“You will,” Shadow said with a growl. “You’re going to live forever, as per my damn wishes, and in that time you’ll see every facet of the universes. You’ll see the worlds so often that eventually you’ll be well used to it.”
“Mera will live forever,” Angel agreed. “As will the rest of us, and we’ll never stop exploring.”
This was the sort of pep talk we needed before heading into a life and death situation.
Len, hand still wrapped around mine, led us toward the edge of the platform. It was here that he released me, and I tried not to mourn the loss of his energy sending tingles across my skin. When he leaned out, most of us did the same.
“Well, fuck,” Simone said. “I’d have never thought to look out over the edge.”
Beams of light were connected to the underside of the platform, dropping down farther than we could see from where we stood. Hundreds, if not thousands of them, all in a range of colors. Colors very similar to the gems that littered the sky above.
“How do we use them to take us into the Deep?” I asked.
“We just grab hold,” Len replied, leaning more of himself over the edge, his hand wrapping around a purple beam. “Use the beam as your anchor and guide. Our gravity here is lighter, so you’re not going to plummet like you would in other worlds. It’ll be a slow fall.”
I hadn’t noticed the gravity thing at all, which was odd. Almost as if my body had adjusted the moment we arrived… Maybe I had more fae in me than expected.
Leaning over with Len, I was about to grab onto a turquoise line near his, when he shifted his strand closer to me. “You’ll fall with me,” he said simply. “Together.”
I couldn’t look away from his gaze. The truth was, I was fallingforhim.
Again.
My fragmented memories told me I’d been fully in love with this caring, enigmatic, powerful fae prince the last time. Kind of felt like I’d nevernotbeen in love with him.
Who knew love was as scary as taking a plunge into the Origin of Faerie.
On the precipice of doing both, I could confirm.
Completely terrifying.
35
SAMANTHA
Before I had time to freak out, Len sent us both over the side. My stomach shot up into my throat for a beat, but then our fall slowed, just as he’d said it would. His hand remained over mine as we clutched the warmly vibrating line of power, leading us into the Deep.
Our pack fell with us, and I wasn’t surprised to see that Shadow and Mera were on the same line. Simone and Lucien as well. Angel had her own line, but she was right beside Reece. Galleli was farthest out, his line a gleaming silver that reflected off the shine of his bronze breastplate.
No one said a word, and I wasn’t sure about the others, but I was working to reinforce my barrier inside, and mentally preparing myself for what was to come.
The fall lasted at least an hour. My arm was aching by the time we reached the end of the cords of power. “Brace yourself,” Len called. “I have no idea what we’re landing in.”
A splash of red came into view just as Shadow bellowed, “Don’t let go of your cord. Remain above the ground.”
Len’s free hand went under my ass as he jerked me into his body, his energy wrapping around us so we didn’t land on the red. From this angle, I could see that the end of the line was a few feet above the ground, and we were a few feet above the end.
The light down here was darker than it had been above, the faint red all that was really visible. It was only due to the light from the cords of power that I could even see my pack. Shadow and Mera fixed that little issue when flames surrounded them, like our own personal lanterns. As their flames grew, we could see the ground much clearer—a rich red with lighter red swirls flowing through it, sparking at points.
“Will it zap us?” Simone asked, leaning out to look closer. Lucien tightened his hold on her, pulling her back into his arms.
“It’s designed to drain our power,” Shadow said. “If we’d landed, our energy would be sapped, weakening us for the rest of the journey.”
“How do we move across it, then?” Lucien asked, fangs flashing in the light of the flames. “Bee and I recently fed and are at our strongest, but I don’t want to sacrifice that energy before we make it into the worst of this place.”
“It will get much worse,” Len confirmed. “Don’t use your energy to try and move yet. It’ll also drain you.”
We were stuck between a rock and the Deep of Faerie, apparently. Drop to the ground and be drained. Use our power to move onto another part and be drained. But hanging here wasn’t getting us anywhere, so we had to make a choice.
