I push myself into a sitting position, and then slowly stand.
Before me is a low mountain with many entrances to what can only be caves. They are carved into a ridge of red-brown rock that rises from the hillside. The entrances are wide and tall, some of them twenty feet high or more, and they’re notnatural formations. I can see the marks of tools in the stone, the deliberate curves and angles of shaped rock. Vines trail over the mouths of some, and the moss that covers the surrounding trees also creeps across the rock face.
There are shifterfae everywhere, moving in and out of the cave mouths, including the shifterfae dragons that just landed. Most are in their fae forms, which means they’re either completely naked or wearing next to nothing. An animal hide is draped over a shoulder, or a strip of leather is wrapped around hips. Their bodies are lean and hard, all corded muscle and long limbs. Some of them have markings on their skin, dark lines that could be tattoos or something painted on. They adorn both the males and the females alike.
A few turn to look at me as I stand there in the dirt. Their eyes are various shades of amber, brown, or green.
They look at me like I am some sort of strange creature, which I guess I am.
Two fae females walk toward me. They are both tall and broad-shouldered, their hair hanging loose and tangled. One of them jerks her chin toward a cave entrance. “Inside.”
I take a step; my legs are shaking a little, which is to be expected after everything I just went through.
“Where am I?” I ask. “Why did you bring me here?” I ask the male fae who brought me here.
I get nothing. Not a flicker of acknowledgement. They walk on either side of me, herding me toward the cave.
I look back at the male fae, who is walking away.
I’m guided through the cave entrance, and the temperature shifts immediately. It’s warmer inside, dry and still. The ceiling is high, the walls smooth. Animal furs line the floor, and there are low platforms carved from the rock that serve as beds or seats. Rough-hewn shelves hold clay pots and what look like dried herbs. A fire pit sits in the center, though it isn’t lit. Lightfilters in from narrow openings carved high in the walls, shafts of that thin southern sunlight cutting through the dimness.
There are no doors, just a wide opening. We walk down a sort of hallway lit by candles and lanterns.
Shifterfae are in some of the rooms we walk past, going about their business. A female is eating. Another male is sleeping. A group of females sewing a hide stops what they are doing to peer at us.
I hear strange grunting noises and the slapping of flesh. When we walk past the next room, the sound grows louder. I gasp when I see a man behind a naked fae woman. She is on all fours. It is clear what they are doing.
I look away when he looks up at me, unperturbed that they are being watched.
What a strange species.
They are almost more animal than human in some ways.
We reach a larger entrance than the others, and I walk through.
“You can sit over there,” the taller of the females tells me, pointing at a stack of furs.
The other female hands me a skin. “Drink and be quiet,” she tells me.
Then the two females take up positions at the door, guarding me.
“Where am I?” I try again. “Did you bring my friend back as well? The Shadowfae King? Is Sebastian alive?”
I might as well be talking to the rock.
I sink down into the furs and drink from the skin. My eyes slowly fill with tears as the adrenaline leaves me. Sebastian more than likely didn’t survive; that’s if they even brought him. He may have been burned by the dragon attack on Snow, or…
I force myself to think about something else because thinking of him will only drive me crazy. My mind goes to my mother.
She didn’t die.
All these years, and she was at the Shadow Court all along. Right there. She never tried to contact us. Never tried to find us.
Maybe she did.
No! It was my third time at that court with the troupe. Did she see me perform? Did she know it was me?
The fae females lift their heads, looking to the doorway. Moments later, two males walk in carrying Sebastian between them, one gripping his arms; his head rolls with each step they take. They carry him through the entrance and put him on a large fur in the corner.
