Grave Chance Read online

  “People like us can't afford to get too attached, Vexa. The kind of power you wield comes with a responsibility to more than the men you wish to bed.”

  "I know that Gwyd. We aren't fighting Aethon just for ourselves. And without this connection to Aethon's candle, how powerful am I really? Cole knows more, and he's got control I can only dream of…" But Gwydion had moved ahead of me, and I was talking to myself. "Okay then, why don't I catch up?" I jogged to his side, noticing a change in the floor from firm stone to soft grass and moss, with bits of bark strewn across it.

  I glanced around me at our new surroundings. The paintings and sculptures had been replaced by greenery as we entered what looked like an atrium or greenhouse. Some of the plants were familiar, but there were others that were alien and lovely. I reached out to touch a fuzzy flower that looked like marshmallows coated in pink sugar.

  Gwydion grabbed my hand and steered me back into the center of the path. “Remember, not every comely thing is as innocuous as it looks.”

  I looked him over and arched one eyebrow mimicking him until he cracked a smile. “I think I can remember.”

  “You were meant for greatness, Vexa. You might have to sacrifice the happily ever after you dream of, for real safety and security of knowing your own power.”

  “You think I should leave the guys.”

  “I think they are what you needed, but that it is inevitable that you will leave them behind, one way or another.”

  I scoffed and pulled my arm out of his, walking ahead of him deeper into the indoor garden. “Why do I think anything you say right now is self-serving?”

  “Because you are meant for a life among the Fae, and it would serve me to be the one to put you there. Yet, it is still true that you are a power to be reckoned with and are meant to sit upon a Fae throne of your own.” He waved off my look of incredulity. “Think of how the candle took over and destroyed your aunt. But you have drawn upon it actively multiple times and command the magic it holds.”

  “Barely. The candle wants to fry me alive, every time I draw upon it.”

  “But it has not mastered you, and with practice, you only gain more self-control.”

  "Not that I don't want to be a fairy princess, Gwyd, but I have bigger, more immediate fish to fry." He started to argue, and I touched my finger to his lips to stop him. "Aethon is my immediate future. I don't even want to discuss this, or have you plant pretty and most certainly not innocuous ideas in my head until I know humanity isn't about to be sentenced to an endless hell over my ancestor's grief for his lover."

  “Yet, if you took your throne, you would no longer be fighting with one hand bound. Imagine how easily you will defeat him when you come into your full power?”

  “If what you say was even true, it’s a distraction I can’t afford right now.”

  He growled his irritation with me, cursing in a language that I couldn’t understand the words, but the tone translated perfectly. “How well you illustrate the shortsightedness of your kind with that illogical response.”

  “I think I would take your declaration that I’m meant to be a queen more seriously if you could stifle the urge to treat me like an errant child while you’re arguing for it, Gwydion.”

  He gave me a long, steady look and took a measured breath before giving me a curt nod and walking ahead of me into the lush greenery. “As you wish.”

  His response pissed me off and made me curious. “Do you really think I’d suddenly be so powerful that I could stop Aethon permanently, with one hand tied behind my back?”

  “I think that you’ve been fighting him with one hand tied behind your back this whole time, Vexa. Wouldn’t you like to simply unmuzzle your power and rise to a potential most humans would never even dream of? To see him as the ant he truly is and deal with him thusly?”

  He held out his hand to me again, and I took it. "I don't know. If it was true, where was this information before Aunt Percy was taken by his madness? Before Cole's parents were kidnapped?"

  “I had to be sure that you surviving the candle was not simply a serendipitous twist of fate, and you have proven that it was not. The power within you is enough to survive the death candle. That is no human feat.”

  He stopped at a carved wooden door at the other end of the garden. The house, which fashioned itself to whims it would take years to figure out, had fashioned the door with carvings of fauns and trumpets.

  I glanced back, and the manicured garden now looked like a forest from a fairytale. The pots and cultivated flowers had disappeared, replaced by gnarled tree trunks and toadstools.

  “This place… this is more than the house having a mind of its own, Gwyd. Are we still at home at all?”

  He opened the door and motioned me through. “We’ll have to get back this way.”

  I started for the door, a strange sensation itching between my shoulder blades. “Gwyd, I’ve got a bad feeling. How far did we stray?”

  "Why must you always be such a challenge?" He tugged me the rest of the way through the door, and it swung closed behind us, vanishing the moment the latch snicked shut.

  Chapter 8

  “Holy shit, Gwyd. When we get back, I’m going to hand you over to Cole and Ethan to work you over, then Julius, then I’m going to raise another dog just so you can feed yourself to it, piece by piece.” I was yelling, truly yelling at him, as he led me through the endless city, and the closer we got to the portal, the more I dragged my feet.

  The moment the door disappeared I realized I’d been had. “Quit acting like you’ve been kidnapped, Vexa.” He glowered at me in irritation.

  I glared right back at him, smacking him in the arm with my free hand. “That is literally what you just did, Gwydion. You’re no better than Gil when it comes down to it, are you?”

