Page 21 of Stone Sentinels

“I very much doubt your companions will ever trust you again once they figure out you were the one who led the Unseelie army into The Veil.”

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EILISH

The Veil

Sweat pours into my eyes as I throw Aima off me. She bounces off the ground and springs into a crouch, like a feline. Her sleek muscles glisten in the light of the swirling vortex above our heads as we spar in the clearing. Instead of leggings and a tunic like I’m wearing, Aima sports a leather over-bust corset with shoulder straps and leather breeches. She fights barefoot, with her long black hair in a high ponytail atop her head.

“You should have been alive when the Unseelie went to war with the angels,” she says. “You might have given us a bit of a challenge.” Aima lunges, slashing at me with her blades. She expertly dodges a blast of my magic and straightens to her full height, towering over me in a way most fae women can’t. “We rodeHorau, enormous spike-tailed jaguars that were bred for battle. Some of them could leap high into the sky and snatch an angel down by its ankles. Used to make me laugh every time.”

“If you’re trying to piss me off, it’s not working,” I respond with a laugh.

“Well, fuck you then,” she says, her smile broad.

I parry her attacks, learning her rhythm until I’m able to throw her off balance again. She feigns to the left, so I go further right, but only for a second. When she attempts to correct the miscalculation, I drop low, tripping her up. Aima sails over my shoulder, landing on her back. Quickly, she kicks up onto her feet and tosses her short sword into her other hand. I deflect with amiracledshield of bright energy.

“What’s with you and Kolvar?” I ask breathlessly.

“What do you mean?”

I shrug. “I heard him talking about the two of you running away together when this is all over.”

“He’s just a big lug with a heart of gold under all that beard and ale.”

“But would you go? If he asked you, I mean.”

Aima pauses mid-stride. “None of us knows if we’ll survive this, Eilish. We don’t even know what we’re really fighting anymore. Each time we think we know who our enemy is, something else changes. Before, we just wanted to dethrone Variant; now we aren’t even sure if he’s the real threat.”

We put away our weapons and walk back to the cottage. Morrigan is still resting, but the others are bent over the dining table with a bunch of maps. Flumph is still in Morrigan’s chamber, while Noni rushes to get the linens washed, singing a happy little tune under her breath. I climb the stairs in search of Cambion, because I want to have a serious discussion with him. I need him and I’m worried the longer I wait to take him as my lover, the harder it’s going to be to defeat the darkness inside me. I can feel it building.

But Cambion is nowhere to be found. I search the library, apothecary, armory, kitchen, both bathing rooms, and all the unlocked doors along the halls. Nothing. Dread pools in my gut and I hurry back to the others.

“Have any of you seen Cambion?”

“No, he wasn’t in his bed this morning,” Baron answers. “I figured the prick ran off into the woods again. He hasn’t come back yet?”

Dragan frowns, deep creases etching his mouth. Pyre’s eyes change to an oddly normal shade of brown before turning back to the snow-white gaze I’ve grown to adore. He looks troubled.

“He isn’t in the forest,” Pyre says.

“Well, where the hell is he?” Dragan snaps.

“He... isn’t in The Veil at all,” Pyre answers.

An eruption of protests reverberates through the room and I press a hand to my temple to calm the searing headache that prickles the corners of my mind. “Can someone please explain to me what’s going on?” I ask above the deafening shouts.

“Dragan just informed us that he saw Cambion sneaking out of Pyre’s private quarters,” Baron says.

My heart sinks further as Pyre’s expression grows grim. This... this is a huge betrayal of the trust Pyre has given us without question. He pushes past everyone and disappears through his door. A few seconds later, we hear the sound of shattering glass and things being tossed around. Big things that make big sounds. Colorful curses fill the air, ones that will no doubt give even Flumph a run for his money. Noni hurries into the room to soothe her master while the rest of us stand quietly beside the dining table. Pyre never loses control like this.

He exits his room with a suspiciously impassive expression and his house brownie tucked into his pocket. “Cambion has stolen a very powerful mirror. It’s one of the last catoptromancer mirrors I saved from the mortal realm before the Singularity. It... belonged to the seer I told you about,” Pyre informs us with an air of sadness in his voice. “I believe Cambion’s gone to Oronrel.”

“What? Why?” I ask.

“He kept talking about needing to see his brother,” Dragan inserts. “I just assumed he was getting impatient with how slowly things were moving as we attempted to figure this mess out, but this isn’t like Cambion at all. He knows how important our mission is.”

“But he still has faith in his brother.” Aima hangs her head and rubs the heels of her palms into her face. “He’s been on edge for weeks now, and we were all too busy to see what was happening. What needs to happen now is damage control.”

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