indigo court 05.5 - night shivers (11 page)

She shrugged. “You can’t, I suppose. But seriously, I’m surprised by how well the vampires are persuading the yummanii to return. Though in an interesting twist, I’m noticing that mostly magic-born are moving to town, now.”

“Really? That shifts the dynamics.”

“Yes, and the New Forest Conservatory is starting to thrive. The school is branching out—the students are coming in droves. With the Consortium behind them, it’s making a nationwide name for itself. For all the damage Myst did, everyone’s coming together, in the end.”

“Well, there’s that. I wonder if New Forest won’t grow bigger than it originally was, if the school is starting to thrive like you say.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me. There are some talented kids there. So, what’s going on here?”

I glanced at Grieve, then decided that Luna should know about Fenrick. If he managed to cross through the portal into the Golden Wood, New Forest would be in danger.

“We have a new problem. I want you to talk to Ysandra about it, so the Consortium can prepare should things get out of hand. Also, I’ll send word to Lannan and Regina.” So I told her about Fenrick and the vargr and the Jötnar.

Luna paled. “One danger barely quashed and another rears its head. Please keep us informed. I’ll talk to Ysandra when I get home tonight.” She dug into her meal. “Delicious. You have great cooks.”

“Coming from you, that’s a compliment.” Luna was an excellent cook. We chatted for a while, catching up, when Check once again peered inside the room after tapping on the door. His face looked strained.

“What is it, Check?” I sat down my fork.

“Your Majesty, we have a situation. It’s the…it’s Fenrick, Your Majesty. We’ve discovered where he is, and my men have also found the gateway.”

I froze. “We need to move, then. Luna, I should send you home, but I worry about you traveling right now. I’m going to have to ask you to stay here until we deal with this.”

She laughed. “I have my magic, I can make myself useful.”

I shook my head. “I can’t allow it. You’d be in danger if you come with us. I don’t even know how we’re going to do what we need to do.” I couldn’t imagine putting her through another battle—though when I thought about it, we were really on a decoy mission. To lure Fenrick back through the gateway, not to fight him. “Fenrick, as I told you, is a disgraced priest of Hel, and now he’s fallen in with the frost giants.”

“What are your goals?” She was suddenly all business, and a hardness flashed into her eyes that I didn’t expect to see. “I’ve been working with my ancestors a lot over the past year. I might as well make the most of whatever time they allow me. My skills as a bard are very strong now.”

I paused. “I wonder…could you charm a sorcerer? I can’t imagine going up against his magic, but…” Quickly, I explained to her what we were trying to do. “We know we can’t defeat him right now, but we have to lure him out. To drive him through the gate back into Jötunheim.”

She frowned, concentrating. After a moment, she nodded. “I think…what are his triggers? What is he after?”

“As far as the shamans think, Fenrick is scouting ahead, foreshadowing the frost giants making a play to come through. From here, they can enter Midgard—the outer world—easier. I imagine they are thinking about setting off Ragnarök. If Fenrick can’t grab power from the goddess of Death, this probably seems like the next best thing. So his triggers are power, and an assumption he can overtake the realm because I am new at this and not yet at my full power. This is an opportune time for them to attempt a push-through.”

Luna contemplated. “His magic is that of snow and ice, and most likely death. He’s going to be difficult to take on. I can charm, but I don’t know whether he will have any resistance. Fire would be the best attack.”

“We’re not trying to attack him—we’ll lose if we do. We’re trying to bait him to return to the gate and then shove him through and seal it.” Grieve frowned. “I wish the shamans would have been more specific.”

“They aren’t like the Internet, love. You can’t just type in a question and get a clear answer.” I shook my head. “They told us all they know.”

“I know one way to draw him out, but it would be dangerous.” Luna stared at me. “If he’s after control of your realm, then you would be the best bait.”

I glanced at her. That had been running through my mind. “Yeah, I was thinking along those same lines.”

But the moment I spoke, Check was quick to pounce. “Your Majesty, absolutely not! You cannot entertain the thought. There is no way I can allow you to put yourself in danger like that.”