  Finally, I got a sincere reaction from him, and it almost made me feel guilty to watch him blanch. Except that I was barefoot, in leggings and a tank top, in the middle of the Endless City, with no way to get home unless he helped me. Nope, no guilt. Gwydion had gone too far.

  After that, he resorted to dragging me along by the wrist like an errant child. Except that if I started kicking and screaming, embarrassment would be the very best outcome for him. He couldn’t really force me anywhere. I could see the place draining his magic as we walked toward the well that would lead to the fairy court. But I wasn’t going to make it easy for him, either.

  As if he could read my thoughts, he stopped walking again with a sigh. “I am doing what is best for you, and for your men, and what will stop Aethon for all time, which is what is best for humanity.”

  "What you did was trick me, again." He let go of me, and I paced back and forth across the road, looking past him in the direction of the well that would lead us to Seelie territory. Titania's seat of power was there, as was her hunter, Hern…and knowing my luck, Gilfaethwy would be there in the shadows as always, waiting to plunge me into misery at his first opportunity.

  “What I did, was to collect on the debt you owe. Remove your emotions from the scenario and think it through.” He continued to chastise me like a longsuffering parent.

  I’d gotten enough of those from my own mother and father, at the appearance of my necromancy. I certainly wasn’t going to put up with it from him. “How are you going to keep me safe when your brother might be on the other end, waiting to curse me or stab me in the fucking back. Not to mention how bad you pissed Titania off last time we were taken to court.”

  He gave a heavy, self-pitying sigh. “Both you and the candle will be safe from Aethon as you come into your true powers. Then, when you are strong enough, and you have learned how to use your new powers, you can do as you wish. You will become strong enough to destroy him and have an army of fae at your back.”

  "I'm not saying that isn't a strong selling point," I conceded to him. He reached for me, and I let him take my hand again. "But at what cost? Nothing from the fae is free." I chewed my lip and considered what he was offering. Ultima
te power was a big temptation.

  But that was the very thing that had started Aethon on his path of madness. All that power had only brought greater harm to him and everyone around him. What if I accepted, and part of the price was that I lost everyone I loved anyway? Was there a point to having all the power in the universe, if you couldn't have simple happiness?

  “How can you hesitate, knowing you could end Aethon’s suffering and protect your men in one fell blow?” He seemed truly confused by my lack of enthusiasm for joining the ranks of the fae.

  I simply shrugged. I didn’t have a great answer other than the sinking feeling in my gut that it was the wrong path to take. “I wish I could talk to the guys about this first. Saving the world is a big task to put on one set of shoulders.”

  “If it is your wish, you can take the entire world for your own once Aethon is out of your way.”

  “And that’s where you lost me again.” I jerked my hand out of his grip and folded my arms across my chest hugging myself. “I’m not fae. I don’t want to be fae. I don’t want to use people or look down on them just because I have something they don’t. It’s tacky, and it’s why you don’t already run our world.”

  “Vexa.” He reached for me, his tone changing from imperious to compassionate so quickly that I knew it was another manipulation.

  Something in me snapped. I slammed my palms into his chest, hard enough to rock him back on his heels. “Don’t. Don’t you dare treat me like I can’t see through your machinations.”

  He raised his hands in surrender. “Why is it that when you want what you think is best, we are all expected to follow like obedient soldiers, but when the idea comes from me, it is automatically suspect?” he scoffed. “Perhaps that is what sends Ethan and Cole back to the lives they knew before.”

  “You…insufferable asshole,” I gasped, unable to take a whole breath under the weight of his accusation. “That was beneath both of us, and you know it’s not true.”

  He flinched but didn’t apologize. “You are selfish to refuse the ability to save your world simply because you haven’t had time to mull it over with your friends, Vexa. At some point, you will be forced to make the hard decisions without assistance.”

  “I’ve been making those choices since before we met, Gwydion. Those choices were what led me to have Ethan and Cole in my life, and I think that’s enough proof that I’ve been doing just fine.”

  He held out his hand to me. "Then come with me, and I will take you where you need to go."

  For a fraction of a second, I took him at his word. But while he’d distracted me with our argument, he’d led us straight to the wells. Part of me wanted to believe he’d do the right thing and take me home. But he’d been careful to word his promise in a way that left him enough wiggle room where we could end up anywhere he thought I needed to be, rather than where I wanted to be.

  I took his offered hand and felt the pulse underneath his cool skin and beneath that, the magic that flowed through him. And just like he had done to me in Julius’ place, I siphoned off his magic. But I had no patience to seduce it from him.

  Instead, I poured my anger into my necromancy and took from him, not only his magic but his life force. He was paralyzed as I felt his heart begin to slow, until he was on his knees, gasping for his next breath.

  “We are not pawns to be moved about a chessboard, Gwydion Greenwood. If I am as powerful as you say, you should’ve helped me because it was the right thing to do, for humans and fae alike, not to mold me into whatever use you think you have for me.”

  I dropped his hand and left him there to recover as I ran from the well, doing my best to ignore his labored panting and the guilt that shot through me at hurting him. He’d been all too happy to basically kidnap me and strand me in the Endless City. I tried not to think about him weakened almost to the point of being mortal. Perhaps that, at least, would help him see my point of view. Unlimited power meant that even the fae would not be safe from my ire if they crossed me, and he’d finally gotten a good taste of it.

