One Thousand Kisses (38 page)

The barrier disappeared. Embor checked Crissy and Freddie to gauge their reaction. They’d remained behind Anisette, their eyes wide.

“The earth tastes wrong,” Freddie said. “And what’s with all the cats?”

“No idea.” Crissy shrugged. “Raining cats and dogs, maybe? This place is nuttier than a nut farm.”

The younger man who’d been covered by the shield lay motionless, staring into space. He displayed no reaction to the water. But the older man, the one who’d caused the first fissure, grabbed the air, gibbering and writhing.

“An Unseelie’s possessed Bob,” Crissy said. “He’ll have to be exorcised.”

Beside Embor, Anisette shivered. The frigid water had decreased the temperature in the chamber, and the constant flow of magic into the rifts was equally chilling.

“He’s not well,” she agreed.

“Bees in my head. Stinging. Swarming.” The man grabbed his ears and pulled. One of his legs appeared to be broken. “I have to get them out!”

Whatever Bob was feeling had pushed him far beyond Crissy and Freddie’s state. Magical heaviness mounted. Would another discharge send them careening into nothingness? If Embor flipped the man into humanspace, it wouldn’t help. Jake had ripped the green ring from Vegas.

Heat simmered in Embor’s hands as he considered solutions, and he didn’t like the most immediate one.

Crissy eyed Embor nervously. “Calm down, Bob. The Hand of Fire’s looking kinda hot under the collar.”

Embor touched Anisette’s arm, sharing his warmth. “Put him to sleep.”

She hastened forward and caught the man’s face. He batted at her before slumping into unconsciousness. For good measure, she sent the blinded onesie into slumber as well.

“It won’t last.” Her determined face bore little resemblance to the woman she’d been a week ago, but Embor knew he was just seeing the strength that had always been there. “Can you take these four to humanspace while I find the last person?”

“You didn’t leave me, and I’m not leaving you.”

“Fine.” Unless he missed his guess, she was glad he’d refused. “This way.”

“Stay here, don’t use magic and shout if either of them wakes,” he told Freddie and Crissy. He couldn’t sense Skythia to call for backup. “We’ll escort you home soon.”

“Don’t take forever,” Crissy said. “This place is creepy as all get-out.”

Anisette scanned the chamber. “Under the gallery. Hurry, Embor. Whoever it is, is losing strength.”

Embor transported them, the magic responding fitfully. Anisette clambered over stones and wood to the wall, where wreckage from the galley mounded high.

Before she halted, another magical wave from a distant onesie hurtled through the chamber. Embor’s ears popped. On the edge of his consciousness, Skythia cursed. She was Realmside, but not in any position to take the puppies home. He prayed to the Dragon she was handling Warran and Ophelia.

The ground shuddered. They had to hurry.

“Look out!” Crissy yelled.

A crumbling balcony plummeted toward Anisette. She stumbled and fell. Without thought, Embor flung the wreckage sideways with a burst of fire.

“You singed my hair,” Anisette said. “Oh, goodness. I see legs.”

Two feet with red shoes and striped socks stuck out from part of the balcony. Water burbled through the stones, almost covering the body. Embor transported the materials aside, wondering how anyone without a shield had survived this.

“She’s fading.” Anisette, her clothing a patchwork of grime, leaned over the woman and exerted her power. “I’ve got to…” She bowed her head and the air glowed with her effort.

Magic knit the unfortunate fairy’s bones, repaired her mangled body. He marveled at his bondmate’s strength. The wounded woman’s features became recognizable through the blood.

Euridyce Torval.

Emotions churned inside him, emotions he knew Anisette could read. His reaction was even stronger than seeing Warran again—the man who’d intended to rape Anisette. If any of the Torval agents were to die, he’d choose Euridyce.

He’d refrained from killing Warran, but would he have been as ethical as Anisette if he’d been in a position to let Euridyce die of injuries?

Anisette groaned and slumped over. In an inverse reaction, Euridyce snapped upright like she’d been released from a catapult.

Before Embor could intervene, the fairy strong-armed Anisette into a headlock and poked the muzzle of the gun she still clutched against his bondmate’s face.

Embor’s heart jolted painfully. “Let her go.”

