Grave Dance (33 page)

“What do you think you’re—” I didn’t finish because suddenly I was wrapped in warm, strong arms.

Falin pul ed me tight against his chest, holding me close.

“I was so worried,” he whispered, his breath dancing through my hair.

He was
worried.
So he told me here. In a hal way. Away from
her.
“Don’t. Touch. Me.”

Falin jerked back, as if my words scalded him. “Alexis . .

.” “No. Don’t.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him. A nerve twitched under my eye. “Just don’t, okay?

Now tel them to let go of Caleb.”

Falin’s shoulder sagged. “I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“My queen commanded I bring you to her.”

Wel , that proved it, didn’t it? If I’d needed any further proof of where I stood, he’d just provided it. That conclusion proof of where I stood, he’d just provided it. That conclusion must have shown on my face because Falin stepped forward again. He lifted his hands as if he was going to touch me, but then he dropped his arms by his sides.

“Try to understand. I
must
obey her commands. I have no choice.”

He couldn’t lie, I knew he couldn’t, and yet the hurt part of me couldn’t believe him. I glanced at Caleb, who’d final y stopped struggling with the guardians. He wore a sour look, but he gave one curt nod, confirming Falin’s words.

He has to obey?
I shook my head. The rules seemed to keep changing, and I barely understood the game. But the stakes were high. Deadly.

Falin stepped forward until the hem of my dress brushed his legs. “Alexis, I would reorder al of Faerie for you if it were in my power.”

The
“but it isn’t”
went unsaid everywhere but his eyes, where I could almost see the words echoing. He reached out, his warm hands sliding over my bare shoulders. I didn’t pul away, but I didn’t move toward him either. He leaned forward, closing the distance between us. Stil I held my ground, and his lips grazed mine, the touch light enough to be a kiss from the wind.

“Forgive me,” he whispered. He meant the words, meant them so much that the imbalance that swung between us made us both flinch. Then his hands slid from my shoulders to my wrists. His fingers locked around me like manacles.

What?

“Oh, now isn’t this touching?” a crisp female voice said, and I jumped.

Falin released my arms and whirled around, dropping to his knees in the same movement. “My queen.”

The Winter Queen stood in the middle of the hal , her hands bal ed into fists at her waist. PC, who had apparently fol owed her, rushed past the ice guardians. I scooped him up and clutched him tight as the queen strol ed forward, holding the skirt of her long dress. She stopped directly in holding the skirt of her long dress. She stopped directly in front of Falin’s kneeling form.

“Did you real y think you could keep secrets within my own hal s, knight?”

Falin didn’t answer, and she slid her hand into his hair.

The movement started as the caress of a lover and ended with her fist clenched in the hair at the back of his skul . She jerked upward, and he rose with the motion. She was petite, so she had to release him before he reached his ful height. She stepped around him, dragging him by the front of his shirt until he faced me.

“I had wondered,” she said, running her hand down his chest. Not a muscle in his body twitched. “I cal ed my knight home, and he came, as he should have, even though he knew I was angry that he’d failed to kil the body thief in a timely manner. And then, when he knew I would have forgiven him soon, he went and broke out of my prison, at great personal expense to himself.” She jabbed her fingers into the side where he’d been sliced open when I’d found him. The edges of his eyes betrayed his wince, but he gave her no other reaction. “We had just heard rumor of a planeweaver. I thought that perhaps he’d gone to retrieve the planeweaver himself. Perhaps to present her to me as a gift to regain my good graces. But that did not happen.

Now I can guess why.” She rounded on me.

Falin was injured escaping the winter court?
To get to me. I didn’t know what to say, so I met the queen’s eyes, saying nothing.

She hissed under her breath. Then she turned to Falin.

“Take yourself to Rath.” She glanced at me over her shoulder. “That would be the court torture chamber. Since you have no interest in my banquets, perhaps a visit there would interest you more.”

“My queen—” Falin started, and she dug her fingers into his side again.

“If you beg for yourself, knight, I wil forgive you. But if you beg for her, you wil not like the results.”

beg for her, you wil not like the results.”

He glanced at me, and then he squeezed his eyes shut and remained silent.

The queen turned toward the guardians holding Caleb.

“Take him to the dungeons with the rest of the resistant independents. You”—she pointed to two more guardians

—“take her to a chamber where she can await the return of my patience.” She turned to me, the frost in her glare deadly, hateful. “You should hope it returns quickly. A planeweaver who wil not join my court is of limited worth.”

Chapter 31

I
struggled to keep a safe grip on PC and not trip and fal over the damn gown as the ice guardians dragged me away from the queen, Falin, and Caleb.

“Slow down,” I yel ed, stumbling. PC squirmed.

They didn’t slow. They didn’t even pause to let me get my feet under me. I twisted, glancing back at the queen. She watched, looking regal, delicate, and utterly smug.

