Black Heart

throwing a temper tantrum.

“No,” I said angrily, wiping my face with my sleeve. I was covered in sweat. It poured from me like I’d just run a very long distance. “I don’t need to breathe. I need for this damned noise to stop. I need it to stop.”

I scrunched up my eyes, covered my ears, but it was still there, inside me.

“Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop,” I said.

Litarian closed his arms around me. “You stop,” he said insistently. “Relax. Breathe. The Cimice will make you insane if you allow them to do so.”

I kicked at him, flailed, but he was strong, much stronger than he seemed, and he held me fast.

“Breathe,” he repeated. “Breathe with me.”

The low, steady insistence of his voice was finally breaking through the haze of madness. I tried to push away the noise, to focus on the steady rhythm of his inhalations and exhalations. I let my breath go, let it fall into the same pattern as his.

The buzzing of the Cimice continued, but it receded from my body. My nerves felt scraped raw. I was a hollow thing, ready to be born anew.

I opened my eyes and looked into Litarian’s—and saw what he had tried to hide.

“You!” I said, wrenching myself from his embrace as Litarian’s green eyes bled blue—the merry sapphire blue of Puck.

“Are you not pleased to see me?” he said, grinning.

I punched him in the face.

Last time I’d hit Puck, he had tried to strangle me to death. This time he was so pleased with his trick that he just shook off my blow, still smiling.

“I’d have thought you’d be pleased to see a family member in this strange place.”

“What the hell are you doing here pretending to be a faerie?” I demanded. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Chicago with Alerian and Lucifer?”

I had a sudden thought that chilled me to the bone. “Oh, gods above and below. You didn’t let him take over the city, did you?”

“So many questions. Which to answer first?” Puck said, tapping his finger on his chin.

“I don’t care which you answer first so long as you do answer,” I growled. “Are you the reason I’m here in this thrice-forsaken place?”

“I may have given dear Nathaniel a little nudge,” Puck acknowledged. “Although when I did so I didn’t realize the dragon was here.”

“What’s the dragon got to do with anything?” I said, my mind generating more questions before he could answer the first ones. “Have you been here all along, playing the part of Litarian? Or is that just something new for me? Does Batarian know who you really are?”

Puck held up his hands. “I will tell you all.”

“I doubt that very much,” I muttered. “But you will answer my questions.”

“Or what?” Puck asked, raising an eyebrow in challenge. “We both know you can’t kill me.”

“I won’t,” I said. “I’ll call the dragon to me.”

It was a calculated risk. I was pretty sure that the panic I’d seen in Puck’s eyes was real when we had sensed the presence of the dragon.

It was very satisfying to see him pale a little, even though he was careful to maintain his expression of merriment. “Ah, well, it suits me to satisfy your curiosity in any case,” he said offhandedly.

But I had seen, and I knew. Puck was afraid of the dragon. I would find out why. But not yet. First I wanted to know why I was here, and why he was here, and what web he was spinning.

“So start talking,” I said.

“And where shall I begin?” he asked.

“Tell me why you pushed Nathaniel into sending me here,” I said. I’m sorry for doubting you, Nathaniel.

Puck feigned a look of surprise. “Why, to protect you from the Retrievers, of course. I knew they had no dominion here.”

“Where is here, anyway?”

“A planet that is light-years from yours, in time and space. Long ago a war was waged here between Lucifer’s armies and the fae that live here. Lucifer won, but he did not particularly care to keep the spoils. He simply wished to prove that he could win, that he was stronger than his opponent.”

This last was said with no small amount of bitterness. I sensed that Puck had been on the losing end of more than a few conflicts with his brother.

“After the war, Lucifer graciously agreed to leave this land to those he had defeated. He told them that as punishment for their defiance against him, they would not be able to pass freely from world to world, that they would be confined to this place always. He also told them that he closed all the portals between this and other worlds, so that none may enter or leave.”

“But he lied,” I said, thinking of the portal across the ocean.

“Yes, he does that,” Puck said. “He wanted to ensure that he had a way in and out if he needed it.”

“But why?” I asked. “What could he possibly want from such an out-of-the-way place, from a people he’d already defeated?”

“As you might say, do not ask me to explain what he is thinking,” Puck said. “And it was of no concern to me if he chose to have a bolt-hole on this planet. At least, it was of no concern until Titania chose this place as the launchpad for her invasion of Earth.”

“Titania,” I said. “I should have known.”

“Yes, you probably should have,” Puck agreed. “At any rate, once Titania chose this world, I felt it was a good idea if I were on the spot, as it were. Monitoring the situation. Since Lucifer closed the borders of this world, he might take Titania’s decision to open a portal here as an act of aggression.”

“So you—what? Presented yourself to Batarian as his long-lost son?”

Puck’s eyes twinkled. “Not exactly.”

Mine narrowed. “How was it, exactly, then?”

Puck shrugged. “I gave Batarian and all of his people a memory of Litarian. A memory that told them he was always here.”

“And how do you explain your absences to Batarian when you must attend to Titania?”

“I don’t have to. When I am here, they remember me as though I were always here. When I am gone, the memory of Litarian fades without a trace. I established the spell as such so that if I am unable to return, Batarian would not be haunted by the memory of a lost son.”

“Very thoughtful of you,” I said sourly.

I was very disturbed by the depth and breadth of Puck’s power. That kind of spell took more than strength. It took subtlety. It would also need safeguards built in so that the magic would continue even if Puck were not there to maintain it. I knew Lucifer and his brothers were strong, that their power was almost beyond comprehension. But it was one thing to know that, and quite another to be confronted with the proof of it.

“Yes, I am thoughtful,” Puck said in response to my comment. He sounded perfectly sincere.

“Does Titania know you’re here?” I asked.

Puck shook his head. “My queen does not monitor my every move.”

“Are you sure about that? If I were Titania, I would definitely keep a close eye on you.”

“I am certain,” Puck replied with a touch of arrogance. “Powerful the faerie queen may be, but she is not yet as powerful as I.”

And yet you pretend to be her inferior. Why? I had always wondered about this, but now was not the time to try to get the answer.

“Okay,” I said. “Titania is using the Cimice to do what? Take over Chicago? Claim dominion over the Earth?”

“Those are side benefits. If she releases an army on your planet, it would be tantamount to declaring war on Lucifer, as my brother believes that world belongs to him.”

“Then why do it? Does she think she can defeat Lucifer with the Cimice?”

“Yes, she does,” Puck said.