Breaking Out (31 page)

She was lovely and very much a fae royal, her
platinum hair thick and wavy, her eyes a purple so deep they would
look black in a dimmer light. Her gown sparkled like holographic
stars, a gown that only a Faerie Queen could ever look good in.

At first glance she reminded me of Aedus’
mate, Philladre, acknowledged by many of her people to be the
loveliest fae lady in Cascade. Even though my tastes ran to a
different blonde, I had to agree that Philladre was beautiful. But
unlike Philladre, when this lady smiled at me, there was no warmth
in those black eyes and no welcome in her expression. That’s when
it hit me. She was the clone of Fionna, or, on the flip side,
Fionna had been her clone, because this had to be Queen Aine,
Fionna’s mother and Finvarra’s mate.

And I was in deep shit.

I forced myself to stand and bow, clenching
my fists against the nausea. “Queen Aine, it is an honor to meet
you.” Playing the politeness card had worked in the past. “Did you
summon me here for a reason? Is there something I can do for you?”
Summon wasn’t really the correct word, but asking if she’d drugged
and kidnapped me was maybe not the best way to start
negotiations.

Her smile did nothing to ease my mind.
“Charles Liam William Cuvier. You are not what I had expected,
although you do bear a marked resemblance to your father.”

Not what I liked hearing. “Also my
mother.”

“Ah yes, I have heard of the cheetah-demon.
Does she work her blood spells in the house or does she journey to
the demon realm to conjure her magic?”

“My mother does not practice blood magic,
your Highness.” I kept my voice calm.

“Nonsense. All demons practice blood magic.”
Her reply was sharp. She probably didn’t like to be disagreed with.
Since I didn’t want to piss her off, I changed the subject.

“Would you please tell me where we are? Is
this Faerie?”

“Silly child. We are in Tir na NOg—the place
of no returning.”

Not a good catch phrase. Nope. “Um, what does
that mean, exactly?”

“That you and I shall be sharing this realm
for eternity. Unfortunately, your eternity will be quite a bit
shorter than mine.”

“But I am needed—desperately—in my realm.” I
wasn’t going to panic. She was just trying to scare me.

“Truly-one so young? I have grave doubts as
to your usefulness.” She moved gracefully to inspect a strange
plant, leaning closer to smell its flowers. One of them tried to
bite her, but she only laughed and moved away. “Their scent is
delightful, but the bite of an odrym flower will put you to sleep.
If they have time, before the other predators arrive, their vines
will drag you closer to the roots, then strangle you.” She pointed
to the curling appendage-like vines. There were several small
skeletons near the roots. “Your body becomes nourishment as you
rot.”

Okay, I had to convince this female that I
had to get back to the real world, pronto. I wasn’t spending one
extra minute in this bizarre place. “You see there’s a war coming
and I’m needed. The archdemon, Naberia, is gathering an army and
I’m going to face her on the field, leading the fae against
her.”

She gave me a long once-over, then started to
laugh. It was so much like Fionna’s laugh I got goose bumps. “You
are an extremely entertaining, child. I will enjoy our short time
together, as will Celine.”

“Celine?”

“Remember me, naked boy?”

The fae park ranger was dressed very
differently this time around. Unlike her friend the queen, she was
dressed in warrior garb, similar to what Brina wore. “I do remember
you.”

“Where’s your furry friend?” Celine looked
around.

“Safe, I hope. Jay wasn’t taken by your
thugs.”

“Too bad. I could’ve shown him a thing or two
about treating a female with respect.”

“He was respectful.”

“He was an arrogant ass.”

“He was teasing you.”

“Shifters do not tease their superiors.” She
looked me over. “Why aren’t you kneeling?” With a fast kick behind
my knees I was on the ground, a sharp pain shooting up my right leg
as my knee connected to one of the paving stones. “If you don’t
please us, we’ll play with you until you do.” I was still suffering
from the effects of the drug I’d been given, in no condition to
fight back. I stayed where I was.

“Celine, please. He is of Finvarra’s line—the
son of one of his bastards. You must not injure him too badly. We
have time and it is more fitting that he walk to our palace rather
than you dragging him like a common ruffian behind.”

