With a Golden Sword (DFZ Changeling Book 2), page 2
Unfortunately, feeding up a fairy monarch was taking a lot longer than she’d anticipated. At this rate, Victor would have the whole world worshiping at his feet before Morgan got strong enough to leave the couch. She was wondering if there was any way to speed things up—trick herself into falling in love with the queen so Morgan could get the rush of infatuation she needed to put herself back in fighting form—when she heard a crash from the other room.
The sound sent her leaping off the couch, spilling freezing-cold sugar tea all over herself as she whirled toward the guest room door. Tristan and the queen also jumped, but their glares were pointed at her, which was about the time Lola realized that her cat was no longer sitting next to her.
“Oh no,” she said, eyes flicking between the empty couch cushion and the open door to the guest bedroom. “If that was Buster eating one of your low creatures, I am so sorry.”
“It wasn’t one of mine,” Tristan said, placing a hand on his sword. “Can you go look?”
Lola didn’t see why Tristan couldn’t go himself. He was the one with the weapon, and it was his barrow. She was still worried about Buster, though, so she cleaned the spilled tea off her gossamer and crept around the couch. The noise had stopped by the time she reached the guest room, but when Lola poked her head inside, she saw her sister’s body heaving on the bed.
Lola ran to her with a shout. Her sister had curled into a ball by the time she got there. She was clearly still unconscious, but her hands were clenching over her middle like there was a horrible pain in her stomach. Lola was frantically trying to straighten her out to see what was wrong when she felt a stabbing pain in her own middle.
Her gossamer had been behaving so well since Victor’s blood drained out, it took Lola a ridiculously long time to recognize the sensation as the same one she’d felt in Alva’s court. She was opening her mouth to shout a warning when her magic turned over on itself, opening a tunnel for a small, golden, madly grinning figure to step through her into the room.
Chapter 2
Lola shouldn’t have been surprised. No matter how well it was behaving now, her gossamer hadn’t actually changed. It was still the same magic she’d always been made from, and how many times had Alberich told her she was part of his kingdom?
But knowing she should have expected this didn’t stop the shock as the Underground King strolled out of her. He paused when his feet hit the guestroom’s carpet, shaking out his scarlet-and-gold hunting jerkin as if he’d just come in from the rain. He looked over his shoulder next, peering around Lola at the girl who’d finally stopped convulsing on the bed.
“My treasure!” he cried, throwing out his arms. “You look so well! I knew my changeling would keep you safe.”
He smiled at Lola, but she was still frozen solid. Rolling his golden eyes, Alberich released her with a snap of his fingers, sending her lurching to the floor as all her pent-up struggles were released at once. She scrambled back to her feet a second later, grabbing the bed for support as she yelled at the king, “I do not claim you as my guest!”
“Ah, yes,” Alberich said, flashing her a sharp-toothed grin. “That was the boon I asked for last time, but such trivialities are no longer required. I’m here as a conqueror today, not a visitor, and because I wanted to see my… Wife!”
His voice rose in delight as Lola turned to see Tristan and Morgan standing in the doorway. It was the first time Lola had seen the queen on her feet since this started, or ever. But while she was obviously depending entirely upon her knight to keep her that way, Morgan still managed to meet Alberich’s gaze with an imperious scowl, lifting her chin so that her golden hair flowed over her emaciated body like a cape, though not enough to hide it.
“You look horrid,” Alberich observed, turning accusingly to Tristan. “Why haven’t you healed her yet? And you call yourself her knight.”
Before Tristan could answer, Morgan grabbed the doorframe to haul herself into the room. “It’s your fault I’m so weak, you selfish fool! Your reckless Hunt has brought back all the old banes and added new ones on top of them. How am I supposed to feast when the only food around is the bitter hatred you’ve taught humanity to throw at our kind?”
“Simple,” Alberich replied. “Be less picky. You’ve always looked down your nose at fear, but you’re the one who’s starving while I have more magic than I can use.” He flashed the queen a preening grin. “One hour with my Hunt and you’d be your old self again, though still not as powerful as me.”
