"You are human, but you don't seem to have the same worries as Taranis when it comes to your kind. Aren't you worried I will hurt them?"
"My kind?" Valentine laughed, cold and bitter as the storm rolled in above him. "You think humans won't want to hunt and kill me when they realize I can do magic and turn into a dragon? I want my mate and I to be safe from both human hatred and the fae's criticism. I'm more animal than human, and I know there is no place for us in either Faerie or Ireland."
Midir's touch left the first layer of his mind, and Valentine carefully slid his walls back into place.
"Let's talk further, sorcerer. I believe we can help each other," Midir said, and the air charged with power. "I would drop that token if you don't want to lose a hand."
Valentine tossed the piece of silver into the black mud and stepped away from it. Light gathered in the air above it, and a doorway opened, revealing a warrior standing in an earthen tunnel.
"King Midir welcomes you to Brí Léith, and bids you join him in the throne room," the warrior said, his eyes glassy.
Valentine smiled as he bent down and picked up the token out of the ash. "Lead the way. I can't wait to meet your king."
37
Valentine followed the warrior through the damp dirt tunnel. It was lit only by the torch that his guide was carrying, and Valentine tried not to think about being buried alive.
He could feel the magic all around him, twisting the paths, trying to confuse whoever was inside them.
It's just another glamor, his dragon said, and Valentine's eyes lit up with the beast's vision. He could see now that they were walking in a circular route, around and around again.
"I thought we were meant to be having a meeting with Midir, not playing bullshit games," Valentine said.
The warrior ahead laughed, and when he turned his head, Valentine saw that the glassiness in his eyes was gone, replaced by the same green glow as the king's.
"Midir, why are you toying about with puppets?"
"A simple test to see how closely you were paying attention," Midir said through the warrior's mouth before the green left his eyes, and it was back to looking like a stoned zombie.
What the fuck is he doing to his people?Valentine kept his curiosity and disgust from his expression. Yelena had tried towarn him about how Midir fucked with people’s heads, so why shouldn't that extend to everyone in his kingdom?
A door appeared in the earthen wall, and the warrior opened it with a brush of his hand. The dirty tunnel vanished, and instead, they were standing in a hallway of polished stone and silver. Intricately woven rugs covered the floors, and the walls were painted with scenes depicting Midir's heroic adventures. Valentine tried not to snort in amusement. He had an ego befitting an immortal, that was for sure.
Music filled the air, softly hypnotic melodies, but Valentine couldn't spot any musicians. Enchantments upon enchantments. Smoke and mirrors. He didn't comment on them but followed the warrior silently.
The few people they encountered in the halls had the same eerie expressions on their faces. Where other fae kingdoms Valentine had been to had fae of different ages, none of Midir's people looked older than twenty. It was as if they entered Midir's barrow and stopped aging altogether. Or he made the clock turn back for them.
Valentine remembered the comment Midir had made about Taranis’s aging and the disgust on his face in the meeting when he saw it.
It was disconcerting, but he acted as if he didn't notice. He had to get to the king and keep him busy, and pointing out how creepy his living doll collection was wouldn't put Midir in an amicable mood.
They came to another pair of guarded doors, and when they opened, Valentine's eyes began to water at the light flooding the room. The entire hall was made of crystal with silver pillars. There were no paintings or tapestries. There were only the fractured light prisms burning all around him. Valentine couldn't fathom just how big it was on either side.
Another trick or something else?He resented not knowing or having time to figure it out.
Midir sat on a silver throne, a tall tripod and basin beside him. There was no one else in the hall or any other furniture. It was cold and eerie in its beauty, and Valentine ignored the hair rising on the back of his neck.
Valentine walked to the dais, careful to keep a good space between him and Midir, and bowed.
The king turned his face from the basin he had been staring into and smiled at him. "So you are the one who killed Cathal. A task many warriors have tried and failed at."
Valentine mirrored his calm, amused smile. "He touched my mate. Tortured her. Mutilated her."
"And that made you angry, did it?" Midir asked, his green eyes looking him over.
"I don't like other people touching my things."
That made the king laugh. "I understand that completely."
