“But Faerie isn’t really Faerie anymore, is it?” Liam asked. I stared, wondering if he’d read my mind, and he laughed. “You were muttering under your breath.”
“Yeah…it’s a bad habit. Wait! Is that why you can portal—because Faerie is melded with our world now?”
“Maybe,” he said with a shrug. “I tried and it let me. I did my best not to overthink it.”
“So, where exactly did the portal bring us?” Knox asked, looking at a dark, metal building.
It took only a moment to recognize it. Reinhardt’s laughter only confirmed what I knew.
“Clever bastard,” he said, hastening toward the entrance. “He’s brought us to the warlock stronghold—where the golems lured Piper away and the enforcer brothers nearly started a war with my kind. Now, hurry inside. We are not safe until we’re inside.”
Not needing to be told twice, the entire army filed through the garage-door-style entrance, cramming through the open maw like we were boarding a sci-fi movie spacecraft of some sort. But not the cool, shiny kind—more the end of the world, post-apocalyptic kind.
That analogy didn’t bode as well as I’d have liked.
“I could feel the iron in the building when I was here last,” Liam explained. “I knew that if we could get in, the royals would not be able to sense us or track us here. Iron messes with their magic. Had I not been here before, I do not believe it would have worked.”
As he finished, the warlocks sealed the entrance, leaving us in total darkness. There were no windows, no decorations, no furniture. It was stone and metal and ominous, and anxiety surged through me.
“Should we clean the trail of your portal?” the coven queen asked.
“I do not believe it will work, but you can try,” Liam said.
Her witches immediately formed a circle near the entrance, hands clasped, and began chanting. The strong stench of sulfur filled the space, and a yellow light flared, then died just as they finished.
“Can we get some light up in here while you’re at it?” Kat asked. “I’d like to do a headcount—or see the enemy if they do happen to find a way in—”
“Can’t you see in the dark, little doggy?” Kingston’s amusement was plain in his tone, and as soon as one of the warlocks cast a light spell, in his dry expression as well.
“I can,” she said as she sashayed up to him. Not a good sign. Not good at all. “Want to kill the lights and play chase?” She gazed up at him with a half-smile that said she still wanted to rip him limb from limb for what he’d done to us in Alaska.
The girl held a grudge like no other.
“Such a feisty bunch you are,” a familiar voice said. My body went cold in an instant, and I immediately scanned the crowded room for where it had come from. I knew Faerie had somehow infiltrated our world.
But I hadn’t realized that it had brought the Ether with it.
“Etherian?” I called, hoping he wouldn’t answer, though I knew he would.
What I did not expect was a lithe, stunning man to make his way through the mob toward me and stop only inches from where I stood, hands clasped behind his back. Dressed in a sapphire-blue coat and black leather trousers, with wavy raven hair tied back at the nape of his neck to further highlight his sharp features and jet-black eyes, he was a beautiful nightmare—everything I would have expected of a being created by the fey king. One he’d later discard because he was too powerful a creation to keep around.
I guessed Faerie had solved the body problem for us.
“You called, bastard princess?”
While I stared at him, mouth agape and blinking like an idiot, he smiled at me like the ruthless predator he was. Then I heard the roar of the man-bear that had a bone to pick with the asshole fey.
Grizz came running from my left and launched himself at Etherian. He drove the fey to the ground while I watched, shocked for a moment. Then I, along with about a dozen others, sprang into action. Merc managed to pull Grizz off with Knox’s help, while Jase, Dean, Foust, and Brunton hauled Etherian over to a wall full of iron and pinned him against it. The fey actually winced at the contact, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Does that hurt?” I asked, finally finding my tongue. “How very unfortunate for you. Looks like Liam picked a bad spot for the fairies in the crew—that whole iron-in-the-walls thing and all—”
“You do not want me as an enemy, Piper...”
Anger surged through me, and wind whipped through the tunnel-like part of the building, nearly knocking everyone over. Blue flames erupted in my palms, and the earth shook beneath us.
Etherian’s angry expression fell.
“And you don’t want me as one, either,” I said, my voice low and threatening. “You killed people I care for. There’s a price to pay for that—”
“I helped you,” he growled.
“You used me to meet an end. That’s not the same thing.”
I signaled for the boys to let him go—even Grizz, who was none too happy about it—and they released him with a shove. Etherian straightened his soft coat and squared his shoulders, making him look as regal and pompous and slightly unhinged as his maker.
“You came through with part of our deal,” he said, his voice back to its calm, indifferent tone, “so I’ll help you with the rest.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I countered before I thought better of it. He quirked a brow at me, and the flames in my hands wavered at my uncertainty.
“It had to be the blending of the realms,” Reinhardt said from behind me. Seconds later, he was at my side, staring down the enigmatic creature from Faerie. “Faerie manifested in a world of tangible confines. He could not be brought here without an earthly vessel to contain him—that’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Like magic ever makes sense,” Kat said under her breath.
“I don’t really give a shit how it happened.” Knox stepped forward to face the ancient fey. “I care about what he plans to do to take out the royals now that he has his body back.”
Etherian’s composed expression devolved to one of contempt and malice. “Whatever I must to kill the king.”
“And the queen?” I asked.
His sharp gaze darted to me. “I cannot rule Faerie with her alive, either.”
“You won’t be ruling Faerie at all,” Merc said as he stepped up behind me. “You are not its true heir.”
I hated the truth in those words so much. I wanted no part of ruling Faerie, but I couldn't let a homicidal maniac like Etherian do it, either. That would be a lateral move, at best.
Etherian’s glare narrowed. “We shall see.”
Grizz growled from behind me, and soon a chorus of wolves joined in. I turned to find the witches holding hands, their eyes locked on Etherian as they whispered in tongues I didn’t understand. The enforcers stood as still as statues in anticipation. And the warlocks—Kingston included—raised their arms, as if ready to cast a tsunami of magic at Etherian if he so much as breathed too hard.
The message was clear: if you fuck with Piper, you fuck with us all.
And it was also clear from Etherian’s expression that this truth threw a wrench into his plans.