Shadowlander (13 page)

Cate took in a few extra deep breaths, looked up at the ceiling, and blinked rapidly until the burning sensation in her eyes faded and her nose began to run slightly. She sniffed, then went over to her discarded clothing and crouched down as she felt around for the nails. Her hand encountered a flat, smooth disk as well. Rook’s key coin! In all the craziness of the past few hours, she’d forgotten all about it. Now she was glad she’d stolen it from him.

She snatched it out of the pocket and looked at it. She wasn’t dependent on Rook. This was her and Maya’s ticket home! Now all she had to do was find Maya and a way to escape the Shadow Court.

Undetected.

§

Rook waited outside the doors, pacing as the clock ticked away the minutes. A half hour later he was still waiting. How could it possibly take that long for her to put on a simple gown, two shoes, and sheer hose on those long legs? Behind him the door snicked open, and Rook turned on his heel.

Cate looked stunning.

Her hair had dried to a riot of ebony curls that complemented the delicate pink color of her cheeks, the creamy expanse of her bare throat and shoulders, and the emerald color of her eyes.

The vision of her hit him with the impact of a war hammer against his chest, and he lost the ability to breathe. He quickly recovered himself and bowed. “My lady, may I escort you to court?” He offered her his arm, and his heart bumped double time when she wrapped her hand around his bicep.

“Do you still think they are keeping Maya in the dungeons?” she asked as they walked toward the golden grille of the rider.

“Yes, I do.”

Her gaze connected with his and he saw determination there. “Where are the dungeons?”

“They are below the castle itself. But they are well guarded. The only way you could make it was if you were taken there yourself.”

A brilliant gleam lit her face. “That sounds like a plan,” she said as the grate slid aside and they stepped into the rider.

Rook pushed the button for the main entrance hall and the rider began its fast descent. “It’s foolish.”

“Sometimes you have to take a risk when there’s something you want,” she shot back.

Rook’s esteem for her rose another several notches. Even if she were a Seer, Catherine O’Connell had the heart of a warrior.

“I will do what I can to see you there safely, but I cannot guarantee what will happen after that.”

“A chance is all I need to get Maya out.”

“Do you still have my key coin?” he asked casually.

Cate stared at him How could he tell what she had been planning? Was she that freakin’ obvious? “How did you—”

“I saw it was missing from my pack.” He gave her a soft smile, then turned back to face the front of the elevator. “I was planning on giving it to you, regardless of my promises, once you saved your friend, especially if the Shadow Court had ordered you to become my father’s consort. I couldn’t stand the thought of you not being mine alone.”

Her heart thumped harder, seeming to swell until it filled her throat, but it couldn’t fill the empty hole that grew in her chest at the thought of leaving him. “You love me, don’t you?”

His gaze connected with hers and Cate could see the longing etched into the planes of his face. “Yes, I do.” He caressed her cheek with his hand, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip as if trying to memorize her face by touch. “And I will never love another.”

A loud buzzing started in her head as her heart pounded. Rook was the only man she’d ever met who could accept who and what she was. The only one who appreciated her strange abilities.

But she could not leave Maya to her fate. And Cate knew her family would move Heaven and Earth to find her, to no avail.

The buzz of a hundred voices grew louder as the elevator came to a stop. The grille slid open and they stepped into the entrance hall, which was now full of elegantly dressed people. Over the heads of the crowd, Cate noticed that the tapestries hung higher on the walls were now merely landscapes devoid of people.

“Stay close to me,” he warned.

She slid her hand into his. As soon as the people in the crowd saw him, they parted like fans on either side of the red carpet once a movie star arrived. There were bobblehead fae, many who looked like Rook’s caste, and even some with long flowing veils who wore golden circlets around their heads.

Cate tried to keep her steps slow and measured, when she really wanted to dash across the room and get the whole testing thing over with as quickly as possible so she could go find Maya before it was too late.

They passed through the enormous doors into the throne room. Everything was black, from the glossy marble floors to the glittering, smoked crystal walls. Even the gilt-framed mirrors that lined the room were made of black glass like scrying mirrors.
How depressing
, Cate thought. No wonder Rook spent so much time topside with humans.

They were walking straight for a group of golden chairs clustered on a raised dais. In the center chair, with two on either side of him, sat a man who looked like a much-older version of Rook. Silver threaded through the temples of an otherwise jet shock of hair. His eyes were brooding and brown just like his son’s, and they both shared the same powerful physique. But while Rook looked like he enjoyed laughing once in a while, there was no humor in the Shadow King’s face. His demeanor was as colorless and bleak as his castle, and his chin was dark with a thick black beard.

Cate repressed a shiver.

Rook came to a stop before the dais and bowed deeply. “My lords of the Shadow Court, greetings. May it please you, I present Catherine O’Connell, Seer, as my conquest for Midsummer’s Eve.”

Gasps of awe and whispering rippled through the crowd. “Welcome to the court, Crown Prince of Shadows,” the king said, his voice booming across the throne room, silencing the tittering and murmured conversations.

Cate stood, her hands clasped before her, unsure of what to do next. Surely someone would tell her.

The king turned his piercing brown gaze on her. “And welcome to you, Uplander.”