“You mean bloated,” Morgan said with a sneer. “You’re riding high right now, but we all know what humans do to the things they fear. They’ve already turned to the blood mage for weapons to fight the panic you kicked off. Your greed is going to get us all killed!”
The king flopped onto the foot of the guest bed with a sigh. “Don’t be so dramatic. It’ll take Victor years to spread the knowledge of his tacky magic wide enough to impact our numbers, and meanwhile, my court is growing off the scale.”
“For how long?” Morgan demanded, straightening to her full height, which wasn’t much in her current state but still put her taller than her childish husband. “Do you even comprehend how quickly ideas travel these days? Victor Conrath is flooding the global media with images of fairies being destroyed by blood magic. He doesn’t have to teach them his ideology. He just has to make the world believe his magic can kill us, and then we will be the ones who are hunted.”
Alberich rolled his golden eyes. “Do you enjoy being so negative?”
“Not in the slightest,” Morgan said. “But you—”
“Have given thought to all these issues,” Alberich finished for her. “And I already have a solution. That’s the other reason I stopped by, besides seeing your lovely face.”
The queen arched a sharp golden eyebrow as Alberich flopped onto the bed, lounging beside Lola’s comatose sister like a decadent emperor. “The blood mage and I have concluded our agreement. So, naturally, it’s time for me to kill him.”
Morgan’s scowl slipped a fraction. “You’re going to fight Victor?”
“It won’t be much of a fight,” the king assured her. “Especially since he failed to become a god.”
He leaned over to give Lola a wink, and she clenched her fists.
“He’s done a good job on the pivot,” Alberich went on. “I thought he was done for after that humiliating display with Fenrir, but his ability to command the media’s attention and how quickly he’s collecting blood mages have proven more irksome than expected. So, like the mighty lion pestered by the buzzing fly, I’m coming to crush him. I’ve already steered my huntsmen toward the DFZ. Minus a few stops for good slaughter along the way, we should arrive to dispatch the blood mage within the week.” He flashed Morgan a blinding smile. “Still want me to stop?”
“I’m surprised you’re bothering to ask,” the fairy queen replied with a flip of her golden hair. “You’re going to do whatever you want no matter what I say. Just don’t expect me to help. I’ve had enough of that man’s blood to last an immortal’s lifetime.”
“I’ll present you with his head on a platter as soon as it’s off,” Alberich promised, his eyes shining with glee. “How wonderful it will be to have you in my debt for once, pretty wife.”
“I’ll believe it when it happens, foolish husband,” Morgan replied, but she wasn’t scowling anymore. “I wish you good hunting.”
Alberich hopped off the bed to give her a sweeping bow. Lola took her chance as soon as he moved, rushing in to cover her sister’s body with her own.
The king gave her a flat look. “What are you doing?”
“Protecting her,” Lola said, clutching the sleeping girl. “I won’t let you hurt her ever again!”
The king burst out laughing at this, which only made Lola angrier.
“This isn’t funny! You stole my only family!”
“But that’s what makes it so hilarious,” Alberich cackled, wiping his eyes. “I’m not sure what’s the better joke: the fact that you honestly think that girl’s your sister, or that you actually believe you can stop me. I mean, just look at you.”
He snapped his fingers, and Lola’s gossamer jumped in reply, springing her off the bed and spinning her around on her toes like a music box ballerina.
“Now do you see why it’s funny?” the king asked, spinning Lola a dozen more times before dropping her in a dizzy heap on the floor. “I’m your king. You are made from my gossamer. You can’t fight me any more than you can fight your own magic, which is why I’m leaving my treasure in your care.”
Lola, who was already crawling back toward her sister, stopped with a blink. “What?”
