Several of the Unseelie shifted in their seats, exchanging unhappy murmurs.
“I’d love to, thanks,” Rans said. “Now, give the two of us an escort back to the gate to Earth, so none of the guards between here and there get any ideas above their station. Then we’ll be on our way.”
After the events of the past several minutes, I’d almost forgotten about Albigard’s presence here, but at those words he rose from his seat and made to step toward us. Rans turned at the movement, his body freezing into dangerous stillness.
“No,” he growled, his eyes flashing murder. “Not you.”
Albigard paused, green gaze locking with blue for a long moment before he consciously relaxed his spine and shrugged, as though it was nothing to him either way. After a tense few beats while the other Fae in the room looked nervously at each other, wondering if anyone else would step up, the large black cat hopped down from its perch and trotted past us toward the double doors, its tail held high.
I was already pretty much maxed out when it came to weird, but Rans just muttered, “That works, I suppose,” and headed after the animal, my bloody hand clasped in his.
I tagged along behind him, trying to decide if this was really happening or not. Was I about to surface from unconsciousness, only to find myself still lying on the hard-packed dirt floor inside the tree-cell? Or had the whole thing been a dream from the start, and I would wake up to find that I’d drifted off in Tom and Glynda’s bedroom in Chicago?
I shuddered at the idea that I might still have to face sneaking out of the house, calling Albigard and talking him into helping me after this nightmare. But... that would mean seeing my dad had been a dream, too. It would mean he wasn’t actually damaged. It would mean he hadn’t really talked to me like I was something to be tossed aside and forgotten.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
I was losing it, my feet stumbling over nothing as my mind whirled in tighter and tighter circles. Rans pulled me closer to him, tucking me against his body and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
The double doors were still open after his dramatic entrance earlier. The cat padded past the dumbfounded guards, and we followed right behind. Indeed, the whole place seemed to have come to a crashing halt after the unexpected spectacle in the courtroom, with Fae staring at us like they were afraid Rans might draw a hidden weapon and start randomly hacking away at them.
Was it an irrational fear? I had absolutely no fucking clue.
“Portal,” Rans said, once the three of us had exited the building. “She’s too weak to walk back.”
My fractured attention had been caught by the trail of dead and decomposing vines in our wake, Dhuinne’s magical plant life succumbing to Rans’ undead aura. Or something. Maybe that was why it took me longer than it should have to realize he was talking to the animal, not me.
“But... it’s just a cat...” I said stupidly—and then swayed on my feet when a neat portal appeared in the air before us. It was maybe four feet tall.
“Very funny, fur-ball,” Rans said through gritted teeth. He bent nearly double, forcing me to crouch down to match him. “Mind your head, luv.”
We stepped through awkwardly, only to find ourselves standing in the military encampment on the Dhuinne side of the gate. The cat trotted up to the guards watching over the entrance leading back to Earth and meowed, sounding for all the world like a pet asking to be let outside.
The guy who looked to be in charge of things glared darkly at Rans, making me wonder what had gone down between them when he first arrived. Beyond the phalanx of unfriendly faces, the gateway flared into life. Darkness lay beyond it, but it was the darkness of Earth—the interior of the mound on the Hill of Tara. A place I’d never thought to see again.
“One day, there will come a final reckoning, bloodsucker,” the lead guard said in a flat voice.
“Something else to look forward to,” Rans muttered, leading me through the reluctant gap that formed as the guards made way for us.
But... wait. This was wrong. I’d come here for one reason and one reason only. The gateway was only a handful of steps away when I set my feet, digging in and halting our forward progress.
“My father—” I began.
Rans rounded on me, his expression furious.
“Your father. And did dear old Dad welcome you with open arms, Zorah?” he demanded. “No, of course he bloody didn’t! Because if he’s here in Dhuinne and he’s still alive, then it means he’s either been collaborating, or he’s already broken!”
My throat closed up at the memory of Dad’s eyes falling on me.
Why are you here? I don’t want you here. Go away.
An injured noise escaped my throat, and I let myself be dragged forward the final few steps and into the gateway. Stepping through it was just as nauseating as I remembered, and when I stumbled out the other side, any benefit I might have been enjoying from vampire blood and Fae magic seemed to have fled.
I leaned over, resting my hands on my knees while my stomach tried to decide whether or not to expel the single mouthful of blood I’d swallowed. Behind me, the light from the gateway faded, and I knew that if I looked, I would once more see an ancient wall etched with Celtic symbols.
“Are we safe now?” I asked, swallowing hard to keep my meager stomach contents in place. “Are there Fae guarding this side of the gate, too?”
“Of course there bloody are,” Rans said, pulling me upright and half-leading, half-supporting me along the length of the subterranean gallery. “And I expect we’re about as safe here as we were back there.”
A meow came from ahead of us, and I realized that the strange cat was still