“One more step and she dies.” Euridyce’s body shuddered in a coughing fit, but her hand never wavered. “Back off.”

“She has nothing to do with this.” Embor clenched his fists. The churning torrent of magic filled him, seeping out of his pores. Anisette had knocked herself out healing this woman. If anyone didn’t deserve succor, it was Euridyce.

“Is that Euri?” Crissy called. “Euri, look what you made Bob do. We ain’t supposed to use magic here.”

Euri batted her eyelashes. “Who, me? It was Ophelia’s idea.”

“You knew what would happen,” Embor said to her, “and you still encouraged it.”

She laughed. “Fine, you got me. They were gonna kill us as soon as this was over. I figured the onesies could kill them first.” The gun’s muzzle dented the flesh of Anisette’s cheek. “The Realm and everyone in it can go to hell.”

“You’d be dead if she hadn’t saved you.” Embor’s temperature increased. Droplets from the geyser sizzled against his skin. “I wouldn’t have saved you.”

“I wouldn’t have saved you five years ago.”

“You didn’t save him. I did,” said another voice, and Embor glanced up to see Milshadred, her wet hair hanging like rat tails, atop the rubble. “Let the kid go.”

“If it’s not the born-again Court-kisser.” Euri’s arm tightened around Anisette, who moaned. “How could you turn your back on your own sibs?”

Embor tensed, his mind spinning. Could he transport just Euri? Could he impact just her with flames? He couldn’t risk injuring Anisette. While unconscious, she had no ability to heal herself.

“Jakey worked me over.” Milshadred shrugged. “Somehow I don’t mind at all.”

“You were looking for any excuse to ditch us.” Euri adjusted Anisette’s prone body like a shield with a suspicious glare at Embor. “Don’t try anything funny, Fiertag. If I go, she goes.”

“If you kill her, you’re done,” Milshadred said. “That’s the Hand of Fire in full form, not a half-dead captive.”

“He doesn’t have the nuts to melt the world. Rae Ann was a liar.” Euri angled the gun against Anisette’s temple.

“I know Rae Ann was a liar.” As the old fairy spoke, Embor noticed a glint in Milshadred’s hand, hidden behind her back. “She was also smarter than all of us put together. Now let the princess go.”

“If I can’t kill the girl…” Euri whipped the gun at Embor. “I’ll kill Jerk-off.”

Embor charged.

But Milshadred shot first, straight through Anisette’s shoulder and into Euridyce. Crissy screamed. Euri’s bullet went wide, pinging deep in the chamber.

“Fuck you to hell!” Euridyce cursed, barely holding onto Anisette’s body as she crumpled over in pain.

Embor extracted his bondmate from the agent’s weakened grasp, ripping off his shirt to press against the blood flowing from Anisette’s injury.

“Find Gangee,” he yelled at the others. Healing globes might not fix this damage. “Check the recess chamber.”

“I can heal her.” Freddie galloped forward, splashing water in every direction. “I want to help.”

“Don’t be dumb, Freddie. No more magic.” Milshadred shoved her gun in her waistband and climbed down, her face drawn so tightly the wrinkles almost disappeared. What had it cost her to make that shot?

When Freddie reached him, Embor tightened his grip on Anisette. The onesie’s pupils were pinpoints of black in faded blue irises. His limp hair clung to his head.

“The magic needs to be used,” he said hoarsely. “One last time, and I’ll stop. I swear.”

Would another spell matter, when so many onesies had cast them already? Anisette’s blood streamed trailers of scarlet into the dirty water, and he couldn’t stir her consciousness through their bond. Fear keened through him.

“Do it,” he ordered the boy.

Freddie laid a trembling hand on Anisette’s ashen skin. Embor retained his tenuous connection to his bondmate, prepared to shove Freddie away at the first hint this wasn’t working.

The boy’s lips twisted. Magic pushed into Embor’s head. This close, the whine of power split the air like a sword slicing his brain from ear to ear.

Crissy shouted. Milshadred aimed her gun, visibly torn about shooting the boy. Embor pitched up a shield, just in case.

The healing magic blasted through Anisette and Embor both. Freddie howled. Embor’s shoulder spasmed with a ghost bullet right before Anisette woke with a gasp.

“Someone stop, Freddie.” Milshadred’s gun wavered as the boy’s body seized. “He’s lost it.”