“I don’t need her anymore,” Alberich explained. “Don’t get me wrong, her exquisite fear kept my entire court alive for decades. That potency is a treasure, but I’m no longer imprisoned, which means prison food is no longer required. I’ve got a whole screaming world to feast on! Who’d go back to the same-old-same-old after that? But just because I’ve got options now doesn’t mean I’m done with her. How could I be? She’s a treasure! My treasure, and I never let go of what is mine.”
Lola had heard that line before. But before she could shout any of the blistering things she so sorely wanted to say, Alberich froze her in place again so he could reach up and pinch her cheeks.
“Don’t look so fearsome,” he cooed, stretching out the gossamer of her cheeks like he was pulling taffy. “This is what’s best for both of us. Just think! My most precious possession, jealously guarded by one who would die to keep her safe. I couldn’t create a better vault if I’d stored her in my own barrow. Why, you’re practically a member of my court already!”
“I’m not loyal to you,” Lola snarled, pushing her stretched-out checks back into place as the Nightmare King let her go. “And I’ll never let you near her again!”
That was supposed to be a threat, but Alberich just laughed, turning to blow a final kiss at his scowling wife before he stepped into Lola’s shadow, flitting down the tunnel he’d made through her magic back to wherever he’d come from.
Lola shivered as his presence faded. She was still working on getting a grip when Morgan clapped her bandaged hands together.
“Well, that went better than expected.”
“We were due a good turn,” Tristan agreed, finally releasing the death grip on his sword. “I just hope the fool can keep his attention focused on one thing long enough to actually get the job done.”
The queen had a good laugh at that, but Lola was staring at both of them in horror.
“How can you be so calm about this?” she asked. “Did you not hear what he said?”
“Did you?” Morgan asked, tilting her head. “Alberich’s rampage is obnoxious, but Victor’s the one actually causing our problems. If Alberich’s Hunt kills him in his own city, all of this Hero nonsense will be over. Why should we complain?”
“Because if Alberich loses, Victor will be stronger than ever!” Lola cried. “You weren’t with me when I was inside Fenrir. You didn’t feel how close he got.”
She pointed over the queen’s shoulder at the Wild Hunt coverage that was still playing on the living room’s wall of TVs. “Alberich is the whole world’s bogeyman right now. If his Hunt comes to the DFZ, he’ll be playing right into Victor’s hands. Once he’s got his monster, all the Hero needs is to march out there and do exactly what he’s been teaching everyone his magic does—kill fairies—and he wins.”
“You’re giving the blood mage too much credit,” Morgan scolded. “Conrath is impressive for a mortal, but the only reason he was able to touch Fenrir is because he was controlling the beast through your girl.” She tilted her head at Lola’s sleeping sister. “Alberich might be an idiot, but he’s still a fairy king, and Victor is only human.”
Lola narrowed her eyes. “The human who took your head.”
“With treachery!” the queen cried. “This is a completely different situation! Victor pulled a clever move by turning his magic into one of our banes, but Alberich’s Hunt has been terrorizing an entire continent for weeks. He’s bloated on fear, and that makes him strong. Possibly even stronger than I was at my height, and this is precisely the sort of fight he’s best at.”
She smiled over her shoulder at a TV screen showing an interview with the red-coated blood mages who’d hacked down the troll. “I think Victor already knows he’s doomed. That’s why he’s been sending his stooges to fight the Hunt instead of going to Europe himself. He’s scared.”
Lola shook her head. “Never assume you know Victor’s plan. That’s how he tricks you into letting your guard down.”
“Oh please,” the queen said. “I know the blood mage spent a lot of time teaching you to fear him, but my husband’s words weren’t idle boasting. If Alberich brings his Hunt to the DFZ, it won’t be much of a fight. Victor and the fools who follow him will be slaughtered. The only question I have is how are we going to turn this to our advantage?”
“It does present a unique opportunity,” Tristan said, drumming his fingers on his sword hilt. “No matter how decisively they win, battling the blood mage’s army will still weaken Alberich’s forces. If we strike while he’s wounded—”
“We can get him back in hand,” the queen finished with a grin.