“Fine. Get up.” I struggled to my feet, the
pain in my leg still sharp.

“We do not travel the lines here. It is
healthier to walk. Follow me.” The queen set off down a gravel path
and I followed behind her with a few painful, limping steps. For
the second time, I reached out, searching for the lines so I could
try to heal myself, but there was only space where there should
have been power. A void.

Which might mean Aine had no stored magic
with which to create the lines. Was this a prison? Would every fae
who lived here be unable to use their magic?

Celine pushed me between the shoulder blades
with the butt of her rifle. “Walk faster.”

The walk wasn’t far but it was painful. I
looked around for a sturdy branch I could use as a walking stick,
but there were no trees or even any large bushes. Everything was
soft edges and calming pastel colors. The ground was paving stone
over gravel, but there were no large rocks that I might be able to
use for a weapon. We passed a stream, shallow and narrow. You could
drink from it, or bathe in it, but it would be pretty tough to
accidentally drown in it. The more things I passed, the more it
made sense. This was Faerie’s version of a psych ward, probably
built specifically for Aine.

I was the prisoner of a nutcase and a sadist.
Terrific.

As soon as the house came into view, I felt a
flux, a change. Although the lines were still missing, I found a
stick, the perfect length and thickness to help support my weight.
The relief was instantaneous, but I was still happy that the walk
to the house was almost over. Of course I still didn’t know what
these two loony birds had in store for me once we got there.

I had no doubts that someone would come for
me. I hoped it wasn’t Jay. Not being able to shift, he’d be
helpless. Ivy would be helpless too. Brina…but no, I didn’t want
Brina here. She was also the child of one of Finvarra’s “bastards”
and would also be a target for Aine’s abuse. If you took magic out
of the equation, Brina had better fighting skills than me, but
Celine had firearms, which made her a dangerous opponent.

I had three ancient family members who could
store large amounts of magic and wouldn’t need to use the lines at
all. Isaiah didn’t know the way or even that I was here and Naberia
would want me to stay exactly where I was. That left Fin. He was
probably my only hope. And of course the last time we’d been
together I’d insulted him. My prospects at being rescued took a
nosedive.

I stopped outside the wooden front door of
the small house. Aine had called it a palace. Actually, it reminded
me more of a gingerbread cottage out of some old fairy tale, a
place large enough for a female or two to live in, but not
glamorous in any way, at least not on the outside.

Celine came up beside me. “Do you have ice?
My knee’s swollen.”

“Ice?” She laughed, taking a look at my knee,
which was at least a third larger than the other one. “You think
that’s swollen? I can do better.” She raised the butt of the gun
intending to drive it into my knee, full force. But Aine raised her
hand, flicking it in a motion that sent Celine flying against the
sturdy wall behind her.

“You will not injure him further without my
express permission. Do you understand? I will not repeat myself
again.”

“Yes, lady.” She was on her knees, trying to
catch her breath. Fury was rolling off her body in bands of red,
her aura a dingy mess.

“Excellent.” The queen turned to me. “I am
afraid I do not have anything frozen, but there is very cold water
in the stream behind the house. You may soak your knee there.”

I bowed. “Thank you, my queen.” She smiled
and walked inside, responding well to my fake showing of respect.
She should have been able to tell when I was lying, but her mind
was running on half a charge.

The last few steps were the worst, but when I
lowered myself into the water, I gasped from the cold and sighed in
relief. It did help. A lot. My shorts and boxers were soaked, but
the pain had lessened so much I thought I might be able to walk
normally again in a few minutes. I needed my knee to heal if I was
going to be able to escape without magic.

Then Celine showed up, rifle hanging from a
strap across her shoulder, her accent sounding very American and
unlike any fae I’d ever met. “You’re going to pay for what you did.
I’ll mark up your face so you’re not pretty anymore, then maybe
I’ll give you a matching burn on your other hand, or maybe on the
bottoms of your feet. Walking would be lots of fun then, wouldn’t
it?”

“What did I do to make you so angry?” I
twisted into a more strategic position so I could watch her. Not
that I could stop a bullet in a realm without magic.

