Page 16 of Kiss of Smoke

6

We all splitour separate ways to prepare. I went upstairs, the pancakes weighing in my stomach like a brick despite Thistletop’s excellent cooking, and stood in front of the magic wardrobe with my hands on my hips.

The Undercity was really no place for soft pants and tee shirts, especially if there was a chance we might come across a group of angry and violent Unstained Souls.

I needed something sturdy, but it also didn’t feel like a good idea to wear my agent uniform. They would be looking for Garda to kill and make an example of.

When I reached out and pulled open the wardrobe door, I found that the wardrobe had responded impeccably, as always. A pair of leather pants and jacket were in there, along with knee high boots with rubber soles that would grip even slick stone.

I pulled everything on, and found that the wardrobe had also provided a hip sheath for a knife and several armbands for smaller knives.

“You’re the best wardrobe ever,” I said fondly, patting the side of the door before leaving my previous clothes in there for it to recycle.

Finally, I braided and pinned up my hair, keeping it slicked back and out of my face. I had more than enough hair to give someone a good handhold if they reached out in the dark and grabbed me.

When I came downstairs, I found Gwyn attired in similar fashion, but he had a large ram’s skull embroidered on the back of his jacket. Ceri was at his side, yawning and stretching, a half-gnawed bone on the floor beside him.

My father had shed his lacquered armor in favor of light chainmail, but his sword was still strapped across his back.

But Jack was wearing a white suit, as usual. I raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s going to be dirty down there.”

He smirked at me and flicked an invisible bit of lint off his sleeve. “I’m not worried about it. But you need to be outfitted with weapons.”

I looked down at my sleeves and the dagger sheaths there. “Robin’s got an armory around here somewhere.”

Well, he didn’t have an actual armory. It was more like weapons scattered in random places all over the house. I found one dagger in his desk drawer, and another stuck behind a dusty old vase on the mantel.

They fit perfectly in the arm sheaths, but it was Gwyn who gave me the big mama of knives. He held out a large, twisted dagger, the blade gleaming a faint blue. “Try this.”

I gripped it tightly, liking the way it felt in my hand. It was like it had been molded specifically for me, and it fit perfectly at my thigh.

Gwyn let out a low whistle as I positioned it so it would be easy to grab. “Now that’s a sexy look.”

I laughed in disbelief. “I look ridiculous.” I did feel a bit like I was drowning in leather at that point. Yoga pants were really more my thing.

“Don’t argue with the man,” Jack said, pushing a stray wisp of my hair back into place. “You look like you could kick ass.”

“You’re both ridiculous,” I grumbled, but a flush heated my cheeks. One day, I might be able to master when and where I blushed, but today was not that day.

Both men chuckled as they led me out of the house and into the backyard. Ceri sniffed at a faerie fruit bush, then quietly lifted his leg on it.

I winced, thinking about the time I’d eaten fruit from that bush.

Noctifer was already outdoors, scanning the neighborhood with pensive eyes. “I dislike how quiet it is.”

“It does feel like something is about to happen,” I said, casting a quick glance up at the sky. I couldn’t help but remember a day several months ago, when the sky had looked like rain, and from that day on, the trajectory of my entire life had changed.

It felt like that again. Like change was on the way…but maybe not good change.

“So, where is this entrance?” I asked, pitching my voice low. There were no pixies in sight, but none of us could assume the Souls hadn’t enslaved some of them to use as spies against us.

Jack led us down several streets and then turned east, towards a winding drive hidden in the trees where the houses looked just as old as Robin’s—but all of them abandoned and boarded up.

“This is old Thornwood, the original site of the Seelie incursion into Avilion. Everyone prefers the shiny new mansions these days.” He tipped his head toward the rest of the glittering glass-and-marble neighborhood, which was swiftly disappearing behind the dense trees. “But most of the old magic is concentrated here, specifically around Robin’s house. Back in those days, the Fae discovered the first of the caverns beneath Avilion before they became the Undercity. They were a place of wild magic the Seelie preferred to avoid.”

He suddenly veered off into waist-high grass surrounding a ramshackle old cottage, with Ceri bounding in after him happily.

I stared at it, frowning, wondering why the Fae had abandoned these houses at all if they were the most protected in Avilion. “Why wouldn’t the queen have built the palace here if it’s the safest place?”

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