“Assuming we can rebuild our own power before he arrives,” her knight cautioned. “You’re nowhere close to your full strength, and our court still numbers only two. If Alberich is already heading this way, we have a lot of ground to cover in a very short amount of time.”
“Then we must work quickly,” Morgan said, striding back into the living room with more vigor than Lola had ever seen her put out. “Come, knight! Let us plan our attack before we both end up groveling to that boy-faced twit.”
Tristan bowed at her command, but he didn’t follow immediately. Instead, he turned to Lola. “I know you have your doubts,” he said quietly. “But my queen knows Alberich better than any living being. If she says he’ll win, he’ll win, but it will go more smoothly if you don’t give the blood mage any more weapons.”
Lola jerked back. “I would never help Victor.”
“Not intentionally,” Tristan said, giving her a wise smile. “But I know that look, Lola-lion. Your head is ever full of heroic intentions, but if you set foot outside this barrow, the Black Rider will snatch you up and take you back to his master, and I might not be fast enough to leap to your rescue again.” He placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. “I want you to stay here.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable request, but Lola ducked out of his grasp. “You don’t give me orders.”
“Then do it as a favor,” Tristan said, stepping back to the doorway. “If not for me, do it for your sister. After everything you suffered to set her free, it’d be a shame if she were left unguarded because you went and got yourself captured.”
Lola was ready to bite his head off for using her sister against her, but that was just the anger talking. It actually warmed her heart to see Tristan looking out for her, though she suspected it had more to do with protecting their strategic situation than any actual concern for her well-being. It was still a lot of caring from a fairy, though, and Lola decided to accept it as such.
“I won’t do anything stupid.”
Tristan arched an eyebrow at the non-answer, but he let it slide, turning on his heel to march after his queen. Lola followed him into the living room under the pretense of grabbing the rest of the dinner she’d abandoned on the coffee table. But the moment Tristan vanished through the door that led to the part of the barrow where the fairies went to do their secret fairy things, she rushed back into the guest bedroom and shut the door.
She’d wanted to wait until her sister woke up before doing anything rash, but after Alberich’s announcement, Lola was suddenly facing a hard deadline. Even if Morgan was right, and the Wild Hunt could crush Victor utterly, Simon and Valente were both still under the blood mage’s boot. As his knight, the Rider would die for sure. Simon’s fate was less certain, but Lola was positive Victor wouldn’t let him escape. They’d both definitely be in the blast radius when Alberich’s Hunt landed.
Unless she got to them first.
It was a heady, dangerous thought. Lola had been scheming up rescue plans for the past three weeks. There wasn’t much else to do when you were staring at someone who never moved. But while she’d come up with all sorts of out-of-the-box solutions, she hadn’t thought of anything yet that stood a chance of actually working. Everything she’d gotten Tristan to tell her about the knighthood oaths made them sound utterly unbreakable, and she didn’t even know where Simon was.
If this was still the normal DFZ, Lola could have just hired another mage to cast a tracking spell, but the destruction of the city had thrown everything into chaos. Even if she could find someone to take the job, Simon’s house had been crushed by Fenrir. That didn’t mean there wasn’t still a usable material link buried under the wreckage, but with Valente able to track her anywhere thanks to the dream she’d fed him—a decision Lola refused to regret, but was definitely working against her at the moment—she couldn’t even step outside to find it without getting snatched.
It was so frustrating. She’d gotten free of Victor’s pills, but his hand still blocked her at every turn. She was getting herself good and worked up over the unfairness of it all when she spotted a scrap of paper stuck to the bottom of Buster’s cat carrier.
Lola grabbed the plastic box with a huff. Even if everything else was on fire, her fur baby deserved a clean crate, especially since she was probably going to have to shut him inside it to keep him from eating Tristan’s servants. But when she peeled the paper off the textured plastic to toss it in the trash, Lola saw it wasn’t a receipt from the vet as she’d assumed.
It was a note.