Anisette grabbed the boy. Whatever she tried to do, the pressure in the air intensified. Freddie’s convulsions jerked him from her grasp. “I can’t put him to sleep. He’s too powerful.”

With a roar, the conclusion of the spell hit like a tidal wave. The impact flung Embor backward, Anisette with him. He barely wrapped the shield around them before they crashed. Colors prismed everywhere, slashing the air into translucent shreds.

The world morphed. For a moment they were tossed into humanspace. A field. Blue sky. A profound, muted rumbling. Great rips tore the grassy earth, with stones, water and destruction everywhere. Had any humans been harmed? Embor struggled with transportation magic. They had to go back, stop the boy.

They reemerged in the shattered session chamber almost as soon as they’d left. The fractures seemed bottomless. The earth growled with aftershocks. Crissy was trying to soothe Freddie, and Milshadred bent over her sister’s body.

There was one other difference.

All around them, daintily avoiding the water and glaring at Embor, were hundreds and hundreds of cats.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Big mistake, two-leggers
.

It was a cat, but Ani had no idea which one.

Yellow, green, ginger and blue eyes stared holes though them all. A growl issued from hundreds of feline chests. Freddie’s hysterical babble slowed to a mutter.

“Oh my God, did that cat talk?” Crissy gaped at the felines clustered around the chamber. Ani’s globes had fizzled out, but shafts of light cut through the gloom from the ruptured ceiling. The sun blazed as if nothing were amiss on the ground below.

“Nobody ever told you about cats?” Milshadred eyed her gun with distaste. “Well, you weren’t supposed to be Realmside long enough to meet one.”

“Master Fey?” Where was Ani’s friend among all these small, unfriendly faces? Was he all right?

Yes?
answered about a third of the room.

“I mean my Master Fey.”

You cannot own us, two-legger.
A majestic, longhaired white cat with mismatched eyes hopped down from a perch and approached.
Though apparently you can destroy our world faster than the vermin ever dreamed of doing. We are not pleased.

She got the impression he wasn’t using the royal we. “Why are you here, Fey?”

The cat flicked his large paw.
I hate water.

“That doesn’t answer the question,” Embor said. Even without his shirt, crumpled up in a bloodstained wad, he managed to look imposing. To her. The cat yawned, his large white teeth gleaming. “It’s not safe here, cat.”

As if punctuating his statement, a section of wall crumbled. Everyone with two legs flinched. When the dust cleared, there were already cats on top of the new pile.

Why are we here? We’re fixing the boys’ mess.
A cat Ani did recognize—from the chatty mind-voice to her slinky body—wound past Ani’s feet, miraculously avoiding the water.
If you think this is bad, you should see what they do to a litter box.

Females were equally responsible for this
,
the white cat announced. His fur was as puffy as clouds, and his ears sprouted tufts nearly as long as his whiskers.
The crazy spider made the skinny man start this.

Notice how the males broke but the girl’s fine? It’s always the men.
The tabby watched Ani instead of the tom.
I explained this to you in the backward.

The male, whose thinking voice was akin to a stuffy old man, spat without much venom.
The other females are not fine.

We’re still ahead
. The tabby winked one green eye at Ani before rubbing her whiskers with a paw.

“Where’s the cat who was with me?” she asked the tabby.

Stitching the front to the back. He’s purl. He’ll be here momentarily.

She had no idea what that meant.

“How can cats clean this mess?” she asked next. Did they possess magic beyond speech and transportation? It seemed likely. She’d never heard of a coordinated feline effort. Most cats didn’t even get along. “No offense, Mistress, but I don’t understand.”

Crissy chimed in. “Apparently no one understands cats even when they talk. I bet dogs say what they mean.”

The white cat hissed at Crissy. Ani half-squatted, keeping her backside out of the water. She didn’t sense any more living fairies in the chamber. The best thing she and Embor could do now was usher the onesies home and themselves to the Sun Tower. She presumed the cats could extract themselves.

“Can you tell me what’s happening?” she begged the tabby. “We have to close these rings. It feels like they’re growing.”

We know
, the tabby said.
We know everything.

The magical slurry churned through the jagged fractures. She had no idea how long they had before the Realm was sapped. Fairies had a semblance of survival training now, but that didn’t mean enduring another Incident was high on anyone’s list.