  The streets of the Endless City twisted and turned where with Gwyd, it had seemed almost a straight shot from the portal he pulled me through, to the well that would have taken me to the Seelie Court.

  Now, I was in a labyrinth with no visible clue as to how to escape. I tried to retrace my steps, but every time I turned another corner, it seemed as though the landscape had changed. It was like being back in Gwyd’s house, without any of the comfort or the hope of being found by someone I trusted.

  I picked through stones in the gutter until I found one with a sharp edge that didn’t chip when I scratched the curb. With the rock in hand, I started out again, marking each turn I made so I could find my way back.

  One right turn left, left, and right, and I hit a dead end. I turned back the way I’d come and glanced down to my left as I exited the alley, only to see the mark I’d left had disappeared.

  “Holy fucking shit.” My body shook as the reality of how desperately lost I was, became impossible to ignore.

  I picked up my pace, jogging down every street and alley, my bare feet beginning to shred on the stone. I ignored the pain and tried closing my eyes, feeling my way to trick whatever fae magic confused me. When I found myself standing in front of the same tree where I’d started, tears of frustration burned my eyelids.

  “Fine. Where do I go now? What am I supposed to do?” I was so exhausted and afraid I’d be trapped until Gwyd came back to force me to go with him, even the damnable blue demon door became an attractive alternative.

  My feet began to leave blood stains as I walked, but the magic absorbed them as quickly as I left them. I cursed Gwydion and the Fae in general and

  I closed my eyes again, and breathed, calming myself to reach for my magic, praying that the remnant of the connection Cole and I shared would be enough to cross the planes and tell him I needed him.

  A sharp bark behind me just about made me jump out of my skin. I spun around to see Mort staring at me, his head tilted to one side in a very normal doggy fashion. It was mildly disturbing, but only because as my creation, he wasn’t a normal dog, and because I had no idea how he’d known I was missing, or how to come find me.

  “You are not who I expected to see behind me, you funny creature.”

  He tilted his head again and blinked his limpid eyes at me. “Well, who else did you think could come for you no matter where you are?”

  Chapter 9

  “Wait. Mort? Are you alone in there? How are we talking? Have we had conversations before?” Mort had appeared to me in my coma, comforting me and helping me keep my sanity when I was trapped inside my own head. But he hadn’t spoken to me, had he?

  Part of me, (most of me, to be honest) had thought I’d conjured his image to be by my side back then, a figment of my imagination I’d summoned to keep me from being utterly alone trapped between the edges of my mind and Aethon’s.

  I knew I hadn’t summoned him to me here. That was impossible, wasn’t it?

  “Yes, we have spoken before, and yes, I came to you when you were trapped beyond the edges of reality, and no, you are not crazy, or under a spell. Not exactly.”

  "Okay, I'll bite. What got you here, and how are we getting me out?" The still silence around us made the air feel oppressive, pressing down on me as though it were thicker than it should be until my lungs felt tight in my chest. "Is this about the candle?"

  He stared at me with limpid, patient eyes. “I am here because of the candle, yes. You raised me, and the candle strengthens you.” I felt as though I should already understand better who or what Mort was, but the definition escaped me, like familiar lyrics caught on the tip of my tongue. The sensation was maddening, but I shoved it aside for the moment in favor of the more immediate problem.

  “But you’re not here because I summoned you. So, how did you get here?”

  "I came because you need me, and to warn you. Aethon is drawing near, closing in on you." His head tilted. "The two of
you are more closely connected than ever, and he's desperate. His candle is the final piece to his plan, and now that you've taken its power for yourself and survived…"

  “I’ve already seen the level of destruction and death he’s capable of. Wow. And he knows I’m here? I didn’t even know where I was going until I got here.”

  He chuffed softly at me. “He has no idea where you are. It’s a high stakes game of hide and seek, and Aethon’s simply tearing down every wall that he comes to, instead of going around them.”

  “Well, fuck. I just left Gwydion at the well to Titania’s court. He’s weak and getting weaker. I have to go get him before Aethon does. How did he find me here? Never mind. The candle isn’t hidden by realm boundaries, I know.”

  “Because you have reconnected to the candle and Persephona’s ancestral protections no longer exist, he can find you anywhere, anytime. The fairy is safer without you,” he explained. “Reconnecting to the death candle means you are no longer simply an irritant to be ignored or pushed out of the way. You are his primary goal, and he will burn the world down to get to you.”

  "Great. I'm lost in an in-between place that I can't navigate no matter what I do, I can't get home, and I'm a sitting duck for my liche ancestor who seems to know everything about everything and everyone, and had been to every corner of every reality before I was even born."

  Mort shambled to my side and accepted the ear scratch I offered him. “I can help you get out of the Endless City and back to your reality. You won’t remember talking with me, or at least you won’t remember me talking back. But you will be able to find the portal home and get to the safety of the bar.”

  “Will you walk with me?”

  “Gwydion isn’t the only one who’s weakened in this place. I can’t go very far with you. But I will be with you again soon, even though you won’t remember I was here.”