Page 53 of Nocte

“Oh, my…” The fae breathes and her steps falter. She slows me down. Makes me stop. Has me staring as she reaches out a trembling pale finger toward a wall of glistening black stone. Embedded within it are glowing things. Strange things. “Fae stones,” she whispers, hesitating before touching one. “Such magic. I never thought?—”

“We need to go,” I tell her, dragging her along, deeper into this winding space.

A tunnel that Cassius has made me forget. This far from him, I start to remember. It was at his request that I sneaked down this tunnel now and again. A snaking protrusion of stone, embedded with the rocks the fae claim are magic; the same magic that ripped our realm from the mortal one in the first place.

They claim the official portal above is the only way to leave. A lie. There is also this way, discrete enough for a devious vamryre to tiptoe up to the mortal realm and lure any unsuspecting prey back. It’s forbidden—not allowed.

Cassius doesn’t fucking care. They are fae rules. Fake rules. When he kills the high council, there will be no more rules.

That’s why he so flagrantly had me take a mortal here, a mortal there. For years, he’s had me creep and take. Some to be bled dry. Some to be fucked and swallowed into the mindless collective.

But I was his only one. His trusted one.

Because as long as he kept Cassiopeia close to him, I would always return for her. My sister. My lone ally in war. My other half. The only one who truly understood what it meant to resist him, and hate him, and endure him.

Until he took her away from me, and he crushed all traces of this tunnel from my memory.

The sick bastard did so out of fear. He knew that without her…

I’d find this tunnel and follow it all the way to the end. I’d climb up the worn metal ladder heading toward a heavy trapdoor made of stone. Once I shrugged off that final barrier, I’d be free from him. I’d run and keep running.

I would never fucking go back.

CHAPTER16

Niamh

Iread a story once of a greedy fae who achieved everything they ever wanted. Power, wealth, and prestige. Yet, they still wanted more. More still.

Then they died alone and unhappy atop their mound of false wealth.

It was a warning. A cautionary tale. A lesson cloaked in drama and prose.

But a lesson all the same, and one I took to heart. To crave something out of greed only leads to disappointment in the end. A selfish creature can never be sated. Never be satisfied. They will always want more.

I believe that, right up until the moment that Caspian grips my hand impossibly tight and pulls me through a dark, dank hole underground. A portal.

I believe in that precious fable right up until the moment I open my eyes and breathe in fresh air. Until I see a blue, blue sky and feel an icy frost against my cheek.

I believe that greed is a sin until I see the mortal realm for myself. Beautiful, barren emptiness.

And a fullness I never knew I was missing made my heart feel heavy. I could die here content and happy. Even with a vamryre looming beside me, angry and scathing, I could die utterly happy.

Either he lets me go, or I wiggle away from him, but suddenly I’m walking freely, my hands outstretched, taking in this clean, fresh air. No stone. No watchful bell tower. No fervent, furtive glances my way that I was supposed to ignore.

The air is so clean. The sun is so bright. Everything smells wonderful. Feels wonderful. I’m running, my bare feet traipsing through grass and muddied earth.

It’s beautiful. Everything here is beautiful.

I throw my head back at that perfect, wonderful sky and laugh aloud. Without fear of judgment or derision, I laugh and laugh. I run and laugh. I throw my arms out and spin and spin and giggle with the knowledge that no one or anyone could take this moment away.

Not Lord Master. Not myself. Not Day. Not even the vamryre.

I spin and spin until I grow dizzy and stumble to the hard ground. Still laughing, I look for him. Maybe he’s gone, his duty fulfilled?

But he’s not. He stands near the hole we crawled up out of, watching me from the shadow of a tree. Coldly and intently, he stares. As if he’s never seen another creature remotely like me, he stares.

A silence falls between us, heavy and still. Something changed in our frantic race here. Something is still changing, morphing, and transforming. What is it? What is it?