A spell that Savannah Simonson couldn’t break. She did, however, manage to alter it. Just as Laurie had hoped.
We stood on the other side of it, protected by the very magic Viessa was now trapped by. Although she doesn’t know that yet, I thought.
“I made a few tweaks to the spell,” Laurie said cheerfully. “You and your Guardians can’t leave this room.”
Well, now she does.
Viessa didn’t answer. She was looking, I noticed, at the mark on the floor we’d been trying so hard not to draw notice to. Savannah had warned us it would be there. Apparently it had been necessary for the success of the spell. Maybe Viessa doesn’t see it, I thought hopefully. Maybe she won’t know what it is.
“I demand you break that chalk line,” Viessa called. I swallowed a sigh—of course she had enough knowledge about magic to understand what it was. Viessa Folduin was intelligent, despite her questionable taste in men.
“You’re not in any position to make demands,” I told her.
The queen didn’t look at me. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
It had felt so natural to have Lyari at my back that I’d forgotten she wasn’t supposed to be there. If she obeyed Viessa, it was all over for us. Collith wouldn’t be able to repeat another blast. Laurie was still healing. I could try to fight this battle on my own, but I wasn’t sure my powers could be depended upon. Nuvian had also just proven that he could gain the upper hand when my guard was lowered.
The boundary needed to stay in place.
“Lyari, that was a direct order from your queen,” Viessa added. “If you disobey, you may consider yourself banished from this Court.”
Okay, that changed things. Thrumming with tension, I started to tell Lyari she should break the line, but Laurie put his hand on my wrist. I jerked my head toward him and he gave a single, wordless shake of his head. Don’t. I stared, my stomach sinking. Laurie knew what it meant for Lyari if she was banished, and he was still choosing the spell. It meant that he didn’t like our odds, either. How much power had he drained casting that illusion over so many minds, several of them just as powerful as his?
Before I could decide what to do, Lyari stepped back.
We all listened to the sound of her heel sinking onto the stone. She lifted her chin and gazed steadily at Viessa. She didn’t say a word, but her answer was clear.
I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe she’d just done that for me.
Slowly, I turned back to Viessa, half-expecting to see a ball of ice forming between her hands. But she stood there calmly, the force of Guardians gathered behind her again. When our eyes met, a small, faint smile touched Viessa’s red lips—she’d accepted that we had won this round.
“Are we still friends?” I asked her, flashing a weak grin in return.
To my surprise, the Unseelie Queen smiled back with a warmth that actually seemed genuine this time. “Hell, yes.”
Huh, I thought. In spite of the bad things she’d done, like just declaring war on my… whatever Laurie was, I still liked her. I could imagine a friendship with this faerie made of ice and a dark fire. “I’m glad. Really,” I added, feeling awkward. “I’ll call you sometime. Maybe we can have a girls night or something. I’ll get your number from Lyari, I’m sure she has it.”
I could feel Laurie’s silent laughter beside me. “Oh, shut up,” I growled at him.
With that, I stepped back and closed the door.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
We made our way through the maze with preternatural speed.
Gil and Laurie carried Collith between them, his arms slung over their shoulders. Lyari walked ahead of our small group, leading the way through every trick and turn of the Unseelie Court, while I brought up the rear. We’d bought ourselves some time by trapping Viessa and Nuvian—exactly as Laurie had planned—but they wouldn’t stay put long. Especially if Viessa used her bond with the Guardians to make them aware of Collith’s escape. Maybe I should’ve let Laurie knock her unconscious like he’d wanted to.
“I have a safe house in Amsterdam,” Laurie informed us under his breath. “Once we reach the Door, keep the thought of the St. Nicholas Basilica uppermost in your minds, please.”
“Where was this safe house yesterday, before we came to the Unseelie Court?” I demanded in a hot whisper.
Laurie shushed me. “Quickly, now. Mustn’t waste time.”
Only knowledge of the argument we were about to have kept me from kicking him in the shin—I’d already decided that I was going home, but now wasn’t the time to announce that. I had a feeling Lyari especially would have some pointed comments to make. They wouldn’t change my mind, though. I was desperate to make sure Finn had gotten back to the house safely.
So I walked behind the three males silently, keeping my focus on every flickering shadow and pulse of darkness. The Unseelie Court was full of monsters, and most of them weren’t in the cages we’d left behind. Since I wasn’t the queen anymore, it wasn’t considered treasonous to harm me.
The thought made me reach for a weapon that wasn’t there. Suddenly I wished I’d taken the time to find Thuridan’s sword after Viessa knocked it out of my hand with her icy blast. I told myself I wouldn’t have been able to hold it anyway. Without the constant flow of adrenaline, pain had returned to my blistered fingers and palms.
As we neared the surface, dry earth crunching beneath our shoes, I began to recognize certain passages. I quickened my pace to brush past the others and fall into step with Lyari, looking at her sidelong to gauge her expression. As always, it was smoothed into the bland mask of a Guardian… but she wasn’t a Guardian anymore, and I was a Nightmare. I could sense her fear as if it were a perfume she’d sprayed all over her body.
“We’ll figure it out,” I told her quietly, hoping Laurie and Gil were too preoccupied to eavesdrop. “You won’t be a goblin, Lyari.”
She didn’t look at me. I knew it had to be my own anxiety, but in the shadows and firelight, her lithe profile already seemed a bit sharper. A bit more haggard. “Without the power of the Unseelie Court, I will be weakened,” Lyari said after a long pause. “I won’t be able to protect you as efficiently.”
I made a sound partway between a laugh and a scoff. “You’re a warrior, Lyari of bloodline Paynore. Cutting ties with this Court doesn’t change that.”
It was almost the same thing she’d told me about being queen. The faerie’s throat moved as she swallowed. It was one of the few times she’d ever allowed me to see any vulnerability, and the sight made my insides twist. “I’ll make sure there aren’t any Guardians waiting for us on the surface,” was all Lyari said.
Without giving me a chance to respond, she quickened her pace and left me behind. There was a hunch to her shoulders that hadn’t been there before. Watching her go, I wanted to tell my friend how the dark reveals things just as often as it hides them. Stars shine brightest in the sky, plants thrive at the bottom of the ocean, fireflies flicker over the grass. Somehow, I would make sure that her sacrifice tonight—separating herself from the Unseelie Court forever—didn’t end in the fate she’d always feared.