The piece of blue-lined memo paper was cheap and soft with a jagged edge across the top from where it had been torn off the spiral binding. Lola recognized what it was the moment she touched it, but that didn’t stop her eyes from going wide when she turned the paper over to reveal two lines written in the Rider’s blocky hand.
The sound sent her leaping off the couch, spilling freezing-cold sugar tea all over herself as she whirled toward the guest room door. Tristan and the queen also jumped, but their glares were pointed at her, which was about the time Lola realized that her cat was no longer sitting next to her.
“Oh no,” she said, eyes flicking between the empty couch cushion and the open door to the guest bedroom. “If that was Buster eating one of your low creatures, I am so sorry.”
“It wasn’t one of mine,” Tristan said, placing a hand on his sword. “Can you go look?”
Lola didn’t see why Tristan couldn’t go himself. He was the one with the weapon, and it was his barrow. She was still worried about Buster, though, so she cleaned the spilled tea off her gossamer and crept around the couch. The noise had stopped by the time she reached the guest room, but when Lola poked her head inside, she saw her sister’s body heaving on the bed.
Lola ran to her with a shout. Her sister had curled into a ball by the time she got there. She was clearly still unconscious, but her hands were clenching over her middle like there was a horrible pain in her stomach. Lola was frantically trying to straighten her out to see what was wrong when she felt a stabbing pain in her own middle.
Her gossamer had been behaving so well since Victor’s blood drained out, it took Lola a ridiculously long time to recognize the sensation as the same one she’d felt in Alva’s court. She was opening her mouth to shout a warning when her magic turned over on itself, opening a tunnel for a small, golden, madly grinning figure to step through her into the room.
Chapter 2
Lola shouldn’t have been surprised. No matter how well it was behaving now, her gossamer hadn’t actually changed. It was still the same magic she’d always been made from, and how many times had Alberich told her she was part of his kingdom?
But knowing she should have expected this didn’t stop the shock as the Underground King strolled out of her. He paused when his feet hit the guestroom’s carpet, shaking out his scarlet-and-gold hunting jerkin as if he’d just come in from the rain. He looked over his shoulder next, peering around Lola at the girl who’d finally stopped convulsing on the bed.
“My treasure!” he cried, throwing out his arms. “You look so well! I knew my changeling would keep you safe.”
He smiled at Lola, but she was still frozen solid. Rolling his golden eyes, Alberich released her with a snap of his fingers, sending her lurching to the floor as all her pent-up struggles were released at once. She scrambled back to her feet a second later, grabbing the bed for support as she yelled at the king, “I do not claim you as my guest!”
“Ah, yes,” Alberich said, flashing her a sharp-toothed grin. “That was the boon I asked for last time, but such trivialities are no longer required. I’m here as a conqueror today, not a visitor, and because I wanted to see my… Wife!”
His voice rose in delight as Lola turned to see Tristan and Morgan standing in the doorway. It was the first time Lola had seen the queen on her feet since this started, or ever. But while she was obviously depending entirely upon her knight to keep her that way, Morgan still managed to meet Alberich’s gaze with an imperious scowl, lifting her chin so that her golden hair flowed over her emaciated body like a cape, though not enough to hide it.
“You look horrid,” Alberich observed, turning accusingly to Tristan. “Why haven’t you healed her yet? And you call yourself her knight.”
Before Tristan could answer, Morgan grabbed the doorframe to haul herself into the room. “It’s your fault I’m so weak, you selfish fool! Your reckless Hunt has brought back all the old banes and added new ones on top of them. How am I supposed to feast when the only food around is the bitter hatred you’ve taught humanity to throw at our kind?”
“Simple,” Alberich replied. “Be less picky. You’ve always looked down your nose at fear, but you’re the one who’s starving while I have more magic than I can use.” He flashed the queen a preening grin. “One hour with my Hunt and you’d be your old self again, though still not as powerful as me.”
“You mean bloated,” Morgan said with a sneer. “You’re riding high right now, but we all know what humans do to the things they fear. They’ve already turned to the blood mage for weapons to fight the panic you kicked off. Your greed is going to get us all killed!”
