Page 43 of Atop the Faerie Throne
The pile of rubble beside the tunnel entrance starts to collapse. Staggering to my feet, I grab Bree and yank him forward blindly. He struggles against my hold, but there’s no time to worry about his touch aversion. This thing is coming down.
“Move!” I snarl.
He hisses, but I don’t let go as I drag the two of us deeper into the dark. The air fills with the scent of damp earth as the floor judders and shakes. I manage to keep my feet, but Bree doesn’t have the same luck. He collapses to his knees, wheezing in the dust and aftershocks.
Well, we’re sealed in now. I jog farther down the tunnel, grabbing one of the flickering torches from the wall, then return to check his injuries.
Bree is already pulling the second bolt from between his ribs with a slick squelching sound and a snarl that’s a little too animal. Black veins streak across his ashen skin from both of his wounds, chasing after his swirling tattoos like lightning.
Wincing, I examine my own arm, and the shards of bone sticking through the skin. Aww fuck, that’s going to heal like a bitch.
“You…” he mutters, pushing away from me and using the wall to claw himself upright. “Are almost as bad at thinking things through as the redcap.”
His eyes have turned a luminous feline yellow, helping him see in the oppressive darkness.
“I’m spontaneous,” I reply, groaning softly as Rose finally manages to reopen the connection to Danu and the Goddess’s magic rushes through me, fixing the damage along with other scrapes and bruises I barely noticed until now. “Look at it this way; at least we’re no longer under attack. Now, come on. We’re not too far behind.”
Bree examines his own healing wounds as he shakes his head. “This is foolish. We should return to the others.” He turns back to survey the pile of rubble blocking the exit and groans. “Somehow.”
“We can’t just let Elatha get away. That medallion?—”
“Is an ancient artefact that I doubt he even knows how to use.” Bree huffs out a breath and straightens. “Even if he did, he’d have to find the portal to unlock it. Yes, you hate him having your name, and he’s a threat as long as he lives, but our focus now should be on the fact that our mate is up there in the middle of a battle, and we’re not.”
It’s possibly the most I’ve heard the quiet male speak in one go, and the corners of my mouth turn down as I realise he’s probably right.
But it all makes sense now. Elatha was willing to bargain with the fae because he knew once he had Balor’s medallion, he’d have a trump card. He thinks he can use the bàsron like he uses everyone else, but his arrogance is going to get our people killed and the whole realm enslaved.
“Well, we’re here now.” Thanks to my impulsiveness, but there’s no going back. “We can at least see where this thing comes out, so we have an idea of where he’s headed. Rose has connected with the Goddess, and she feels…”
I trail off as I try to describe it.
“She feels lost,” Bree finishes, rubbing the violet mark over his chest.
We both eye the pile of rubble. If we try to shift it, we’re more likely to bury ourselves.
“Lore will find us if she needs us,” Bree finally says. “In the meantime, you’re right. We should at least pick up his trail.”
He takes the lead, and I let him. Now that the adrenaline isn’t flowing, I can admit how stupid it was to take off after my father alone.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I finally admit, after long minutes of walking together in the dark.
It’s the closest I’ll get to thanking a fae, and he seems to realise it because he inclines his head in my direction. “Rose would’ve been very upset had you been used against her a second time.”
I swallow back the retort that springs to my lips, letting the space between us fill with the sound of our harsh breathing and the crunch of our feet on the rocky floor. When we reach a fork in the tunnel, it’s easy to tell the fae-made passage on the left from the newer one on the right.
One of them is neatly paved and lit by glowing balls of magical light. The other is roughly dug, with a handful of torches—half of which seem to have gone out.
“He’s slowing down,” Bree mutters, heading for the Fomorian-made tunnel with his ears both pricked and facing forward. “I can hear more Fomorians ahead with him.”
I raise my sword, but Bree holds out a hand to stop me. “Wait. We can surprise them if they think we haven’t managed to follow him.”
I rock onto my toes, bouncing with impatience. My slim hope of catching my father before he gets away is fading with every second we wait.
“He’s stationed a group of warriors around the corner,” Bree eventually says. “They’re to report if he’s followed.”
I try to take another step forward, but he stops meagain.
“Subtlety will work better.”
