She laughed and patted my shoulder. “After a few hundred years, you too will learn both are requisites for a happy life.”
“Oh, trust me, the latter is a lesson she’s already learned very well,” Luc said, laughter crinkling the corners of his eyes.
I chucked a bit of crust at him. He laughed and ducked. “It’s nothing but the truth, and you know it.”
I smiled and didn’t deny it. Once I’d finished the rest of my breakfast, I went upstairs to clean my teeth and wash my face, then headed into Mo’s room and stripped off.
She carefully examined me for anything to suggest I had a bug aboard, but thankfully didn’t find anything. I got dressed and then plonked down on her bed. “I have a question.”
“About what?”
“The gray space—did any of the other witch kings step into it to do anything more than draw on its energies to lock down the gates?”
“Not that I know of—why?”
I half shrugged. “It’s never going to come down to a battle between only Max and me. He’ll always have the demons at hand—he might not believe I could ever best him, but he won’t take the chance of it happening, either. Not now that he knows I can draw down lightning. But if I can draw him into the gray—”
“The gray is nothing more than the emptiness between our world and Darkside,” she cut in. “No one has ever successfully managed to enter it beyond the witch kings, and only then because of Elysian.”
“But it’s not exactly empty, and we can exist there.”
“The claimant of the sword can. It doesn’t mean Max will.”
“Doesn’t mean he won’t, either.”
She eyed me, her expression a touch uneasy. “I wouldn’t suggest leaving him there, if that’s your plan. Even if it were possible, his presence may well stain the gray and make it unusable for future generations.”
“I wasn’t intending to leave him. I was just trying to think of a way to detach him from Darkside.” I shrugged. “It was an idea, nothing more.”
She hesitated, and then said, “Fully transferring into the gray is dangerous. You merely brushed its outer veil when you called Nex to you in the dark altar’s cavern. You survived it because Vita also responded.”
“But why is it so dangerous? Is it because it’s a ‘between’ place, neither of this world or Darkside? Or is there some other reason?”
“It’s because the energies that exist within the gray are more cosmic in nature, despite the earthlike appearance—”
“How do you know it’s earthlike if you’ve never been there?”
“By comments made by the two kings who survived.”
Ah, of course. “So does that mean what we see there doesn’t actually exist?”
She nodded. “I think it’s merely a brief reflection—a static image that’s caught and held by the gray when Elysian tears through her shrouds.”
“So if I release Elysian, I die?”
“Unknown.” She patted my knee. “Please don’t, just in case.”
I half smiled. “I’ll definitely try not to.”
“Good.” She hesitated. “I got a call from Mary this morning.”
Dread stirred. “And?”
“She managed to get hold of Mryddin. The news isn’t good.”
“Let me guess—the bastard’s decided to stay in his hole and not help us?”
She nodded. “I’m afraid he sensed the power you raised when you drew Elysian. He’s decided that since another mage has risen, he doesn’t have to.”
“Did Mary explain the other mage knows jack shit?”
“Yes. He said I was more than capable of passing on the necessary skills, then impolitely told her to leave.”
“If we survive all this, can we go down to the bastard’s cave and shake the hell out of it until he’s forced to come out? Just to piss him off?”
She laughed and slapped my knee. “Indeed, I think we should. Let’s go.”
I hastily gathered my knives and lashed them together as I ran after her.
Luc was just finishing cleaning up as we came down the stairs. “It could take me a couple of hours to get to Carlisle, depending on the traffic conditions. If I check Kendal as well, I’m not going to be at Southport until early evening.”
Mo nodded. “That’ll give us the chance to organize the hunt.”
“Just be careful,” he said. “I’d hate anything to happen to my two favorite ladies.”
“You really are going to make a most excellent grandson-in-law.”
He snorted and followed us across to the door. The morning was fresh and clear, the sky blue, and the wind light. A perfect day for flying.
Mo shifted and leapt skyward. I spun, claimed Luc’s luscious lips, and kissed him with all the hunger and need that burned within. Then I shifted shape and followed Mo into the sky.
We didn’t immediately land when we arrived at King Island, but instead circled for several minutes, looking for any indication that Darkside’s human helpers lingered. There was no reason for them to, of course, but there was also no point in taking chances. But aside from the comings and goings of the various birds that called this place home, the island appeared deserted.
Mo arrowed down, regaining shape close to Winter’s man-shaped coffin of earth and stone. I landed beside her.
“Considering this was the first time you properly called to the earth,” she said, “you did a rather good job if it.”
“It just about wrecked me, though.”
“And yet you were able to fight on.” She smiled. “Of course, that’s no real surprise, given you’ve inherited my stubbornness as well as my gifts.”
“Something else Luc would agree with.”
She chuckled softly and knelt, pressing a hand to the rock and the earth that encased Winter. “No indication of life.”
“Why would there be? He’s half-human, and no human can survive being buried like that. I’d have thought a demon couldn’t, either.”
She wrinkled her nose. “There are a few who can survive for quite a long time on the air that filters in through the microscopic gaps between earth and rock.”
“Meaning the next time I bury one of these fuckers, I’d better make sure there’re no damn gaps.”
“Always prudent, just to be safe.” Energy stirred around her fingertips, then the rock and the earth slowly peeled away from Winter’s body, revealing his neck and shoulders. A look of horror and desperation was forever etched onto his pale features—not surprising given I’d buried him alive.
Mo rose and moved around to one side of the body. “Can I borrow Nex?”
I untied the knives and handed her Nex hilt first. Light flickered briefly down the blade; recognizing our shared bloodline, perhaps, even though it had never happened before now. Maybe it was just another sign that in drawing Elysian, I’d altered far more than I could ever have imagined.
Mo sliced off several large chunks of hair, then returned Nex to me. I didn’t immediately sheath her; while we’d not seen anyone on the island, there were plenty of trees and rocks that could provide hiding spots. At least with Nex gripped tight, I’d be able to respond to any threat that much faster.