If the rifts continued to grow, would it be limited to an Incident?

“Can you fix the rings?” Ani asked.

Nosy two-legger. Why else would we be here?
The white cat addressed them all.
You. Hand of Fire. Get the sadlings out of the forward. They’ve done enough damage.

Embor lowered his chin to stare at the tom. One of the cat’s eyes looked surprisingly like Embor’s. “Excuse me?”

“I think he means take the lost ones home.” Ani rose, brushing off her pants.

“I agree.” Crissy hoisted Freddie up with a grunt. “Are you seriously going to ignore a talking cat? That’s always a bad idea in fairy tales. Maybe we should feed them too.”

The air shimmied, and there were suddenly twice as many cats in the room as before.

That’s our call. Knitters, hie!
the tabby said. Another shimmer, and the tabby, the tom and half the cats were just as suddenly gone.

Her Master Fey perched on a nearby stone, twitching his whiskers. He hadn’t been there before.

“Master Fey,” Anisette said, relieved.

Yes?
responded half the room, their heads swiveling toward her.

“We were worried about you.” Anisette sloshed toward the cat, her cat, no matter what they said, and picked him up. He butted his head against her chin. Many of the others glanced away in what Ani suspected was disgust.

He purred but didn’t say anything.

To her surprise, Embor reached out and stroked two fingers down the cat’s black fur. Then he cleared his throat. “Skythia says they’ve secured Warran and Ophelia, the green ring and the Sun Tower.”

“The AOC?” Ani asked. The directors had spirits knew how many agents on their side…unless the agents were like the Torvals and wished their employers dead. Did they have a secondary plan to grasp control of the Court?

“Scattered. But the onesies are accounted for, one way or another,” Embor said grimly.

“What’s that mean?” Crissy asked. “Are my friends okay or did Unseelies possess them?”

“I don’t know the details,” he replied. “Bring Freddie here.”

She rubbed her nose and said in a wavery voice, “What for?”

He gestured in a sweeping motion. “Far be it from me to disobey a cat. I’m going to take you home.”

Crissy dragged Freddie closer. The youth eyed the cats suspiciously, his fingers in his ears, but seemed calmer. Embor transported the two unconscious lost ones to his side as well.

Ani read everyone’s hormone levels. “Bob might be waking.” She glanced across the yards of rubble to the remaining fairy in the room.

“Agent Milshadred, you too,” Embor said.

She rose slowly and hobbled toward them, every year she’d lived without magic telegraphed in her movements. “My sister’s dead.”

Ani couldn’t decipher the woman’s expression, just her movements. “I’m sorry you had to do that.”

Master Fey quit purring.
Cat killer. Good riddance.

“Do you want to come?” she asked the cat. When he made no move to escape her arms, she held him as Embor transported their group to a courtyard on the outskirts of the complex.

Though far enough from the destruction to be intact, dust hung in the air. Petitioners waited here when the Younger Court held audiences. Benches, flowers and statuary decorated the space, with terraces around the edges and marble bowls for offerings in the corners. The courtyard’s centerpiece, a fountain of sea creatures, no longer sprayed water into the circular pool.

“I’ll never get used to blorping around like that.” Crissy stumbled toward the fountain, clutching her stomach. “I feel like I’m gonna hurl.”

The magic felt thinner here, the rumbles muted. Except for the silent fountain and haze of dust, it could have been a normal day at Court.

A normal day when the petitioner’s quadrangle was empty and the vast dome that gleamed above the Elder Court chamber had disappeared.

“Are mermaids real?” Crissy asked, staring up at the fountain.

“I thought so when I was a child,” Ani said. “But no, they’re not.”

Freddie unplugged his ears. “Nothing’s real. It’s all bees and gunpowder.”

Embor took Ani and the cat into his arms and pressed a kiss against her forehead. “I’m not going to risk transporting us all the longer distance with the magic imbalanced. Will you and Milshadred be all right? I’ll mind-speak you soon.”

“We’ll be fine. I love you,” she whispered. The cat purred.

“And I you.”

“So you two made up,” Milshadred observed. “Nearly dying fills some people with hate and some people with other shit, I guess.”