Grieve surprised me, though. “I hate to agree, but in this case, Cicely and Luna are right. If he thinks he has a chance to take down the Crown, he’ll go for it. He’s drawing on the spirits from
The Wave Catcher
. He’s not going to let the chance to absorb the Queen’s powers slip away. He’s power hungry. I doubt the frost giants realize how thirsty he is. They probably think they’re using him, while he thinks he’s using them.”

“Well, they’re both getting something out of it, at least.” Luna snorted. She turned to Check. “I know you’re worried about Cicely, but seriously, she’s your best hope to luring him out. What else are you going to do? What else could he possibly want unless you offer to open up the door and let him just waltz in with his buddies?”

“She’s right,” I said. “The only other option is to seal the gate with him over here. But if we can’t take him down, there is nothing that can stop him from creating another gate back into Jötunheim, is there?” Which begged the question—once we shoved him back through, how long before he tried again? I shook off the thought.
Deal with one problem at a time.

“I wish Kaylin was around. He seemed to have a strong connection for coping with spirits and the like. He might be able to figure out how to stop Fenrick from feeding on life force.” For the second time that day, remorse filled Luna’s voice.

I rested my hand on her shoulder. “You really did love him, didn’t you?”

She shrugged. “There’s no use in dwelling on it. What’s done is done. And if I had let…well, when his night-veil demon woke up and took over, I would have lost him anyway.”

Check had been listening. He was obviously unhappy with the turn in conversation, but finally he said, “I suppose you are right. But we do this cautiously. We set you up near the gate. We make certain you are as protected as we can without giving ourselves away.”

“Strict is going to blow a gasket.” I almost laughed. As much as I had grown to like my chief advisor, I still got a kick out of crossing him on occasion. He had pushed me so hard on my studies to assimilate, and he had been so unrelenting, it gave me a snarky thrill when I was able to catch him off guard.

“Leave him to me.” Grieve stood. “I’ll be back. We have to move fast. We have the Flammen in Court, so we can make the necessary preparations.” Without another word, Grieve headed toward the door. Check and Fearless withdrew outside the room, and Druise took a quiet spot across the room, minding her own business as she mended the train of one of my dresses that I had caught in a door.

Luna and I were alone. I walked over to her and held out my arms. She slid into them, hugging me tightly. We both were teary-eyed.

“I’ve missed you, my friend.” I finally found my voice. “I’ve missed talking to you. I love my life, I love Grieve and my place here, but it gets lonely. And I miss my cousin. I miss my friends. You and Peyton…and I miss Kaylin too.”

We walked, hand in hand, to the chaise next to the fireplace where we sat, holding our hands out to the flames. I wasn’t cold at all, but Luna was still shivering. She stared at the fire, transfixed, while I stared at her.

“You know,” she said, still absorbed by the flames, “when I made the deal with Dorthea, I knew we would win. I just knew it.”

“Are you afraid, knowing they could come for you at any time?” I wasn’t sure how to phrase it—how far to pry. But she had opened the door and I was willing to walk in, if she needed to talk about it.

Luna looked over at me. “You remember when Peyton’s father was killed? How quick it was and how none of us were expecting it?”

I nodded. We had watched a vampire named Geoffrey take down Rex, Peyton’s father, as we exited a dress shop when Rhiannon and I were shopping for wedding dresses. It had been sudden, brutal, and totally unexpected.

“I do.”

“I remember thinking right then, nothing is guaranteed. Nobody knows how long they have in this world. With the evils that are out there, and the accidents that can happen… Nobody gets out alive, Cicely.
You
may live for a thousand…two thousand years. Or, you might slip on the ice and crack your head and be dead by tomorrow.”

“I was thinking about this not long ago.”

“It’s the nature of life. So when I realized the price I’d have to pay for Dorthea’s help, I thought about all the people Myst killed. I thought about Rex…I thought about everything that had happened. And I realized that whether my ancestors come to claim me, or an accident, or a vampire’s fangs—one way or another,
I’m going to die someday
. I decided I wanted to choose how, and in doing so, do something good for the world.” She sounded almost cheerful.

She made sense. A fatalistic view that wasn’t mopey. “We have what time we have, I guess.” Reaching out, I squeezed her hand. “I’m just glad we’re friends again.”

“Me, too.” Luna smiled.