The king flopped onto the foot of the guest bed with a sigh. “Don’t be so dramatic. It’ll take Victor years to spread the knowledge of his tacky magic wide enough to impact our numbers, and meanwhile, my court is growing off the scale.”
“For how long?” Morgan demanded, straightening to her full height, which wasn’t much in her current state but still put her taller than her childish husband. “Do you even comprehend how quickly ideas travel these days? Victor Conrath is flooding the global media with images of fairies being destroyed by blood magic. He doesn’t have to teach them his ideology. He just has to make the world believe his magic can kill us, and then we will be the ones who are hunted.”
Alberich rolled his golden eyes. “Do you enjoy being so negative?”
“Not in the slightest,” Morgan said. “But you—”
“Have given thought to all these issues,” Alberich finished for her. “And I already have a solution. That’s the other reason I stopped by, besides seeing your lovely face.”
The queen arched a sharp golden eyebrow as Alberich flopped onto the bed, lounging beside Lola’s comatose sister like a decadent emperor. “The blood mage and I have concluded our agreement. So, naturally, it’s time for me to kill him.”
Morgan’s scowl slipped a fraction. “You’re going to fight Victor?”
“It won’t be much of a fight,” the king assured her. “Especially since he failed to become a god.”
He leaned over to give Lola a wink, and she clenched her fists.
“He’s done a good job on the pivot,” Alberich went on. “I thought he was done for after that humiliating display with Fenrir, but his ability to command the media’s attention and how quickly he’s collecting blood mages have proven more irksome than expected. So, like the mighty lion pestered by the buzzing fly, I’m coming to crush him. I’ve already steered my huntsmen toward the DFZ. Minus a few stops for good slaughter along the way, we should arrive to dispatch the blood mage within the week.” He flashed Morgan a blinding smile. “Still want me to stop?”
“I’m surprised you’re bothering to ask,” the fairy queen replied with a flip of her golden hair. “You’re going to do whatever you want no matter what I say. Just don’t expect me to help. I’ve had enough of that man’s blood to last an immortal’s lifetime.”
“I’ll present you with his head on a platter as soon as it’s off,” Alberich promised, his eyes shining with glee. “How wonderful it will be to have you in my debt for once, pretty wife.”
“I’ll believe it when it happens, foolish husband,” Morgan replied, but she wasn’t scowling anymore. “I wish you good hunting.”
Alberich hopped off the bed to give her a sweeping bow. Lola took her chance as soon as he moved, rushing in to cover her sister’s body with her own.
The king gave her a flat look. “What are you doing?”
“Protecting her,” Lola said, clutching the sleeping girl. “I won’t let you hurt her ever again!”
The king burst out laughing at this, which only made Lola angrier.
“This isn’t funny! You stole my only family!”
“But that’s what makes it so hilarious,” Alberich cackled, wiping his eyes. “I’m not sure what’s the better joke: the fact that you honestly think that girl’s your sister, or that you actually believe you can stop me. I mean, just look at you.”
He snapped his fingers, and Lola’s gossamer jumped in reply, springing her off the bed and spinning her around on her toes like a music box ballerina.
“Now do you see why it’s funny?” the king asked, spinning Lola a dozen more times before dropping her in a dizzy heap on the floor. “I’m your king. You are made from my gossamer. You can’t fight me any more than you can fight your own magic, which is why I’m leaving my treasure in your care.”
Lola, who was already crawling back toward her sister, stopped with a blink. “What?”
“I don’t need her anymore,” Alberich explained. “Don’t get me wrong, her exquisite fear kept my entire court alive for decades. That potency is a treasure, but I’m no longer imprisoned, which means prison food is no longer required. I’ve got a whole screaming world to feast on! Who’d go back to the same-old-same-old after that? But just because I’ve got options now doesn’t mean I’m done with her. How could I be? She’s a treasure! My treasure, and I never let go of what is mine.”