“Are you holding a Sleagh Maith not of your court against her wil ?” a deep masculine voice asked in the corridor ahead of me. A corridor that had been empty a moment before.

I turned around.

In the center of the hal way stood an unfamiliar fae—

another noble Sleagh Maith, from the look of his almosttoo-handsome-to-look-at features. He had black hair pul ed back tightly behind his head, so I couldn’t see how long it actual y was, and a dark beard that formed a sharp point at his chin and probably saved his jaw from looking too delicate for a man. Behind him, the hal vanished into a large room shrouded in deep shadows. But the shadows were only in a diamond-shaped area around the fae; the ice cavern was visible everywhere else, as if a doorway had been torn open in the center of the hal .

“You.” I couldn’t see the queen, but her voice held al the warmth of a glacier. “You have no business here.”

“I beg to differ.” He made a motion with his hand and a scream crashed through the chil ed cavern.

Two inky black forms surged forward. Wraithlike, in tattered robes with their hair streaming in tangles behind tattered robes with their hair streaming in tangles behind them, the newcomers swung swords that trailed darkness in their wake, as if they leaked shadows. Of course, the wraiths appeared to be little more than animated shadows themselves. The ice guardians released me as they reached for their swords.

The cavern shook with the impact of the guardians and shadows. I clutched PC, stumbling back a step. The clang of swords rang in the air, and I ducked as an ice blade was deflected straight toward me.
Not good.

“Alexis, this way,” the man in the rift yel ed.

“No!” The queen’s voice cracked through the hal . “After them, al of you. Detain her.”

I whirled around. The queen’s ice guardians surged forward in force. Even the two that were holding Caleb released him to grab their swords and join the fray. Caleb looked at me, looked at the man in the rift, and then turned and fled in the opposite direction. I didn’t blame him.

More shadow wraiths flew out of the rift to hold off the fresh assault of ice guardians, but the ice guardians weren’t the only ones coming. Falin darted forward, parrying blows from the wraiths.

“Alexis, hurry,” the stranger said, holding out a hand. He was definitely no white knight here to save me, not with al his oiled black armor that nearly blended in with the shadows around him, but he was definitely rescue of some sort.

A sword passed through the air inches from my chest—

and PC. The white crest of hair on the top of his head fluttered and he trembled.
I have to get out of here.
I glanced at the fae stil extending his hand toward me. Wel , the winter court was a bust for the accomplice and Hol y anyway. Maybe I’d have better luck elsewhere.
And maybe
I can manage not to piss off the ruling regent.

Tucking PC under one arm, I gathered the skirt of my gown with the other hand, hiking it up to my knees, and then I ran for the rip. The man reached for me. I dropped my skirt I ran for the rip. The man reached for me. I dropped my skirt and grabbed his hand just as someone grabbed my arm.

The stranger hauled me forward, up and through the tear.

The ice cavern vanished; the hand on my arm didn’t.

I stumbled into an enormous anteroom fil ed with giant gothic arches and spiraling columns. And Falin fol owed.

The fae who’d pul ed me through turned, leveling a sword that reflected no light, as if it were crafted of pure shadows.

He swung at Falin, who jumped backward. Falin lifted two daggers long enough to be short swords.

I stepped between them, my back to Falin. His hands immediately closed on my arms, the flat of his blades pressing against my bare skin.

“Don’t hurt him.”

The stranger cocked his head. Then he turned toward the rift. “Now, boy,” he yel ed, and a robed figure I hadn’t noticed standing to one edge of the tear stepped forward.

The figure was the size of a child, but that didn’t mean anything, as fae ranged in size from very, very smal to enormous. He thrust his hands into the space on either end of the tear and seemed to grab the hole at the very edges. I stared, amazed, as he tugged the rip, closing it.
The
shadow court’s planebender?
The tear was less than a foot wide when an ice guardian reached it. The guardian dove for the opening, his sword leading, pointed directly at the planebender.

“Down!” my rescuer yel ed, charging forward.

The planebender hit the ground as a dark sword swung over his head, parrying the guardian’s blow. The stranger grabbed the ice wrist and shoved, trying to force the arm back through the opening while avoiding the frozen blade.

The planebender rose to a crouch and grabbed the edges of the tear again. I could feel the magic—not Aetheric energy but a magic that felt both foreign and extremely familiar. He tugged, forcing the tear around the guardian’s arm.

“Knight,” the queen’s voice said, cutting into the room

“Knight,” the queen’s voice said, cutting into the room through the stil partial y open rift. Falin cringed behind me.

Crap.
“Knight, capture the planeweaver and—”

A loud crack snapped through the air, fol owed by the sound of ice shattering. The queen’s voice broke off in midsentence, and the guardian’s arm, stil clutching the sword, fel to the ground. It melted immediately, leaving only a large puddle behind the planebender, and the tear in Faerie knitted itself back together, closing without so much as a seam.

