Revealed in Fire by K.F. Breene

Twenty

“We have come in good faith,”Romulus said to the elf, who had not budged. “We will keep Mr. Westbrook to his room until you can see him.”

“I think I’ll just take him with me.”

“We both know that isn’t wise, just as we both know what happened to the war parties that tried to do exactly that. I assume that message was delivered?”

Despite myself, I felt a smile budding on my lips. Romulus was pretty bad-ass. Those manners really shone when he was issuing threats.

“You have a girl in your vicinity,” the elf went on. “We wish to question her.”

Romulus won that round, Emery thought, his shoulders and arms relaxing slightly. I won’t be killed today.

“Yes, so we do. And we will present her and the Second Arcana at the same time. Until then, she will also stay to her room. Have no fear—she cannot fly. She’ll be quite safe until the king and queen can fit her into their schedules.”

Silence met his words again.

This elf doesn’t have the authority to force the issue, nor does he want to lose his head for trying. It’s interesting they haven’t tried to charge the fae themselves with murder. I wonder if the king and queen will bring that up.

“Yes. Please, follow me,” the elf said.

And then we were moving, passing a stone-faced Roger. His dual-colored gaze caught mine for a moment, and I heard, Watch yourself, Reagan, before I was swept through the doors and out of his sight.

No Darius, and now no Roger. Another of my protections stripped away.

“When you give up the solitary life, it turns out to be no fun going back to the solitary life, especially when danger is mounting all around you,” I murmured.

Halvor dropped back beside me again, leaving Penny and Emery directly behind me.

“Why are we in formation when we won’t be fighting?” I asked him.

“You never know when you will, or will not, be fighting,” he replied, and regardless of Romulus’s hopeful outlook, it seemed Halvor was no dope. He expected the worst. He probably didn’t understand why we were here any more than I did. Except it was obvious the fae trusted their prophet, drug habit and all.

The wide, curving staircase took us up to the third floor, and no, I would not be flying out of the window at this height, but it surprised me that no one had suggested that I could hover my way down. Maybe they didn’t realize I had that talent. From what I’d been told, the other heirs of Lucifer hadn’t possessed the full range of his magic.

A red carpet cut down the middle of the wide hallway, chandeliers dotting the way, sparkling in the orange light from the windows. Large oil paintings hung on the cream walls, elves in battle dress, or picking grapes, or tending odd-looking animals I’d never seen while passing through the Realm.

“I see you have redecorated,” Romulus commented flatly.

This hall used to be full of paintings of the fae fighting beside or working with the elves, Emery thought, glancing first at the paintings, and then at the window across from us. This is quite the statement they are making.

“Not a good statement,” I murmured.

No.

“What?” Dizzy whispered, pushing through Emery and Penny to get closer. “What’s up? Is it just me, or is everyone tense? It’s making me nervous, Reagan. Thank God we came, huh?”

I didn’t know about that. I was certainly glad for more firepower—I was sure we all were—but I didn’t want them in danger, either. I hadn’t trekked through the Underworld to spare them just so I could force them into a similar situation down the line.

My heart thumped wildly as we reached a wide archway with a heavy wood door I would definitely try to kick in at some point. I had a feeling it would be a serious challenge. The elf stopped at the door, the procession stopping with him, and I was forced to do the same.

“If you need anything, just ring for assistance,” the elf said.

“Yes, of course,” Romulus replied.

We started up again, the fae pushing in tighter around me as we neared the entrance. Not many could fit at a time, however, and when I passed through, I got a good look at the tall, slender creature with the magically flowing white hair and hard, nearly black eyes. Its power pulsed, like needles prickling every inch of my body. Halvor hissed through his teeth, and my magic swelled, ready for action.

Do not respond,Emery thought, the words barely registering beneath the rush of magic.

“I will see you soon, Rogue Natural,” the elf said softly as Emery passed it by. “It will be a pleasure to watch you swing.”

In that moment, it took everything in me not to kill the elf on the spot. As I continued on, it wasn’t his stare that stayed with me, or the threatening pulse of his magic. It was the elf’s assurance that Emery would die, sooner or later.

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

It didn’t help.

“That will happen literally over my dead body,” I ground out, red tingeing my vision. “We’ll burn this place to the ground if they go after you, Emery, don’t you worry. We’ll leave a pile of rubble with all those nasty bastards trapped under the stones.”

“See?” Penny said to Emery. “Told you.”

The solid door closed behind us, and one of the fae slid the metal bar into place, securely locking them out. Halvor sighed, and it was the first time I’d seen him react to stress.

“Well.” Romulus looked over the finery around us, the gold filigree on the trim, the solid and artistic woodworking, the plush rugs underfoot. “This is much, much worse than I thought.”

“The king and queen are going to charge you for something,” Emery told Romulus, looking out the window in the grand sitting room. Down the hall, several doors stood open, clearly leading to the bedrooms. “They’ll offer you the option to be punished, or to head home and stay out of their business. It’ll likely be an offer you can’t refuse. I’m not positive, but that’s my guess.”

“What sort of offer?” Romulus asked as the fae spread out, some heading down to the bedrooms, some peering out the windows as Emery was doing. They were getting their bearings in case of attack.

He pulled back from the window, his eyes shadowed. He was worried.

“I don’t know. I was never given one.” He smiled humorlessly. “I’ve just heard that’s their way of doing things. It won’t look good to the rest of the Realm if they kill you. Of course, they can’t let you police them either, even if they’re the ones who made the rules you’re trying to follow. It’ll look like you had to come out of retirement because of how bad things have gotten, which is true, and everyone will know it. They’ll want to pass it off like you came, you told them about Charity, delivered me and Reagan, and you left. Amicable. That’ll look best for them. They can use your attack on the foot soldiers as a reason to work you around.”