Lola had heard that line before. But before she could shout any of the blistering things she so sorely wanted to say, Alberich froze her in place again so he could reach up and pinch her cheeks.
“Don’t look so fearsome,” he cooed, stretching out the gossamer of her cheeks like he was pulling taffy. “This is what’s best for both of us. Just think! My most precious possession, jealously guarded by one who would die to keep her safe. I couldn’t create a better vault if I’d stored her in my own barrow. Why, you’re practically a member of my court already!”
“I’m not loyal to you,” Lola snarled, pushing her stretched-out checks back into place as the Nightmare King let her go. “And I’ll never let you near her again!”
That was supposed to be a threat, but Alberich just laughed, turning to blow a final kiss at his scowling wife before he stepped into Lola’s shadow, flitting down the tunnel he’d made through her magic back to wherever he’d come from.
Lola shivered as his presence faded. She was still working on getting a grip when Morgan clapped her bandaged hands together.
“Well, that went better than expected.”
“We were due a good turn,” Tristan agreed, finally releasing the death grip on his sword. “I just hope the fool can keep his attention focused on one thing long enough to actually get the job done.”
The queen had a good laugh at that, but Lola was staring at both of them in horror.
“How can you be so calm about this?” she asked. “Did you not hear what he said?”
“Did you?” Morgan asked, tilting her head. “Alberich’s rampage is obnoxious, but Victor’s the one actually causing our problems. If Alberich’s Hunt kills him in his own city, all of this Hero nonsense will be over. Why should we complain?”
“Because if Alberich loses, Victor will be stronger than ever!” Lola cried. “You weren’t with me when I was inside Fenrir. You didn’t feel how close he got.”
She pointed over the queen’s shoulder at the Wild Hunt coverage that was still playing on the living room’s wall of TVs. “Alberich is the whole world’s bogeyman right now. If his Hunt comes to the DFZ, he’ll be playing right into Victor’s hands. Once he’s got his monster, all the Hero needs is to march out there and do exactly what he’s been teaching everyone his magic does—kill fairies—and he wins.”
“You’re giving the blood mage too much credit,” Morgan scolded. “Conrath is impressive for a mortal, but the only reason he was able to touch Fenrir is because he was controlling the beast through your girl.” She tilted her head at Lola’s sleeping sister. “Alberich might be an idiot, but he’s still a fairy king, and Victor is only human.”
Lola narrowed her eyes. “The human who took your head.”
“With treachery!” the queen cried. “This is a completely different situation! Victor pulled a clever move by turning his magic into one of our banes, but Alberich’s Hunt has been terrorizing an entire continent for weeks. He’s bloated on fear, and that makes him strong. Possibly even stronger than I was at my height, and this is precisely the sort of fight he’s best at.”
She smiled over her shoulder at a TV screen showing an interview with the red-coated blood mages who’d hacked down the troll. “I think Victor already knows he’s doomed. That’s why he’s been sending his stooges to fight the Hunt instead of going to Europe himself. He’s scared.”
Lola shook her head. “Never assume you know Victor’s plan. That’s how he tricks you into letting your guard down.”
“Oh please,” the queen said. “I know the blood mage spent a lot of time teaching you to fear him, but my husband’s words weren’t idle boasting. If Alberich brings his Hunt to the DFZ, it won’t be much of a fight. Victor and the fools who follow him will be slaughtered. The only question I have is how are we going to turn this to our advantage?”
“It does present a unique opportunity,” Tristan said, drumming his fingers on his sword hilt. “No matter how decisively they win, battling the blood mage’s army will still weaken Alberich’s forces. If we strike while he’s wounded—”
“We can get him back in hand,” the queen finished with a grin.
“Assuming we can rebuild our own power before he arrives,” her knight cautioned. “You’re nowhere close to your full strength, and our court still numbers only two. If Alberich is already heading this way, we have a lot of ground to cover in a very short amount of time.”