Cate tilted her head down in acknowledgment, but inside was a seething mixture of anger at this man for wanting to take over her home, uncertainty at what would happen to her, and a despicable sense of her own helplessness. She glanced at Rook, who covered her hand in the crook of his arm with his own, securing it there. He gave her a slight squeeze of reassurance.

“As is tradition, you will be tested to see if you are indeed a Seer, as my son claims.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Cate managed to keep her voice even and calm, though her stomach felt as if it were full of butterflies.

A guard, in the familiar blue and black uniform, brought a wooden case to the king and opened it. Inside, nestled in a bed of black velvet, were golden needles several inches long.

Cate’s eyes widened, her stomach shriveling to the size of a gilly seed. No one had said anything about needles!

Rook took a step forward, but Cate’s feet remained rooted to the floor. “Step up, Cate. This won’t hurt you,” he urged.

“Have you seen the size of those needles?”

Rook’s lips tilted up at the corners. “Don’t be afraid of the size. You and I both know you are a Seer. It won’t impact you at all.”

Cate hesitated another moment, then reluctantly let Rook lead her up onto the dais.

The king held out his hand and Rook placed hers in his father’s. Cate began to shake.

The king pulled one long golden pin from the velvet-lined box and held it over Cate’s wrist. She closed her eyes, waiting for the sting of the needle against her skin, but it never came. She opened her eyes to find the six-inch-long needle impaled through her wrist. She gasped in astonishment. “How is that even possible?” she whispered. As she watched, the king pulled out the needle. Cate never felt a thing.

The king stared hard at her, then placed the needle back into the black velvet of the box.

“She has passed the first test,” the king proclaimed. That set off another round of whispering in the crowd.

A second guard brought forth an ornate silver pitcher and goblet on a tray. The king poured a liquid the color of red wine from the pitcher into the goblet and offered it to her.

“Drink,” he ordered. A hush descended over the room.

Cate glanced at Rook. “What’s this supposed to prove?”

“It’s Amora. Only those of the fae realm or blessed with fae sight can drink it. Otherwise it burns through them.”

“Okay, when you say burn, do you mean hot that make your eyes water, or acid eating out your insides?”

“Acid,” he replied. He locked gazes with her, his brown eyes solid and reassuring. He believed in her.

This was crazy. It was beyond crazy. Why did she even care if she was an acknowledged Seer? Because it was the only chance she had to maybe get Maya out. Maybe to protect her world so there was something to go back to. “Isn’t that a little barbaric? Kill them if they aren’t a Seer?”

Rook grimaced. “Declaring to be a Seer is a very serious thing.”

Cate sighed and brought the goblet to her lips. She took a sip and found the liquor to be searing, strong and sweet with the flavor of blackberry brandy. Cate licked her lips. “This is made from gilly fruit, isn’t it?”

Rook smiled at her, then caught the gaze of the king. “Very good. You remember the flavor.”

“The Uplander has passed the second test,” the king announced. The whispering grew to a crescendo of voices all talking at once.

“Silence!” the Shadow King bellowed. Cate thought not even a cricket would dare chirp in the quiet that followed.

Another guard stepped up to the dais and brought forth a book. It looked similar to one she’d seen Gran reading when Cate was small. The dark green leather was tooled with ivy leaves that laced around some strange symbols in golden runes.

About halfway through the thick book was a gold bookmark. The king took the book from his guard and flipped it open to the marked page. “Read aloud for us,” he ordered.

Cate glanced up at him. His eyes looked curious, but kinder than they had when she’d entered the throne room.

The strange runes on the page looked like gibberish to Cate, but when she blinked and stared harder, they began to rearrange themselves on the page into text she could easily read. She started with the first paragraph that seemed legible.

“And so one of the gods, Mithra, took a sliver of the sun and she touched the eyes of the children of Earth, allowing them the sight of the gods. And to them was given the task to act as messengers between the gods and the children of Earth.” Cate glanced up. The king was smiling.

He slid the book from her hands and closed it. “We have a Seer within our court!” he proclaimed.

A loud cheer rose up from the crowd and a guard brought forth a golden circlet on a black velvet pillow. The king took the circlet and stood, lifting it over Cate’s head. “As the Shadow King, I proclaim you a member of the Makcay, the most honored among us. Welcome to the Shadow Court, Seer Catherine O’Connell.” He slid the thin gold circlet over her head and Cate gasped as it shrunk to fit. She lightly touched it with her fingers and found the gold warm.

The king’s face broke into a smile that made Cate’s heart clutch hard in her chest because it reminded her so vividly of Rook. She glanced at him, unsure of what to do next. Rook took the step beside her, his face stoic but his eyes troubled.

The king held out a hand, palm up, to her.

“Seer, will you do me the honor of becoming my consort?”

Beside her, Rook tensed. She could feel the anger pulsating off of him.

He inhaled deeply. “She cannot, sire.” He said it loud enough that Cate was sure even the people in the courtyard beyond the great room could hear. “She has already given herself to me.”

“She has been coerced!” came a voice from the crowd. Cate stared over her shoulder as Kallus came thumping up the steps to stand on the opposite side of her. Now she was bracketed on three sides by enormous men.

The king frowned. “Why do you say this, Thayer?” The way the king leaned in to listen to Kallus, it was obvious to Cate the king favored him.

“This is the same Uplander he has been smitten with for many years, sneaking out of our realm to spy on her, Your Majesty.”