“She took your side. I lost face with
her.”

“That had nothing to do with anything I said
or did. You disobeyed her orders.”

“You’re a weakling. You’re supposed to be
some hot shot savior and all you are is a dumbass kid.”

“And who are you, Celine? Do you work for the
queen? How is it that you can travel between realms and she can’t?”
I was still gripping my staff. There was no way I was going to let
Celine burn or cut me without putting up some kind of fight.

“Shut up,” she snarled.

“She doesn’t know you go to my realm?”

“She knows. I was sent by her as a spy.”

“But you’ve gone other times she didn’t know
about, right? You hung around outside my hotel room one night.”

“Your friends think you can protect them, but
you can’t even protect yourself.” The truth of that statement was
punch in the gut. I’d been such an idiot. I should have been
working on using my magic, not hiding from it, like Jay said. Those
thugs never would have gotten their hands on me if I’d been
thinking clearly. If I’d been prepared.

Celine’s rifle was suddenly aimed at my face.
“You have a bad habit of asking the wrong questions.”

“Celine. Lower the gun.” The queen’s tone was
stern.

She obeyed the queen and lowered the rifle.
“Yes, lady.”

“Cook dinner. I am hungry.”

“There’s nothing to eat.”

“Of course there is. The kitchen is stocked
with food.” Aine went back inside the cottage, but the door
remained open.

“She doesn’t understand. We don’t need food,
so there is none.”

“Well, I’m hungry and I need food. How long
has she been here?”

“A couple thousand years.” I was silent as
that sunk in. “Yeah. And she’s bat shit crazy.”

I felt something nibbling at my toes. It was
a trout. Um…okay. So there was food after all. Jay was able to grab
fish right out of the water, so maybe I could too. Being very
careful not to make any unnatural ripples I imitated the movement
he used, keeping my hand positioned where the fish couldn’t see it
and then, wham. It was slippery and squirming, but I managed to
throw my newly caught fish on the bank.

Celine backed away. “There aren’t any fish in
that stream.”

“We need to eat.” I saw another one, grabbing
it the same way, then a third and a fourth. I rose from the stream,
my knee no longer hurting at all, and picked up a rock that had
only just appeared by my foot to bash in the three trout’s heads.
No need for them to suffer.

“We have dinner.” I announced. “Where’s the
kitchen?” A plan was forming in my devious mind, one that should
get me away from these crazies by tonight.

“There isn’t one.” She had her rifle aimed at
my belly.

“Except…I have a weird feeling there is.” I
gestured toward the house and she shrugged, following close behind
me as I stepped through the sliding glass doors into a modern
kitchen.

“How did you do this?” Celine looked really
freaked out. The gun she was aiming at me was shaking in her
hands.

“Why don’t you put the gun down? I swear to
you on my honor I won’t try to run away if you do. I’m going to
make dinner, like she wants.”

For some reason, there was magic again. It
wasn’t ley line magic, so I couldn’t make a quick break for it. I’d
cook a meal like the queen wanted, adding a couple of key
ingredients that might give me a chance to escape tonight.
Hopefully she and Celine would be asleep soon after they finished
eating.

Sinlae had taught me a lot about natural
herbs and their properties and several very necessary bushes had
been growing by the stream.

Celine put the gun down. “There’s no magic
here.” She was stunned.

“I thought the fae could create their own
environment, even without the lines. Isaiah doesn’t need them in
the DR.”

“In Faerie, maybe, but I’ve never lived
there.”

“Where are you from?” I pulled out pans from
the cupboard, locating cooking spoons, knives for chopping and
measuring cups.

“None of your business.” She was wandering
around the room, opening drawers and poking into cupboards.

“Okay, fine, but this place still smells and
tastes of fae magic. The queen should be able…”

“But she can’t. She hasn’t.”

“She’s ancient enough to store enormous
amounts of magic. Maybe her skills are rusty. She needs a
reboot.”

“You idiot. The lines are dead. That proves
she can’t store any.”

“There must be something here, otherwise
where did the fish come from, or the kitchen?”