Chapter 6
“Release those souls,” I said.
Crom Cruach tilted his head to the side. “You are in no position to make demands of me. However, my price has risen to two children in exchange for the information you seek.”
I glanced down at the ten stone idols that stood between Crom Cruach and me. What kind of person would give away one, let alone two, of their children?
Queen Melusina had handed the bodies of her sons for the Court of Shadows to inhabit. She would agree to such a ridiculous and cruel demand if it achieved something she wanted.
My fury turned to a pit of white-hot rage that burned my chest and seared through my veins.
How dare he trade infants? How dare he trap them in stone? Descending the dais’ stairs, I pulled off my glove, unsheathed the Sword of Tethra and held it point-upward.
Crom Cruach took a step back. “Your Majesty?” he asked with a confidence that didn’t match his retreating posture. “Do we have an accord?”
“Guards, seal the room,” I said.
The guards closest to the door placed their hands on its wooden surface, and silver magic streamed from the seams between the doors and their frames. I glanced around for other doors, but they had all disappeared. I could have enclosed the room with my command over the palace, but I needed Crom Cruach to feel a little of what those babies felt as they were entombed in stone.
He raised his chin. “The first time I bargained with your mother, she tried to kill me but I am indestructible.”
I shook my head. Everything in this realm is immortal unless killed, including the God of Death. Ignoring Crom Cruach’s boasts, I sliced my palm with the sword’s blade and coated it with my blood. My blood and the Sword of Tethra were the only thing that could kill an incorporeal Banshee Queen, and it would work against a being made of a magically animated metal.
My feet reached the bottom of the stairs, and we stood three feet apart. Crom Cruach’s head turned toward the blood glistening on the tip of my sword. My pulse roared in my ears, urging me to attack. If I could defeat where Queen Melusina failed, I had a chance of one day defeating her.
With one fast swing, I aimed at his head. The sword went straight through his throat and left him intact.
“I told you,” he said in an impatient tone that implied that hundreds if not thousands had tried to kill him.
Next, I jabbed at his middle, but it felt like a warm knife cutting through a block of lard. I withdrew the sword but no blood, no gold, no ichor spilled from the wound. Instead, it formed a perfect seal, leaving Crom Cruach untouched.
I bit down on my lip, glancing from one row of guards to the other. What was I missing? He was solid enough when Aengus tapped his chest with the hilt of his sword, solid enough to clank across the marble floor, but my blade was useless against his magic. I placed the Sword of Tethra in my left hand and withdrew the iron dagger with my right.
Crom Cruach tilted his head back and made an exasperated sound. “I can see why they say you are unwise.”
I plunged my dagger in his chest with such force that he stumbled backward. Crom Cruach twisted to the left and into a row of guards, who shoved him back into the middle of their walkway.
His golden armor didn’t have so much as a dent.
“What is this?” I snarled. “How can a faerie not be harmed by iron?”
“Accept the inevitable, Your Majesty.” Triumphant amusement lilted Crom Cruach’s voice. “We both have something the other needs and can both make an amicable trade.”
“Release the children, and we can talk,” I said.
He shook his head.
I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek. He had been scared earlier when I was on the stairs but now that I attacked him with iron and an enchanted sword, he seemed more comfortable.
“If you’re thinking of ways to kill me, don’t,” he sing-songed. “Queen Melusina drowned me in a pool, pushed me off a balcony, and had me thrown onto a fire. Not a one of her efforts succeeded. Just give up and make that bargain.”
Something behind me scraped against the marble floor. I spun around to find one of the statues lying on its side, and realization punched me on the mouth. Crom Cruach said we each had something the other needed. He appeared nervous when I stood behind the statues. Now that I was no longer looking at them, he became overconfident.
I willed the palace to create a cage from the marble strong enough to restrain him.
Crom Cruach made an exasperated noise and wrapped his golden fingers around the cage’s bars. With a weary sigh, he said, “What are you doing, now?”
“Why did that statue fall?” I pointed at it with my sword.
“Someone must have knocked it over,” he replied.
“Liar. Why did it fall?”
“I don’t know.”
“If I were to break it open, what would I find inside?”
“Nothing,” he blurted. “A mere wisp of a soul. Destroy it and the soul will become a wraith that will haunt the Otherworld.”
I glanced at Osmos, who shook his head, indicating that Crom Cruach was either not telling the truth or he was concealing something.
My fingers tightened on the hilt of the Sword of Tethra. “I’m going to smash them open.”
“Don’t!” His voice rang through my ears, but they were nothing compared to wind howlers.
Golden light flared from the marble cage, and he roared at me to release him. My heart skipped several beats. A reaction like that could only mean I had worked out the source of his invincibility.
“Those infants will suffer,” he screamed.
Guilt
