Page 4 of Whispers of Fate

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.”

“And?” I countered, gliding my gaze to the ceiling to avoid seeing any more of Alden’s naked form.

“It reminded me of this time I crossed paths with these beings that attacked what they discerned to be a threat. They would feast on them until their prey turned to nothing more than a dried-up scrap of skin, which was carried by the breeze.”

“Which is exactly what Alden left behind of his feeder before I called you here,” I muttered, scrubbing my hands over my face.

“So, if Alden has fae traits mixed with something else, then maybe the worlds are vying for him to belong to them and he’s part of both? It could be that or Faery is confused and has made him both fae, and whatever the hell the original creatures were?”

I dipped my glare, examining the way Alden’s eyes were rounded and loaded with emotion. He looked unsettled, and at the same time, he looked as if he were appreciating the power struggle they trapped him in. When the goddess on his cheeks rose, Alden’s serrated teeth became exposed, and I gasped. Shifting my focus to his fingers, I discovered them elongated and claw-like in shape. He adjusted them on Banba’s legs, curling them around her thighs to pound deeper into her body. She had deep gashes on her hips, blood running from them in unchecked rivulets. His focus locked onto Banba’s face, and he snarled in a strange tone that echoed through the room, rebounding against the glass and causing the runes to glow an electric-blue.

“He’s hurting them,” I pointed out, looking at her while she snorted loudly.

“They know. My sisters have lived a long time, and if they didn’t want to push him, they wouldn’t. They’re learning and testing what he can do. You mentioned Zahruk’s changing, as well?” My mouth opened and immediately clamped shut as I nodded in confirmation. “Considering he’s already fae, he may not be this savage.”

I fidgeted quietly, stifling the worry of the latest rumors. When I turned to Erie, her lips were parted and she snorted before shaking her vibrant-red mass of curls.

“He’s not started leaving behind husks, if that is what you’re asking. Zahruk barely has returned since the insatiable hunger began, but Ryder thinks Zahruk merely craves distance because he’s worried about what the changes will mean. That tells me he’s in control of his mind—at least, for now, anyway.”

Erie chuckled, but it held no humor in the musical notes, only dire sadness for the grimness of the situation. “And Zahruk was exposed with Lena? Where did you say he’d touched it, exactly?”

“In Spokane, near Nightshade, to be exact,” I confirmed, rubbing the chill from my arms. “Adrian and Vlad estimate that several hundred people have already been affected, but like I said, Alden is the one who has survived. That number doesn’t include the otherworld beings they can’t track, though, so the number is likely far greater. Though, Lucian has reported that something has driven the demons to abandon Spokane recently as well. I am assuming it’s because of the oily substance.”

“I guess that’s one way to make them creepy fucks leave town,” she snickered, flicking her attention to her sisters, who’d switched spots. “If it’s spreading out there, there is no telling where else it’s popping up or where it will stop.”

“I don’t even want to consider those questions, let alone figure out the answers to them. I’m going to need something a lot harder than tea tonight. Care to join me?”

“I wish I could.”

“No, that’s okay, but before you go, could you do something for me? It’s not like you haven’t already done enough, but there’s something that has been worrying me, and I’d like to be prepared in case it happens.”

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