"Yeah, actually. How did you know?"
"It looks like an old-fashionedclamuith monidh—a bereavement ornament. Quite long ago, it was fae tradition towear one when loved ones passed away, to see them one last time and exchange final words before sending them to the Beyond. They're not often crafted anymore, but that one seems to be well-made. The charm on it is strong."
I tuck it back under my shirt. "Would you mind not telling Everett?"
"Not remotely."
"Thanks." Needing some kind of confirmation that Athanis's insistence to keep his warrior friend out of the fae elders’ hands is based in reality, I clear my throat. "Hey, what are your thoughts on the fae elders? And this is probably a weird question, but is Chancellor Marwood…trustworthy?"
"He is not," Athanis says vehemently beside us. "His greed will lead to my friend being turned into something dark and unnatural."
I ignore him as Silas's blood-red attention moves back to me. He's thoughtful.
"I can't lie and say that I was pleased when Marwood was selected to oversee these excavations. He was in large part responsible for my family's inheritance being divided amongst my distant Crane relatives and leaving me with nothing after my parents' deaths years ago. He's also caught wind of the Garnet Wizard's passing and loathes that the other fae elders are beginning to see me as a sort of replacement for my mentor."
I wrinkle my nose. "He sounds like a jerk."
"An unmitigated ass," the blood fae agrees. "But while the fae elders have their faults, they are much better than Marwood. They respect the new legacy-human government and are very pleased that this excavation is taking place."
He glances over his shoulder. I follow where his attention has gone and watch as one of the fae puts a lid on one of the scroll-filled boxes before muttering an incantation. The box vanishes with a small flash before another empty one takes its place.
"Gods, magic is so convenient for a dig like this," I note.
“Indeed. We should finish and return to the surface in a matter of hours.”
7
HEIDI
Silas is right.It only takes a few hours for the team to extract everything before it’s time to transport out of the tunnels under the citadel one final time.
Bright magic flashes, my inner animal has a mild panic attack, and a second later, I’m standing back on the Nether’s surface near the entrance of the excavation site. Groaning at the uneasiness in my stomach from transporting, I place my hands on my knees and breathe in and out slowly.
"Are you all right?" Everett checks as he passes by me with several more fae excavators who transported him up before me.
I wave off my brother’s concern, giving him a thumbs-up.
He joins Silas several yards away from me, where they’re having a serious discussion with the smaller team that's been waiting up here to receive everything. Once my stomach has settled down, I straighten and see that the other fae are carefully checking the many boxes to see that everything has been transported safely. The three sarcophagi are up here, too, near me at one end of the organized mass of extracted things.
It's a bustle of excitement and business, and the fresh spring air up here is a relief after the stale air of the cold tunnels.
Still, I can’t stop my attention from slipping past the giant hole in the ground where they decided to start excavating months ago, to the nearby remains of the Entity's citadel. Towering onyx gates surround a veritable city once ruled by death. The Entity's temple-like palace and massive arena are beyond those gates, partially destroyed from the Battle of the Citadel. Spikes of adamantine surround the wall of the citadel, gleaming in the sunlight.
It's all empty now, but it's an imposing monument to how the Nether used to be.
The Nether is healing, regaining much of its color and no longer plagued by quite as many horrors, now that Maven spends her time cleansing this plane of existence. But I can't help the chills that prickle over my skin from being so close to the citadel again. My inner animal curls up in terror as this familiar area reminds her of the pain and loss I went through, chained up beneath this place.
The liches and their magic and the way it seared into me, toying with my empathy, ripping into my heart.
Sleep would have been a respite from the horrors of the month I spent in the Nether, but somehow, it always felt…unsafe. My inner animal was terrified of those dark, bizarrely sexual dreams wrapping around me like a hungry python anytime I drifted into that unnatural sleep.
I’m startled out of my memories by the sound of Athanis’s voice and realize he’s standing beside me now.
“Navigating skyward through so much dark earth is extremely unpleasant.”
Swallowing down the lingering trauma of the citadel, I make sure no one around will overhear before speaking to him. Luckily, everyone’s too busy to pay me any attention, now that my job guiding them in the tunnels is done.
“I’m glad you made it up here without getting lost.”