Ignoring her, Embor turned to Crissy, Freddie and their unconscious companions. “Shall we go?”

After a nod at Ani, he swept himself and the four onesies into between-space with a single spell. The air popped in a disconcerting fashion.

Ani stared at the sparks until a voice beside her said, “I’m ready for my close-up, Princess.”

She whirled, relieved to see Milshadred didn’t have the gun pointed at her. The past several days had been too full of reversals. “Your close-up?”

“My healing.” Milshadred patted beneath her chin. “I need to be young, strong and really good-looking if you expect me to take out my crazy brothers. You said you could fix me, and you’re not a liar like the rest of ’em.”

“Mrrrrrr.” Master Fey’s tail lashed Ani’s arm.

“No one expects you to handle your siblings.” Ani placed the cat on the fountain’s rim. She didn’t know what Embor and Skythia intended to do with Milshadred, but surely healing her wouldn’t interfere.

“If I don’t handle them, who will?” The old fairy jerked her poky chin at the ruined complex. “It’s all sixies and sevensies here, and the boys can’t be trusted.”

“Someone will handle it,” Ani said. “Your brothers won’t hurt anyone else.”

“They’re psycho. They could be hurting somebody right now.” Milshadred sucked her teeth a moment. “Does Embor want to put me in prison?”

Ani clasped her hands and regarded the other woman. Jake had pried the truth from Milshadred, not her loyalty. Any further cooperativeness had been her own inclination. “We haven’t spoken about that. But I think you’ll get clemency after what happened.”

“Maybe, maybe not. You don’t know half of what we did while we were agents. A lot was them, but I didn’t stop them.” Milshadred eyed the cat, who hissed. “If those cats save the world, I’m gonna live. Might as well do it gorgeous. Hit me with the good stuff, Doc.”

Ani inspected Milshadred’s face, the drawn skin, the ratty hair, the jutting chin. Did she truly intend to murder her other siblings? Fratricide was so unheard of, Milshadred would go down in Realm history for her actions today.

If they had a Realm after today.

Ani shuddered at the thought of losing the magic forever. “I’ll heal you, Milshadred. It shouldn’t take long, but it might hurt.”

Some advice
, the cat said.
They’ll bring in the gnomes soon
.
Lots. Don’t kill them.

“Gnomes? But why?” One of the successful projects of the current administration had been forcing the gnomes into the Outer Territories. There was a bounty for every stone head provided to the game wardens.

The cat gave a feline shrug, a self-satisfied lick of his paw.

“Bad idea. Gnomes are a menace. Only good for one thing.” Milshadred paused for effect. “Ambushes.”

“That’s not funny,” Ani said, but the old fairy cackled.

They make nice litter when they’re finely crushed
, the cat added.

This time, Ani smiled. “You two are pair, aren’t you?”

“Dog forbid,” Milshadred muttered as Ani began the healing process.

As predicted, it took under a minute. Milshadred’s skin smoothed, her spine straightened, her lips plumped, her hair curled. She spat out her dentures as every part of her body received the effect of Ani’s magic. Beautiful, straight teeth erupted in her gums, and her heart pumped in renewed health and vigor.

“It feels so good,” Milshadred crooned. “Nothing hurts. I have my teeth back!” She leapt up and spun through the courtyard, dancing on two shapely legs.

“Whew.” Ani collapsed on the fountain’s rim and rubbed her forehead. A healing buzz shimmied through her, more tolerable than repairing broken bones, but she was exhausted. So many healings in such a short time. “I’ve never done that before.”

“You did good, kid. I hardly know myself.” Milshadred whirled to a stop in front of her.

Ani blinked in shock. “By Hella, you’re—”

“I know.” Milshadred grinned and thrust out her breasts. “I’m fucking Miss Universe. Look at these babies.”

“You are,” Ani agreed, though she wasn’t sure who Miss Universe was. But a renewed Milshadred Torval was, in short, the most beautiful woman Ani had ever seen.

“And my magic?” Milshadred closed her eyes and flowers sprang through the paving stones. “Hot damn.”

“Restored.” The fairy possessed earth magic, stronger than Ani expected in a foursie.

“You just don’t know.” Impulsively, Milshadred caught Ani in an awkward hug. “I’m myself again. Am I infertile?”