Romulus stood with his hands behind his back for a moment, staring out at nothing. “In our position, my mother would certainly leave. And I might have once been tempted, simply to save our people. But seeing the shifters carry out their duty has inspired me to do the same.”

“Your people do not wish to be saved, sir,” Halvor said, and bowed. “We wish to fight. It is what we were born to do. It is in our blood. In our heritage.”

“Yes, yes, I realize that.” Romulus stepped away from the window. “And we cannot just hand over two innocent lives. Because no matter how grievous they thought your offense, you merely played a practical joke, Emery. What an absurd overreaction. I cannot believe they are so up in arms about it. What a lack of humor this place currently possesses.”

He took a deep breath and sighed it out slowly. I wondered if it would help him more than it had me.

“Well,” he said, looking Charity over and crinkling his eyes. “Here we are. They will likely give us tomorrow to rest after our long journey. After that, we will introduce you, and see about the others. From there…we will play it by ear. We have no choice.”

“Sounds perfect to me.” I peered down the hall at the rooms. “That’s my preferred method of handling things. Which room is mine?”

But they didn’t giveus a day to rest. Not even the next morning to recover after a single night’s sleep.

A knock sounded at the heavy door. Romulus stood from his seat, his steaming cup of tea in hand. Charity walked in from the hall leading to the bedrooms, fiddling with one of the strange bands on her tunic as if she’d only just finished getting dressed.

“This is highly unusual,” Halvor said, the first to the door.

“Yes. Highly,” Romulus said, his tone dry. He set his tea on the table beside him.

“I can stop them from getting in.” I tucked my feet into my boots and started doing up the laces.

“No.” Romulus glanced behind him at his people, who’d sped up the getting-ready process. “Let them come. We will play by their rules.”

…for now…

His thought curled through the air, and a grin stretched across my face. Adrenaline rushed in to fuel my body.I’d never cared for sneaking around and taking stock of a situation before making a move. That was Darius’s department, which was one of the reasons I’d been so loath to lose him for this.

But the elves had just tipped things into my comfort zone. If they planned to throw unpleasant surprises at us, I was happy to lob the unpleasantness right back.

The heavy metal bar slid back before the door shuddered open. An elf stood in the doorway, long blond hair flowing down its back, rippling as if it were out in a breezy meadow. Its heavily embroidered blue tunic stopped just below its waist, and the forest-green satin garment it had on beneath flowed to its ankles.

“Slippers, huh?” I stood and adjusted my pouch, spells inside at the ready in case Penny or Emery needed a magical hand. “We going to a pajama party?”

“First Arcana,” the elf said, sparing a glance my way. “The king and queen request your audience. You are to bring the Second Arcana, Emery Westbrook, his dual-mage partner, and the girl with whom you travel.”

I pointed at the center of my chest, walking out from within the fae and stopping beside Romulus. “I’m the girl, right?”

The elf, with light eyes so pale they almost looked white, glanced at me. “Yes.”

“All this time at your disposal and you couldn’t figure out my name?” I whistled and adjusted the sword at my back. “You mustn’t be as powerful as you think. That, or you don’t have many friends.”

Disgusting disease of a half-human, it thought, and I wondered just how much they knew about me. They didn’t seem to realize I could levitate out of here, and it was now evident they didn’t know I could read thoughts. Or maybe that particular thought just got away from it. My ability to get under people’s skin was one of my superpowers, as Cahal had found out the hard way.

“Well, anyway, let’s get this circus started, shall we?” I pulled my long blond locks into a tight ponytail on top of my head.

“We’re obviously going.” Callie stepped forward, zipping up the sweatshirt of her bright orange track suit. She turned to grab her satchel, and I noticed “Werking it” written across her backside. Where did she find those things?

“No, that won’t be necessary,” the elf said, taking a step back, indicating it was time to go.

“Don’t be as ridiculous as the clothing you’re wearing.” Callie huffed and filed in with the rest of our crew, Dizzy joining her with a pleasant smile.

“You are not on the list,” the elf said loftily.

“Yeah.” I turned to Callie and Dizzy. “It’s a VIP party that you will want to miss, I’m sure of it. Why don’t you stay here?”

“Reagan Somerset—” Callie started.

Dizzy put out his hand to stop her, and I was thankful he had sense. Until I realized he didn’t.

“Let me, hon.” He turned his pleasant smile on me. “We didn’t come all this way to sit out in the final hour. We’re going with you even if we have to fight our way there, so the best thing you can do is just accept it.”

“I am only instructed—”

“It’s fine, Bobo,” I said, sighing and motioning him on. I didn’t honestly think they would back down—they’d forced their way into this journey in the first place, and clearly didn’t care whether they were welcome—but I had hoped. I didn’t foresee this next phase going well. “They’re with me, and I won’t be going anywhere without them. You’re welcome to try to force me, of course.” I flashed him a grin. “But you’ll die first.”

“Yes, she does make an excellent point. Please.” Romulus put out his hand to get the elf moving. “The king and queen are waiting, are they not?”

“I—”The elf cut itself off, clearly at a loss, and just turned and walked through the door, his guards stepping back and to the sides so we’d pass through the middle of a guard twenty deep.

Halvor stepped up next to me.

“No.” Penny pushed him away. “For the love of lollipops sucked on by bucktoothed men, be with your own people for this one. The triangle of power needs to stick together or we’re all going to die.”