Rowan’s body went rigid. He blinked several times. ”Corbin?” He asked in a whisper. “It’s really you?”
Corbin moved so fast I didn’t even see him. One moment he was leaning against the wall with that knife handle jiggling as hetalked. The next, he stood in front of Rowan. They fell against each other, their arms tangling together as they pressed their bodies close. Rowan’s locs swung through the air as he brought his lips to Corbin’s. They devoured each other, their longing.
My heart soared, even as my body trembled. I wanted to run to them and throw myself into the fray. I wanted Corbin’s lips against mine, his strong, steady hands skimming my body, his tongue devouring me. I wanted it to bereal.
Corbin pulled back, breathing hard. “It feels so good to touch someone again.”
“What about Maeve?” Blake asked. “Surely you had a little dreamtime hanky panky last time you met?”
“Maeve won’t let me hug her,” Corbin grinned. “It’s not scientifically possible.”
“Figments of my imagination shouldn’t hug me,” I muttered.
“He’s no figment,” Rowan breathed, his arms locked around Corbin’s torso. He grazed the knife handle with his forearm, and another shudder drove through his body. He dropped his arms and stepped away.
Corbin stared down at the knife. “Sorry about that. It’s bloody annoying. I pull it out and it just appears again.”
“I think it’s rather fetching,” Blake said.
“You’ve seen Corbin now,” I snapped. “Can you both go away and come wake me up. I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“No can do, Princess. Not until Mussolini here tells us what he did to stop himself from proper dying, andwhy.”
“I knew you guys would figure it out,” Corbin grinned. He scratched at the collar of his shirt, pulling out a long leather cord. On the end of it was a tiny lump of metal, shaped a little like a bottle. On the end was a small engraving of a cross. I had the vague sense I’d seen it before. “All this time it was sitting on my shelf in the library and I didn’t even knew what it could do.”
“And what exactly is it?” The familiarity of the object nagged at me, but Corbin did have a lot of old junk in the library.
“Don’t worry about that right now. I wrote it all down for you. Listen, this is important. I’ve seen something,” Corbin frowned. “The king of the underworld has Daigh’s power.”
Blake nodded. “Daigh told us he traded it for the ability to speak to us through the castle mirrors. Isn’t that hilarious? Diagh rendered himself powerless and did all our work for us.”
Corbin shook his head. “Daigh’s more dangerous than ever.”
“Mate, he’s locked up in a steel room at Ryan Raynard’s house, as you’d know if you hadn’t been on this mission to die for… what reason exactly?” Blake frowned at him. “That’s what I don’t get. The sacrificing yourself to save the coven, I get. That’s you thing, like Flynn’s thing is being annoying and Rowan’s thing is talking to the floor. But you couldn’t have know what would happen last night and that we’d all escape. So what I don’t get iswhy. What did your death accomplish?”
“I had a suspicion from the way Daigh seemed so unconcerned about discovering how we intended to stop the Slaugh that he had something more sinister in mind,” Corbin said. “It occurred to me that we’ve been approaching this idea of an alliance as if there are two worlds involved – the human world, and the fae. But in reality, there are three. By coming to this place and raising the Slaugh, Daigh’s involved the demons, too. And no alliance between us would work unless we included them.”
“Why didn’t you just say that?” I yelled. “Why did you have to die?”
“Because the only way to negotiate with the demons was to be here in the flesh.” Corbin glanced down at his body. “Or not in the flesh, I guess. The only way I’d be able to speak to them was if the fae were somewhere else – say, if they were busy on earth, trying to get their hands on Briarwood.”
“And did you speak to them?” Blake asked.
Corbin nodded. “I think so.”
“Youthinkso?”
“I had an audience with the king of the underworld. Or queen of the underworld. That’s not yet clear. Demons don’t seem to have genders.Ithas a name but when the demons pronounce it all I can hear is gargling. Which was also all I got in reply to my entreaty, although at the mention of Daigh’s name it got very agitated. But there’s a demon CEO and I spoke to it and I get the idea it wants Daigh and his fae cronies gone from the underworld.”
“That’s going to happen when the Slaugh ride, anyway,” Blake said.
Corbin nodded. “Exactly, and now it’s got Daigh’s power it doesn’t seem too concerned. But I know and you know that we’re going to stop the Slaugh. What I also know, and what I’ve been trying to tell you, is that Daigh is going to stage a hostile takeover. We’ve manoeuvred him into a corner. He knows he can’t go back to the fae now. He’s going to make a move on the Underworld, probably while it’s empty during the Slaugh.”
“How do you know what Daigh’s going to do?” I demanded. “He’s locked away in Raynard Hall and you’re … here, wherever here is.”
“Just say it, Maeve. We’re in the Underworld,” Corbin ran a hand through his dark hair. “And I know what Daigh’s going to do because I’veseenit. It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s going to happen soon.”
“Now I know this is just a dream,” I said. “Corbin never claimed to have any precognitive powers.”