My jaw dropped. I could feel it hanging open in amazement, but I couldn’t seem to convince it to close. The planebender stood, dusting his hands on his trousers, and the stranger nodded at him.

“Wel done,” he said affectionately and reached inside the hood as if tousling the wearer’s hair. There was no decay in Faerie, so I couldn’t glimpse anything under the shadowy cloak, not even a glimmer of his soul. The dark fae then touched the figure’s shoulder, and as if he’d been dismissed, the figure scurried away into the shadows. Then the fae turned back toward me. “Now what do we do with him?” He nodded over my shoulder at Falin.

Falin’s fingers tensed around my arms. He leaned forward until his lips were level with my ear. “My queen commanded I capture you and . . . I guess the ‘and’ is left to my discretion.” He made the last bit sound suggestive enough that heat rushed to my cheeks—and some lower places—despite my best intentions.

Damn. I’m supposed to be mad at him.
I
was
mad at him.

The dark-haired fae glanced at Falin’s hands on my arms and then lifted his sword. “Release her. She is a guest of my court and under my protection. If the Winter Queen or her bloodied hands wish to have her against her wil , you wil have to go through me.”

Falin’s grip on my arms tightened and he dragged me back a step, but this time there was nothing suggestive to back a step, but this time there was nothing suggestive to it. He cursed, his voice a low growl, and I could almost hear how hard his teeth gritted. Then he leaned in and whispered, “Alex, she commanded me to capture you. I can’t release you until you are either incapacitated or submit to being my prisoner.”

“Do no such thing, Alexis,” the dark armored fae said, jumping forward, his sword swinging. “I wear my own blood, boy. You’l not find me an easy opponent.”

Falin lifted one of his large daggers to block the shadow sword and in the same movement swung me behind him.

“I’ve no quarrel with you, Shadow King.”

King?

The other fae kept coming, his sword trailing darkness in its wake. “You threaten my own kin, so you most definitely have quarrel with me, boy.”

Kin?

“Stop. Both of you. Stop!” I didn’t step between them this time because their swords were just blurs as they moved and they seemed damn determined to kil each other and I wasn’t about to get in the middle of it. They didn’t stop at my words, so I said, “Falin, I submit. You captured me and I’m a prisoner or whatever.”

“Alexis, no,” the stranger said, his sword wavering for a single moment.

Falin took the moment to jump back, disengaging. He didn’t drop his blades, but he lifted his hands and turned his daggers sideways so that the edges and point were not aimed at the other fae. It wasn’t a surrender, simply a motion to cease the fight amicably. “Does this mean you forgive me?” Falin cal ed back over his shoulder.

Did I forgive him? Probably not. I almost said as much, but then I realized what he was doing. If I forgave him, that enormous debt between us was mine to cal him on.

The Shadow King glanced between us, his sword final y lowering as if he had just figured out what we were playing at. Falin nodded to him and lowered his weapons as wel .

at. Falin nodded to him and lowered his weapons as wel .

He walked over, his blue eyes locked on me, cautious but expectant.

I felt the debt between us. It was stil only potential. I couldn’t forgive him in words alone—I actual y had to mean it. But could I forgive him? I considered what I’d seen in the hal s of the winter court. He did as his queen commanded.

He obeyed and came to her cal , but he had no choice.

Caleb had agreed that Falin had to obey. I could forgive him what he had no choice in. I nodded to him and felt the debt between us solidify.

“You owe me a favor,” I said, choosing my words slowly.

“I’m your captive, but release me and your debt wil be cleared.”

He winced and bowed his head. “I cannot grant you a favor that contradicts a direct order from my queen.”

Well, crap.
Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe he real y only wanted to know I forgave him and it had nothing to do with the debt. He looked up at me again, and there were questions in the cool blue depths of his eyes, almost a plea.

No, he wants me to ask him for something.

But what?

What would help me but not contradict the queen? He couldn’t release me, but she hadn’t given him the rest of her command, so what was he supposed to do with me next?

Probably drag me back to the winter court.
That would be
bad.

“Fine,” I said. “I’m your captive, but I request that you not return me to the winter court.”

“Done.” He gave a sharp nod, relief smoothing the dip that had gathered above his nose. He looked up at the other fae. “Is that sufficient for you, Shadow King?”

“Quite.” The king sheathed his sword. “Now, my most darling Alexis, we have so much to discuss,” he said, walking toward me with his arms open as if he meant to hug me.

The Shadow King might have just rescued me from the The Shadow King might have just rescued me from the winter court, but the old saying about frying pans and fire was how my life tended to go, so I wasn’t about to drop my guard. Or be hugged by a strange fae. I took a step toward Falin and the king stopped, frowning. The look he shot Falin was more than just unfriendly.

“I don’t welcome the Winter Queen’s bloodied hands into my court. You should go, boy,” he said.

I shrugged. “Point us to the exit.”

The king faltered, his handsome features showing true shock for a moment before he recovered. “But you’ve only just returned home, my dearest niece.”