Erie sat back, pursing her lips before pushing them toward her cheek. “It wasn’t the same rules back then. Don’t think I’m defending her, because I’m not. It was just different in that age, and every asshole who could was seeking an energy source to siphon from.”
“And now, because of me, we are about to be overrun by creatures who have been locked up for we-don’t-even-know-how-long and a whole race of beings who had their loved ones and homes stolen from them.”
“I don’t think this is from you altering the prison when you escaped. Yes, you fractured the barrier, which was why we suspected that was the catalyst for everything that’s been happening. Only, the magic flowing through this world is much older than even that dimension. The original people returning wouldn’t alter the land this greatly. Plus, it would have to be something huge to make the land turn against the fae since you’ve become one of its life-forces, and I think it would be more substantial than you breaking a barrier. So, what has changed that could cause the world to turn against you?”
“We planted a new Tree of Life, with a less substantial life-force than the previous one held. We’d assumed Faery was stable after Malachi intervened and stole my destiny. Kahleena vanished after that, and not long after, the weather turned chaotic and random kingdoms started to pop up. Maybe us initially uprooting the old Tree of Life made Faery think it needed a new power source, and it went looking?”
Her wide sky-blue eyes rounded, and her mouth opened. Erie placed her teacup on the table, leaned forward, and frowned in thought. “It actually makes sense. If the land reverted to the, let’s say, default setting, it would return to what it was before the invasion. You and Ryder house the power of the gods, but that isn’t what runs through the hearts of this land. If I was something that depended on the ether, I would seek that out, and if I couldn’t find it, I would search for something close to it. Something powerful enough to supplement what I wasn’t getting.”
“And if you found a source but it was locked away, you would free it. The barrier didn’t drop because of me at all. They dropped because Faery attacked them all, cracking through the different layers until it freed what it wanted so they could return home.”
“But why come here and take your daughter?” Erie opposed, plunking a cookie into her mouth and then chewing.
“If you don’t know what you’re up against, you’d seek a bargaining chip. You’d want something to offer or use for whatever you need. Plus, I’m the only reigning goddess still here,” I informed gently, caressing the babe who was using my ribs as a trampoline to bounce on. “If you were planning to lay siege against the rulers of the world you intend to overthrow, what would you accomplish first?”
“Execute them all and wear their skin?” she replied in a chipper tone, which led to my jaw dropping, allowing air to expel from it at her deduction.
Snapping my mouth closed, I shook my head gently. “You probably would do that.”
“I have,” she returned easily, shrugging when my eyebrows reached my hairline. “Okay, so if I didn’t choose to just destroy them all? I’d take what they loved to barter with at a subsequent date.”
Pondering her words, I churned them through my mind, and then returned my focus to her as she continued.
“So, why not take someone with more power? I don’t mean to piss on your parade, but loved ones make shitty bargaining chips. Especially when you have triplets and two are higher on the food chain than she is. The boys are both heirs and can ascend to the throne of Faery.”
“Maybe it isn’t about the throne or Faery? There’s also the fact that Kahleena’s a seer,” I whispered, slowly debating my next words. “That doesn’t escape this chamber, Erie.”
Her sky-blue eyes glowed before they altered, glittering with gold as she inclined her head, hiding the secret within her own mind. It still freaked me out when she used her powers, changing her eyes to gold, along with her woad exposing all over her face.
“She received a premonition of a guy, of them being fated to be together. Kahleena assumed he was her mate and that she could stop him from coming here or hurting us. Clearly, she misconstrued his intentions. Soon after Kahleena vanished, he showed himself just long enough to tell me that Kahleena was his now. He said he didn’t fear me or her father, but that he was looking forward to meeting us. I wasn’t able to see where they were or even grasp a general idea of where they might be. Wherever they were was dark, but I don’t know if that was by design. It might have been a cavern from the way his laughter echoed through it, but that narrows nothing down. The only details I can confirm are that he had wings and mercury-colored eyes that held something cold and sinister within them. The guy has to be powerful to block me the way he did, and I think he knew it would bother me. He was so smug, Erie. That bastard was so fucking smug that he took her from us.”
Erie canted her head, holding a single finger against her lips. I expanded my hearing, searching for whatever it was she’d heard. Screams of pain built within the tunnels below the palace, and we both sifted to in front of the cage that held Alden.
Fódla was sitting on Alden’s face, her thighs clenching his head between them. Banba was riding him, screaming out her pleasure to the rafters. Spinning on my heel, I grimaced as the contents of my stomach threatened to spew from my lips. I adjusted, pressing a palm against my mouth, shaking my head slowly.
“I didn’t need to see that shit,” I complained, cringing as they both began screeching, which had me turning back to the scene. All three of them were shining as if painted in golden dust. “What the fuck is happening?”
“He’s trying to consume them, and when they refuse to yield to his demand, he works harder to compel them to surrender. When something seeks to destroy something as powerful as we are, it exposes the power within us. In this case, it’s gold for the simple fact we’re a triune. It’s only been a few weeks since he was tainted by the ooze, correct?”
“Four weeks and three days.”
“Was anyone else exposed?” she asked, creasing her forehead as her sisters continued moaning and using Alden, who feasted on what they offered him.
“Magdalena, but she wasn’t altered. It was as if the ooze recoiled from the furies she held at the time. A few hunters were exposed, but they’ve all died. Alden is the only one who wasn’t fae when he was exposed and is still alive.” I pondered my next words carefully before issuing them. “Is he even fae, or is he something else? We assumed he was turning fae when he mentioned an insatiable need to fuck, but other than the brands? He doesn’t have any other markers to indicate that is what he’s becoming.”
“If you look closer, you’ll see that he isn’t covered in fae brands, though. Those marks are much older, almost primeval in appearance. The markings are obsidian, but there is silver sprinkled in, slithering just below the surface of them. It’s almost as if the silver is hiding under the black, but why? I don’t see any reason for it other than whoever is controlling the ooze doesn’t want anyone to realize they are there.” Her head tilted, and her eyes sparkled with golden specks as she studied Alden carefully. “Alden is feeding like a fae, but he isn’t stopping until there’s nothing left behind at all. So, is he consuming their essence, magic, or all the fluid? That’s what we need to figure out. We also don’t know if it’s a prisoner unleashing the ooze or if it is the prison itself collecting creatures to become whole again. It still offers us no answers, which isn’t helping.” She paused, tilting her head to the side as she watched Alden. “You know, when I’d first arrived in Faery, there were what appeared to be withered husks of leather scattered throughout the realm.”