“We will defend ourselves. In the water, we have the advantage.”
“Advantage or not, King Arach isn't going to fight under the law. He's coming to kill. You will lose thousands of faeries. Are you willing to make that sacrifice?”
“To crush Fire out beneath my boot?” Dubheasa grinned. “Oh, yes.”
I watched the expressions on her soldiers' faces turn bitter and furious. But no one said a word.
“Then may the best kingdom kill the most,” I said.
“Indeed, Samara. Indeed.” The Queen of Water glided out of my room.
Her men followed a bit slower, casting grave glances back at me as they went.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The next day, there was more shrieking, but the Water Queen didn't bother to inform me what had upset her this time. Not that she had to tell me. I knew Arach. Not necessarily this Arach, but this Arach was the foundation of my Arach. And I knew what my Arach would have done if he had received a vial of my blood.
It was laughable really. Most villains would have sent a finger or my hair or something like that. But a vial of blood? Why? Did she think it left more to the imagination? That he'd be worried, thinking they were constantly beating me to a bloody pulp? It was obvious that Dubheasa didn't know anything about Dragon-Sidhe, but not surprising. After all, there was only one of them left. At least until I had shown up. If she had known about us, sending anything with any of my blood on it would have been the last thing she'd do. The Queen of Water had just handed the King of Fire a treasure map with a big X on it marking where I was and direct knowledge of everything I'd experienced in the past few days. Moreover, it was safe for him to drink my blood. Enough time had passed that he wouldn't see the future.
So, what did Arach do with that blood? He took a shot of Vervain, that's what. He probably laughed his ass off as well. And now, everything that had been said and done around me, including the things spoken in Fey that I hadn't understood, was fresh in Arach's mind. He'd be coming for me soon.
After the shrieking stopped, the castle went still. Silent. Several hours passed. And then there was a flurry of activity.
The city of Under was being evacuated.
I stared out my window at the stream of faeries coming to the castle, carrying waterproof satchels over their shoulders. I assumed they would be using the upper part of the castle to enter the City of Water. Would they stay there or move deeper into the ocean? I hoped it was the latter. The further away from me they went, the safer they'd be. But what shocked me the most was that Queen Dubheasa was allowing the evacuation. I would have thought she'd want as much fodder between her and my husband as she could get.
It made me think better of her.
Once the residents were gone, the soldiers moved in. I watched them lay magical traps throughout the city, and a few non-magical ones as well. Arach would fly right over them if he was in dragon form, but our people would be caught in whatever nastiness Dubheasa had planned. Unless the city was flooded, that is. Oh, hell. War.
This would be the second Fey war I'd be involved in. The first had been with Earth. Unless you counted the future I'd fixed. In that case, this would be the third, but I didn't remember that war. Which is good since I died in it. Guirmean's son killed me—a Water-Sidhe. Huh.
The door opened behind me, and guards came streaming in.
I turned to face them.
They kept coming, then grabbed my arms and walked me into the corridor. I was escorted through the long stone hallways and to a slim stairwell. Dubheasa waited there with a few guards, including Nori. He wouldn't meet my stare.
Queen Dubheasa turned and went up the stairwell without a word. Her guards followed, then my guards dragged me after them, going single file and sandwiching me between them. Halfway up, I saw the glimmer of water. This wasn't the way I'd taken from Castle Under to Castle Water the last time, so I hadn't been prepared for it.
I cringed back and shouted, “Hey! You do know I can't breathe water, right?”
“Calm yourself, Samara,” Dubheasa said in a bored tone, then waved imperiously.
The guard in front of me—a Kelpie with a rust-red mane, turned to face me and grabbed my jaw, digging his fingers into the hinges to open my mouth. He pressed his mouth over mine and clinically administered the Kiss of Water. When he drew back, we were both grimacing.
“You could have just told me what you were going to do instead of opening my mouth like I was a cat you were trying to shove a pill in,” I said to him. “I would have let you.”
He stared straight ahead.
I rolled my eyes as we started the upward climb again. A few steps later, we went through a ward and emerged underwater. At the top of the stairs, we swam out into a different castle. There, the floors were covered in sand and little creatures scurried over it. The rooms we swam past had strange, underwater furniture made of nets or metal. Despite the liquid restrictions, there were many adornments, including enormous paintings and tapestries, all preserved under a thin layer of air. But now that we were in a corridor, my guards were back to either side of me, and they swam at a fast pace, towing me between them. It only took a few minutes for us to reach an exit and leave the castle.
We went out through an open archway. No point in doors there. Around us lay the City of Water, the homes as haphazardly placed as those below. And just as empty. So, Dubheasa had evacuated Water as well. Good for her. I thought we might be doing the same, retreating to deeper water. But no. They took me in the opposite direction, heading toward the front of the kingdom.
My guards took me higher in the water, keeping me in the center of a formation that suddenly grew in numbers. Most of the Water Army had been waiting for their queen in front of the castle. I glanced at the soldiers, armored in metal plates and shells, their hair braided back for war. All of them stared straight ahead, grim-faced. Yeah, they knew exactly what their queen was leading them into.
We passed Castle Water with its slender spiraling towers that never would have lasted on land. Then we were beyond the crown city, passing above the crystal tunnels, now full of water. At the head of the army were lantern bearers to light the way, but I had the feeling they were more for tradition or maybe ceremony than practicality. None of us needed the light, and those in the back didn't get much of it. Or maybe it was simply to keep soldiers from straying—either accidentally or on purpose.