The door opened at that moment and Grieve strode in, followed by Check and Fearless. “We’re ready. The Flammen will meet us along the way. Our men know where Fenrick is and they will make
certain
he overhears them talk about the fact that you’re going to personally oversee the investigation of the gateway to Jötunheim. Then, we have to pray he takes the bait.”

I stood. “I’ll get dressed.” Turning to Luna, I added, “Are you sure you want to come with us? It may be dangerous.”

She laughed. “What have I got to lose? My life is already forfeit. I doubt the ancestors will let a sorcerer-priest kill me before they get the chance.”

And with that, we were in motion, ready to hunt the hunter.

Chapter 6

We were on our way. Luna wasn’t geared for our weather so Check broke out a sledge and I rode in it with her, a thick blanket bundled around us.

The sleigh was pulled by Ice Elementals in the shape of horses, translucent and glistening against the snow. After we had defeated Myst, the wonders of this realm started becoming clear. I hadn’t realized that Ice Elementals could change their shape. In fact, I had no clue what their normal shape was. Some pristine, ice blue flame, I supposed. All flickering with the energy of the primal winter. Now, though, they were crystalline stallions, pulling the sledge without tiring.

Luna’s gaze was fastened on them, amazement filling her eyes.

“I never knew there could be so much beauty. You love living here, don’t you,” she asked, and I heard a wistful sigh in her voice. “I wish there was a place I felt at home. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Veil House, but it’s not really mine. Having Peyton there helps, though. We get along really well.”

“Did your parents ever find out about Zoey?” I knew I was touching on a volatile subject, but I might as well get it over with.

In a soft voice, Luna whispered, “No. Oh, they know she’s dead, but I told them it was a car accident. I told them she skidded off the road due to the ice, and that she died instantly when she hit a tree. When I took her body home after we killed Myst, I had her cremated. I sent them her ashes. I couldn’t have them with me—not after what she did. But I thought my parents needed closure and they’d never have if I told them the truth.”

I nodded. There was nothing else to say. Zoey had betrayed us, though we could never be certain it was her fault. And in the end, she had paid with her life.

As we traveled toward the gate, the sky darkened. Night came early in our realm, and I leaned back against the seat, my head resting against Luna’s shoulder. She took my hand in hers. The rift between us vanished for good in that simplest of touches.

I pointed to the sky, where the aurora borealis shimmered in a way that it never did back through the portal. In our realm, the lights lit up the sky, sparkling and dancing from one end of the horizon to the other — ripples of blue and green and purple, swirls of red and pink and golden shimmers. And it crackled. You could hear the sparks dancing until the whole sky seemed ablaze with energy.

Luna caught her breath. She shook her head as she stared into the night. “I have never seen anything quite so beautiful. In some ways, I envy you, Cicely. I don’t envy you your throne or the responsibilities you have, but to live in a place like this… I would think you could never forget about the magic inherent within the world. Not here.”

Her words stopped me short. Though there was truth to them, I realized that I had been taking this beauty for granted more and more. Perhaps that was inevitable, no matter where one lived—getting so used to one’s surroundings that it no longer seemed brilliant and beautiful. I decided right there to try and find a little wonder in every day.

Check was jogging alongside the sleigh. He laughed and waved at the aurora. “The gods look down from heaven tonight. Sometimes I wish that I could go across the Bifrost bridge instead of to the Golden Isle when my time comes.”

“How much further till we get there?” I was starting to get tired.

“We’re close now, Your Majesty. Almost there.” His joy vanished into somberness and he went ahead to talk to Captain Shell.

Luna straightened her shoulders. “I’ll do my best to prepare a spell to charm the sorcerer. I don’t know if it will work, but I doubt it could hurt. It never does harm to have a backup plan and if nothing else, the magic should throw him off guard.”

A few moments later, Grieve, Captain Shell, and Check returned. Check pointed to the stand of trees ahead. The fir towered over the land, a thicket blotting out the field beyond.

“On the other side of the copse. That’s where the gate lies. Now we just have to hope Fenrick took the bait. The Flammen is ready, and seems eager to help. He’s been fully briefed in the order of how to destroy the runes.” The guard paused, then added, “You know, Your Majesty, until you took the throne, we had little to do with the Wilding Fae. And they wanted little to do with us. You have brought our people together in a way that no one could predict.”