“Then we must work quickly,” Morgan said, striding back into the living room with more vigor than Lola had ever seen her put out. “Come, knight! Let us plan our attack before we both end up groveling to that boy-faced twit.”
Tristan bowed at her command, but he didn’t follow immediately. Instead, he turned to Lola. “I know you have your doubts,” he said quietly. “But my queen knows Alberich better than any living being. If she says he’ll win, he’ll win, but it will go more smoothly if you don’t give the blood mage any more weapons.”
Lola jerked back. “I would never help Victor.”
“Not intentionally,” Tristan said, giving her a wise smile. “But I know that look, Lola-lion. Your head is ever full of heroic intentions, but if you set foot outside this barrow, the Black Rider will snatch you up and take you back to his master, and I might not be fast enough to leap to your rescue again.” He placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. “I want you to stay here.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable request, but Lola ducked out of his grasp. “You don’t give me orders.”
“Then do it as a favor,” Tristan said, stepping back to the doorway. “If not for me, do it for your sister. After everything you suffered to set her free, it’d be a shame if she were left unguarded because you went and got yourself captured.”
Lola was ready to bite his head off for using her sister against her, but that was just the anger talking. It actually warmed her heart to see Tristan looking out for her, though she suspected it had more to do with protecting their strategic situation than any actual concern for her well-being. It was still a lot of caring from a fairy, though, and Lola decided to accept it as such.
“I won’t do anything stupid.”
Tristan arched an eyebrow at the non-answer, but he let it slide, turning on his heel to march after his queen. Lola followed him into the living room under the pretense of grabbing the rest of the dinner she’d abandoned on the coffee table. But the moment Tristan vanished through the door that led to the part of the barrow where the fairies went to do their secret fairy things, she rushed back into the guest bedroom and shut the door.
She’d wanted to wait until her sister woke up before doing anything rash, but after Alberich’s announcement, Lola was suddenly facing a hard deadline. Even if Morgan was right, and the Wild Hunt could crush Victor utterly, Simon and Valente were both still under the blood mage’s boot. As his knight, the Rider would die for sure. Simon’s fate was less certain, but Lola was positive Victor wouldn’t let him escape. They’d both definitely be in the blast radius when Alberich’s Hunt landed.
Unless she got to them first.
It was a heady, dangerous thought. Lola had been scheming up rescue plans for the past three weeks. There wasn’t much else to do when you were staring at someone who never moved. But while she’d come up with all sorts of out-of-the-box solutions, she hadn’t thought of anything yet that stood a chance of actually working. Everything she’d gotten Tristan to tell her about the knighthood oaths made them sound utterly unbreakable, and she didn’t even know where Simon was.
If this was still the normal DFZ, Lola could have just hired another mage to cast a tracking spell, but the destruction of the city had thrown everything into chaos. Even if she could find someone to take the job, Simon’s house had been crushed by Fenrir. That didn’t mean there wasn’t still a usable material link buried under the wreckage, but with Valente able to track her anywhere thanks to the dream she’d fed him—a decision Lola refused to regret, but was definitely working against her at the moment—she couldn’t even step outside to find it without getting snatched.
It was so frustrating. She’d gotten free of Victor’s pills, but his hand still blocked her at every turn. She was getting herself good and worked up over the unfairness of it all when she spotted a scrap of paper stuck to the bottom of Buster’s cat carrier.
Lola grabbed the plastic box with a huff. Even if everything else was on fire, her fur baby deserved a clean crate, especially since she was probably going to have to shut him inside it to keep him from eating Tristan’s servants. But when she peeled the paper off the textured plastic to toss it in the trash, Lola saw it wasn’t a receipt from the vet as she’d assumed.
It was a note.
The piece of blue-lined memo paper was cheap and soft with a jagged edge across the top from where it had been torn off the spiral binding. Lola recognized what it was the moment she touched it, but that didn’t stop her eyes from going wide when she turned the paper over to reveal two lines written in the Rider’s blocky hand.
