The queen held her gaze. “He is your mate.”
“So he’s done all this for me,
“All I am saying, Soul Sucker, is that when you kill Adam, be very careful what you obliterate along with him. You alone have the power to destroy my son in many different ways, remember that.” She inclined her head a regal inch. In the distance, the sound of voices rose. “I wish you well on your journey, and I urge you to leave right now. I will take care of the pursuit at this end.”
“Well, thanks.”
“Goodbye, Ella Walsh.”
Ella had no time to reply as she focused on Adam and sent herself hurtling through Otherworld, landing with a bump outside a heavily fortified wall complete with security cameras and troll guards. Why were cameras even necessary in magic-centric Otherworld? She rubbed an elbow that had contacted hard against the wall.
“Ouch.”
There was no cover around the perimeter of the wall, so she backed off until she reached the surrounding forest and sat down with her back against a tree. Her whole body was shaking. Experience told her that there was no way she could move forward until she’d conquered her hunger and fatigue. She took off her backpack and opened it up. Inside were her emergency supplies. Two juice boxes, one of chocolate milk, three energy bars and two Pop-Tarts. A meal fit for the gods, as Feehan had always joked.
She paused for a moment to imagine what was going on back at the SBLE office. Would she ever see her colleagues again? Feehan had promised backup, but what could he do against the combined might of the sect and Vadim’s family?
Not a lot. She was basically on her own.
She opened the first energy bar and a cranberry-apple juice box and alternately chewed and sipped her way through them. As she ate, she watched the wall to see if anyone was coming in or out of the one main gate, but all was quiet. Was Vadim in there with Adam? Did the sect know that she was there? She assumed they did.
The Fae queen had a point. If Vadim could kill anything in Otherworld, why wasn’t Adam dead already? What was stopping him? Was he really trying to protect her? But why? He hardly knew her. She started on the second bar.
That wasn’t true. He knew her better than anyone else in the world.
But then, he’d also told her he was hers for all eternity.
The rat.
She stopped chewing. Would she kill to get him back? It was something she had to consider before she charged in to get Adam. Everyone needed a plan. Did retrieving her face mean more to her than Vadim’s life? She had more power in her than she’d ever imagined existed, and it was a huge responsibility. How did he deal with that on a daily basis? How had it felt to be the executioner of the Fae?
She stared out into the darkness, her appetite diminishing with every breath. Exhaustion threaded through her. In her present state, getting into the sect stronghold was beyond her. She’d be unable to control her power and would kill everyone in sight, or she’d implode and be dead in a second. The thought of another fried troll made her want to puke. Better to sleep for a while and then plan how to take down Adam and retrieve her face.
She closed her eyes and resolutely refused to think about Vadim. One problem at a time. That was all she could cope with right now.
She woke up feeling cold and automatically grabbed for the covers. Which weren’t there. Opening one eye, she remembered that she was in the middle of Otherworld, her head pillowed on her backpack and her clothes her only covering. Thank God she’d been wearing jeans, even if they did have a few new holes in them, despite her magical repairs. The smell of coffee floated past her nose and she abruptly sat up.
“I thought you might need this.” Rossa handed her a jumbo-size cup. “I got it in your world.”
Ella made an inarticulate sound of extreme gratitude and gulped at the scalding brew. After a few minutes she opened her eyes and regarded her companion.
“Don’t you ever get cold?”
He glanced down at his superb physique and literally fluffed his feathers. “Not really. Why didn’t you magic yourself up some blankets last night?”
“Because I keep forgetting that I can!” Ella glared at him. “I’m also terrified that I’ll ask for a sleeping bag and conjure up a tree house complete with elevator and servants to plump my pillows.”
“Magical power can be a very scary thing if you don’t learn how to control it.” Rossa settled himself comfortably across from her. “The main thing is, always treat it with respect.”
“That’s such a cliche. Did you bring food?”
He grinned at her. “What is your wish, fair lady?”
“A toasted egg-and-bacon muffin would be awesome.”
“Then do it yourself. Just try and focus down, or it will be raining buns or something.” She glowered at him and he shrugged. “It’s good practice before you go in there with all guns blazing.”
She thought lovingly about her egg-and-bacon muffin, pictured it in her mind and sent the smallest lick of power through the image. Her greasy, fatty treat appeared in her hands, wrapped in paper, and she actually squealed.
“I did it!” She devoured it in less than a minute. “Now I just have to work out how to harness the power of the muffin to the enormity of the task ahead.” She nodded at the exterior wall. “Have you ever been inside this place?”
“No one has.”
“That’s stupid. Adam obviously has. I sensed him in there, and he’s not alone.”
“That’s because cygnet’s there, too.”
“Are you sure?”
“I heard Adam brought him in yesterday.”
Ella cautiously raised her shields. “I can’t feel him.” The emptiness was chilling. Even her anger wasn’t big enough to conceal the loss of her awareness of her mate.
“That’s probably because he’s being held somewhere that’s magically warded.”
“But can’t he get out of anything?”
Rossa looked critically at the walls. “It depends what they did to him. If he’s totally encased in lead, Han Solo style, even he might find it hard to get out of that.”
Despite the heat of the coffee, she shivered. “Surely, I’d know if he was dead...” She raised her head. “
“All Fae can die, given the right circumstances, you know that.”
“But Morosov’s different, isn’t he?”
“He certainly is.” Rossa sipped at his own coffee, his expression uncharacteristically somber. “But now that he has you, it’s certainly possible he could die.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “I told you he threatened to dismember his own family if they allowed Adam to take your face?”
“Yeah.”
“What I didn’t tell you was that he also said he’d take them all down with him if it meant that you survived.”
She forced a laugh. “He’s such a drama king.”
“That wasn’t his intent. He meant what he was saying, so
“Don’t say that.” She hunched a shoulder at him and finished her coffee. “If I’m the source of his death, I want to be the one to hand out the sentence
“That’s funny, Soul Sucker.”
She bared her teeth at him until he stopped laughing. “It wasn’t a joke. Now how are we going to get into this place?”
He recoiled. “
“You’re not coming?”
