have of him.”
“I can’t take this,” I say, shaking my head and offering him it back. He softly pushes the dagger back to me, and I tilt my head to the side.
“Accept my gift, Daesyn. It would mean a lot to me if you did,” he gently replies. “It was yours from the second I saw you falling through the air.”
The room fills with deep sexual tension. A tension I wish I could do something about. “I don’t think we are talking about the dagger anymore.”
“What else would we be talking about, Dae?”
I sense the magic, like a knife cutting through the tension, right before a letter bursts out of fire right above my head, and it slowly floats down onto my lap. I frown at Finn, but he shrugs, making it clear it wasn’t him who made the note. I rip it open, reading the writing inside.
Your godfather is waiting. Burn this letter to make a portal to me. Come now.
Finn picks the letter from my hand as I stand up, reading it quickly before giving me a questioning look. “You have a godfather.”
“Apparently. I met him once before, and I have been looking for him since. I was hoping the Unseelie would attack somewhere and I could search. But it’s been quiet since we came back,” I reply.
“It hasn’t been quiet. Lots of reapers have been going missing, and Unseelie slaves have been killing their owners before killing themselves. The city is quietly stirring,” Finn tells me, and he holds up the letter. “Do you want to go?”
“Yes...will you come with me?” I ask, feeling strange to be asking for any help. “I mean, just for backup.”
Finn smirks and shakes his head, stepping up next to me. “I will always be at your side, Dae.”
“Damn, you’re making our friendship hard, demi-god,” I reply, calling a small fire into the palm of my hand, the fire made of pure shadows. Finn drops the letter into my flames, and suddenly it bursts into a full-size shadow portal, sucking us both in so quickly I stumble right to my feet on the other side. Then, my hands and knees smack onto dry stone that sticks to my palms as I look up at the large fire pit right in front of me. Finn offers me his hand, and I grab it, getting onto my feet as I take in the room we are in. A long circular cage wraps around the clearing in the middle, and there are people inside it.
Unseelie fae. Dozens, if not a hundred, eyes stare back at me from inside the cage. Some are young children, one woman is holding a baby, two of them are elders that are close by, and all of them are wearing dirty or ripped clothes. The place stinks, and my heart almost feels like it stops as I see first-hand what Einar and Sebastian’s evil mother, Annalee, have done to Unseelie fae.
“I’m glad you came.”
I look up to see my godfather walking down invisible steps around the fire pit from a ceiling door hatch. He finally gets to the bottom and stops right in front of me, looking just like he did the last time.
“I want your name this time,” I say as an introduction. “And fair warning, try to hurt me and I won’t even need his help to kill you.”
He smiles and folds his hands behind him. “Your father was just as quick to warn and snap if need be. He would kill anyone who found out about Ingrid being Unseelie without a second thought.”
“He protected her how he had to,” I respond to Faolan, noting he didn’t tell me his name once again but I already know it. Maybe fae names are power or some kind. Maybe he thinks I will know something from his name which I don’t. I glance at Finn, who is close to my side. I would do anything to protect him. “Why did you want to meet? How did you get down here?”
“He isn’t really here,” Finn tells me and reaches closer, wiping his hand through my godfather’s shoulder, and he disappears like smoke for a second before reappearing. “Unseelie fae magic.”
“I could teach you this one day,” he simply responds. “And if I were really here, I would find a way to free our people. Would you not do the same?”
The weight of all the eyes in the room on my back seems heavier suddenly. “Yes, and I am trying to figure something out. The Protector queen might be able to help.”
“I am glad you asked her. That is what I came here to find out,” he tells me. “And to remind you what you are fighting for.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
“You must leave now with the demi-god. Before anyone senses you are here,” my godfather tells me, and before I can reply, he disappears into smoke.
“I don’t like him,” Finn announces, wrapping his arm around my waist. “It is time we—”